/* */ Beulah Bee: 2018

December 24, 2018

12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - Tag No. 12


Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray,
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
There was a blessed Messiah born.

(The Wexford Carol)

May the spirit of the season bring you peace and joy.

Thank you for being a part of my artful journey this year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 18, 2018

12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - No. 10 & 11


I'm still looking back to Christmas tags from the past and I've saved some of my very favorite tags for when we get closer to Christmas. This is one of them.

The background is made from mulberry papers and the tree was hand-cut out of kraft paper that had been randomly stamped and embossed to create texture. I added the tinsel using glitter glue and a white gel pen.

The text was cut from a recycled store-bought Christmas card and illustrates just how far I will go when it comes to fussy-cutting. Crazy I know but I loved the style of the lettering and I was several years away from owning a die-cut machine.  Since the text was wider than the tag, I just let it bow out when I attached it to the bottom of the tag.


This one's a favorite because of the Thomas Nast Santa (an image transfer). It's an early example of learning how to blend Distress inks, how to emboss (the white scrolls) and how to use masks when stamping.

If you don't recognize the kind of stamps I used at the bottom of the tag they are called Christmas Seals. I inherited a small collection from my Great Aunt Esther, they're a terrific embellishment--I must remember to use them more often!

December 12, 2018

12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - No. 8 & 9


How seriously crazy funny was I about making Christmas tags?!
(Okay, perhaps I still am....)

For this look back at tags from Christmas past, I present one that was inspired by the movie, A Christmas Story.  That's my Uncle Steve sitting on Santa's lap and I made black paper look like film strip by cutting out tiny black squares. The metal rimmed tag was hand made and I found an advertisement for the Daisy Air Rifle and used it for the background.

None of this would have been possible without my laser printer and, of course, the internet as a source for the images.


I'm sharing this tag with you because it shows a way to get more mileage out of a background stamp.

This one is by Tim Holtz and is called Christmas Collage. I think this design/pattern would make terrific wrapping paper.

December 05, 2018

12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - No. 6 & 7


I'm doing a look-back to Christmas tags of the past (see previous post) and this one was inspired by a crackling technique Tim demonstrated on one of his early tags.

I was probably listening to the Nutcracker Ballet when I thought of the design 😏 and, with a very limited amount of crafting supplies back then, I found a pattern for the ballerina and cut her out of card stock by hand.


The background stamp is the classic Tim Holtz Flourish and I may have hand-drawn the numerals. The snowflake sequins were dabbled with paint and glitter and a ribbon was used for the ballerina's tutu.

I am sharing this next tag for a remarkable feature that looks excellent in person but impossible to capture in a photo. Let me explain.


Santa's face is a clip-art photo that was printed onto a transparency (used with an overhead projector in the "old days" for business meetings). Then I placed the image in front of a sheet of metallic silver paper before I set it into the frame.

The effect is truly astonishing and the image takes on a vintage quality similar to that of mercury glass. It's hard to describe but I highly recommend trying this technique so you can see what I mean.


I'm linking this post to Simon's Monday Challenge Blog ("B is for Ballerina").

November 28, 2018

12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - No. 4 & 5

I started making tags when I discovered Tim Holtz and his blog at the beginning of December 2009 and got caught up in his daily posts for the 12 Tags of Christmas.

I had little experience stamping, didn't know about Distress inks, and his tutorials were very detailed and very helpful. I was mesmerized and I was hooked.

Tim has kept links to these posts on the sidebar of his blog and I recommend them to paper crafting beginners as a learning tool--they are so much fun!

I've decided to share a few of the tags I made during this period (before Beulah Bee) because I'm a little short on time this year and won't be able to complete all 12 new ones.


This one shows my penchant for paper-cutting even back then but before I learned to tint the cut paper edges with a darker shade of ink (so they would blend in better). Scraps of pages from an old German bible were pasted on the background.


I used the same image on this tag (photocopied from a vintage greeting card that belonged to my Great Aunt Esther) and embellished it with a stamp embossed frame using antique gold powder.

The background is Tim Holtz kraft card stock and the tiny stars were recycled from a store-bought card and tinted with alcohol ink.

I could never have imagined back in 2009 that this year I'd be short on time making tags because of working on projects for Tim's Idea-ology booth at the January 2019 Creativation trade show!

What a journey (thanks, Tim)!

There are links in the sidebar to my Creativation/CHA projects or Christmas tags from past years.

November 23, 2018

12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - No. 3


I've used another Penny Black stamp called Tree of Holly for this tag and I'm linking to their Creative Christmas Challenge and also to Simon's Monday Challenge for the "Let It Snow" theme.

I used embossing ink and silver powder for stamping then filled in the tree with the juiciest, most powerful purple in my arsenal of crafting supplies--Seedless Preserves Distress Stain.

I filled in the holly and berries with paint and glitter, added more bling to the border and placed a Christmas Remnant Rub from a few years back along the bottom.

The snow was made with texture paste and a stencil by Simon Says Stamp called Falling Snow.


To see more of my Christmas tags you can click on the label at the bottom of this post or use the link I've placed in the sidebar.

November 19, 2018

12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - No. 2


May I present Tag No. 2 for this Christmas which I really enjoyed working on in a carefree manner with little or no planning.

I'm happy with the result and it was a good reminder that, too often, I overthink what I make and it gets in the way of fun.


After stamping the bird and text (Penny Black Festive Season) on a virgin manila tag, I used a stencil to trace the tree trunk and branches using a mechanical pencil with fine lead (which made it easier to get into the tiny spots).


Then I went over the pencil lines with a Uni Ball Vision Rollerball pen (Fine Black). I like this pen very much because it never clogs and the ink is waterproof. As you can see, I filled in the tree trunks and branches with additional line work in a loose and sketchy manner.


The background was painted in with watered down blue acrylic and I used colored pencils on the cardinal, berries, and Christmas text.

An oval frame (Tim Holtz Industrious Sticker) was placed around the text and some snow on the branches and other white embellishments were made with paint.


I'm linking this tag to the Penny Black Creative Christmas Challenge and to Simon's Monday Challenge Blog because this week's theme is "Let It Snow."

To see more of my Christmas tags you can click on the label at the bottom of this post or use the link I've placed in the sidebar.

November 11, 2018

12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - No. 1


I've started my tags for Christmas and, with any luck, I'll have twelve completed before December 24 (fingers crossed).

I've had a little trouble with my mojo (or muse as some would call it) so I'm going back to basics to embrace some of the original techniques that influenced my paper crafting journey.

I'm sharing my step-outs for this one, with minimal explanation, so don't hesitate to comment if you have a question about my technique.

And if you'd like to see any of my tags from Christmas past I've put a link to them in the sidebar.

Oval drawn on Speciality Stamping Paper, matt finish (Ranger)

Stamp (Penny Black) with Distress (Fired Brick)

Spread ink with water brush

Stamp greeting (Penny Black) then mask it along with flower

Stamp background with archival ink (Potting Soil)

Rub on Distress inks (Forest Moss, Peacock Feathers) and spritz with water

Cut out oval with X-acto knife.

Re-apply Fired Brick Distress ink to strengthen flower color.
Add a paper background behind flower.

Trim oval with dimensional dots and tag edge with black marker


After I'd cut out the oval, it was fun playing with different papers for the background and I finally settled on a paper that matched the Peacock Feather blues.

I'm linking this to Simon's Monday challenge blog because this week's theme is Make Your Own Background and also to the Penny Black Creative Christmas Challenge.

October 25, 2018

Few Passed Them


Here's a post about the way I used Plain Collage Paper (Ideaology) to create a mirror image of a stamp and how to reduce transparency by painting on the back side.

I'm linking up to Simon's Monday challenge--this week's theme is Halloween.

The background is made from various paper scraps tinted with Distress inks and the gate (yes, I know it's upside down) is a die-cut from Tim Holtz called Gothic Gate.

The house and skull are stamp images from a 2016 set called Mini Halloween 5 and the kids are a classic called Photo Studio (Tim Holtz).

I used some words from Ideaology Clippings Stickers and tinted a tiny diamond with red alcohol ink.

As you can see, the house is single-sided but I wanted to create something a little different.



So I stamped the image on Plain Collage Paper then turned it over and stamped the image again on the backside to create a mirror image. They were trimmed and pasted together to create the larger house.


The family was also stamped on the Plain Collage Paper but I painted the backside with off-white paint to reduce the transparency to make sure the facial features didn't get lost. Once the image was pasted down, I used inks to lightly tint it.



I really like the properties of this collage paper and plan to stock-up in case it's discontinued as I have been using it a lot!

October 06, 2018

Elegant Mind


Just another tag for this week's theme at Simon's Monday challenge with no new ideas or techniques to impart. Only a reminder to do what you love, create with abandon and embrace the escape it provides.

October 04, 2018

Two Days


Collage play with scraps on a manila tag and my way of preserving a quote that I like. I'm linking up to Simon's Monday challenge because this week it's all about tags.

October 03, 2018

One-Cent Flora


I hope to make several tags this week and link-up to Simon's Monday challenge because I love to make tags. If you haven't seen my flipcard blog, manilaguerilla.blogspot.com, it's where I file them and you can change the view to any format you like (the "Mosaic" view is pretty cool, too).

This tag is clean and simple and here's what I used to make it: Prima Epiphany paper, Idea-ology Aviary collage paper, and stamps by Heidi Swapp and Tim Holtz.

This is the first time using the Aviary paper and the birds are a little blurry/fuzzy. I don't know if this is by design (Tim does like the distressed look) or if I just got a less than perfect batch and I wish the images were sharper. Even so, I love this new paper (I already have the Botanical and Plain versions) and I highly recommend it if you like to do collages.

September 29, 2018

Simply Discover


You'd think working in monochrome would be easy--yes? I have found it to be easier said than done.

And so, for this week's linkup to Simon's Monday challenge, I took the easy way out and went with a black and white theme.

It started with a background paper (Paper Studio B/W Abstract), layered under a page trimmed for the base from Prima called Epiphany.

The luna moth was printed from some clip art then cut-out and pasted and embellished with gray paint and black and white pens (Sakura gelly rolls and Pitt big brushes).

There's a little washi tape, some Remnant Rubs, and a stamp from a set by Tim Holtz called Stamp Collector.

One of my favorite tools used for the black shading around the moth is a Derwent Sketching pencil--Dark Wash 8B.

September 09, 2018

One of a Kind


Have you ever wondered what it would look like to stamp several Tiny Things* with archival ink on hot press watercolor paper cut in the shape of a tag then filled in with colored pencils in rainbow fashion?

Me, too! I'm linking to Simon, the Monday challenge is "Stamp on it."

*Stamps by Tim Holtz (except for ant).

September 04, 2018

The Beekeeper's Daughter


I've made a Vignette Tray assemblage/collage to share with you today. I chose the smaller tray size and used whiting (a wood stain) and some light sanding to alter the surface. This technique is known as "pickling."

I used this finish on a CHA 2017 project and here's the link if you'd like to see another example.


A Found Relative was cut-out and placed between a sandwich of two Baseboard Frames and vintage book paper of a blue sky was attached to the back.

The background consists of the stained wood of the tray along with vintage book paper text.

The large white script was made using a home-made stencil and white paint on Plain Collage Paper.

By using the collage paper, I have lots more control over where it's placed and after pasting down it becomes almost invisible.


The tiny bee on top is an image transfer on the backside of a vintage button (I filled in the holes with paste medium).

The sunburst is also a transfer and the image came from a Trader Joe's flyer.

The gentlemen were cut from French Industrial paper stash and there's also a vintage postage stamp.


The flowers were cut from the Wallflower paper stash and that's an Idea-ology key dabbed with white paint and dark ink to distress it.

The honeycomb was made with a Tim Holtz Mixed Media thinlet.

This piece was a long-time in the making and there were several versions before I finalized it.

Funny thing, though--I ended up returning to my original idea. I guess I needed to try out all the possibilities before I could fully embrace the design.

August 17, 2018

My Blue Shoes


Another digital photo just begging to be altered (thanks again, Vintage Everyday) and, in this case, in a most unconventional fashion. But I truly celebrate these type of creations because they conform to no one and are purely me.

And it's been awhile since I've made a tag and they're very therapeutic!

August 14, 2018

Happy


Splatters and Sprinkles is the theme this week at Simon's Monday Challenge Blog. The paper I used for this greeting card (Modascrap Fly & Scrap) already had splatters which is good because I am somewhat (very) splatter-phobic.

I married it with a snail (Un Escagrot by Carabelle) cut-out and tinted to match the foreground and some washi tape.

The sentiment came from Simon (Beautiful Flowers) and the keyboard stamping is by Tim Holtz (Documented).

August 11, 2018

It's Tape


This is made with tape--washi/design tape, whatever you want to call it, placed in strips or torn into pieces and, where there were windows, covered over with tissue paper.

What could possibly have inspired me to do this?! It started with a photo found on the net (thanks, Vintage Everyday).


After printing, I began to cut away sections and then set it away for awhile, not sure where to go with it but I knew collage would be a part of it.


Then along came a prompt from Simon's Monday Challenge Blog where this week's theme was to add some tape to whatever you make.

Okay, so I went a bit overboard but it was an interesting personal challenge and if I ever use this technique again in a more serious way, I did learn how to best manage the properties of the tape (slick surfaces, sealing, etc.).

I won't share them with you as I doubt anyone would ever do something as crazy as this.

August 02, 2018

Colibri de Costa


Wild thing, you make my heart sing...

I have a hummingbird feeder right outside my window that I keep filled year-round. The most frequent visitors are Costas. They are very small (less than 3 inches) and I am amazed how they can survive the extreme temperatures and monsoon storms during this time of year.

So this is the "wild thing" I chose for this week's theme at Simon's Monday Challenge Blog.


I traced the outline from a photograph and used watercolors on a blank watercolor postcard.

The male hummingbird has an iridescent purple gorget (throat patch) that flares out along the sides of the neck like a mustache. I wish I'd had iridescent paint but I could go over it with some Perfect Pearls if I wanted to duplicate this effect.

If you are shy about watercolors, you might be more comfortable working with a small format as I find it easier to manage. All you need is a tiny brush.