/* */ Beulah Bee

September 07, 2016

Ripper Street


My husband said this Found Relative photo reminds him of the Victorian era detective drama called Ripper Street that he enjoys watching hence the name of my post/tag. One of the main characters wears a Bolo hat so I suspect that's his reason for this connection.

It's my entry for Tim's September tag challenge where he introduced an archival/alcohol ink resist on Yupo. The background text in the close-up above was made using this technique with his Ledger Script stamp.

I've always wanted an easy way to make light text on a dark background and this is a great way to do it--thanks, Tim!


I began by cropping and distressing a Sophisticate cabinet card that I delaminated and pasted to a manila tag. The Found Relative (also delaminated) was cut-out and pasted to the Yupo and then cropped into an oval for mounting on the cabinet card tag.

I used copper and black Scribbles around the oval to create a pseudo-frame along with some Idea-ology ephemera (Thrift Shop) and paper strips (cigar box labels) cut from the Dapper paper stash.


The star was made by altering an Idea-ology Fastener by picking out the original image, painting in the center, applying a Remnant Rub and tinting/distressing the metal edges.


If you're on the fence about adding Yupo to your stash let me say I highly recommend it. It's great for mixed media and I've used it extensively for creating my own stencils because it's thin, easy to cut and very, very durable (see my post here).

In my opinion, the only shortcoming is that since it's actually a plastic you have to use caution with heat guns.

September 01, 2016

Encore


You'd think that I've been blogging long enough to know this--wait awhile before you make something final, don't be in such a hurry to share, make sure it's right first.

Earlier this week, I posted Natasha Returns but she should have stayed put and so I revisited her, made some modifications and brought her back for an encore.

I've recently started using die-cuts and thought I'd try an image transfer over the top but this just didn't look right so I modified this tag by pasting the image over the original transfer and now I am satisfied. Why didn't I do this in the first place?!

August 28, 2016

Timeless Flight


When I browse Pinterest, I'll see an image and next thing you know I'm inspired to make something. That's exactly what happened with this tag. Here's the pin that prompted me to research and find the image I used. Nature never ceases to amaze me and Cithaerias pireta (the Blushing Phantom) is no exception!


I had a vintage tag (used for tracking sewing alterations) and covered it with a strip of gold Idea-ology Deco Tape, Tissue Tape and gold metallic mulberry paper along with some Mixed Media thinlits bricks and Remnant Rubs. I added more sparkle with Fruit Punch Stickles.

The antennae were made by pasting on some black hairs from an old paintbrush and Distress inks were used for tinting.

If you'd like to see a previous creation made with these vintage tags, here's the link. I really like working with them and plan to scout around for similar printed tags to add to my stash.

August 25, 2016

Louella


In the desert, there's no such thing as "a touch of fall in the air" because daytime temps stay in the low 100's until mid-October. So it's not the weather that inspired me to make a tag that looks a bit "Halloween-ish" but it does (I expect it was my color choices).

Perhaps it was just wishful thinking as I've grown tired of the heat and can't wait for winter. Oh how lovely it would be to spend the fall anywhere but here. It's such a lovely time of year.


August 22, 2016

Natasha Returns


Meet Natasha. She has returned for another appearance on my blog (see previous post here). She's an image transfer laid on top of a background made from the bricks Mixed Media Thinlit by Tim Holtz.

There's also a scrap of his Tissue Wrap and the butterflies are a stamp from Prima. A bit of embossed polka dots (Tim's Dots & Florals stamp) and a stitched border that was painted and embellished with black Gelly Roll lines complete the look.


I've recently entered the world of die-cutting and I'm learning as I go. As if I didn't collect enough collage "scraps" already, I've got a feeling this new technique will add to my collection exponentially!

Here's what I know now: Tissue paper over die-cuts can work and look OK but I don't care for the appearance of the image transfer over them and won't do this again in the future.

August 18, 2016

Receipt No. 25


I really like the look of sewing on paper. One artist whose work I greatly admire, Viv (aka Hens Teeth) in Staffordshire, embroiders on vintage envelopes and they are just divine. You can see them here. Her studio is pretty fantastic, too.

Tim Holtz also seems drawn to the look of stitching as several of his monthly tags have featured this technique so it's no surprise that my August tag for the 12 Tags of 2016 has some too.

A Mixed Media Thinlit die-cut, Wallflower paper stash cut-outs (including vellum), some Small Talk stickers and Remnant Rubs were used to complete it.

I wish I'd splattered some flecks of paint here and there as I think it would have been a nice addition. I just didn't have the guts and so I need to work on that.

August 12, 2016

Firm Heart

My local library has an on-going used book sale and periodically (no pun intended), I rescue a few "picture books" to use in my collages and also seek text for phrases that might add interest to my work.


The essence of this tag is composed of those very same elements: The background is a hand-drawn map of an old city and there is text. A Found Relative was framed inside a vintage cardboard box (the sides were trimmed down to keep it in proportion with the tag) and the owl is one of my own hand-carved stamps. It was embellished with black Scribbles, a paper heart covered with dimensional medium and some Remnant Rubs.


I'm linking it to Simon's Monday challenge blog. The theme this week is Try to Contain Yourself (so funny) and participants have been asked to use some sort of container. I know, putting a container on a tag is kind of goofy but I just can't help myself--I like making tags!