Artist Trading Cards

Prompted by Simon's "Artist Trading Card" challenge, may I present this trio made with an image transfer on kraft card stock using the sample ad for the Tim Holtz "Groups" Found Relatives as the background.

The next layer is white heat-embossed stamping (Tim Holtz Mail Art stamp set) along with some Tim Holtz Photobooth pics.

My stock of colored embossing powders is limited so I used permanent inks to tint/tone-down some of the stark white and also used a few strips of Tim Holtz Design Tapes. I painted on the white border.

I don't make many trading cards but if you'd like to see a few more, here's a link. 

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Be Good

Underneath the many layers of tints, texture paste and crackle medium is a mixed media die-cut (Tim Holtz) fashioned from brown card stock.

The frame is a Spellbinders die-cut covered with dimensional paint (Scribbles) which was also used on the large text (an image transfer).

Inside the frame is a Photobooth image (Tim Holtz), I used dots of Scribbles and Stickles (glitter glue) for bling and a strip of washi tape to balance out the intentional off-center placement of frame and text.

It will be easy to link-up with Simon's Monday challenge this week as I work through more of my holiday tags. The theme is "Let's Sparkle" and I've never made a Christmas tag EVER without using glitter--it just wouldn't be Christmas without it!

Absolutely Unique

A collection of Photobooth pics (Tim Holtz) pasted on hardboard, embellished with colored and printed/stamped tissue paper and typewriter text becomes an homage for a quirky quote.

There is confusion over the attribution but some would say Margaret Mead.

It's my entry for this week's Monday challenge at Simon--the theme is vintage/past times.

Grateful and Happy

Grateful and Happy, the names given to the last two projects I completed for CHA 2016, describe perfectly just how I felt about being asked to contribute. They were assembled on the new Idea-ology Mini Clipboards which are a great size and so much fun to decorate.

The first one features a Watch Cameo that comes with it's own glossy epoxy sticker cover for mounting an image (I used a Found Relative). Other new elements include Plain Tissue Wrap, Mirrored Hearts and Gilded Accents Remnant Rubs along with some old favorites like Chit Chat stickers, Crinkle Ribbon, a Nature Adornment and paper from the Wallflower stash.

I used tiny drops of Liquid Pearls (Ranger) around the edge of the clipboard for some extra bling.

The second clipboard was made by covering it with Wallflower paper (the clip has screws that allow for easy removal) and then attaching a new Vignette Panel on top which served as a support for my assemblage.

The panel is made from wood so I used some whiting to distress and lighten it then sanded it down to expose the grain.

A Flash Card, an image from the Photobooth collection, a Nature Adornment, some Remnant Rubs and paper from the Wallflower stash all went together so easily to complete it.

I hope I've inspired you with my projects, I sure had fun making them! If you missed my other CHA 2016 posts and would like to see them, here's a link.

Devil or Angel?

My entry for Tim's May tag features a snapshot from the Idea-ology Photobooth strips along with pieces from the vellum Expedition ephemera pack, a metal number brad and the School House stencil.

I thought I'd share a few tidbits regarding my distress techniques rather than provide a step-out since Tim's got that covered.

Click to Enlarge

I distressed the photo by peeling off the back so it would be thin enough to scrunch then flattened it out, pasted the backing back on and inked the edges.

A liberal amount of water was used with red brick and iced spruce to tint the texture paste and background. Naturally, the tag warped a bit so I flattened it out with some heavy books overnight.

There's adhesive-backed metallic mesh behind the photo and I used text rub-on's for the question marks. I also wanted the hole reinforcement on the tag to show so I cut my background papers around it.

I used a typewriter for the text on the shield. To insert it into the machine, I used washi tape to temporarily fix it to a larger piece of paper.

I distressed the shield with sand paper and tinted the edges with colored pencils.

I removed the tabs from the number brad then flattened it out with a rubber mallet. I darkened the numbers a bit with a fine permanent marker.

To tone down the color of the arrow which was originally a very bright orange-red, I used a colored pencil in a complementary color, blue-green (which is opposite orange on the color wheel).

This is a good trick to become familiar with when going for a distressed look because adding a color's complement is a proven way to tone down the original hue by reducing it's intensity.

To paste the arrow, I marked off where it would be then scraped away the stenciled letters underneath so it would lay flat on the background.


Well, I think that's everything and once again, I enjoyed the challenge of this month's tag.  Tim sure did pull out all the stops this month and I hope you are inspired to create something too!