Miss Henrietta Strong

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I always begin a collage by using an image with strong personal appeal and when I stumbled upon the image that inspired this tag, I was awestruck!

I'm not a youngster (I've been around the block a few times, so to speak), but I had no idea that poppy seed heads could, under the right circumstances, dry to reveal such a mesmerizing, skeleton-like structure.

I also liked this image of Miss Henrietta Strong (found here). Her all-white court costume gives her the eerie (and intentional) look of a living porcelain doll.

The butterfly was cut from a magazine and altered by cutting down it's size and adding some white paint. I liked that it's structure resembled that of the poppy seed head.

The background paper is from Idea-ology (Destinations Paper Stash) and the edges were embellished with a 3D paint called Scribbles.

I'll close by sharing a quick tip when working with collage elements that I find quite helpful--it's called encasing.

To protect your paper elements (like Henrietta or the butterfly), it's a good idea to cover the front and back with a clear medium before adding them to your composition. That way, they are protected from later abuse when using image transfers (poppy seed head) or further tinting. It's also much easier to paste down delicate pieces because the medium strengthens them.

My inspiration came from this week's SSS Monday blog challenge where the theme is white and I'm linking it there.

Resting Place

I sometimes think my tags are more like journal pages and I certainly seem to approach them that way. This one is a good example of what I mean.

I wondered what would happen if I used black acrylic paint and my tree stencil (Crafter's Workshop) over a piece of very tiny sheet music (Vintage Finds by Theresa Collins). But the contrast of black and white was pretty stark, so I decided it needed leaves.

I put small drops of three shades of green acrylic paint here and there and covered it with a piece of scrap paper that I pressed down and lifted off. There was too much coverage so I used a sheet of hand sanitizer (don't have baby wipes) to take off most of it.

What if I tried to make it look like the sky was peaking through? Out came a few shades of blue paint that I applied with a brush, feathering a bit with my fingers and wipes.

Next? Birds, of course! So I used black archival ink to stamp them and found book text that seemed appropriate. But the overall design was still just a little monotonous. Then I remembered a tool which I should use more often (the prompt this week at the SSS Monday blog challenge).

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It's a tracing wheel used in sewing to transfer pattern markings to cloth. You run it through paint and then on your surface and it leaves tiny little dots all in a row. It's a technique that was probably invented by Lynn Whipple and I used it here to complete the tag.

So, whether it's a tag or a journal page, it doesn't really matter.

 It began as an experiment, one step led to another, it was satisfying, I had fun, and I learned something along the way. And that is why I do it! (Stamp credit: Stamping Bella)

I'm linking to Craft Horders Anonymous Challenge #10 Spray It! Ink It! Paint It! Smear It! Emboss It!

Cat Bird

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I must credit Julie J. who posted this image from a school reader published in 1896 called Our Little Book for Little Folks. I found the link on Pinterest and it was just what I needed to complete this tag.

It began with this week's theme at Simon's Monday blog challenge where participants were asked to dust-off those craft products that haven't been used in awhile and put them to work.

I was very inspired by Design Team member Andrea Ockey Parr, who used Glossy Accents as a faux resin to create a lovely charm bracelet, and decided to use my bottle of Crackle Accents (provided it hadn't dried up) and one of the first stamps I purchased when I began my journey into paper crafting, a very large flourish from the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz collection. It's one of my favorites and, yes, I really should use it more!

I stamped the flourish on to a page from a old book, used watercolor to fill it in, covered it with Crackle Accents (still good!) and after it dried I knocked-back some of the text with acrylic paint then tinted the background with Faded Jeans, Broken China, and Bundled Sage distress inks. After I found the kitty, he was cut-out and pasted along with some tiny stamped butterflies.

The Crackle Accents helped to pop the stamped image and while the cracks are there, they are very fine and didn't show up in my photograph.

This was another great challenge and a good reminder to revisit some old favorites and give them new life.

I'm also linking to a craft challenge called Try It On Tuesday's where the theme is Just a Tag.