Reorganization

My "studio" is a very small spare bedroom and when I began paper-crafting almost eight years ago I had no idea that, eventually, my stash of products would over-run me. So, a week ago, I began to reorganize and declutter to make things more functional.

My biggest problem was my supplies were spread out everywhere. I needed to sort through it all and put my paper together in one spot, move on to tools and then finally ephemera/embellishments. What a chore this has been but I'm beginning to see real progress and expect to have things right again in a few more days.

One accomplishment has been to renovate my Distress Ink storage container to better fit my shelving. And since my original DIY post is so popular I thought you might like to see the changes I made. The original was taller with two vertical rows--the new one is shorter and has four rows.

I just cut the original in half, glued the two shorter sides together and put a new base on it. The material is easy to modify, you can make it whatever size you need and add on to it later, if need be.

I am really looking forward to creating again once my reorganization is complete and vow to use up the materials more efficiently so I'll never have to do this again! (Famous last words?)

B Original

Tim's tag for August features a die-cut mixed media background.

I attempted to mimic the effect by using his Subway stamp over a scrap from the Destinations paper stash.

I also used his vellum Ephemera--the square in the upper-right corner and the checkered board behind the photo (which is a Found Relative that I cropped and altered just a bit).

Click to Enlarge

Remnant Rubs provided the black text (except the "B") and the Mirrored Star was distressed with a copper and citris alcohol ink combo.

The oval frame is a thin textured metal scrap that I tacked to the tag with hand-stitching.

A bit of machine stitching, some stamping here and there for texture (tiny black squares and splotches) and black ink to distress the tag edges finished it off.

Mariposa

Mexico Moods is the summer challenge at Our Creative Corner and their prompt inspired me to create this tag.

Like my last several blog posts, this one features Souffle Gelly Roll pens. It seems I can't get enough of them and really went overboard this time! They are a bit like paint pens with a fine point and they're very opaque and waterproof.

I began with a black gesso background and stamped/embossed the butterflies and the lettering onto the tag. Next, I traced on a few designs with a pencil and some hand-made stencils.

Then the gelly rolls came out and were used to cover the entire surface with colorful mark making. To modify the values, I did use a glaze of thalo-blue in a few areas (particularly behind the butterflies).

The tag almost has an enameled appearance and makes me think I'd like to try this technique on a copper or gold background to see the result. Since they can be applied on any surface the sky's the limit!