No. 214580 - Special Edition

A friend recently asked how I do image transfers so I thought I'd share a simple step-out today in case others are curious too.

(Click on the photos to see a larger version with the lightbox feature.)

I begin with a photocopy or laser printer (toner-based) copy that I crop to the size I need after reversing it (the Photoshop command is Image-Rotate-Flip Horizontal).

Why reverse it? I may not need or want to but it will be essential if there's text otherwise, it will be reversed and unreadable. Pay attention to the direction Mona is facing as I work through this example and you'll see what I mean.

With a paintbrush, I completely cover the front of the image with an even layer of polymer medium making sure to work all the way to the edges. If an area's not covered--it won't transfer.

I flip the image and place the wet side face down on my support (in this case, a Journal Ticket). I gently press and smooth the image down with my fingers to remove any air bubbles. If there's an air bubble--it won't transfer.

I have to work quickly so the medium doesn't dry before I place it on the support. If it doesn't dry--it won't transfer.

Also, I try not to get any medium on the backside of the image but don't worry if I do--it just makes it a little more difficult to remove later.

If a lot of medium oozes out from the edges then I'm pressing too hard or I used too much medium. Blot up what you can.  No worries, my image will still transfer and I'll know better next time.

I let it completely air dry which, in this case, only took about ten minutes due to the small size. In the past, I've rushed drying with a heat tool which can cause the paper to bubble and if there's a bubble... (you know the drill).

Now comes the fun of rubbing the paper away to reveal the image.

I add a small pool of water on my craft sheet then use my finger to spread it over the back of the photo. I let it soak a bit then begin to gently rub the paper away.

I avoid getting water on the ticket border or rubbing it since it's not protected with medium and I could damage it. Using small amounts of water in a controlled fashion is best--I don't want to rush this part.

I just keep adding a little water and rubbing away all the white bits and it doesn't take long before the magic is revealed.

The edges are the most delicate so I use careful, gentle rubbing in those areas. In spite of my caution, it's not uncommon to lose tiny bits and I don't mind because it adds a distressed appearance.

Notice how Mona is facing the opposite direction? Hopefully, you now understand why sometimes a reversed image matters. In this example, it was important to honor the direction Leonardo originally intended.

I hope you enjoyed this step-out and that you'll give it a try. I think image transfers are a terrific technique to use on mixed media projects.

You can check out other projects I've posted here on my blog that were made with image transfers if you need some inspiration!

No. 526714

Tickets is this week's theme at the SSS Monday blog challenge. So I made another entry because I wanted to try an image transfer on a Journal Ticket.

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The background paper is from the Correspondence Paper Stash and I used my current, most favorite craft stash--Remnant Rubs.

The local big box only carries one kind and they're always out of them so I will order more online which is my reward (which I think I deserve) for cleaning up the craft room. Yeah!

No. 214577

Gosh it's good to be back making and creating after a marathon clean-up of my craft room. Even with minor rearrangements, the room feels a bit strange and I hope I remember where I put everything!

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I made this tag to link up with Simon's Monday blog challenge. This week's theme is tickets.

Most everyone on the Design Team admitted to having lots of them in their stash and surprisingly, so did I. This tag features an Idea-ology Journal Ticket.

Nothing extraordinary here in the way of technique--just good old Distress Ink, a fussy-cut stamped flower and one of Tim's Photo Booth images along with some Remant Rubs, fabric scrap and buttons.

I love the challenge of making new things look old/vintage and this tag was all about that. I'm not afraid to use sandpaper or water on paper to get the right effect and that's just what I used to grunge up this ticket.

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).

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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!

Cecil

Cecil's death this month made us more aware of lions on the brink of extinction so perhaps some good will come from this senseless killing.

I've made this tag to honor him and hope you'll visit Lion Aid's facebook page if you'd like more information on what can be done to save them.

I began with a page from a very old cookbook (copyright 1887) pasted to the front of a manila tag.

The paper is so old it crumbles so a layer of acrylic medium was used to stabilize it.

An image transfer of Cecil was applied and features his distinctive black mane (which was his trademark).

I stamped the wing/crown image (Tim Holtz) on a scrap of tissue paper then embellished it with gel pens and colored pencils.

There's a strip of washi tape behind the Industrious sticker frame and a glaze of paint and Graphitint pencils added background color.

I'm linking to Simon's Monday blog challenge where this week's theme is no ordinary paper.

Ikat

i·kat  ˈēkät  /  noun

fabric made using an Indonesian decorative technique in which warp or weft threads, or both, are tie-dyed before weaving.


Beginning with a Distress-stained background (Tumbled Glass), I stamped damask-like patterns in Iced Spruce then drew many fine lines using gelly roll pens to imitate ikat fabric.

The girls were added via an image transfer but their faces got lost so I cut-out new ones and pasted them over the transfer.

I distressed the tag edges with a black Fude Ball pen along with some tiny stamped text and added a shadow beneath the girls with a colored pencil.

Credit for my inspiration comes from Simon's Monday blog challenge where this week's theme is the letter i.

Pronouns

My take on Simon's Monday blog challenge?

First-person singular pronouns, of course!

The letter i is this week's theme and yes, it made me think of them.

I altered a favorite image (previously used here) which I think may be of triplet sisters.

Their expressions are so serious, their outfits so plain and my, such severe hair-do's!

It was time to lighten the mood.

Myself went crazy with new Souffle Gelly Roll pens and there's a scrap from the Wallflower paper stash along the bottom.

Me thought the word amusement was a good fit.

The bird cage is a stamp from Tim's Tiny Things set.

I also used a strip of Industrious Stickers but they are hard to recognize since me covered them with Gelly inks.

(Scroll down to see the tag in full view.)

Renegades

The joy of play and uninhibited creative expression is the reward for keeping an art journal. The pages are not meant to be "works of art." Instead, the freedom to explore (and learn) elevates it to a much higher plane and the confidence gained may carry-over to more serious pieces. So I say, get busy and be a renegade!

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A new set of Gelly Roll pens, exposure to a couple of technique videos and a cool new song by X Ambassadors called Renegades fed my inspiration for this journal page spread.

First, the technique videos merit reference in case you want to watch. One is by Piarom (blog link, video link) and the other is by Jeanne Oliver (video link, requires creating a login to view).

Both artists use figures cut from magazine pages which they transform in different ways. Mine didn't go in quite the same direction but their videos did inspire me to try.

I also used some other magazine scraps along with paint pens, colored pencils, stencils, a Tim Holtz scroll stamp and some of his tissue paper.

I'll close by saying that I love, love, love my new Gelly Rolls (called Souffle). They write over anything including fluid mediums and waxy colored pencils and are waterproof. So useful!

I think I'll link this to Simon's Monday blog challenge - this week's theme is anything goes (mine will be entry #521 - whew!).

Papillon

I splurged this week and bought a set of Gelly Roll pens and experimented with them on this tag.  They are called "Souffle" because they're pastel-colored and can be applied thickly for a 3D effect. They write on anything, including acrylic mediums, which is a big deal for me.

I began by distressing my tag with inks and paints then applied an image transfer to create the background and also added some stamping of grass near the bottom. I fussy-cut the girls (inking the edges with a Pitt pen) and pasted them on top.

I played around with the gellies to add color directly to the surface and also by diluting with a water brush. They are very opaque and also waterproof when dry. So, where I felt there was too much color, I used an Exacto knife to scrap bits of it away. In some areas, subtle color changes were made with colored pencils.

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This isn't the best example for illustrating how the new pens can be used but I'm very happy to have them in my arsenal of supplies and know you'll see lots more of them in future work. Stayed tuned ;)

I'm linking to Simon where this week's theme is anything goes.

Merriment

Torn scraps of pasted papers left-over from other projects became the background for this tag along with tints from acrylic paint, colored pencils and walnut ink-stained edges. The lady and flower are image transfers and I used a stencil to break-up the background with just a few tiny squares.

I painted the area just behind the lady's face with off-white paint before transferring the image to keep the background from showing through this transparent layer.

Here is Now

An image transfer on an old postcard is the main feature of this collage tag which I embellished with a tiny figure, some Remnant Rubs and stenciled dots.

The bottom border was cut from the back of a Found Relative photo. The tag was tinted with colored pencils and the edges were distressed and dotted with a Gelly Roll pen.

I made it for linking to Simon where this week's theme is coffee or tea.

The Fourth

Tim's July tag celebrates Independence Day and what better way to spend the holiday than to play along? I haven't any blue print stamps but except for the postage stamp and typed text, everything else here is Idea-ology.

The boys are from the Occasions photo pack, the red papers are from the Merriment paper stash, the blue is from Correspondence and the snippet of the word "July" came from Lost and Found.

The "Credo" stamp is a US commemorative from 1960 which depicts a quote from Francis Scott Key:

And this be our Motto, in GOD is our TRUST.

"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" are words from the Declaration of Independence and our reason for celebrating today. 

Happy 4th of July!

Swimming

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The daytime temps here in the desert have been hovering between 105 and 110 degrees for the last three weeks.

So, the only way to get outside and stave-off cabin fever is to find a swimming pool!

You have to park your flip-flops right at the pool edge because the ground gets so hot you can't walk barefoot.

I'm posting this journal page to celebrate a favorite summer pastime which was prompted by this week's theme at Simon Says Stamp.

The ladies are an image transfer and I used a variety of stamps, stencils, acrylic paint, colored pencils and ink pens to make it. My hubby calls my hobby "coloring" and the term really applies here because I did feel the joy of creating like a kid with this one.

I inscribed the words from a song by Loudon Wainwright III called "The Swimming Song" to decorate my pages and thought I'd post the lyrics below since you can't read them too well in the photos.

This summer I went swimming, 
This summer I might have drowned 
But I held my breath and I kicked my feet and I moved my arms around, I moved my arms around. 

This summer I swam in the ocean, 
And I swam in a swimming pool, 
Salt my wounds, chlorine my eyes, 
I'm a self-destructive fool.

This summer I swam in a public place and a reservoir, to boot, at the latter I was informal, at the former I wore my suit, I wore my swimming suit. 

This summer I did the backstroke 

And you know that's not all 

I did the breast stroke and the butterfly 

And the old Australian crawl, the old Australian crawl. 

This summer I did swan dives 

And jackknifes for you all 

And once when you weren't looking 

I did a cannonball, I did a cannonball.

Celebrate!

Finally, a reason to celebrate! What's the occasion? No, it's not a birthday. Instead, it's the fun of using a favorite image from the Occasions Found Relatives photo pack to make this card.

It all started with Simon's Monday blog challenge where this week's theme is stamp and mist.  I'm not a big fan of the spray inks mainly because my workspace just won't accommodate the messiness so I used an eye dropper and made splatters on a black background with diluted white paint instead.

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It kind of looked like a party so I grabbed this very appropriate photo. It took a while to fussy-cut but the job was made easier by peeling off the backing so it wasn't as thick. I stamped the border and sentiment and added some dots.

Check out this close-up--the kid was caught making a grab for cake (his expression doesn't fool me).

View Finder

I misplaced a very useful, home-made tool today and had to make another one. I thought I'd share the idea as you may find it useful too!

I call it a view finder and in the example above, I've placed it over a paper with a random design to see what might look best and where I should cut it.

It's made from a transparent sheet of plastic (I used a printer transparency but clear plastic packaging would also work).

I drew lines on the plastic in the exact dimensions of my tag with a permanent marker.

But it could be any size.

Maybe you make a lot of 4" x 6" cards or work with a particular size of canvas panel.

Just draw lines for the dimensions you need.

I find having a neutral border really helpful so I place masking tape around the edges next to the lines.

Scrapbook papers with many design areas can make deciding what section to use a bit difficult.

So I just use my handy-dandy view finder and play around with all the possibilities and, when I find the right spot, I know just where to cut.

Besides framing the view, this tool is good for holding small bits in place while you make up your mind where to place them permanently.

I'd love to hear from you if you decide to make one--let me know what you think!

Observations

Do you ever have this nagging feeling that you want to be creative amd make something but you just can't get started, you don't know what to do and you lack direction?

That's been my dilemma lately, it appears my muse has taken a vacation and some say when that happens, the best thing you can do is just show up and begin without her.

So I hoped that making this tag (an exercise in image transfer) would help and I suppose it did.

My paying job was always fraught with pressure and deadlines and some say they work better under these conditions. It's hard to accept but I think this may also be true for me.

Lady Huron

Liquitex light modeling paste, Distress clear rock candy crackle paint and shiny black Scribbles were the mediums used to link this tag to Simon's Monday blog challenge where this week's theme is cleverly named don't cut, just paste.

I haven't combined a paste layer with crackle medium before but it worked out well here because it created a uniformly flat surface for pasting on collage elements.

Let me explain.

First, I took a plain manila tag and covered it with several layers of victorian velvet Distress stain to get a rich, dark background.

Then I used a Prima damask stencil and modeling paste which absorbed some of the stain, tinting it to a lighter shade of pink.

Next came the crackle paint which I applied with a palette knife. It settled into the recessed areas of the damask at a perfect thickness for crackling and was enhanced by working in thinned-out white acrylic paint after it dried.

The banner was cut from scrapbook paper and distressed to match the photo. The black, dimensional dots applied to the photo and tag borders were applied using a 3D paint called Scribbles.

Why Lady Huron? She was named in honor of new music I listened to while making this tag. The CD, titled Strange Trails, by a group called Lord Huron was very inspirational and I had to give due credit!

Happy Day

I never realized how much I love
(and miss) plants until I moved
to the desert.

I know I've said it before
but I'll say it again.

I miss green.
I miss my garden, I miss grass.
I miss Spring and Fall.

Living where it never gets cold
was not a good trade and,
if I could, I would move
in a heartbeat.


But for now, I will embrace my cactus (avoiding the thorns) and make art to channel my passion for all things green. Since Simon's Monday blog challenge this week is for the love of plants, I've created this tag to celebrate.

It was an opportunity to use a stamp set I just found at a local rummage sale (without its packaging so I can't credit the maker) and an unusual technique which you may want to try.

I began by stamping and clear embossing the images on a plain manila tag then staining it (liberally) with Distress.

After removing the embossing with an iron and some newsprint (see resist technique step-out and links to tutorials here), I colored the designs with gel pens and a water brush.

I've posted about this painterly process before, here's the link.

I think the stamp design worked well with this technique and it has a kind of batik-like appearance. It was fun to try and I did end up having a happy day making it. My inner-crank about all things desert has disappeared (for now). Thanks Simon!

Royalty

One of my favorite pursuits in childhood was playing dress-up. Grandmother gave my three sisters and I many gowns and high-heeled shoes to play with and there was no end to the performances we would put on. The backyard picnic table was our stage.

Those are the memories inspired by the making of this tag which I'm linking to the Monday blog challenge at Simon where this week's theme is royal.

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An altered photo and a bit of stamping on a background from the Wallflower paper stash is how I put this one together.

The tint came from colored pencils but I also used a touch of white from a Gelly Roll pen and a bit of Distress ink.

The hardest part?

Making a teeny-tiny crown for the kitty cat!

Tea Zen

The day I discovered the Irish Breakfast variety and learned to add a spot of cream to it, was the day I fell in love with tea. Mind you, I still take in my two or three cups of Joe every morning but there's something about an afternoon tea break that's every bit as satisfying.

So here's my tribute to favorite beverages inspired by this month's 12 Tags of 2015 by Tim Holtz.

The stripes on the bottom-half were created with a hand-made stamp and acrylic paint.

The top half was stamped with an image from Stampers Anonymous called Math Border using Ranger's cobalt archival ink.

The paper bits were cut from Tim's new paper release called Correspondence.

The tiny teacup is another Tim Holtz stamp from a set called Tiny Things that was cut from paper along with a teapot (maker unknown) and tinted with Distress inks.

I used Picket Fence Distress stain to lighten-up several areas and created shadows with a colored pencil.

I added a bit of burlap ribbon for accent along with some Remant Rubs text and used a white Gelly Roll pen to bring out highlights on the flower in the foreground.

I tried to create a sense of depth by using larger images in the foreground along with light and dark colors (value) and diagonal stripes. This bit of "fooling the eye" is a challenge I really enjoy. Along with my favorite hot beverages, of course!