Science Guy

Made to link-up with Tim's 12 Tags for 2016, this is the 41st tag I've made for the year not counting all the boo-boo's that ended up in the trash (Halloween pun intended).

It's a little plain Jane, especially for Halloween, but I lean towards "less is more" (perhaps just an excuse for not knowing what to do next). However this time, I did summon the courage to add some tiny black splatters and for me that's a step in the right direction.

Tim's technique started with a collage background of paper bits then a covering of crackle medium. I discovered first-hand that a thin application yields tiny cracks (background) and laying it down thick on the frame/tag borders (I used a fine-tip squeeze bottle) changed the look completely.

(Click on photos for a larger view.)

Obviously, my "Science Guy" isn't one of Tim's metallic monster masks but you have to admit this photo is just as bizarre. We can only assume this gent may have been a little impoverished (note the clever way he's buttoned his jacket) and I have no idea what he's cooking but it looks a bit suspect to me.

I used the skull from Tim's Mini Halloween Set #5 and also one of his Vellum Ephemera pieces painted off-white on the back and then distressed by sanding, wrinkling and inking.

To fill in the empty spaces, I mixed some texture medium with paint to match the shade of the medicine label and applied it through Tim's Dot Fade stencil before splattering the tag with watered-down black paint.

Triplets

Identical triplets are extremely rare and so, I suppose, are purple tree trunks. But who cares--anything goes on Halloween, right?

I stamped and embossed the trees (Inkadinkado) to create a resist for the Distress ink sky then ironed off the embossing (see my tutorial here). The moon was made with a mask. The text was stamped (Tim's Mini Halloween #5).

I wanted the house (also Mini Halloween) flipped from right to left so I stamped it on Plain Tissue Wrap, turned it over, painted the backside off-white, cut it out and pasted the painted side down. You lose some of the crisp image with this method but I think the softer, lighter look works here.

I needed something in the foreground so more tissue wrap was used, this time stamped with a crackle image in brown archival ink and tinted with distress.

I cropped Tim's Gothic Gate thinlet die to fit my tag (and support the composition) then darkened the gray paper with black Distress.

The triplets were laser-printed in a very small size, cut-out and pasted down. Do they remind you of that hallway scene in the movie The Shining? I guess that's the look I was going for. Anyhow, some shadows were added and I decided to mount the tag on black paper and add some dots of Stickles around the edge.

I'm linking this to Simon's Monday Challenge blog where this week's theme is Halloween.

Wicked Dare.

The older I get, the less enthusiastic I am about celebrating Halloween but I've made an exception this year because of the purchase of a seasonal stamp set I just couldn't resist.

He had me at the house (used here).

I'm referring to the Tim Holtz Mini Halloween Set #5 used on this tag to create the background, skull, bottle label, and typewritten text.

I have to admit making spooky tags is pretty fun--it's a chance to use unusual color combos and the more distressed the better, right?

I like the effect I achieved on the bottles which might be due to the clean, crisp, blue-ish white colors contrasting with the muddy oranges and browns.

Click to Enlarge

If you're curious regarding technique, here's what I did:

A piece of scrapbook paper with various shades of orange, reds and yellows was cut and pasted to a manila tag then covered with stamped Plain Tissue Wrap.

An anchor for the bottles was made with a torn piece of Postale Tissue Wrap.

The bottles were stamped on old book paper, then embossed, cut-out, tinted and pasted to the tag.

There's only one way to use the skull stamp (IMHO)--black ink on white paper. It was also embossed and cut-out.

I used a Vial Label that was stamped with text from the set and cut out parts of the apothecary label stamp (also on Tissue Wrap) and pasted them to the large bottle.

The 45-cent piece Vellum Thift Shop Ephemera was distressed with some sanding and scoring and attached with tiny staples.

You may have noticed the crackle edges. This was done with Distress Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint and I rubbed in some white creamy eye shadow (yes, it's true) to bring out the crackling.

I accidentally overheated the black embossing on the smaller bottles and they turned a lighter shade of gray so I used it to my advantage and tinted them further with a bit of blue.

To create an illusion of depth, I glazed the top portion of the tag with blue, brought out warmth at the bottom with some Wild Honey Distress and brushed in some inky shadows.

I am linking to Simon's Monday Challenge Blog where this week's theme is Powder Power.

Other Stamp Credits: Big Bottle-Inkadinkado, Small Bottles-PaperArtsy