Abraham

A mixed-media menagerie is what Tim had in mind for this month's tag using a rub resist technique with dimensional coloring and this is what his post inspired me to create.

I lightly tinted a vintage tag (used for tracking sewing alterations) with shades of fall colors and applied Gilded Alpha remnant rubs and a bit of stenciling.

The photo is an image transfer that I framed with tiny dots of black Scribbles (a 3D fabric paint).

I cut and pasted Abraham's initials from a text stamp and the owl stamp was hand-carved by yours truly. The Adornment Arrow was tinted with Butterscotch alcohol ink to match the gold of the remnant rubs and I used some Small Talk stickers that were a perfect match for the photo.

12 Tags for Christmas - January

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Once again, I've made Christmas tags inspired by the Tim Holtz monthly tags which I use for decorating gifts.

This year's theme of remixing techniques helped me discover more ways to use my stash--holiday style!

The January tag featured a chalkboard/industrious metal combo with a word band.

This was the first time I've ever embossed metal foil (I didn't have die-cut equipment back in January) and it's an interesting effect. I always prefer a matt finish but since sparkles and shine are must haves at Christmas, this technique was really appropriate.

Without frosted embossing powder for the chalkboard technique, I tried to make do by embossing red vellum (bottom flower layer) with white ink and clear powder but the lines were too faint. Then I tried stamping white ink on red cardstock (top layer) which also faded some so I went over the lines with a Gelly Roll pen. What is it about white inks that make them so fussy?!

I combined the layers for a lush flower look and now I wish I had used green vellum for the bottom layer since Poinsettias have that look naturally. Maybe next time.

The rest, I think, is self-explanatory and here's a list of the products I used: Penny Black (Christmas Star), Stampers Anonymous (Christmas Words), Idea-ology paper (Merriment), cardstock, vellum, heat duct tape (metal foil), Sizzix Thinlet die (Mixed Media #2), Distress inks, acrylic paint, Scribbles, Stickles, Glossy Accents, a white Gelly Roll pen, and one tiny pink gumdrop.

Field Notes

Autumn means a second spring here in Phoenix. After the long, dry summer (when plants are in survival-only mode), cooler temps give them an opportunity for another growth spurt before winter sets in.

Trees don't turn colors or lose their leaves but seed pods, so common among many desert-adapted trees, have dried out and begin to fall.

So, when this week's theme at Simon's Monday Challenge Blog was Autumn, I thought to pick up an empty pod on an evening stroll and made a paint box out of it. Crazy? Yes, but you have to admit it's original!