A crazy mash up

 

Hi everyone and belated New Year greetings. Here's to a positive year for everyone.

I am over at Paper Artsy tonight - the current blog theme is Mash Up - using stamps from 4 stamps sets. I'd forgotten how challenging this can be. All the details over at PaperArtsy.

Nikki x

Grunge Paste Texture Tag

It is a new challenge at A Vintage Journey today hosted by Amanda - called Tag You're It! Who doesn't love a tag!

Having said that, I made hard work of this and if time had been on my side I would do it all over again! I wasn't sure where I was going and my journey was one of lots of getting lost down side roads before arriving worn out and slightly shabby!!!

I love experimenting which is what I was doing - so now I need to do it again missing out all the extra steps I have tried to cover up!!!

I started with an MDF tag and a light coat of paint before adding Paper Artsy Grunge paste through a stencil at the top and created circles for flowers with the paste. I then used my palette knife to create grasses, also with the grunge paste.

I allowed various colours of paint to dribble over the surface and added some with a brush. The flowers being a different colour. 

Once dry I sanded it all back to reveal the Grunge Paste in white. In order to get a little more focus around the flowers I added pens and crayons and paints (and tried to remove each!) - so it became a little muddy! In the end I added some lines with a black pen and added glossy accents over the flowers - a step I will definitely omit next time!

Nothing wrong with the lovely quote from one of Alison's PaperArtsy stamp sets though! 

Not everything works perfectly but that's how we learn!

Nikki

xxxx

Tag Friday - it's a bright one!

We have a Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey today.  I am still in my bright colour phase, following a couple of Dina Wakley online classes!

This time though I have used the new face stamp from PaperArtsy / France Papillon. I had great fun using these for a recent post for PaperArtsy - and Lilly (as FP calls her) was still on my desk.

You can see details here.

The Dina influence is evident - but great mix and change styles!

The face is stamped on tissue paper, coloured on the reverse before adhering to the loosely painted background on the tag.

I hope everyone is keeping well during these difficult times. As some know I am struggling with the isolation of living alone, working at home and the gym shut. But art remains a great outlet for my frustrations.

Nikki xxx

Tags and Alison Bomber Quotes

Time for another creation over at PaperArtsy this evening - do follow the link to see how I made this and lots more details. Stamps by Alison Bomber and Gwen Lafleur.

Nikki xx

Mixed Media Tag

Just a quick post to share this MDF tag I made. There are more details and photos over on the Lisa Horton Craft blog today.

Excited to be on Lisa's new design team. We are large team covering a range of styles - so I am going to learn alot! For now I have stuck to what I know  - texture and paint!! 

MDF Tag, heart stencil and Ticker Tape stamps - all from Lisa Horton Craft.

Nikki

Dressed for Christmas

Hi there. I have been having a bit of fun making some Christmas Tags for PaperArtsy. I have used non Christmas stamps and tried to 'dress them for Christmas'. All the details over on the PaperArtsy blog.

Nikki

xxxx

Dream It - Create It -Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone! My blog has been quite neglected of late but back today with a project for our Tag Friday post at A Vintage Journey.

I have been struggling with both time and motivation to create recently - which saddens me! Hopefully as the colder months arrive I will find more time and a little creativity.

I started with the background, Seth Apter style - building a few layers - dark then light without worrying too much about what went where as long as some of each layer was showing through. I then took some watercolour card and monoprinted additional layers of colour - this gives the slightly mottled appearance. A little stamping and stencilled circles to finish. All paints were Paper Artsy Chalk paints.

I created a few layers with die cut frames, and some altered patterned paper along with the altered clock face and clock hand - all using Distress paints.

I have no idea where the word stamp came from, but I found it my folder of random stamps and its seemed appropriate for my lacking mojo! I added some camera film and altered some strips of cotton material to finish.

I am sure there will lots of wonderful creations on the Tag Friday post at A Vintage Journey so do head over! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Nikki

Texture Tag for AVJ

Hi everyone.  Today it is one our Tag Friday features at A Vintage Journey.

I have used an MDF tag, allowing me to add lots of texture and paint to the surface. Texture paste was added to the surface through a stencil and texture sand paste around the edges before I painted and highlighted with distress crayons.

A simple design was added with a small rusted Faceted Heart and some of Tim Holtz new Wildflowers.

Both the heart and flower had a little clear crackle added too.

If you havent come from there so pay a visit to A Vintage Journey for some more Tag shaped inspiration!

Nikki

xxx

My Crafting Journey with A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone. We have a new challenge today at A Vintage Journey - hosted by the blog owner Brenda. The topic is 'Let's Celebrate the Journey'. Here is her description:

Join the journey for our Birthday challenge. Include the word or any images that depict a journey or even something that shows a creative journey you are on. Please tell us how your project fits the theme in your blog post and remember to create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

I decided to celebrate my crafting journey by including lots of my favourite tecniques and products! So my tag includes lots of texture, lots of layers. It is blues and browns and mostly features Tim Holtz products - stencils, texture paste. ephemera, Distress Inks and paints, word chips!

I felt a little nostalgic so decided to go back and look at some of the other projects I had done for AVJ since I joined in May 2014 - nearly 5 years ago!!! Here are a few of the most popular:

2014 - a tag trio - original post here

2015 - more tags! - original post here

2017 - My abstract obsession and a bit of journalling - original post here

2017 - layered canvas - original post here

I hope you like my tag and little bit of reflection! Do visit AVJ where there is heaps of inspiration for this challenge - we would love to see your interpretation on Celebrating the Journey.

As this is a bit of a reflective post and my tag has a vintage feel I would like to join in the challenge at Simon Says Stamp (Monday) where the theme is Past Times / Vintage.

Nikki

Tag Friday time!

Hello - it is Friday and a long weekend!

Today we have a Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey - they only come round every 3 months and we do love them.

My tag started as a manila tag but in the end I added it to an MDF base so I could hang it if required. 

The background is Distress Oxides with splodges of watery white gesso, some credit card gesso lines, tissue tape and stamping.

 I die cut the keyhole from greyboard using Tim Holtz Hardware Findings die. I added texture paste and painted with black gesso. Once dry I dry brushed white gesso to catch the texture before adding Deco Art Quinacridone Gold. 

The die cut in the background is also Sizzix - a Pete Hughes one I think? I sponged with brown paint and then gesso for contrast.

Lots more inspiration at AVJ today - and your chance to join in our Tag Fridays...

Nikki

xxx

Make a Wish - black, white and a little sparkle

Hi everyone. Today I am sharing this tag at A Vintage Journey. It is the first Monday of the month so we start our monthly Destination Inspiration posts.

Do head on over to see what my travel bag consisted off and how I used it!

Nikki

x

It's Tag Friday at AVJ

Hello! It is time for Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey. It only happens a few times a year when we have a 5th Friday in the month and we do love our Anything Goes Tag Projects! 

I decided to create some Christmas themed tags and make them into Christmas cards.

This first tag started with a distress ink background before adding versamark through Tim Holtz Snowflakes layering stencil. I then added Mica powder to highlight the flakes and sealed with spray fixative. I die cut some Tim Holtz snowflakes (Bigz - Layering Snowflakes) added silver paint and sprinkled some embossing powder on top and heated.

Tag two was a bit more of an experiment! I started with clear embossing paste through That's Crafty Dinky snowflake stencil. Once dry I used green and red distress paints to create the mottled (messy?) background. I created some splatters on my craft mat with white gesso and lay the now dry tag into it.

The tree is a Tim Holtz die cut I was given (don't know what it is called!). I added copper paint followed by White embossing powder.

The little Happy Christmas tag at the bottom (see top photo) was engraved by me!! My sister engraves and personalises tags, key rings etc and has all the kit to engrave metal - so I got to play!! You can find her shop here if you are interested:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SuzyHackettUK

Nikki 

xxx

Tag Friday with exciting new stamps

Welcome to the first of two posts here at Addicted to Art today - both featuring the brand NEW stamps by Alison Bomber. These fabulous quote stamps were launched 2 days ago by PaperArtsy. Pop back at 7pm UK time today for my PaperArtsy post.

My tag today is for Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey - we do love our tag Fridays - so hop over for a no theme tag fest of creativity!

I have used one of Alison's quotes from her Darkness and Light set (EAB02) so I decided to introduce a little dark and light into my tag. In art tonal value is very important to composition and design. When using a lot of colour I find it difficult to see the tone very well so sometimes convert a photo digitally to black and white to help see it. Although when using just white / yellow and black it isn't too difficult!

I started with a layer of  PaperArtsy Fresco paint in Little Black Dress and then sponged PA Chalk and finally Mustard Seed Distress paint to the central portion.

I sponged Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Stone) with the same black paint and stamped it onto the tag. I then used the stencil more traditionally and added a few white highlights through it.

I also re-added a little of the black around the edges before trimming all sides and distressing with scissors. Mustard Seed was added to highlight the very edges of my top tag.

This was adhered to another tag that had also been sponged in black around the edges.

I sponged some additional card stock with black (and then white) and stamped and embossed the quote before cutting out the words.

The Mini Detailed Butterflies were die cut in black card - versamark added and clear embossed for a little shine and texture.

I hope you love Alison's stamps as much as I do and will pop back later to see a couple more designs.

Nikki

xxx

Motivation 3 - in pink!

Time for my weekly post to redirect you to That's Crafty where I am sharing a That's Crafty! MDF Tag featuring Tim Holtz Motivation 3 stamp set.

Nikki

x

Crackle and Distress Crayons for Tag Friday

We are having a Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey - yay! This happens when there are 5 Friday's in the month and we each share an anything goes tag

. 

This is a No 8 MDF tag from That's Crafty - a great surface to work on. I started with a coat of grey paint - chalk paint (white and black mixed together). I then stencilled the squares in white  - bold in places, more subtle in others - using a sponge. Once this was dry I added washes of Mahogany and Terracotta Paper Artsy paint. There is a little background stamping before the bolder wildflowers were stamped in black archival.

For my little house I gessoed and then dry embossed the card with a bricks embossing folder before swiping archival ink over the surface to catch the texture. I saw a project by Anna - Karin (Layers of Ink) recently that I loved where she used the Distress Collage medium - Crazing and distress crayons on Tim's Tiny Houses - you can see her post here.

I took inspiration from this and covered by house in the crazing medium and let it dry. I then added various distress crayon colours and worked into the cracks. I added brown paint around the edge.

I embellished the project with a flower made from Tim H - mini tattered florals, some of the wonderful new design tape and some die cut wildflowers.

Nikki

xxx

Motivational distress ink tag

Hello! Today we have a new challenge at That's Crafty - the theme being 'Just Words'. You are invited to make the words the focus of your project. As always there is a chance to win a £20 voucher to spend at That's Crafty - yay!

It seemed a great opportunity to reach for my new Tim Holtz stamp set - Motivation 3. This is it's second outing for me - if you missed the card I made last week, you can see it here.

I started my tag with blue distress inks ( a mixture) and lay my Tim Holtz Hearts stencil over it, spritzed with water and mopped of the ink and water with kitchen towel. I also added background stamping.

I inked up another bit of card with yellows and greens and stamped the motivation stamp in archival ink.

At this point I couldnt think how to embellish my tag! No ideas - lol. I went to Pinterest - to my Tim Holtz board and Tag board for inspiration. I found a tag from 2014 that I loved and added the stars and arrow. I didn't realise at first but the tag was by Alison Bomber (Words and Pictures) and was actually a Tim Tag from that year.

Here are the links to Alison's post and the Artistic Outpost post with the originals!

Oh yes - I painted the chipboard stars by randomly dabbing with coordinating colours of distress paints.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nikki xxx

Wildflower Tag Friday

 

It has been a busy old month here at Addicted to Art - lots of projects and posts (for me anyway!). As the month draws to a close it is Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey.

My tag began with a bit of PaperArtsy Chalk paint that was left on my craft mat - which I painted in patches on the tag and let dry. I then added some distress stains and a little water.

Love the effect this gives! 

Next I did some random stenciling and stamping to add extra depth and interest to the background. I also had some Wildflower die cuts on the desk so added some distress paints and as I wanted them to be quite solid added some gel paste.

I later added a little more colour when they were dry. To make them pop a little more on the similar toned tag I tore some book pages - added a little white paint and some distress ink. Some dyed white string and a hashtag saying completed my tag.

If you have time pay a visit to A Vintage Journey today for lots more Tag inspiration.

Nikki

xxx