Mixed Media Tag for A Vintage Journey Tag Friday

Hello and welcome! Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! I hope you enjoyed a wonderful day full of reflection, family and good food! Because it's the 5th Friday of the month over at A Vintage Journey, where it is indeed already Friday, we toast the occasion with Tag Friday. 

Like fellow Creative Guide Alison always says, my tag has that now you see it, now you don't quality of shimmer. In the photo above, it looks like a big white blob to the right of the embossed leaf image and even some spider web thin lines lining the edge of the gold at the top left. Turned so slightly, it disappears altogether, and the background leaf stamping moves into view in the photo below.

I have no step by step photos as I actually made the bulk of this tag several months ago, when I first received my Tim Holtz Pressed Foliage stamps. Even then, the tag with it's hints of shimmer, came from my stash of mop up tags. So it's pretty much anyone's guess as to what colors went into it, except it's pretty obvious there's Evergreen Bough ink. Here are some closeups to show the detail.

Splatters of Picket Fence paint mingle with the various others colors picked up from leftover inks/oxides from passed projects. 

  The sentiment is stamped in Ground Espresso Archival and clear embossed. I backed the tag with a metallic envelope liner. ( I picked up a pack of these on clearance for pennies at a local craft store). After trimming the metallic paper, I sanded it, blended the edges with Ground Espresso ink and swiped on a bit of White Gold Prima Metallic wax before adhering it to the completed tag.   

I tried many times last night to duplicate the background, so I could make a second tag but I could not duplicate the shimmer with any of my metallic products, and I ended up just making a big muddy mess. So one tag will have to suffice. I suspect there may have been a bit of white gold wax on my mat when I was mopping up the other colors.

So there you have my version of the last Tag Friday of 2019. Be sure to visit the blog to see all the amazing tags my teammates created! Now I can move onto Christmas crafting; I think I may have to make New Year's cards instead.  How about you? Have you completed your Christmas cards? In any event, happy crafting! Hugs! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Country View Challenges November 2019 - Hand Stamped

We Love 2 Create at Polkadoodles Challenge #11 - Anything Goes Mixed Media

Crafty Cardmakers #246 No Patterned Paper

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes

Most Delicate Tag Friday and Tutorial for A Vintage Journey

Hello and welcome! It's time for Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey. This is just a fun feature for the Creative Guides to make a tag using whatever products they wish without any constraints or theme in mind. I hope you will stop over to see all the amazing tags my talented teammates created. But before you head off, I've prepared a simple step by step for you, and following that, some close-up photos to enjoy. 

 Let's get started...

1. Blend Wilted Violet then Aged Mahogany Distress Oxide inks through an old Prima stencil over a black painted wooden tag. While the stencil is still in place spray with Distress Mica Spray. Remove stencil and dry the tag. Sand the edges and apply Hickory Smoke paint to edges.

2. Die cut Ornate Frame from silver Metallic Kraft Stock. Color with Slate alcohol ink, Smolder Alcohol Pearls and a bit of Black Soot paint on edges that will extend beyond the tag.

3. Die cut oval from panel of mixed media paper.  Blend with Weathered Wood, Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord Oxide ink.

4. Emboss oval with Tim Holtz Crackle 3D embossing folder,  colored side facing up, so you are left with a spider web appearance.  Lightly blend the ridges with Black Soot ink. Adhere embossed oval to Ornate Frame and adhere to tag with adhesive foam tape.

5. Die cut bats from Classic Kraft Stock using Bat Crazy Thinlits set. Sand the edges and blend with Twisted Citron Distress Oxide ink. Make eyes with Stickles. Adhere to oval with collage medium.

6. Dye seam binding ribbon with Wilted Violet and Seedless Preserves Oxide and stamp with Ledger Script stamps and Dusty Concord and Hickory Smoke Distress Archival inks.

7.  Color a Halloween Word Token with Black Soot paint, allow to dry a minute and wipe off excess. String with Ideaology Jute String and tie with seam binding to tag.

8. Color a bat charm with Smolder Alcohol pearls and Black Soot paint.

9. Blend a Halloween Clippings sticker with Frayed Burlap ink. Adhere to a bat charm and adhere this to tag with collage medium.

And some close-ups...

I really am enjoying Tim Hotlz' newest 3D embossing folder -- Crackle, to make this spooky background. If you would like some other ways to use this folder, you can visit this Saturday Showcase tutorial.

That's all for me! We always love to see your fun tags that you have been creating and invite you to join the party by linking any tag you have made during the month of August. Just visit the blog and add your link! I hope to see you there! Hugs! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday ‘S’ is For SPOOKY!
Country View Challenges August 2019 - Texture
Scrapy Land Challenge #120 Anything Goes  I used 2 Sizzix dies and a 3rd unknown one (oval die cut given to me by a friend)

These products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:
Sizzix Chapter 3 Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Crackle
Sizzix Chapter 3 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Bat Crazy 
Distress Archival Ink  --Dusty Concord, Hickory Smoke
Distress Paint -- Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Antique Linen
Distress inks -- Black Soot, Frayed Burlap, Ground Espresso
Distress Oxide Pads --Weathered Wood, Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Twisted Citron, Aged Mahogany, Hickory Smoke
Alcohol inks -- Slate,  Smolder Alcohol Pearls
Halloween Clippings Stickers
Rayon Seam Binding
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Jute String

Tim Holtz Professor With Distress Oxide Sprays -- A Mixed Media Tag

Hello and welcome! It's Tag Friday time at A Vintage Journey, and I was happy to play along. It's always fun to make a tag with no theme in mind--just pure play time! And may I add, it's fun to get my hands inky after putting my mixed media supplies aside for this project.

Click on any image to enlarge.

And play I did! I added some of Tim Holtz newest Distress Oxide Spray colors and his The Professor stamps to my crafty stash last month, but haven't had a chance to give them a try.  I used a large manila tag and my favorite 'old' DOX spray colors: Iced Spruce, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain along with a splash of my newest addition--Twisted Citron. You can see in the photo above just how much impact just one  spritz of this color has among the older, more subdued favorites.

The Story Stick is colored with Black Soot paint, Smolder Alcohol Pearls and Caramel alcohol ink and twisted up with some wire from my stash, since something as grungy as this needs a funkie topper.

I wanted to play along in this month's Tim Holtz Addicts Facebook technique challenge-- Rub Resist, so I pulled out some oldie 'Numbers' Remnant Rubs and applied them to the tag before applying the sprays. This tag is really thirsty, and mostly the colors soaked in right away, but in some instances, I was able to spray them with water and chase them around with my heat tool,  giving it this nice grungy look.

 How could you not love The Professor?!  I used Ground Espresso and Faded Jeans Archival ink to stamp him. I wiped off the excess ink from the rubs, then masked the image and stamped the dial from the same set in Faded Jeans. This time, I heat set the ink so that it would set on top of the Remnant Rub. I actually should have done the reverse, since the dial appears to be in the background. Oh, well! It's all just for fun!

I inked up the tape measure stamp with Peeled Paint archival and colored a Quote Chip with Iced Spruce and Vintage Photo spray and edged it with Black Soot Distress Crayon after giving it a sealing coat of Distress Collage Medium Matte.

 That's all for me, but there's plenty more tag inspiration by my talented fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey, so I hope you'll hop over! And then we invite you to play along, too, and link up any tags you've been working on. Thank you for stopping by! Hugs! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Tim Holtz Addicts Facebook technique challenge-- Rub Resist
SANDEE & AMELIE'S MAY STEAMPUNK CHALLENGE - ANYTHING GOES STEAMPUNK/INDUSTRIAL
Simon Says: Stamp Monday Frame It

Products used and available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Jumbo Manila Tags

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous The Professor Stamps

Distress Oxide Sprays

Distress Paint Black Soot

Distress Crayon Black Soot

Distress Archival inks Kit #2

Distress Archival inks Kit #3

Distress Collage Medium Matte

Alcohol ink Caramel

Alcohol Pearls Smolder

Ideaology Remnant Rubs Numbers

Ideaology Quote Chips

Idealology Story Sticks

Good Stuff for Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hello friends! It's that special time at A Vintage Journey when we get free crafty play to make a tag for our Tag Friday feature. 

I was inspired by how beautiful things are starting to look in our yard on these first days of spring, in spite of the hurricane damage from last September. The landscape has changed so much with many  trees missing, and the ones that remain twisted and broken. The fences that have been long overgrown with trees and shrubs are now exposed and are crumpled from the fallen trees. But new growth is emerging, and I see the beauty of God's grace and renewal.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lam. 3:22-23

This was one of my first plays with my new Distress Oxide Sprays, and I really didn't take note of what I was doing. I used Picked Raspberry, and I'm pretty sure that's Cracked Pistachio, even though it appears blue. I like how it turned out, but I'm not a big fan of pink, so I thought of how I could make it more palatable to me with a rusty trellis and a few flicks of watery Rusty Hinge oxide ink.

The Wildflowers Stems and Tattered Butterfly from Tim Holtz are colored with Cracked Pistachio oxide spray with a little Rusty Hinge oxide ink,  brushed straight from the ink pad or watered down and flicked on. The seam binding ribbon was a product of the leftover inks.

The trellis is a die cut I had in my bin that didn't quite cut right. I dabbed on some black metallic texture paste I recently picked up at Tuesday Morning, some Distress Grit Paste and a mix of embossing powders I've had sitting in the embossing powder drawer for a while. I heated all that until it bubbled, and then painted with watery DecoArt Fluid paints -- Q. Gold and Raw Umber, and a drop or two of Caramel alcohol ink. I tore the edges and painted them with Distress Black Soot paint. I brushed the trellis with Prima Sculpture medium, shaped it and allowed it to dry. No matter how I pointed my camera, I couldn't pick up on the dimension of this crumpled rusted 'fence'. I gave the same treatment to the hole reinforcer.

Tim Holtz' Small Talk stickers always have the perfect words.

That's it for me--just a little fun play with my new sprays and some paints. My talented fellow Creative Guides have some wonderful tag inspiration you won't want to miss on the blog. Hope to see you there! Hugs and Blessings! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Play With Paint The trellis and hole reinforcer were colored with paint.

Scrapy Land Challenge #110 Anything Goes I used two Sizzix dies and an old Cherry Lynn die.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes - #380-#381
Let's Craft and Create Challenge #145 - ANYTHING GOES + Option Green Things

Links to products used available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Wildflower Stems #2

Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz Tattered Butterfly 

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Cracked Pistachio

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Picked Raspberry

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Black Soot TDF52937	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap TIM21469	(LATE OCTOBER PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Rusty Hinge	Distress Grit Paste	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDA47933
Prima Art Extravagance: Sculpture Medium - Clear	Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink - Caramel	Rayon Seam Binding

Tag Friday A Vintage Journey

Hello! It's the last Thursday of the month here in the USA, and that means it's Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey! Be sure to visit to see all the amazing tags the rest of the Creative Guides have created.  

One of my favorite newer crafty goodies is Tim Holtz Botanical 3D Texture Fade. I've combined it with Tim's Skeleton Leaves, some older leaf die cuts and flowers from my stash for this super quick tag.  Below are some close ups of that beautiful texture created with the embossing folder.

 Some greens are embossed in gold, although it's hard to tell on this gloomy day. Halloween Collage Paper adds some late fall interest to the background.

 And how about that delicious crackle? A fun way to end  the Autumn crafting. Now I can move onto Christmas! 

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Scrapy Land Challenge #102 Anything Goes  I used three Sizzix dies.
Crafty Cardmakers #223 Anything But a Card
Cropstop November Link Party - # 45
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes
Mixed Media Place November challenge

God Bless America, Land That I Love

Welcome! It's almost the 4th of July in the USA, and it just happens to be one of my favorite holidays. It also happens to be the 5th Friday of the month in the UK, so that means it's Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey. Any time there are 5 Fridays in a month, the Creative Guides get to create a tag with no constraints of themes or products--yippee! If you haven't been over to the blog yet, I urge you to--there are some amazing creative tags created by my talented teamies! You can see another 4th of July card I made here.

I started with a black #8 tag and trimmed out the edges with star themed Industrious Stickers. Some were colored with Heavy Metals and then Distress crayon, and some with just crayon.

I had just trashed a panel I embossed with my new Mechanics 3D Texture Fade. I made it for another project, but absolutely hated it after throwing way too many mixed media products at it. When I saw it laying there on top of the trash, I thought it looked like fireworks, so I found a way to salvage it just for this tag.

I really can't remember what products I originally used on the panel, and now I can't even remember what it looked like. I just know there were embossing powders involved, and I think Distress oxides and crayons.  Anyway, I gave it a couple of thin coats of cheapo gesso and allowed that to dry while I worked out my collage. I actually  started to like it! Thinking it needed some color to tie all the bits together, I swiped the raised areas with Faded Jeans oxide, and I loved it. I cut the panel to size and layered with a downsized Pocket Card, Labels die cut, and Paper Doll. 

I used  one of Tim Holtz' Christmas Cling Foam stamps and Picket Fence ink for the 'fireworks' in the background. Some vintage seam binding, dyed seam binding ribbon, and Jute String, a gift from my good buddie, Autumn remind me of a tattered flag.

I am very proud to be an American and so thankful for this wonderful country and the freedoms we still have. I do pray that God will bless America, this land that I do so love.

Challenge shares:
Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #49 – "Wrap it Up!" I've wrapped my tag's edges in stars! My Paper Doll has a wrap of some sort around her.

Cropstop June Link Party - #40

The Artistic Stamper June's Creative Challenge - Colour it Blue 'Fireworks' stamping in background.

Country View Challenges June 2018 - The Written Word
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes

These products were used on this project and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Industrious Stickers Gallery	Ken Oliver Color Burst 6 Pack Liquid Metals - Heavy Metals (February Pre-Order)	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #9	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926 (February Pre-order)	(MAY PRE-ORDER) Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Mechanics
Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Labels	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Label Letters	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk Occasions	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ruler Pieces	Tim Holtz Ideaology Paper Dolls TH93555
Seam Binding	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Snow Cap Mixative	Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Mirrored Stars	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Marker - Fired Brick	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Faded Jeans
(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Broken China	(JULY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Antique Linen	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Picket Fence (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Antique Linen	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap
Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDAK47933 (February Pre-Order)	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Pocket Cards