Winged Heart Tag

Hi lovely readers, it's Brenda here with a mixed media tag for you today. I really enjoyed making this as my first team project for 2019.

I focused on the background first with three layers of gesso to build texture and used glazing medium with paint to create the grey layer. Of course next came some quinacridone gold and paynes grey and some stencilling.

I love to create mostly with a focus on using timeworn, vintage, mixed media and collage on my projects. I gathered some bits and pieces to build up a collage band to sit across the tag .....

 

.... and I used one of Andy's stamps to create my focal element.

  

I finished off with the specimen number as I felt it needed a little more balance to the left hand side.

I have a step out at Bumblebees and Butterflies if you's like to see the process of how I built up the layers and textures.

Happy New Year to you all and thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Supplies

 
Andy Skinner - Stencil - French Elements

Andy Skinner - Stamps - Handle With Care and Skuldoggery

DecoArt - Media white gesso, Americana glazing medium, Media white modeling paste

DecoArt Media fluid acrylics - dark grey value 3, quinacridone gold, paynes grey

 

Tando Creative - Size 8 greyboard tag

A walk On the Dark Side Of Life

Stamps Used:

Skuldoggery, Birds and Bones and Unexplained by Stampendous

Spook By Illusionary Artists

Fossil Stencil By Decoart

Morning all, Mark here an I have a couple of quick and easy tags to share today where I have mainly been playing with some of Andy's stamps.

I have used a couple of Mdf tags and applied some patterned papers I had made using my Gel Plate and Decoart Media Fluids along with some of Andy's stencils.

For the skull tag I used a back ground paper where I have used Andy's Fossil stencil, It put me in mind of some tie dye fabric and with the skull it felt very Grateful Dead and psychedelic. 

The Devil tag was layered stamping, the bird skull was stamped with an orange archival ink and the devil himself was colored in with a red Copic marker.

   The bird skull was a charm I picked up at a craft fair and was aged using some Decoart Antiquing cream.

Thanks for stopping by.x Head back soon to see something new from the DT x

'Dead Stylish' Tag

Hi all,

A quick post to show a fun tag I've created using some of Andy's new stamps from the Illusionary Artists 'Spook' set. 

I used DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics on the stamped images, and several Metallics on the background and part of the crown and strap. 

The background is a Tando Creative greyboard tag. This I split into 4 layers (details on my blog) to make the tag a bit thinner, then I embossed it with Andy's Starburst stencil before decorating. Products used are in the pic below.  

 I used a pyrography tool to singe the edges and add the dimples.

Little tip here, the Spook stamp set also gives you a FULL alphabet to play with (it's the Ouija stamp!) and that's what I've stamped, embossed with Stampendous Black Pearl Lustre embossing powder, coloured with paint washes and cut out to create the words. Having snipped out the letters I glued them onto a background I had painted with the red. Then the shrink plastic sign and wire were added to finish it off. More details on my blog. Thanks for looking! Suz x

Picture of products used - though forgive the stencil being in the wrong packet - it's called Sunburst not Tornado!

Click HERE to visit the store

DecoArt products used:

Media Fluid Acrylics: Cobalt Teal, Titan Buff, Pyrol Red Quinacrydone Gold, Paynes Grey

Dazzling Metallics and Extreme Sheen: Copper, Splendid Gold, Zink, Tin, Iced Espresso

Andy's products used:

Spook Stamp Set and Sunburst Stencil

Tando Products used:
Greyboard Tag

From my general supplies I also used Archival and Versamark ink pads, jewellery wire, shrink plastic, cosmic shimmer glue a hole punch and the pyrography tool.

Vintage Heart Tag - Brenda Brown

Andy's stamps have really been inspiring me to make all sorts of projects and today I am sharing a little tag from one of his new kits from Tando Creative called Tagtastic 2. For this one I went back to my roots and created in a vintage style.

I worked in my usual layers to create the background hic includes gesso mixed with silver and brayered on to start me off and one of Andy's texture stamps from the Textures set.

The heart ended up with this patina look having been run through an embossing folder, daubed with media acrylic paints, sanded and then dribbled with quinacridone gold to finish it off.

You can see where I added some crackle paste through a stencil before ......

.... adding a rusty wire loop to hang the heart over the decorated brad.

A vintage photo and just a smattering of timeworn elements with a quote word finished it off.

It was lovely to return to a real vintage look for this project and if you'd like to see more of the process and photos there are some over at Bumblebees and Butterflies if you have a moment.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda


Click the links in the post above to be taken to the retail stores for products.

Tagtastic 2 Kit - Valentine Heart

Hi Everyone, it's Brenda here from Bumblebees and Butterflies and I'm really excited to be publishing my first project here on Andy's blog as part of his new Creative Team. Some of you will know that I love Andy's grungy style and have learned masses from him both from his on-line workshops and real life workshops, his teaching has helped me develop my own style over the years I have known him.
I'm calling this look pretty grunge because it incorporates a bit of Andy's style and a lot of mine, to me there's a sort of feel of masculinity about it but plenty of femininity too. So with Valentine's Day coming up I thought I would throw in a heart and some fabric and use some of the red and pink colours in both the DecoArt media acrylics and the chalky finish paints to create background layers and focal elements in what might also be called a shabby style.

The Tando Creative chipboard elements here are from one of Andy's new kits coming out that will be released on the 18th February at the Stitches trade show in Birmingham. I have been lucky enough to have a pre-release play and apart from the fabric, ribbon and arrow everything else is from the kit. If you saw Dee's fabulous post last Friday she used the same set but different elements so you will see it is really versatile. I added some other bits from my supplies like this arrow which shows how you can mix and match with your own collection of embellishments.

Cheesecloth is my favourite go-to item when playing in the shabby style and it fitted in perfectly with the elements and style.

The heart has lots of layers of paints, stenciling and stamping before a coat of clear crackle glaze and don't you just love the cracks that appeared after I rubbed in some white antiquing cream?

Do keep your eye on both this blog for lots of inspiring projects yet to come and also on Andy's Face Book page for more projects and to keep up with all the news.

If you would like to see the process steps of how I put this together then they are all over on my blog.

Have a fabulous week.

hugs Brenda xxx

Check out Andy's new Stamps below!

http://www.andyskinnercrafts.com/store/c10/Illusionary_Artists_Stamps.html

Tagtastic 2 kit - Released 18th February 2018
Stencil - Dot Stream

Stamp sets - Industrial, Shabby Chic, Handle With Care

Mixed Media Acrylics - pyrrole red, quinacridone magenta, titanium white, raw umber
Chalky Finish Paints - romance, relic, everlasting
Medium - white crackle paste, clear crackle glaze

Brenda Brown

Personal blog - http://www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com/

Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/Bumblebutterfly

Pinterest Page - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/bumblebutterfly/

ATC simple Background technique

Hello and thanks for stopping by, Mark here with a little tutorial for making quick and easy backgrounds using the Decoart Media Fluids.

I have been a big fan of Atc's for years now as they appeal to my inner child who collected all manner of stickers and trading cards. Not only are they fun to make and trade they are also a perfect way to try out new techniques without working full scale.

For this post I have used Atc blanks in mdf and grey board ( I prefer working on the thicker substrates as they hold up so much better than the traditional thick stamping card stock and when finished just feel more substantial and special some how.

Start by painting the Atc with a couple of coats of Tinting Base to give a nice white base to work from.

Apply a couple of drops of Media fluid to a craft sheet and squidge ( technical term ) the Atc face down into the paint, Wiggle it around a little and carefully pull the Atc away from the craft sheet, this will create a nice textured pattern to the surface of the paint.

Repeat with more colours.

You can mop up the excess paint with additional Atc's so nothing goes to waste.

Using the tinting base or some of the Titan buff added to different colours will help lighten the darker colours and turn the translucent colours opaque.

sliding the Atc or tag around in the paint will help blend the colours together. when building up the different layers its some times necessary to let each coat dry first to avoid muddying the colours to much.

Also keep in mind if stamping with black ink the background needs to be kept on the lighter side other wise the image you stamp may not show up very well.

Keep adding layers of colour until you are happy with the results. To keep the colours on the brighter side use slightly less paint and dry between layers

To get a more muted finish try applying the different colours whilst the previous stage is still a little wet and by mixing in a little bit of the tinting base to tone down or lighten the colours.

This back ground was done by adding several colours to the craft sheet at the same time with a little squidging ( technical term ) and wiggling in the pant.

Stamp choice can be important and I have found with some of the stronger backgrounds stamps with a lot of fine detail and open space can get lost a little, finding a stamp that has a lot of inked rubber works well.

Stamp the image with a fresh or juicy archival ink pad.

I have used lots of Andy's stamps that are available from Stampendous for My Atc's and tag and once stamped they have been finished with a Gloss Varnish as I really wanted the colours to pop.

I finish the outside edge of the Atc's with a black Copic and some of the edges have been distressed with Archival Ink.

I finished the Heart Atc off by nailing several panel pins into it.

As always a huge thank you for stopping by. xxx.