Tag Swap----Laura Dennison-Following the Paper Trail

All week I have been busy making tags for the card swap for Following The Paper Trail. My BFF convinced me (without much prodding) to sign up for all three styles. That's 27 tags. What have you got me into now Mary Matthys? (HA HA I blame Mary) I do love making tags. The top Tag(the one with the dove) is my Shabby Chic tag. I did a couple of things I have never done before. There is a brick embossing on the tag (you can't tell much in the picture. I took the brayer and inked it with distress ink and then put the tag through the cute little embossing purse from Sissix. Then I took picket fence distress stain and did a white wash over the brick. I inked the edges. Then my friend Mary calls me and tells me that my tag is too narrow and I should of read the directions. (my fault) So I added the borders . This was a good mistake because I think it added something. Also, this was the first time I ever made these types of flowers and I really liked them.

The next tag is my version of grunge style. I really like this tag. Funny thing is this was the easiest for me to do and the quickest. I think I like the grunge style the best. The netting I used that is behind the car is a piece of plastic from a "to go pizza "(it was on the bottom to protect the pizza from sticking to the bottom of the box) I had gotten at a crop I attended in Hayward. We laughed when I picked it up and said hhhmmm maybe I could use this. My friend took a picture of me. I dyed it with alcohol inks. I love this netting I have used it on other projects too. I need to get some more. The car and the flower is made from soda cans. I stamped the car on the piece of aluminum with archival ink and then embossed it. Then I dyed it with alcohol inks. I then cut the car out. The flower I dyed the aluminum first and then used a die to cut it out on the Big Shot. I took my jewelry pliers and manipulated it to give it a 3-D shape.

The next tag is my version of French Country. This tag was the hardest for me my Mojo just wasn't working, I do really like it but it took a long time to create. I tried not to be so expectable with this tag. (Notice no flowers or butterflies or swirls.) This tag required a lot of embossing. I did not have gold embossing powder so I made my own. I used clear embossing powder and mixed it with gold perfect pearls powder. The Key, the crown, and the door plate are embossed. Also, I did a new technique that I thought of (I'm sure someone else has done this but for now I am claiming it until I see someone else do it) I took the tulip embossing folder (which the design framed the tag) and embossed the tag so that the edges have a raised design. The I took perfect medium and dabbed and rubbed it across the raised design. I also used a circular motion around the edged. Then I used perfect pearls (gold) I took a paint brush dipped it dry and picked up the powder and brushed it on where I used the medium. It is cool because it did stick to the raised design and look like the edges were distressed in gold instead of the usual brown ink. This is barely visible in the picture but very pretty in person.

Well I hope whoever gets my tags really like them. I surely enjoyed making them. Now I have to make the Shabby Drawer mini so I can store the tags in it. Always another project.

Just a quick note

I haven't been on here for a while because I am so busy making tags for the Laura Dennison tag swap.... I will post pictures and have more to say about that when they are done. I am also taking the Creative chemistry 101 class from Tim Holtz.... Between the two its kept me busy. I have many projects started but not completed. ....... The deadline for the tags to be done is by Saturday. So back to the studio and to creating.

Making charms and garnshes for Steam Trunk Baby Mini

I have been really busy lately. I am gathering baby pictures editing them and trying to complete the steam trunk mini. Oh I am having so much fun making this album. I am also taking Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101 class. I have learned stuff already and we are only on day 3. I am also excited about the many doors (my career )that open up for me lately. I had so many meeting and I am going in many different directions my head is spinning. But all a good thing and all great Blessings. In the pictures above I got this bright idea of getting party favor plastic charms(very reasonable) and covering them with versamark and (heat ) embossing them with silver embossing powder. Then I painted them with perfect pearls pewter and used black soot alcohol inks to antigue them. I put the ink on and then wiped it off so that it only stained(being a dirty girl) the cracks. This gave it some depth. and there you go the cutest rattle. Looks and feels like metal. I am going to use it in my album. When I am done you will see. I will probably post a you tube......

Little Darling Steam Trunk outside done

So I got the outside done and I really like it. I posted some pictures of it. I did not have enough brads so I made faux brads. Can you pick out the faux ones?

Faux Brads

I love going to my studio getting away from the rest of the world. I was working on my steam trunk (which I'm loving) I ran out of antiques metal brads....ggggrrrr.... Nothing is more frustrating than when your on a roll you run out of materials. I live in the boonies so its not like I can just jump in the car drive two miles and there is Michaels or JoAnnes. So I went to JoAnne.com looking for them. After looking at 376 different types of brads. Nope they don't carry those brads. So I went to Archivers.com nope no brads there either. Well Michaels seems to be the only one who carries this type of brads. Michaels does not have an online store and the nearest Michaels is 60+ miles away. So I decided to experiment and make faux brads. I had plenty of shiny chrome brads. I was talking to my friend Mary about this and she suggested that I sand the chrome brads before I put alcohol inks on them. So I did. I sanded the brad and then used caramel colored alcohol ink. I used perfect pearls and silver embossing powder . Some. I embossed with silver and then dipped them into the alcohol ink. I painted the perfect pearls (copper and pewter) over the silver embossed brad . You will see the Faux vs the real thing in the pictures above.... In the photo with the multiple different brads, the first is the original chrome, and the second is what it looked like after I sanded it, and the rest are the different Faux brads I made. I am so glad I don't have to travel 60+ miles just for brads. Problem resolved......And it was fun trying to figure out how to make faux brads.

Little Darlings

I 'm so excited I finally got Graphic 45 Little Darling paper. I don't think I ever liked a paper line as much as I like this one. I think it reminds me of my babies. I am making a steam trunk mini album. T,his album holds two separate mini albums. One for baby pictures of my children and one for pictures of my grand babies. So today I spent hours in my studio getting started on the steam trunk.... I posted the pictures on how far I got. I am about half way done. I am sure once it is complete, I will make a you tube. I do have to say working with this paper made me feel happy. I kept thinking about my babies while I was creating.

Tim's 2012 tags 1&2

I finally completed the two tags for the Tim holtz 12 tags of 2012. I really enjoy doing these tags because it is like taking a mini class. I always learn something and I like the challenge. In the March tag I made the metal flowers from a pop can. I used Tim Holtz tattered Flower die. I colored them with alcohol ink. FUN... I find myself looking through the garbage looking for pop cans. I'll be a recycler yet.

Butterflies

Although, these are not dirty I just love them. I was making the Tim holtz tag for the month of March and he taught the method of making Mosaic butterflies. I can see making these on other projects. I have already used this method on a flower. These butterflies inspired me to try something new. So, I made butterflies out of Pop cans using alcohol inks. I inked the metal and then stamped a butterfly (using archival ink). Then I cut out the Butterfly using my Tim Holtz scissors.

Why a Dirty Girl?

This Blog is about scrapbooking and how I have evolved to be a dirty girl. First off, I started scrapbooking about a year ago, after I lost my job. I found that I enjoyed certain styles in scrapbooking. I like steam punk, grunge, shabby chic, and vintage. I actually started enjoying the look of these styles many, many, years before I started scrapbooking. It started when I tried to decorate my home. I repurposed antiques, and refinished antiques, and old furniture to decorate my home. I liked the shabby chic look, and I am somewhat rustic. I had to be, because I have seven children. When one of my blanket trunks would get a dent it from one of the children, I could just look at it and say," Oh that just adds character." The other reason I like antiques, is because all the dents and scratches told a story. This is the reason I could easily develop a passion for scrapbooking. For years, I would look at items and ask myself what can I do with this. One of the things that is in common with grunge, steam punk, vintage, and shabby chic, is that all of them pretty much require inking, distressing, and aging the papers you work with... What I call dirtying it up. ...I AM A DIRTY GIRL... I ink it up ....