Doing the Tim Holtz tags is definitely reducing my anxiety about mixed media. It's working...hooray!! I got together with some friends to make this canvas. Everyone in the group had a different theme. Wynema and Vicki did ephemera collages using lots of things from their relationship with their husbands, Wynema let me post hers so make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom of this post so you don't miss it! Carolyn's canvas had a beach theme and I decided on a botanical theme. We had boxes full of stuff EVERYWHERE, which gave us a lot to choose from when embellishing! Our canvases were 9 x 12 and were painted black with acrylic paint. We used Adirondack sprays to put color onto the small cards and then began using our imagination to add ephemera for texture and interest. Oh what fun!!
Here is my canvas...
I was a little worried that the background colors on my card pieces were too bright, but I was going for garden colors and pink, fuchsia, and greens are my favorite garden colors. I went for it and I'm happy with how it turned out. I think Tim Holtz has some amazing ephemera and I used some of it on my canvas, but to me just using that isn't enough. I think it's so much more interesting to use found objects, vintage papers, and embellishments made from combining this and that so that is what I focused on while making my canvas. It was a challenge to place the cards so that my completed piece was well balanced and pleasing to the eye. I feel like I made one mistake but once it was all glued down it was too late to change it. What do you think? Do you notice something?
I'm not going to bore you with a close up of each little piece of my collage, but here are a few of my favorites...
I loved doing this so much that I'm going to make one more, with a beach theme next time!
Below is Wynema's gorgeous ephemera canvas! I just love the combination of the teals and blues with the orange and rusty color...gorgeous! You can see more of Wynema's work on her Pinterest page here. Make sure to check out her jewelry and painting boards. She is a very talented lady!! I'm still waiting to see Vickie and Carolyn's work. Once they get them finished, I'm hoping they will let me share them here :)
Thanks for visiting. I'd love to hear what you think of this project so if you have a minute, please leave a comment!
Love,
Janet
Supplies used:
The basic supplies were a 9x12 canvas, black acrylic paint, watercolor paper and assorted Adirondack and Dylusions sprays. Some of the other things we used are wire, encaustic wax, cheesecloth, metal sheets, embossing powder, slide frames, stamps, plaster tape, twine and fibers. Just about anything will work on this project!
I am really having fun making these tags! For April, I made two versions. I think I did it because I had to use my new Bird Crazy stamps! For my other tag I used a Stampin' Up background stamp called Pleasant Poppies. When I first looked at Tim's April tag I didn't think I was going to learn very much. I've done lots of watercoloring and that's all I saw when I looked at the tag. It's when you sit down and try to duplicate what he's done that you realize there are lots of little things that make it look like it does. Here are my tags...
I just love the background. It was made by spraying lots of water on the watercolor paper and then using a spritzer to spray little dots of color into the water. When the ink hits the water it floats and moves and does weird things and as the water evaporates it sinks down onto the paper where it is. You really don't have any control of where it goes or how it lands. It is subtle but really gorgeous when it dries! Here is a close-up of the poppy tag.
And the Bird Crazy tag! Everyone has been talking about how much fun the birds are to color and they are right! You can use any wild combination of colors and they look amazing! I'm so glad that I got them! The birds needed something so I added some Brushed Corduroy dots around them using one of Tim's layering stencils called Bubble
Here are some other things that I learned while making these tags.
I learned that I've missed using markers and a water brush to color stamped images on watercolor paper. If you are like me, you've put your watercolors away and you're using your Copic markers instead. I also learned that my Pumice Stone reinker is the perfect color to add a shadow around the edges of my images to give them a more 3-D look. It worked well for both the poppies and the birds!
Another thing that I learned is that you don't have to always use another layer. You can make slits in the original and slide something underneath!! Love this idea! This tag reminded me that distressing around the edges and sponging on some darker color adds texture and interest. I really need to make a list of these things and keep it close by..so they will be in my face and I will use them more often!
I didn't have the word blocks dies so I used Emmit Alphabet from My Favorite Things! I laid the letters down how I wanted them and then used a piece of Post-it tape to hold them together and in place while I ran the tag through my Big Shot. It's a bit crooked, but not bad at all! I really love the new Adventure Words Script dies from Tim Holtz and Sizzix! They are small enough for all of us card/tag makers to use...and the font is gorgeous! There are a few more sets of these and I think I "need" them!!
Oh and one more thing...I used my markers to color on satin ribbon and it is beautiful! We all have lots of that in our stash, but who knew it would take dye and you can even blend two or 3 different colors to give it a variegated effect!! So cool.
Thanks so much for visiting. Stay tuned...my plan is working and making these tags is decreasing my mixed media anxiety. I just finished a botanical mixed media canvas and had a ball making it!!!! I'll post pictures soon :)
Janet
Supplies Used:
Card Stock: Canson Aquarelle Watercolor paper, Ranger Kraft tags
Ink: Ranger Archival black, Distress Brushed Corduroy & Pumice stone reinker
Stamps: Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Stampin' Up Pleasant Poppies
Markers: Tombo 025, 126, 173, 177, 335, 397, 725 845, 847, & 885; Stampin' Up Early Expresso marker
Dies: Sizzix/Tim Holtz Adventure Words Script, MFT Emmit Alphabet
Miscellaneous: Tim Holtz Spritzer, Idea-ology Philosophy tags & Mirrored stars and his Bubble layering stencil & dauber, satin ribbon, Janome sewing machine, white thread
I found the most beautiful die on a recent trip to Violette's in Lakeland! It is an Impression Obsession die called Easter Cutout Square. It is so delicate and pretty that I knew I needed it to make Easter cards this year. I got out a bunch of pastel card stock and had a great time mixing and matching them to make my cards! I kept them simple because I wanted the die cut image to stand out...
I was a little bit nervous because we all know how tricky intricate dies can be and I was cutting out a lot of them. I decided to use folded dryer sheets underneath the die and card stock to help in removing all of the tiny little pieces. It worked great. I still had to poke some of the pieces out but lots came out on the dryer sheet too. Here's a close-up of the pink version...
I used a bunch of different colors of card stock and I honestly can't decide which one I like best! I wanted the die raised off the surface of the card so I put foam tape behind the larger areas and used dots of silicone glue on the tinier ones. Once the glue dried, the square was very sturdy!
Supplies used:
Stamps: none
Dies: Impression Obsession Easter Cutout Square
Cardstock: Stampin' Up: Almost Amythest, Pixie Pink, Mint Melody and Coastal Cabana and
White Cougar Opaque
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend and a happy holiday!
Janet
