"Dreams" tag for music prompt on #onelittletag

Hello my friends!
This weeks prompt at The One Little Tag Craft Challenge is music.  This can be  interpreted any way we like, I have been using songs as inspiration.  I knew I would be fired up by this prompt, I have a hundred tags in my head that I would like to make!  This tag was inspired by Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams".

I started off this tag with some embossing.  I thought these bubble-like images would give the background a dreamy quality. I used a kaleidoscope  embossing powder that was glittery  with various sparkles of colour.  This would act as a resist to the ink that I add.

I did several backgrounds at the same time.  I smooshed distress ink onto my craft mat and spritzed with water.  I also added some Heidi Swapp ColorShine gold spray into the mix.  I dragged and pounced my tags through the inky goodness, drying in between layers.  I repeated the process until I was happy with the result.

As you can see here, the embossed areas resisted the ink.

I used a Spellbinders die to cut out the dream catcher from some blue foil board.  I love to use gold and silver foil board, but there is also red, blue and green in the package that I don't use as often, so I was happy to find a use for the blue.  I really liked the look.  I don't know why, but I think of blue when I think of dreaming.  I have heard that we don't actually dream in colour.  I don't know if that is true or not, my dreams seem to be colourful!

This is a "Kelly Creates" stamp set that I got from Michaels.  I love these sets and they are only $5 each! Even less if you have a coupon.  I usually find Michaels a little pricey, but was really happy with this purchase.   They all have about 18 - 20 words.  I thought this was a great deal.  Maybe I will do another post to showcase these stamps.  Anyways, Dreams was one of the words on this set.  I heat-embossed it with Rangers gold embossing powder on vellum.  I wrapped the vellum around the tag.  I did this so that it would mute the background enough for the word to stand out, but still visible behind the vellum.

Then I added a blue foil mat and my usual black mat to finish off the tag.

I hope you have enjoyed my process for making this tag.  Thanks so much for letting me share it with you.  Have an awesome day everyone!

Kim xo

Playing with distress inks and Color Shineto make some pretty backgrounds #onelittletag

Hello my friends!
I had some fun the other evening creating some backgrounds for some more tags.  I love playing around with different techniques which is why I always seem to be creating backgrounds for future art projects.  It's just fun!  This time I pulled out my original distress inks.  I squished them down on my craft mat, spritzed them with water and pressed and swiped my tags through the inky goodness.  I dried each layer and then dunked it again, adding more ink or water as necessary.  I like a little shimmer and  thought I'd pull out some Heidi Swapp Color Shine gold spray to mix in with my distress inks and I love the marbling effect it created.

This one actually has no distress ink in it, it is Gold and turquoise Color Shine spray, but done the same way.  I sprayed it onto the mat and added water and smooshed the tag into it!

I heat embossed a couple of tags to create a resist before inking them up for a different effect.

 I splattered the gold onto this tag

I just love how the gold marbled through the distress ink!

I will be using these backgrounds to create some more tags for The One Little Tag Craft Challenge.  It's all about the process and having fun!  This isn't a new technique for me, although it is the first time I thought to add the color shine.  But every time you do it, you get totally unique results.  So every project that you use them for will be unique, even if you finish them all off the same way.  I hope you have enjoyed having a look at my ink play, and I encourage you to give it a try, if you haven't before, and try it again, if you have!  You will be seeing some of these backgrounds very shortly on some new tags.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Kim  xo

"Merry Christmas" new Christmas card

Hello my friends!  A very quick post to share my latest card with you.  I was looking for a poinsettia die  and I found this stamp and die set..  I actually passed it by a few times because I didn't like the way the example looked.  I do have some poinsettias dies, but not one that I love.  After about the third time I was at the store (Michaels) and during a 50% off deal, I finally gave in.  I'm glad I did because I do like it.  I hope you do, too!

The Merry Christmas sentiment was from my stash.  It is an Yvonne Creations die from Find It Trading.

Thanks so much for visiting and make sure to check back in for more Christmas cards.  Feel free to share with anyone you tihnk may want some  holiday card inspiration.

Have an awesome day!

Winter Wonderland II- A secon version of my latest Christmas card

Hello again my friends!  While I had everything out, I thought I would make some more cards.  I didn't have any more of the patterned paper that I used on the first card.  I decided to go with white on white.  I embossed the white card.  I used some distress ink to blend a background and splattered it with some water and Heidi Swapp spray.

Thank you again for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed my second version of my Christmas card.  This is a card that has several layers, but would still be suitable for making multiples. I would love to know which version you like best! 

Have an awesome day! 

"Noel" Another Christmas Card

Hello my friends!  I thought I would make another card while I had all the supplies out and ready to use.  These cards are a bit of a challenge for me.  I struggled with how to assemble all the elements, but I am happy with how they turned out.  I love the look of these kinds of cards, but haven't made many of them.  So I am going to challenge myself to make more of them!

These flowers are from the $1.50 bins at Michaels.

Thanks so much for taking the time to join me and  have a look at my card.  I hope I am inspiring some of you to get started with your holiday card-making!  

More Foiling Awesomeness!

Hello my friends!  Are you a fan of foiling?  Do you love that shiny goodness?  If you do, you will be interested in this post.
I was watching videos on You Tube the other night and I ran across one that mentioned foiling.  I am always looking for new foiling techniques, so I was anxious to watch it  And I am glad that I did.  Just for the record, in case you ever visit my post and read this, Kate Palmer, it is your fault that I went to bed so late last night!  But all for a good reason!  Kate was doing some experimenting with some Heidi Swapp mediums.  I didn't realize that now there is a foil reactive paint and a reactive spray.  She was testing how these mediums worked with foiling over some sprayed backgrounds.  Here is a link to Kate's video She referred to watching some videos by Heidi Swapp and discovering that the Heidi Swapp metallic embossing paste and her metallic screen ink were also reactive with foil.  I don't know why it never occurred to me to subscribe to Heidi Swapp's channel to get info on foiling, but I have corrected that now.  You don't have to own a Minc to get some useful information, it all works with a laminator  as well, which is what I have.  I didn't have the spray or reactive paint, but I did have the embossing paste and I also had the screen ink, purely by accident.  I thought I was buying embossing paste and later realized that the great deal I had gotten was for screen ink NOT embossing paste, lol.  I had resolved to use it in a similar fashion as the paste, but this was great news if I could use it for foiling. The gold ink and paste were specified, which I didn't have, but I thought I'd give what I had, a try.. Who needs sleep anyways?  My mind got going and I thought, I wonder if any  paste would work, I do have other gold embossing pastes, so I thought I'd try those as well.  Then I thought I'd try some gloss medium, too.

I had some Gelli prints that I had cut down to try and make some ATCs, so I thought I would use them to test the various inks and pastes.  I ran the various mediums through a Tim Holtz burlap stencil

I got out my laminator and my foiling scraps once they were all absolutely dry.  I just use a folded piece of copy paper as a carrier.  I started feeding them through the laminator.

I was so thrilled to discover that everything I tested, worked!  The gel and the embossing paste seemed to work a little better than the screen ink, but I will still be using the ink for foiling, too.  This just opened a new foiling world for me! 

I used Heidi Swapp embossing paste through a stencil on my tag today, and it worked beautifully

 I have been doing some experimenting with toner to try and make something like a toner paint  and ink, with some success,  but now this may take me in a different direction.   I am wondering if I actually need toner. at all .   So I have some more ideas and experimenting to do!.  In the meantime though, I thought I would try  using some other pastes and mediums  So stay tuned, and tomorrow I will share the results of the other products I am trying to see if they are also reactive with foil. .  I am an artist that loves to paint wit a lot of texture, so I have several different pastes and mediums to try.   Hopefully, there may be something that you already have on hand that will work for you

Thanks so much for letting me share some foiling fun with you.  If you think there may be other foiling fans that will find this useful, please share! 

Thanks again and have an awesome and artful day!

If you enjoy foiling, be sure to check out some of my other foiling posts!

Part 2 of More Foiling Awesomeness!

An Awesome Foiling Technique

Crinkled Tissue Textured Foiling

Try Something New

Book Page Challenge

Tag # 8-1 "Transform" #onelittletag (with a little foiling!)

Hello my friends!  Well, tonight I made a tag for the One Little Tag Craft Challenge. The prompt is to use sprays and stencils.  I wasn't going to worry about the prompts for the time being, but this was one I liked!  So this tag was created using a background made during my play with sprays and stencils.  I also used a new foiling technique (which I will be posting!) and punched a butterfly out of gold foil card.  As usual, I mounted my tag to black card.

Thanks so much for stopping by and having a look at my tag.  If you love foiling, as I love foiling, pop back for my next post for some more foiling fun!

Tag # 7-28 "Freedom is a State of Mind" #onelittletag

Hello my friends.  Another tag using items from my stash.  This one was fairly  simple.  I used a background I had created using the embossing folder wax paper resist technique that I have previously shared .  I had already stamped this background and that helped inspire the tag.

I had stamped, coloured and die cut several butterflies (a Tim Holtx set) and had several to choose from.

I edged the tag, assembled it and mounted to a black card.  I punched a small butterfly from some white card scraps.

Thanks for joining me again!  Have an awesome and artful day!

Tag # 7-27 "Bonne fête" #onelittletag

Hello again, my friends!

Continuing with my personal challenge today, of using backgrounds and die cuts from my stash, here is another tag.

This background was one that I created within the last few weeks.  I painted the background with a baby wipe, collaged some bits of paper napkins and added gold embossing paste through a stencil.  The butterflies were ones that I created quite a while ago, probably over a year.  They were punched out of vellum, stamped and coloured on the back.

I stamped my sentiment on some scrap paper and punched it out

I assembled my tag, edged the tag in gold ink and mounted it to black card.

Thanks so much for looking, I hope you enjoyed this tag.  Stay tuned for another!

Update!  I have had a few people ask me about gold embossing paste, so I thought I would share a photo of the product.  It is a Viva Decor product called Modelling Cream.  It does have a creamier texture than some pastes.  I purchased it from Amazon.ca.  A special note, I have heard that t cold temperatures can damage this product, so it may be wise to consider that if you are ordering online.  I did make sure to order mine before winter here in Canada last year.  It's a good thing I ordered it when I did because it did take some time to get here