A layered, monochrome tag

Today I'd like to share a little tag that I made for a challenge on the Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art Facebook Group. I've been a member of this group for maybe 6 months now, and often comment on and like the work posted by others, but I've never been brave enough to enter a challenge myself ... until now!

I've decided that 2018 is going to be the year I really take myself out of my comfort zone!!! I've done a bit of work with a brushos, watercolour and acrylics on a gelliplate before, but stamping and masking and fussy cutting and paper piecing and clean and simple tend to be the tried and trusted go-to crafts that I embrace on a more regular basis. So, for Christmas, I asked my other half for an art journal, a book about art journalling, and some paint pens - believe me, I have enough stencils, paints and unused "keep it just in case" items in my craft room to keep me going for the rest of my life. And now I have dipped my toe into the world of messy crafting!

Now, you may or may not know, but I am an ex-nurse. I am a bit of a neat freak and like things to be cleaned within an inch of their life. Both of these qualities serve me really well in my new career in hospitality, but messy doesn't come easily to me. However I already have a box of vinyl gloves and an apron ready for use in my craft room - no-one will want to eat my baking if I have dirty clothing or inky hands will they!

So, getting back to the challenge - it's part of the Explore Your Creativity fortnightly challenge on the Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art (JJJMA) Facebook group, and this task was to use the:

Technique  - Layering
Product - Home Made Washi Tape
Colour - Monochrome
Base -  a Tag

I had no idea where I was going with this, so I gathered together a whole load of bits that I thought I might want to use, and then just started to play. First I had a go with my Distress Oxide inks. They are still quite new to me and my first few attempts were OK, but not the mind-blowing creations that I was expecting, so I was pleased with this tag background and made sure that I fully dried the ink before adding extra layers - that seems to be the trick! I used mostly Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo, with a little Iced Spruce just to give some lighter patches and texture.

Whilst my tag was drying fully, I made the washi tape. In the picture above you can see some self adhesive ribbon strips - the nasty yellow shiny sheet with florals all over it! I've had these for ages (they came in some kit or other), so using my palette knife I randomly smooshed over some paints, dried that off, and then stamped randomly with the darkest paint to create my washi tape. I used IndigoBlu Junk and Disorderly paints in Warm Tan and Leather Corset (which incidently looks just like molten chocolate on your craft mat) and a Pebeo gold paint. All the stamps I used throughout the project were from the IndigoBlu Shine Bright set. There is loads of the washi tape left over for another project, and I'll definitely be doing this technique again to use up more of the sticky ribbon sheets!

When the washi tape was dry I added some thick and thinner strips in two areas of the tag, layering them over one another and varying the length to give some interest. I then randomly stamped the smaller lightbulb image in Versamark ink, and embossed with the darker gold embossing powder. I added some of the small butterfly images and the texture stamp to the tag background and used both gold and clear embossing powders to glaze the images. I then stamped the largest bulb image in versamark on the page of an old book and heat embossed it with the lighter gold powder. I also stamped the sentiment in brown paint onto the book page, and randomly stamped the edges of the book page and the edges of the tag with bubble wrap using the last bit of brown paint on my craft sheet. I punched out some tiny butterflies from the painty book page and used the vintage photo distress oxide ink to age the book page images a bit, and fussy cut them before adhering to the tag.

Finally, I finished the tag with some string, some off cuts of dark brown and gold ribbons, and a little gold key that I had in my stash. Here's the finished tag - hopefully it meets the brief of the challenge, but certainly it met the brief of challenging me to be more experimental, creative and messy. I was quite pleased with the finished result and the depth of the layers on the tag, even though it is pretty much flat. It might be the first project to make it into my new art journal!

Thanks for reading this, and please leave a comment - I'd love to hear what you think.  Susan x