Molly on a Tag

Posts today are a bit like buses- none for ages then two show up at once!
 I decided that I would enter the Visible Image Blog April Challenge, which is Create A Tag, using at least one of their stamps. As you can tell from the title, I used another of my coloured Molly images. Apologies right now for shortage of pictures- I completely forgot whilst I was stamping.













This was the image I used, and I cut her out from the background with a scalpel. After that, I went around the edge of the image with a Black Promarker, to cover the white edges.

The tag itself was cut from a sheet of card I did some Distress Ink techniques with a few weeks ago- the DI re-inker was put onto a craft sheet, misted with water, then the card dipped into it. After that, I flicked some water over it, let it sit for a minute or two, then blotted it off with kitchen towel.

Festive Berries was the re-inker used, all the colour variation comes from the misting and water flicking. I stamped over all the tag with Ripped Fishnet, in Black Versafine, then heat embossed it using Crystal Sparkle embossing powder, for a bit of bling. Next I wrapped some black lace around the tag, securing it on the back with double sided tape. Over this I tied a narrow red ribbon into a bow.
The top of the tag had a hole punched, and a red eyelet put in. A skull embellishment was threaded onto some red eyelash wool, and tied through. Molly was mounted on the tag using silicone glue, for dimension.
Here is the tag enlarged, so you can see the Ripped Fishnet detail.

Supplies:
 Visible Image stamps, Molly Rules and Ripped Fishnet
 Distress Re-inker, Festive Berries
Onyx Black Versafine inkpad
 Crystal Sparkle embossing powder, Stampendous Stamp'n'Stuff
Black Lace
 Red Ribbon
 Red Fibres
Charm- mine came from Riverside Beads, in the Steampunk section.

Mulberry Paper & Dragonflies

 A card using up some of my mountain of Mulberry Paper, and an image I'd got already stamped up. A lesson in not overbuying, just because something is the new must-have. I think I cornered the world market in Mulberry Paper. It does produce a nice effect though,when torn to leave soft, fuzzy edges. The trick to that is to drag a wet paintbrush, or a waterbrush along the edge of a ruler, then tease the damp fibres apart.













As my stamped piece was on a blue/pink/purple oil pastel background, I used blue & purple mulberry paper for the background mat.












 I tore two squares of each colour, and used a scrap of card to stick them to, using DST. The scrap won't show beneath the stamped piece.
That bit done, I mounted the image with DST onto the squares, then onto a square white card blank. Next, a Dragonfly made from Angelina fibres was added over the one in the image with some silicone glue.
 The row of flowers along the bottom is one of the ones I received from Deeyl, Queen Lightwell, in the ATC swap!
   Onto a scrap of the same oil pastel card I stamped the saying in Black Versafine, and trimmed it to a tag shape. Added an eyelet & some fibres and mounted it with silicone glue again.


Supplies:
 Dragonfly Post stamp, Crafty Individuals 001
Mulberry paper
Oil pastels & white card for the background
Sentiment stamp, mine came from Life Sentiments, Kaiserkraft
Embellishments
 Black Versafine

That Poe Card.....

So, the card got finished, and I can post it now, as its been given to my son.
The Raven background was stamped in Versafine Onyx black, onto an ivory coloured paper that had been given the lemon juice treatment. This post covers that.
 After stamping it ,I added some blue and black Distress inks to the raven, with sponges.
 I used the Crowscape Stampendous stamp from this post to create another 'black on black' backround paper, just  stamping in Versamark, and heat embossing with Black detail powder, onto Black pearl paper,to cover the front of the base card.

 The smaller Raven piece is called Quoth the Raven, and has been made into a fridge magnet.
I used a piece of Stampbord for this, but a piece of mountboard would do just as well.
The Stampbord is only slightly smaller than the image, and to get it right I inked up the stamp, Onyx Black again, and lay it on my desk face up. Then I placed the Stampbord onto that and pressed down well. I left it overnight for the Versafine to dry well, as the first piece I tried started to smudge. The beauty with Stampbord, as it has a clay coating, is that you can sand off anything you put on the surface, and try again.
 Next day I started sponging on Distress Inks, in various brown shades, using a Colorbox stylus tool.

The first two colours were Old Paper & Antique Linen, then I added a light application of Victorian Velvet, to 'warm' it up a little.

I added more browns, with Brushed Corduroy & Gathered Twigs.I finished the edges with Walnut Stain. At this point, it looked too different to the original piece on the lemon burnt paper, so I added some Brushed Corduroy & Gathered Twigs to that, to pull them together.
 Now to turn it into a fridge magnet. I took some Magnetic Photo paper I'd bought in Tescos to do this. I'd bought it originally, with the intention of using it to store Nesties & such like on, in a binder, but it turned out that the magnetic photopaper isn't strong enough to grip them without them sliding off. So after I bought magnetic sheets for the dies, I put the paper to one side, as I was sure I'd eventually have a use for it.
 I covered the back of the Stampbord with DST, Just the cheap 3 rolls for a quid from Poundland.

Drew around my Stampbord and cut it out. I did the fine trimming after with a scalpel.
Next I used a Distress Marker in Black to go all around the outside edges, to hide the white of the photopaper and the brown edge of the Stampbord.

Almost done, but I wanted to give it a coating of clear embossing powder, just enough to make it wipeable. For this I used ordinary detail embossing powder, as the UTEE tends to need 3 or more coats to get an even finish, and I didn't want to make it that thick.

Dabbed all over with Versamark, then added a layer of detail Clear powder, heated it, then re-coated with Versamark and added a second layer. Gave it just enough to protect it, without making it too glossy.

Assembly time! The black background went onto the card front, then I added the main image. The Fridge magnet is attached with a couple of Repositionable Glue Dots, so it can be removed without damaging the card.
 Some black and brown eyelash wool was wrapped around the spine and knotted at the top front. Finally I added an ivory paper insert for writing the greeting.

Supplies:
Stampendous stamps; Crowscape, raven Background and Quoth The Raven.(Links in the linked posts above)
Versafine Onyx Black
Distress Inks in Old Paper, Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet,Brushed Corduroy, gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain. (Black Soot & Chipped Sapphire to add colour to the Raven)
 Versamark
 Clear Embossing Powder
 Black Detail Embossing powder
 Stampbord piece, or Mountboard
 Magnetic paper or sheet
 Ivory paper and black pearl paper
 Fibres
 Repositional glue dots 
 Black marker for edging

Lavinia Stamps Mosaics

Two cards here using some of my favourite stamps and definitely my favourite colour scheme in this one. I randomly stamped a bunch of Lavinia Stamps onto white card using Onyx Black Versafine.
 Then I used a Woodware punch to cut out as many pieces as I could get out of the images.

 Square punches are a bit odd, when you buy them.












The one I used for this was described as a 1"punch when I bought it, but the sides measure 1 1/4". I bought another 1" punch, but the sides of that  are 3/4", its the corner to corner measurement that is an inch. I haven't actually found a 1" punch that gives 1" sides yet. Its easy to cut them with a ruler, I know, but a punch is quicker.
 The squares were matted onto black card, in a grid. I use some thin strips of card I cut for the purpose, to keep my lines straight, with a ruler at the top & side.




It was trimmed to leave a border roughly the same as the joints between the squares.The sentiment was stamped in Onyx black again onto a scrap of white card, matted onto black, and some black acrylic hearts added.







The Mosaic panel went on to a white square card base. with some black &white eyelash wool wrapped around the cards spine.

I wanted to add some colour to the next one, so I stuck a selection of squares down onto scrap paper with repositionable tape.I added the colour with Inkylicious Colour Duster brushes, Distress Inks in Spun Sugar, Dried Marigold, Shaded Lilac and Salty Ocean.










                          I matted them up onto black card again, in the same order.

Trimmed the matt down, added it to a square card base again, and some multi coloured wool added to the spine. I treated a scrap of card with the same colours, then stamped the sentiment onto it, and added clear acrylic hearts this time.
I've also entered these in this months Challenge at Lavinia Stamps, which is 'Use a die cut or punch'

Supplies; Assortment of Lavinia Stamps
 Versafine Onyx Black inkpad
 Distress inkpads: Salty Ocean, Dried Marigold, Spun Sugar,Shaded Lilac.
 White card to stamp on
 Black card for matting
 Square card bases.
Colour Duster Brushes, or sponges.

Caught in Crystal

Back before Christmas, I purchased a stamp from Jennie at the Artistic Stamper, by our very own Doone,(Donna Louise Rogers), which is a Green Man. I must admit, these are a particular love of mine, Green Men. I have a few around the house, and a couple of stamps already.So, my vague plan has been to stamp him onto a 'caught in crystal' background, then during this weeks WOYWW, one of the bloggers mentioned a bottle of Johnsons  'KLEAR' floor polish,which is used for this.Which prompted me to make a start. The KLEAR is very much like Glossy Accents, but for something like this a LOT cheaper. This post will go up in two parts, as having made the basic sheets, they need a while to dry.
So, what do you need ?

Tissue came in a huge pack from The Works.

 Old newspaper,
 a bottle of Johnsons 'KLEAR' floor polish
transparency sheets, or acetate
 Masking tape (any will do, mines from Poundland)

Inks - reinkers etc
Tissue paper- white is fine, I've used a couple of colours here. I've also heard of people doing this with kitchen towel & facial tissues.
Disposable gloves are a good idea!

First step is to tape your transparency sheet to a couple of layers of newspaper with the masking tape, sealing down the edges well. Now pour on some of the 'KLEAR'- you want enough to be able to spread over the whole surface, best done with your fingers, and its good idea to wear disposable gloves doing this too.

Once its spread over the surface, begin dripping an assortment of inks into it. Best to stick to only 3 or 4, or you'll end up with a muddy mess. I used Distress Re-inkers for this one, using 3 different greens and 1 brown.
I did find the DI reacted it bit strangely with the KLEAR, going a bit thick, that doesn't happen with Alcohol inks, but it still comes out fine.

Here I used red, orange & yellow Alcohol Inks.   

  



 The next step is to move your inks around in the KLEAR- fingers, paintbrush, whatever- just be careful how you mix them so it doesn't turn to an icky mess.


Next you need a piece of tissue paper slightly larger than your coloured sheet. Scrumple it up, then smooth it back out.




 

Now you lay it on top of the inky KLEAR.

Gently start to dab it down, using your fingertips- don't press too hard, or rub or push. The wet paper tears easily, although you can gently push any torn edges back together. Now you need to put it aside to dry, at least overnight. Don't try brayering/rolling over it, it will muddy all the colours together.
 WORD OF WARNING
Even though its taped to newspaper, the ink can seep through- wherever you are going to put it to dry, put plenty of newspaper underneath it. Or lay a large bin bag down and put it on top of that.

You can see here where it leaked through onto my mat.

So thats the basic idea.

The reason its called 'Caught in Crystal', is because before you place the tissue paper down, you can add inclusions- glitter, fibres, beads etc.





I'm hoping you can see I've added glitter in a few different greens to this one.

 This one I've sprinkled crystal glitter in, and I'm going to use yellow tissue on the back.





 The thing with inclusions is, if you make them too dimensional, it becomes extremely difficult to stamp on the smooth side. You can of course do your stamping first, then flip it over and do the crystal part if you want to include beads etc in the crystal. I just like to do the crystal first, as then I can choose where best to stamp my image to best effect, rather than the random effect I'd get doing it the other way.

I've used this a few times, the Christmas Angels I did were made from it and one or two cards I've done in the past have used it.

So that's Part One. I did two green sheets, and one red/yellow, so they are all on one side now drying out.


EDIT:   Okay, I'm stepping back in time from 2020, as I discovered that KLEAR had been discontinued ages ago, then while searching for an alternative, I found out it had actually been re-launched, this time under the name of PLEDGE MULTI SURFACE POLISH.
 Pic here of what you're looking for. 

I mentioned my Green Men earlier, here are a few of them: