Tag you are it - with Disress Inks

Hello dear friends,

Here is my creation for Lulupu Challenge #36 - Make It Macho: Cards / Tags using Distress Inks

 

I am an ink lover - especially of distress inks. Its on my MUST have list for a mixed media project, primarily because of the versatility that these water-based inks offer. So, for this project, I decided to use only distress ink and experiment the many ways to use it, here are a few



1. Through stencil - First, rub distress ink over a stencil , spritz it with a little water and then press the ink on the tag to get the reverse image stamp on the paper. The image will not be perfect, but gives a lovely pattern. On my tag, the first layers of gears (stencil) is hardly visible.

2. To stamp - Lesson learnt : Distress inks give sharper images when used on rubber stamps, clear/acrylic stamps the image is a little hazy.

3. Add to texture paste- Rub some distress ink onto your craft sheet. Using a palette knife, mix it with modelling paste and apply though stencil. The clocks on the tag are made using this technique - I mixed a few brown shades to get the final colour.

4. Colour chipboard - Rub some distress ink onto the craft mat and spritz it with water. Swipe the gessoed chipboard on it. Some places will catch more colour than others. This was used to colour the trellis chipboard (cut with the Silhouette). I also rubbed on some colour with my fingers. The gears in the forefront were not gessoed. The ink pads were directly rubbed onto it, to give more intense and darker shade.

5. Colour wash - The ink spritzed with water was used through a waterpen, to colour the gauze and also blend the background and splatter using a paintbrush.



By the way, the pattern paper for the tag comes from Kaisercraft Basecoat - this collection has the most amazing backgrounds, perfect for a grunge project.

So, what do you have in mind for this challenge my friends? We are eagerly waiting to see what projects you link and hope you too have as much fun with distress inks.

Cheers!

Mixed Media Card Challenge #2

August already! This year is flying quicker than any year I can remember, maybe it's because I'm learning new artsy things and sharing with all of you wonderful friends.

Did you hear, we had 89 wonderful entries last month at the Mixed Media Card Challenge Blog.  What a whooper! A very special thank you to all my readers who also joined. It was very enjoyable going through all the entries, visiting each participants blog and knowing them a wee bit more through their creations. So, here is the theme for this month - Summer + burlap (optional)

                                                    

What pops to mind when you think 'summer' - beach, sand, holidays, the sun... whatever your interpretation of summer, we would like to see it. 

Well, I'm still dreaming of summer here, so I combined the warm sunrise colours with a precious summer memory. One summer early morning, I walked out of my house and found hundreds of butterflies just sitting on the driveway..... literally hundreds. They had filled every inch of the driveway and some of the garage walls and some of the nearby plants. Bright blue and grey, fluttering their wings slowly, warm sunbeams streaming through the nearby trees, it was a spectacular sight. I learnt later that day about butterfly migration and was lucky to witness this a couple more times. I do miss my Bangalore very much. With this is mind, my card was born -

I started with Prima Princess paper. Stuck on a burlap panel with multi medium. The remaining burlap strings were stuck in the bottom right of the card. Then on this went pieces of lace, studio 490 embossing paste (translucent), stamps, mists and watercolours interspersed with gesso to blend and tone the colour. I wish I had mica flakes - have searched in so many stores with no luck, so had to settle for sequins.

I loved effect of the embossing paste and mists. Also managed to get my new silhouette started and cut the chipboard and butterfly with it. yaaaaay. But, I just haven't figured out how to cut fine designs with my silhouette. All I wanted was to cut the word believe on Prima pattern paper and every setting tried frayed the paper and tore it :( tips pl. the title was to be placed in the bottom right, but the card doesn't look bad without it, I guess.

Linking this to Simon Says Wednesday - Anything Goes

An art journal page - Scrapping4fun Challenge #22

Hello everybody,

Have another art journal page made for Scrapping4fun challenge #22 - Anything goes. There is time until Thursday 7th August 2014 to link your entries. Very thankful to Rachelle for this theme, as it gives me the excuse to try something different and without any limitations.

I've used lots of techniques and mediums to create the texture in the background and also used one my favorite photographs of myself. I was playing around with my new lens and the last thing I expected was a good photograph captured in the mirror. This photo was perfect for what I was creating - from amidst all the turmoil and confusion in my mind, I choose what should be most important to me to help me through my life at this point.

Linking this to Paper Issues: Say Cheese. Paper Issues have a 40% off until their store reopens. If you are in the US, this is fantastic deal to grab :)

Up, Up and Away..... Going 3d with Lulupu Challenge #35

Hello crafty artsy pals,

Its getting way too cold here for my liking..... literally brrrrrrr.......Today, I made something waaaaaay beyond my comfort zone - traditional paper crafter way - measuring, scoring, cutting, more measuring and that too requiring precision. Goodness...... so much measuring and precision cutting had my head reeling, at one point I considered giving up and making something else. Lol. Im glad its done on time as my DT inspiration for Lulupu's Challenge #35 - Go 3D. There is still time to link your entries.

 

Although I was quite tired just putting together the basic frame, couldn't resist using some of my favorite stamps from Kaisercraft and Prima. I also really enjoyed weaving paper to make the basket / box.

Yes, a hot air balloon box which now holds my precious wood veneer collection. I found a free template for this project on Iida Dias' blog. She has tons of really awesome projects and has generously shared free templates too. 

 

Supplies: Prima 'Something Blue' paper, kaisercraft  & prima texture stamps, lace, rhinestones and few odds from my stash. 

Entering this into:

 

Kraftzone - Pattern Paper + Stamping + Embellishments. My second entry this month :)

 

Imaginations online - Pattern Paper + Rhinestones + Butterflies (stamped image)

Now for something that's more up my alley. I hadn't posted this tag, which I made earlier this month for the previous Lulupu Challenge. Mia as Prima marketing has fondly named this stamp is so addictive, I made 6 of her. There are more Prima doll stamps available on the Lulupu store.

One more project to be posted..... maybe in a few hours.

Scrapping4fun challenges - Anything goes

After a very long time, made an art journal entry as my DT inspiration for Scrapping4fun challenges - Anything goes.

This page came off the back of the What are you feeling? prompts at the Mixed Media Place. I love the work the DT present there and have always wanted to join in, but somehow never happened. The topic this time is stress, and this quote immediately popped in my head... I had seen it on pinterest a few months ago. Its true isn't it, we all admire the beauty of the butterfly but seldom pause to think about the transformation it went through or the stress it must've felt just before the magic happened. I wonder if the butterfly (then caterpillar) believed it will live through that phase and come out looking so gorgeous that the whole world would admire it. I wish, for all of us to believe during our stressful times, that we will come out as much better human beings.

The colour palette is based on The Colour Room Challenge #170. Misting on the layout has been done using a toothbrush

Mixed media card challenge #1 - touch of nature

I'm very happy to have been chosen as a DT for Mixed Media Card Challenges run by Shrey Russ (yes, the same talented lady who also owns Stamplorations). She has rounded up some very talented crafters on the DT roll and I'm so looking forward to learn and push myself to experiment with new mediums and techniques. 

Here is the theme for the first challenge

1. Create a mixed media CARD based on the theme, with or without the optional element. 

2. For this challenge only, you may create a mixed media TAG based on the theme.

3. Display the challenge graphic on your blog post and link back to this challenge post.

4. You may enter as many times as you want, as long as each entry is different.

5. You may combine a maximum of 7 challenges (6 other challenges plus ours).

6. Submit your projects by July 25, 11:55 p.m. PDT (GMT -700).

7. We'll announce the winner and favorites on July 31.

And here is what I made using Prima Princess papers, Studio 490 embossing paste, a range of archival and chalk inks, lace and stamps.

There are 13 more gorgeous projects to inspire you on the MMCC blog. We would love for you to play with us. Here is a badge to display on your blog if you are like me and like getting messy with paints, gesso, inks and other media.

Also playing alongwith,

Theshabbytearoom - Challenge #225 - sketch - Ive rotated the sketch by 90 degrees. replaced the thin horizontal line by embellishments - wood bird and bouquet of flowers

Kraft Zone Challenge #7 - Pattern Paper, Stamped Image (Script, flourish), embellishments (flowers, wood veneer, ribbon)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything goes

Scrapping4fun Challenge - Challenge #20

Its time for another challenge over at Scrapping4funchallenges 

Use atleast 3 colours from these to create any project - layout, card, canvas, mini album, off the page.  Here is my take on the challenge. Ive never used purple and shades in any project, so this was a first for me. Not very happy with the final card, but do like the shades that ended up on the card and the techniques I discovered.

You have until Thursday, 10th July 2014, 23:55pm European time to link your projects on the Scrapping4fun blog.