Sunday, June 12, 2011

Challenges Entry: Happy Grunge

I had three challenges that I wanted to participate in this week, but of course I was down to the last day today and figured I better combine them if I wanted to get something submitted! 

They were very easy to combine and I'm calling the result "happy grunge", because while it is definitely grungy a la Tim Holtz, the colors just lift my spirits and make me happy when I look at it. 

The Challenges:
The Details
  •  I started out with a plain manila tag and added stripes of Distress Ink using the corner of the ink pad.  From left to right:  Broken China, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Tattered Rose, Wild Honey, Barn Door, and Vintage Photo. 
  • Once all my stripes were added, I used a mini mister to spray on water to bleed the colors a bit.  While the stripes were still wet, I stamped the text in Vintage Photo.  To speed the drying process, I used a heat gun to dry the inks.
  • To adhere the tissue paper, I covered the entire tag in Matte Mod Podge and pounced on plain white wrapping tissue paper.  Betsy Veldman has a great video tutorial on the whole process at the PTI blog.  As Betsy suggests in the video, I did run my tag through my Texture Boutique to really mesh the tissue to the base.  I guess I used a little too much Mod Podge in areas because my tissue actually turned mushy and lifted during this process, but you know what?  I love the effect!  The extra texture is very distressed and grungy!

  • The pen nibs and sentiment are stamped in StazOn Jet Black. 
  • I stamped the swirls and clock faces in DI on top of the tissue paper. 
  • The starbursts are those little mylar thingies that you see on beaded Christmas ornaments...sorry, I don't know their proper name...but I colored them with alcohol inks and randomly added them to the tag.
  • For just a touch more sparkle, I added some beads to a TH safety pin and attached it to the big bow at the top.


It was so much fun playing with the Distress Inks and tissue paper.  I hope this brings a smile to your face too!


Supplies:
Paper
: manila tag, tissue paper
Stamps: Tim Holtz ‘Curious Possibility’, ‘Life’s Possibilities’
Inks: Distress Ink ‘Vintage Photo’, ‘Old Paper’, ‘Tattered Rose’, ‘Barn Door’, ‘Wild Honey’, ‘Broken China’, ‘Peeled Paint’, ‘Crushed Olive’; StazOn ‘Jet Black’; Alcohol Ink ‘Aqua’, ‘Sandal’, ‘Red Pepper’
Embellishments: Papertrey Ink Baker’s Twine; buttons; mylar disks; beads; TH safety pin; ribbon

Tools: jewelry pliers; tweezers; Matte Mod Podge; Mini Mister; Glossy Accents; glue dots; heat gun

16 comments:

  1. This is a very happy piece! I love your bright colors also! Great tag!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, I just love the colours you have used here. So fresh and cheerful. I have not thought to use tissue paper on things like this before. Thanks for the inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Vicki,

    What a lovely colored sunshiny tag !!! It makes me happy just looking at it !
    I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who sees the bright sight of the distress inks !
    I love to be grungy and vintage, but I need to combine it with colorful !
    Your tag is a beautiful example of what I like :)
    I also like the colorful buttons on the string to add texture.

    greetings from belgium
    inge

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very Happy indeed. You can tie it on my Fathers Day gift, LOL

    Great Job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is a fantastic tag! And very well named :-) Love the way you colored it and your addition of the tissue paper... the stamping is wonderful too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the stripes. It draws my eye.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your colors are great! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. A GREAT tag. Love it all and thanks for the inspiration using the tissue paper.

    ReplyDelete
  9. LOVE this tag!! Great colors, great elements!

    Thank you for joining us at the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Definitely happy colors - it looks like a rainbow to me. What a great job you have done - love the way you striped the colors with ink pads and that tissue paper technique is awesome. Terrific job on the challenge - we're so happy you joined in the fun with us this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Totally gorgeous! I love the colors you've used - so cheerful!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love this tag - very cheery-uppey kind of tag! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Such a fantastic tag, love the colors.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Look at those fabulous colors! LOOK at them! Can you tell how much I love the way you put those Distress Inks to work?! An awesome tag and great instructions to go along with it. Awesome, gorgeous art for GM10!

    ReplyDelete
  15. this photo is so colorful and the wording is perfect for the BBArtisan's upcoming challenge! Look at that - another challenge! Hope you don't mind my using the image - I'm linking it back to here. Will show up on our team blog in early January. Thanks, {:-Deb http://www.bbartisans.com

    ReplyDelete

Your comments make my day!