Lovely, Little, Red Valentine Tag

Happy Saturday crafters! The Artistic Outpost has a monthly challenge called the Referral Program. They have  revamped the Referral Program for 2012, and it started today, February 1st. Each month they will post a challenge theme on the blog along with inspiration from the Design Team.  To participate in the challenge, you'll need to use Artistic Outpost images along with the theme to create your project, and then add your link to the Monthly Referral Program post.  The challenge will be open for the entire month, and you'll be able to enter as many times as you wish.  At the end of the month they'll have the Random Number Generator pick the winner, and post the winners name on their blog.  The winner of the monthly Referral Program will receive an Artistic Outpost Prize Package!  The first Theme Challenge is "Shades of Red", and you have until February 28, 2012, to enter and hopefully win some yummy stamps! 

Here is the tag I created for the Referral Theme Challenge (shucks, I can't win the prize). I used the Lovely Day stamp set. I am also submitting this little beauty (I named her Hannah) to the "embellish it" challenge at The Stamp Man.

I stamped Hannah and her bicycle images with Archival Ink in Jet Black and colored them in with Glaze Pens, Watercolor Pens, and a Marvy red marker, and then cut them out. The sentiment was stamped in Festive Berries Distress Ink and heat embossed with Fired Brick Distress Powder, then given a coat of Crackle Accents. For some reason the Crackle caused the sentiment to bleed and blur underneath. I think this was due to a  Distress Ink reaction, but I am not entirely sure, and will have to research that. Any opinions, please let me know.

I had this scrap red paper that I tore out of a  Somerset Studio Magazine. I embossed it with the Valentine Background texture fade, and then inked it with Black Soot Distress Ink. I adhered it to a tag, although I went with a black one instead of manilla.

I used Red Pepper Alcohol Ink to color the button rose.

Black paper lace die cut from Tim's Vintage Lace Die and a gold foil doily were added to the tag and trimmed off. I bunched a hole in it and adhered the button, and tied the wire to the button hole on the back making a loop. Hannah and her bicycle were adhered and embellishments (roses, glittered cut out hearts, ribbon) were added.

Supplies:
Wilton: Foil Gold Doily
The Paper Studio: glittered red cardstock
Uchida Marvy: Red Pigmented Marker
From My Stash: red wire, red  and white cardstock, ribbon, wooden heart (given to me)

Lovely Day Stamp Set	Valentine Background & Borders Texture Fade	Accoutrements - Buttons	Fired Brick Distress Embossing Powder	Watercolor Pencils	Sepia Glaze Pen
Red Glaze Pen	Blue Glaze Pen	Crackle Accents	Ink Blending Tool	Black Soot Distress Ink	Vintage Lace Die
Glossy Accents	Jet Black Archival Ink	Winter 2011 Distress Ink Pack	Red Pepper Alcohol Ink	Black Glaze Pen	Surfaces Black #8 Tag

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Cupid's Cracking Up!

Hello everyone crafty out there! Valentines are still reigning strong here in my little bubble, and glitter, tulle, roses, and lace have exploded and left their remains all over the place. I have found scraps even in the lavatory, which is good because it ignites an idea in my head, and we all know some of best ideas start in the restroom!  I have used bits of scraps on all sorts of things for Love Day. Here is a little Valentine tag that I used Tim's crackle resist on for Linda Ledbetter's Grungy Monday challenge. I crackled the Valentine background paper (scrap), which is one of my favorites from Tim's Seasonal Stack, as well as the cupid. I had a few issues with Mr. Cupid though. First, when I went to stamp him with Jet Black Archival Ink and emboss him with Fired Brick Embossing Powder, the powder was lost in the ink and it heated to a brownish color. So I also did a few using Festive Berries Distress Ink and the Fired Brick powder, and alas the result was what I wanted originally. However, I still liked the look of the other so I used them both.  Second, I decided Mr. Cupid needed a loin cloth or something...cover that up...so after playing with many scraps and fabrics, I went with Liquid Pearls...love that stuff!!!

I am also submitting Cracked Cupid (not to be confused with Cupid on crack) to the challenge on Gingersnap Creations for "favorite designer paper". And speaking of "designer", I have the honor, privilege, and pleasure of now being a part of the design team at Our Creative Corner. I am feeling really blessed at the moment!

I stamped Mr. Cupid on Grunge in Archival Ink and applied Fired Brick Embossing Powder and ended up with the dark brown images instead of red. Here is the before and after.

Try and try again! This time I used Festive Berries Distress Ink and Grunge already coated in Gold paint and everything worked perfectly. Success!

I still like the dark brown Cupid, so I continued and coated him with Gold Paint Dabber and then used a baby wipe to clean the gold paint from the embossed image lines.

I cut Mr. Cupid out and applied a heavy coat of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint, and allowed it to dry.

The brown and red Cupids were then inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. I really tried to get it into all the little cracks.

Mr. Cupid was coated in embossing ink and UTEE and heat embossed.

This is the before (right) and after (left) the heat embossing. Mr. Cupid is shiny and thick and actually shrunk a tiny bit which I really liked...more room!

The tag was inked in Festive Berries and Gathered Twigs, and then water drop spritz and dried. The Valentine paper was also coated in Rock Candy Crackle Paint, dried, and inked in Gathered Twigs. I stamped the heart image in Festive Berries. I stamped the sentiment in gold first then in Archival Ink. It gave it a nice shadow effect that I liked. Foil lace, metal roses (love love love), tulle, and a gold eyelet were added. Mr. Cupid was given a heart that was coated in Gold Acrylic Paint Dabber, and then clothed in Liquid Pearls. Really the pictures are not doing this little tag justice.

Supplies:
Art Chix Studio: mini red metal roses
32 Degrees North: Dresden Foil Trim
From My Stash: tulle, metal heart and gold eyelet

Love Struck Stamp Set	Winter 2011 Distress Ink Pack	Bisque Liquid Pearls	Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder	Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint	Fall 2011 Limited Edition Distress Ink Trio
Blazing Red Stazon	Jet Black Stazon	UTEE - Clear	Ink Blending Tool	Glossy Accents	Distress Embossing Ink
Fired Brick Distress Embossing Powder	#8 Craft Tags	Gold Acrylic Paint Dabber	Grunge Paper 6x12	Seasonal Paper Stack	Stuff To Say Stamp Set
Big & Bossy Empossing Ink Pad

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!