Monday, April 29, 2019

My Other Creations: Tiny Tag Book using Sugarpea Designs' With Love Tag Die

You know I'm a book nerd and that I love tags, so it only seemed fitting to make a tag book for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  The theme is "Tag It" and I've wanted to try this tag book structure ever since I saw Birgit Koopsen share it (and a great tutorial) on Instagram.  Here's my finished project:

I started by covering my Gelli plate with a bunch of Dina Wakley acrylic paint and spritzed it with a bit of water.  And for the record, I don't think there's any "wrong" way to use a Gelli plate.

Here's how my print turned out when I pressed some Strathmore Mixed Media Paper onto it:

Whenever I make a big piece like this that I'm going to cut into smaller pieces, I have to remind myself not to get scared when I look at the whole thing.  Cause this was looking scary.  I added white paint through a polka dot stencil and that only amped up the scary factor.  I had to keep reminding myself that I was going to cut it into smaller squares.

Ah!  Sigh of relief!  When I cut it up, it totally reduces the crazy look.

Next I cut each square into a tag shape using my Big Shot and a die from Sugarpea Designs called "With Love."  Some of the color combos were still a little loud for the look I wanted, so I added white paint to my tags to tone things down.

And even though my process seems redundant, I added color back in once I whited the tags out.

And here is where that fabulous Birgit Koopsen video I mentioned earlier comes in.  Birgit shows us exactly how to bind these tag books together.  Check it out--it's called, "Birgit Koopsen - How to Bind a Tag Book" and it's a snap to pull up if you Google her name and "tag book." It is so much easier to understand than from my photos below.

The binding technique involves gluing two tags side-by-side onto a rectangular piece of paper in the middle (like butterfly wings).  I used double-stick tape for this part.
  
Here are all of my tag pairs glued together:

You then glue the tag pairs back to back to back to back (really- just watch Birgit's video!!)  Here's my book all splayed out after I glued it.  I used Aleene's Turbo Tacky Glue for this step, but any sort of adhesive or heavy-duty gel medium would work nicely.  I like how the pages turn out to be really thick and sturdy since each page is two-tags thick.

The last step is to cover the tag book's spine with a type of stretchy tape or sticky-back canvas.  I didn't have either one, so I just used regular fabric with a cool text pattern and slathered it with plenty of thick gel medium.  Here's a view from the back:


Last but not least was to decorate the front cover.  I used collage scraps from previous projects.  The "Pray" word is a piece of Washi tape.  I outlined the edge with a black Sharpie.

Nice and thick and SOLID in its structure!


I added a fabric A, J and E to the spine in honor of some family members' names.

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:


I'm always excited when I try a technique that works!  Good stuff!  I'm excited to see what YOU decide to do with your tag projects this week.  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

Monday, April 22, 2019

My Other Creations: Journal Page using Tim Holz Paper Dolls and Inky Antics' Crafty Comments

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is to incorporate circles into our projects.  No problem here as I do love polka-dots and all sorts of circles.  I decided to make a journal page using circles in the background.


I started this page by stamping circles from Tim Holtz's Haftone and Rings stamp set onto my Dina Wakley 6x6 journal.  Then I used Jane Davenport's Mermaid Markers to color some of the circles in and spritzed the color with my Distress Sprayer.  Once that dried, I added striped Washi tape and white paint through Tim Holtz's Gradient Dot stencil.

Next I added in some acrylic paint in tones of teal and green.

I toned down the background a bit with white and colored some Tim Holtz paperdolls with Distress Crayons.  I added hats to them and outlined them with a black Sharpie to make them stand out.  I also added a Simon Says Stamp Circle loop in yellow behind the queen's head.  Then I stamped, cut and glued on the "queen" sentiment, which is from my Inky Antics' Crafty Comments stamp set.

I also drew a wand in the hand of the queen, so hopefully she doesn't mind that addition!

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp.
  
Upload your creation to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!