Blissful Crafting Journey ~ More Mixed Media Tags

It's been a while since I've posted about my Crafting Projects...I have many of them on tap to share with you!  I sort of went on a streak with Mixed Media including Alcohol Inks, Distress Inks, and Distress Stains for a while.  This is one of the 40 or so I did.

This one is really neat because of the fading in and out color and it's mostly the Alcohol Inks with Powdered Chalk in Water.  I mixed it up and used a spray bottle to force the color around and let it naturally dry where ever the color laid from there. 

The color kind of reminds me of a Gas/Oil Drip you might see in the Parking Lot of a Gas Station.

This 2nd Tag is similar with the Alcohol Inks and Powdered Chalks in Water by spraying it.  I also used some of the shade of brown in the Distress Stains from Tim Holtz/Ranger Ink.  You'll see in the bottom left hand corner of this tag that I also added some Glitter to it, too.  This dried naturally with the other mediums.

I have a thought - I might add some grunge inked rubber stamp backgrounds to this one - but I don't want to screw up the subtle glitter at the bottom - so I've been on the fence about it.  What do you think!?

Speaking of inked Rubber Stamps...this 3rd photo will show you one that I have already done.  I used Dress Stains and Powdered Chalk - both DRY - and distressed by smushing and smudging.  I applied more Powder Chalk and lightly spritzed with plain water.  After it dried I used 2 different Clear Acrylic Stamps - on with the Cardinal and the other with the Sentiment.

I made this one with my husband's Grandmother in mind...she LOVES Cardinals.  It might be a little too Earth-Toned for her regular color tastes but I think the Cardinal Image Tramps the color.

This next one resembles rust, I think.

I did the Distress Stains - DRY - and then sprayed water and dried again.  I filled in with watered down Alcohol Inks and dried again and then the Distress Stains - dried - and spritzed with water and dried one more time.

I might try and do a Paper Piecing and/or Grunge or Art Journaling/Junk Journaling with this one in some way, shape, or form.

Next up...this spotty blue one...

It's pretty easy-peasy, really!  I just used the Alcohol Inks with a bit of water and dried.

I left some of the base paper color exposed on purpose.  I figured less is sometimes more.

I often have problems sticking to that but it seemed to work here!

And...LAST...but certainly NOT least...because I have like 30 more tags I could post but will wait another day!

This one is a combination of Alcohol and Distress Inks and Stains, Powdered Chalk, Water, Hair Spray - all dried - and then I smeared DRY Glitzy Powder Chalk over top of it for the finish.

I like the way you can see the paths that the water took with the color in this one...where it has moved and run a bit.  I also like the glitzy finish.

So there you have it!  A few Artsy pics and posts for you!  What do you think!?  Which are your favorites?  I will be posting another project in the near future using the inks and stains on a full page of card stock so be on the look out for that, too!

Blissful Crafting Journey ~ Crafty Tags Using Distress Stains

I was telling OPAL about the Tags I was making over the last few weeks using Distress Stains.  I promised her I would post some of them.  Once I got going I found that I already took a LOT of photos of my very first ones so I will be posting them in clumps, I guess.  Here are the first batch with many more to come! 

These are just standard tags I bought in a bulk bin a while back and thought they would be perfect for learning different techniques with various mediums.  For the most part - the colors and mediums you will see in this post are ones I buy from Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz Distress Stain Line.  Right now I'm only working with 3 colors but I hope to get more - especially now that I am hooked on using them!

In the first photo you will see a more light blue based tag I did.  I used mostly the blue I had as well as a bit of the brown...I will post the exact color names in a near future post...I don't have them on me at the moment.  To get the texture in the first tag I used a smooshing technique against another piece of paper while half dry and moved the tag around in the liquid until I got the desired color and look.  I air dry most of my crafts - unless noted otherwise.  For this 2nd tag I used mostly green with a spec of blue.  The clouded or gray areas I went over with powdered chalk at the end. 

What makes these Distress Stains different from the other mediums?  Well, this is what they say on the website...

Distress Stains are fluid water-based dyes for papers and other porous surfaces. Use for quick and easy ink coverage for backgrounds and larger areas. Mist with water to lighten color and create mottled effects. Apply layers of stain to achieve more saturated color. Available in the entire Distress color palette, including Metallic shades.

The brushed nylon dabber top has a built-in spring valve. This allows for controlling the release of Distress Stains from the bottle. By pressing the dabber top down onto surface, the valve opens and fluid releases. Lift dabber away from surface to stop fluid flow. Spread Distress Stains by swiping the dabber top lightly as a brush across the surface.

As for this next tag - I used the technique mentioned about but covered it more and pressed harder on the distress stain padding and bottle and layered it more while half dry.  After it completely dried I used a small clear acrylic stamp with white ink and stamped it several times in various directions and let dry again.

I will sometimes use water or hairspray to move the stain around or give it a different look or to help layer.  I'm finding more and more ways to layer and make the stains move and am constantly coming up with new textures!  It's quite FUN!

As for this tag with the Bees on it...I first laid down the stains and then used a distressing tool of a pad with a similar  touch/feel/surface of a "Magic Eraser" to it.  I then rubbed in the liquid very well.  For a 2nd layer I went around the outside of the tag again with the brown but as you can see I mainly used the brown and blue stains for this one.  When it was all dry I used Clear Acrylic Stamps with Blank Ink.  I'm actually using 2 different stamps here - again in different positions, etc.  With the swirls I purposely stamped off the tag, as well.  I was thinking of Opal while making this one because of the BEES!!!!

With this tag laying on top of the red background you will see I only used the brown but went really dark and heavy with it.  I squeezed the liquid out on on hard plastic surface and then directly pressed the outside of the tag around the liquid to 'sop it up' so to speak.  On the surface there was still a little color from a previous project on there but I like the way it looked and decided to keep it that way.  For the shiny finish I used Modge Podge and let it dry.   The cream color in the center of this one is the natural color of the tags I was using.

This last one is one of my favorites so far!  I used a heavy and dark blue directly on the tag for this one.  Then I Modge Podged the 2 corners with a sponge stick and used Alcohol Inks just barely touching the side of each corner where I applied the Modge Podge.  It reacted really NEAT as you can see.  I let dry.  I also added a bit of Powdered Chalk to the center part in some spots.  I did add a little heat to the sides that were Modge Podged, too, but not much.  I will be blogging in the near future more about Mixed Media using Distress Stains, Powdered Chalk, Alcohol Inks, Stamping, Modge Podge, Gesso, and Embossing. 

I have been mixing the Distress Stains and Alcohol Inks in various projects and they look pretty cool together, too!  This is just the first batch of tags!  I have LOTS more to share in the very near future!  What do you think so far!?