Sherlock Holmes Tag Tutorial

Hello friends! The kids have trick and treated and handed out paper zombies to the neighbours. I have a quick tutorial to share with you, with a fun and easy technique using Distress Oxide ink.

I made two Sherlock Holmes tags, and had fun picking out words and phrases to fit with the theme. The focal image was stamped with Tim Holtz's Evolution set. I also made a fun dimensional light bulb. I used Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper for the tag, but you can try the technique on different surfaces, and you will get different effects. You can use the techniques for any theme. 

Ink Sherlock up with three shades Distress Oxide, starting with the lightest shade. Here I used Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. For the blue tag, I used Faded Jeans, Broken China and Cracked Pistachio. It was stamped on a tag die cut from Specialty Stamping Paper, which is a matte coated paper.

Mist and/or splatter the tag with water. Don't use too much. You can also cover some parts up with a scrap paper, to preserve the detail. I did that for the glasses and mustache area on this tag, while on the blue tag I used more water, so that you can see the difference. Blot the water away with a paper towel.

Die cut words from Tim's Mixed Media 6 set. If you look closely, you will see that I used the wrong brown tag for this photo. The Sherlock you see here was the first one that I made and I didn't like the two big water drops that ended up on his face and hat. So I made a new one, but then die cut the first one by mistake before discovering it.

Tape a piece of acetate at the back of the tag, over the die cut word. Ink them with alcohol inks. I used more of the turquoise ink for the brown tag, and more of the Teakwood ink for the blue tag.

Stamp the light bulb from Noble Gents on Wendy Vecchi's Clearly For Art Modeling Film, with Jet Black Stazon ink.

At the back, add some yellow alcohol ink. Don't work on the stamped side, since it will smear then.

Use a heat tool to heat up the modeling film and shape it into a bulb. Be careful not to burn yourself. I forgot to take a photo of this step. Use a Tim Holtz Memo Pin and wrap a piece of wire around the base, to hold the pin in place.

I liked the idea of a transparent area on the tag, to symbolizing seeing through things and making discoveries. Words from the Noble Gents were stamped on the background with black ink. The edges were inked with Vintage Photo Distress ink.

I also used some idea-ology embellishments. Gears and game spinners for the thought processes of a brilliant mind, and a number 2, for Sherlock and Watson. The number was colored with alcohol ink.

I had an old book page on my desk and cut some phrases from it. This is really fun to do, and you'd be surprised to see how many fitting words and phrases you can find on a single page. I only used a random page that happened to be within reach.

Here's a close-up of the transparent text. I also added a piece of Design Tape as a border.

The blue tag has a darker brown look to the transparent word, so that the tags would coordinate. As you can see, I used more water on the background, creating more drops and texture, but also removing some of the details such as the glasses, making the image even more of a silhouette. Both techniques are fun, it depends on the look you are aiming for.

I love how the Distress Oxide ink almost becomes a part of the Archival Jet Black ink. If you look closely at the word, you will see the blue texture in the letters. So cool.

Some of the phrases are from Tim's Clipping Stickers.

Here's another look at the dimensional bulbs, with the Memo Pin centers. The modeling film keeps its shape perfectly.

As you can see, I was having fun with the words. I love adding words as details and to support a theme.

 

Lost and then found. Observe, explore and imagine. This is the second Sherlock inspired project I do with this stamp set, you can find my Sherlock Holmes Notebook here. That notebook also happens to be the notebook I take along when I am out and about at the moment, which is probably the reason for why I was inspired to use this stamp again.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Buzzing Bees Art Journal Page

Hello friends! I hope you are well! I had minor surgery last week and have taken it easy since then, but it went well and is now luckily getting better.

This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog we have an Art Journaling theme. If you have never done art journaling before, I hope you will try it out. It is a really fun and free form of creating. If you don't have an art journal, don't worry, you can also do lose pages and bind them later, or glue them into a journal later on. Don't miss the gorgeous art journal page by our October guest designer Jo, with her blog Let's Art Journal.

I made a nature-themed page in my 8 x 8 Dylusions journal, with lots of texture, but almost no bulk. I continued to use Tim Holtz's Abandoned Paper Stash, all the papers in the pack are great for art journal backgrounds. The particular one that I picked has a texture that worked well together with the bee theme. The bees and flowers come from the Darkroom Door Buzzing Bees set. My sisters are both beekeepers, so bees are popular in our family. 

Stamp the bees on cream paper.

Color them with colored pencils. I used Prismacolor pencils, and also added just a little bit of gold.

Give the wings some glimmer with a Zig Wink of Stella pen.

Stamp the flower and angle the stem in different ways, for variation. Color with pencils.

Add some marks with a black pen, to increase the sketch look of the flowers. Add highlights with a white gel pen. I added some white gel pen marks on the bees too.

Stamp and gold emboss the honeycomb pattern from the Buzzing Bees set on the background. Be careful when heat embossing and do not touch the melted powder until it is completely cool.

Cut the bees out and glue to the background.

I also smeared embossing ink around the edges and embossed with the gold powder.

Here's a close up of the flowers. They will look pretty in almost any color.

The sentiments come from the Nature Walk Darkroom Door set, stamped on Simon Says Stamp Glimmery paper.

I also die cut a flower border with the SSS Bixby Arch die, from glimmery paper, and some flowers, both from patterned paper and from peach glimmery paper.

It is hard to photograph the soft shine on the wings, but you can maybe see it slightly here.

I hope you will join us this week in our Art Journaling challenge. As always, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Spooky Apothecary Tag

Hi friends! Here's a second post for today, don't miss my Halloween Window Tutorial below. Today, I am happy to have a tutorial on the Simon Says Stamp Store blog.

I made a spooky apothecary tag, with a fun rub-on resist technique for the background, and I used Design Tape to add patterns and texture to the house, die cut with Tim Holtz Ghost Town die. 

You can find all the details and a stepped tutorial on the Simon Says Stamp Store blog. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Halloween Window Tutorial

Hello crafters! I hope you had a good weekend! We had a relatively quiet weekend here, with some organising at home and some walking. We also worked on a school assignment in family history and my Mom and I figured out that the farm that my grandfather grew up on, is very close to where we live now. The family moved from there when he was in his teens and we always thought the farm was is in another town, and that it was destroyed, but it seems to still be around, so we'll have to go and have a look soon. My great grandfather was a foreman there and took care of the horses. My grandfather told us a lot of stories about it, but no one remembered the precise location.

This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, we have a Spooky theme. I hope you can join us! And don't miss the spooky project by our October guest designer Jo, with her blog Let's Art Journal.

Almost all our Halloween decorations are handmade, either by me or by the kids, and every year we add some new items. For today, I made a wall-hanging of an indoor scene in house occupied by two witches. The witches themselves stand outside the window looking into their home and one of them has the door key in her hand, so they will soon come inside and whoever is lurking about in their home should quickly get out through the back door. The project was inspired by the heavy red curtains in Tim Holtz's Halloween Layers and Baseboard Frames kit. The window piece comes from the same set.

The piece is 5 x 8 inches. This is a long tutorial, so lets start.

Most of the items on the shelf were die cut with Tim's Regions Beyond set, which has so many great details. I die cut them from heavystock cardstock, clear Modeling Film and black cardstock.

Ink the pieces with Distress Inks.

Apply Rock Candy Crackle Paint to the bottles with a palette knife. Let dry and cracks will appear.

Add a tiny bit of brown Distress Crayon to some of the cracks.

Here are the bottles and the crystal ball were die cut from Clearly For Art Modeling Film.

Heat gently with a heat tool, being careful not to burn yourself, and shape the bottles. They will keep their shapes perfectly. I left the crystal ball flat, but you can shape it too, if you want to.

Sand the edges of the window piece and the curtains.

I wanted to have a real looking window, and some dimension, and found a plastic packaging that fit perfectly with the window baseboard. It was colored with alcohol ink. If you can't find a piece that fits so well, you can use a larger piece and cut it smaller.

I found a piece of cardboard on my desk and cut it into two to create a shelf.

Glue the two pieces together.

Coat the shelf with texture paste, on all sides except for the one that will be glued to the window.

When dry, paint with Distress Paints.

Sand the ladies a bit and color some areas with Distress Markers.

It is dusk outside the window when the witches arrive back home and I colored a piece of watercolor paper with Distress Inks, smearing them on a craft sheet and misting with water first.

Ink the tree from Mr Bones with Black Soot Distress Ink, mist with water about four times and stamp on the background, repeat until you are happy with the result. Adhere the witches with foam tape and add a silver key to the hand of one of them. For stability, I glued the paper to mat board.

Color the metal piece with a Carved Pumpkin Distress Crayon and Black Soot paint.

Cut off the overhanging parts of the packaging and don't forget to make holes and add a string at the top before assembly. I used matte medium to attach the baseboard to the plastic packagin, and hot glue to attach the packaging to the background.I used hot glue to assemble the piece. Be very careful when using hot glue since it is super hot, and never ever touch it until it is completely cool.

Cover the glue up with Design Tape. I decided not to cover up all the plastic along the edges since I wanted some light to come in, so that the background/outdoor part of the scene would not be too dark.

On the shelf below the window, there are all kinds of interesting little items: pumpkins, a skull, the crystal ball, candles, and vials, bottles and jars of mysterious content. Dye a piece of cheese cloth with Distress ink and glue to the shelf.

Add several layers of foam adhesive behind the pieces to get dimension.

I used Clippings stickers from the Curiosities set for the content of some of the vials, and a stamp from Mr Bones for the others.

Glue a key and a word at the front of the shelf.

Under the shelf, you can find a book of spells, hidden from nosy, uninvited guests.

And more stickers from the Curiosities book. The plastic packaging is visible a little bit around the edges, but it doesn't bother me. If you want to, you can cover it up with Design Tape.

The curtains were sanded and inked and adhered with foam tape.

Tie the title with string.

It is easy to give color to the text with Distress Crayons, but you can also use paint.

Interesting items hangs from the curtains.

It is hard to photograph the witches through the inky and scratchy plastic, but here you can see their serious faces.

From above, the shelf looks like this.

I hope you will join us this week in our Spooky challenge. As always, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.