Mixed Media Bird Tag

Hi friends! Today, I have a mixed media bird tag to share with you, with a textured neutral background and a bird with stamped patterns. As with all tags, it could just as easily be a card instead.

We had a fun weekend with a Transformer birthday party, a soccer game and a very nice visit from my parents. 

At the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog we have a Tag It challenge. Since it is the first day of a new month, the team is showcasing a specific designer/company, and this week it is Tim Holtz. Tim has such a fantastic line of products and you can find them all here. You don't have to use Tim's products to join, but it is always fun if you do.

This month, Ann Chuang is our guest designer and I hope you will stop by her blog. She has created a fantastic project for today.

I made a bird themed mixed media tag this week, using Tim's Patchwork Bird die, which is such a fun die with so many options. The background is textured, yet neutral, since I wanted the bird on a neutral background. I also used a branch from the garden and some old fibers.

Start by tearing old book paper and glue them to a tag with Matte Medium.

When dry, coat with gesso, taking care not to cover all the words. I often look for words that I want to keep.

Apply Texture Paste through the Latticework stencil with a palette knife.

When the paste is dry, paint the tag with Distress Paint and mist with water to make the paints blend and run.

Stamp with a dot stamp and dry brush darker brown paint here and there. I thought the top part almost looked like a landscape, so I drew three very simple winter trees there.

Apply glue with a glue stick and rub a gold foil sheet on top, working one area at a time, and focusing on the edges.

Die cut the bird from heavystock paper and white emboss various background stamps on the pieces. 

Ink with Distress Inks and the embossing will resist the ink. My bird is inspired by the blue tit.

Die cut the base piece of the bird from mat board, to give it stability and then patch the pieces together on top of the mat board. I also die cut a wing and feathers from Simon Says Stamp Sapphire glittery cardstock and legs from black glitter paper. The eye is also from black glitter paper.

The gold foil adds a nice touch and gives shine without being overpowering. I like how you see some of the words from the old book underneath all the other layers.

I picked out three Clippings Stickers as sentiments. Here you can also see my very rough trees. My finer pens were hiding, so I used a slightly too broad pen.

You can vary this bird in so many ways, by using different patterns, different colors and different types of surfaces. For a fabric version of the Patchwork Bird, check out my Winter Bird Tag. I used a black pen to draw simple lines as shadows between the pieces and around the entire bird.

My favorite part of the bird is the tail feathers, with the mix of patterns and glitter. I particularly liked how the feathers stamped with the Pine stamp turned out. Look at your background stamps and try to imagine patterns and textures that you can create with them, even on very small surfaces.

Underneath the bird you will find a piece of dyed cheese cloth, a branch from the garden and lots of old fibers.

I used some of the same fibers to tie the tag at the top.

And a final sentiment.  

The bird was adhered with foam tape, placing two strips on top of each other to increase the thickness.

I hope you will join us this week in our Tag It 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:

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