I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Sunday 1 February 2015

Drip, drip, drop!




Hello all!  Apologies if that post title's just given you an earworm (you know, one of those songs that you get on the brain, round and around and again and again - and there's another) - and it's not even April yet, so that's doubly annoying!

But there is method in my madness - the fabulous Sue has chosen Drips and Drops as the new theme over at Country View Challenges.

(Oh, and Love is in the Air (Again!) over at The Artistic Stamper if you're looking for that post which went out at midnight... and I'll be back this evening with a big PaperArtsy party post - the first of the month is busier than ever!!)

For my first inspiration offering, I took some of the ideas and techniques from my recent Winter Journalling pages and transferred them to a tag.











So, I started by dividing my gesso'd tag with a pastel pencil line, and then applied DecoArt Crackle Paint with a palette knife in fairly random (though not entirely random) streaks.

Once that had cracked up nicely, I used a plastic pipette to drop trickles of Salty Ocean Distress Stain at the pencil line and let them run down the crackle.









Then Rusty Hinge got to come and play too... something nicely Gaudi-esque about the crackled mosaic full of colour at this stage.

I added some Vintage Photo and Faded Jeans into the mix too, though somehow as I added more ink it seemed to take less on the crackle.










Might be me, might be the humidity in the room, might be too much mopping up with paper towel, too much heat tool and not enough patience to let it dry in puddles (that's my chief guess) - we'll have to see next time I'm playing whether the same thing happens.








Anyway, once I was done with that game, I moved on to a new one - creating much finer drips and drops of Distress Spray on the top part of the tag...  Same colours, different drips and drops patterns.











So that was my background which I really rather liked, so I didn't want to cover it up too much.  It always seems to happen to my favourite backgrounds - they vanish under what comes next... not this time, I was determined.

Even though it's not full-on winter like the journalling, there's something quite autumnal and melancholic about it, and I found myself drifting towards a slightly sombre state of mind.








I was flicking through the ChitChat stickers (I figured that since they're nice and small, they wouldn't cover up too much of the background) and the word Commemorate just leapt out at me.

I found this coppery label holder in my stash and that was the words done.









The Distress Paint altered clock was hanging around the place (having been rejected from my Ring In The New card as being a bit too much of a good thing, even though its matching hands did get to take part there).

But now, I thought it might be time for it to earn its keep.











I sanded back the numbers to give them a bit more shine, and then did the same on the label holder and on the skeleton leaves surrounding it.










The sanding reveals a little light-reflecting gleam under the weathered look of the metal.














There are some thorny branches reaching up into the sky...













... stamped in Sepia and clear embossed.













At the top, we have some twine and some properly weathered (ie completely rusty) wire to finish things off in a simple manner.










All that metal was a bit heavy for the tag so I glued the whole thing onto some cardboard to keep it flat, and that also gives it a lovely weighty presence in the world.

So there are my Drips and Drops for now.  Do hop over to Country View Challenges to see the fabulous drippage my team-mates have conjured up for you, today and throughout the month, and we hope you'll come along and play with us.

As I said, there's the new challenge at The Artistic Stamper too, if you want to take a look at my offering for that, and I'll be back this evening for the PaperArtsy fun and games... don't miss it!!

Constant dripping hollows out a stone.
Lucretius
You have been warned!





47 comments:

Astrid Maclean said...

Wonderful drippy tag Alison, great crackling and colours!!

froebelsternchen said...

AMAZING! Love the crackle and drippling

Helen said...

Fantastic tag, love your drips and crackle, it looks ok to me! Off to check out your love tag now in close up.

Kirsten said...

Wonderful tag, the drips look great amongst the crackle. And I don't know the song your post title refers to, so I am happily ear worm free. :) Happy Feb 1st, have a great Sunday.

chrissie said...

What a great idea -a two part tag. I would never have thought of that but now I want to try one :) Nice to see the background is the star on this tag.

Have a good day Alison

Love Chrissie

Deborah said...

I'm not surprised you didn't want to hide the background - it's fab! Love those drips.

Claire said...

Yum! Drips and crackle together! Love this tag, it reminds me of all the colours and textures of nature. X

brenda said...

Oh my A|lison, what a lovely piece with those dribbles of ink down the piece, so effective.

B x

Unknown said...

I love this colour combo you use :) thanks for showing us your process in making these beautiful tags. The crackle, drips and spray work amazingly together xx

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

Nice drip drop and crackles Alison....lovely blue, white and brown...great tag in total!
Have a nice Sunday, Alie :-)

Marci said...

This is pretty. I like the shadow effect from those metal leaves, and the blue clock.

www.deeadamsart.blogspot.co.uk said...

Love all the colours and textures on this tag and the two styles on the one tag. Dee x

Pamellia said...

Wow Alison, I just love how you dripped over top of the crackle and the colours you chose are completely dreamy together! Love those leaves (they are on my wish list thanks to you), and the time piece is a wonderful accent! Stunning! hugs :)

Brenda Brown said...

Beautifully crackled to capture some of the drips and wonderful colours. Love the effects you have created.
hugs Brenda xxx

Terry said...

Alison, this is so unique and I love those drips of crackled color! Love the added altered clock piece with the leaves! Gorgeous colors! Happy Sunday!

Dorthe said...

Wonderful drips and drops, Alison,- your crackle is fantastic, with the colours running into them, and the stamped bushes looks gorgeous on your background of other kind of drips !!
Dorthe xo

Inkypinkycraft said...

Great drips and drops x

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Gorgeous! LOVE the drips, the blue clock piece, the leaves! Beautiful!

Jennie Atkinson said...

Such a gorgeous tag Alison (as always), but I love that amazing background. Pipettes! I even have them! and they would have controlled my drips! Such a stunning choice of colours and I love the way they have come together over the crackled background. Such a wonderful design with the half and half tag and those wonderful embellishments. I could go on ……………. ! Jennie x

Anneke said...

It all fits so well together. Love the colors that you have used.
Love your design it really looks wonderful. Just kept on looking.
Thanks for sharing and showing your step by step. Very inspiring Anneke.

Kerstin F. said...

Gorgeous, love the very creative background, what a wonderful inspiration!!

Scrumplescrunch said...

Hello Alison,
I was hoping that the team would have some Fun with this theme, and it appears you have had an excellent result playing with the drips. The Tag is gorgeous with its crackle; which adds wonderful texture to your piece.
As usual this is a great work.
Smiles:)
Sue

Lys said...

How I love this background! And the other pieces just take the right place... Perfect!

Hettie said...

Lovely tag Alison. I love those metal leaves...so delicate.
I will be singing this tune for days now...thanks!!
Hugs
xx

cathylynn said...

Another fabulous creation! Those thorny bushes really caught my eye. I should say ouch but I love them! Great job Alison!
Hugs, Cathy-Lynn

Kay Wallace said...

Amazing use of your Salty Ocean and Vintage Photos paints, Alison! Two of my favorites. The crackles provided unpredictable travel lanes, but it turned out beautifully. Might just have to try this! Thanks for the inspiration, my friend!

pearshapedcrafting said...

Crackles and drips - Yay!! This fabulous Alison, such gorgeous colours doing their own thing - Oh Yeah! Drip, Drip, Drop indeed! Chrisx

Shilpa Nagaonkar said...

Love the drips in crackle texture, would love to try this!! Beautiful tag :)

Jackie PN said...

OMGorgeousness with all of those drips,drops and yummy textures!! Alison, I love your style! xo

Anjas-Artefaktotum said...

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful professional design, I love all effects and details and specially the running colors!
Hugs Anja

massofhair said...

Drip, Drop, Drip, Drop a new name for drippage Alison? WONDERFUL Tag, loving the crackles and the colours a fantastic Tag :-) xxx

Corrie Herriman said...

Beautiful drips, Alison ! Love the crackles !
Corrie x

Julie Lee said...

What a lovely idea to transfer some of the journal ideas onto a tag - and what a gorgeous tag it is too! I love your use of the skeleton leaves, which I always associate with your work: they look superb here! That background is so lovely. I want to come back again and really absorb your process carefully - it's so inspiring! As for earworms - well, I'm hardly ever without some song twirling round my brain and I'm a terrible one for passing them on to others! I won't repeat the words of this one or it will be going around my head all night long!!! Ha ha! x

Gio said...

Amazing!! Such a sumptious gorgeous texture, love love the dripping !

Unknown said...

Lovely, Simply Lovely, Alison! Totally clever to texturize part of the tag and leaving it exposed in all of its crackly and drip-droppy goodness!! Your color palette is amazing and your metal embellies are fabulous in their simplicity--This tag speaks volumes!! Thank you for sharing that wonderful crackly background technique!! I love techniques :) XOXO-Shari

craftytrog said...

Gorgeous drips and drops Alison! xxx

Jenny Marples said...

Great idea to have the drips running through the crackle. Jenny x

craftimamma said...

Gorgeous drips and fabulous colours and crackle!

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Cocofolies said...

A fantastic idea indeed to do a two parts tag like that, like you did on your wintery journal pages... I love this stunning tag!!! Hugs, Coco xx

Nikki Acton said...

Love your drippy crackly tag! I do like that deco art crackle paint - using it more and more. Great colours too! Nikki xx

Maggie said...

Gorgeous tag Alison and thanks for sharing your step by step, I had great fun with this challenge and got very inky and painty in the process of playing.
MaggieH

Hazel Agnew said...

This is fabulous Alison. All the little finishing touches are what adds to making it such a special tag! Making notes as I comment! Have actually joined in today with 2 pieces!

Ruth said...

I'm in love with that background...it's stunning... the finished tag is gorgeous of course...but I love how you've achieved that background..just wonderful Alison. Ruth x

Deb said...

Amazing Alison, love how you divided the tag and your colour palette is fabulous (loving the blue with the rusty hinge!).

toni said...

Love the way your drips sink into the tiny crackles on your gorgeous tag ! Wonderful x

Kezzy said...

Oh wow really loving those drips, the crackle texture looks awesome and wow I never thought to do the dripping with distress stains, I always use watered down paint or india ink lol. Must definitely give that a go. Happy Art :-) Kezzy xxx

Mary Elizabeth said...

This is one of those "fun with stains" pieces. It is such a product of serendipity. What's not to love about that background !!!! Definitely worthy of those gorgeous embellishments.