Dare to Live!

Hello all!  Well, I'm back from Ally Pally, and not quite bankrupt, though I have invested in some more DecoArt chalk paints after the fun I had with my chalky spice rack.  Met up with lots of lovely people too, of course!

The tags I'm sharing with you today are the results of a quick bit of playtime with Artistic Outpost stamps and some new Distress Paint colours - Tattered Rose, Dried Marigold and Worn Lipstick.... yup, pink, basically.  Seems to be featuring more regularly these days...

I decided to do a compare and contrast using the same colours in Distress Stains too... so after some wrinkle-free distress technique I ended up with four tags.

Two are Distress Paints (on the left) and two are Distress Stains (on the right).  I always end up with at least two tags to play with when I do the wrinkle-free game.  Mopping up always creates an extra one!

So I took one D.P. and one D.S. to play with and Artistic Outpost's Flower Market stamp set.

I did some Distress Ink stencilling using the Crafter's Workshop Specimen mask and Prima's Lace Trim Background.













The butterflies are done using Sienna and Plum Archival inks.  These are the ones on the Distress Paint background.















I blended both inks onto the stamp, and then stamped three times in succession on each tag...












... following the shadow stamping idea set by Tim Holtz with his March tags.  I've become a bit addicted to it!













These three individual photos are of the Distress Stain versions.













I added some extra background texture with the gorgeous Gothic typescript from the Birds of a Feather plate, stamped in Potting Soil.














And the sentiment comes from the Kudzu Kafe set, again stamped in Potting Soil and clear-embossed for extra definition and glossiness.














I've added some of the lavender from the Flower Market plate around the foot of the tags - it's such a pretty, delicate stamp.

Natural raffia and some curled paper string finish the tags off...










I like the subtle differences between the two finishes (D.P.s left, D.S.s right).  The Gathered Twigs used to ink around the edges takes much better on the Distress Stains than on the inks, so you get a more strongly defined brown tinge.


And the stencilling and stamping have a touch more clarity against the Stains, but a rather nice soft subtle look to them on the Paint version.

These are all things I know at the back of my mind, but it was nice to have them side by side and really take note of the variations.

These tags have now made their way to my best friend who is in the midst of daring to change her life and head towards her dream...

Used as bookmarks over the next few months, I hope they'll help to keep that dream in focus.






Thanks so much for stopping by today... I know I keep promising I'll be catching up with visiting - it really will happen one day very soon!

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney

A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
Colin Powell