Sparkle and Shine

Hello all!  I'm back with my second sparkly and shiny offering of the month to inspire you to play along with Doreen's Sparkle and Shine theme over at Country View Challenges.  It's a tag trio full of mixed media textures.  We're photo-heavy today, so grab a cup of coffee!

I cannot tell you how much fun I had with these tags! I may have trouble remembering the ins and outs of their creation though, as it's quite a long time since I made them - late July, I think.

I had to get them done before setting off for New York the first time.  I tried to take photos as I went, to remind myself as much as anything else, so here goes…

I was inspired by these fabulous tags by Aida - owner of the very cool Polish 13Arts store.

I suppose mine are a combination of the two sets in the post I've linked to, but since there was no step-by-step, I had to sort of "reverse-engineer" my version - pretty much making it up as I went along to create something similar.










I started with three standard tag backgrounds, stamped with some of my favourite Tim Holtz meadow grasses and a flourish, and then inked with Distress Inks.














Over that I painted a thick coat of multi-medium and then pressed the tags against one another to create waves of texture in the medium.

As well as the texture, the medium "seals" in the Distress Ink colours, so they won't run during any of what follows.













While the medium was still tacky, the next step was to add some more dimensional textural elements.












So at this point I glued down some cheesecloth, some tiny beads, and also some white paper roses as I knew they'd take the inky sprays well once I got going.










I added some glass bead gel medium too for extra sparkle.













While the tags were drying, I stuck some green glass pebbles to some book text.

I was quite precise about picking the words to highlight - I wanted lots of sparkling positivity!












Once dry, the medium gives you these fabulous transparent ridges over the inked, stamped background.












Time to glue down some more embellishments.

I added some buttons and some wooden ornaments, and I also tried out the positioning of my glass pebbles.











I quite liked the arrangements even in the "naked" version, but I was after some more shimmer and sparkle, so it was time for some spritzing.













(I hadn't glued the pebbles down yet, though everything else was stuck in place.  I took them away during the spritzing so that their surfaces would stay free of any inky splatter, keeping the words clearly visible.)













As well as Dylusions and Ranger ColorWash for intense colour, there are various sprays involved: Perfect Pearls Mists, Tattered Angels and Cosmic Shimmer - basically anything that was to hand which would add a touch of mica sparkle.











I was really pleased with the effect of the ridges of texture… 













… so I highlighted it by rubbing some Silks Acrylic Glaze and some Treasure Gold over the top.













And I love how the glass beads took the colour differently from the background so that they stand out.













The last step was to add the ChitChat stickers - again lots of positive thoughts about the adventures to come (New York being still ahead of me at that point).  So there's hope…














adventure… 













and possibility…














… to go with the positive glass pebbles: remember (which I'm not good at - I definitely live in the moment!)…

beautify...

and amazement.

See - I knew those roses would look good all inked up - and the glitter still works through the new colours!












The loose woven ribbon at the top was something I picked up somewhere along the line - it was already a vivid shade of lime green so I added some Distress Stains to give it a multi-shaded tint.  I like how it echoes the cheesecloth on the tags.










I'm really pleased with how the colours of the cheesecloth vary so widely, from a bold vivid green to the softer blues.

And I'm very happy to finally have pressed those beads into action!












The same goes for the wooden ornaments which soak in the ink for a matte finish.  I considered glossing them up with a coat of glossy accents, but I decided we had enough sparkle on the go...

… though I will admit there are touches of Treasure Gold just about everywhere, giving a gilded finish.



So that's my sparkly trio for you - I hope you like them.  I certainly had a ball getting really inky and messy, and even getting into the swing of Sparkle and Shine.

I hope you'll come and play along with us at Country View Challenges this month.  There's a prize generously sponsored by Country View Crafts, and you still have two weeks to get sparkly!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars.  Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait.  The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.
Henry Ford