Harlequinade!

Hello all!  It seems a while since I last made something just for fun... but here's a tag where that's exactly what happened.  I wanted to play with another of the Tim Holtz Mixed Media Thinlits (having had lots of fun with the Lattice over at Destination Inspiration), so I got out the Harlequins and off we went.

It changes in different lights, and I couldn't decide between these two photos, so you're getting both!

There's all sorts going on here... inks, paints, crackle, Glossy Accents, manila, kraft, embossing, even a touch of sparkle - anything missing from the wishlist?!

With all those media, I'd like to enter this at the inaugural Anything Goes theme at the Mixed Media World challenge (newly altered from the Speedcraft Challenge!).








I especially enjoyed creating the odd glossy Harlequin diamond to catch the light!












I used one of the spare backgrounds leftover after making my my March Tim tag - the Monet Butterfly (you can see all the backgrounds if you check out that post), and spritzed a piece of watercolour paper with co-ordinating Distress Sprays so that I could use it for cutting things out of.







The first step though was cutting the Mixed Media Harlequins out of some kraft card which I'd cut to tag size with the Bigz Die.

I stamped it with some of the tiny text from the Stuff to Say set and gave it a good splattering of Picket Fence Distress Paint as well as a dusting of Ivory Frantage around the edges.












I layered that over my Distress Paint background, and then began to layer up extra Harlequins cut out of my spritzed watercolour paper.










Next I added my Glossy Accents - some of it to highlight indented Harlequins and some of it on the top layer.













Using the same sheet of spritzed watercolour paper I cut the Bigz/Texture Fades Butterfly Duo and embossed them.

Initially I thought I might use both butterflies on the tag, but I ended up not wanting to cover up too many of my Harlequins, so Butterfly 2 has now made its way onto another tag (which you'll see soon!).









I couldn't resist adding some Rock Candy crackle paint to them, as you can see!

And once I'd decided which one was coming out to play, I added a little pointer for the body, attached with a mini-fastener.

This tied in with some of the other additions I was toying with for the rest of the tag.

I'd picked a WordBand (love these!), and was busy adding various cogs, gears and pointers to complement it... 









... so the pointer for the butterfly's body was an obvious next step to echo the pointers around and about.















I really enjoy the trompe l'oeil effect you get with these thinlits... sometimes when I'm looking at it, I can't tell what's going in and what's coming out!













And the layering of the text, the splatter and the Frantage on the kraft card layer really pleases me.














The Frantage gives a really lovely extra kick of texture.












Of course there's some dyed crinkle ribbon at the top - dyed with Distress Paints rather than inks for a slightly opaque look - and it's fastened with some more of my curly wire, rescued from old ring-bound notebooks.










More Harlequins - showing off the Distress Paint marble on the lower layer of diamonds and the spritz pattern on the top layer.












The sun deigned to put in an occasional appearance while I was photographing - really worth it when you capture that glistening Glossy Accents as well as the butterfly crackle.





So, that's my playtime and, as I said, there was a bonus tag which appeared just by using up the leftovers and extras from this tag... so that will be along in a couple of days!

For now, I'll love you and leave you and hope to be around to see what you've been getting up to with your playtimes very soon!  I start a new RSC rehearsal process tomorrow, so time will start to run away from me again I'm afraid, but it should be fun.  Hope everyone's having a great week!

Harlequinade - a pantomime, farce or similar play in which Harlequin plays the principal part
(or a tag in which the Harlequin diamonds play the principal part!)

Curiosity is the very basis of education, and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
Arnold Edinborough

I'd like to enter this in the following:
Anything Goes at Mixed Media World
Wings'n'Things at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog
Anything Goes at A Sprinkle of Imagination
Springtime at Artist Trading Post