Bubble, bubble, boil and bubble

Okay, yes, I'm misquoting, but it's bad luck to quote that particular play properly anyway... and I really wanted to draw attention to the theme of this month's challenge at A Vintage Journey - we'd like you to Melt It!

Our host for February is the lovely Julia, and you'll find all the instructions and details of what she's looking for over at A Vintage Journey, along with lots of amazing inspiration from my fellow Creative Guides.  Suffice it to say, we'd like you to get things bubbling and melting!

(After a quiet January, it's all gone a bit crazy in the last few days, so just a nudge or two... If you missed the release of my latest stamps at PaperArtsy, do check them out.  And with yesterday being the first of the month, we've also kicked off a new challenge at Mini Album Makers so, if you've nothing better to do, you can also take a look at my inspiration book for that, Glimpses of Springtime.)









But back to A Vintage Journey... let's Melt It!

My melting has taken the form of some rusty bubbles filled with UTEE.  I wasn't sure where I was going when I started out, but I like where I ended up.











I started with some Distress Inks - Broken China and Pumice Stone - and Distress Oxides - Broken China and Frayed Burlap - and did some wrinkle-free distress smooshing.

You can probably just see the edge of the secondary tag created at the same time.  I thought about a pair of bubbly tags, but decided to save that second tag for something else in the end.












I formed my rings of rusty wire (not going for too much perfection) and book page fragments.













Firstly, I gave the book page a couple of coats of UTEE by itself, then I placed the rusty ring on to the surface and poured some more UTEE powder into it.  I should really have got the Melt Pot out, but I simply couldn't be bothered... I thought I'd try this first.












Oh, and I added a metal gear to each bubble for extra detail.  I did try out some word stickers too, but decided they'd be better on the outside of the bubbles.












There was a bit of leakage, as I hadn't tried to make my rusty rings "liquid-tight", but once I trimmed the spare paper off, it was all fine.

And overall I love the effect.












I love that you get the reverse side of the text showing as the paper becomes translucent with the UTEE.















And of course the glossy shine really makes me happy.














I guess the words in the bubble affected my choice of Paper Doll to go on the tag... though it was unconscious, if so.













On the surface level I was mostly going for the look of it.  I love how he's interacting with his strange world - hand on bubble.














There's some additional background stamping done with Tim's Etcetera stamp plate, full of great ephemera images.















And I scoured through the Clippings stickers to find words which would bring the tag story to life.

It's definitely a strange land...















... but not frightening...
















... just full of curiosities and wonder.















I didn't even have to dye the ribbon for the top of the tag - it came with one of my Funkie Junkie Boutique parcels one time, and has been waiting for its moment ever since.

I'm still not entirely sure why but this tag really makes me happy.

I think it's to do with it bubbling up from the unconscious without me really knowing where it was going.  I love it when things you're making take you by surprise.













And I also like that it's quite different in mood according to whether the sun is shining on it or not... as you can see!







There's lots more inspiration over at A Vintage Journey where my amazing fellow Creative Guides have been melting things to their hearts' content.  We hope you'll be inspired to get out the embossing powders, the beeswax (my original intention), the wax crayons, or anything else you can melt. 

You might be selected as one of our Pinworthies, and one lucky randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher from this month's generous sponsor, the always-fabulous Country View Crafts.  Happy melting all!




I prefer to live in my own little bubble of my own reality.
Lauren Lee Smith

We live in a strange bubble.
Brian Molko

I'd like to share this at Stamps and Stencils where the theme is Off to Collage
And they're still Feeling Blue at That's Crafty Challenges, so I'd like to join in there too