Creative Swaps - Technique Tag Book

I met a lot of wonderful artists in the "Your Vintage Gluebook Online Class"...including the lovely Creative Lenna!


One of Lenna's blogs, Creative Swaps, is where she hosts amazing art exchanges--what a find! And lucky for me, sign-ups for the Technique Tag Books Swap had started when I got there.....decorate 10 tags using a particular technique(s)--all the same or each one different--and include directions for the technique(s) on the back of the tags. Then receive back 10 beautiful Technique Tags from other artists--I love this idea!!

I was inspired by a post on iHanna's Blog---"Paint with a Plastic Card".

Using the plastic card, I started with a layer of gesso on both sides of the tag:


Then I added Golden Fluid Acrylic (Raw Sienna) to the front, also with the plastic card. I sprayed a light mist of water onto the paint, let it stand for a moment, then scraped it again.


I added a second layer of paint, repeating the process, this time with Golden Fluid Acrylic (Green Gold).


When the tags were dry, I placed a Tim Holtz Mask (Flourish) on the tag and rubbed Distress Ink (Vintage Photo) around the edges of the mask using a blending tool.


To finish, I added a rubber stamped image with StazOn ink (Timber Brown).


The same paint technique was used on the back of the tag, but green gold for the first layer...


...and Lumiere Pearl Turquoise for the second layer. This time, after spraying the water, I blotted it with a dry terrycloth rag instead of the plastic card. All that was left to do to the backs was add the written technique instructions.


Decorating the envelopes (the actual pages of the tag book) was optional but I was on a roll and had a good mess going already so I started with a layer of gesso to both sides, gold gesso--from Mary who kindly shared some at one of our craft days.


I dry-brushed a metallic blue to the edges of the envelope...


and a metallic red in one corner.


I used white gesso to stamp a swirly design and text around the edges...


and StazOn Jet Black for two more rubber stamp images.


And ta-da, a really fun project!


My Technique Tags are on their way to Lenna and I can now look forward to seeing the completed tag books--I know they're going to be wonderful!

Marilyn