Stars and the Night Sky Tag

I was bumbling around the Internet the other day reading some blogs and getting inspired when I decided to drop in on the Tim Holtz blog.  I love reading what he and his design team do with his products and you'd be hard pressed to find anything I make that doesn't have something from of one of his product lines in it.  So, I decided to take a chance and see what I could make for his "12 Tags of 2014" for September.

I love playing with alcohol inks.  When I play with these inks I always have a bunch of glossy paper available to grab so I can use every drop and make backgrounds and such for other projects.  That was what really got my interest about this months Tag challenge - Tim used different colors of alcohol inks on his tag.  I have a bunch of alcohol ink papers that I had already made, so this challenge was for me!  I didn't have all the products that Tim used in his tag, but I had fun finding things to substitute.

This is What I Used on my Tag:
8" x 4" Manila Tag 
Glossy Cardstock
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink in Stream
Ranger Alcohol Ink Blending Solution
Tim Holtz Stencil "Shatter"
Stampers Anonymous "Sun Collage" stamp, #U5-709
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Blue, Silver, Purple Alcohol Ink Paper
Star Punches, small & medium
Craft Sheet 
Small Piece of Silver Paper
Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs both Life Quotes & Words
Distress Ink in Black Soot
Heat Gun 
Crafters Pick The Ultimate Glue
Dream & Vision stamps were hand mounted and I didn't label them (sorry!)

On Tim's blog, he speaks about a technique using alcohol ink and blending solution to make a "ghosting" effect (click the link to see the how to) - I tried it using Stream alcohol ink (he said to use a light color and that was the lightest I

had) and his "Shatter" stencil but it didn't work at all for me.  And yes, I tried it more than once (after all, Tim told me to).  I think my failure is due to the stencil pattern not being small enough and I don't have any small stencils, so I moved on - I will be trying this again once I get a stencil better suited for this type of technique. The new Compendium of Curiosities (book 3) also has a great tutorial on how to do something similar - I have all 3 of Tim's books and I refer to them often for inspiration.

I had already trimmed my glossy cardstock to fit on the tag, so once my piece of alcohol ink cardstock was done I stamped the Sun Collage on the side of the paper using the Jet Black ink.  I set that aside.  I don't have any black tags but I wanted to try to stick as close to Tim's tag as I could, so I colored my Manila tag with Black Soot ink.  I just pounced the pad all over the tag and used my fingers, dipped in water, to move the ink

My Black Tag

around so the tag was covered, placing special emphasis on the edges since they would show.  I used very little water but I set the ink with my heat gun.  Setting the black(ish) tag aside I went back to the alcohol ink paper.

Close Up of the Remnant Rubs

For the portion of the tag where the rub-ons were used, I used rub-ons from two sets of Remnant Rubs, both "Life Quotes" and "Words" (see I really am trying to get over my rub-on fear that I talked about here). I basically cut out the items I thought fit the tags theme - I could of used more, but I cherish my Tim Holtz products.  After the rub-ons were rubbed on I glued the decorated paper to the tag.
 

The papers I used and some stars already punched

Layering the Stars

I then set about punching out the stars.  I had already made the alcohol ink papers that I used in the project so I just had to dig them out of my stash.  I used papers with various colors of ink, sticking to blues, purples and silver.  My small punch is so old the index star is wearing off and it sticks every time I use it (no matter how many times I punch waxed paper) so I'd punch a few, then take a break.  I ended up with too many stars but I saved them - I am sure they'll turn up in a Halloween project.  I then began to layer the stars with no real pattern and as I was placing them I really felt that I needed a bit more of a wow factor. So I got out some small scrap of silver paper, punched out some moresmall stars and put them on the tag as well.  I finished up with two hand mounted stamps that read "dream" and "vision", also stamped with the Jet black ink.

Close up of the Stars

There you have it!  I really had fun figuring out how to get a similar effect as Tim's tag without having the same supplies.  I rarely work with tags but I think I may just keep trying this challenge.  Thank you for stopping by & enjoy ~ Christi


 

Another Look

I am entering my tag in the following challenges:
Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 - September
Unruly Paper Arts - September Challenge, The Dark of Night
Divas by Design - Tags!