Designer Craft Connection-June Edition

Welcome to another monthly edition of the Designer Craft Connection. If you click on the DC logo to the left, you can hop from blog to blog and see all the wonderful patriotic-themed projects from this talented group of designers. Be sure to check out Julie McGuffee's blog for info on registering to win the great prize that will be given away later this month, The Big Book of Scrapbook Pages and Cherish by Jeanette R. Lynton. You only have to leave a comment on Julie's blog telling her which project you liked best and why as well as which technique you liked the best.


Note: I have been experiencing some problems this morning with my links, so you may have to copy and paste the websites into your browser to get to them.

I come from a long line of patriots, dating back to the Revolutionary War. I love using red, white and blue in my work, but you will rarely see pure colors. I prefer the aged look of Navy blue, burgundy and cream colors, all mixed up with a lot of brown.

This tag came together in about 20 minutes, including setting the lettering with the Duetica Lettering Arts font. It took me longer to find my Distress Embossing Powders than it did to actually construct the tag.

Supplies
Big Shot and Sizzix Dies: Tim Holtz's Gadget Gears and Tag and Bookplates (www.sizzix.com)
Tim Holtz's Ranger Distress Inks, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo, Soot and Faded Jeans (www.ranger.com)
Tim Holtz's Ranger Distress Embossing Powders, Brushed Corduroy, Fired Brick and Faded Jeans(www.ranger.com)
Duetica Lettering Arts Studio Font,Floot (www.duetica.com)
Smooch Spritz, Cherry Ice and Navy Twinkle (www.clearsnap.com)
B-Line Swirl Stamp (www.blinedesigns.com)
Mat Board scrap
Rosie the Riveter Stamp from Artistic Outpost's Hero Set (www.artisticoutpost.com>)
Krylon Silver and Gold Leafing Pens (www.krylon.com)
Parchament Paper
Cream card stock scrap
Craft card stock scrap
Leather Cord
Beacons 3-in-1 Adhesive (www.beacon.com)
Paper cutter, craft knife

Directions
1. Cut tag and reinforcement from mat board using the Tag and Bookplates die and the gears from the Gadget Gears die.

2. On the large tag, spay Smooch Spritz randomly. Stamp swirl stamp with Faded Jeans Distress Ink. Ink the tag edges with Vintage Photo and Soot inks.

3. On cream paper, stamp the Rosie the Riveter collage stamp with Faded Jeans and trim closely. Lightly sponge Fired Brick and Faded Jeans all over the image and along the edges. Cut a scrap of Kraft Paper slightly larger than the Rosie stamp. Tear off the bottom edge. Ink the edges heavily with Faded Jeans, Fired Brick and Vintage Photo. Finish with a direct-to-paper swash along the edges of soot ink.

4. Adhere stamped art to right side of the tag.

5. Set sentiment with Duetica Lettering Arts Floot font. Change color to a deep burgundy and print on parchment paper. Tear parchment to make sentiment strip approximately 6" x 1". Sponge with Fired Brick, Faded Jeans and Vintage Photo and ink all edges with the same. Finish with a light sponging of black around the edges. Adhere to left side of tag, overlapping the image if necessary.

6. Gears: To create the look of rusty metal, ink each gear with Vintage Photo ink. Randomly sprinkle Fired Brick, Faded Jeans and Brushed Corduroy distress embossing powders over each gear, leaving some areas blank. Heat the powders until they are set, then brush away any loose particles remaining. Ink the gears randomly with Soot ink.
Adhere the gears to the tag, allowing some to hang off the edge. When dry, flip the tag over and trim off the excess gears with a craft knife.


Tip: Even though Distress Inks are dye inks, they remain damp a little longer than regular die inks, so you can use them for heat embossing.

7. Paint the reinforcement circle with gold and silver Krylon Leafing Pens in a random pattern. Allow to dry, then ink with Vintage Photo and Soot Distress Inks to age the piece. Adhere the reinforcement to the tag and tie a strip of leather through the hole.

This will become the cover art of my Independence Day/Freedom mini-album.

Try to stay cool today. The forecast for this week is nothing below 95° in the Memphis area. As my sweet granny used to say, "It's hotter than a July firecracker!"

Now go hug someone you love. I wish I could hug my granny!





Note: I received product from Sizzix, Clearsnap, Duetica, Beacon, Krylon and Artistic Outpost, although had I not received them, I would have purchased them. You can count on knowing that I only use products which I love and would never recommend a product just because I received it at no charge.
I learned the rusty technique on the gears from Shelley Hickox, who was kind enough to share it with our stamp club at our last meeting.