Wednesday 26 March 2014

I am guesting at PaperArtsy tonight

Post updated 10th April 2014 to add more detail.


Hi everyone, I have a guest spot at PaperArtsy today and I decided to share my love of collage and making an extended tag. Those of you who have visited before are likely to have seen other ones I have made in the past
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I outline 6 key design features that I focus on when making a collage and I hope to come back with some more at another time. My tag started with the gorgeous flower from the Hop Picks set HP111.

You can read more details about how the project came together over on the PaperArtsy blog and you’ll see other photos that show some of the steps.

I would love it if you could join me over there.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening (if you are in the UK).

hugs Brenda

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I have 6 key design factors that I focus on and the decisions I made for this tag-
Theme – Botanical – flowers, nature, warm summer days.
Colour – browns, pinks and greens
Background – textured and layered.
Focal Point – Large stamp – flowering bloom, very dominant.
Collage Elements – border, sentiment/words, stamp - kept to the rule of 3
Composition – simple, vertical flow, unity of parts.

I have kept this tag with a basic design just to show you my starting points.
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I started with just one key image which I knew would be the focal point and provide me with a botanical theme and feelings of warm lazy days of summer. My colour palette I decided would be brown, pink and green for the foliage. I stamped using plum archival ink and then set about colouring this gorgeous bloom. For this I love to mix products to create tones and shades of colour and here I have mixed Rose Fresco Finish paint and Aged Mahogany distress inks for the bloom and  Hey Pesto, Guacamole and Stone for the stem and leaves. I cut out the image, edged it with walnut stain to make it look more vintagey and stamped over the green areas. The last step was to cover it with satin glaze which makes the light shine differently on it, a provides a subtle contrast to the background.

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I then prepared the tag, first covering the card with tissue wrap, drying it off and sanding the edges. With blending foam I layered over chocolate pudding, london fog and nougat Fresco Finish paints and again dried it. Over this I dabbed nougat and snowflake to lighten it and dried and then dabbed over rose mixed with aged mahogany to get some fabulous pinky tones. When this layer was dry I took a babywipe and knocked back some very small areas so that you can see the tissue wrap and lower colours come through, this really helps to create some depth and further interest.
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Finally I used the harlequin stamp and snowflake paint to start to bring in some light pattern and over that I stamped these small numbers using black archival ink. This creates a great multi-layered background and is a fabulous contrast to the large and quite imposing bloom.
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To finish I distressed and inked the edges of the tag and gathered just three collage elements (2 butterflies and 1 quote) to add to the design and keep the composition simple. Strategically placed to create a vertical layout where the eyes are kept within the tag up and down the flower and back to the gorgeous flower head. The paper at the bottom ‘grounds’ the focal image so that it doesn’t look as though it is floating in mid air and I purposefully placed the other two at different intervals to create more interest.
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To finish and make this into an extended tag I used the new Chatsworth papers and cut a rectangle 9 x 19 cms, cut the top to be a tag shape and distressed and inked the edges. This gives me additional space at the bottom to add a sentiment, quote or more collage details and I used the lovely Lin Brown quote and another butterfly which helps the eyes move back up the project again.
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Stamps I have used are
Ink and the Dog – Letters 5
Hot Picks – HP111
Eclectica – ESN07
Eclectica – ELB01

28 comments:

Amanda said...

Your tag is beautiful, love all the texture that you have added to it.
Love
Amanda x

Candy C said...

Brenda... Your botanical tag fir Paper Artsy is beautiful. Lived your blog post there as you discussed what was gojng through your mind as you were deciding on a project. Gorgeous end result! X, Candy

Redanne said...

Congratulations on your GDT spot Brenda. Your extended tag is gorgeous and that focal bloom is just fabulous. Hugs, Anne x

Valerie-Jael said...

Enjoy your guest DT spot, they are lucky to have you. Love your collaged tag! Am I allowed to have a nice evening in Germany, too?! Hugs, Valerie

Gio said...

It's oustanding Brenda, with that red it's so passional! LOve the background and its texture!

Silvia(Barnie) said...

Brenda that's a beautiful tag, fabulous spring feeling.

Sam & Poppy said...

So very beautiful Brenda :) you amaze me every time I visit your blog xx

Deborah said...

Congratulations on your PA guest spot, Brenda. Love the tantalising glimpse so off to their blog to see it in all its glory...

Netty said...

congratulations Brenda, its a fabulous tag. Annette x

Rita said...

Congratulations Brenda on your GD spot. Stunning collage. Hugs Rita xxx

Jennie Atkinson said...

Fabulous extended tag and congratulations on being GD at Paper Artsy. xx

Jane said...

I popped over to see your gd post Brenda. ..what a wonderful post it is..so interesting to hear your thoughts around your design. Lovely background with so much texture topped off with that lovely flower. Hugs xx

massofhair said...

Such a stunning Tag Brenda. Thanks for the tips and inspiration:-) xxx

debby4000 said...

Oh this is gorgeous Brenda.
luv
Debby

cheryl said...

oh hun this is beautiful hun just amazing hugs cheryl xx

Meggymay said...

Congratulations Brenda, its a gorgeous tag, with s lovely spring look.
Yvonne

1CardCreator said...

Great post, thanks for sharing. ~Diane

Helena (Gvendalen) said...

Your botanical tag is very beautiful. love love all the textures. hugs, Helena

Rossella said...

Gorgeous, as always, Brenda
Rosie x

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Lovely tag Brenda, the flowers are very eye catching and great backdrop too. Congratulations on your guest spot. Tracy x

Cocofolies said...

Fabulous spot Brenda congrats, I'm off to have a closer look, that's looks so beautiful wow!! Hugs Coco x

Terry said...

I can't wait to hop over to Paper Artsy to check out all the details! Congratulations on you totally deserved GDT, Brenda. Hugs!

Unknown said...

Congrats Brenda and an amazing project. TFS

Inkypinkycraft said...

a great make brenda , love the gorgeous background you have created x hugsx

Juls said...

Stunning!!! Love the colours hugs Juls

Words and Pictures said...

Oh, yay! How cool... I'm on my way over!!
Alison xx

Jools Robertson said...

Love this, the colours are just fabulous
So colourful and such a beautiful background and stamps

Jools x

Marjie Kemper said...

I'm just back from a look-see.... this is so fabulous, Brenda, and it's lovely how you spelled out those 6 key components you include in your pieces. Very generous to share the 'checklist', so to speak!