Spring Tag

Hi everyone,

Seems I'm always late these days. Summer has just begun, and I'm still thinking about spring.  Today, I'm sharing a purple and green colored tag with you featuring some Blue Fern Studios ("BFS")chipboard as my architectural element. Here you'll find the BFS Turkish Bits, and  Spring Trinket chipboard. Some of the old Creative Imagination papers sneaked in here too.

The purple colored strip of paper in the middle was applied using the image transfer technique where you apply, in this case, some heavy gel medium on the underside of some printed paper, and rub the paper very firmly on top of some card stock and set aside to dry. After the papers have dried, spritz with some water and slowly rub the top side of the paper off until the underside of the printed paper is revealed. It's a nice way to lighten up a very dark and heavy colored pattern paper, or just to make the paper look seamless.  In the Labels category below you can find other projects where I've use the image transfer technique too.

Happy creating to you...

Blue Fern Studios Chipboard (May Project-Tags)

I was so inspired by the colors in the Creative Imagination Devotion Collection that I used on the bargin bin journal I recently posted at Blue Fern Studios, that I decided to continue the collection and create some tags with some of the paper and color scheme.

The first tag showcases the Marcasite Technique on the Blue Fern Studios chipboard that looks like a door knocker from the Ironworks Accent collection.

Marcasite Technique

Embossing Technique

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope I can inspire you to try out this Marcasite technique to use on some of your BFS chipboard pieces.  It is really quite effective on chipboard and renders a jewel like quality.  The technique is easy to apply.

 

Here are pictures of the Blue Fern Studios chipboard pieces I have used.

 

Ironwork Accents

Widgets

 Here’s how I obtained the look of Marcasite on the door knocker chipboard.

 

1)      Apply an acrylic gold metallic paint, or an metallic ink from a stamp pad, to your chipboard and let it dry.

2)      Visualize where you want to apply your Marcasite application to rest and apply either (a) a liquid pearl product, or (b) an application of glitter in small dots, or (c) add self-adhesive pearls or rhinestones on your pattern, and allow any wet product to dry thoroughly before continuing on to the next step.  I alternated an application of a liquid pearl product and a glitter dot on my first example.

3)      Use a small paint brush and dip it in a dark grey, black or vertigris colored mist and apply the mist with your paint brush all around your pearls/rhinestones/glitter dot design and set to dry.  Wipe up any excess mist that may get on to other areas of the chipboard that are not in alignment with your Marcasite design.  You may need to apply another coat for more drama because the acrylic metallic paint may produce a resistance.  If this happens, then try a watered down black acrylic paint on your paint brush instead of the colored mist.

4)      Once the mist or paint has dried, use a moistened  Q-tip to clean off the mist or paint on the pearls/rhinestones so that the radiance of the pearl/rhinestones show through.

5)      Then using your fingers, apply an ivory/gold metallic paste or paint around the edges of the Marcasite technique to bring back the radiance of the original gold metallic paint application.  This last application really shows up well in the door knock chipboard tag featured below because there was more surface space available on that particular chipboard design.

Blue Fern Studios Chipboard (May Project - Marcasite and Image Transfer Technique)

Image Transfer Technique used on journal cover

Close up of Marcasite technique used on Blue Fern Studios Chipboard

Marcasite Chipboard Technique:  Visit Blue Fern Studios here to find out how I created the Marcasite Technique on the Organic Vine Corner chipboard.
 

 

IMAGE TRANSFER TECHNIQUE APPLIED ON A BARGAIN BIN JOURNAL 

Brightly colored pattern paper (preferably two-sided paper and of good quality like Prima, or in this case, I used paper from a Creative Imagination collection).  Cut the paper to the size of your journal cover, or your chipboard design.  I trace my chipboard on the pattern paper and then cut it to size.

Acrylic paint to match a background color in your pattern paper.  In my case, I used Titan Buff from Golden.  I prefer to use a color paint that matches the background paper in case I get overzealous and rub off too much of the image.  You don’t want a dark colored purple paint showing through a pastel shabby chic paper.

Supplies:

 

Journal or chipboard piece (preferably Blue Fern Studios chipboard ;))

Pattern Paper

Acrylic paint to match the background of your pattern paper

Paint Brush

Water Mister

Heat Gun

Old credit card or small squeegee

 Paint a generous amount of acrylic paint to the top of your journal.  Do not apply the paint thinly because the technique will not work properly.

Quickly apply the paper, cut to the size of your journal, over the paint.  The side of the paper that you do not want to image transfer should be facing you when you apply the paper to the paint.  Your preferred pattern paper will be in contact with the acrylic paint.

Use a credit card, or squeegee, to press out all the air bubble and to ensure the paper has contacted with the paint on the journal base.  I do this several times to make certain I get a nice finish.

Apply heat gun to the paper for a few minutes then set aside to dry for two hours.  Pile a few heavy books on top of the journal to chipboard.

Now the fun part begins:  Use your water mister and mist over the project several times until it is lightly saturated.  Use your fingers and gently rub off the first two layers of paper until your preferred pattern papers reveals itself.   I normally rub in a circular motion and spritz water when the paper seems like it’s drying out.  Continue to repeat this process until you like the pattern that has appeared.  On my example, I left some of the other side of the paper intact.

 

Give it a try and let me know how it turns out!

 

Thank you for dropping by for a visit.

 

 

 

 



Blue Fern Studios Organic Vine Corner Chipboard