Dragonfly Time Tag with Mailbox Muse Kits and Kunze German Scrap

Hello everyone!  I have another project to share with you using KUNZE German Scrap and, of course, Altered Pages products.  This month, we are featuring "stuff" you get in your Mailbox Muse Kits  and because there is so much inside each kit, you will have plenty of things to make with one single kit.

I really love making tags, but sometimes I get heavy with my dimensional additions.  So, I decided to cut a piece of heavy chipboard into the shape of a tag, which will hopefully be sturdy enough to hold my embellishments.

Directions:

Cut chipboard to 5" x 8".  Trim top corners at an angle and punch a large hole in the center.

Use gel medium to adhere two torn pieces of the large sheet music to the tag, as shown.  Tear away the excess paper.

Add a strip of drywall mesh tape diagonally across tag, as shown.

Add a coat of white gesso over tag.

Brush Art Anthology Orchid Velvet dimensional paint over tag and let dry.

Add a wash of the yellow Splash ink over the tag.  Let dry.

Layout your embellishments as you think you may want to layer them on your tag.

Cut  fairy image out from the  Fairy Dreams collage sheet out and adhere to tag, as shown.

Use a spatula to spread Mint Julep dimensional paint through a stencil, as shown.

Add this paint through the stencil in three places on the tag, as shown.

Now for some coloring fun, and who doesn't love to color? Color the collage image with Mica Paint Palette-Vintage colors and a Water brush.  These paints are translucent and shimmery, so they will not cover up the image, only enhance it!  Compare the photo above with this one.  Can you see the difference?  If only the camera could do it justice.

Edge tag with the Mix'd Media Leather ink pad and blend out with a sponge.  This frames the piece and draws the eye inward.

Use the Fantastix Brushstix to pick up color from the Mix'ed Media ink pads and apply to the white German scrap grape vine corners.

The Brushstix is the perfect tool for this technique because it allows you to place color in small areas, and you can easily clean off the ink with a paper towel or cloth to pick up another color.  The tip will become stained, but the color does not transfer if you wipe it off real good.

Adhere the grapevine corners to the tag, as shown.

Color five different sizes of the German scrap flowers with the Mix'd Media inks, just as before, using Vintage in the centers, Adobe on the petals, and dabbing Schoolhouse Red on the outer edges of the petals.

Here is a close up of them.  The really cool thing is that the gold of the German scrap shines through the color, giving it a gorgeous shimmer.  I also colored one gold German Scrap butterfly with Patina, Olive Green, and Schoolhouse Red. 

Stamp large dragonfly onto center of silver Joss paper with black Stazon ink.  Let dry.

Color the dragonfly with Splash Inks.  I made a blue and a blue green color by mixing tiny dots of blue and yellow on a craft mat and picking it up with a small paintbrush.  I found that if I dried the inks with a heat gun as I applied them, they stayed where I put them on the slick surface of the Joss paper.  

To get a more lime green color, add more yellow to the blue.  To get a brown color for the body, I added black to yellow.  I love making my own colors with these inks, and a little goes very long way.  I think this is beautiful and reminds me of Tiffany stained glass.  What do you think?

Fussy cut the dragonfly.  TIP: Don't throw that excess piece of Joss paper away.  Although it feels like a fragile paper, it is very strong and can be used for other projects in many various ways.

Mist kraft paper clock with Shimmer Spritz Sparkle and allow to dry naturally.  After all, everything in fairy land has to sparkle, so I thought this clock needed a bit.  Unfortunately, the close up photos below don't really show it, but trust me, it is so pretty in person. 

Offset and adhere clock to top of tag, and glue dragonfly to the center, as shown.  As soon as I added the dragonfly to the clock face, it reminded me of clock hands, hence the name for my piece, "Dragonfly Time".

I also stamped  a scrap piece of the Joss paper with "Dragonfly", misting it with Walnut Ink, and curling it on the ends to make it look like a banner.  I also adhered my German scrap butterfly, as shown below.

You can see here how I added the German scrap flowers on the lower right corner of the collage image, adding some bling from my stash for flower centers.  The smaller flowers were pop-dotted for dimension, and I also curled the petals a bit.

I wanted to add some lace or something along the bottom, and then I saw this beautiful German scrap tassel border. Again, I used the same technique to color it, using Adobe and Leather Mix'd Media inks.

Add some Sari silk ribbons through the tag hole, and here it is again, with everything in place.

Before I leave you today, I have one little organizational/storage tip to keep your Altered Pages Malibox Muse stamps together.  This is an inexpensive, plastic CD case without the "innards".  I simply stamp my set onto a piece of scrap paper and add the sheet to the inside front of the case.

And here is the inside.  If you mount your stamps onto cling cushion, then they will stick to the inside of the box.  This set is not cling mounted, so I placed some double sided adhesive inside the box and stuck my stamps to it. They are not going anywhere, but are easy to remove.

Supplies:

Mailbox Muse Kits
Rubber Stamps:  Muse Dragonfly; Muse on a Wing
Altered Pages Fairy Dreams collage sheet
Art Anthology Dimensional Paints: Orchid Velvet, Mint Julep Sorbet
Splash Inks
Asian Joss Paper
Sari Silk Ribbons
Gel Medium; Tacky Glue
KUNZE German Scrap
Kraft Paper Clocks
Ranger Blending Tool
Kai Scissors (to cut unmounted rubber stamps)
Muse Cling Mounts
Tack-n-Peel from Tsukineko
Black Stazon Ink Pad
Mix'd Media Ink Pads: Leather, Patina, Vintage, Moss, Schoolhouse Red, Adobe
Large Sheet Music
Water Brushes
Mica Paint Palette-Vintage
Shimmer Spritz (Tsukineko)
Fantastix Brush Stix

Drywall mesh tape (hardware store)
Bling (from my stash)

I hope you enjoyed my tag project today, and that you are inspired to pick up some of these fun stamp sets from the Mailbox Muse, or better yet, sign up for the Mailbox Muse Kits.  They always include a set of stamps, papers, ephemera, collage sheets, and so much more.

And while you're at it, check out the great selection of German Scrap in the shop!

Have a wonderful, crafty week!

Barbara