CCC #16 - Wrinkle Free Distress

This is my first week joining the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge (CCC), hosted by Linda of Studio L3.  Each week (or in this case, two weeks, as many of the participants have just spent the last week on a cruise with Tim Holtz himself!), Linda posts a challenge using one of the techniques presented by Tim in his newest idea book.  You should DEFINITELY check out Linda's blog - her artwork is amaZING!!!

So, to start off, I knew I wanted to do a tag - but I don't currently have any size 8 tags.  I do, however, have grunge paper.  Many of my friends, who are not Tim Holtz addicts like I am, may not know quite what grunge paper is, exactly.  It's not really paper, and it's definitely not chipboard.  It's hard to describe - but it's sort of got this leathery feel (and smell!) to it, and it's very flexible!  It inks, paints, cuts, distresses, etc., just like you can do with paper.  It is VERY cool stuff!  So, knowing the dimensions of a size 8 shipping tag, I made my own from grunge paper - complete with cardstock hole reinforcements.  :)

Here are a few photos to show you the thickness and flexibility of grungepaper.

 

You can see that even after folding down the corner, once I release it, there is no crease mark at all, thanks to the qualities of the grunge paper.

So, onto the tag itself.  While I cannot tell you about the actual challenge technique (out of respect for Tim and  his book and copyright issues), I can tell you about the rest of the tag.  :)  I used my Zutter Distrezz-it-All to distress the edges of the tag, and then used Walnut Stain distress ink to ink the edges.  I stamped a Donna Downey-Unity stamp quote onto the upper right side, using brown Staz-on ink - I love this quote!!  I threaded multiple earth-toned fibers through the hole at the top of the tag.

At the bottom of the tag, I laid a piece of natural-colored magic mesh (remember that stuff???) that has been in my stash FOREVER!!  Then I took a piece of thin brown paper (it actually came from a box of goodies I received - it was packing material paper), and spritzed it with homemade red and green glimmer mists, and Tattered Angels tiger lily Glimmer Mist.  Then I put down a line of Beacon 3 in 1 craft glue, and gathered the paper into pleats while adhering it to the bottom of my tag.  I took a piece of mustard-colored cardstock the width of my tag, used several colors of distress inks on it, and added some distress stickles to it, before gluing it over the top of where the pleated paper was glued to the tag.  I then used deckle scissors to cut off the misted paper to the length I wanted it.  Finally, I cut a 1"x12" piece of cardstock from Tim's Lost & Found paper pad, and used my Martha Stewart scoring board to score it every 1/4".  I then folded it accordian-style, cut off one piece, used my Tiny Attacher to join the ends together, and pressed the center down to form a rosette, using a hot glue gun to attach the rosette to a circle of cardstock on the back.  I cut another piece of cardstock for the front, used distress inks on it, added a smaller piece of patterned cardstock, with distress stickles on it, and glued those onto the front of the rosette.  I used Walnut Stain distress ink around the edges of the rosette and brushed it lightly on top of some of the peaks of the rosette, then used hot glue to attach it to the tag.  You can see the vintage sparkle on the cardtock above the ruffle, and the shimmer from the mists on the ruffle itself.

I used to wonder what the draw was in decorating "shipping tags."  Oh my.  Whatever was I thinking?!  LOL!!  I am SOOOO hooked!  There is SUCH gratification in creating a work of art in a relatively short period of time, and the tag is just such a wonderful medium to work with in doing so!  

And wow, these rosettes are TOTALLY addictive!  Don't be surprised in the least if they seem to show up on anything and everything that I make in the near - and not-so-near - future!!  ;)