Michelle Webb #1 ... Altered Tag Box

A little intro into what makes Michelle Webb tick ....

I'm positive (I bet you've gathered that one already), and have a zest for life. I think most crafters are positive people just by the fact that we create lovely things, which makes us feel good inside. I'm 41 and I work full time as a data analyst, a geek's title but I'm far from geeky! I have a 22 year old Son who thinks the world of me, he has been known to join in with my inky messyness sometimes. Good Lad! I live in the north of England born and bread in County Durham, but I moved south to Teesside in 1990. I'm into stamping in a huge way and painting. I like to combine the two as much as possible, usually making mixed media canvases. I like making my own digi stamps too (not the cute kind!) whenever I get the time that is, which isn't very often. I have 3 loopy young cats who take delight in removing things from my craft room and placing them in doorways where I trip over them, especially paint brushes! Don't ask me why, I don't know! Anyhoo enough about me, lets see project No. 1.

Wood is a brilliant substrate to decorate because you can stick anything you want to it (paper), paint over it, or apply embellishments and they will stay put.

For this 12 x 15.5cm wooden gift bag, I’ve started tearing out a few pages of a love themed poetry book and tearing them into smaller pieces. I’ve stuck these pieces to the wood using matte gel medium. It’s better to use gel medium than ordinary PVA glue because gel medium dries like a clear acrylic paint, so you don’t see it, and you can stamp and paint over it too. PVA glue tends to dry with a glossy finish and can be difficult to stamp over.

 

(Paintover a white wash of gesso (or snowflake acrylic paint), but thin enough to see the text through).

{Comment from Leandra: You can also use PaperArtsy Satin Glaze as an adhesive for this kind of collage-style application}

Well seeing as I was using a love theme I went straight for London Bus (red) and Vintage Lace (light creamy-pink) Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints. They have a great chalky matte finish, which gives a nice soft look to the surface. I’ve used vertical and horizontal brush strokes, I think they look better than random strokes. As a general rule, I've found vertical and horizontal always looks better, diagonals just look out of place. I’ve used both colours in this way, making sure I leave areas where I can clearly see the text coming through.

I stamped a PaperArtsy (Mini19) number stamp in random places with Maroon Archival Ink and also with the Claret Fresco Paint.

Next I chose a great green complimentary colour to the red, Hey Pesto through the stencil (Mini Paisley Swirls) over the top of the red and pink paint. As this is a translucent, you can still see the layers below through the Hey Pesto paint.

I love the look it gave the box. I also used this green colour to paint inside the box. Here you can see the random number stamps. I’ve also added some green honeycomb stamping.

 

I added some texture paste through a circles stencil and when it was dry I brushed it with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink, just to give them a subtle highlight.

 

I used white tissue paper (Crackly) to stamp the bird cage (Hot Pick 1004) and a sentiment from Hot Pick Xtra 04  then stuck it onto the box using gel medium. I stamped random little circles using Fresco Paint (Inky Pool). Inky Pool is fast becoming my favourite colour as I seem to be using it a lot! Finally I distressed the edges of the box using burnt umber and Pitch Black Adirondack Dabbers.

I was thinking what I could put in my wooden gift bag with a love theme, but purely by accident I ended up putting my tag backgrounds in it,and I love those, so they’re staying there, I like them there. So now it’s my tag backgrounds holder.

 

On the back of the box I have used a Crafters' Workshop "Birds Of A Feather" stencil and used a sponge to dab more Inky Pool Fresco Paint though. I love the finish. The Wooden Gift Bags come in a set of three sizes this is the smallest one so I have another two to play with and decorate. They come with rope handles but I took mine off for this project.

I’ve had so much fun making this project, looking forward to the next one.

Leandra Says: Now you can breathe a deep breath - that was quite a bit of pressure being the opening Guest Designer with a pretty short lead time to boot! I adore this project. Wood is so accepting of the Fresco Acrylic paint, and the layers of paint look fantastic. The touch of Distress Ink around the edges really gives a fantastic finish, and the contrasting Inky Pool through the stencil really 'pops'. I imagine the texture with the Altered Book pages underneath is quite lumpy, so stamping onto tissue allows you to get a perfectly stamped image onto a lumpy surface, good move Michelle!

Gillian Says: Way to go Michelle what a fantastic opening project. Love the colour choice you opted for - the burst of Hey Pesto & Inky Pool are very striking. Substrates are one of my most fav surfaces to work on for the very reason Leandra has pointed out.

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