2023 Topic 10: Tags {by Autumn Clark} with Lin Brown stamps

Hi everyone it's Autumn Clark from SewPaperPaint with you today to share some autumnal inspiration with you, using my favorite substrate of all: tags.  I was delighted to have the opportunity to create with Lin Brown stamps.  Lin has a beautiful range of stamps in a variety of styles, but I am particularly drawn to her realistic/natural designs and am slowly collecting a set each season.  I had no doubt that the leaves would make a big impact on a pair of tags and am really so pleased with the result.  I hope you will enjoy reading a bit about my process...

My first choice, was to use PaperArtsy Eclectica stamp set 29 by Lin Brown (ELB29) because it has so much to offer: multiple focal points & background elements along with a couple of beautiful sentiments. In  harmony with the theme Typography, I had to tie in an Alison Bomber stamp set (EAB01) which is filled with beautiful quotes about nature.

I limited myself to one bottle of Infusions and one PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic at this point.  I always enjoy working with a limited color palette.

To begin, I cut a couple of watercolor panels to my chose tag size, 7x3.5", then adhered various book pages from my stash using matte Mod Podge, coating the tops of the papers as well.  I chose a variety of fonts and agedness for contrast.

I added a quick brayering of PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylics in Ochre to break up the white space.

Next I sprayed each tag with water and sprinkled with Infusions in Rusty Car, then sprayed again to encourage movement in the pigment.  I heat set my tags, taking care not to overheat and blister the Mod Podge.  I used the leftover ink on my mat to color a small piece of extra watercolor paper for my sentiments later.

Even with a limited color palette, you can see all of the variations in color achieved with one bottle of Infusions.  It never ceases to amaze me!

 

Next, I worked on my focal elements.  First I dyed another piece of paper with a small amount of Infusions in Rusty Car.  Over this background I stamped the leaves from PaperArtsy Eclectica stamp set 29 by Lin Brown (ELB29).  I used my stamp platform and repeatedly stamped the leaves in Distress Inks in Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.  I spritzed with water lightly where needed to allow the colors to bleed naturally.

I carefully fussy cut my leaves, curling the maple leaves with my bone folder.

 

I embossed over the teabags to add some shimmer.

I wasn't exactly happy with the contrast between my  leaves and my background.  In retrospect, I wish I had used less of the Rusty Car Infusions and created a lighter background.  I decided to adhere teabags over the center of each tag to try and lighten the middles.  This helped some, but I felt more contrast was needed.  I carefully brushed on watered down PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylics in Nougat, a nice creamy color.  I blended the edges with my finger and blotted with a baby wipe until I was happy.  Only I wasn't quite happy!  I wish I could have taken the whiteness away completely, but it was too late.  I tried to add watery Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to dull it, but it didn't work so well.  So I have this awkward halo effect on each tag.

Sometimes that's just part of the process.  I certainly didn't think the tags should go in the bin, but am not 100% satisfied either...

Finally, I really wanted to incorporate a natural element, so I foraged for some moss covered sticks and adhered them over another piece of torn teabag.  I had stamped the cardboard texture in Walnut Stain just below to give it a grounding element.  I stapled some sisal fibers onto each tag and mounted my leaves over the staples.  I always mount my tags onto chipboard, which covers the staples.

The final touch was to mount my sentiments.  I cherry picked words from the quotes on PaperArtsy Eclectica stamp set 1 by Alison Bomber (EAB01), stamping them on my  mop up paper.  I went back and forth over whether or not to add a tag topper and decided against it.  I like how the circle of gold embossing lightens the top of the tags and the twiggy layers ground them.

 

 

Every time I session with PaperArtsy Infusions I am left with a feeling of wanting to keep playing!  I just can't get enough of the unpredictability of the pigments.  I'm so pleased with the layers of stamping and the gentleness of the text in these very colorful backgrounds.  My ideas for further exploration include stamping these gorgeous leaves with Infusions to make some backgrounds.  And I would really like to do some embossing resist with that cardboard texture stamp from the set.  I can just imagine the Infusions flowing around it!  I hope these tags have given you some ideas today and you'll have a play yourself.  xx

Autumn

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