Sakura Crystal Lacquer - Paris Gift Tag

I LOVE PAIRS!!!!

This tag would make a great embellishment on a package or gift bag for a special occasion!

For the tag I cut a section of a napkin with the Eiffel Tower to use for the front of the tag. Separate the napkin layers (usually 3).  Moisten a Q-tip and outline the areas of the napkin to tear making uneven edges.  Cut canvas 5x7, fray edges by pulling threads.  On the front side, cover canvas with Sakura Crystal Lacquer mixed and Terri Sproul Mixers - Citrine Pearl.  Carefully lay the Eiffel Tower portion of the napkin on the lacquer.  Once the napkin touches it is there to stay (try to move and it will tear).  Layer lace on the canvas using Sakura Crystal Lacquer.  Add Glitter Glitz to the lacquer mix and paint over lace and around edges.  Let it dry before working on the back.  When dry the canvas will be stiff.

On the back use Sakura Crystal Lacquer with Terri Sproul Mixers Aquamarine Pearl (the color from the front side distorted the color and it looks green). On the painted canvas add a piece of sheet music, ledger paper and a section of the napkin, cover with the lacquer.  Sprinkle with fine glitter.  Adhere fabric and flowers with Sakura Crystal Lacquer. Dry throughly, preferably over night.

Center top punch a hole and set eyelet. Add a swivel clasp with chain. Tie ribbons on the clasp. Now you have a beautiful tag to adorn your gift!

Supplies:

Canvas

Sakura Crystal Lacquer
Terri Sproul Mixers

    Terri Sproul Mixers Citrine Pearl

    Terri Sproul Mixers Aquamarine Pearl

    Terri Srpoul Glitz Effects - Vintage Glass

    Terri Sprpul Ultra Fine Glitter

Paper Napkin

Piece of sheet music

Piece of ledger paper

Lace 

Trim

Eyelet

Ribbon

Petaloo Flowers

Tim Holtz - Swivel Clasp

For more inspiration visit my blog: Dreaming of Castles

Happy Crafting! ~Lyneen

Painting a Midsummer's Eve Sky Using Sakura Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers

Happy Wednesday - Susan here bringing you a project to start your creative April off and running...time to go to your craft room and get that altered book out that's screaming for some attention.

Today's project is an altered book spread. I paticipate in a local Altered Book Club round robin group which meets monthly. Each month we receive a different players' book and a technique in which to apply with the theme. This book was Fantasy Fairies and the technique was utilizing pockets. The pages are completely painted using Sakura Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers.

Since this theme is "Fantasy Fairies", I decided to paint a background that goes along with my personal fairy name "Feather Saturnfilter". I will explain briefly...there is an artist named Emma Davies who makes fabulous handmade Fairy Figurines. She also has a fairy name generator on her site. It's quite fun. CLICK HERE to see. Not only does this give you a name...it also gives you a little description too. I have created my fairy and a background based on the following description:

My Fairy is Feather Saturnfilter.

She is a trouble maker.

She lives in high places where the clouds meet the earth.

She is only seen on midsummer's eve.

She wears pale blue like the sky and has pale pink wings like a cicada.

Here's my fairy made out of handmade paper, fabric scraps,

two-tone purple yarn and hand-drawn wings.

This book was quite large about doll collecting. The pages were about 9" x 11" in size. I have a blend of gesso, light green and gold acrylic and glazing medium that I use as a primer base for blocking out pages. It covers up the text and photos, but remains a little translucent and gives a nice painted texture to work on. I also inked the edges of the pages with antique gold ink. Now I'm ready to create!

Layer one: I mixed up a generous amount of Sakura Crystal Lacquer with Green Pearl Mixer and painted the bottom half of the pages. This has resulted in a lovely pearl teal green. I waited about 5 minutes or so to dry. The ripples in paper are from the moisture of the wet media. The pages were a little thin so I glued two pages together with glue stick prior to starting. This is something you may want to keep in mind when selecting a book to alter. The thinner the pages, the more work you have to do in preparation/durability of altering, painting, etc.

Layer two: I mixed up and applied Citrine Pearl Mixer with Crystal Lacquer and overlapped the green. The citrine is a lovely bright sunny yellow and is perfect for my late summer sunset.

Detail of the brush work from base primer layer showing how it had been accented by the Mixers.

Layer three: I mixed up a generous amount of Sakura Crystal Lacquer with Red Pearl Mixer and painted the remaining area at top of each page. I overlapped the yellow with the red.

Now I let this dry for a little bit - about a 1/2 hour. Since I had painted on three layers. While waiting I went about preparing my accordion pocket tag holder, fibers and prepared my next layer to paint. There were a couple spotty areas that were still slightly tacky so I thought I might speed things up with my heat gun. **TIP TIME** You have be very careful to keep the heat gun far away from the surface. I don't recommend this unless you like a bubbly effect like this...

So I waited a little longer to dry. For the next layer I wanted to soften my sky into a proper sunset. The ripples in the paper simulate clouds {a happy accident}. I mixed up some Gold Dust and Citrine Pearl Mixers with a good amount of Crystal Lacquer. 

I painted this on and feathered out my overlapping colors.

The completed background. Then I began stamping with Hampton Art Dandelion stamp set using black Staz-On ink creating a ground area. This set has dandelions, plants and some butterflies and also a darling dragonfly.

    

ANOTHER **TIP**

I wanted to remove any possibility of pages sticking together if wax paper has been removed by other players. To do this I got out my trusty EK powder brush dispensing tool {this is a tool they came out with to deactivate exposed sticker adhesive when popping up with 3D dots}. I happen to have this and tons of other nifty crafty gadgets from teaching at my local scrapbooking store. You can also use a cotton ball to apply plain talcum powder. This tool is handy because it can get down in the crevice of the book. I also dusted all over the pages EXCEPT where I would be adhering my accordion pocket, fairy and framed description. DO NOT put POWDER where you intend to glue something - it will repel adhesive.

    

Detail of beautified Fairy name description thanks to some computer handiwork. The finishing touch is the furry fibers down the spine and laced through the tags in pocket accordion. Tags are made using an assortment of Robin's Nest papers - and colors organized like a rainbow [red, orange, yellow, green, blue & purple].

Completed altered book pages. I love it!!!

I hope you have enjoyed today's post and that you are inspired to go and create something. Please take a look around through the projects from my other Sakura Hobby Craft Design Team members for some great projects, tips and ideas! See you in two weeks on April 18rd, 2012.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment, select receive e-mail follow ups on comments and I will respond. If you would like to see more of my creations, please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here.

Have a wonderful Wednesday : )

Luggage Tags for Your Band Student!

Hello everyone! My name is Leslie-Rahye and I am a proud new member of the Sakura Design Team! I am thrilled to be among so many talented artists and share with you my love for Sakura's 3D Crystal Lacquer! For my 1st project I decided to create a luggage tag for my son and his friend. This tag is for their band instruments.

For this project you will need:

• Bazzill Book Board or chipboard
• Frame and sheet music images [I used free images from The Graphics Fairy]
• Instrument images [I used public domain images]
• Letters for their names [Lime Light Sizzlits font from Sizzix]
• Parchment paper or cardstock
• Ranger Distress Stain Walnut Ink
• Sakura Hobby Crafts 3D Crystal Lacquer 

I printed using Microsoft Publisher the Sheet Music paper and the frame with my "This Instrument Belongs To..." information on parchment paper.

Free Digital Downloads sized and made ready to print.

I began by cutting out around the information rectangle and the instruments. I used the Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer as my adhesive to attached the papers to the Bazzill Book Board. I made sure there were no ripples by using an empty gift card as a squeegee. This product dries almost immediately in this application enabling me to quickly cut out around the lines. Once trimmed, I attached the tag to the music paper using the same method.

 Next I sanded the edges of the covered book board with an emery and then applied Ranger Distress Stain in Walnut Ink to the edges to age the book board. I then positioned the letters on the tags, deciding the layout of letters to instruments. The letters were cut from a skinnier piece of cardboard covered with red cardstock--for a little bit of dimension.

The letters and the instruments were applied to the sheet music side using Crystal Lacquer as well. An opening was cut on one side of the tag to enable the tag to be attached to the instrument.  Then for the best part...I applied a generous coat of Crystal Lacquer to that whole side of the tag and set it aside to dry! 

Once dry, I turned it over and laid it on a craft sheet--just in case--and applied crystal lacquer to the information side to protect it as well from wear and tear. 

The tag was attached to the instrument with a piece of ribbon. Now if my son or his friend leave their instrument behind somewhere, it will be easily returned!

I hope you enjoyed this project! Thank you for stopping by!