Image Transfers on a Tag

I'm taking the "@ Home with Claudine Hellmuth" class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking this summer.   The first technique was an image transfer technique using gesso.  The circle on the left is the original patterned paper, and the heart on the right is the paper transferred to a chipboard heart.  This is just regular scrapbooking paper from Stampin' Up!  I had a pad of 6x6 paper, and for me, it's an odd size to work with, so I thought it would be great to cover chipboard shapes.

This was sort of an "aha!" moment for me. I've always wondered why you would want to do an image transfer - why not just glue the image on? Well, the result of an image transfer is a faded, or sometimes transparent image. For me, the patterned paper is a bit bright, so the image transferred paper is much more usable for me. 

Here is another example on a tag.  The secret to an image transfer is to apply plenty of adhesive (we used gesso, but gel medium is another popular medium), burnish your image on so there aren't any air bubbles, and let it dry thoroughly.  I let mine dry overnight.  I did them just before bedtime so I wouldn't be tempted to touch them for at least eight hours!

After the paper is dried, wet the back of the paper and rub off the paper. This takes patience, and sometimes you rub off all of the paper (see the white spots in the pictures above).  I think all of this adds character to your piece. I love the worn look with a little of the white from the gesso showing through.

I wanted see how I could apply this technique to my scrapbooking and cardmaking, so I set out to embellish the tags.  For the heart tag, I sprayed on several layers of Memories Mists:

• Layer 1: Pale Ale
• Layer 2: Covered the tag with a stencil from Tattered Angels and spray with Amaretto
• Layer 3: Copper Shimmer

As I sprayed the mists, I noticed that they bled more than usual, because the paper is worn a bit. You might see this on the edges of the dark ink. Inks and sprays will apply a bit differently to these image transferred papers.  I rubbed some ink on the edges, added some ribbon, a stamped word (Printer's Type by Hero Arts), and a little birdie from the Touch of Nature stamp set by Stampin' Up!.  The birdie is colored with a bit of chalk.

I wanted to make my next tag a little lighter and brighter.  For this one, I sponged on some various distress inks (old paper, tea stain) to give the edge a little definition.  I stamped a swirl image from Club Scrap on the left with acrylic paint.  When I was done with that, it sort of looked like a flower stem to me, so I found a neat saying from Club Scrap to put on vellum, and added some paper flowers, a brad, and ribbon to finish it up.

I think this tag will be a great embellishment on a scrapbook page about our garden. We're currently enjoying lots of beautiful lilies.

I'm really enjoying the online format of this class.  I get to explore the techiques on my own time, and there is a really supportive group of ladies, and Claudine Hellmuth, to help us out.  A lot of ladies from the class have a blog, and they're listed on the left.  Check out what everybody else is discovering through this class!