Indian Summer

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This was a fun tag to make as I love this time of year.  We were off to a very slow summer - lots of rain, low temps, and clouds, this year.  But now it does feel like August.  Only thing, we haven't had a single day over 90* all year!  (Folks in Dallas were begging for our climate this year!)  But the light in the sky and the color of the grass and foliage just says late summer!

I was inspired by the Use It Tuesday Challenge:  Indian Summer.  I dug deep into my stash and here's what I came up with.  As I knew color would be important I turned to my collection of Distress Inks to give my tag just the right looks.  Therefore I'm also entering this in this week's challenge over at Dream Valley Challenges: Distress. 

Distress is also a word that describes my state of mind when I smeared my not-yet-dry bronze pearl dots created with my Viva Decor Pearl Pen - arrrggghhh!  So I just extra smeared them some more, and added to it.  I figure it gives the tag an "organic" look what with the mica chips, skeleton leaf, and raffia.

First I stamped this old mica fragment with brown StazOn.  Then I applied layers of Distress ink to the tags to get the "just right" late summer look.  Colors were Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Broken China, Shabby Shutters, Barn Door, and Mustard Seed.  I used foam ink blenders for the application.  I took a small green skeleton leaf and used glossy accents to adhere it and the mica to the tag.  The glossy accents caused the ink colors to pool up under the mica, but I was OK with that.

Next I took an assortment of old feathers, quite surprised actually at how many teeny ones were in the super old stash, and added them in between layers at the bottom of the tag.  I stamped "Indian Summer" with brown StazOn with a clear stamp from TPC Studios: Autumn Harvest.  I used 1/4" ScorTape to adhere the layers of the tags with the feathers.  I used my Viva Decor Pearl Pen in bronze to create "pearls" - and then promptly smudged a bunch of them before they dried!  I used my finger to smear the medium along, and once dried a bit, added more... and left it completely alone to dry!

 I guess I should go back and say I found this old flower that reminded me of a sun, so I decided to use it as the topper of my tag.  (For more info on how the flower was made, see a video from my YT channel archive below.) The cool brad (?) was really silver, but I colored with an amazingly ancient (couldn't believe there was any ink in it) Krylon Red Shimmer Leafing Pen.  It gave it just the perfect touch.

As part of the Use It Tuesday challenge, you need to document what's old in your project.  When's the last time you saw a Provo Craft logo like this?

The stamp was from a company from my home town.  Yep, its 16 years old!  Would you believe I've been stamping longer than that even?

If you guessed 2003 from the question above, you're right!  Paper from this old pack provided the top layer of my tag.  Tags were from Lacy Labels, cut on my Gypsy.

Thanks for taking a peak.  Please feel free to comment if you'd like.

As a bonus, here's a video from my YouTube archive which demonstrates how I used spray inks and Distress Inks to create some awesome paper flowers with my embossing folders.  Enjoy!