Life of the Steampunk Party Tag

Hi, servus and thanks for stopping by!

Today we are launching our October challenge over at

  SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges

and as I am already in Halloween swing I decided to create a Steampunk Halloween tag this time.
And even though I usually use DecoArt stuff for my steampunk creations, I wanted to use my Distress inks and stains that have been sitting in their shelf unused for way too long - and also to remember our players that of course makes using Tim Holtz Distress products and stamps are welcome too. And sometimes I also mix products from both - you can create cool stuff using DecoArt paints and media on pieces you die cut with Tim's fabulous dies! I guess 95% of the dies I have in my shelves (and they take up a lot of place there because I really have a lot of Tim's dies as I love his designs) are Tim's.

But I also wanted to use my Distress and Distress Oxide Inks alongside the Distress Stains again...because Tim's colour palette definitely makes his stamps and dies look unbeatably vintage - and I love that a lot!

So here it is: my all Tim Holtz Tag for our October Steampunk challenge!

I combined the stamps from the "Inventor 2", "Life of the Party", "Stitches" and "Weird Science" stamp sets to create my weird skeleton scientist. The tag I worked on was die cut using my good old (and much used) "Tag and Bookplates" die - still one of my favourite tag sizes to work on.

The background was done using a mix of Distress Inks and Distress Oxide Inks. The final layer were the  calculations from the Weird Science set that I stamped using Fossil Amber Distress Oxide Ink. As the colour shifts towards white when oxidising, it looks as if the maths on the tag were done with chalk (as on a blackboard).

The blood splatters were added using Distress Paint "Barn Door" and a splatter brush.

The stamped and fussy cut images were painted using a detail brush and Distress Stains. I spread a little of the Distress Stain on the palette on my Media Glass Mat and dilute with some water if necessary.

Layering the same Distress Stain colour creates depth and this way you can also shade areas like the leather helmet that was done using several layers of Vintage Photo and Tea Dye Distress Stains.

I also use the inks to tone down brighter colours. The bow tie was done this way - adding Pumice Stone Distress Ink on top of Peeled Paint and Fired Brick.

For the cogs and gears I used Rusty Hinge, Broken China, Pumice Stone and Peeled Paint Distress Inks and also added DecoArt media fluid acrylics Gold and Silver for a bit of metal bling.

The stamped fingers were coloured using a white gel pen. As the inks underneath were reactivated by the wet ink from the gel pen it added a slight brownish tint to the white - which I really like!

I hope I've managed to capture a bit of the colourful little bling-y jots on the stamped and heat embossed spider webs...I used Emerald Creek "Winter's Mistake" embossing powder that creates this lovely effect.

My weird steampunk scientist wears the helmet from the "Inventor 2" stamp set and I have added some DecoArt media Liquid Glass to the goggles, which domed really nicely.

I used Fired Brick Distress Stain to ink the white little felt ball so I had a cute fluffy clowns nose.
All the stamped, inked and fussy cut parts were layered and fixed using sticky foam pads. The tag's edges were blended using Jet Black archival stamping ink.

I hope you like my tag! My funny science dude and I had a lot of fun! Wishing you a lot of Halloween crafting fun too! Maybe you also find a way to add a little steampunk touch to your makes so you can share them with us over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges! There are prizes to win, fame to be achieved by making our Top 5 and only a few rules to check out...

...so I hope to see you play along with us soon!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx