Ink-Painted Cat Tags

Cat Tags

Remember the free online course I enrolled in? One of my assignments was to make an ink-painted flower. It’s basically using the ink from your stamp pad to paint paper. The assignment called for painting a flower cut from a page of text, but also encouraged the use of other shapes. I decided to make a set of tags featuring cats, a text background and ink painting.

Here are the general steps on how to make the cat tags:

• Cut out a tag shape from card stock. An old business card with two corners cut off works nicely too.
• Cover the tag with printed paper (use a page from a book, magazine, or old office correspondence), and trim any excess paper.
• Color the paper with your choice of medium. I used stamp pad ink, but you can get great results too with a watercolor wash, watercolor pencils, or even tea or fruit juice — as long as the text shows through the color. Let the paper dry thoroughly.
• Now the fun part: Add any additional backgrounds such as a strip of decorative paper, a piece of decorative tape, or a cutout paper flower.
• Glue the cat pictures in place.
• Next, use a felt marker to write your sentiment on a piece of paper: Hello! Thanks! Relax! I used a computer printer to print the text on vellum for a soft, blurry effect. Cut out the text and stick it on the tag. Almost there.
• Punch a hole at the end of the tag, add a binder hole reinforcer, or a punched flower with a hole in the middle.
• Tie a piece of ribbon through the hole. Voila!

PS:  My cat Picart modeled for the Relax! tag.

Tags: Animals, Cats, Collage, Crafts, Inkjet Printer, Paper Crafts, Vellum

Dream

An ATC of my cat Piper sleeping on my computer monitor.

“Dream” is an ATC version of a scrapbook page I made titled “Piper’s Dream”. The leaves punched from vellum mirror the falling leaves used on the background paper, and emphasize the autumn scene in the picture.

A totally unplanned effect was the text. I used an inkjet to print on white vellum, and the edges of the text bled into the paper, adding further to the ethereal, dreamy effect. Talk about serendipity!

Tags: Art Cards, Artist Trading Cards, ATCs, Cats, Collage, Craft Punches, Digital Photography, Inkjet Printer, Vellum

Mother and Child

Mother and Child, Collage.

Perfect for Mother’s Day! I was lucky to catch Piper and her kitty Strider in this really “Aww, that’s so sweet” moment, and knew this photo had to be in a vintage sort of setting. I converted the photo to sepia, put it in a heart-shaped frame under a vellum sheet embossed around the edges to resemble lace, and added a pink satin bow.

The background paper,  btw, is a vintage paper-backed foil giftwrap that reminded me so much of my mom – she had this ottoman upholstered in yellow leatherette with huge copper rose prints, plus recipe books covered with paper-backed foil giftwrap that was so popular at the time.

Anyway, going back to this ATC – I loved this picture so much that I made a digital scrapbbook page for it! Check it out at my other blog, Scrapbook Cats.

Tags: Art Cards, ATCs, Collage, Digital Scrapbooking, Embossing, Scrapbooking, Vellum, Vintage

Drifting, Falling

Drifting, Falling, 1 May 2006. Collage

One of them quickie ATCs I made just to get over a “gotta make stuff” fit. I had just bought a pack of gem-like leaf embellishments and I needed an excuse to use them pronto! Handmade paper and  vellum over patterned paper, topped off with a leaf embellishment and inkjet-printed text inspired by The Ocean Blue’s “Drifting, Falling”.

Tags: Art Cards, ATCs, Collage, Vellum

Parchment fan v.2

Parchment fan, dry embossed and finished with peral paints and metallic gel ink. Design courtesy of Janet Wilson.

This fan was made from clear (colorless) vellum, then painted with pearl paints and a metallic gel pen. I used an eyelet to hold the sections together, but maybe I should have used a cord instead to soften the look.

Anyhow, this was designed by Janet Wilson, another of my favorite parchment craft gurus. You’ll find details of the project in her book “The Art of Parchment Craft”.

Tags: Embossing, Gel Pens, Janet Wilson, Paper Crafts, Parchment Crafts, Pearl Paints, Vellum

Parchment fan

Parchment fan, dry embossed. Design courtesy of Martha Ospina.

Yes, I’m a fan pf parchment craft, thank you. Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun.

Here’s a parchment fan I made years ago. I used cream vellum to capture the look of old lace, and finished it off with a matching ribbon and gold embroidery floss. The design is featured in Martha Ospina’s book “Pergamano Parchment Craft”. Check it out!

Tags: Embossing, Martha Ospina, Paper Crafts, Parchment Crafts, Pergamano, Vellum