Stamptramp: Grungy Distress Crayon Tag

I'm probably the last person to get ahold of Tim Holtz's new Distress Crayons, but I finally got some this past weekend and couldn't wait to try them out! I've really been missing my studio time lately and decided that this is going to be my 'Summer of Art', so I grabbed my crayons, a few stamps, a big tag, and sat down to play. Here's my first experiment - I hope you enjoy it!

I started by stamping the image onto a piece of scrap paper and tearing it out. I needed a mask so that my texture paste didn't get in the way of my stamping. I applied the texture paste, then removed the mask. BTW, this is one of Ranger's #10 tags. It looks like they are discontinuing this size, but I found some in stock at Stampers Anonymous if you want to grab some while you still can.

After my texture paste dried, I glued torn strips of French text to my tag, then stamped randomly with the new Rings background stamp. When everything was dry, I covered it with Dina Wakley's Clear Gesso. This allows the crayon to move smoothly over the surface without soaking into the paper (that was my theory, anyway!).

After the Clear Gesso dried, I scribbled various colors over the tag. This was my first time using these, so I had no idea what I was doing, but thought it was smart to start with a bit, then add if I needed more.

Since I'd heard Tim say the crayons reacted with water, I spritzed the whole tag and then spread it around with my finger. I had no idea how loose the colors would be when mixed with water and I probably should have used less, but I loved how they blended!

I dried the tag with my heat tool, then added a bit more crayon to amplify the colors. When they dried, I used the new Plus stencil to remove some color, using a dampened paper towel.

Next, I stamped one of my favorite new images from the Evolution stamp set.

I wanted to add some text, but I didn't want it to be super contrast-y. I was like....hmmm...let's try the new plain Tissue Wrap! After stamping the quote (one of my faves!) with Jet Black Archival ink, I cut the parts I wanted to use and adhered the strips with matte medium. I love that it is translucent, but doesn't totally disappear. So cool!

After my tag was done, I went back and highlighted some of the stenciled numbers with Ground Espresso Distress ink. I love the depth of color you get with the crayons. I wish you could see this in person - it's so full of grungy texture and color!

All the supplies I used can be found at Simon Says Stamp via the links below.