art is good for the soul…

mtaghi bloggers… i believe that art is the creative voice of the heART.  there are times when you just need to immerse yourself in creativity and just go with it, wherever it may take you.  today was one of those days for me, and i have to say it was amazing.  i decided to create just because i wanted to, because i needed to, just for the heART of it – and so i did…

DSC06016i wanted to use one of the eclectic elements fabrics i picked up while we were at quilt market (in fact i picked up quite a few since these were giveaway so i could share with some of you, but more on that at the end of the post).

DSC05993i started by die cutting a piece of phoomph using my tag/bookplate die.  if you’re like me, you probably have never heard of phoomph either, but it’s this fabric bonding sheet that has permanent adhesive on both sides.  it’s designed to give your project structure and well…oomph!

DSC05994peel off the backing from one side of the phoomph.

DSC05995adhere a #8 manila tag to it, simple as that.

DSC05996peel off the backing from the other side of the phoomph.

DSC05997place it face down on to the back side of the fabric to secure it.

DSC05998cut around the tag with your scissors leaving about 1/4″ of fabric around the outside (which is why i didn’t die cut the fabric to the exact size of the tag).

DSC05999place the fabric covered tag on to a piece of chipboard and using your scratch tool, drag it along the edges of the fabric to fray.

DSC06000i love using the scratch tool anytime i cut or die cut fabric as it gives the piece a tattered edged look.

DSC06001next up…i decided to fire up the sewing machine.  now i don’t pride myself on actually knowing the “proper” ways to sew, but i can certainly step on the pedal and go.

DSC06002i wanted to sew around the edge of the tag, do some funky zig-zag stitching here and there, and just have fun doing whatever.  what’s neat is the phoomph actually gives a slightly dimensional padding between the tag and the fabric so when you sew it, you get a quilted effect, plus it doesn’t gunk up your needle with adhesive.

DSC05985die cut a heart from grungeboard using the love struck die.

DSC05986paint the heart with distress paint and let it dry.

DSC05988place a sheet of remnant rubs over the heart and rub the area thoroughly with a craft scraper to transfer all of the imagery from that section of the rubs.

DSC05989carefully peel away the sheet of rubs *(note: you may need to rub the edges where only part of the word touches the heart to transfer it).

DSC05990sand the edges of the heart to remove any excess rubs as well as the paint from the edges of the grunge heart.

DSC05991ink the entire heart with distress ink using an ink blending tool.

DSC05992lightly wipe over the heart with a damp cloth to remove some of the ink, but remember the rubs will resist any ink so they appear brighter anyway.

DSC06003use a scrap of phoomph on the back of the grunge heart.

DSC06004adhere the heart to the tag to hold it in place while i sew again…oh yeah, get ready for this.

DSC06005ok so i admit this one was a serious challenge since i couldn’t really stomp on the pedal for this.  i actually tried to follow the outer edge of the heart by sewing around it…key word tried.

DSC06006i definitely need to practice this skill more.

DSC06007i set an eyelet through the fabric in the top of the tag (i still have a thing for eyelets).

DSC06009stain a piece of crinkle ribbon with distress stain.

DSC06010i didn’t mist the ribbon with water like i normally do so i got more saturated color which was just what i wanted.

DSC06019paint a word band with distress paint allowing the paint to fill the debossed words and let it dry a little.

DSC06020using your finger, wipe away the excess paint leaving the color in the recessed areas.

DSC06011place the ribbon through the back of a word band as shown.

DSC06013tie the ribbon around the tag and tie into a fluffy bow and insert a memo pin through the bow with a locket key attached. *(click here to learn how to make this bow from paula cheney).

DSC06008attach a type charm to a trinket pin and then pin it through the stitching around the heart.

DSC06014choose a couple of words from the chit chat sticker book and snip the ends to look like flags.

DSC06015ink the edges with distress ink and adhere with glossy accents.

DSC06025i love the finished look of this tag.  the layered rubs on the heart, the crinkle ribbon through the word band, the pinned type charm, the chit chat flags…i love it all.

DSC06026i also really love the texture of the fabric tag with the quilted look of sewing through phoomph…as random as it may be it still looks cool to me.

DSC06027i even used the printed twill that was tied around the fabric for the top of my tag…why not?

so there we have it, unanticipated creativity at it’s finest.  i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, sometimes you have to create just for the sake of being creative.  now even though my new eclectic elements fabric isn’t available until late summer/early fall (think of it as time to gather more ideas) you can still use any other fabrics that may inspire you.

fabrichowever i’d like to help with that inspiration so how about a giveaway of some of my new fabrics?  i have 5 bundles of three different designs to give away to 5 lucky winners.  just post a comment on the blog and winners will be announced monday 5/27!

*want another chance to win some eclectic elements fabric?  head on over to the one lucky day blog and check out paula’s fabric tutorial and post a comment on her blog too…

i hope you find time to do something creative this weekend…t!m

Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101