Sew Faith

Done!  I finally got to complete the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012 - May challenge, which features a vintage sewing theme.  Other than the regular distressing techniques, Tim encouraged his readers to use tissue as a stamp collage base and to make a melted embossing powder bath to dip paper flowers.  As usual, I tried everything, but gave it my own twist.

©Arnoldo L. Romero 2012

I kept the same theme, and although I used different stamps, I used the same background technique.  After that, I took off on my own.  I love Tim's hanger clips, so I decided to use one as a prop for a paper dress.  As inspiration, I looked at various turn of the 20th century dresses to design it.  I made it using a couple of sheets from a K&Company Classic K pad and lace for trimming.  (It reminded me of when I used to help my girls make dresses for their paper dolls.  LOL!)  I trimmed the bottom of my tag with vintage rick-rack, and used a vintage card of hooks, eyes & loops to make an embellishment.  I inherited the latter, as well as the vintage pearl button in the flower, from my wife's grandmother.  I stained my paper flower as per Tim's directions.  However, I dipped my paper flower in beeswax iinstead of embossing powder.  It worked beautifully!  I attached the flower with wire to the card, by threading the wire through a couple of the holes in the card.  Then, I stained a Tim Holtz grunge letter "S" with some of his blue alcohol ink and covered it in green stickles.  When it was dry, I distressed it with an ink pad.  I also used an Art-C letter "e" and a vintage "w" rub on letter to complete the word "sew."  To complete my phrase, I typed the word "faith" with a courier font, printed it, cut it, and distressed it.  As a finishing touch, I distressed a strip of ribbon to attach to the top of my tag.  I threaded a miniature spool of thread to it and tied a knot to keep it in place.

As usual, I had a blast making this tag for Tim's challenge.  What's best, I followed his advice in a recent interview for Cloth, Paper Scissors, "Your personal style is simply that—your style, so be sure to stay true to what you like."  I can't wait to go see what other artists created.  Please feel free to follow me and leave a comment.  Blessings!