goggles and tophats: a steampunk january

Dawn, mistress of The Inked Stamper, organized a January 10-tag swap.  Theme: steampunk.  The talent that makes up our tag swap team is astounding and, in some ways, frightening.  We have our new tag assignment for February: shabby chic and I will admit, the level of creative aptitude in the group has given me a good swift kick in the pants to step up my tag-designing game. 

I built my January tags around a steampunk owl die-cut (a cherished Christmas gift) and a steampunk blueprint image.  The embossed gears sizzix texture trades embossing folder) were lightly painted  with taupe, green and metallic copper to give the tag a worn oxidized metal composition.  I highlighted some of the gears in silver metallic markers to add some contrast. The owl was embossed with black embossing powder and I added graphic 45 cling stamp wings to give him a bit of flight.

Owl is perched on a memory box tree die cut which I also embossed using the sizzix texture trades embossing folder.  The two utility lights (craftsman #2 cling stamp) in the corner were stamped onto white tissue paper (bottom layer) and vintage white cardstock and highlighted with copper and gold metallic markers.

Mr. everythingshetouches was adamant that every good steampunk character needs a tophat and goggles.  I hand-cut the tophat(dylusions couture clear stamps) out of grey cardstock and highlighted it with silver metallic marker.  The goggles were punch-cut circles on green cardstock and I dipped the top of a screw into black and silver ink and paint and pressed it onto the circles.  Owl's eye was embellished with a bolt from a stash of IKEA findings.  I desperately hope that the findings are extras included in the packaging in the event of loss and not bits missed in the instructions and required to hold our IKEA furniture together.

Coming soon:  5 templates for 42 Valentine's Day tags.  I'm finishing up the last of the fifth template and cannot wait to share them with you.  I truly enjoyed the process for both the steampunk and Valentine's Day swap.  I have grown accustomed to designing very little and reproducing mass quantities of each component.  It feels strange and exhilarating to have to go back to the table with a fresh slate and design new templates.

Remember you can follow along on my journey by adding everythingshetouchespamk to your favourite blog feeder.  If you would like for me to follow you, in return, let me know in the comments below.  Your talent inspires me.