Tis the Season to be Jolly - Sizzix Ch 4 and Distress Oxide Sprays

Isn't this Pine Bough die set from Tim Holtz and Sizzix just amazing?  Oh I do love it and have so many plans to use it. One of the first applications I used was this jolly Etcetera tag inspired by the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Cut some pine boughs and pine cones from the die set out of kraft cardstock.

I love the open feel of the pinecones, but I needed to have them backed with paper for this tag. So I adhered them to some kraft cardstock using Distress Collage Medium.

Once they were dry I trimmed around the outside of the pinecones.

Next I tore some Idea-ology Christmas Collage paper and adhered it to some places here and there on the tag using Distress Collage Medium. Then I adhered a couple of pine boughs and a pinecone in one corner.

I did the same thing in the bottom corner, making sure the Collage Paper was adhered before the pine bough die cuts. In addition, I cut a festive saying out of Metallic Gold Kraftstock using both the upper and lowercase Classic Alpha die sets. Once the letters are in place, cover the entire tag, including all the die cuts, with a layer of Distress Collage Medium.

Once the tag is complete and the entire tag and all the Collage Medium are dry, you want to create some magic with Distress Oxide Sprays. I used some of the most recently released colors on this tag.

To do this technique, lay the tag on some paper towels and then shake the Distress Oxide Sprays really well. Then spray them on the tag as seen above.

I sprayed Chipped Sapphire across the main center of the tag.

Then I added Evergreen Bough on the pine boughs, and some Brushed Corduroy in a few places on the tag and also on the pinecones.

Here you can see how the green in mostly on the pine boughs and the brown is on the pine cone. You might also note a few red splatters. I sprayed the Barn Door Oxide Spray into a plastic cup and then dipped the Distress Splatter Brush into the spray and splattered it over the tag. Don't be too heavy handed with this color but add a few splatters for interest later.

The lighter speckles is the Antique Linen that I sprayed in a small plastic cup, dipped the Distress Splatter Brush into it and then splattered all over the tag.  It looks totally cool when it is wet but I really am not sure that this color actually did anything to the overall look. LOL! These are the things you discover when you are experimenting.

Let it sit until it is dry. It was about 30 minutes for me, so I worked on something else during this time. Once it is dry you want to wipe off most of the Oxide Spray.  It will be dry but it won't be permanent. It will wipe off easily. Take a damp rag or wet wipe and start wiping.

You can start seeing here that as you wipe the color underneath, including some of the kraft color, will begin to show through.

Once you have wiped away most of the oxide on the surface, you will still have some of the oxide that sticks down in the recessed areas of the dies and next to the edges of the dies. That is perfect!

I love how the Evergreen Bough Oxide leaves green between the needles on the boughs and the Brushed Corduroy colored the pinecones.

And how the Chipped Sapphire Oxide stayed around the gold letters giving them definition.

 Isn't it fascinating how the dark ink portion of the oxides soaked through the Collage Medium and gave the tag some vibrant color? I really wasn't expecting the deep plum colors with the warm golden brown. But what a fabulous surprise!

If you look closely you can see where a few of the bits of Barn Door showed up here and there adding a bit of interest as well as how the bits of collage paper show through the color as well.

The finishing touch was to spray some Distress Resist Spray over the entire piece and then lightly dust it with Platinum Distress Glitter Dust to add a little Sugar Plum Fairy sparkle.

Thank you for sticking with me to the end of this post. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask by using the contact form at the side of this post. And thank you for all of you that visit and leave comments. I read them all and truly appreciate when you take the time to leave them!
Tami

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