A few minutes of fun - with Distress Spray Tag Backgrounds

[@bonnerdebbie]

Barely heard the train Alison, would not have noticed if you didn't say anything about it. Your tags today were gorgeous, I never put enough colors on until watching your videos. My backgrounds have improved so much, thank you for the wonderful inspiration. I am finally learning that if it isn't beautiful, you are not finished yet. Frayed Burlap is always a surprise, I once had a puddle of it and managed to get a corner of paper towel in it. When I came back it was like a rainbow of colors on the paper towel. I have not been able to repeat that exactly but used the paper towel in a project, made me smile. Thanks so much for a morning watching magic. Have a wonderful day.

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Frayed Burlap Oxide is a law unto itself... really amazing! I love that your paper towel accident made its way into a project - no wonder we crafters never throw anything away (sigh!). So glad to hear that you've found a way to make backgrounds that give you even more joy through watching these videos - that's lovely to know. Hope there's some inky playtime coming up for you this weekend. Have fun! Thanks, as always, for your lovely comments and company.

[@debbiel890]

oooo gesso had an interesting effect on the cheap card .Can't wait to see what you do with the tags - you are definitely the tag queen , enjoyed learning today thank you

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Yes, indeed... gesso is an absolutely brilliant helper in the craft room. It's when you see it so clearly like this that you realise what a magic ingredient it is! Thank you so much for watching and for your lovely comment (happy to be crowned "tag queen"!).

[@HeleneKaut]

I echo the comment above about how my work has progressed watching and studying you. What fun. I can hardly wait to see how you bring these to the next steps. Thanks kindly for sharing Alison❤️🇨🇦

[@nedanashu5025]

Me too, they why Alison does backgrounds is so very helpful to learn from.

[@janebradley7949]

Oh my... I don't have too many sprays... another deep rabbit hole!!! These are dreamy!!!

[@Joy-qv1sd]

Spraying, layering, spritzing, flicking, splattering, dabbing, drying, repeat…. Ahh the techniques of the mixed media artist! 🤗 Thank you for the ‘push’ to just go with it and embrace experimentation. Very much looking forward to where your creativity goes with building on these tags. They’re more full on in terms of saturation than your (recent) previous background builds that have been delicate and dreamy.

[@danabriggs6114]

So much fun!!! Beautiful backgrounds! I am learning to branch out from your videos. I know what I like, and I stay in that bubble.You are helping broaden my horizons and hopefully break out more! Didn't hear the train today but have on a few other videos. It doesn't bother me at all! Looking forward to seeing these tags again! Thank you!

[@cassiescreations9828]

How funny! I was looking for my plastic to cover my table so I can get "spray happy," as I call it. I do a bunch of backgrounds, but I love watching others do this. I just love your grungy tags in your crates! I've searched for paper barbed wire - saw it once years ago. I should have bought it all. I won't allow the real stuff near me. Too many memories of human and animal getting tangled up in it, on the farms I worked on!

[@elizabethkeeling-carreau1873]

I could watch you all day and can’t wait to see what you do with these next. I finally got to a local brick and mortar store across town to find not one but two of your stamp sets. I foundWinter teasels and pressed foliage. They are out of my budget online but I was able to get each of these for under $40.00 ca. Now I have to find your videos using them so I can learn some more before I play. 🤗🇨🇦🤗

[@kathybobnar687]

Great video and I loved seeing the difference between the white and manilla tags!

[@robinsutton4952]

I’m so glad to have found your channel. Your colors and style are similar to mine. I get ideas and a lot of inspiration. Considering I’m a slow crafter, I’m getting the confidence to just do and not worry so much about placement. Thanks so much.

[@NikkiDowlman]

Love a happy little accident....Bob Ross taught me that

[@patfrank7919]

Brilliant, Alison! I love your positivity, playfulness, and “what if” attitude! I just gessoed a new art journal…am anxious to use some of these color & ink combos on it! Thank you for your inspiration!

[@99zanne]

I cut my hole protectors from black Tim Holtz Kraft paper - I like the weight and that strong contrast. This was interesting, TFS.

[@ellief3177]

More grungy goodness to enjoy! It is really helpful to see the process and the way the products are layered up. You demonstrated Tim Holtz's advice really well here - "wet on wet, blends; wet on dry, layers".Your colour choices gave lovely rust or weathered effects. White and/or clear gesso are hero products and can make such a difference, as you showed so clearly. Thank you, as always.

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

So true about gesso... it's a definite must-have in the craft stash. Glad you enjoyed seeing the layers building up - one of those cases where less is definitely not more!! Thank you so much, as always, for your company on this creative journey.

[@JackiePutman-b1y]

Love all the tags Alison but there is a lusciousness about the Manila ones that I love.❤️ Jackie

[@Dawn-fz5cu]

I learn so much from you every time!! The difference gesso made on the plain paper is amazing. I love every one of these tags! Thank you for sharing!🥰

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

I'm so happy to hear that you are finding fresh ideas and information here - that's great. Hope you'll have fun exploring the possibilities of gesso... it really is like a magic ingredient! Thank you so much for watching and for your lovely comment.

[@Dawn-fz5cu]

@@w0rdsandp1ctures ❤

[@SightWordMovies]

Your very first tip (no oxides first) changed my life. Thank you!❤

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Amazing! I'm delighted to hear it. Have fun playing, and thank you so much for your lovely comment, which put a big smile on my face.

[@karibeilharz9374]

I learn something new with each video I watch of you and I thank you for that. These are beautiful.

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

I'm so happy to hear that... it makes the sharing so much more worthwhile knowing that people are going away with fresh ideas to play with. Thanks so much.

[@handmadebyshirley3715]

Gorgeous backgrounds Alison, loved watching how all the mediums mixed, can't wait to see what you do with them. As always thanks for the inspiration 😊

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

It really was a fun playtime for me... I'm sure some of these will be putting in an appearance in a Tag Time episode or two soon! Thanks for your company and comments, as ever.

[@christinewerner6207]

I love playing with sprays. Makes me feel a little like I’m Jackson Pollock. LOL I am slowly but surely re-building the spray collection which was lost in my move. In fact I just ordered a few more mica sprays yesterday. Art is so grand. I am continually amazed by how splotches of color on paper can make me so happy. Thanks for another lovely video!! Cheers from the winter woods. 🇺🇸

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Ah, yes, his infamous "Pollock spritz and splotch" period... Glad your spray supply is building back up (so horrible to have lost them) and I couldn't agree more about the happiness resulting from inky splotches!! Happy weekend to you.

[@roseshaw04]

It always amazes me on how you can achieve these magical effects with the sprays and oxides. All the tags are beautiful, but I especially am drawn to the 2nd set of 4. To me, they look like slabs of cut rock. I cannot wait to see these backgrounds further transformed into tags. The gesso tags really surprised me in how well they turned out. I am having so much fun learning from your videos. Thank you for sharing your talent.

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

It's really mostly down to the magic of the Distress products themselves... the way Tim Holtz has designed them to be reactive to water (and other moisture) means there is infinite delight and variation to be had in mixing and blending and layering and splotching and spritzing! Gesso really is a magic ingredient to have in the craft room - it will change any surface, thereby doubling the number of effects you can create... So happy you enjoyed today's playtime so much - thank you for your always lovely, thoughtful comments.

[@karinwatson4985]

Beautiful backgrounds! I love watching the progression through the color palette choices as the tags develop. TFS

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Thank you so much - yes, each quartet had its own atmosphere, but they work really nicely as a whole collection too. It was definitely a happy playtime.

[@carmenvogels-aagaard5559]

I have enjoyed this video very much. The sprays are my favourite mediums to create backgrounds!

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

So glad you enjoyed it. I'll confess, I use my ink pads much more often than my sprays, but there's no doubt it's fun to spritz sometimes! Thank you so much for watching and commenting.

[@NikkiDowlman]

Those are beautiful....I've learnt that more isneed3r and I stop too early

[@diowen2904]

Wintery and nighttime colours with a little sparkle. Always enjoy Saturday mornings. Can’t wait to see what vines next. 😊

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Happy to start your Saturday off with some messy mixed media fun! Thank you so much for watching and for your lovely comment.

[@fburky]

Fun to watch the sprays being used again! I tried using a few of my distress ink sprays this week in place of watercolors, just dipped my brush into the shakened up bottles. Took a couple of coats, but worked fine.

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Yes, I quite often "watercolour" with a smoosh of ink pad onto the craft mat. That's a bit less diluted than the sprays, or at least it seems that way to me, so doesn't need quite as many layers. Thanks for your company on this creative journey.

[@arthousewhimsy23]

I loooooove your textures xxx

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Thank you... it was such fun seeing them building up. I don't know who ever thought that watching paint dry was boring!

[@debrabaron8170]

Beautiful!

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Thank you very much!

[@angeldelight8306]

Fabulous backgrounds which make me want to get some sprays. I've got the ink pads but the effect is totally different.

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

I use my ink pads far more than my sprays... my favourite technique uses pads not sprays... but there's no doubt it's fun to spritz occasionally! Thanks so much for watching and commenting.

[@cigale1254]

This really shows the magic of stains, oxides, spraying, splotching, flicks and how the manilla tags seem to work best because of their color too. As these manilla tags in the large formats cannot be found, I am wondering if the gesso method with adding a little bit of ocher would give that bit of warmth too? Must give that a try. Yes, I heard the train whistle, I guess 3 times at the near end of the filming. It gives a rustic feeling. Today my heat tool arrived, wow, what a difference with the hot air gun that also blows everything on my desk away (with that terrible sound). And of course some new colors of stains and oxides are on my wishlist now. How could I live without speckled egg?

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

I really don't know how you've lived without Speckled Egg!! It's easily in my top five, and went there immediately on its release! You could have a try with gesso and some warm-toned yellow. The thing with gesso is, it definitely changes how "fixed" the Distress inks will be (less stable)... and you don't get the same effect as on the manila, sadly. It's a decent effect (and definitely better than the card without the gesso) but not as good as the plain manila surface. I don't know what I'll do when I run out of these tags!! Given this heat tool is definitely faulty, I'm thinking of trying a proper embossing heat tool next... but I'm guessing I'll want to return to a Ranger one eventually - even if it is noisier... Hope you're having a good Saturday, and that Sunday will be lovely too!

[@cigale1254]

@@w0rdsandp1ctures The more I see of blueish tones, the more I seem to like them. I always have been more of greens . . . . I recently bought manilla tags, the only ones I could find, they are smaller (6x12cms), quite small to work with. My hot air gun blows that hard, it mostly blows all embossing powder away. I hope my black ranger heat tool will work better than your new white one. Enjoy your weekend Alison.

[@DADA-ir6kq]

try finding a cheap nailpolish- shaker for all of your mixing of the sprays. it might not be the quietest of machines, but it is such a time saver

[@Crossleymanor]

Love!!! Do you tear off the interesting bits of the under paper to use as collage? I’m becoming an “everything interesting paper hoarder”😊…just wondering if you use those bits?

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Hoard away! Yes, I'll be using those bits... though probably not as torn up pieces for collage. I'm more likely to cut a tag shape which includes the interesting bits, and back it onto card to give me a ready-made background, and let the randomness of that dictate where the tag goes. Happy you enjoyed today's playtime. Thanks so much for watching and commenting.

[@NikkiDowlman]

Gesso underwear for paint

[@robinrar]

As always fabulous color combos! So enjoyable to watch and learn from you🤎💙🧡

[@w0rdsandp1ctures]

Thank you so much - I'm delighted you enjoyed it.