Time for Tissue Paper

Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year's. With all this extra time off from work, I hope you had a chance to play with your photos, paper, and glue!

If you need of some inspiration to jumpstart your creativity, I would like to show you a few projects I have made recently with Tim Holtz's new tissue paper rolls. These rolls come in a variety of patterns, including text and music notes, and are a heavier-weight tissue paper than you typically find to wrap presents with - almost as substantial as a light vellum. The rolls contain several yards of paper, so this is a good supply to split with your friends (hint, hint, hint).

First of all, a few layouts. On the first, Rebuilding Ground Zero, I used the tissue paper as part of my background, reminiscent of newsprint. I layered bits and pieces of Coredinations Kraft Core cardstock and scraps from my desk to complete the layout.

On this second layout, She Thinks It Is Called the Mountain of Rushmores, I used a piece torn from the roll as a mat for my title and journalling. You can see how well it layers over patterned papers to subtley mute their brightness.
                                      
After making a few layouts, I decided I needed some messy playtime. I pulled out my alcohol inks, a square piece of acrylic (You can find several different pre-cut sizes in the store. Perfect for ornaments, mini-book covers, etc), some modpodge, my tissue paper, and some random embellishments.

First, I dabbed some alcohol ink over my acrylic block to give it some color (I used Christmas colors since I was making an ornament).

Next, I dabbed some Adirondack Alcohol Blending Solution over the block. Can you see the subtle difference between the 2 photos? In the one below, the blending solution has 'pushed' the ink around, giving it a fun splotchy look.

The alcohol ink dries quickly, so I didn't have to wait to modpodge some of the Tim Holtz tissue paper to the back of my acrylic block. I sandwiched the (very old) brown leafy embellishment between the acrylic and the tissue paper when I did my modpodging.

Once the modpodge glue had dried, I decorated the front of my ornament with some metal Christmas words I had in my stash, as well as some layered poinsettia flowers that I had rubbed with Stickles.

 I used my Crop-o-dile to punch a hole in the top corner, tied a ribbon, and hung the ornament on our tree at ScrapHappy.

 And finally, I don't know about you, but I often wrap gifts with tissue paper. I was curious to see how well the tissue paper absorbed ink, so I used my Tim Holtz Distress Stain (fired brick) to colorize some of the tissue paper. I also used the stain to coordinate the ribbon, and then I wrapped a faux-gift to put under my mini-tree next year. The tag is my first attempt at Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. I tied it to the top to make my 'gift' look pretty :)

 I hope I've given you some ideas to stimulate your creativity. Until next month, have fun making creative messes, and come see us in the store! Many of us will be heading to the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show later this month. If there's any companies or booths you want us to check out and post peaks of, let me know!