June Guest Designer - Dana Tatar

Hi! My name is Dana Tatar and I am a stay-at-home mom currently living in Florida with my husband and two young daughters. I started scrapbooking to preserve memories after the birth of my first daughter and now I enjoy the creative outlet. I love to mix products from different collections on my projects and I frequently find inspiration in music, poetry and pop culture. I'm an active blogger and I like to share my tips and ideas. I create a little of everything, including layouts, cards, tags, artist trading cards, arches and small gift and home decor items.

I am so excited to be a Guest Designer for Berry71Bleu this month! I'm currently a designer for Marivic's sister site, Zeus and Zoe. I love visitors, so please stop by my blog, They Call Me Tatar Salad!

I've created two projects to share today, a layout and a tag. The wonderful products from the sponsors for this month, 7 Dots Studios and Jacquard, were just too fun to work with to stop at one piece!

Marylin's Challenge for this month is all about documenting your favorite Summer activities. I'm always up for a trip to the beach! The fabulous white sand beaches of Florida are absolutely breathtaking year round. I created this page with the 7 Dots Studios Dreamer Collection and some watercolor paint that I mixed up with Jacquard Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments.

I love to use stickers on my projects! The 7 Dots Studios Dreamer Stickers matched my paint perfectly!

I added some fun texture to this page with fishing net, cheese cloth, molding paste, masking tape and some of my favorite beach finds, starfish and shells. The fun heart charm and seashell key (shown above) came in my Zeus and Zoe Kit. If you're looking for a fabulous kit packed with vintage items that is truly one-of-a-kind, email Marivic or stop by the Zeus and Zoe Etsy Shop and check out the NEW Mini Collection Embellishment Project Kits.

If you haven't worked with Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments before, the brilliant shine is fabulous in real life! The shimmer reminds me of the opalescent finish found on oyster shells, the perfect look for a beach themed layout!

I also created this beach themed tag with products from 7 Dots Studios and Jacquard and I'm going to share my step-by-step process!

Step 1. Build up layers of texture on a shipping tag with crepe paper, cheese cloth and masking tape. Note: Don't think too hard during this step! Apply pieces of different materials randomly until the tag is covered.

Step 2. For even more texture and dimension, add a fun design with Jacquard Lumiere 3D Dimensional Metallic Paint & Adhesive to the tag and set aside to dry.

Step 3. Cover the tag with a light coat of gesso and let dry.

Step 4. Mix up several colors of paint using equal parts liquid gum arabic (binder) and Pearl Ex Powdered Pigment and a small amount of water. Note: I used Duo Violet-Brass (693) and Duo Green-Purple (692) Pearl Ex Pigment Powder. If you are using powdered gum arabic, combine 1 part gum arabic to 4 parts powdered pigment. To test the solution, paint a small area on a piece of paper and allow it to dry. If the pigment doesn't rub off when dry, then you have a usable paint. If the pigment does rub off, add more binder.

Step 5. Add some gold highlights and let dry. Note: I used Sparkle Gold (657) Pearl Ex Pigment Powder that I mixed using the same ratio of ingredients as mentioned in the previous step.

Step 6. Paint over the 3D pattern from Step 2 with gold alcohol ink. Once dry, embellish the tag to finish. Note: I used Jacquard Pinata Color in Rich Gold.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope I have inspired you! If you have any questions about the techniques I used on my projects, leave a note in the comments section of this post or send me an email and I'll do my best to answer them. Also, I'd love to have you stop by the Zeus and Zoe Blog and link up a project for the June Favorite Things Challenge!