supplies: craft sheet, distress inks, distress embossing ink, distress stickles, ink blending tool, paint dabber/snow cap, mini mister, gold embossing powder, heat tool (ranger); mask sheets, mini pin, philosophy tag (idea-ology); staz-on (tsukineko); retro holiday/santa/merry christmas, fabulous flourishes, festive sounds/music, mini holidays/snowflakes (stampers anonymous); scissors (tonic); #8 tag, ribbon
step 1: to create your custom mask of an image, read the package of the mask sheet to make sure you’re working the the sheet that is labeled “mask”. stamp your image with staz-on ink and let it dry – do not heat it or the mask will melt. *i’ve tried just about every ink, and this is the only ink that will dry on the mask sheets. another cool thing is that you can die cut these masks or punch out designs.
step 2: once your stamped image is dry cut it out with non-stick scissors.
step 3: remove the mask backing and discard it. now you have exposed the re-positionable adhesive of the mask.
step 4: place the mask on the included clear storage sheet until we’re ready to use the mask.
step 5: stamp the santa image with archival ink on a tag and dry it with a heat tool.
step 6: position your custom mask directly over the stamped image. *you might be thinking that a good ol’ post-it note would do the trick for this, but the mask sheet will not only last longer, but allows you to line it up perfectly and event more important, to see what you’re doing ink-wise.
step 7: working on a craft sheet, apply snow cap paint dabber to the fab/flourish stamp.
step 8: stamp the entire fab.flourish on the tag as shown.
step 9: gently peel the mask back and remove it from the tag.
step 10: place the mask on your craft sheet and wipe it clean with water. the stamped image will be fine.
step 11: dry the paint stamped image on the tag with a heat tool. *make sure you've removed the mask first!
step 12: begin inking the tag with a light color of distress ink to put a base of color down using an ink blending tool. *i work with antique linen and as i ink i make sure i am not inking directly in the center of the santa, it creates a highlight effect later.
step 13: ink around the tag with the brighter tones of distress using an ink blending tool. * i used fired brick and peeled paint around the santa face. let the inks dry completely.
step 14: re-apply the mask over the santa, you’ll see how we now have a little bit of blended color under the mask which is great so the image doesn’t look so “cookie-cutter”.
step 15: ink over the tag with darker shades of 
distress ink using an ink blending tool. * i i used aged mahogany and pine needles
step 16: stamp music notes with black soot distress ink over the tag. *be sure to use distress and not archival for this step.
step 17: stamp snowflakes with black soot distress ink.
step 18: wipe off the excess distress ink from the santa mask on the tag to see how how much contrast your background has. if you’re happy with it, let’s move on.
step 19: mist paper towel with water from a mini mister.
step 20: blot – do not wipe – over the stamped flourish image with the damp paper towel to remove all of the distress ink color you’ve applied to the tag including the stamped images and reveal the white paint dabber. *distress ink and paint dabbers are not compatible so the paint works as a resist.
step 21: gently peel off the mask from your tag. wow!
step 22: make sure your tag is dry first. stamp merry christmas with distress embossing ink.
step 23: apply gold embossing powder over the image and remove excess powder.
step 24: heat emboss until the metallic gold melts into liquid beauty!
step 25: apply peeled paint distress stickles to the holly on santa’s hat. make sure you spread the stickles around with the tip of the bottle.
step 26: apply small dots of fired brick distress stickles for berries. dry everything with a heat tool and embellish tag with ribbon, mini pin, and a philosophy tag.
in the details – the shimmer of the distress stickles against the contrast of the white paint dabber flourish is such a dramatic effect on this tag. very simple, yet cool effect…t!m
