supplies: leaf & floral stamp, distress ink (winter seasonal/vintage photo/wild honey), paint dabbers (pitch black/snow cap), ink blending tool, clear embossing powder, craft sheet , heat tool, glossy accents, distress stickles (rock candy), #8 manila tags; grungeboard, sanding grip; dies (candlelight fright/festive greenery/upon a time), vagabond; kraft core; tulle, gems
step 1: stamp image with distress ink (evergreen bough) on tag.
step 2: immediately cover with regular clear embossing powder. *note: remember distress ink is an embossable dye ink!
step 3: heat emboss with heat tool until image is shiny and dimensional.
step 4: once cool, ink entire tag with distress ink (festive berries) using ink blending tool – make sure you ink the entire tag with the blending tool.
step 5: immediately cover with regular clear embossing powder. *note: yep distress ink is still an embossable dye ink even when blended so the entire tag will be covered in powder!
step 6: place tag over a box of trash can and “flick” the back of the tag to remove some of the embossing powder. don’t flick too much, but definitely flick the tag until you see powder come off. you can also use your finger to remove some of the powder around the edges of the tag.
step 7: heat emboss with heat tool until entire tag is shiny and dimensional – do not overheat this step!
step 8: now ink the entire tag with a brown distress ink (vintage photo) using the ink blending tool by really pressing the blending tool into the tag.
step 9: what’s so cool about this double-distress rusted enameling technique, is the fact that even though we’ve embossed our entire tag with clear embossing powder to get a dimensional look – we’ve actually embossed our stamped image with 2 layers of powder which makes it more raised and dimensional than the rest of the tag. also by flicking the tag to remove some of the second layer of embossing powder before we heated it, some of our tag was left exposed and the brown ink seeps through to create a rusted enamel effect.
step 10: die cut the candlelight fright die from grungeboard – love this die!
step 11: snip the 2 outer candles off of the center one creating a single candlestick.
step 12: paint the candle and base using paint dabbers (don’t paint the flame). let dry.
step 13: sand and scuff the candle with sanding grip.
step 14: ink the sanded areas with distress ink (vintage photo) using ink blending tool to create a worn look.
step 15: ink the flame with distress ink (wild honey) using ink blending tool.
step 16: apply glossy accents to the candle part of the candlestick.
step 17: apply rock candy distress stickles to the flame.
step 18: die cut festive greenery form kraft core and sand and distress.
step 19: adhere candlestick and festive greenery to tag using glossy accents.
step 20: die cut word from upon a time die using kraft core.
step 21: adhere letters to tag with glossy accents (i also added the extra flourish from the festive greenery).
step 22: apply glossy accents to letter and flourish, add a few bling gems, and let dry…you’re done!
the details: the worn floral background on this tag using the double-distress rusted enamel technique, gives such a great vintage holiday look.
the details: creating the candlestick from an uncommon “christmas” die, and embellishing it with festive greenery and a tulle bow gives this tag the perfect accent.
bonus tags! yes like i said, my friends mr. & mrs. stampers anonymous (ted & michelle) each created a tag of their own using this embossing technique. check out the cool and clever ideas they had, and the amazing tags they made…
michelle’s tag: i love the fact that michelle loves bright fun colors. here she used broken china, shabby shutters, and dusty concord distress inks to create this winter tag using the grunge snowflake stamps. she then cut the branch tree and trimmed off a few limbs to create her own branch. next she die cut the mini bird and simply added a little bit to the top to create a cardinal. the ornaments were added that she made from my type charms that she ties on the branch – i love it…
ted’s tag: of course ted used the festive sounds and holiday wishes stamps for his background. then he die cut the holiday lamppost die and festive greenery to create a seasonal centerpiece on the tag. the detail and layers on this one is the true work of mr. stampers anonymous. (of course his new-found twitter fame had him quite distracted)…
so i hope you enjoyed today’s technique and the use of a stamps to create a textural background. the clever ideas to use your die cuts in different ways is also so fun to share. i hope you have fun playing around with these ideas – as always, i can’t wait to see what you all share. thanks again to hero arts for the chance to work with one of their new stamps, and thanks to my special guests for today’s tag…t!m
