Suite of Tags

Let's have a little suite of tags: I made these as a gift.

These are the smaller sized tags, the four inch ones.

Used small manilla tags, recollections, fiskars and Hero Arts "A" stamp, distress ink colorbox pigment ink, and prismacolors.  First step: lay down a background image using a light color of colorbox pigment.  Go over this with a light colored distress paint dauber.

After this background image is "fixed" (I also used a heat gun on it, I'm impatient!) Stamp some darker images with archival dye (you could use staz-on or any fast drying dye)

Then: distress ink! Yay. Lots of dauber action (I'm a tskukineko tools kinda gal, I admit) and a little bit of fantastix touches with both antique linen and frayed burlap colorways.

Then a little prismacolor fun - nothing too tight and cautious, just a little highlighting.

A little bit of seven gypsies paper, some doodling with a pen to highlight the edge.

The blue stain on the edge of the floral tag is some distress stain in broken china.

To soften the backgrounds, I used the "antque linen" distress paint dauber over the stamping, selectively, before aging it back more with antique linen distress ink.  The dauber has a very transparent paint - I didn't think I'd like these tools as much as I do!

A little hand coloring with prismacolor pencils - nothing too fine-tuned, just a little blush.

I think she'll like these. The lace is from the endless fibers stash.

Challenges: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Tags
Eclectic Ellapu : Vintage
Quick Quotes: Tag you're It
Loves Rubber Stamps: Anything Goes

Another Tag : Vintage Performer Tag

This burlesque lady in her pretty peach leotard was just too fun to pass up a chance to alter and place on a heart-themed tag!

Background for this tag is barn door distress stain, a damask stamp in red dye ink, some tattered angels glimmer mist in cork.

the oval is a cutout from a vintage newspaper I scanned and printed. 

The burlesque lady is a great Library of Congress poster image of a performer named Nettie Barton. I tried to find out more about her or the "High Rollers Extravaganza Co." with whom she performed, but could find sadly little. 

The brass butterfly and aluminum rose are both from my jewelry stash, as are the ribbons. A little seven gypsies paper and basic grey stick on numbers round things out.

Challenges:  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Tags

Artful Times: Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbon: Anything Goes with Ribbon
Rosie and Rhedd Anything But a Card

Vintage Teatime Tag with Heart

Another tag! It's hard to make just one and stop.

For this one I started with a scan of one of my vintage newspapers, scanned onto epson scrapbook paper.

This was a little boring, so I used gesso and pigment ink to enhance it.

I added cutout from a digital vintage teapot image - these images are so fabulous - they come from an illustration for proper entertaining in the 1800's.

A little hand snipped heart from a seven gypsies pack, lettering is Basic Grey.

The background is a damask stamp in chalk ink on a pigment ink background.

 The trims are from my stash, so many to pick from!

Challenges:

Artful Times: Anything Goes

Little Altered Tags: Ballooning sweet thoughts

I like to ink up my stamps and print them the way I'd print a tiny little linocut block - rather than pressing down, laying the paper onto the block and burnishing over the on the back of the paper woth your bone folder gives you the ability to control your edges and fade them if you want.

That's what I did with the damask print on this tag. It's printed with chalk ink over a smudging of pigment ink.  The edges are all aged with more pigment - I love those little cat's eye sets for this kind of thing! They really help you get into a tiny space.

The peach paper is from a seven gypsies pack. I love having those little bits and pieces at my disposal. The lace and the millinery flowers are from my collection of vintage fibers.

 The amazingly sweet birds-in-a-balloon image and the teacup image are both printouts from public-domain images.  

Keep surfing those libraries and museums - there's a lot of material out there from long ago. I aged the edge of the balloon cutout with pigment ink, mod podged it for a little more body, and glued it to a handmade tab for a little bit of dimension.

The 2014 is a little bit from Basic Grey, and the lace and pompom fiber is from my giant stash of yarns and trims.

Challenges:

Rosie and Rhedd: Anything but a Card

Fashionable Stamping: Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations : Pretty In Pink

Artful Times: Anything Goes