Distressed Tags from SD class

I had the very good fortune to be in Rapid City, SD the very same weekend Altered Art & Scrap Playground was having this great class teaching how to make Christmas tags Tim Holtz style!

I had lots of fun and learned a lot. Thanks Cathy for having the class and thanks Ricky for being such a fun teacher! These tags were made with Ranger's Distress inks, Tim Holtz stamps, and Ranger's Inkssentials blending tool and some water.

This was my first experience using the blending tool. I have been smooshing my ink with Ranger's Cut 'n Dry felt pads. The blending tool (aka the smoosher) has a foam applicator and I really like the way it blends ink.

I also really love Tim Holtz's stamps. They are just awesome!

We did 4 tags in the class and then ran out of time...but we had 10 tags to play with. So when I had a chance at home, I played some more. LOOOVE making these tags!! I didn't want to get too carried away and have too many Christmas tags, so I pulled out my two latest stamp purchases...Birds Galore and Antique Floral (which I think is going to be an all time favorite). Both are The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby.

Here are the fronts. I did a lot of smooshing and spritzing on these. Lots of fun to make. I had a "happy accident" on the orange one. I wanted to make the "ghost" images we made in class using just a touch of embossing ink on our stamp and then spritzing with water. I didn't have such great luck with the embossing ink. I think I was a little heavy handed with the ink and it kept me from getting very good results. So, I tried it with just water, no embossing ink. It too much water and my leaf impression looked a little more like a puddle. I wanted more definition, so I inked it up with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, stamped off on a scrap and then lined it up with the white puddle on my tag and re-stamped it. (One of the reasons I ADORE clear stamps!) I loved the way it turned out. I actually loved the way they all turned out. You should be able to click on the photos and get a better view of them.

Here are the backs. Can you see the white stamped images on the one on the left? That is stamping with water. You really have to be careful not to get too much water, or you will end up with a puddle. What I found to work really well for me was to spritz water on my non-stick craft sheet (also from Ranger) and pretend it was an ink pad, tapping my stamp into the water droplets. I would stamp it off on a paper scrap before I would stamp it on my inked tag.

I really, really do love this look. The ghostly images along with tons of smooshing and aging the edges are just my style and so much fun to do!