Tim's 12-tags-of-2014-july

*the details: i just love the finished textured look of this tag between the crackled seahorse, the embossed plastic bubble layer, the paper and grungeboard elements, and of course the “sand”. this technique can be used on a burlap panel, the cover of a mini book, or in a shadowbox or configuration

step 50: tie the word band around the tag using a piece of jute string.

step 49: wait just a minute for the paint to begin to set and then wipe away excess paint using your fingers allowing paint to remain in the recessed areas.

step 48: apply distress paint over a word band covering the recessed words entirely.

step 47: tie through the top of the tag and fray the ends to create a cool fish net look – smudge with distress ink.

step 46: cut a piece of linen ribbon and begin pulling the sides apart to create a wide mesh.

step 44: add elements to the sand by adhering them with glossy accents.

step 45: using the palette knife to add finishing texture to the sand and set it aside to dry completely. *note: keep in mind some of the sand will fall off or become too brittle when dry, however you can always adhere areas back with glossy accents if needed.

step 43: using a palette knife, spread the sand mixture on to the tag.

step 42: apply a thin layer of glossy accents to the area of the tag you want to adhere the “sand” mixture to.

step 40: add a good squeeze of glossy accents to the mixture. i suggest starting with less since you can always add more glossy accents. if you get the sand too wet, you’ll need to add more powder to get the right consistency.

step 39: pour a thin layer of distress glitter covering the entire layer.

step 38: add just a sprinkle of black distress embossing powder for contrast.

step 37: pour a thin layer of distress embossing powder over the clear utee.

step 36: pour clear utee into a small disposable cup covering the bottom area.

step 34: secure the bottom area of the bubble background with the tiny attacher (which will be hidden by the sand dollar). *so are you ready to mix things up a little? we’re going to make our own unique “sand” for this tag. if you’ve ever tried to glue actual sand to a project you know it doesn’t

step 35: gather all of these ingredients together since once you start making this you have to use it right away: glossy accents, distress glitter, distress embossing powder, clear utee, disposable mixing cup, craft stick, palette knife.

step 32: adhere seahorse to the background using glossy accents or dimension adhesive. *creative confession…okay, i could resist spritzing a little gold krylon metallic paint pen and black paint pen on the seahorse using the distress marker spritzer – i love that thing…

step 31: layer the clear bubble layer over the tag background, and secure using the tiny attacher (which will be hidden by the seahorse).

*it’s time to start putting this tag together so gather your tag, bubble layer, and die cut pieces.

step 30: cut off the “un-embossed” bottom area of the clear tag with tonic scissors (the new big shears are great for this).

step 29: emboss the top portion of the die cut tag using the bubbles texture fade. *the cool thing about shrink plastic is it “stresses” the plastic when embossed creating a white halo around the design. other plastics do this as well so try what you have.

step 28: die cut a piece of clear shrink plastic (or other plastics will work) using the #8 tag die.

step 27: ink the edges of die cut pieces with distress ink.