Tutorial: Choose Joy Tag

I started this week’s tutorial knowing I wanted to do some embossed foil.  I wanted to add something to accent the embossing on the foil, black paint looks great (check out the riveted stars), but I wanted something different from what I have shared before.  Usually I photograph what I do start to finish, but this time I did a couple of experimental pieces first.  I think the  final result is pretty cool.

The downside to not photographing as I go is that when it comes time to re-create how you got from A to Z so that you can do a tutorial, you have to remember how and what you did.  I loved the experiment tag.  I decided to re-make it on an art journal page.  As I worked along photographing it, I tweaked it a bit.  The result was not the same as my first one (which I had already tweeted, Facebooked, Instgramed, etc.).  Here you have the third attempt, which turned out like the first, for the most part…

Begin by die cutting a heart (from the full size Tim Holtz Love Struck die).  Apply glue stick to the front of a #8 manila tag.  Adhere the heart to the center of the tag.

Die cut a “Joy to the world” word piece from the Tim Holtz Christmas Words die.  Cut out the word Joy.  Discard the rest of the die cut phrase.

Apply glue stick to the front of the heart.  Adhere the Joy die cut to the center of the heart.

Place the tag face down on the sticky side of a piece of adhesive foil sheet.  Use a craft knife to cut around the edge of the tag.

Use a dry cloth to rub the surface of the tag to smooth any wrinkles.  Run your finger over the heart and word to help define the edges of them.

Place the tag inside the Tim Holtz Ruler Texture Fade.  I have cut a slit in the fold of mine so that my tag top and stick through.  The bottom edge of my tag lines up with the bottom edge of the folder.

Place the oval embossing diffuser over the Texture Fade so that the heart is framed in the opening.  Place a piece of scotch tape around the edge of the diffuser, taping it in place to the folder.  This will help keep the two lined up with going through the machine.

Place the diffuser and embossing folder combo diffuser side down on the extended platform.  (Placing the diffuser face down is recommended to reduce stress on the diffuser from the machine’s roller.)  Place a cutting pad on top of the embossing folder.

After embossing with the diffuser…

Apply Tarnished Brass Distress Stain over the tag.

Dry the stain with a heat tool.

Rub over the surface with a dry cloth.  Some of the dry stain will come off of the raised areas.

Tap archival ink (Sepia shown) onto the tag, highlighting the raised areas.  Avoid using black ink as it will be lost later with the layer of paint.  Dry the ink with a heat tool.

If you heat the tag to the point to where it curls, it will cause some wrinkling as shown here.  You can smooth these later.  They aren’t very noticeable on the finished tag, but if you want to avoid them, be careful to not overheat the tag.

After drying the archival ink, rub a dry cloth over the surface.  It will seem as if most of the ink has come off, but there is still some there accenting the color of the stain.

Apply assorted colors of alcohol ink to a felt applicator pad on an ink blending tool.  Tap the colors onto the tag, covering the entire tag.  (Colors shown: Pink Sherbet, Willow, Aqua, and Pearl.)  Dark colors may be applied if desired.  On the second version of this tag that I created, I used jewel tone colors.  The result was very dark.  I think the lighter colors give more contrast to the black on the final tag.

After the alcohol ink is dry, apply Pitch Black Adirondack Dabber paint onto the tag.  Apply the paint in swipes from top to bottom

Use a heat tool to dry the paint.

Use a sanding block to sand the surface of the tag.  The sanding block will allow you to sand the paint off of the raised areas, revealing the silver foil.  Sand in straight lines from top to bottom.

Use a dry cloth to wipe away any dust from sanding.

If desired, apply more alcohol ink to the exposed silver foil.

Additional archival may be applied to the raised areas around the edges to accent them.  Dry the ink with a heat tool.

Apply a generous layer of Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint to the entire tag.

Allow the paint to dry, at least until it begins cracking.  Once the paint has begun to crack on its own, you can help speed it along with a heat tool.  As the paint dries and cracks, some areas will peel up.  Crackle paint has to have something to grab on to keep from peeling off.  The previous layers of product help do that.  Areas where those layers are thin are the areas where more flaking will occur.  In the case of this tag, I wanted peeling and flaking that would reveal that layers of color.  Once you have the amount of peeling and flaking you want, stop heat drying and allow any remaining wet crackle paint to air dry.

If you like the look of crackle on metal look but don’t want flake, check out my tutorials for Embossed Foil Pendants and Alcohol Ink Crackled Metal Pendants for the secret to binding the crackle to metal.

Die cut a small tag from manila cardstock using the Tim Holtz Tiny Tabs die.  Mist the tag with Antique Linen Distress Stain.  Allow the stain to sit on the tag for a minute.

Blot away the excess stain with a dry cloth.  Dry the tag with a heat tool.

Stamp a sentiment on the tag with Jet Black Archival ink and alphabet stamps.

Apply Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the edges of the tag with an ink blending tool.

Dye a piece of crinkle ribbon as desired.  Tie the small tag to the larger tag with the ribbon through the tag hole.  Use foam square on the back of the small tag to keep it in place and lifted off of the surface.

Tie the ribbon off in a bow.  Accent the bow with a decorative pin.

After the crackle was completely dry, I gave the words another touch of pink alcohol ink to brighten it.  The alcohol ink on top of the crackle looks really cool since the color accentuates the cracks.

As you handle the finished tag, some of the flakes will fall off.  After the initial flaking, what is left will most likely not flake off but some might.  Some flaking areas will look very delicate but will stay put despite the handling.  But, that said, this technique is probably not the best for a project like a card that will get handled a lot or mailed.  Think of it for maybe things inside shadow boxes or frames or display pieces.  I will probably put this tag on a small stand and display it on a shelf.

I love how fragile and weathered it all looks.  To me the subtle color from the alcohol inks look faded from time.

I think it is very cool how you see the different layers of color peeking through the streaks of black.  The black being applied in streaks is key to the other colors showing through.

This image is from my original version of the tag.  I applied the black a bit lighter and more streaky.  You can see that the gold and sepia really combine to make a great metallic coloring.  (On this tag I was experimenting with diffusers, which is what the curved line above the heart is.)

I love how in this section you see both the Tarnished Brass Stain and silver of the foil.  The foil picks up a pitted texture from the embossing folder where there is no design.  I think this incidental texture is a great touch!

Originally when I was making the tag, I had the phrase “Count it all joy” on my mind, which explains use of the ruler texture fade.  As I was getting ready to stamp it, I did a quick quote search to see what other quotes there might be that would be a little longer.  I found this one and loved it.  I have thought a lot lately about how being happy in life is a choice, so this quote about choosing joy seemed just right to combine the two ideas into one.

Joy does not simply happen to us.  We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.

-Henri Nouwen

sss: Simon Says Stamp  ie: Inspiration Emporium sb.com: Scrapbook.com