Easter Tags- Process for

Not sure about the rest of the creative world but I can't stay with just one type or style of paper crafting. I just love it all! The clean, the cute, the grunge...never know what will come out!

The below is the process I used to create these very fun and cute, yet grungy, tags which I later used on card front's for Easter Cards.

Step 1:

• Pull out some scraps from your stash and tear apart pieces, over lap, and place them on top of a 12x12 sheet of 80lb white paper just for planning purposes
• Once happy, adhere all the pieces down using Matte Medium and brush a light coat of the matte medium on top of the entire sheet- I used Vicki Boutin Matte Acrylic Gel Medium
• Leave to dry (won't take long at all) 
• Tips: Using matte medium will seal the paper to allow you to build more texture on top without pilling the paper; Matte verses glossy leaves the paper without that intense shine which I prefer- makes the art feel more natural.Make sure you clean your brush immediately when finished as if left to dry will ruin the brush.

Step 2:

• Cut sheet into 8, 2x6 pieces and snip the corners to make tags. 

Step 3:

• Apply a lighter brown distress stain to the top- I used frayed burlap
• Don't have to cover the entire tag but ensure you place enough on, especially where the pieces of paper are uneven to get into the creases- this is the grunge part :)
• Using a cloth and some regular rubbing alcohol in a mini mister, spray the tag and gently remove as much of the stain as you want. If you removed too much, add some more!

Step 4:

• Pick out a few complimentary lighter acrylic paints- I used Vicki Boutin Juicy Pear (shown in photo) and Cotton Candy
• Squirt a dob of paint on a scrap paper and using your natural paint brushes (AKA finger) smear colors in various spots on the tag. Again pay attention to where the paper is uneven as it will get in the creases and add more texture to the tag

Step 5:

• Pick out a complimentary distress ink, either Oxide or Regular- I used Distress Oxide, Broken China
• Also pick out a stencil that appeals to you- I used on of Tim Holtz Stencils
• Stencil the ink on using blending tool

Step 6:

• Pick a complimentary permanent ink, I prefer Archival inks and used a pale blue one
• Pick out a background stamp- Here I used a cracked glass one from Magenta
• Stamp over the tag in random spots. 
• Tip: Avoid using a stamp block as you don't want a clear perfect stamp, but rather just pick up the stamp in your hand and be very random on which part of the stamp you ink and stamp the tag- the more uneven the better! You are building layers and the illusion of depth 

Step 7:

• Pick another background stamp- I used Simon Says "You Are" Stamp
• Choose a dark permanent ink- I chose Distress Black Soot Archival
• Using the same technique as above stamp random over the tag
• Since this is permanent ink add a little at a time and know when to stop as this can't be removed.

Step 8:

• Add highlights to the tag
• This can be done in many ways, I used a white distress crayon, you you could use colored pencils, regular crayons- you just want to pay attention to those edges of raised paper again
• Mark the color on and then smudge it using your finger

Step 9:

• Decide what you use these tags for!
• Mine were destined to showcase our daughters bunny, Thumper for Easter Cards
• I trimmed the length of the tag so it would fit on a card front and inked all the edges with black Soot
• Printed wallet size photo's (using my Canon Selfy CP900 Printer), matted them on black cardstock, used a black gel pen to make stitch lines all around

Hope you enjoy the process and experiment which what you have for supplies!

Happy Easter everyone!