Distress Inks Tag Tutorial Part 1

Remember the tags I made at the Stamp Expo in St Paul? I promised a tutorial on how to make them and have decided to do it in segments. Today I will show you how to ink up that plain old shipping tag to create a nice base of color.

Please note that you can click on the photos in the tutorial to enlarge them.

Let's start with a list of supplies needed:
Craft sheet (available here)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads (available here)
Colors used: scattered straw, spiced marmalade, peeled paint,
mustard seed and vintage photo
Mini Mister filled with water (available here)
Ink Blending Tool (available here)
Edge Distresser (Tonic one available here) *I used the Heidi Swapp one that I already had
All of the above supplies are available at Rubbernecker Stamp Company.

Step 1 - Select inks
We're going to start by laying some ink on the craft sheet. To do this just take the scattered straw, spiced marmalade and peeled paint ink pads and run them in a strip directly onto the craft sheet.

Step 2 - Drag ink pad on craft sheet

Step 3 - Continue dragging all three colors onto the craft sheet.


Step 4 - Once you have your three strips of color, use the mini mister to mist the inks on the craft sheet. Look how the colors just come alive when misted with water.

Step 5 - Pull out your tag and get ready for some inky fingers. Were going to drag our tag through the ink. I like to hold it at an angle and just pull it around on the sheet through the ink so I'm just inking up the lower portion of the tag and then turn it around and pull the other side though.

You can pull your tag through the ink as much or as little as you like. As long as the ink is wet on the tag it will move around so I recommend that you dry it with your heat tool after each drag through the ink so the colors set.

Once you like the results, wipe off your craft sheet so you have a clean work surface and pull out your ink pads and blending tool.

Step 6 - Filling in any voids and adding some depth to the colors

For this next step I like to take out my ink pads in the same colors I used on the craft sheet and my blending tool and fill in any areas that didn't get inked during the first part of the process. I also like to add more color to the edges of the tag to give it some depth. Please note that a different sponge should be used on the blending tool handle for each of the color families.

Step 7 - Tag before adding the layer of mustard seed.

Step 8 - Tag after adding mustard seed

With these great fall colors I like to cover the entire tag with a nice layer of mustard seed to really brighten up the colors. I love the nice warm glow it gives the tag.

Finally, I use my distress tool to distress some of the edges and then pull out the vintage photo distress ink and blending tool and add a little more color to the edges of the tag.

Here's the finished product.
Did you know that you can emboss with distress inks? For the next installment I will show you how to create your own ink pad with distress inks, heat embossing with distress inks, and creating your own shimmer mist with re-inkers and radiant pearls. I hope you'll stop back!