Happy Birthday To Me!

I was lucky enough to take a class with Tim last month where he taught several techniques using the new oxides inks. This was my tag using one of the techniques which we did in last night's class, Technique Tags Tim Holtz Style at The Craft Shack.  Can you tell my birthday is this month?

The background was done by layering Tim's yummy distress oxide inks.  Smoosh the inks on a craft mat, spritz with water, drag through the inks once & dry.  Then tap into the remaining ink, dry & repeat changing your ink if necessary or adding another color.  I probably did 15 layers because each layer only covers a small area at a time.  The key is drying between layers.  Remember Tim's advice...wet on dry layers, wet on wet blends & it can create mud!

The technique is lifting the background color using a stencil & water.  Spray the stencil with water, wipe the edges of the stencil to avoid having a large strip on the background.  Lay the stencil over the tag, using a paper towel press down & blot to absorb any water in the open area.  Lift the stencil off & quickly blot off the remaining water from the tag with the paper towel.  This will lift some of the color off the tag, leaving the image of the stencil!  Isn't that cool?

It's hard to see in the photo but I think the key is lots of water on the stencil & blotting right after lifting the stencil off the tag.  Hope you give it a try!  Oh & how about that fluffy bow?  TFL!


SUPPLIES:  Surfaces-#10 manilla craft tag; Inks-distress oxides (cracked pistachio, faded jeans, fossilized amber, peeled paint, spiced marmalade, wilted violet, worn lipstick, frayed burlap), cracked pistachio paint, frayed burlap distress ink. purple twilight alcohol ink, jet black arrchival; Stencils-ornate & burlap; Stamps-wildflowers, calendar 1, mini worn text, handwritten sentiments, classics #3; Misc-remnant rubs, mirrored stars, crinkle ribbon, tiny attacher, clippings stickers, typed tokens, distress sprayer, mini blending tool.