Tuesday 14 May 2013

Guest post: A Spring Tag

I am delighted to welcome my friend Nicola today.  She dabbles in all kinds of papercrafts and has recently become interested in quilt making.  Do have a look at her blog.  If you live near Solihull you can take classes from her.

A Spring Tag 
Ink a variety of flowers in seasonal spring colours – I used Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac and Squeezed Lemonade with either stains or inks.

Ink the flowers lightly around the edges with Tea Dye distress ink. Put the flowers to one side to dry.

Handwrite lightly in pencil ______spring_____ on your tag and then sew using the pencil lines as a guide, when complete rub out the pencil lines.

Add a couple of sewn lines vertically for the stem of the flower.

Place the cloud mask in position at the top of the tag and lightly ink around using Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass distress inks in big circular motions.

Remove the mask to ink the rest of the tag.  When inked replace the cloud mask and gently ink around the edges of the clouds with Tea Dye distress ink to define the edges.

Remove the mask and ink around the edges of the tag with Tea Dye distress ink.

Cut out two tattered leaves in glassine paper.  Stamp a Kaisercraft Secret Admirer Definition (or use a script) stamp onto each one, scrunch up the leaves, flatten them and ink with Mowed Lawn distress ink.


Cut out an On The Edge Picket Fence in white cardstock, using a black pen draw on some marks and knots to define the post then, very lightly, run a foam pad with Iced Spruce distress ink over the top to just tone down the whiteness.

Build up the flower petals in different colours and finish with a brad.

Adhere the elements to the tag – leave a bottom edge on the fence die cut to slightly extend the length of the tag, trim and finish with ribbon.

Take a 20” length of tissue tape and fold it over on itself, crumple and then use as a tag tie to complete the tag.

And here's the completed tag:

Thank you so much for the tutorial Nicola.

If you don't have the dies and inks that Nicola has, then use her tutorial for inspiration and come up with your own version. Don't forget to add your version of the tag with the linky below.