Valentine Tags

Hi everyone! I have been creating away but haven’t been posting much to my blog. I hope to change that this year and I thank you for being here with me. When I share what I make, I hope it inspires you and gives you ideas that you can take and make your own.

Today I’m sharing a couple of tags I made with some new Simon Says Stamp items I purchased recently. I’m crazy about their embossing folders as you can tell if you follow me on Instagram, and their dies for birds and greenery are also amazing and I’m beginning to accumulate quite a collection. So much so that I had to clear out a space in my craft room dedicated just for those items. Alrighty, let’s get to the tags.

Step 1: Creating the Background

The first step in creating these backgrounds is to stamp the Tim Holtz Vines & Roses images on a 4.25″ x 5.5″ piece of watercolor cardstock with embossing ink. Next, sprinkle on white embossing powder over the image and set with a heat tool.

The next step is to color the backgrounds in colors you wish to use for your project. I used Speckeled Egg and Antique Linen on one of the panels and Saltwater Taffy and Antique Linen on the second. I first sprayed the panels with water and then with the inks.

Step 2: Watercoloring the Bird

The first step is to cut out all the pieces of the bird from watercolor paper. Spray some Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain on a craft mat and next to that spray a bit of water. Begin watercoloring the outer portion of the bird’s body with undiluted speckled egg stain. Work the color toward the center of the bird with more color that is diluted with water. Continue to color the bird until you are happy with how it looks.

Next, color the belly of the bird with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain by using the same technique as used to color the body of the bird.

For a little color on the bird’s cheek, apply a bit of Saltwater Taffy just below and to the left of the bird’s eye.

Color the wing of the bird a bit lighter or darker than the color of the bird;s body to make it stand out. If you want, you can color it an entirely different color. Play around and see what looks best. Set the bird’s body and wing aside.

To create the tags, spritz a piece of watercolor paper with water and then Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain and dry with a heat tool. Cut the embossed flowered panel and the Speckled Egg colored panel from the Simon Says Stamp Layered Scalloped Tag die set using the largest tag in the set as shown above. Ink the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using an ink blending tool. Also ink the edges of the bird and bird’s wing with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and assemble the bird.

Creating the Wreath

Spritz a piece of watercolor paper with water and then Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain. Cut the Wreath and 5 leaf pieces from the Simon Says Stamp Classic Leaf Ring die set. Ink the edges of the leaves with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and assemble the wreath.

Creating the Hearts

Spritz a piece of watercolor paper with water and the Saltwater Taffy Distress Spray Stain. While the spray stain is drying spritz with Distress Saltwater Taffy Spritz spray. This will give your hearts a beautiful glimmer and shine.

The Distress Spritz spray is absolutely stunning and brings a magical element to your creations.

Cut the hearts out of this glimmery cardstock using the Mini Hearts Party die set by Simon Says Stamp. You won’t need all these hearts, of course, but chose three of the hearts, one of each size and ink the edges with Distress Vintage Photo Ink. Save the rest of the hearts for future projects.

Now you have all the pieces for your tag and it’s ready to assemble.