Tim Holtz's 12 tags of 2013 - june

At Tim Holtz's blog there's a 12 tags of 2013 tutorial challenge, which I only recently came across. I haven't played much with my Distress-products other than plain stamping and coloring with the ink-tool, so the tag-challenges are a great way to experiment.

I did the background with Forest Moss (paint), Vintage Photo (ink pad) and Antiqued Bronze (stain). As a stamp I used the suitcase stack from the Time Travellers - stamp set and stamped it with Coffee colored Archival Ink as I wanted a softer look instead of using black.

Actually the background in the picture above ended up being the back of the tag, cause I messed up the stamping on it. Here's try 2 on the other side and the colored image:

For the background I used Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo ink pads and the Vilda Stamp image is stamped with Versa Fine Onyx Black. The harlequin background stamp I colored with Rusty Hinge marker - I love the way it turned out and really need to get this color as an ink pad as well! The handwriting stamp is also stamped in with Rusty Hinge. 

The image was colored with Vintage Photo, Rusty Hinge and Wild Honey markers, with shading in Pumice Stone. I used my water brush to lift up some Antiqued Bronze paint from my craft mat to color in the buckles and hinges in the suitcases for a metallic effect. Somehow I also managed to get a huge blotch in the middle of the image - but hey, let's say it's a design feature... I ripped the watercolor paper from all edges as the image was so large.

Here's the finished tag:

And here's the back of the tag, also known as "the first try":

I stamped the bottom left corner first with the Coffee Archival Ink, and it didn't show up enough, so I decided to do another try with a darker color, and of course they didn't line up at all. Also the Forest Moss stamping at the top didn't look nice when layered on top with the stamped image.

A close-up of the bottom left corner - I really love that stamp from Vilda Stamps! It has clockwork, gears and flourishes all in one.

Another "oops" in the upper right corner: I managed to stamp the writing upside down... Not that it matters, but I ended up drawing an arrow pointing up on the back of the cling foam on the stamp to avoid similar fails in the future :P

Here's most of the stuff I used: