Fly - Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016 Chalking Technique

Hi Everyone! I enjoyed my first try at Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016 for the month of January so much that I decided to make a second tag. I wanted to make one with a little more color and more layering so I chose a butterfly theme with flowers. Here is what I came up with:

My first task was to gather the supplies I had in mind and lay them out. This is something I set as a goal for 2016 through the advice of other crafters and it has made a world of difference in my crafting. I would always start something and have so many ideas pop in my head while I ran around my craft room gathering this supply or that supply before another idea would pop into my head. Needless to say, this was not only frustrating but took the fun, for me, out of crafting. By laying everything I'm going to use out in front of me and sticking to those supplies only, I find I not only craft with much more joy and satisfaction but I can complete something in half the time with no frustration.

I had made a second tag at the same time I made my first tag so that is why it's finished up to the point just before I painted it. To make the tag I cut out a #8 size tag using Tim Holtz Sizzix Die,  Tag & Bookplate and adhered it to Ranger Metal Foil Tape.

I used Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fade Tiny Stars embossing folder to emboss the top and bottom of the tag and painted the tag with Dylusions Paint in Bubblegum, Postbox Red and White Linen. I applied the paint on the tag in different directions using my fingers.

I began wiping the tag with a paper towel to expose the metal underneath the paint. I continued this process until I was satisfied with the colors and the amount of metal exposure.

After I was happy with my tag, I set it aside to dry. Next, I used the butterflies from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Watercolor CMS217 stamp set for my images. I stamped them on black card stock using Distress Embossing Ink and generously sprinkled the stamped image with Ranger Frosted Crystal embossing powder before setting it with a heat gun.

Here is a close-up of one of the images after I heated it with my heat gun.

I used regular chalk that is used on old fashioned chalkboards and went over the embossed images. 

After all the images were chalked, I brushed the excess off with a paint brush.

The next step for me to complete my idea was to carefully tear the top and bottom edges of the paper on the largest butterfly image and cut out the other two images with my Tim Holtz Tonic Craft Scissors.

I wanted to layer the butterflies on the tag to give it some dimension and used Ranger Black 3D Foam Tape underneath each image before adhering them to my tag.

My tag was dry and I thought it was a bit too bright for what I had in mind so I went over the tag with Black Soot Distress Paint and wiped off the excess with a paper towel. This gave the tag just the right look I had in mind.

After my tag dried, I adhered the butterflies to the tag.

Here, you can see the dimension of the butterflies on the tag.

I wanted to add some flowers to the tag and used the Tim Holtz Sizzix Tiny Tattered Florals Thinlits Die set to create small roses.

This was the first time I used the die set and found it to be a little tricky. To see Tim assemble these flowers, I watched this video here and it was very helpful, especially on how to roll the flowers to get their shape just right. After I completed the roses and leaves, I adhered them to my tag with hot glue.

For my sentiment, I cut a small rectangular tag in the same black card stock and chalked it. I hand wrote "fly" on the tag with a Signo Uni-ball White Gel Pen and distressed the edges using the Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser. I adhered the tag with more of the Ranger Black 3D Foam Tape to add dimension.

I hope you enjoyed my second tag using the chalking technique. I can tell already that my goal of completing all 12 of the tags for 2016 are going to be a blast and I can't wait for February to see what I'll learn next. Have a great week everyone!