An autumn tag tutorial

For our annual Club Scrap retreat, we were asked to create six tags to swap with the group.  It's a fun way to meet people and share techniques.  I took a few pictures along the way to show you how I created this tag.

I wanted embossed leaves of different colors to mimic the beauty of the fall leaves where I live.  I used Autumn Splendor (October 2004) stamps to random leaves with versamark ink.  One of the stamps had some spots around it, which I thought would add a little "noise" and cover up any stray embossing powder that might stick to the tag. I put each color of embossing powder on a separate piece of paper.

I sprinkled each color on the tag, shaking off after each color. You want to sprinkle sort of randomly and lightly - you don't want to try and coat the whole tag with each color.  I started with purple (Paul's idea!) in this tag.

Next I did yellow.

Then I did a red.  I tried to make sure there was a little blank space left over on each, but as long as you lightly sprinkle, there will always be a few spots that are open.

Finally, I generously coated the tag with a copper embossing powder.  I wanted to make sure the entire image was embossed.

This is the result after embossing.  The leaves all look a little different on this tag, and on every tag.  I really liked how this looks!

Next, I used ash ink from Club Scrap to stamp this stitched image from Wild, Wild, West (October 2005).

I then used distress inks (mustard seed, barn door, and peeled paint) to apply color to the entire tag.  I used different ways of doing this on all of the tags.  My favorite was to spray the tag lightly with water and swipe through the colors.  At this point, I have to admit that I didn't love all of the tags.  Some of the colors were quite dark, and the leaves disappeared a bit, but I kept on going!  Ash ink is supposed to be waterproof, but I did see a little bleeding on some of the tags - there was a lot of water here!  I liked this look.

After all of the tags had dried, I used this noise stamp from Science (September 2005) in Earth ink to create more texture. After stamping, I wiped any ink off of the embossed images.

After that, I used an ink applicator to ink the edges in earth. After doing this tag, I did switch to mahogany ink. I liked both, but the mahogany was a bit richer.

 To finish the tags off, I stamped a sentiment from Autumn Splendor on vellum paper, and taped it on the back.  I did put all of the tags in my book press overnight to flatten them out.  I then added a heart brad, and some ribbon or fiber to complete the tags.  I just love how no tag is identical.  I've shown a few of them below.

I hope my swap partners love receiving these as much I enjoyed making them!