February - 12 Tags of 2016

One of my favorite ways to get inspiration for tags is to find a saying I can use with my theme. For the February tag, I didn't want to go with the traditional Valentine kind of love theme. I followed the techniques and format of timholtz.com and started off with the picture of the boy with his dog that comes from preprinted 12 x 12 Lost and Found Paper Stash from idea-ology.

Doing an internet search for "dog sayings", this one (Be the person your dog thinks you are) jumped right out at me and off I went.

The manila tag was first inked direct-to-paper with Faded Blue Jeans Distress ink.

Once dry, Memories Mists (by Superior) in Whipped Cream color sprayed through the stencil created the pattern. Note that although it is a white spray, it turns to a subtle blue as it activates the Distress ink and seems to absorb some of the color. I like the effect as is looks very soft rather than being a harsh white color.

Once dry, Tea Stain Distress was inked through a polka dot stencil in the upper right and lower left corners and around the edges of the entire tag.

The saying is a combination of idea-ology Chit Chat words, some rub on letters, idea-ology rub ons and the plastic self stick letters from idea-ology called Alpha Parts; Ransom. Picket Fence Distress Paint changed the surface color of the Alpha Parts from black to white.

Stencils with Ranger Texture paste was used to add the small hearts at upper left corner and the accent next to the saying and this was topped with embossing powder.

I added some subtle color to the picture of the boy and his dog by coloring his hat, tie, and the dog's darker markings with Antique Linen Distress marker. This was then adheared to a background paper using clear photo corners and embellished with a bone-shaped paper clip to which I added a tiny ribbon bow. The photo is mounted to the tag using pop dots.

Tip: When using the texture paste, I took a little too long to pour on the embossing powder. Some areas of the paste had dried, so the powder wouldn't stick in place. I used a small paint brush to apply Ranger embossing ink in the dab top dispenser to the void areas where the embossing powder did not stick and heated it to melt.

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