Explore Tag by Audrey Pettit

June 2019

Explore with world of Distress in this beach inspired tag tutorial. Audrey Pettit shares how she crafts this altered tag featuring a cool summer Tim Holtz Distress Ink Palette.

Materials
Instructions

Instructions

Summer is here, and I know like many of you, I am already dreaming of long, hot summer days and cool ocean breezes. So today, I’m going to take you all to the sea shore with a beach-inspired altered tag featuring lots of fun Tim Holtz stencils and dies and a cool summer palette of Distress.

Audrey Pettit Explore Tag

I love altered tags for gift packaging and quick décor pieces, but I almost always think to use them in an upright form. Today I’ve decided to flip things to the side, and go with a horizontal tag design. Let’s take a closer look.

Audrey Petti Distress Explore Tag Step 1

Step 1: To begin, ink a Ranger #8 Manila Tag using the Mint Shifter Layering Stencil and three colors of Distress Oxide inks; Tumbled Glass, Cracked Pistachio, and Peacock Feathers.

Audrey Petti Distress Explore Tag Step 2

Step 2: Place the Dot Fade stencil over the inked tag, and lightly ink random sections of the tag using Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide Ink.

Audrey Petti Distress Explore Tag Step 3

Step 3: Add large drops of water to the tag using a Distress Sprayer, and then let the tag dry. Once it’s completely dry, turn the tag on its side, and wrap blue twine twice around the bottom. Tie the twine into a bow on the left side. Die cut a thin scalloped border strip from light blue cardstock using the Stitched Ovals die set. Adhere the scallops under the twine and slightly skewed to the right, using Multi-Medium Matte adhesive.

Audrey Petti Distress Explore Tag Step 4

Step 4: Die cut an assortment of small flowers and branches, as well as the seashell, from Distress Watercolor Cardstock. Emboss the seashell using the matching Texture Fade embossing folder. Press an assortment of Distress Ink colors onto a work surface, and watercolor the die cuts using Ranger Artist Brushes and clean water. For this project, I used Abandoned Coral, Cracked Pistachio, Bundled Sage, Peacock Feathers, Evergreen Bough, and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks.

Audrey Petti Distress Explore Tag Step 5

Step 5: Arrange the shell and a variety of die cuts above the twine, towards the right side of the tag. Tuck some of the greenery and flowers behind the shell, and add some on top. Adhere all the pieces in place with Multi-Medium Matte.

Audrey Petti Distress Explore Tag Step 6

Step 6: Die cut the Explore shadow layer from the Cut Words #3 die set from watercolor cardstock. Ink the shadow layer with Tattered Rose Distress Ink using a Mini Ink Blending Tool. Die cut the script layer from sanded Distress Cardstock. Adhere the script to the shadow using Multi-Medium Matte. Apply foam strips to the back of the die cut, and adhere it above the twine on the left side of the tag so that it overlaps the shell.

Audrey Pettit Distress Explore Tag Step 7

Step 7: Trim a small banner strip from blue cardstock, and cut both ends into a V-notch. Add an Idea-ology Metallic Sticker to the center of the strip. Adhere the banner to the top left corner of the tag using foam adhesive.

My name is Audrey Pettit. I live in Cary, North Carolina and have two wonderful kiddos, Peter and Nicole. I started scrapbooking and card-making about a decade ago after being invited to a friend’s house for a stamping party. That party opened my eyes to a whole new world of paper-crafting, and I have never looked back. Visit Audrey’s blog at: AudreyPettit.Wordpress.com.