I am grunging up some tags in my dye kitchen today.
I am using a small sized tag that comes with string.
In this batch I am going to dye most of the box.
I used a recipe that I found online. Here is a great link for some fun recipes and whatnot including how to dye tags with coffee. The recipe is at the bottom of the page. It is basically 1/2 cup of instant coffee to 2 cups of hot water.
After soaking it for about 10 minutes, I put them all on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. I left them in clumps initially so that I would not have to handle them dripping with coffee. I baked them for 10 minutes or so in a 200˚ degree oven, then took them out and separated them into a single layer. I gave them another 10 or 20 minutes to dry.
My coffee mixture was leftover from a previous dye session. Now when this was baking my husband asked what the strange chemical smell was. No, it did not smell anything like coffee. So you might want to put on the fan for this part of the process.
If you take the tags out when they are just damp you can put a book over them to flatten them. Otherwise they will be a little warped, which you might like. Mine were pretty dry so I lightly misted them with water and topped that with a cookie sheet with several heavy things on top of it.
After everything was dry, I did some embellishing. Here is my favorite stamp block that I am going to use with my Tim Holtz Distress Ink in the colors Old Paper and Vintage Photo. I am going for some background images.
After the initial stamping in brown inks, I wanted to stamp over these with black ink.
Images and parts of images were what I was after, like the tags were cut out of a larger piece of paper.
Next I gave everything a bit of Pearl-X mica powder. You can also use eye shadow!
Here is my basketful of grungy tags.
While supplies last, I will be putting a mini tag in every Primitive Spirit order made through my catalog or Etsy.
Have a creative day ~ Karen
Good Morning creative Lady! ~ these are beautiful…love how you go the extra step by stamping in layers and dusting with the mica…
Thanks for sharing with us ~
Blessed be!
Lori
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thanks, lori, and these remind me of your distressed samplers
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Love these tags Karen. Thanks for sharing.
Regards Florence x
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Elegant aged tags Karen. Thanks for showing us how you work your magic!
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Elegant and gorgeous! Love them!
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Very grungy, Karen. Does the mica powder somehow stick to the tags? I’ve never used it before. Thanks for the tutorial!
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yes, mica powders are very fine, like baby powder, and hangs on. you can also spray over it with a clear finish to make it more impervious to wear.
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I love these!! I’ve decided you must not sleep!! Haha!!! you get sooooo much done! Really enjoying your blog. Have a great day!!
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sleep is optional!
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Great tags and tags!They really are beautiful.Hugs,Jen
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Those are so pretty – i hope you put one i my order 🙂 thanks Joni
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i sure will, thanks joni!
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You have the Best Blog! I just stumbled on it a few days ago, and read all the way back to the beginning. Thanks for sharing!
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thank you so much, brenda!
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It’s often the little touches that make the most impact. Thanks for sharing “your-little-touches”.
Very nice……. 🙂
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Hello Karen,
May we exchange blogroll links? If you are willing, I would appreciate being part of your blogroll list. Thank you for considering this request. My blog is:
http://thegrinningsheep.blogspot.com/
It’s all about hooking and creating and imagining! Thank you, Kathy
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kathy, i love your blog and i would be happy to add it to my blogroll! you are doing some wonderful primitive rugs. and your blog is just what i enjoy reading about. thank you, karen
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Oh, thank you Karen. I am honored by your comments! Bless you! Kathy, aka, the Grinning Sheep
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Thanks for sharing and many thanks for the link. So many great ideas to be found!
I just LOVE your blog! So glad you took the plunge 🙂
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thank you all for your comments and for visiting my blog. it is a joy to share crafting with you!
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I love the mica powder so I checked on it – what color did you use on your tags?
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i have pearl ex series 3, which has 12 jars in the set! i love it! but for these tags i used mostly antique bronze.
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you can also use eye shadow in a bronzy tone!
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Wow – that is a super idea!
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Thanks for the instructional post! I’ve been wondering how to do this!
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ohhhhhh! now i wish i hadn’t consumed my entire pot of coffee this morning! your tags are so inspiring (as is your whole blog!), i’m going to brew another pot and get to work! thank you, so much, for sharing!
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Gorgeous! i love seeing your process and beautiful end result. thanks so much for sharing your art!
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great to have you join me!
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