Playing with black and white

I hope your weekend has started well.
I started mine with some tag making: I had came across an interesting tutorial at a Finnish technique challenge blog in which they played with strong contrasts and stamped images split in half. I had to try it myself!

This time I needed several bright white and black size 8 tags, so instead of using ready-made manila tags, I die-cut mine using the Sizzix tag die (click the link for more info). For my two finished pieces I needed two black tags, two white tags, one pink tag, and one orange tag.

I started with cutting the white and black tags in half. I started working with the tag fronts, so I made two black and white tags by connecting the halves together with some washi tape. I suggest you don't use your best quality tape, as you will need to remove the tape after stamping.

I continued with stamping the butterfly image with Versa Mark ink on the center of both tags. My center aligning did not work out too well, and I think that clear stamps with easier positioning could have been more suitable for this project. Too bad I liked the red rubber Unity Stamp image too much and just had to use it!

After stamping I removed the washi tapes, and embossed the white halfes with black embossing powder, and the black halves with white. Then I connected the halves again with washi.

For cutting the frame I used one of my all time favorite Sizzix dies, and die-cut one image from white and one from black cardstock. The frame had a round shape, and my tag was a square, so I cut the frame in four pieces, and glued down on the tag front, leaving some space between the upper and lower pieces.

Once the glue had dried I trimmed maybe 0.5 cm from all edges of the tags, and attached the both tags on two new tag halves, white on black half and black on white half. This created a black and white frame around the tag. Then I took out my paper trimmer again, and trimmed another 2 mm from all edges. For fixing the loose tag halves and adding a hint of bright colors I glued the layered tag on a color cardstock tag. And after that the last remaining thing was to attach ribbons on the top, and my tags were finished!

I really liked making these simple tags, and I'm already thinking about various ways to modify the design... LOL!


Have a great day!