Transcripts
1. Introduction: Tag Art, little collages, big possibilities: Hi, I'm Zoe Biggs and I'm
a mixed media artist. A lot of my time is spent
on sewing projects. I do memory quilts, wall hangings, and many
others stitched up goods. Check out my Skillshare
classes on making a memory quilt and making
a clear zippered pouch. I've worked in new media, web design, web development, and now on my own, I spent a lot of time
in fine arts too. I love painting,
drawing, collaging. I love art and I
love making things. This tag art class is an awesome activity because
the work area is small, but the results are big. These mini pieces of
art can be used to embellish anything from
birthday gifts to bookmarks. If you were giving
a book as a gift, Here's a great way to
add a personal touch. The holidays. Your kids closet or dorm room. A general note, a love
note, or Valentine. Embellish the gift
of a bottle of wine. Or just a nice sentiment
or important quote. They can be fancy or simple depending on your
supplies and skills. But no matter what, you
can take something pretty simple and blend and turn
it into something special. You don't have to
have any background in painting or
drawing or anything. And you certainly
don't need a lot of art supplies to get
this project going. Basically, anything you
have on hand will work. There are three easy
steps for this project. The foundation, the layering, and the final details. In this tag art class, you will have a
terrific journey as well as a great
final end product, or two, or three or four. It can be a solo activity or group project,
mindfulness activity, party activity checkout,
the class project video, we'll go into more details about what we're going to make, the process and some
of the supplies. Then let's get started. Tag art urine.
2. Class Project: Welcome to the class project. In this class we're
going to make at least three tag art projects. I say at least three because
with a project like this, I like to use the
assembly line method. I have at least three
items going at one time. So when one tag is drying, I can get started on another. It's also nice to work in bulk while you have
all your supplies out. To be honest, I actually usually work on more
than three at one time, but you do what makes
you comfortable. The first lesson
is the foundation, where we will take
our plane tags and cover them in a base
layer of paint. Either acrylic or
watercolor will do. If you don't have paints, you can start with a base of a magazine page type or
anything you want to glue down. We will also add a bit of decorative paint and
some stencil work. The next lesson is the layering, where we will start to build
on that painted base layer, adding fabrics, paper, random magazine cutouts,
pattern shapes, etc. This gives the project a
bit of depth and texture. You still don't need
to know exactly what or who you're
making your tag for. The last lesson includes the final details where we
continue to add more things, but it's more specific,
like letters, words, messages will add
more decorative paint and detailed pen work. The tags really step into
a more polished look. In this final stage, we will end by swapping
out the string for something more
color coordinated. The supply list can be as
big or small as you want. If you were collage
artists or scrap Booker, You probably have a lot of
stuff lying around already. Thread buttons, cutouts,
stickers, fabric tags, labels. If you're new to
collaging in general, you may have markers or colored
pencils or none of that. Perhaps limited paints. You can still make this project. Take a look at your junk mail,
old magazines, catalogs, newspapers, flyers, menus,
the string from a gift bag. You receive old
stamps on a letter. Envelopes, stickers
from fruit attack, from a piece of clothing. Feel free to print stuff
from the Internet to Maps, music nodes, sayings, quotes,
inspirational things. Pick a fun font and print
black and white color. Next, take a look
at the supply list. We'll, we'll go over
basic needs and a ton of creative suggestions for
materials you may have, may find, may make. Then I will see you at
the foundations lesson.
3. The Supplies: The supplies for this tag
art class can be found in a downloadable PDF in the
projects and resources section. They can be as elaborate
or limited as you want. It may depend on the
elements you have available or things
you can find, or items you might need to buy. But no matter what, you certainly don't
need a lot of art supplies to get
this project going. Anything you have
on hand will work. Let's start with the basic tags. Any color or shape will do. You can use index cards, just add a hole
punch in the top. Playing cards or
flashcards, baseball cards, artist trading cards, lottery
tickets, any tickets. Use a fun scissors to make the edges interesting.
Addstring. For glue. I liked the acrylic
matte gel mediums or mod podge that comes in
a satin or matte finish. You can also use school glue or tacky glue or even hot
glue, gun, scissors, exacto knives been
scissors with cool edges, paints, acrylic,
watercolor, paint pens. Posca brand is my favorite. Gel pens and black, white, gold and
silver are terrific. Sharpies, colored pencils,
rubber stamps with ink, pencils, paintbrushes,
sponge brushes. Make sure to have
some old brushes in there too for when
you're using the glue, gold sponges and paper towels, hearty needles, yarn, string, ribbon, buttons, keys, stamps, alphabet stickers
that come in packs, saying and quote stickers
that come in sets also. Stickers, felt, colored paper, maps,
magazines, cardboard, feathers, wrapping
paper, menus, old books, crossword puzzles or music
sheets, envelopes, coupons, junk mail, nor label maker, a sewing machine,
fabric, leather. The list goes on and on, grab these supplies and meet me at the foundations lesson.
4. The Foundation: Welcome to the
Foundations lesson. In this lesson we're
going to start with the foundations
of the tag art. Layering is a big
component of this project. There is no such thing as
a mistake in this project. Mistakes are good
thing and tag art. The messier, the better, the unplanned, the better. It's just a base layer, what you need for
your foundation. Some plain tags. I suggest three or more paints, acrylic or watercolor, stencils, brushes, sponges,
or paper towels. And if you don't
have paints on hand, you can start with
glue and paper scraps, such as magazines,
newspapers, et cetera. The bottom layer might not even show by the time you're
done with this project. So don't stress out too much about what you put
on this first layer. Let's begin. I use the assembly line method
when I'm making tag art. I place a few tags out and I just get going
with my paints. And as you can see, I'm not
really doing super neat job. I just sorted go
in any direction. And I'm trying some
watercolor too. Like I said, the base
layer might not even show. So you just want something down. And if you don't have paint and want to just start
right away with some glue and ripped up
magazine is your foundation. That's totally okay too. If you're ambitious and
want to do more than three in like a largest
assembly line. Go for it. On top of the foundation layer, you can start to add some paint, take out some stencils, apply the stencil with
paint brush or paper towel. Sponge brush. If you have
that, really be messy. It doesn't have to be consistent when you lay on the paint. A sponge with a few blobs of different colored
paint also looks nice. Assembly lines densely
works great too, especially if you think you're making a few of the same tag. We've got the base layer
of our tags in place. We painted, added
some more paint, added some stencil work. Next lesson will
be about layering. So while we're waiting
for the tags to dry, I have a coffee and meet me
back here for the next step in your tag art
project, layering.
5. The Layering: After the base is dry,
now comes layering. This is a very enjoyable part of the project because
there are no rules. The more random, the better. Let's start gathering
up some stuff. Here is a home goods catalog
that came to my house. And I just want to show you
that just flipping through, you can get all sorts
of patterns and use. That can be when they're put on or take on a whole new look. This is really cool. This is pretty not wanting
to actually the whole page, there's all sorts of
interesting texture. So if you're someone who doesn't
have things going around scrapbooking aren't
a real collector of junk. This is cool, Good. I take a look at that. Cause look sort of like a crown. Can you be if I made a tag that said something like
you are the Queen or another great magazine. Natural life, clothing catalogs, clothing and lifestyle
calloc, okay. Literally every
product they make, colorful and have
some sort of pattern. So great. That's cute. The letters, Given that this whole page, to this quote, The
comfort or cover, the headboard, full page. Whoops, just stumbled
upon a candle. Can make a little tag that says, you light up my life. And of course, I get my college thing in there
and just text copy. Always really good for background and design that
you can get anywhere. Obviously. Look
at those windows. Sort of cool to me. That window to know a little more text. This is a piece of leather. I had some something. I don't know what
I'll do with it, but could be helpful. Here's a page from
an address book. Random scrap of
paper, but colorful. Here is some felt that
is sticky on the back. So I could maybe cut
a heart or something. Corrugated cardboard. Always cool. Don't know what, but then sometimes at the craft
store you can find them. These packs of paper
always on sale. And they just have a
nice background paper. Really liked that rip line. That music, always good.
I won't take all of it. Some of it. This is just edge if you
can get this for Notepad, but this could be sort of cool. Graph paper. Here's some old stamps. I got a trip to London. I went into a antique store and they were selling
bags of stamps. And I bought them. Here's Queen Elizabeth. But you could even take
stamps off your junk mail, wrapping paper, polka dots. Here's a wooden I'm not sure
if I'd use this or not, but wouldn't the crap yarn. My mom was a real estate broker, so we have bags of old keys. Sure. You could dig up some
buttons, they're fun. Bunch of different
ones, nothing too fancy but school those down. Random little piece of
red could be cooled. A brochure with a map. Just sort of cute because
it's illustrated. Needles which I can use to so that thread or
something else. Oh, remember the
stickers from the fruit. Here we go. I'm going to
use those for something. More paper I got
from their craft. Dollar bins. Dollar Tree is great for
stuff. Random, random. This is like wood
paper, which is cool. Took a piece of the app. Okay, here we go. We've got our different
types of glue and adhesive. There's the matte
gel or March patch. You can apply them with a wooden stick,
the plastic knife. If you have a palette knife, any of those, then I have
the tags from earlier. This is just painted circles, paint, paint, messy pain. I tried to use up
some other paint. This were the two stencils. And we are going to begin laying on with the stuff
we gathered just before King the matte gel and applying it to
the fruit stickers. I may make some
flowers on this one. Ripping up the polka
dotted wrapping paper and applying it fairly easily. As you can see. Here are words and type
ripped and use the stripes. I'm cutting an x
out of this type. I may make this tag a
XO, XO, XO message. Those cool stairs
getting glued down. The trim from that blanket. I'm cutting out and laying
down as a sort of border. I cut out a C for my daughter Clare and an a for
my daughter Annie. And I will come
up with something to attach these texts too. We are back at this
assembly line. I'm going to take
some wooden letters and glue them down
on the red tag. Moving in a Valentine's
Day direction or just a love note. For the end one, I'm
taking old ripped wrapping paper and gluing it down
with a few cupcake shapes. I had an old sticker set. I sowed some old forest
green flannel bits together to make a tree. And I'm glowing buttons down the second one in
a straight line. For the closet storage boxes. I use my computer to type up and then print out the
necessary labels. I did some stencil work that
I glued down the words. Once everything is dry, meet me at the next lesson
for the final details, we'll add those
finishing touches to bring your tag art
to the next level.
6. The Final Details: The final details, this is the best part of the project
because you are almost done. Let's start by revisiting
this assembly line. I'm going to add a button
to the center of the OH, on the XO tag and a
key to that end tag. I went through some of the
scratch we had found before and discovered there
were a few things that I ripped out and really want
to use but had forgotten. So I'm just gonna go back now. That music paper. Put it here. I love breaking the border. Here's a leather scrap. I'm going to put some glue
and then go wrap it around. Hold it in place with the clip. That piece of wood paper. Consult on the edge here. I really liked that headboard and I'd like to include that. I talked about cutting a
heart out of the felt. He did that. Stick that one. Here. Using the graph paper. I cut another heart over. The corrugated cardboard, needs a spot and maybe it's
just coming off the edge. I'm also like to
add some stitching, which like I said, you can do on the sewing
machine or hand stitch. Either. Both look amazing. No, I have to be any
great sour to do this. Really doesn't need to make
sense where you added it. I mentioned wanting to make
this pink one flowers. So I'm going to add
some pink petals around all the
stickers and cutouts. Had some yellow
with my posca pens. Posca paint pens, blue. And take some dark pen, add a few more details
to make it pop. For the XO tag. I'm just going to take a dark
pen and go around the x, sort of scribbly lines
just to make it stand out a little same for the 0. Sometimes a black blind can just help things show up more. I'm going to write in xo, xo, xo, few places
throughout the card. I'm going to grab my
posca pens again. Do some dots, some lines
around the border. Looking good. Dots
around the circle. Now I'm going to grab the C tag. Just choose some squiggly lines. Yellow polka dots. Really doesn't take much
to make these colorful. Going to add some
more dots to the, you light up my life tag. Just to go with the
polka dot theme. The one with the
key, I'm going to take the paint pan and color the key to some purple dashed
lines around the edge. Sort of looks like stitching. Here we have it. They're all looking really nice. I'm going to take
some white pen, some gel pen on the heart
one and also just do little lines and
squiggles and leaves. Grab my big black Posca paint
pen and outline the heart. Do more polka dots. Now is when those letters, stickers and sheets with quotes in black and white
come in really handy. Now I'm going to take some
stickers and add life and love to these two
tags and handwrite. You light up my scrap of
paper and glue that down. And for this one, I'm taking
the words meant for you. Here. I'm grabbing some of those inspirational quote
stickers and laying those down. Remember this batch, I'm going
to add some those quotes. Some lines with the Posca pen and some drawn some
flower shapes. Drawn a wine glass. Paint some wine. Add the words, the letters,
cheers, little paint. Now this batch really just doing details with the posca
pens or wasn't tons of paint or layering on these polka dots and borders make things
look fun and creative. Here's how the closet
and drawers boxes started playing tags than
some words and stencils, and then a bunch
of decorations and final details that came
out looking really nice. So you've come so far, your project is almost done. The last step is to
change out the string. If you want an add a complimentary color
with yarn, thread, twine ribbon, folded
yarn and half, and feed the loop
through the hole. And then pull the end
threads through the loop. Cut a strand of yarn, take off the original string, and tie a simple knot
at the top of the tag. Take the loose ends of the twine and feed them
both through the hole. And then through the
loop of the string. That one is similar to the
first one with the green yarn. Take several strands of
needle point thread, followed them and feed the
loop through the tag whole. Then trim the threads
to make a little tuft, use several colors of thread or yarn to that makes it colorful. Lastly, threat a strand through
the hole and tie a knot, making a loose loop. We've been painting
and canceling and cutting and gluing
and stitching and drawing and sticking
and ripping and printing and tying. You name it. This small project
has a big punch. Look how beautiful they are. Lot congrats you've come so far. I can't wait to
see your projects, please share your tag arts
in the project section. Tag art you're at.
7. Holiday Time: Hello, it's holiday season, and this is a great activity
for this time of year. I'm talking specifically
about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and I'll throw in winter wonderland because
who doesn't like snow, even if you're in a climate
that doesn't get any, I'm gonna go through
these four holidays, but you can mix and match the techniques I
demonstrate with whatever holiday or season
or event you're celebrating. Please share your pictures. I love to see the before, during and after
of this process. Make sure you take
pictures along the way. Let's jump in with
the assembly line for the Christmas tags and get
going on the foundation, I'm working with a regular tag, an index card that I hold, punched and trim the corners, and an ATC artists trading card. I'm going to messily
paint red, pink, green, and use a stencil on the last one with a mix
of that red and green paint. And add some white stencil
circles on the red one. Let's take a look at some
of the items I collected or made for the layering
portion of this project. I have some trees
I made by cutting out and glowing green
triangles together. And also a tree made
out of various greens and white cut into
quarter inch strips, glued, then cut in
a triangle shape. I have some brown
paper that I can use to add trunks to the trees. I have an old
scratch your ticket, a felt Santa hat from
$1 discount store, various colored strings
and yarn, star stickers. Sparkly decals also from
the discount store, holiday wrapping
paper, scraps of magazine copy and some
green that I liked. Corrugated cardboard. Puffy foam stickers
that I will use to help raise the trees
to give some depth. Let's get going on
the Christmas tags. I'm going to do some layering
outline my candy canes. Stick on the wrapping paper. Copy from the magazine. Santa. Now move on to the trees. Using that puffy sticker. Adding more bits of magazine, cut out a hole, punches around the
edge that I can. So through adding those
Christmas present boxes, stickers, more Fabric bits. Using the Posca pen for
a little more detail. Stars for the Christmas trees. Making a fringe out of that. Scratch her ticket. Laying out the word love. The white gel pen. If this is a gift tag
and you want to make room to say to and from. You can add it on a separate
piece of paper and glue it to the edge or have it
hanging off with the string. Each tag came out
differently and look so fun. Let's start with
the Hanukkah tags. Now, I have two tags
and I'm going to paint blue foundation layers with some white and some black
and yellow paint. Now I'm gathering up
my layering items. Fabric, magazine, copy paint, swatch, gold paint,
two-sided scrapbook paper, sparkly gem stickers,
black ribbon, paisley fabric, a menorah and a dreadful I
printed from the Internet. Free imagery is a
great resource. Stickers from an
old day planner. Now let's begin. I am simply layering my different
papers wherever I want. I'm using the gold gems stickers for the candle flames
on the menorah. I made a Star of
David by cutting out two triangles from black paper
and gluing them together. Adding inspirational quote
stickers are ones you write out or printout are
always a great addition. I will do some
lights sewing along one edge to give some texture. I'm spelling out love
with different letters, stickers on a rectangle. I hand ripped for
the rough edge. Look. I am adding light blue
dots and black outlines. White gel pen is a terrific way to add
decorative doodles. Lastly, I added
different blue strings. These two Hanukkah tags
came out beautifully. Next step, the Kwanza tags. I'm using an artist's
trading card and a tag here. I'm going to use the
appropriate green, black, red, and yellow paint for the foundation plus
some stencil work. I'm going to make this Sayonara seven prong candle
holder for this holiday. From colored paper, I will
cut out one black than three red and three green
quarter-inch pieces of paper. To be candles. I will
use a piece of wood printed paper as the base and glue the seven
candles to the back. While that dries, I will get some mirror-like paper and happy Kwanza words
onto my other tag. Then I will cut yellow threads as the flame for the candles and cut those pieces and glue them to the backs
of the candles. Once it is dry, I will glue it down
facing forward onto the tag and
continue decorating. I will use different papers and paint pens and
colored threads. I love how these two K-map, especially that simply
made candle holder. For the winter wonderland tags. I'm using irregular tag and an index card with
the line spacing up. I will start with some blue
paint and a circle stencil. Then I will add off-white
and a darker blue. I will add some other
blues to the other tag. I made a snowman out of paper, added an orange carrot
nose and some buttons, plus a pink yarn scarf. I layered fabrics and papers. A wooden Snowflake from
the discount store. More paint dots,
stickers, papers. I spelled out bur. I'm chilly just looking at
these two thematic tags. I hope you got something
out of this holiday lesson. I'd really love
to see your work. Don't forget to share your
projects while you're at it. Leave me a review. I'd love to hear how I'm doing.
8. BONUS: valenTAGS!: Hi, Welcome to this bonus tag art lesson
devoted to valentines. Whether it's Valentine's
day or any day, who doesn't enjoy giving
and receiving the love. In this lesson, I will
go over tags that use the love theme if you
were just joining. Now, you may want
to take a look at the previous lessons that
go over the foundation, the layering and the
putting it altogether. Or if you're comfortable
just jumping in. Well, that's great too. Either way, you will
certainly come out of this lesson with
Love Theme tags. Let's get started. Let's get started by
gathering up our tags. I already have some in white
and cream store bought. But if you don't
have any on hand, you can always
take watercolor or mixed media paper for any paper. Fold it in half, in half again to
reinforce that line. Give it a rip. By the way, if it comes out, Jackie, that's even better. So that again, of
course, cut it too. You can decide what
size you want. You can go small. Even make a big one if
this looks too wide, cut it down to size. Next, we're going to
need some hearts. It's always good to
practice drawing. You can draw them
on white paper, which you can paint
or collage on top of or colored paper
and then cut them out. But if you don't trust
your heart making skills, take a piece of printer
paper, fold it in half. On the line. You're going to
draw half a heart. Nice to do a few
different sizes. This is gonna become a template. Had it out. There, you have
more of a perfect heart. Try a few different versions to see what gives you
the best shape. Can. You can use those to trace on colored paper wrapping paper, brown paper, any paper. They're a little more
uniform than say. And by the way, if
you're cutting them out, you don't want your
lines to show. We don't cut exactly
on the line. You just turn it over and there you have your clean heart. Okay, with my heart templates, I'm going to take
some red paper. Homemade Stan Saul. Draw around the edge. I can cut it out with
scissors or exacto knife, few different colors
for different sizes. Gonna do some freehand. I really like when they're very big and go over the
edge of the tag. I have some graph paper. And I'm going to try and hand it right back. Okay? That might not look
amazing right now, but it will later a promise. Now. So I have some
old wrapping paper folded a few times. And then when I cut one
heart can actually get four. Also going to use
an old magazine. The same thing. Here's a bunch of ways to decorate these hearts that you've cut out basic paint. Take some acrylic paint. Painted on. I think I've mentioned
the messier, the better. So you don't have to feel
as though you have to be some great artists do
this on newspaper. It's super cool. Just to thin. Half-and-half. Taking some distressing
ink is always cool. Also, just go around
these hatches. Any color you have
will do the job. If you don't have the
distressing Nick, you can do it with paint. Does have some yellow
acrylic paint. That's a four and
then you can sort of wipe it off,
smudge it around. Can also take a paint pen. If your heart shape
wasn't satisfactory, you can just keep going over it. I loved the way that looks. Some white can do some black
chip bunch of polka dots. First thing I'm gonna do is
get some foundation down. This tag is the
homemade one with the ripped edges and I
just took a hole punch. And this is the
store bought one. For the homemade one. I'm just going to put a
little pink, watercolor. Pink and purple actually. Ok. And then for this
store-bought tag set of painting, I'm just going to
take my red pen, paint pen and I'm
gonna do xo, xo. Not worrying about how
consistent my letters are. Let those dry. I have both my foundations
done and I'm going to work on balance tags simultaneously. So I have this big
purple heart and I have this sort of lopsided one. I'm going to lay them
on top of each other. And I'm going to
lay this one onto. So we start to get
a little bit of a layered look, which I love. I'm using mod podge
with an old brush. And once this dries, I'm going to stick
it on like that. I also have some interesting
ribbon buttons and other string which I'm
going to incorporate. Awesome. I'm going to use some fabric. Use a little bit
of a bigger brush. You don't have to wrap
it around the back. But sometimes that's fun that there's a little bit
going on on the backside. Remember I had made
some templates, but I think I'm actually
going to glue this on. Actually might even
have the pencil showing because I do like messy. While I'm waiting
for this to dry, I'm going to take some
old construction paper, brown paper, grip strips. So you're going to
add some buttons. And with buttons, I like
to use a hot glue gun. That glue works a little better. Okay. These seem more dry
so I'm going to touch them. I'm going to take my
black Posca pen and start to add some
embellishments. Doing border of polka dots. The next batch, I'm going to use some rubber stamps and
distressing techniques. And then I'm also going to use
my rubber stamp right out. Wow. Once again, it's a
little crooked or edges show. That just adds to the
homemade lock, which I love. I have some toilet which I think would be perfect contribution. I'm going to use some
sticker letters. I think I might do. I love you. Let's get those down on
a dark piece of paper. Now about to you and
something different route. Cut that. You wrap it around a few times. Nice and tight. Doing not in the back. Looks really cute. I also have these more of
these bits of torn paper. I think I'm going to add some. It takes some pink
acrylic paint. Filling this background. They're pink is actually
not that opaque. So I might actually think of mine, just
cover the whole thing. Take a bit of ribbon. Could do some strong glue. I have read hard, I cut out, but I
have the border, so I'm going to use that
to you for I love you. So just a Sharpie and
my own handwriting. I'm going to add some distressing
to catch up this one. And some acrylic
paint to the heart. Heart, felt heart. This one is sticky on
the back this film. But if you didn't have that, you could just use
your hot glue gun. Stick some felt down. I'd also like to add some yarn. It took the leftover
turquoise paint, did a foundation, took some brown paper
and cut the heart. Now I'm looking at
some stickers I have butterfly would fit perfectly
into a heart-shaped. Take my pen, add
some stitch marks. Have this paper from before. I'm going to cut,
fold it again so I can get multiple of
the same credit and do some basic circles,
glue those data. I also have some old stamps which can be really fun to use. I think I will take these, I will do hearts. So one more tag I have. I'm going to pile
on all my scraps. This is gonna be the mish-mosh,
large paper everywhere. Another fun thing
to add is a key. And you could put a little
message key to my heart. Finish up by adding string, yarn, thread or anything
you have to the tag. For that extra oomph
and pop of color. You can personalize
the tags with a loved one's name or a photo. Adding lines, dots
and words can fill up any empty space and is a
nice decorative detail. Attach these to a gift, some candy, anything you want. Thanks for joining
the Valentine class. I can't wait to
see what you made. Please, please, please
share the love and post your projects in the projects
and resources section. Also, while you're at it, I'd love to get some
feedback on how I'm doing. So make sure to
leave me a review. Happy loved day, whether
Valentine's day or any day.
Zoe Balsam Biggs, Memory Quilts & Other Fun Art Stuff
