Handmade Valentine's Day Gift Tag: Love with Hearts and Butterflies

Hello crafty friends!
My project today was inspired by Giorgia's January Challenge over at Sketches4All. Her challenge is to make ANY kind of paper project and include at least one heart. I decided to make a gift tag and although I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it at first, I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. 

1. I used a #8 sized Inkssentials manila tag and wanted to leave some of the original color showing through so I did not cover it with anything.

2. Then before I used the embossing folders I took die-cuts and pieces of die-cut swirls and designs and used them as masks.
 
3. Once I lightly applied my first coat of ink over swirls I placed my butterflies over the background and use my ink over them too. 

By using the same ink in increments and lightly each time I was able to build depth into my tag without using any other colors or adding anything to my tag, such as embellishments.

4. After I finished my background and stamped my sentiment with a clear stamp I used my heart embossing folders.

5. To make the hearts stand out more I sponged a little more ink on them while being careful not to hit the tag with my sponge too much.

6. To complete my project I added a tie and bow.

Supplies List

Happy crafting and thanks for stopping by!