Faux Leather Bits

I love this technique! It is so easy and adds texture and interest to those little projects. All you need to get started is a sheet of tan craft foam, dark brown or black ink pad, a stamp, and a heat gun. Cut out the foam to the size or shape you want to use. Holding the heat gun about 5"-6" above the foam, heat until foam starts looking puffy and curling up around the edges. Turn off heat gun; quickly press inked stamp onto surface of foam where you want your design and press down hard for about 15-20 seconds. Lift the stamp off the foam. Your stamp should leave a deep inked impression in the foam. You can lightly ink around the edges and raised areas to enhance the carved leather effect and add depth. Here, I've done a small tag and some individual letters. You can use decorative edge scissors to trim your bits or cut out your pieces with a personal die cutter.

Jingle Bells?

 

 Not sure why, but I got the urge to do something with a Christmas theme this week. I've been making gathered medallions of all sizes from aged coffee filters. This tag uses one that's about three inches in diameter, has glitter around the outside edge and a vintage Santa punch-out in the center. I aged a standard shipping tag in a coffee/cinnamon/vanilla mixture and looped about 10" of deep red satin ribbon through the hole at the top. After wrapping a 1" wide piece of gauze around the center of the tag three times, leaving the ends about two inches long in the front, I applied the medallion and a strip of paper with a Christmas message above it. The finishing touch is a faux leather tag, embossed with "Believe."  Quick and simple, but will look great on a package under the tree!