Back-to-School and August Tag(s) of 2013

As a retired teacher, I can't break the habit of anticipating the start of school at the end of each summer. When I saw Tim's August Tag on his blog, the techniques he used were really appealing and I especially liked his tip about misting the tag before running it through the stains; it seems like they blended better than usual.  I made quite a few that were okay but didn't really seem that special, so  I thought I would look through my stamps for inspiration and realized that school was still on my mind. 

Below are some tags I made at first, but most of them look kinda dirty rather than vintage which is why I really muted the intensity of the background stamps on my school tag.  All the tags began life using Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap stains, and all had the focal stamps applied using a combination of black StazOn and Ranger Archival Ink.  I masked the main images - and I might add that I detest the fussy cuts needed to create the masks for them - before I overstamped.

I like the general effect of this overstamping but think I overdid blending the Distress Inks in the background.

I tried some of my Asian stamps here and added a couple of Chinese coins.  It's pretty ho-hum plus I have no idea what it even says.

Here's another less-than-stellar attempt even though I love the little girl clown stamp.  The mask wasn't tight enough so there's too much empty space around her.

Another set of stamps that are favorites are the Oxford Impressions Civil War set. The mask used on the cannon again wasn't tight enough, so the overstamp was too far away.

Another unsuccessful masking job.

Overall it's been a fun challenge!