Decorate a Mixed Media Tag with Vintage Stamping and a Sculpted Rose

Discover how to turn a beautifully dimensional moulded rose into the focal point of a vintage-inspired mixed media tag using the Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Heirloom Collection. In this real-time tutorial, Sheena Douglass uses the Cosmic Shimmer Sculpted Roses Silicone Mould with air dry clay, then paints the finished rose with Cosmic Shimmer Water-Based Inks to accentuate the sculpted petals and leaves.

For the background, Sheena combines the Past & Postal DL Stamp Set with distressed numbers aged ink effects before adding Gilded to Grunge Flourishes and Sentiment Snippets to finish the design.

Follow the steps below and watch the full video to see how all the different techniques come together.

Step 1 – Mould the Sculpted Rose
Begin by conditioning your White Air Dry Clay until it is soft and easy to work with. If you're using a particularly soft clay, Sheena recommends leaving it exposed to the air briefly so it becomes a little firmer before pressing it into the mould.
Lightly wipe a tiny amount of vegetable fat (such as Trex) around your chosen design in the Cosmic Shimmer Sculpted Roses Silicone Mould to help the clay release.
Press the clay firmly into the mould, making sure it reaches right into the detailed petals, leaves and stems. Use a little more clay than you need, then gradually remove the excess and level the back.
Pressing the back flat at this stage will also make the finished rose easier to attach to your project.

Step 2 – Release and Dry the Rose
Gently work around the edge of the mould to break the seal, taking care not to distort the clay. Turn the mould over and carefully release the finished rose.
Place it onto a double layer of kitchen paper and leave it to begin drying.
After around two to three hours, when the clay is firm enough to handle without losing its shape, turn it over and allow the reverse to dry. Repeat if needed and leave the rose to dry completely, preferably overnight, before painting.

Step 3 – Apply the First Colour to the Leaves
Once the moulded rose is completely dry, begin painting the foliage. Sheena starts with diluted Cosmic Shimmer French Mustard Water-Based Ink, painting it across the leaves as an undercoat. This warmer colour will become the highlight that shows through the subsequent layers.
Make sure you cover the edges and smaller leaves while avoiding the rose petals.

Step 4 – Build Natural Colour into the Foliage
Add Olive Green ink towards the base of the leaves, followed by touches of Dark Walnut. Use clean water and your brush to encourage the different colours to flow together and into the sculpted veins of the leaves.
Introduce a small amount of Firecracker Red here and there. Where the red meets the green it naturally creates a muted brown, while also tying the foliage into the colour of the finished flower.
While the ink is still damp, gently dab some colour from the raised areas with kitchen paper or a water wipe. This reveals the French Mustard underneath and helps emphasise the moulded detail.

Step 5 – Paint the Sculpted Rose
For this project, Sheena creates a warm red rose with an orange-toned base. Mix Marigold with Firecracker Red Water-Based Ink to create a vibrant orange and paint this over the petals. This becomes the lightest colour that will show through the subsequent layers.
Once the first colour is in place, add more Firecracker Red to deepen the petals.
Allow the colour to dry slightly before introducing Dark Walnut and a small amount of Plum into the shadowed areas beneath and between the petals.
Use a damp brush to soften these deeper shades into the surrounding colour. The brown helps mute the brighter shades, giving the rose a more aged, vintage appearance.

Step 6 – Reveal the Sculpted Highlights
Once you're happy with the colour, use a water wipe to gently remove a little ink from the highest areas of the petals.
Work lightly – you're aiming to reveal the brighter underpainting rather than remove all the colour and expose the white clay.
Repeat on the foliage where needed to emphasise the raised veins and edges.
Your dimensional rose is now ready to become the focal point of the tag.

Step 7 – Create the Aged Tag Background
Use a ready-made mixed media tag or cut your own from Cosmic Shimmer Ready to Stamp White Cardstock.
Sheena uses Cosmic Shimmer Water-Based Inks with a small amount of vegetable glycerine to create the aged background.
Place your chosen brown inks onto a craft mat. Load a blending tool with a small amount of glycerine before picking up the ink, then work the colour across the tag.
Build up lighter and darker areas rather than aiming for perfectly even coverage. The variation is part of the aged effect.
Add droplets of water and allow them to react with the ink, creating additional marks and texture across the background.

Step 8 – Stencil the Distressed Numbers
Position the Cosmic Shimmer Written in Ink Stencil over the tag and apply mid brown distress ink through selected numbers.
Think ahead about where the sculpted rose will eventually sit so that some of your numbers remain visible around the finished arrangement.
Sheena uses numbers including 42 and 7, placing them at different points across the background rather than creating one continuous sequence.

Step 9 – Stamp the Past & Postal Background
Use the Cosmic Shimmer Past & Postal DL Stamp Set to build up layers of script, ledger details, tickets and postal imagery. Stamp selected designs in brown, allowing some impressions to run off the edges of the tag.
For a softer, more distressed result, lightly remove some ink from the stamp with your blending tool before stamping. Vary the strength of the impressions so some details appear darker while others fade into the background.
Add selected smaller details in black to introduce stronger areas of contrast.

Step 10 – Create the Distressed Edges
Use the distressed edge stamps from the Past & Postal DL Stamp Set with brown ink to create an irregular border around selected areas of the tag.
Add black ink slightly further towards the outside edge to deepen the effect, creating a graduated transition from black through dark brown into the background.
Don't make the border perfectly even – keeping some areas darker than others makes the result look naturally aged.
Add a few black ink splatters across the background for another layer of mixed media detail.

Step 11 – Make a Vintage Ticket Embellishment
Stamp one of the small number or ticket designs from the Past & Postal Stamp onto a spare piece of your coloured cardstock and cut it out.
Add black ink around the edges, then gently crumple and crease the piece before rubbing more ink across the raised areas. Sheena uses the 317 design, giving it the appearance of an old ticket that's been folded and carried around before being rediscovered.

Step 12 – Distress the Tag Edges
For an even more worn appearance, carefully scrape the edges of the cardstock with the blade of your scissors.
Roughen and lift the fibres rather than trying to create a neat edge. Small nicks and uneven areas add to the effect.
Finish by dragging black ink around the newly distressed edges to create a stronger, worn border.

Step 13 – Alter the Gilded to Grunge Flourishes
Choose a couple of flourishes from the Cosmic Shimmer Gilded to Grunge Frames & Flourishes.
Rather than using them exactly as they come, apply some of the inks from your project over the surface to tone down the clean finish and help them blend into the aged background.
Allow areas of the metallic finish to remain visible beneath the colour. This contrast between worn, distressed colour and touches of gilding is what gives the elements their Gilded to Grunge character.

Step 14 – Assemble the Tag
Before gluing anything down, experiment with the placement of your Sculpted Rose, Gilded to Grunge flourishes, ticket and sentiment.
Once you're happy with the composition, attach the flourishes first using Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue, positioning them so they extend from behind the rose.
Add the distressed 317 ticket amongst the flourishes, then glue the moulded rose firmly into place. Leave some of the outer leaves unstuck if you want them to lift slightly away from the background.
Add your chosen Cosmic Shimmer Sentiment Snippets. Sheena finishes this version with “Make memories worth keeping”.
Thread ribbon through the top of the tag to complete your project.

The Finished Vintage Heirloom Tag
The finished tag brings together the deeply sculpted detail of the Cosmic Shimmer Sculpted Roses Silicone Mould with distressed stamping, stencilling, layered inks and metallic Gilded to Grunge flourishes.Try changing the colours of your moulded rose or experimenting with different numbers, stamped details and sentiments to create your own version. The finished piece can be used as a decorative tag, added to a gift or displayed as a small mixed media artwork.

Discover the Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Heirloom Collection and start creating your own dimensional mixed media cards.