12 Tags of Christmas – Day 7

My first opportunity to work with glassine paper, it will not be my last! I really enjoyed staining it with alcohol inks and then wadding it up several times to create the “crushed look” before cutting the holly leaves. That was my favorite part of this project. Using alcohol ink (cranberry) to color the pearls for the holly berries was fun. Interestingly, the silver tinsel in the lights of the Christmas tree make it appear that there is red also on the tinsel—it’s just a reflection of the red berries.

I also enjoyed a new technique (for me) of “ghost stamping” on the background of the card. I also particularly enjoyed using black embossing powder—very dramatic!

12 Tags of Christmas – Day 6

When I saw Tim’s tag for Day 6, I knew that I would have to do my own take on this one for sure. I knew I wanted to go for a monochromatic look. I started playing with it, and it took shape on the fly. I did use the tin, but I used heavy-duty aluminum foil, adhered to glossy cardstock. After running it through the Vagabond in the vintage texture fade, I coated it with Picket Fence, let dry and burnished lightly. I heat embossed it (clear) and then inked it with Walnut Stain—had no idea that Walnut Stain on top of burnished Picket Fence on foil would result in this soft taupe color that I love.

One of my trials resulted in cutting off some of the bottom of the design, so after adhering the material to a tag, I had some open space left at the top. I used a little piece of vintage matching paper from the Christmas Memories stash. I swiped it with Picket Fence and then Espresso paint and let dry. I inked the edges of the finished tag with Black Soot.

I pulled out an old Christmas ornament charm, painted it with Espresso dabber, dried it, and embossed it with clear powder. I used a pearl ribbon from my stash. Totally different, and I like it (frankly).

12 Tags of Christmas – Day 2

This tag is out of sequential order because I kept waiting for some supplies to arrive. Since they are not here yet and I don’t like partially-completed projects, I finished up with what I had on hand. I made my own little border with the Cricut and distressed the little brads with—believe it or not—a meat tenderizer hammer. After “whitewashing” the background with Picket Fence, I wanted to draw a little more attention to the gold resist words “Christmas Carols,” so I put a little Perfect Pearls Medium on the letters and then brushed on some Perfect Pearls gold. I am pleased with the results.

I like the feel of this tag. I love anything with music. I love little deer.

12 Tags of Christmas – Day 5

This one was considerably more simplistic, because I made it that way. I did not follow very much of Tim’s example, except that it is a resist (I think it is anyway—sorry—all so new for me). I took a regular manila tag, and on it I stamped snowflakes from Tim’s stamp sets, a line of music (“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”) with a wood stamp from Michael’s, and “Merry Christmas” from one of Tim’s sets. I stamped with VersaMark and then heat embossed with white powder. Then I used the Winter Seasonal Festive Berries ink pad and covered the pad with the pad-to-tag method, the embossed stamped images acting as a resist to the distress ink. I flicked a bit of water onto the tag, just to break up the extreme red (though I was ready for a RED Christmas tag!!).

I did not have the die that cuts the wreath, so I cut branches from my Cricut (Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art) from grungeboard to make a mistletoe sprig. I used Cricut Craft Room so that I could make the branches a little skinnier. I added pearl bling for the mistletoe berries. I inked the branches with Pine Needles (pressing down the blending tool). I inked the edges of the tag with Black Soot Distress Ink.

The Santa metal charm is something I have had on hand for several years.

As I mentioned, I am decorating my lower level Christmas tree with these tags!

12 Tags of Christmas – Day 4

Oh my. I wouldn’t want to count the hours I spent on this one. Unless you have made a similar tag, it impossible to guess the level of activity this project required! But I was so motivated by the beauty of Tim’s tag that I just wanted to do it. So, here it is. I’ll only mention the techniques/supplies I used that were different than Tim used.

To cover the tag, I used the Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass distress ink, but I did not have the bottles of stain, so I used it from the ink pads, applying directly to the craft sheet and mixing with the Picket Fence stain, then dragging my misted tag through it. I used some of Tim’s snowflake stamps to stamp with Weathered Wood on the tag, once inked.

Probably the funnest part of this project was inking on top of the dried Rock Candy crackle paint. Not having the distress stains, I used the suggested colors (Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass—becoming my favorite combination!) directly from the ink pad, using the ink blending tool to pat it on pretty heavy (dried with heat tool). I took several photos of the tag in different lighting, but in all of them, the snowman looks more mottled than he does in real life.

I did not have Tim’s snowman die, so I cut a snowman (and a snowflake) from my Cricut/Creative Memories Cheerful Seasons cartridge. I cut the snowman from grungeboard and the snowflake from grunge paper (love that stuff). I love Stickles Crystal Ice and used it on top of the snowflake, after coating it with Picket Fence.

On the little snowman guy’s hat, I ran a strip of Rock Candy Stickles along the top, as Tim suggested, but I wanted a bit more bling on the “snow,” so I sprinkled some Martha Stewart Crystal Coarse Glitter on top, while the Rock Candy Stickles was still wet.

I was able to use the 25 Movers & Shapers Die and run it through my Vagabond with the snowman cut from the Cricut.  I had the buttons on hand (they are perfect, much better in person as far as shade of color). A fellow crafter gave me the hint to use a dental floss threader to bring the tulle through the button holes. Worked like a charm!

For the white flourish, I used a clear stamp I had on hand and stamped it with white pigment ink, dried it with the heat tool.

All this is new to me. I feel very challenged and am learning so much. It was fun looking for “tulle,” something I had not thought of since my mother made my wedding gown and veil 46 years ago!

Oh, and my white feathers did not come from Mario’s bird!

Also finished my version of Tag 5 today. Will upload it next.

12 Tags of Christmas – Day 3

Yes, I skipped a day. I am waiting for some supplies to complete the Day 2 tag. So, here is the tag for Day 3. I have three trees in my house; the lower level tree has only lights and silver balls. I am using my tags to decorate that tree.

I did not have the embossing folder that Tim used, and I was not motivated to try the stamping technique that he demonstrated (making the stamp pad and then using two tags). So, I used my Distress Ink Pads to stamp a kraft tag and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I used Festive Berries, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Evergreen Bough, and Pine Needles. I used a music stamp “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” across the bottom, also heat embossed. I frayed the edges of the tag and then inked the edges of the tag with Iced Spruce, Frayed Burlap, and the very edge with Walnut Stain.

This was my first experience with Perfect Pearls (Heirloom Gold). I think the technique will get better with time, but I was pleased with it, for a first try. The tag has a gold glimmer that I was not able to capture well with my camera.

I used some greenery that was left over from the Day 1 tag, and I implemented Tim’s idea for staining the bling-on-a-roll. I could not find the Red Pepper Alcohol Dye, so I bought a set that had a red in it, and it happened to be Watermelon. I used a couple of coats. Would have preferred a deeper red. An alternative would have been to use Christmas Red Stickles on top of the bling, but then the pearlized effect would have been lost.

For the ribbon, I used a trimmings piece and stained it with Festive Berries. I added the natural twine and a couple of jingle bells—for me, they have to be gold and not silver, since the overall hue of the tag is gold.

Side note: Several years ago, before I knew I could do anything at all with crafting, even before I started scrapbooking, my daughter bought a glue gun for some altered art around her house. At that time, I told her she must be adopted. A glue gun? Are you kidding me? I couldn’t even imagine going inside a Michael’s. My how things have changed! I guess she’s not adopted after all—she recognized the “genes” before I did! This is such fun!!

Twelve Tags of Christmas

I am SOooooo out of my comfort zone. I have been experimenting with some new crafting techniques. I am participating in Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of Christmas. (I posted my first attempt at the TH technique, a Thanksgiving tag, a few weeks ago).

For me, participating in the Tim Holtz world-wide event means I go to his blog, watch his tutorial on the creation of the tag, and then adapt it for myself, using the supplies I have on hand. This one was a challenge, since I don’t own all the dies and supplies he used in the tutorial. I used all three of my cutters: Cricut for NOEL (cut from grungeboard) and some of the greenery, Silhouette Cameo for the tag itself and the music banner, and the Vagabond for the holly. Also used the Vagabond for dry embossing the tag, which I then heat embossed with Bridal embossing powder. I used several Ranger Distress Inks and paints. The color on this tag features Tim’s new seasonal winter color, Winter Spruce.

It was fun using a lot of the things I have had on hand for a long time. However, I am not a glitter person, and now it seems my entire hobby room is covered with Martha Stewart Sterling glitter. The holly berries are from a discarded centerpiece. For the music banner (only the edges are seen from the top view), I scanned my vintage (authentic) copy of “White Christmas,” printed it on cream cardstock, cut the banner out of it, inked the edges and folded it.

I’m tired now. I don’t see myself doing all 12 of the tags—there are other things to be done, like my life and Christmas shopping.

But, it was really fun. And, it is another chapter in “enjoying my hubby.” Oops, hObby….. VBG…