12 Tags of 2012-Snowman Joy and Deck the Halls

This month, Tim Holtz posted his 11th and 12th tags of 2012. It has been fun following along, creating my own projects based on his ideas/techniques. This month he posted the December tag as well as the tag he “owed us” from last January (as if he owed us anything more than he already gives, really!).

Here are “my takes” on those two tags.

When I was a student, I was always one to follow directions exactly. Seriously. The upside to that was good grades. Great grades, actually. The downside to that is that I did not allow myself any “space” to be creative. Since nothing I do is for a grade anymore (YAY!!), I have discovered that I actually do have a little creativity hidden deep inside me (somewhere)—have to pull on it to “get it out” sometimes! So, now I find that I never make a project exactly like the one I am using for inspiration—because I don’t have to, and I don’t want to, and I do think that is a good thing, in the end!

For the Snowman Joy tag, I used Broken China and Brushed Pewter Distress Stains to create the background. I stamped the Tim Holtz blueprint snowman directly on the tag and also on watercolor paper. I stamped the hat an additional time. I cut out the stamped images from the white watercolor paper. After using Distress Inks and a water pen to color in and shade the snowman and the extra hat, I covered the shaded areas on the snowman as well as the holly leaves, with Distress Rock Candy Stickles. Then the cut-out snowman was popped up on top of the stamped image on the tag, and the extra hat on top of him, for a 3-D effect. As for the frosty look (Stickles), you know the story—glittery, glitzy things do not show up in my photos very well. Here is a close-up for a little better view (if you click to enlarge, you get a much better idea):

I placed a strip of music tissue tape along the bottom, with a strip of Tinsel Twine stapled under it. For the JOY letters, I put metal foil tape on card stock, embossed it with the snowflake embossing folder, painted the raised snowflake with Stream Ranger Alcohol Ink, cut the word from my Cricut December 25 cartridge, and raised it up on the tag with foam tape. I added a snowflake brad and some clear bling from my stash. The crinkled ribbon was stained with Broken China and Brushed Pewter.

For the Deck the Halls tag, I created a similar background as the snowman tag, using Fired Brick and Tarnished Brass Distress Stains (for the tag and for the crinkled ribbon).

Necessity is the mother of invention, and I did not have any poinsettias except an image on the Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge. (It is not intended to be dimensional, but I just played with several layers of it until I was fairly satisfied with the look..) I found the music to “Deck the Halls” in a Little Golden book of “Christmas Carols” that I have saved from my children’s growing-up years. I scanned it, printed it onto cardstock, and cut it on the Cricut. Then I sponged the petals heavily with Fired Brick Distress Ink. (and a little Pine Needles for the leaves). I love that the poinsettia is made from the music to the song that is the theme of the tag (she said, proudly patting herself on the back). I printed “Deck the Halls” on the computer, inked the edges, and adhered it to a ticket. My pewter music notes didn’t go with the gold on the tag, so I painted them black with Ranger Alcohol Ink.

The flourish is cut from grungeboard from Tim’s Movers and Shapers die and then stained with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain. I usually use the Gold Paint Dabber to make a gold flourish, but I really love the new metallic stains for this!

I wanted a little more bling on the poinsettia, so I sprayed it with my “go-to” Perfect Pearls Mist (Sunflower Sparkle).

And here are these two tags on my “tag tree”:

I will be entering one or both of these tags in several challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog—Snowflakes

My Grafico Anything Goes Challenge

Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge-Inspired by Tim’s 12 Tags

Addicted to Stamps Challenge-Bingo
(Snowman tag: Glitter, Embossed, Snowflake)

Paper Crafting Journey Challenge-Christmas

4 Crafty Chicks Challenge-Snowmen

Stampin’ for the Weekend-Let it Snow Challenge

2 Sisters Challenge Blog-Snowflakes

Anything But a Card-Seasonal Holiday Challenge

Inspiration Journal Challenge
(Snowman tag, using Joy’s favorite Distress Ink, Broken China, and the word “Joy”)

Now, off to spend the day tomorrow with my mother, who is having a major, scary surgery. Prayers appreciated!

Happy Birthday to Sharida Sunshine

Sharida and husband at our house for Thanksgiving

Seems only yesterday that the doctor told me I was in labor and sent me directly to the hospital, where our sweet baby girl was born shortly thereafter. But in reality it was December 7, 1971.

Such a sweetheart is Sharida, and we love her TONS and TONS!!

Happy Birthday, Only Daughter!

Christmas Tag–Sparkly Stocking

Background: Tim Holtz Kraft Resist Christmas Memories, stained with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain and adhered to black tag. Edges inked with Vintage Photo.

Stocking: Cricut December 25 cartridge, cut from chip board, painted with Red Pepper Paint Dabber, covered with Glue n Seal and generously coated with Martha Stewart Garnet Glitter. Top of stocking: painted with white acrylic paint, covered with Glue N Seal, and covered with Rock Candy Dry Stickles. Gold edge on stocking top: painted with Gold Paint Dabber and dotted with Rock Candy Stickles.

Flourish: Movers & Shapers Die, cut from grunge board and painted with Gold Paint Dabber, tipped with Rock Candy Stickles.

Ribbon: Stained with Festive Berries Distress Ink..

Sentiment stamped with Distress Embossing Ink onto Tim kraft paper and heat embossed with Ranger Fine Black Embossing Powder. Edges inked with Vintage Photo.

Participating in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge (showcasing Martha Stewart products).

Anything But a Card Challenge (inspiration photo, pulling out the gold of the sand and the red of the umbrella).

Christmas Tag–Joy to the World!

I took inspiration for this tag from the Frilly and Funkie Blog.

This was one of my favorite tags to make, as I really love working with the metal foil tape. For the background, I used a combination of Distress Inks and Distress Stains (Faded Jeans and Stormy Sky, with a bit of Brushed Pewter and Picket Fence stain here and there). Then I heat embossed (with Ranger Silver) some pine branches and snowflakes from Tim’s Mini Holidays stamp set. I added some snowflakes stamped in Faded Jeans.

The ornament (heavy card stock covered with foil tape) was dry embossed with the snowflakes folder. I used a small brush to paint the raised snowflakes with Denim Alcohol Ink.

The letters for “joy” were covered with Glossy Accents.

The ribbon is seam binding stained with Faded Jeans, accompanied by some of Tim’s new tinsel twine (also across the bottom).

Perhaps the funnest part of this tag was in finding the “Joy to the World” music. Being a pianist, there is no shortage of sheet music in my house. But, I happened to spy one of the little Christmas books I always put out (mostly from years past) at this time of year. This one is called “Christmas Carols.” It is a Little Golden Book, and inside where it says “This book belongs to,” I have hand-printed in primary manuscript “Mark.” (I likely bought it when he was 7; I was teaching kindergarten that year, and that’s when I learned to print manuscript!!) One of the Christmas Carols in this book is “Joy to the World.” I copied the page—didn’t even have to reduce it. So, this tag includes a sentimental memory for me!

Here’s how it looks on the “tag tree.”

Christmas Mood

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had! I do not really do anything with/about Halloween, so I basically spend all of the fall thinking about Thanksgiving. So, then, by the time Thanksgiving is actually over, as soon as the Thanksgiving guests have departed and the kitchen is all squared away, I’m ready to start Christmas—get out the Christmas coffee mugs and prepare to decorate! I am willing to wait until Friday morning to actually begin the work (my husband thanks me). And, NO, I DO NOT participate in Black Friday real-store shopping.

Already had coffee in my favorite Christmas mug—now mid-morning of tree-decorating day (Friday)—Hot Cocoa! Getting this year’s Christmas tags ready to put on lower level tree.

By Saturday morning, we had all three of our trees up and all the house read for Christmas. In the midst of the decorating, I started the online Christmas shopping, taking full advantage of all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales (MANY hours, but at least my feet weren’t killing me).

So, I’m pretty much worn out at this point, but I’m ready for the Christmas Season!

Great Room (Upper Level)

The Music Room (front window, Upper Level)

Lower Level Family Room (where my teddy bears and dolls reside during the Christmas season). This is also my “Tag Tree” (close-up pictures will be forthcoming).

Thanksgiving at Our Home

We had such a very special Thanksgiving, complete with our traditional menu (same every year, by demand….uh…request). All 10 of us were here, and that alone was enough to make it special!

L to R: Conner, Tory, Alyssa, James (SIL), Sharida, Kristy (DIL), Mark, and Russell

Mamo’s Grandkids are growing up way too fast!

Menu

Roast Turkey
Homemade Dressing
Mashed Potatoes
Giblet Gravy
Wild Rice Casserole
Buttered Corn
Kristy’s Sweet Potato Souffle
Sharida’s Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Overnight Lettuce Salad
Homemade Dinner Rolls
Iced Tea
Autumn Gold Pumpkin Pie w/whipped cream
Pecan Pie
Coffee

Sassi loves Dawson!

Mamo particularly likes the turkey feather that says “God” as one of the things Dawson is thankful for!

The highlight of our time together is our “thankful for” time, when we, like many other families, “go around the table” and tell what we are thankful for, making sure to give glory to God for all His wonderful blessings! It is always an extremely emotional time at our table, but, as one family member mentioned, one of the things we are thankful for is that we can have “real” conversations as a family. This has been a challenging year for many of us, in many ways, but we are thankful that Our God is big enough to cover it all!

Christmas Tag–O Holy Night

Love this tag as it exemplifies the real meaning of Christmas, the coming of The Messiah.

Christmas Tag–Toy Soldier by the Tree

I am having so much fun with Christmas tags! I just counted—looks like I have made 11 tags in 9 days, with a couple of art journal pages in there as well! Yep, a busy but happy crafter of late. It’s good to have this much done, as the day after Thanksgiving, it’s Christmas shopping (mostly online) nonstop for some weeks!

I made this tag this morning and then worked the rest of the day with Thanksgiving Dinner preparations:

Autumn Gold Pumpkin Pie – CHECK
Pecan Pie – CHECK
Wild Rice Casserole – CHECK
Overnight Lettuce Salad – CHECK
Table Set and Serving Dishes Ready – CHECK

Dinner is tomorrow at 1, so the turkey goes in at 7 a.m. My favorite thing to make for Thanksgiving is my own made up Stuffing (do not actually stuff the turkey, so I guess it’s more Dressing than Stuffing)!

This tag was just fun because of its simplicity, I think. I particularly enjoyed combining Graphic 45 (Nutcracker Sweet) and Tim Holtz and my Cricut.

I covered a #8 manila tag with Christmas March paper (Nutcracker Sweet). I distressed the edges and inked them with Vintage Photo.

For the Christmas tree, I used my new Cricut cartridge “December 25th” that I bought specifically because it has images I could envision on tags. For the tree, I used some “real” chipboard for the first time (I have always used cut up cereal boxes)—I have a crafting friend in Alaska who was kind enough to send me this chipboard. I love the chipboard because I can cut it on my Cricut (I have tons of Tim’s grunge board and grunge paper, but it doesn’t do well with the Cricut). I inked the tree with Distress Ink (Pine Needles on the tree, Walnut Stain on the trunk, and Vintage Photo on the edges), topped the star with Gold Paint Dabber and then spritzed it all with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist.

The little toy soldier is adorable—it’s my newest Tim Holtz die. Using my Vagabond, I cut it from grunge paper. It has several pieces, and I inked or painted or colored each piece to combine for the finished toy. Though you can’t see the dimension in the photo, I popped him up on the tag with black foam tape. Probably the most fun thing I discovered was that I could do intricate “inking” using a nib with the Black Soot Distress Ink.

The little postcard is from the Nutcracker Collection. The ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

Two Christmas Tags–Blueprint Toy Soldier and Blueprint Snowman

Copy cat, copy cat! That’s me. I directly tag-lifted this project from Donna at From My Art 2 Yours. I was absolutely smitten by her work, and when I found her blog,  I had been wondering exactly how I would use my blueprint stamps from Tim Holtz.

I will explain my process, but again, I was using Donna’s ideas!

On the manila tag, I stamped the Toy Soldier Blueprint Stamp with Distress Embossing Ink and then heat embossed it with Ranger fine black embossing powder. I already loved the look. Then I used the Perfect Pearls Palette technique (from Tim) to paint the little soldier. Having stamped a separate “edition” of the little guy, I cut around that stamped image, just around the soldier himself. I used that as a mask over the painted image, while I inked the background with Wild Honey, Squeezed Lemonade, and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks. I used the little holly leaves stamp from Tim’s Mini Holidays 2 stamp set, inked with Brushed Corduroy, to stamp several times on the background. I misted the entire tag with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls mist (keeping the little mask over the image). I inked the edges of the tag with Walnut Stain, added a seam binding ribbon (stained with the same colors as the background) and a muse token.

The Snowman Tag was made with the very same process, using these colors/stamps:

Background: Faded Jeans, Iced Spruce, Salty Ocean
Background snowflake stamp: Tim Holtz Mini Holidays 3
Perfect Pearls Mist: Turquoise

What is funny to me is that both tags started with a #8 manila tag, and I did nothing to color the snowman. It may be the camera lighting, but the toy soldiers face and the snowman should technically be the same color. Maybe that cool blue just made the snowman look white. Anyway, it makes me happy.

Once again, I have the frustration of the “sparkly” not showing up, but that’s okay, they’ll be sparkly on my tree!