12 Tags of Christmas - Catch Up!

 

Hello, friends!  I've got much to catch up on, after spending a wonderful, snow-filled weekend in Pennsylvania with family.  Here are my takes on Tim's Tags from Days 3, 4, and 5.

Day 3 - This is one of my favorites.  Tim created a red bird, but I had just done that in Day 1, so of course, I had to make this little guy a bluebird.  I followed Tim's instructions pretty closely on this one.  I used tissue tape from 7Gypsies because it had red and green ledger print on it.  I must admit this little flower was easier than I anticipated, although the Gypsy tape is stickier, so maybe that helped.  Anyone else have a hard time trying to get Tim's tape to stay stuck on the grunge?  My tree branch is stamped using Peeled Paint Distress Emboss for a little texture.

Day 4 - Definitely not my favorite.  Had to improvise the entire thing.  The facet technique was cool (I used a charm fragment), but I can't see myself doing it again.  I don't buy those expensive bling swirls unless they are seriously discounted, so I had to make my own, which was quite tedious.  The paper is some ancient Melissa Frances that I had been hoarding.

Day 5 - Well, I didn't have any UTEE, so I enameled the metal numbers with.... Enamel Accents.  Seemed like a no-brainer, LOL.  I actually didn't have much from the recipe for this tag either, but it was still lots of fun to make.  I am discovering during this little party that if you buy Distress Crackle Paint, you'd better use it up fast, or it will turn to dust!  Bummer!  The background for the numbers was cut out with Nestabilities Labels Four.  As you can see, I used one of Tim's Santa ATC collages for the main image.  The "Be Jolly" is ancient - might even be a $1 bin stamp.  Rather fun, this one.

I'm working on the next two already, so hopefully I'll get caught up soon.  I gotta say, though, that today's tag (Day 8) has me stumped so far..... I don't have anything even close for a mask, or even a similar stamped image to make a mask, don't have all that hardware... I'll have to seriously put my thinking cap on (or maybe borrow someone else's.... anyone???)

White Glitter Supply Challenge at Gingersnap Creations

It's time for a new Spicy Supply Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations, and this time we're using White Glitter.  What a perfect accent for the season!  Of course, I also find it perfectly impossible to photograph, so I'll have to talk you through what I did....

I started out stamping a frosty scene on some ledger-patterned paper that I had cut into a tag.  I accented the scene with a little watercoloring in blues and grays.  Next, I applied some white Liquid Applique onto the snowballs the kids were throwing, the giant snow balls, and both ends of the tag.  While the liquid applique was still wet, I sprinkled it with a mixture of white glitter and clear microbeads, and set it aside to dry.  You end up with very dimensional, sparkly snow accents.

The snowflake is a grungeboard shape that I painted white.  I spread some craft glue over the entire thing and sprinkled on my mixture of white glitter and microbeads. (You could also try some mica flakes, chunky glitter, glitter glass... whatever you have on hand.)  I tied it to the tag with some sparkly embroidery thread.  Quick and easy - you just need to set it aside for a bit to dry.

I hope you can join us in some glittery fun. :)

Relish Reading Christmas Card

Crazy quick post today, with just a little close-up.....  the details of my Booklover's Gift Kit can be found at Rogue Redhead Designs.  Happy Weekend!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 2 and A Sneak Peek

My version of Day 2.  This tag went much more quickly, although as you can see, I didn't have many of the ingredients.  I had the Distress Inks and the Enamel, and a Tim Holtz Christmas sentiment.  All else is improvised....

I had a bird charm.... somewhere.... in my stash.  It is still hiding from me. I have to thank the creative and talented Louise at Kard Krazy for her fabulous improvised birdie idea.  I embossed a Stampin' Up! bird in copper embossing powder, rubbed DI over it, and cut it out.  I love the way it looks.... Louise is brilliant!  My foliage is some ancient PSX and Hero Arts, the swirl is Stampington, the music is I-don't-know-whose, and the blue dangly thing is 7Gypsies.  I really didn't have high hopes for myself on this one.... but now I rather like it.

I'd like to give a big shout out and many thanks to Sioux over at Artyjen - she's hosting a "Tim's Splinter Group" for everyone to link up their Tim Tag creations and share some inspiration and improvisation.  What a great idea! I think you'll want to take a look....

And now for the peek - I have a little "Gift Kit for Booklovers" tutorial over on the Rogue Redhead Designs blog, using Shar's "Relish Reading" plate.  I'd love for you to go over and have a look.  Here's the kit all packed up:

I will be AWOL for the next few days, and will sadly be missing at least four Tim Tags.  It's all good though - a big family gathering in honor of my uncle's 75th birthday, my cousin's 50th, and just plain old family time for the holidays.  Have a wonderful weekend, my friends! 

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 1

I know what you're thinking.... "She's been gone from her blog for a week and gone totally bonkers! That doesn't look anything like Tim's tag!!" ROFL!!  It's all about "improvising" peeps!! So I present my first Tim Holtz Christmas Tag, Day 1!

Okay, I was a bit dismayed when I first saw Tim's tag... I didn't have the rickety house, I didn't have the fence.... what to do?  But if Tim can use his Halloween house for Christmas, then I can use the birdcage as my house. Right? Right???? LOL!

So, if you'd like to hear it, here's the lowdown on what I had, what I didn't have, and what I used in its place....

For the base of the tag, I was pretty much set - had the tag, the Distress Inks, the snowflake stamps.  Didn't have a Ranger mist, so just used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl.  So far so good.

Ah, the house.  Well, as you can see, I used a grungepaper birdcage.  I had the notebook texture fade, so ran it through that, then used regular old white acrylic paint since I didn't have the Dabber.  Sanded, distressed, misted.  So far, so good.  Now about those mica windows... didn't seem right to "glass in" a birdcage, so I used mica flakes on top of Liquid Applique to bring in the mica sparkle and also to add the snowy icicles that Tim created.

Obviously, didn't have the fence, either, but I still wanted to have something that was distress-crackled.  So, I crackled the bird.  (Kind of a long story there... didn't have any red crackle so used Picket Fence, then had to color birdie with Red Pepper Dabber - too orange - went over it with lots of other red inks till I got what I wanted.)  Since I was also lacking the dimension that was given by the fence, I had to improvise again.... by giving the little bird cage some tinsel garland, woven through the holes at the bottom.

Okay, next.... I actually had the mini holly garland (gasp!!), so could make the wreath.  Also gave the birdie a few leaves to chew on.  I did not have a Prima tree branch, so it was out to mother nature.... a little twig, holding up the bird cage, is what serves as my "tree."  Are ya with me?  Added some liquid applique and mica to that, too.

The ticket I had - wooo hooo! And I made an attempt at what I *thought* Tim might have done - used three different colors of embossing powder, which I tapped on using a plastic spoon.  Here's a close-up:

 We'll see what he has to say tomorrow.... Also had the mini paper clip (love those things!).

Finally, I had the seam binding, which I dyed just as Tim said.  But that star charm.... nope.  What I *did* have was some of Tim's foliage, and one of the pieces looks just like a sprig of holly.  The top of my tag was getting a bit busy, so I chose to hang the holly from the bottom of the cage.  I colored it with alcohol ink first ("Meadow"), but you can't really see it in the photo.  It could also look like a bit of mistletoe hanging from the bottom, if you have a glass of wine or two and squint, LOL!!!

So, there's my extremely improvised take on Day 1.  I know I won't be able to do them all (big family gathering this weekend, so I may go AWOL again for a bit), but this one was definitely fun.  I think not having the required elements actually made it a bit *more* fun, because there's more creativity to it.  Hopefully tomorrow's tag won't require so much "drying time" - if you're playing along, you know what I mean. :)


Ta for now!