12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Winter Wonderland

I've used a die-cut for this year's Tag #11 called Dancing Snowflake by Poppy Stamps.

I covered it with dimensional paint and glitter (Scribbles and Nuvo Glitter Drops) and, while it's hard to see, I put Glossy Accents inside areas of the snowflakes.

It sure seems like this was the year for using everything in my craft space that comes in a little squeeze bottle with a teeny-tiny spout!

The text is a Remnant Rub and the background paper was made by Martha Stewart and featured ombré colors (both products purchased long-ago).

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Peace Love Joy

Wishing all of you peace, love and joy this Christmas!

Tag 10 for Christmas 2019 is book paper covered with tissue, pasted with die-cut pieces and tinted/embellished with ink, paint and glitter.

Click to Enlarge

The black and red tinting was created using ink pens and a waterbrush. I draw the ink lines and before they dry, I use the brush to spread/blur the color.

The die-cut pieces (Tim Holtz Poinsettia) came from Thelma's Christmas card.

The best feature here is the area inside the poinsettia where I applied Rock Candy Distress Stickles. Remember this stuff? It's a product that's been discontinued and one I wish they'd bring back!

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - All is Calm

I am smitten with this very early photograph of three sisters by Carl Gustav Oehme taken in 1845. Back then Christmas celebrations were nothing like the customs of today but, around this time in America, Christmas trees and cards were beginning to appear.

I trimmed and tinted the photo, combined it with some Tim Holtz Christmas ephemera and embellished it with Stickles.

This is tag #9 in my ongoing quest for 12 for 2019.

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Believe in the Magic

So, all it takes is a prompt from Simon's Monday challenge and I'm off! This week's theme is "Cityscape" (add some buildings) and that was the inspiration for tag number eight.

The building image (Carabelle Studio Dans la Rue) was stamped on old book paper, tinted with inks and colored pencils then embellished with dimensional dots painted and glittered to look like Christmas string lights.

The little miss was cut from a Found Relative (Tim Holtz) and the kitty looks just like Howie, my cat, who turned 18 this month. It's Christmas everyday for this little guy who I spoil beyond belief!

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Snow Berries

I've got carols a' playing as I prepare this post (David Archuleta's "Winter in the Air") and I am grateful for this time to play and for music of all kinds that I simply couldn't live without.

Stamping of holly berries (Mondo Holly by Julie Ebersole) on watercolored paper along with a bird cut from the Tim Holtz Wallflower paper stash, snow flakes courtesy of a Simon stencil--that's what I used to make tag number 7 of 12 for 2019.

I thought you might appreciate the technique I used for masking and alignment of my stamping so here's a photo to illustrate.

I taped together the masks, laid them on the tag and used an ink blending tool and light colored ink to tap along the mask edges to create an outline I could use to accurately align my stamping.

I'm linking this post to the TFJB Challenge Blog: It's the Holidays.

Use the link on the sidebar or the 12 Tags label at the bottom of the page if you want to see more of my Christmas tags.

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Christmastide

We've had a really rainy weekend here in the desert which made for a good time to get cozy in the craft room and make another Christmas tag.

I was channeling a vintage vibe with this one and used a page from an old German bible along with some fussy-cut paper from Graphic 45.

It was embellished with glitter glue, Glossy Accents and machine stitching and I used my typewriter for the text. I needed something to fill-in the bottom area and used a Stamp Collector stamp (Tim Holtz).

There's time to link yet again to Simon's Monday challenge for this week's "Let's Sparkle" theme.

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Happiness & Cheer

This one is made of a black cardstock background covered with poinsettia die-cuts (Tim Holtz) and embellished with tints and glitter glues.

This was truly a learning experience: It's hard to cut thin papers with intricate dies (you can't get the design out without tearing it) so, thanks to Google, I learned about using dryer sheets or waxed paper which helped a lot.

Also, it was the first time making my own glitter glue. I needed red but didn't have anything but the loose stuff and an empty Stickles container (you must save these--they are SO useful).

The mix was approx. 3/4 glitter to 1/4 fluid medium and I have to say it worked well.

This was a fun tag to make because I went kind of glitter-crazy and it's perfect for linking up to Simon's Monday challenge this week which is "Let's Sparkle."

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Be Good

Underneath the many layers of tints, texture paste and crackle medium is a mixed media die-cut (Tim Holtz) fashioned from brown card stock.

The frame is a Spellbinders die-cut covered with dimensional paint (Scribbles) which was also used on the large text (an image transfer).

Inside the frame is a Photobooth image (Tim Holtz), I used dots of Scribbles and Stickles (glitter glue) for bling and a strip of washi tape to balance out the intentional off-center placement of frame and text.

It will be easy to link-up with Simon's Monday challenge this week as I work through more of my holiday tags. The theme is "Let's Sparkle" and I've never made a Christmas tag EVER without using glitter--it just wouldn't be Christmas without it!

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Pine Grosbeak

The idea for this third Christmas tag for 2019 was a happy accident that I followed through on with a few deviations in between.  Let me explain.

I die-cut the holly (Tim Holtz Mixed Media Christmas) from a book page and placed it on top of some paper scraps. One of them was an enlarged half-tone image from a vintage book and I thought the various dots peaking through looked cool so I decided to use it.

The bird was cut from a vintage book. It was originally black and white and I added color with red ink and collaged over the branches. I've never seen this bird myself but they live in colder climates. Imagine coming across one foraging in the snow! I love birds :-)

I created an oval with dimensional paint drops (Scribbles) and painted over the outside section to create the vignette.

I distressed it with sanding, added the washi tape and a Remnant Rub and then made it an official Christmas tag by embellishing it with platinum Stickles.

I'm linking to Simon's "Tape It Up" Monday challenge.

Here's a link to Christmas tags from previous years if you'd like to see more (or use the link in the label section below).

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Twinkle

Making Christmas tag number two was a bit like decorating a cake! And since I used vintage buttons, I'm linking this one to Simon's Recycle challenge this week.

I began with a tag shape cut from some Tim Holtz Halloween paper (Abandoned) then I inked snowflake stencils with Versamark and embossed the shapes with clear powder.

The next step was to use a resist technique where you paint (or in this case, gesso'd) over the embossing and let it dry only slightly before wiping the paint off the embossed areas. Don't expect perfection with this technique--it's really meant for a distressed look.

My great Aunt Esther snipped many a button from her frocks over the years and I inherited quite a collection. I keep the little white buttons in one box and have another, bigger box with colored buttons in larger sizes. I gathered up an assortment and pasted them on.

I lightly tinted the background with Faded Jeans Distress Oxide and frosted the cake tag with glitter glues and dimensional paint (Scribbles and Stickles).

I always feel my tags need some kind of border. Since I used buttons, I reinforced the sewing theme by machine-stitching a mini zig-zag with green thread.

Stayed tuned for more tags--I appear to be on a roll--ha! Hope it lasts :-)

If you want to see my tags from Christmas pasts, here's a link.

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - Father Christmas

My first Christmas tag of the year features a vintage image of Santa mounted on kraft card stock and embossed with gold polka dots.

This close-up shows the glitter I applied on the banner, around the oval and on the tree branches.

I'm linking this post to Simon this week because the theme is "Recycle" and I've included some photos to explain.

The tag was made from the back of an empty drawing paper pad (I save all quality cardboard just for this purpose).

I pasted my laser-printed image onto some packaging material before cutting it out. The material had a slick surface so to make sure I got a good bond using my glue stick, I sanded the surface before applying the image.

And finally, I like to use scraps of craft foam sheets when I want to lift an image from the surface to create some dimension. I just cut it to size and use some glue.

Look for more Christmas tags in the days and weeks to come (it's only 34 days away) and if you'd like to see more tags from previous years, here's a link.

In Someone's Dream

Sometimes, I like to break the rules and venture away from the mainstream. This unconventional collaged tag represents an art format that really appeals to me.

I have a tin box that contains bits and pieces of hand-cut ephemera prepared for various projects but never used. Today I dug in and pulled out a few pieces and turned them into this tag.

I'm linking to Simon's Monday challenge, Thinking of You, because clearly these ladies are pondering something.

Caring Hearts

A first for me--mass production of Christmas cards (25 to be exact)--what an experience!!

In the process, I learned what an A2 card size is (an 8-1/2" x 11" page cut in-half) and how to make my own envelopes. Woo-hoo!

I kept things simple by using animal images from a winter holiday paper pack and embellished them with dimensional paint and glitter glue.

All for a good cause as I'm forwarding them to the Caring Hearts Card Drive where they will be distributed to nursing home residents around the country.

The deadline was this Friday so I finished just in time!

Unrequited Love

I've got a lot of pics to share today that illustrate the steps I took to create this journal page made for Simon's Monday challenge this week.

Art journaling can be/should be somewhat spontaneous and you'll see by the process that unfolded for this page, nothing was set in stone and I changed directions a few times.

Being flexible and just "going with the flow" is what makes the experience fun. Not to mention what you might learn along the way!

I began with transcribing a document then pasted word strips cut from it onto the page.

I covered the page with gesso and tinted some sections with gray then sanded it a bit.

I transcribed the last paragraph of my document over the top using a Fude Ball 1.5 pen.

The ink was taking FOREVER to dry so I sprinkled clear embossing powder on it and heat-set. It was messy but did the trick and I like the emphasis and durability it provided.

I used a vintage stamping set (circa 2008) and applied the flowers with black archival ink.

I wanted to create the illusion of flowers growing over and around a brick wall so I printed a photo of some brick, tore out sections and used my image transfer technique.

As you can see, the wall was modified quite a bit later in the process but proved to be a good jumping-off point which was just what I needed.

I used shades of gray to blend in the wall and began to tint the page with craft paints.

I didn't worry too much about "staying inside the lines" but the paint did blur the stamping so I went over the lines with a black pen marker.

Here's the finished product--it's a two-page spread in a Ranger Dylusions journal (8" x 11"):

Some details I didn't photograph but are worth mentioning: I used the Dot Fade stencil and white paint to unify the page and added the butterfly (cut from Tissue Wrap) along with some Collage Paper leaves (Tim Holtz products).

This Happy Life

Thanks to Columbus, I had the day off yesterday and an opportunity to make something for Simon's Monday challenge (this week's theme is "Pink").

Nothing says pink like a coneflower so I made this tag by stamping on watercolor paper (Tim Holtz Flower Garden), the text is an old Remnant Rub, and the border was machine-stitched and dotted with Nuvo Crystal Drops.

Just a few things, technique-wise, that you might appreciate:

I'm sure you've seen the "no-line" technique when it comes to stamping an image that you plan to watercolor using a light shade of dye (water-based) ink so the lines disappear. But I like the lines! So for this tag, I stamped with archival inks using a pink, a tea stain, and a dark brown shade. The lines darkened somewhat after the watercoloring was applied.

Obviously, I had to do some masking to stamp this arrangement. But I didn't use the stems that come with the set and drew them on instead.

The photo above shows how I painted the background first using a juicy puddle of cobalt blue.

The bee was an after-thought. It was stamped onto a piece of tissue paper, cut-out, pasted on and then I dabbed a tiny bit of yellow paint on to its body.

It's also worth mentioning that I prefer to use a "hot-press" version of watercolor paper when I plan to stamp on it. Cold-press has bumps that I think make it harder to get a crisp image.

If you haven't tried watercoloring with rubber stamps, I can tell you it really is a lot of fun and very rewarding. Go for it!

Purple Martin

Autumn is Simon's Monday challenge this week and was the inspiration for this greeting card. I dug out an older (but favorite) paper stash by Tim Holtz called Wallflower and the bird (a Purple Martin), leaves and feathers were cut from it.

The background paper is this year's Halloween release from Tim called Abandoned. Run, don't walk to purchase (before it's all gone) if you like dark-colored, jewel-toned distress-looking paper.

I couldn't resist adding the book text. It accidentally showed up on my desk while working and it just seemed like karma to add it. I expect to use the card as a kind of "get well" greeting to provide words of encouragement.

The border was made with Copper Scribbles and Olive Branch Nuvo Crystal Drops.

To prevent warping, I pasted the various cut-out bits using tiny drops of a quick dry adhesive only where needed (on the floppy bits, etc.).

I also tinted the leaves ever so lightly with colored pencils and a bit of ink to alter their original neutral appearance.