No. 6 for Christmas, 2022

I used a Found Relative, a stamp (Mundo Holly, Ellen Hutson), printed tissue paper, scrapbook paper, a Remnant Rub, and glitter glues to make this tag.

I'm linking up to Simon's Monday challenge for this week's "Tag" theme.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Hero Arts Succulent Bouquet

 

I purchased a new stamp set and used it on hot-press watercolor paper. Ever experimenting, I used an olive green shade of Nuvo Crystal Drops to fill some of the leaf areas then couldn't help but throw down some dots around the flower edges.

I created a border with a fine-line marker and green gold Nuvo Glitter Drops. It was mounted on plaid printed paper with a black card stock foundation.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Christmas Tag No. 1 for 2021

 

Making Christmas tags by following along with Tim Holtz blog posts way back when was such great fun and I've continued to embrace the tag format ever since.

Nowdays, I use my holiday tags to decorate gifts and today I'm sharing the first one of, hopefully, twelve for this year. (See previous seasons here).

I punched postage-stamp shapes from a heat-embossed stamped image (Penny Black Tree of Holly) and pasted rows of them to create a background.

 

The poinsettia was stamped (Penny Black Christmas Star), tinted with Distress inks, cut-out and mounted to the surface. I added some fine, black lines for detail and used gold Stickles to trim the flower edges along with my last bottle of Rock Candy Distress Stickles (an absolute favorite product, sadly discontinued).

 

I stamped then fussy-cut the text (Penny Black Festive Season) and trimmed the tag with Nuvo Glitter Drops, sketchy pen ink and a ribbon topper.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

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 - 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."

Fortune Cookies

What have I been up to lately? Making Asian-inspired paper-folded Christmas box ornaments that can hold a treat--of course!

It was the project idea I came up with after being invited to a guest spot on the The Funky Junkie Boutique blog. The challenge is "Treats Not Tricks" and here's the description:

• Choose a theme and make something that will hold a treat for someone.  It could be a Halloween treat bag, a Valentine's candy box, a birthday card for a special person that holds a treat (could be a gift card "treat" or a bite of chocolate), anything that can hold a treat.

To make my box ornaments, I found some patterns here and used the Oriental Garden paper collection by Stamperia and lots of different glitter glues for decoration.

I used tracing paper and a scoring tool to transfer the patterns and quick-dry adhesive to hold them together after folding.

They looked rather plain in the beginning, but the real fun comes when you get out the glitter glue to decorate them. Nothing says Christmas like a little bling ☺!

Ornaments before decorating - click to enlarge

For gift-giving, I can tuck a treat inside or perhaps a note with a special wish or promise (kind of like a fortune cookie). Here are a couple examples of how the boxes open.

I look forward to seeing everyone's projects and encourage you enter the challenge--you might win a guest spot like I did and it's been a lot a fun. Thanks for stopping by!

Beautiful to Me

Let's just say you don't see these greeting card techniques everyday so I thought they might be worthy of a share. I made this card for my stamping sister, Thelma, using the new bottle of glitter that she had gifted me.

I stamped my images (Simon's new Delicate Flowers set) on purple cardstock, outlined the edges with Nuvo Glitter Drops, used bleach with a paint brush to lighten the colored paper, tinted the space with colored pencils (orange and green), and finishing up with a big ol' fussy-cut.

I mounted my cut-out on some Prima cardstock (Ephipany), used black Scribbles to bring out the stamens, and edged the card with thin dark grey paper and more Glitter Drops.

I've used Nuvo Crystal Drops before but this was a first for the glitter drops and I must say they are very useful for a number of reasons. First, the are very easy to apply--the fine tip and soft-sided bottle allow for good precision. Second, this stuff is tough! Even after using the bleach, rubbing in the tints, and cutting right next to it, the glitter never came off the paper. It reminds me of Glossy Accents with glitter in it.