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.