First Tag of Christmas

Yesterday Tim Holtz started his 12 Tags of Christmas for 2010. For me it was a case of improvisation to have a go at Tag No 1 as I have neither the dies nor some of the materials that he used.

I used a Crafty Individuals chipboard house as a template to cut the shape from a piece of grey board (the back of an old paper pad) and ran this through the brickwork embossing folder. Thought the chipboard looked a bit brittle to survive the Big Shot. Used a CI picket fence shape as a template to make a longer stretch of picket fence out of the grey board which is more bendy than the chipboard. Have all the paints and inks, so no problem there, and I substituted Pearl Glimmer Mist for the Perfect Pearls spray. Under normal circumstances I would have had a rummage in the garden or hedgerows to find some twiggy bits for the tree embellishment, but as it's all under a foot of snow at the moment, I had to pass on that and I used some sparkly flowers I found in my box of tricks. Had to make my own version of the ticket. Surprise finds among my stash were the ribbon which was actually lying on the table and looks remarkably like the stuff Tim used, and I didn't know I had; and the little star which I also didn't know I had ! Have tried several times without success to get a decent photo to show colours and textures.

I've mentioned in a previous post my little friend, Robbles who turns up every morning when I am feeding the chickens, and helps himself to a few layers' pellets from my bucket. Since the snow has arrived he has appeared every time I'm in the garden and of course he gets something to eat each time. I've grown really fond of him so can never resist trying to get a few pictures.

Keep warm everyone. Get those woolly jumpers out.