Number Nine

It's a cold and frosty night here so it's good to be sitting by a roaring log fire, and posting my tag, the ninth of Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of Christmas 2011.

I've used Dark Room Door's Floral Background stamp. I don't have the candle die, so just cut out a shape from grungeboard. Love the foliage die. I've used white acrylic paint and Peeled Paint Stickles on the leaves, and drops of Dimensional Pearls for the berries. I'm planning to do this tag again, but next time I will try painting the candle with melted wax to see what kind of effect I can get.

Tag 8

Tag 8 from Tim Holtz is a Christmas steampunk one. Love the stamp set so was happy to use it here. Another fun tag.

Tag 7 !

I have to confess there were few mutterings over this one. Well, quite a lot actually. I don't have the dies and wanted to stick with the holly rather than change theme completely. The sensible thing would have been to draw holly leaves and cut them out, but I had in mind to use a Cuttlebug holly spray embossing folder.

I duly inked, scrunched and embossed the glassine paper only to find out that it was really difficult to distinguish the embossed lines from the scrunching. I'm not the world's most patient cutter-outer at the best of times, so after a deal more muttering the glassine went into the scraps box, and I decided that the holly would be embossed and cut out before it was coloured and scrunched.

As I progressed through the next stages I was a bit dubious about how it was going to turn out, but suddenly it all seemed to come together. Bravo, Tim. Another great tag project. To be found at Tim's blog.

WOYWW 131

At first glance my desk may seem only slightly untidy with some of the tools and materials used to create yesterday's tag still in evidence. But on closer inspection you will see a range of Versacolour teardrops pushed to the back under the tiered baskets. They are still there because I haven't finished the work on the stampbord squares for the memory books. Then there's the baskets. So handy for accommodating all sorts of bits-n-pieces instead of me taking the time to put them away. Will now take me ages to sift through them and get the items stored away in the right place. The dies on the shelf need tidying up too. Then there's the floor space around the desk. We won't even go there !

Check out Julia's Stamping Ground blog for links to lots of other tidy and untidy desks. Happy Wednesday.

Tag Number 6 !

I wasn't too sure about this one when I started, even although I love working with metal. However, by the time I'd got all the paint on, I was really pleased with the look and was worried that the EP might spoil it, but of course, Tim was right. The EP really did enhance it. He was also right about the choice of acrylic paint. I tried a bright red one and a dark green one but they turned out to be too watery, so I covered these parts with Cranberry and Lettuce, and used the black and gold dabber paint on the other sections, and the effect was much better.

Unfortunately at this time of night I can't get the light right for the photo, and the camera battery is drained, so I can't persevere ! The Cranberry and Lettuce have been darkened and enriched by the Walnut Stain, but aren't as dark as in the photo. I chose velvet ribbon in the same green as I thought it looked good with the rich colours.

I usually like to do something on the reverse of a tag since it is always all smudged with ink by the time I've finished, and I like to make a few of these type of tags to attach to gifts. People seem to appreciate them and keep them as bookmarks or to re-use on gifts. This one is spotty resist against Cranberry Adirondack. The gap in the stamping makes it look distressed and also gives me a space to write in ! The little garland was made in the same way as the tag, but I decided against using it here. I need to re-do the bottom part as I put my thumb over the Dimensional Pearls holly berries before they were dry ! Then it'll go into that box of scraps.

Thank you, Tim, for another fun tag. Photos and all details here on Tim's blog..

The 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Tag Five

A great technique today from Tim Holtz using clear plastic packaging and alcohol inks, and plenty of improvisation required from me. None of the packaging that I'd kept was big enough, but I dug out a sheet of heavy acetate from the cupboard. The stamp I chose was one of my favourite Christmas ones from Elusive Images a few years back - swirls and holly. Don't have a leaf die that can cut grungeboard, so improvised with one that can cut thin card and got as far as painting it when I realised that using it would obscure best part of the stamping. However, I remembered seeing in my box of scraps a die-cut garland I'd made from card and metal for some other project. I love when I find a use for some piece that wasn't quite right for the original project. I had planned to do the bonus tag in Tim's post as well, but there are not enough hours in this day. Something to try another time !

Call in at Tim's blog (link above) to find out about the techniques and see a huge array of Day 5 tags.

The 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day Four

Tag number 4 completed very much as Tim's. Great fun. Lots of drying time needed for this one.