12 Tags of Christmas, Day 12 and Wrap Up

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with your families! I am dreading taking the decorations down next week, because I love the Christmas season, and I hate it when it is over! Oh well, the stores have moved to the next holiday, and so must I...
But first, today is the last day to link our tags up with Tim's blog, so I had to get my last tag in!It's been made since a few days before Christmas, I just haven't had much free time with all of the kiddos at home. Here is my 12th tag:

And here is a look back at all 12 of my tags:

Thank you to everyone who has followes along this journey with me, It sure was a lot of fun to learn the new (to me) techniques, and look at my crafty supplies in a whole new light. I can't wait to play next year (although I do intend to be more prepared)! Do you have a favorite? My favorite tag personally was probably my snowman tag-it was definantly the most time consuming!

And with that, I will bid 2011 "Adieu", and wish you all a happy, crafty New Years!! I will be back in a day or 2 with a look back at my December Daily album.

I have another blog...

Hey friends! I started a Photography related blog with a photo shoot I did last week, and I would love to have you follow me there as well!! Here is the link:
http://margievphotography.blogspot.com/
I will continue posting regularly to this blog with anything crafty!
Thanks!

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 11

Tim's is finished with his tags, but I still have a couple more to share! Here is my tag from Day 11:

And here is Tim's tag:

I did not jump right into this tag-because I had almost nothing that Tim used for his. Then, I decided to go a slightly different route. I took a pearlized cardstock and cut it out for the tag, then inked with Distress Inks and homemade marshmallow mist. I didn't have ANY Santa stamps, so I cut a Santa out of Tim's Seasonal Paper Stash, and inked it with Versamark, and coated it with 2 layers of UTEE. The "Ho ho ho" is a sticker, and added a transparency printed photo corner and some felt and acrylic christmas trees with Glossy Accents. I made the jingle bell bead dangle, tied on some red satin ribbon, added a brad and a scrap of tulle.I still like the way my tag turned out, even though it is rather different than Tim's!

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 10

Ok, after a weekend of being sick, I am pulling myself up "by the bootstraps" as my dad would say, and getting to work...wow, I have alot to do to finish getting ready for Christmas! Takin' some Dayquil and getting down to business! Tim has shared all 12 of his tags now, and this will be the 10th one I have shared. I have also made an 11th tag, which I will share later, and I hope to finish tag 12 tomorrow.

Here is my tag for day 10:

Tim's tag:

I die cut my tag from kraft cardstock, stamped it with the sheet music stamp from Unity Stamp Co, used a foam stamp and Martha Stewart pigment ink for the holly leaves, which were heat embossed with UTEE. I then distressed the tag with my scissors, inked the edges with frayed burlap and then Walnut Stain Distress Inks, and then misted the tag with my homemade golden shimmer mist. I cut the santas from Tim's Seasonal Paper Stash, and since I didn't have the facets, I coated them with Glossy Accents instead. I hand cut my shabby banner, also from the Seasonal Paper Stash,and the letters I used were some black glitter letter stickers from the halloween section at Target's $1 spot, which I dabbed with a gold paint dabber and coated with Glossy Accents. I attached the ornaments with brads, hot glue, and jute twine, hot glued my banner on, then added a silver tinsel bow with a scrap of white tulle, and some beads.

Nikki Sivils Giveaway!!

How would you like the opportunity to win a Gingerbread Land kit from Nikki Sivils?

Well you have a chance, and it's EASY! Over at Sketches 4 All , we are giving away a kit in a "Leaving Love" challenge! Each day for a week, the design team will be posting our projects (2 per day), and all you have to do to enter the drawing is leave a comment! You are allowed to leave one comment for each project, and each comment you leave will be an entry into the drawing. HERE IS THE LINK! My project was shared yesterday-be sure to go check out what the other girls are sharing,too, for lots of crafty inspiration! We were asked to make an altered project with the fabulous Gingerbread Land kit, and I chose to alter a composition notebook, to make a holiday menu planner. I thought it would be a great place to make a list (I love lists!) of what I plan to make for Christmas dinner, holiday goodies and sweet treats I plan to give out, and shopping lists for everything I am making.
Here is my notebook:



I covered the notebook in some fun gingerbread paper, inked the edges with Barn Door Distress Ink, attached one of the zigzag borders from the kit, added some cream pom pom trim, took a punch out tag from the kit and matted it on one of the mini papers(red mittens), used the letter stickers for "Holiday treats", set a silver eyelet in the hole, and tied some hand dyed shabby seam binding on. I added a candy cane striped chpboard corner from my stash, along with a felt gingerbread man that I decorated with a pearl puffy paint for frosting.

12 Days Of Christmas Tags, Day 9

A short and sweet post to share my tag for day 9, based on this fantastic tag by Tim Holtz:

 Here is my tag:

I used the rusted enamaling technique that  Tim shared on his blog, using a bold flourish stamp from my stash, some dark green Colorbox chalk ink, UTEE, and Barn Door Distress Ink, Die cut the word, "Peace" from black cardstock with my Cricut and Winter Woodland cartridge , and the flourish candle, and greenery using SCAL. I coated the flourish and "Peace" with Glossy Accents, and distressed the candle and added Stickles, rhinestones, and pearl "berries".

12 Tags Of Christmas...Day 8

Hi, everyone out there in blogger land! I am sorry I am running behind with these tags, life got in the way! I am pretty sick right now, with sinuses and achey all over. I did myself together for a bit to make these tags though, and it was a good distraction! Anyway, here is Tim's Day 8 tag:

And here is my tag:

I must say, at first I paniced a bit when I saw Tim's tag, because it is so far outside of my normal style, and I really didn't have much of the stuff he used. Then I pulled myself together and made some substitutions! I stamped a Martha Stewart Christmas tree stamp (that I loved  when I bought it 2 years ago, but hadn't used yet!) with white Imprintz pigment ink and heat embossed with white Zing powder, then used a makeup sponge to blend Barn Door and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks, and Deep Green Colorbox Chalk ink. I then distressed the edge of the tag with my scissors, blended a little Frayed Burlap on to the outer areas of the tag, and edged the tag direct to paper with my Walnut Stain Distress ink. I cut out the roman clock with Grungepaper and an svg file on my Cricut, then I cut the Gears and fancy clock hand out with the Steampunk SVG file set I have had for a while from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, some from metallic cardstock, and some from Grungepaper, and sanded and distressed with Frayed Burlap ink, glued together with Glossy Accents, and attached in the center with a brad, and made a little green satin bow. I didn't have a pointing finger stamp, so I printed this image from the Graphics Fairy  directly onto my ticket (printed on white paper first, so I could see where it was going to print, then taped it to my paper and printed again). The ticket on top is a stamp from Inkadinkado, with a holly stamped in the center from We R Memory Keepers, and I colored some plain white pearls with a red Copic marker for the berries. Instead of the steampunk guys on the bottom, I stamped the "Joy" sentiment onto a scrap of my Grungepaper with Graphite Brilliance ink, and heat embossed it with black embossing powder from Ranger. I adhered the clock with Glossy Accents, then the pointing finger ticket, stapled a piece of film strip ribbon on, glued on my stamped ticket, then hot glued on the "Joy" and the gear wreath. And finished it off with a piece of my hand made shabby seam binding!
Thanks for allowing me to share with you, I will post my day 9 tag in a while!

12 Tags of Christmas...Day 7

Another day, another fantastic tag!
Here is the tag the Tim shared with us today:

And here is my version :

I am having fun rooting through my stash each day to come up with these tags!! I didn't have the kraft glassine papers today (but I was kicking myself, because I had them in my hand the other day and set them down because I wasn't sure what to do with them), so I had to do my leaves for my tag a little differently. First, I cut the tag itself out of a smooth cream colored cardstock using the free shipping tags SVG file from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I pressed Tea Dye and Old Paper Distress Ink pads onto wax paper and dragged my tag through to distress it, then spritzed it with sand Glimmer Mist and homemade marshmallow mist, then dotted on some moonlight white Smooch. I dried a little bit with my heat gun, then I crumpled the tag and lightly touched it to the Old Paper ink pad, then smoothed it out and recrumpled and touched it to the Tea Dye ink pad. Then I smoothed out the whole tag and dried completely with my heat gun.I distressed the edge of my tag with scissors, then took my ink blending tool and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, and then I "ghost-stamped" a floral flourish from Tim's Flights of Fancy stamp set with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.
The leaves were all cut out of kraft cardstock, then I inked them with alcohol inks-Stream, Citrus, and Bottle, and then I took a paintbrush and stippled on a bit of gold Perfect Pearls in a random fashion. I then coated with a thick layer of Rock Candy Crackle paint. I dried them mostly with my heat gun, partially air dried. When it was dry, I bent and shaped them with my fingers and sponged on a bit of Peeled Paint Distress Stain, which I dabbed with a napkin to remove the excess. I cut the branches with SCAL and my Cricut out of kraft cardstock. I cut 3 copies of each, and layered to get the 3-d effect. I inked the bottom of the branch to create a shadow, and touched the tops with my Pearl paint dabber, and added Frosted Lace Stickles to the top for a snowy effect.
I made the plaque with kraft cardstock, Graphite Brilliance ink, a fancy frame stamp from Autumn Leaves and a "Joy to The World" sentiment from some Walmart holiday stamps I got a few years ago. I stamped the stamps and heat embossed them individually with black embossing powder from Ranger.I then inked the edges with my ink blending tool and Tea Dye Distress ink.
I made the bow with a bit of cream lace that I pulled with my fingers to give it a tattered look, a bit of silver tinsel wire, and some pearls that I inked with Watermelon and Terra Cotta alcohol ink.
I attached the plaque with double stick foam tape, and attached the leaves, branches, bow, and "berries" with hot glue.
I finished the tag off with hand dyed shabby seam binding, and some little bead and jingle bell dangles that I made.

Here are the challenges that I am linking up with:
The Paper Variety -Christmas Song Inspired -"Joy To The World"
Cricut Cardz- Cricut cuts (the tag, holly leaves, and branches)& Christmas Song Inspired
Simon Says Stamp Challenge- Christmas Photomontage inspired ( I think this tag is very reminiscent of this photo:

)

The Kraft Journal- Christmas Tag & Kraft
Die Cuttin Divas- Tags
Tuesday Throwdown- Celebrate The Season
Terrific Tuesday-Christmas

Awesome giveaway

Check out the awesome blog candy at Melissa's blog-and sign up to follow her, her creations are AH-MAZING!

12 Tags of Christmas...Day 6

I can't believe it's half over!! I am having so much fun learning new techniques, watching the videos, and looking at other people's interpretations of the tags!!
Tim's Tag for today:

My tag for today:

My favorite part of the tag I made has to be the little wreath charm that I made!

I followed Tim's techniques pretty closely for the tag itself. I finally got out those paint dabbers that hadn't been used yet, used some yellow, greens and black acrylics in addition. I didn't have the metal foil tape, so I die cut a tag with a free svg from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, Shipping Tags, out of a silver metallic cardstock from my stash, and embossed it with a Tim Holtz embossing folder (not the exact one he used, but I think this one worked okay, too). I sanded with a fine grit sand paper (after drying the paint, of course),  distressed it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and coated the tag with UTEE and heat embossed twice.
For my little wreath, I cut and hand painted a tiny wreath on a scrap of the silver metallic cardstock, sanded the edges and top of the wreath a little bit, Inked with Perfect Medium all over (pressed the wreath into the Perfect Medium), lightly inked with Walnut Stain, then coated with a thick layer of UTEE (sprinkled it on there like sugar!), melted, and coated again. I added some rhinestones that I colored red with a Sharpie marker, and then punched a tiny hole for the jump ring in the top holly leaf. Added a piece of hand dyed silvery gray seam binding, some fasteners, and I was finished! What do you think?

12 Tags Of Christmas...Day 5

Well, Of Course I loved Tim's Tag today...but I didn't have the essentials to make it! I don't have very many alcohol inks, no blending solution, so what's a girl to do? I had to change it up a bit. My tag seemed very simple today compared to the other ones I have made for this challenge, but I got it done! Tim's Tag:

And, my tag:

I printed out some Christmas word art that I downloaded off the 'net on white cardstock, die cut my tag, inked the edges with Barn Door and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. I then die cut an acetate overlay, fastened the 2 together with some old Chatterbox snaps,made a wreath from some holly stuff I got at Hobby Lobby last week half off, a white satin bow and red rhinestones, and tied the top with white tulle.

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 4

Have you been following Tim's Tags? I have to say, this is my favorite tag so far-but it was definantly the most time consuming one that I have done!

Here is Tim's Tag:

And here is mine:

There were ALOT of steps in this tag :-) I only have 2 Distress Stains, So I used Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans) which I rubbed in different spots on wax paper, then homemade marshmallow shimmer mist, Sapphire and Sea Glass Glimmer Mist which I misted onto the wax paper and rubbed the tag through, adding more as needed, then misted the whole tag with my marshmallow mist.I partially dried with my heat gun, then left it alone for a while to finish drying while I worked on the other stuff. After it was dry, I stamped various snowflakes from several different sets in a random fashion with the Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, and Chipped Sapphire Distress inks. I stamped a flourish in Moonlight White Momento Ink up in the upper right hand corner, cut a snowflake edge that I designed in Sure Cuts Alot to look similar to Tim's, which I dabbed with a Pearl Adirondack Paint Dabber. I cut the snowflake and snowman out of chipboard with my Cricut, Deep Cut Blade, and Winter Woodlands cartridge. I cut out the "25" from a little piece of Christmas sheet music from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Paper Stash, also using the Winter Woodlands cartridge with the font set on blackout. I coated the snowman and snowflake with my pearl paint dabber first, dried with my heat gun, then coated with Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint. I had to let this dry on its own. I then coated the "25" with Glossy Accents and let it dry again. I misted the snowflake with Sapphire and Sea Glass Glimmer mist, then wiped it off. I added 3 clear/white/greenish buttons tied with tulle, tied a tulle and shabby seam binding "scarf" around the snowman, added some pearls and rhinestones to his hat, along with a tiny feather. I tied the tag with more tulle and shabby seam binding, adding a "joy" charm and a snowflake button at the top for decoration, and topped the die cut snowflake off with Stickles.
 I am linking this tag up with the Simon Says Stamp Challenge of "Anything Goes", and the Sir StampAlot Challenge Bingo :Pearls, Stickles, Ribbon

12 Tags Of Christmas...Day 3

Just a super quick post to share my day 3 tag:

Sketch LO Challenge with Nikki Sivils and Sketches 4 All

Over at Sketches 4 All, a new sketch contest started today-sponsored by Nikki Sivils! How would you like to win a Gingerbread Land Collection kit of your very own? You have a good chance! Come play along with our sketch (from Page Maps) here , and you will be entered to win!

Here is the sketch:

Here is my Layout:

Closeup of the gingerbread house:

Thanks Nikki for sponsoring us! (If you want to see more of her collections, you can click the link in my sidebar).

12 Tags of Christmas ...Day 2

Tim had another gorgeous tag today, of course! Here is Tim's tag:

 And here is mine:

Looking at them side by side, I realize that I forgot to distress/ink the bottom border...oh well! I still like the way my tag came out! I started with just a scrap of kraft cardstock (plain old kraft). I stamped the sheet music with a Unity Stamps Music Of My Heart stamp and black Staz-On ink. I then stamped the "Merry Christmas" with a Martha Stewart stamp and Versamark watermark ink, and heat embossed with UTEE. I used a homemade white shimmery water color paint and a foam brush over the whole tag, then allowed it to dry as Tim suggested. I then dripped homemade white shimmer spritz on the tag and dried with my heat gun. I inked the edges of the tag with Martha Stewart Sea Lavendar pigment ink, distressed the edges with my Cutterbee scissors, and then inked the edges of the tag with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I used a border punch from Fiskars and a scrap of cardstock for the bottom border, and painted with my gold paint dabber. I added brushed silver brads that I "distressed" with an ice pick along the bottom. For the reindeer, I die cut a reindeer from cardstock with my Cricut and SCAL, and then I glued a scrap of canvas to it, and used it as a template to cut it out  by hand with my Cutterbee scissors, then distressed it with my fingernail and Tea Dye and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks. I made the little wreath for his neck with a bit of tinsel and a Making Memories metal star, and added a die cut piece of holly  (leftover from yesterday), that I painted with Rock Candy Crackle Paint, brushed the edges with Peeled Paint Distress Stain, and finished off with red rhinestones. The "Memories" plaque is an ancient metal word from DCWV, which I attached with distressed brads.
Now, gotta get to work on my other December projects!

12 tags of Christmas...Day 1

I said I wasn't going to even attempt it...Lord knows I don't have the time...but when I saw Tim's tag today, I was inspired! So I just had to do one more thing in addition to the other swaps I am in, my December Daily, and of course, three kids in basketball (so we are at the gym every.single.night.).

Here is my version of the Day 1 tag:

I didn't have the Kraft Core cardstock, so I used a piece of teal Co'ordinations Color Core cardstock, dry and heat embossed with American Crafts Zing Embossing powder with a technique  similar to Tim's, then lightly inked the raised snowflakes with Tea Dye Distress Ink to distress instead of sanding. I designed the Noel title in SCAL and cut 3 times from cardstock, which I layered together, and covered with silver Stickles.I don't have the tattered banner die cut, so I hand cut a banner from a piece of music note paper and inked with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. The holly leaves and greenery were all cut with svgs and SCAL. I brushed the holly leaves with Rock Candy Crackle Paint, and brushed the edges of the holly and greenery with Moonlight Smooch. I made the pinecones using Tim's technique and a 3D Circle Flower svg- of course his were better, but I think I am pretty happy with mine, too! I used some Co'ordinations Graphic 45 cardstock for mine, then brushed the edges with Moonlight Smooch and sprinkled a little bit of Martha Stewart mica flake glitter while the ink was wet for "snow". I wanted to make the pearl dangles, too, but it was getting late, the kids were home from school, and I had to get dinner on the table so that we could go to basketball! (Which, I might add, went really well! My kids' teams all won, and all three of them scored 4 points each for their teams!!Woohoo!! Proud mama!)
Thanks for looking-it was fun to get out my crafty supplies and just play!