Merry Christmas!

I got this as a gift when I was born from a grandparent... not sure which one. My twin sister has one just like it with her name on it. This is one of my most treasured belongings. So that makes it about 35 years old! Yikes!

I nearly died last night when it wasn't in the ornament box as we decorated our tree (rather late, I might add). The box it was in somehow got separated from the Christmas boxes in the basement and it was well hidden in a seat bench. I couldn't find my ornament for about an hour. It was a horrible feeling, but I'm happy now that it is safely on the tree! When my nieces were born I made sure to get one for each of them. It made my sister cry.

These are what I've been working on today and this week.

This one is inspired by Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2009: Day 5. These little plastic charms are a product in his line. The images are glued to the backs with Glossy Accents. You can see these pictures bigger at flickr by clicking on them.

I made this tag this morning to give to my mom for Christmas. I really like gold embossing powder! And I cannot let a tag be with just one ribbon. It has to have lots of foofiness!

This tag is for my mom as a gift. She's a big fan of my work! Ha! Anyway, what says "I love you" better than handmade?

I hope you are having a very merry Christmas, if it's your thing! xoxo

Winter Wishes Tag

This one was inspired by Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of Christmas, which is sadly over for this year. I learned a lot of new techniques from Tim.

I had to improvise some of his instructions, as I didn’t have the same stamps or grungeboard. So I used chipboard from a cereal box for the snowman instead. I also don’t have a Dymo but I have the next best thing: a faux Dymo font in Photoshop. That’s where I made the “Winter Wishes” text and printed it on matte photo paper. The icicles and sparkliness on the snowman and flourishes is Stickles, a kind of glitter glue. It’s extremely sparkly and the snowman looks frosty. I made him a little scarf from some red ribbon printed with French words about love. The crackle in the background is Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. It’s the best one-step crackle I’ve ever seen!

Hope this puts you in a winter-y Holiday mood!

“The Journey Awakens the Soul” Tag

Getting into the spirit of Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags of Christmas has me making tags, tags, tags! I am waiting on more supplies to come by post to make tags inspired by his art. So more tags to come!

I bought some of his stamps at the craft store. I highly recommend his clear stamps. The quality of the material surpasses any other clear stamp around. They aren’t mushy at all. Each impression is perfect. They don’t have that give like most clear stamps have that often result in a blurred impression. Also, they stick to the acrylic blocks like nobody’s business. (What does that expression even mean?)

I didn’t have any tags in the right size so I made this one out of cardstock. I made a faux paper re-inforcer for the hole with two hole punches. Tags are a great size to work on. Not too big to be daunting but more room than an artist trading card. Plus I get to use my bits of ribbon and lace for the hanging part. Foofy!

If you have not checked out Tim Holtz’s blog, go there now to see the awesome inspiration he provides during the 12 Tags of Christmas. Each day he just blows me out of the water with his ideas! Plus he’s doing giveaways each day so be sure to leave him a comment!