Create Along With Us - Nov. 2018

Hello friends.  I feel like all I've done for the past 2 weeks is post to my blog and IG daily to keep up with the tag challenges, but I do have to admit that I am having a blast!  There are some regular challenges that I like to play along with though and I feel like I am trying to just cram them in, so excuse me if you feel like I'm posting too much...this will all change in another 2 weeks and then you will wonder if I've fallen off the face of the earth!  JK!!  But I won't be posting as much once the tag challenges are done.

Because this is a release week at Papertrey Ink, I am playing along with their Create Along With Us challenge where we pick a card from one of the designers to try and CASE.  Every month it's hard to pick just one, but I knew on the 1st day that I had to copy Lizzie's card using the new Enchanted Forest set...I totally fell in LOVE!!

Isn't this just the prettiest card?!!  I fell in love with the nighttime sky and the colors: Ocean Tides, Pine Feather, & Mint Julip.  Here's what I came up with:

I started by blending my sky with Blueberry Sky and Enchanted Evening inks and then splattered with a bit of water and then splattered again with a bit of white acrylic paint.  For my trees I used In The Meadow and O'Tannenbaum and then added my snowbanks using the In The Meadow dies and running them through a hardwood embossing folder before adding Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

I love the way Lizzie did her sentiment and I used a rectangle die to cut out and stamp and emboss my sentiment (Penned Elegance: Christmas) in gold and then laid it back in with foam tape on the back to give the dimension.  My little rabbit is also from the In The Meadow set and I pop dotted him for some dimension too.

LOTS of inspiration as usual to choose from, so play along and you might win a $25 gift certificate!  You can check out all the details right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Twelve Tags of Christmas and 25 Days of Christmas Tags

Hello friends.  Yep...still continuing to make more tags!!  I'm actually combining these two tag events today because Shari Carroll of SSS did a video (HERE) for the 1st day of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event showing a mixed media (collage) type of tag that I absolutely fell in LOVE with, and I just had to make one...well ok, I made three!  But anyway, I thought these tags would work great for Loll's Twelve Tags of Christmas tag event too because they are a mixed media tag.

I CASE'd a good portion of Shari's tag because it was just too pretty not to, but also added a few of my own touches!  Take a look:

I used quite a bit of Tim Holtz products to make my tags including Holly Collage paper, Holiday Flash cards, and the Christmas 8 x 8 pad.  I started by using Ranger's Texture Paste and rubbing it with my fingers (messy!!) over my PTI Basic Bookmark #2 tags and then adding torn bits of the Holly tissue paper and pieces from the Christmas 8 x 8 pad.  Once they dried I started adding my layers.

My greenery sprig is from TH's Holiday Greens dies and I sponged it with some Mossy Meadow ink and then some Delicata Golden Glitz ink.  I also did some gold embossing to the edges of the PTI Fancy Flakes snowflake, but it didn't show up real well so I added some of the Delicata Golden Glitz ink to the snowflake as well.  I sponged Tea Dye ink around the edges of the Noel flashcard and then stamped a few small snowflakes over that too.

One of the papers in the 8 x 8 pad is clear acetate that has white snowflakes on it and I die cut a 2nd tag to lay over the base tag and I love the look it gives with all the extra snowflakes on the tag!  Wish I could take credit for that idea, but that is Shari's idea too!  Make sure you check out her video on how to do a tag like this...she has all kinds of helpful tips and the link is right HERE.  A few red sequins, a button, and some very fine gold thread finished off my tags.

If you like making tags, be sure to check out both events (HERE and HERE) to play along...so much wonderful inspiration from both!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

CAS Christmas Nov. 2018 - SANTA

Hello friends.  Playing along with this month's CAS Christmas challenge which is to add a SANTA to your Christmas card.

I have many Santa stamp images, but my favorite has always been Flourishes Santa I Believe.  Sadly this company is no longer in business, but I still use this image every year!  I had wanted to try the new (to me) technique of inking up your stamp with Versamark and then using a damp paintbrush to "paint" on Lindy's Magicals powder (or any other powder form of paint like Brusho's) and then lightly spritzing with water before stamping onto your cardstock.  One of my favorite colors of Magicals is the Cattail Copper Brown and I thought the shimmery copper would look so cool on this vintage Santa stamp but I wasn't real impressed with my results, so I ended up just using Soft Suede ink...

Isn't that just the sweetest vintage Santa image?!!  I just kept it very CAS so as not to take away from the image, and matted it with some Soft Suede cardstock and attached to a white card base.  I stamped the "Believe" sentiment from the stamp set in Early Espresso ink and then finished with some baker's twine and a wooden snowflake.

I did make a card from the Lindy's Magicals, but again, not real impressed with it.  I think because once you add the water (and I didn't add much!) you don't get a real clear image and you lose a lot of the details.

You can still tell it's Santa, and there is quite a bit of shimmer that is part of the Lindy's Magicals, but it just didn't thrill me!

Oh well, you have to experiment sometimes, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't!!  But either way, the process is FUN!!

Check out all the FABULOUS Santa cards from the DT and be inspired to play along!  You have until the 24th to play in this challenge and you can check it all out right HERE. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

25 Days of Christmas Tags - Days, 10, 11, & 12

Hello friends.  Here are tags from Days, 10, 11, & 12 of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags.

Day 10 was sponsored by Studio Katia and I was inspired by ALL of Tracey's DT and their sweet, sweet little snowy village tags!!

I do not own any Studio Katia stamps, but I did have Lawn Fawn's Winter Village that worked beautifully for this challenge.  I used PTI's Tag Sale #8 to die cut my tags and Copic markers to color all the little houses.

Day 11 is sponsored by Winnie & Walter and I was totally inspired by Shay and Joyce Mehrberg's lovely kraft tags with the all over floral design.

I have several Winnie & Walter stamp sets but nothing with tiny Christmas florals, so I substituted a couple Catherine Pooler Christmas sets (Festive Trimmings & Tis The Season) to come up with these.  The joy die cuts are from PTI's Wet Paint Holiday Collection.  I also added Pale Gold Nuvo Drops to the centers of the Poinsettias.

Day 12 is sponsored by Pretty pink Posh and I was inspired by Nicky Meek's adorable pastel tags.

I adored all the sweet little critters on Nicky's tags, but the only Christmas Pretty Pink Posh set I have is the Happy Snowman set, and I think he looks just as cute on these pastel tags!  I embossed with white an older snowflake background stamp on my Gina Marie Designs square scalloped tags and then fussy cut out my little snowmen with their matching scarves.  Simple but they'll look great on the grandbabies Christmas gifts!

Still lots more inspiration to come, so check it all out and play along (HERE) for the chance to win one of the MANY prizes being offered!

 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Twelve Tags of Christmas - More Tags

Hello friends.  Hope you're not tired of seeing Christmas tags as I'm still cranking them out!  I do sell a good portion of my tags though, so no worries that I'm buying hundreds of gifts so that I have tags to attach to them!

I got a couple new stamp sets from Stamplorations thanks to Nancy who is so good at enabling, and made up a couple of tags and a card using one of the stamp sets called Layered Poinsettia's.

I used a couple of PTI's Bookmark Dies (#2 & #3) to cut my tags...one in a rustic kraft and one in white.  I used SU!'s Sheet Music background stamp with Tea Dye distress ink and then got out my Lindy's Magicals and tried the technique where ink your stamp with Versamark ink and then use a damp paintbrush to add the Lindy's Magicals powder over the Versamark.  I spritzed lightly with water and then stamped on my tags...the shimmer and shine is incredible!!  Now if I could just figure out how to capture it on my photos!!  I used Autumn Maple Crimson and Ponderosa Pines Olive for the Poinsettia and leaves.  Next I stamped the outlines and then embossed my sentiment from PB's Yuletide Wishes in black.

And because I still had all my supplies out I made a card too...

LOVE this stamp set...it really makes me look good!  Hahaha!!  I used just regular ink (Gina K's Red Velvet, Cherry Red, & Fresh Asparagus inks) to stamp the flower and leaves this time.  After stamping my sentiment (again from PB's Yuletide Wishes) I layered to a piece of Real Red cs and then adhered that to a white card base.  A few iridescent sequins finished off my CAS card.

You can check out Loll's tag event right HERE and be totally inspired and then play along too!  This tag event is open till this Friday the 16th.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Twelve Tags of Christmas - Day 6

Hello friends.  I was delighted to be asked by Loll to once again guest design for her Twelve Tags Of Christmas challenge.

This is a Mixed Media challenge, so just remember to add 2 or 3 (or more) different techniques to your tags.  You can find a list of all the different techniques available to use on the CAS Mix Up  site on the side bar.

I used PTI's Basic Bookmark #2 die as my starting point for my tag and came up with this:

I used SU!'s Sheet Music background stamp with kraft ink to stamp my tag, and then stamped over that with another SU! favorite of mine called Ornamental Pine.  I did put the pine branch in my MISTI and then inked it up using markers and then spritzing with water before stamping on the tag, to give the water colored look.  Next I stamped 3 snowflakes from Penny Black's Winter Joy stamp set in Cocoa Bean ink and then used a liberal dose of WOS on them.

Next I added a pair of birds from my beloved PTI Brushed Birds stamp set using Pure Poppy, Scarlet Jewel, & Cocoa Bean inks.  The smallest bird is pop dotted for some dimension.  I finished with a die cut sentiment from Penny Black called Rejoice, some Rainstones (PTI), and a little bit of sponging around the edges using Vintage Photo DI.  Oh, and tied the top with some brown & white gingham ribbon and a piece of rustic twine.

Make sure you check out all the GORGEOUS inspiration from Loll and all her special guest designers, and then play along.  It's a perfect way to get in the Christmas spirit and plus have some lovely tags made ahead of time to use on your packages.  Check it all out right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

25 Days Of Tags 2018 - Days 7, 8, & 9

Hello friends.  Still playing along with the 25 Days Of Christmas Tags and today I'm sharing tags from days 7, 8, & 9.

Day 7 is sponsored by Birch Press Design and I was inspired by Desiree Kuemmerle and her gorgeous gold and cream colored die cut ornaments.

I used a Gina Marie Designs die to make my tags and after finishing these 2, I made a bunch more and left the "joy" die cut off...it hides all the detail of these elegant dies, plus they're very small and the joy kind of takes it over.  But anyway, without the joy they're very delicate and pretty looking!!

Day 8 is sponsored by UNIKO and I was inspired by 2 different tags from Tracey McNealy and Carol Mayne.

I loved Tracey's simple pine branch, acorn, and sentiment in red, so I used an older SU! set called Ornamental Pine and a sentiment from PTI's O'Tannenbaum to come up with these simple little tags.

I was also inspired by Carol Mayne's sweet little Poinsettia tags in red & green.  I used the same MFT tag die and then stamped the Poinsettia's from Catherine Pooler's Cozy Borders stamp set.  Couldn't seem to capture the glitter from the Rockin' Red WOW embossing glitter that I added after stamping, but IRL they really sparkle!  The little Merry Christmas sentiment is from a SSS set that I stamped in green.  Again, simple but really liked the design!!

Day 9 is sponsored by Pink & Main and once again I was inspired by Carol Mayne and her adorable critters tag!

My critters came from 2 different MFT sets...Cool Day and Polar Pals.  I colored them with Copics and then added them to a MFT tag.  The DSP at the top is from PB's Festive & Frosty 6 x 6 pad.

Still lots more inspiration to come, so check it all out HERE and then play along...there's some great prizes up for grabs!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!