Christmas Tag #5

After finishing two tags on Friday night, I took a break last night but I dug back in this morning.  I am hoping to get the two tags done today before I loose the light but it looks like I might only get this one done.

I did not have the fragment tags that were used for Tim Holtz Tag #5 but I did have the plain fragments.  I altered the plain fragments by adding a jump ring to the back to make them "ornaments".  I also did not have any of the German scrap.  I would love to get my hands on some but instead I used my handy dandy Cuttlebug.  Man...I really love that thing.  I cut out my own using some craft metal from Spellbinders and a Cuttlebug border die.  Not a bad compromise.  I used Making Memories rubons in black.  As I was digging through my stash I realized I have very little in the ways of Christmas themed rubons which surprised me.

I am currently working on Tag #6.  I am going to have to modify it again since I don't have the stamp set with the car nor do I think I have that tree....I have already figured out a substitute for the Sparkly Fluff but I will be keeping my eyes open for it in my travels to the various local scrapbooking stores in the neighbourhood.  I think I need a second job to support this habit of mine.

Tags #3 and 4...finally...

So I have managed to get both Tim Holtz's Tag # 3 and Tag # 4 completed last night.  I am really enjoying following along.  I am glad that Jenn challenged me to do this.  I have tried out some really interesting new techniques and I have been able to use some products that have been hiding in the bottom of some bins in the basement.

For Tag #3, I have at least one of the stamps set (I think I might even have both) but I decided to use the Snowman from the Retro Holiday set instead.  I wanted to do the plaid with the blue alchohol inks and the snowman fit the colour scheme better.  I don't have any black alcolhol ink but I had a dark blue so that is what I used to give my tag weight.  I also don't have any of the "distress" stamps.  Instead I just used the small snowflakes from Mini Holidays to make my white snow.  The other items I don't have any of are the pins and charms but I remember that I had some old Making Memories metal charms that would probably work as well.  So here is my version:

Tag #4 ended up costing me a bit of money.  When I saw it at work yesterday, I realized that I needed some Memory Glass frames so off to The Painted Pony I went.  I have bought them there before so I figured that since she also carries the full range of Tim Holtz products, she would be following the Tags as well.  Sure enough...I was able to get the 1x3 inch frames but not the ones with the two loops top and bottom.  Improvisation time.

I have a ton of old microscope slides at home which is why I went with the 1x3 inch size.  I also picked up the Mini Holidays (I wasn't planning to but they jumped into my basket), the Memory capsules (I don't know how they got in there), and some of the metal corners after all I did need to make the roof.  Since I already broke my crafting budget for this payday, I decided to improvise the pins.

Here is what mine ended up looking like.  I stayed more faithful to his design this time.

To correct the missing bottom ring, I dug through my bead supplies and found some jump rings.  I glued a large one to the back of the pin to hang the dangley bit.  I didn't have the pearl paint so I used pearl Smooch instead.  That little brush made perfect icicles.  I used glass micro beads instead of glass chips. 

I really like the background for this tag.  I think this is what I am going to use for the gift tags for under the tree this year but on a smaller scale.

One thing I did discover when I was at The Painted Pony was that she carries TENsecond Studio.  She is doing a journal cover class with the metals in January and I am so very, very tempted to take the class.  I am going to have to go back next pay day and pick up some more kabuka molds and may be a texturizing set.  I think I will work on my husband about me going between now and then since the class would be all day on a Saturday and he would be stuck with the babysitting duties.

Well....off to start Tag 5 and to do some photo editing (hopefully) for Mother-in-Laws album.

Sorry.....

Tag #3 is delayed.  I started it last night but I got distracted by a Fringe episode and then proceeded to fall asleep on the couch.  I will post Tag #3 and Tag #4 tomorrow morning.

Happy Friday...

12 Days of Christmas -- Tag #2

I managed to get my hands on some size #8 tags tonight.  I made a quick stop at the The ScrapBox on the way home from work to pick up a few supplies, not only did they included the size #8 tags, but the Retro Holiday set of stamps as well.  The last set that she had on the wall.  I just love that snowman.

Tag #1 was done with a size #6 tag which is what I had on hand at the time.  Now that I have worked with both the #6 and #8, I think I prefer the smaller size for when I am making tags for cards but #8 for layouts.

Anyway, I finished my Tag #2.  It is 1:30 in the morning.  I took a picture using a bunch of the lamps that I had and adjusting the lighting in Photoshop.  The photo is not bad but the colour is just off slightly.  It has a bit more yellow in the photo that the actually tag has.

I love the grunge frame stamp that Tim Holtz Tag #2 used but alas it is not part of my collection, yet.  so I used some architectural accent stamps that I have from Blockheads.  I used weather wood distress embossing powder to stamp the background image.  Instead of the green and read colouring, I went for weathered wood, worn lipstick and dusty concord.  The speckles are done with perfect pearl Perfect Pearls to fit into the more purple/blue/silver tone of the tag.  Faded jeans was used to accent the distressed edge of the tag.

I also was not able to get my hands on any of Tim's photo corners nor his metal flowers.  My photo corners are maded from 36 gage metal sheets that I cut into photocorners and then embossed using Ten Second Studio plates.  I ran the same metal through my Cuttlebug to cut out two 5 petal flowers that I had in one of my Spellbinder flower dies.  I then followed Tim's instructions to put the flower together.  The metal was way too shiny so I covered with some alcohol ink and distress stickles to grunge it up a bit. The six petal flower behind the rose is from Imaginesce.

Two tags down and 10 more to go...Can't wait to see the what Day 3 will be.

12 Days of Christmas -- Tag #1

Well I spent last night making up my tag for Jen's challenge.  One of the stamps set that I don't have is the Tim Holtz Retro Christmas so I decided that instead of making the same tag, I would use the same techniques to make my own tag.

So what do you think?

Not the best photo I am afraid to say.  I had to bring the tag into work to be able to get some decent light to photograph it.  It sucks that I am on the way into work as the sun comes up and on the way home when it sets.  It makes it hard to take photos of projects.

I used the same techniques that were showcased by Tim Holtz Day 1 tag.  For my inked background, I used peeled paint, faded jeans and mustard seed Distress Ink.  I stamped the branches with peeled paint and Archival ink.  I slathered on the rock candy Crackle Paint.  I think I am going to have to get another bottle of this ;-)

Since I didn't have the snowman stamp, I decided to use one of the ornaments out of the Christmas elements grungeboard pack and stamped it with a Just Cre8 stamp.  I embossed it with black embossing powder.  I painted with the snow cap Paint Dauber but the white was too stark against the green so I added a layer of gold Paint Dauber on top to mellow it out.  The ornament was covered with the rock candy Stickles.

The tree branches are covered with diamond Stickles for the "snow" effect.  The leaves on the ornament are the Maya Arts leaf ribbon.  I used the same wired technique.  I love this idea and I am going to be using it more often.  Instead of swirls, I used the holly branches from the Christmas elements grungeboard.  They were painted white, inked with peeled paint and black, covered with rock candy Stickles and accented with Xmas red Stickles.  The berries on the leaves are Dew Drops.

Not bad for my first attempt.  Off to see what Tim has in store for us on Day 2.