Tuesday 28 December 2010

Christmas Left Overs

Tag Tuesday's challenge is for Christmas left overs , we ate all the brussel sprouts so have had to make do with a few bits and pieces salvaged from the recycle bin.  The background is wrapping paper, the star is a used  gift tag, the ribbons are from the waste bin too, the flower is made from yesterday's newspaper. First time I have been able to find a few minutes to do some crafting and I have lots of new goodies waiting for me and I,m grovelling in the bin looking for stuff !

Thursday 16 December 2010

Tag Tuesday

Now I've done this I,m wondering where the yellow is ? Oh dear !  I'll just have to say that the background paper is a sort of yellowy colour. Its been lovely to relax and do something simple for a change. These stamps were already on my table as I had been using them for another little project so just found a few bits of paper and added a bit of glitter. Forgot to say this is Tag Tuesday challenge which is brown/yellow & green

last past the post !

Well I was determined I WAS going to finish the twelve tags even if I am days behind and I finally finished number twelve tonight.As usual I didn't have the elements so hand cut the bauble, pinched a bit of fir off a Christmas decoration, the calender stamp is from Oxford Impressions, now I can relax ! Just got to post in on artyjens blogspot and I,m done.

Monday 13 December 2010

Tag11

There was a bit about sledges on the dictionary paper but think I have covered it up, once again I didn't read the instructions properly and so the snowflake background didn't work. Handcut the tree and I was quite pleased with it until I tried to paint the edges with white acrylic paint and the green bled into the white and made an 'orrible mess, so I had to try and wipe it off , oh joy ! what fun ..............  Just one more tag to go.despite my whittering I am enjoying making them !

Tag 10

Oh dear ! my tags are getting worse and worse ,  I forgot his nose and then stuck it on in the wrong place ! Didn't have any ingredients as usual so all hand cut and bodged, cut the top layer from an embossing folder packet, I also cheated and used a piece of Paperartsy paper for the background. After Christmas I intend to go back and try some of the techniques out properly.

silly old me !

Well silly me, I made three tags for Tag You're it swap, had it in my mind it was Christmas, just went to look and make sure and its supposed to be St Nicholas ! duh, not a St Nick in sight on mine, they will just have to be used on someones gift instead, don't know if I have time to do any more.

Tis the season

This is my atc for The Stampman December swap, can't get away from these reindeer ! All the stamps I used on here are on a sheet of stamps from Butterfly Kisses. My friend Babs bought them and then decided she wouldn't use them so I bought them from her, this is the first time I have used them and they are beautiful stamps, glad she didn't like them !!!

Sunday 12 December 2010

running backwards !

I wasn't going to do this tag because I didn't think I had anything to use except a small stamp with santa and sleigh, however last night I was sitting waiting for some stickles and acrylic paint to dry on another project and I thought I might have a go at drawing santa and his sleigh, I was quite happy at how it worked out (in fact to tell the truth I was totally chuffed with myself ! ) I have not done the masking though, just cut it out,coloured with Barn Door DI, stamped with various music and snowflake stamps and stuck in on an inked and stamped background, the row of houses is a Hero arts stamp, didn't leave enough room to put the clock on the tag so tied it on with the key,metal corners from stash.

Friday 10 December 2010

Tag 9

Well this is a travesty of Tim's tag but at least I had a go !  Of course I don't have the die ( wish I did! ) and I could not face pleating the paper so I used one of my doily lace flowers which are made in a similar way.Everything seemed to come out very gold tonight, it is very shimmery seen close up. Used a stamp for the wording as I don't have a small enough die cut alphabet.Buttons from my very large button box,metal heart etc from stash. I had promised myself that if I finished the cards I was making by 10-30  which I did I could have a go at doing the tag and its taken me over an hour and a half to do it and this is one of the simpler ones ? if I had tried to do all the things Tim did I would have been up all night ! Finished putting up the Christmas decoration in the sitting room today and it all looks very festive in there,as for the rest of the house, less said the better !

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Tag seven !

Oh dear, these are getting worse !  I did have the flourish die and the tattered flower die, but I really have not had time to make the flower as Tim did, I didn't have any self adhesive canvas but had some photo canvas so sprayed that with andirondak cranberry and lettuce green(the only two of the colours I had) but I didn't do the sticking to grungepaper so my flower is a bit flat!!! hand cut the leaves, used the distressed stripes for the background and cuttlebug Olivia alphabet for the letters, few bits and bobs and thats it.  I don't know if I am going to attempt todays, don't have the mask and last time I tried extreme masking it was a total disaster !I did get the card I had to make finished last night and posted today. Had Babs over today and I  got seven Christmas cards almost made (all the same ,so boring to do !) Cards are starting to arrive now so I just need to get finished off and start writing some . Just going to post this on Artyjens splinter group and then finish off the cards .

Monday 6 December 2010

Tag 6

Well if this had been the first tag I don't think I would have started as I do not have any of the elements except the splatter stamp.  The back ground is a piece of Paperartsy paperand a crafty individual flourish stamp.stamped with the splatter stamp and white and then gold acrylic paint. I am reasonably proud of my reindeer as I drew him on some grungepaper and cut him out, the antlers are bits of the offcuts.Trees are also freehand cut out. Don't have the tissue tape so used a bit of lace and some music ribbon, the wreath round his neck is a bit of glitter pipecleaner and a bit of sparkly braid, the ribbon bow would not stick to it so stuck it at the top instead. the Joy charm is a metal brad charm from The Works and (whisper it) I did not have any tiny brads for the sentiment so used peel off dots.  Now I have to go and make a card I need to post tomorrow and is 11-15pm already so don't think I will have time to visit other blogs tonight will have to leave it until tomorrow. Many thanks to all who have commented. 

Sunday 5 December 2010

Tag5

A very rushed tag 5, I would love to do all the techniques T!m uses but just don't have the time or the supplies. I don't have the alterations die so hand cut it and can't you just tell by how wonky it is ,still thats what hand made is all about isn't it ? I know I have some little sleigh bells somewhere but couldn't find them, so made do with these, the metal flower was in my stash but had yellow petals so coloured it with red copic pen, cheated with the crackle on the die cut by stamping it with a CI stamp, I already had the 25 ultra thicked from another project. The Santa and girl are a CI stamp which I have a larger version of as well and the little girl is on the other side of Santa, its one of those stamps I seem to use every year. Put a bit of flowersoft Polar white on his hat which is actually a wreath of holly.I don't have any green distress stickles but I do have some ordinary green stickles and will put that on later, couldn't wait for it to dry now as I wanted to get it scanned. 

Saturday 4 December 2010

Tag 4

Everyone is saying this is an easier tag and I thoughtit was going to be too, but I have really struggled with this one, maybe because I don't do "bling" !  I would have loved to do the facet, its beautiful but of course I don't have any, I found this big "gem" in some poundshop stones but instead of just sticking it on I tried to be clever, scraped the metal looking stuff off the back with a knife and then stamped and embossed white snowflakes on the back of it, of course they don't even show unless you look really hard, then I tried to make a hole in the top and snapped a bit off so had to glue it back together with glossy accents , hence the bow with the rest of the beads to hide the crack, I think I must be mental doing this ! The back ground paper is from Paperartsy, Santa stamp is Crafty Secrets. Stamped asnd Inkadinkado jewelled swirl and stuck on papermania gemstones, bit of lace and some dangly braid stuff on the bottom. The only thing I did have was the adage ticket and I stuck in on the opposite side to the one on Tim's tag as I didn't want to cover my jewelled swirl up. Phew........  .  Now I need to get the dinner started as I want in to be cooking while I watch Strictly Come Dancing.

Friday 3 December 2010

Tag number 3

Well I did at least have the bird die for this one so that was a good start. Didn't have a tree or branch stamp except this rather feeble one which is almost covered up anyhow, coloured the bird with fired brick DI and then stamped the music over it. I don't have the paint dabbers so just stamped with white acrylic paint and I do like the snowy effect, will be doing that again!  The nest bit is some eyelash wool and it really did not want to stick on there so I ended up pushing a brad through it, hoped it wouldn't show but it does. made the flower from some old book pages and fastened the tag on with a large pearl pin. I did have some of the elasticy trim, it came from a local haberdashery shop and I knew it would come in useful someday, the tinsel is a pipe cleaner from my box of Christmas ribbons etc ,some sari ribbons on the top. I think this is my favourite one to date, probably because I love the bird. Also posted this on The Artistic Stamper Christmas challenge

Another Christmas card

Still churning out the Christmas cards, won't be doing many of these, although I love the Penny Black Nativity scene it took me nearly two hours to colour four of them. Off now to see what Tim has in store fpr todays tag .

Thursday 2 December 2010

Day 2

Here's my day two tag for the twelve days of Christmas, this time I did have two of the stamps, the music and the splatter so that was a start. The Fir cone and branches are a Butterfly kisses stamp and the flourish is Paper Artsy.Didn't have the metal bird so stamped one from a Oxford Impressions set and embossed it with Metal Magic. The Christmas Carol stamp is from the same Tim Holtz set as the music stamp. Few pearl beads and bits of ribbon. certainly not as hard as yesterdays ! ( I forgot to say that you will see that I stamped it upside down , the pine cones etc should have been at the bottom of  the tag, I would like to say that its just my take on it but that wouldn't be true , I just did it wrong ! ) There are lots of tags on ArtyJens blog splinter group.

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Twelve tags of Christmas

Tim Holtz's twelve tags of Christmas has just started again.  Now I have never tried to do any of them before but after spending all afternoon trying to catch up on Christmas cards etc I felt like trying something different.
This is my tongue in cheek take on the tag !  I did not have any of the things he has used so just improvised with what I had to hand. The house is a chipboard shape from Crafty Individuals, coloured with walnut stain DI, put through the cuttlebug  with distressed stripes folder and sanded, the fence is also a CI chipboard shape,wreath made with punched holly leaves,tree a die cut, ticket stamped and inked and a snowflake brad at the top,  the snow is flower soft polar white ,not much like the original and it did not take too long to make
and the main thing is I enjoyed making it.