Christmas Tags for Tracey and Loll and Muse CV #71

I was really hoping to get more tags made for the wonderful challenges that Tracey (25 Days of Christmas Tags) and Loll ( 12 Tags of Christmas) have but I've had difficulty keeping up.  I do have two tags today however.
Tracey's tags on Day 16 featured the designers from Muse Christmas Visions and the theme was to use vellum.

I cut one tag from vellum and backed it with a plain white one.  The mistletoe was stamped in dark green and clear heat embossed before coloring on the back with Zigs.  A little sentiment tag from MCS and some green ribbon finish it off.

Loll's challenge is mixed media and I was inspired by so many of her and her friends wonderful creations.

I smooshed Distress Ink on the front of my tag and when it was dry I stenciled the holly by masking off certain areas.  I used my Inktense Pencils to add some shading and details.  So that's stamping, watercoloring, stenciling and coloring, all on one little tag.

If I get my Thanksgiving cards ready to mail I may get time to make a couple more tags that I have ideas for.  That and watching more Hallmark movies.

Thanks for dropping by.

Tag You're It! #60

Diane Jaquay has a wonderful tag to inspire us at Tag You're It! 

I usually follow pretty closely with whatever the inspiration is but I went outside the box this time.

From Diane's tag I got: layered tag, all over leaf design, sentiment image layered over greens, bow.

I made a striped backgroud from my CP stamp, and using my NBUS infinity tags from HA I cut out a striped and white tag.  The holly leaves are from a TH set that I cut in scrap paper and used as a stencil.  I used that same set to make the greens.  A tiny tag and sentiment from MCS are tied on with an organza bow.  So you see, all of Diane's elements are there, just in a Christmas tag.

What kind of tag would you make?  There are plenty more on the TYI blog to spark your imagination.

ETA:  Loll has a wonderful Twelve Tags of Christmas event going on and I'm going to send my tag over there.  It's a mixed media challenge and I've stenciled, stamped and die cut.

Muse Christmas Visions #40 and HLS Christmas

I think I missed a few Christmas challenges but I have a card today for Muse: Christmas Visions which also works for Happy Little Stampers Christmas.

I got these oval dies from PTI a while ago and pulled them out when I saw the Muse CV inspiration by Chriss Blagrave.

I added holly from a Poppystamps die and a sentiment from Penny Black. So easy I could make a ton of them if I didn't get bored repeating myself. ;)

Thanks for dropping by.

Merry Monday #192 and CASology #185

It's holiday time on my blog.  I have an Easter card for CASology whose cue word is 'egg'.

Do you see the two little eggs?  The stamp is from Penny Black, stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Zigs.

Now we go all the way to Christmas with my Merry Monday card - use berries.

I loosely stamped the holly from The Ton on a PTI tipped top, then mounted it on some Pine Feather cs (I know it looks black but it isn't).  The white embossed sentiment is from the same set.  So far so good on making a Christmas card every week.  Duh,  Why am I not doing two?

Have a great weekend.

Tags, Tags and More Tags!

There are a lot of wonderful tag challenges out there and while I don't usually make tags, I've been caught up in it.  Today I have three tags to show you, each for a different challenge.  Tag You're It! is an ongoing challenge so I'll start with them and their inspiration tag.

No birdhouses in my stash so I used my little Stamplorations 'condo' and colored it with Distress Ink. The sentiment is from Neat and Tangled.

The wonderfully creative Tracey McNeely is the owner of TYIC but she also has another challenge running right now.  She has a ton of sponsors and you can win by either commenting on her blog posts and/or making tags of your own.  You won't want to miss the tags made by the sponsor Design Teams.  If they don't inspire you nothing will.

  Here is the link-up post.  My card was inspired by this one Tracey did on day 2.

I went with a darker background, stamping the trees from Avery Elle in Unicorn White and then white embossing them  I wanted them really white.  They are birch trees after all.  The Peace die from TH was layered three times with silver on top.

Next up is for

This is a mixed media challenge and Loll has a lot of her friends showing off their skills every day.  Even if you don't do tags or mixed media you NEED to go see these wonderful creations. It has taken me a while to get my tags done but I have one for you today and another one for later.

I layered up a die from PB, colored it with Distress Ink.and when dry covered it with a thick layer of Crackle Paint.  It's hard to see the cracks in the photo.  While that was drying, I stamped my tag with MFT's  Pinstripe in Fog, a FS border stamp all over in Peeled Paint and then did the edges with Frayed Burlap.  The sentiment is SSS.

I forgot about a couple of other tag challenges.  (How could I?  Slap me up the side of the head, Kylie)  I'm sending the holly one to Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Tag Challenge.

The Peace on will go to HLS's Christmas Challenge - Tag.

Even if you don't make tags, you really should go check out all the inspiration on these blogs. Some of the techniques and layouts could be used on cards, too.

HLS Christmas and Muse Christmas Visions.

When I saw this card of Loll's I remembered my holly die and made a card for the Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge.  

The die is from PB, double cut to give it some depth and colored with Distress Ink.  The embossed border is from Darice and I just wish it was meant for an A2 card.  The measurements are just a little off.  PTI provided the sentiment, stamped in silver.  I love this so much I may have to make a few more.

ETA: I'm also going to sent this to Muse Christmas Visions where Ingrid Blackburn made
this card for our inspiration.

Thanks for dropping by,

Addicted to Stamps and More #163

It's time for another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and this week the theme is "Holiday" - any holiday.  In case you didn't know, Kylie of ATSM and ATCAS and Happy Little Stampers has started her own line of stamps under the Happy Little Stampers name and she is sponsoring a prize for this week's winner.

For your viewing pleasure and inspiration, here is my card.

The stamp and sentiment is from Penny Black, clear embossed over VersaFine black ink and colored with Inktense Pencils.

I don't usually like to enter my Design Team assignments into another challenge but since I'm keeping it in the family at the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge I think it will be fine.

I'm glad you dropped by.  Why not head over to Addicted to Stamps for some more inspiration and get a start on your holiday cards.

HLS Sketch and CF #136

It's cold and I'm going to spend the day sewing on a quilt but first I want to post the only card I have finished.  I made it for the sketch challenge at Happy Little Stampers but it also qualifies for CASual Friday, I think.  That challenge is "must love watercolor" which I do but a lot of the Design Team cards had a love theme to it.  Not mine.

I watercolored this stamp from Penny Black with Distress Inks and added the sentiment from Clearly Besotted.  Clean and Simple.  One Layer.  

I know the sketch looks multi-layered but I thought the holly behind the poinsettia still resembled the sketch.

Thanks for stopping by.  You know your visits and comments mean the world to me.

Muse #96

This is Vicki's card for our Muse inspiration this week.

I was inspired by the holly, kraft and red.

The holly is made with a NBUS Tim Holtz stencil and Distress Inks.  I wanted to include some kraft down the side and I didn't have a big enough sentiment so I did this one on my computer.

I have 36 of the 42 cards I need and I'll be doing a few more for challenges this week. I'm duplicating some of the easier ones I've done for the rest.  Those of you who send out  a hundred or more?!.  I don't know how you do it.

Thanks for stopping by.  Your visits and comments are always appreciated.

Merry Monday #96

Another Christmas card in the fold.  If I keep it up, which I hope to, I'll have more cards than I'll need come December.  Today's card is for Merry Monday.

I bought this Tim Holtz Alterations die quite some time ago because I love the rustic look of it.

I wanted to do something a little different so I made the card base 4.25 by 4.25 and have the holly over the top edge making it an A2 card.  I inked it all up with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and used an NBUS sentiment from Hero Arts.

I'm awaiting my order from Papertrey Ink and just placed one with Simon Says Stamp.  Where am I going to put all this new stuff?  I have an Ikea DVD rack and all my stamps and dies in DVD holders but one rack just doesn't hold them anymore.  My daughter has two that she can't use and will give me.  I guess I'd better have her ship them.  I should have my head examined but they'd probably just find paper and stamps floating around in ink there, with a few dies thrown in  for good measure.  All I can say is "I'm probably still WAY behind some of the rest of you".  wink wink

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

LIM #148 and MCS #120

Fortunately my time creating cards is more productive than my Christmas shopping.  Yesterday was a bust as far as gifts go but today I did get the Angel Tree gift that needs to be returned to the church by the 13th. Last year I did a lot of cyber shopping and I may have to take that route again unless I can make a trip to a city where there are infinitely more stores to shop in.  That's the bad thing about living in a small town.

Today's card is for Less is More (Sparkle) and My Craft Spot (Sparkle and Shine).

Okay, I know.  My photography isn't the best.  When you usually take pictures in front of a sunny window and there's no sun, well, this is what you get.  It doesn't even show you the sparkle very well.  It's not the sequins that sparkle, although they do, but the holly leaves that are cut from DCWV glittered paper using a Tim Holtz die.  The sentiment from SSS Signature Christmas, also sparkles with embossing powder.

I have a busy weekend so I'm heading to my craft room now to hibernate (it's 24 degrees out) and make more Christmas cards. Thanks for stopping by.