Musing on Tags

It's another combination tag and card day! For the 14th day of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags, I was inspired not so much by any one tag as by the clean and simple design of many of them. My version: 

I do love a cute penguin! He's stamped in black and embossed, while the tag itself is embossed in silver. I added a little bit of blue sponging to the tag base before popping him on. The lights and hat trim have rock candy Stickles added — I did not expect it to make the marker run, but it did a little bit! I can live with it since it's "only a tag". 😉 I also added a bit to my fingers and added it to the ends of the twine... most metallic twines seem to fray if you look at them, don't they?  

I also played along in the current Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge, where this week's Muse is Chriss Blagrave, with this card: 

It took me a while to find my way into this card. I broke it down into some of its components... patterned paper as a main element, white silhouette images, large sentiment. And that led me to this: 

I've had this patterned paper quite a while, and thought it would make a perfect wintry night sky! I swapped out the houses on Chriss's card for trees, and added a dry-embossed strip of cardstock below but no ribbon. No gold on my card either, with a white sentiment and no ribbon. (Or dots on my trees.) 
Tomorrow life may get in the way... but I'll do my best to get a tag done!  

Supplies: (tag) Bienfang bristol, Neat & Tangled Santa's Wonderland, Swirly Twirly Tags & Essentials by Ellen Tis the Season stamps, Versamark & Versafine onyx black inks, Zing clear & silver embossing powders, Spectrum Noir markers, rock candy distress Stickles, Hemptique red, white & silver baker's twine, pop-dot tape; (card) white & Papertrey Ink soft stone cardstock, Echo Park patterned paper, (?) trees & Die-Versions Merry & Bright dies, Darice diagonal stripe embossing folder

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Tag, Day 13

Day 13 of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Total coincidence that I had an all-day headache on the THIRTEENTH. I didn't want it to be a totally lost day, so I made a tag! (A surprise, I know.) I was totally intrigued by Amy Kolling's use of black for her tag base — fun! So here's my take:

I used a solid image rather than an outline stamp, as Amy did — I thought it was time for Dasher to see some ink. Once I'd embossed him in white, I added a flurry of snowflakes, stars and even a couple of dots to complete the look I wanted. I cut the "merry" twice, once in red glitter paper and once in white so I could overlap them just a bit. I balanced the sentiment with a circle reinforcement at the top. Some red metallic cord finished it off. 
I may have to make more black tags, such a great look! 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up black cardstock & real red glimmer paper, Stampin' Up Dasher and assorted small stamps, Versamark, Wow white embossing powder, Hero Arts Fancy Cut Christmas die, red metallic cord

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Two Tags, Two Challenges

I hate to say it, but I may be reaching peak tag... and it's not even quite the middle of November yet! But I really would like to complete all 25 days of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event; and (yay, me) my tag was chosen the winner of the last Tag You're It challenge, so I kind of wanted to play along with the new one. What's a crafting girl to do? :D 
So first up, my tag for Day 12 of The 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Carol Mayne's tags made me realize I have a dearth of snowman tags so far this year! 

I do believe this little guy has never seen ink before... now that I've used him, I can't figure out why not! I coloured him with markers, then tried something new — I used blue chalk to add a little hint of sky around him. There's also sparkle pen, Stickles and even some puffy snow marker. 

This is the beautiful autumnal tag from Tag You're It featured artist Diane Jaquay. I generally only make two kinds of tags, though: Christmas tags and wine tags. So I gave my interpretation a festive spin. 

I started by sponging my tag in yellow and two shades of green (and a few water splats, of course), then stencilled a couple of pine cones and evergreen branches. I found these somewhat suitable die cuts and sponged them with green as well, before attaching them behind the embossed sentiment. Simple, but I think kind of elegant. 
I've been looking at these two tags I made today... obviously I have no particular personal style whatsoever. :D 

Supplies: (be merry) Spectrum Noir white cardstock, Unity Gifts Galore & Hero Arts Family & Friends stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Zing clear embossing powder, Spectrum Noir & Sharpie markers, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen, frosted lace Stickles, MArvy-Uchida snow marker, hole punch, Hemptique twine, scrap white ribbon; (joy) white cardstock, Unity Greetings of Christmas stamp, Versamark, Brilliance gold galaxy, Memento dandelion, new sprout & bundled sage distress inks, gold tinsel embossing powder, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Festive stencil, Dreamweavers glossy white embossing paste, Winnie & Walter Katharine tag, Spellbinders circle & (?) sprig dies, hole punch, scrap ribbon, pop-dot tape

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Not Finding my Zen

Do you Zentangle? The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers wants you to try it! 

As with any interest large or small, there is a universe of information and resources for Zentangle across the interwebs. For one thing, it is actually Zentangle® — accept no substitutes. You can become a Certified Zentangle® Teacher (CZT). There are Zentangle books, Zentangle courses... you get the idea. 

I was not the only sister initially a bit intimidated by this challenge. But with the help of two websites, I came up with this: 

This website gave me the idea to use circles to begin my Zentangle. A few of the patterns I came up with on my own, but a lot of them were based on patterns I found here. Of course, being me, I tended to add, subtract or modify any pattern I tried. My favourite is the loopy one up in the left corner; not too hard and a fun finished effect. I actually did enjoy making this, but I doubt I'll take it up as a full-time hobby. ;) 
Once I had my panel made came the question of how to turn it into something more. I didn't want to cut off any and throw it away! Ultimately I came up with this design... it leaves me the smaller trapezoid panel that I can use for an "opposite" card! 
Be sure to check out how the other sisters decided to run with this challenge. And we have a must-see guest designer, Jessa! We hope you'll discover your Zen(tangle) and join us! 

Supplies: white, black & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Stampin' Up real red glimmer paper, Paper Smooches thanks die, black Sharpie pen

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Tag, Day 11... and a Card

Day 11 of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event, and once Remembrance Day services were over, I got to work. Yesterday's tag was clean and graphic, so I decided to go a little more layered today, using Daniela Dobson's tag as my inspiration. 

Like Daniela, I started with a manila tag as my base; mine is cut from a manila file folder using the Technique Tuesday tag die I won through last year's tag event! I clear-embossed two large snowflakes before sponging my tag with distress ink. The trees are embossed with aged gold distress embossing powder and the small snowflakes with white. I kept my sentiment banner white to go with those snowflakes. Finally I added a fold of manila and a snap to the top with a loop of hemp twine. (I've made a lot of tags; I may have felt the need to change things up a little. :D) 

Next up, a card for Merry Monday's challenge to create a card with a winter activity on it: 

So yes, I realize my activity is implied, not being done. Oh well, if it doesn't count, it's still another card for the pile! I could have totally copied Bonnie's DT card; these skates are from the same set. I watercoloured a soft blue-grey wash around them before colouring the poinsettia. Other than the heel, I left the rest uncoloured. I dry-embossed the grey panel with woodgrain before putting everything together. 

Supplies: (tag) white cardstock, manila file folder, Hero Arts Get Merry, Decorate You, Memory Box Deer in the Field  & Technique Tuesday Jingle All the Way stamps, Versamark & stormy sky distress inks, Zing clear, Wow white & Stampendous aged gold embossing powders, Technique Tuesday This Is & Simon Says Stamp Small Folded Banner dies, Chatterbox old gold snap, Hemptique twine (card) Bazzill marshmallow & Stampin' Up basic black & grey cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Stampin' Up Winter Memories stamps, Versamark, MFT black licorice & Stampin' Up red riding hood inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Zig clean colour real brush markers, Papertrey woodgrain impression plate, pop-dot tape

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Tag, Day Ten

We're into double-digits of November and Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event! Just one tag for me today — I was attracted to the clean and graphic look of Amy Kolling's ornament tag. I kept the colours and the overall design, ending up with this: 

I really was going to use regular-striped paper, as Amy did, but then this sheet caught my eye. For the ornament topper, I used a stocking topper die. Having used holly leaves just two days ago on a tag, I decided to add little die cut ornaments to the ends of my twine instead. Just to emphasize the whole "this is supposed to look like an ornament" thing, too. ;) 

With lots of dies used for this, I'm going to link up again to Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge. 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, silver pearl paper, Lawn Fawn patterned paper, Simon Says Stamp/Kelly Purkey Tis the Season stamp, Versamark ink, Zing glitter red embossing powder, Papertrey Ink tag sale #4, Paper Smooches stocking, Impression Obsession Christmas Icons & Spellbinders circle dies, PSX silver glitter paint, Hemptique red & silver baker's twine, scrap white ribbon, pop-dot tape

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