Day 6 Of 12 Tags

Vintage Madness would be my title for this tag! I have had no problems or worries or cares for that matter pertaining to any of the tags thus far, until today! I did not have any colored paint dabbers. All I have are silver, gold, black, and white. If my husband asks what I want for Christmas, please give him the heads up for colored paint dabbers. I am absolutely worn out. Is that possible? Can a tag cause mental and physical exhaustion? YES!!! I had smooch ink...tons of colors. I tried them and they looked great. They just didn't dry so well! Needless to say, after several hours of drying, reapplying, sanding, scuffing, and inking I had the ugliest thing I have ever created, aside from one of my children in the first minutes after their birth (I'm not naming names). But alas, my tag was saved. Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel came to the rescue and revived the looks of my tag, much the same as those first hours after birth. A little plumping and shining up and all is grand. It does not have the deep color I was going for, but it definitely fills the requirement of vintage looking! I took a plethora of photos because the lighting is dismal given the late hour, but none of them captured the true colors of the tag. Tim makes it look so easy. That's why he is the master and I am the student. Good-bye day 6. I am so looking forward to day 7!!! 

After painting...all is good.

After sanding...not very good.

After embossing and embellishing...better.

Day 5 Of 12 Tags

2:12 a.m. and I am up again with a sick son, so I was able to see Tim's Tag 5 right after he uploaded it. All I can say is WOW!!! This tag does not look like Tim to me at all. The techniques are for sure, but the end product does not. I think he went out on a limb with this, and I am so loving it! The red screams look at me, and the simpleness of the wreath is perfect for the extra rich backdrop. This one is now my favorite! LOL!!! I am loving that he is doing extra projects to give us even more ideas. He and Mario are really going the extra mile, especially with all the bad weather they are experiencing controlling and the in's and out's of internet connection. What a team!

I have posted a few pictures of the process of my background. I wish with all my heart that I could take this background and magically transform it into a huge slab of granite for my kitchen!!! WOW! The color and swirl patterns that these three alcohol inks that I used (cranberry, slate, red pepper) were entrancing! I just sat there watching the patterns form...it was therapeutic. I know I am strange, but it is just this doesn't happen very often while I am crafting unless I am painting on canvas. It is so abstract and you can stare at it for long periods and see so much. I didn't have the type of transparency Tim used so I used regular transparency for the computer. I used both the Christmas words and Music stamps from the Reflection's line. I do have the die for the wreath, but I chose to do it with Wendy Vecci's Art Parts Modeling Film instead of grunge paper. I wanted stark white against the bold background and this fit the bill, plus I could mold the leaves with a touch of heat. This is cool stuff, and I can't wait to do something really big with it.

Day 4 of 12 Tags

I have to come clean and admit that I totally slept in. I didn't even make it to Church. We have all been sick and working so hard on all the things responsible people have to work on (;-)) and I subconsciously shut off the internal alarm. So at 9:30 a.m. I finally looked at tag 4! After a slow start, I finally finished my fourth tag after an afternoon of cropping with the besties. I have loved all of Tim's tags so far but this one of his is my favorite, because of all the cool techniques and the monochromatic look of it. I like that he used Distress Stain on everything. It quickly became my new favorite product of the whole year...I use it all the time. I never thought about using it to stamp so that part was super exciting. The way he crackled the snowman and then distressed the crackle was too cool as well. Then, there was the 25 imbedded in snowman's belly...love that! I even tried the way he threaded the tulle, and it worked...genius I tell you! I pretty much followed the whole tag this time, because I liked it so much. I did turn my snowflake into a charm though. I thought it looked better in the center. I did not have the die for the snowflakes, so I improvised and used a texture fade, and then cut out the points of the snowflakes so I could bend them. It worked great. I wanted a little more shine to the background so I spritzed it with Perfect Pearls. I love the way my snow guy came out and I wish it was not so dark in the room when I took the pictures so you can really see all the detail. I can just hear and feel the cold, blizzardy air blowing. Can't you?

Day 3 of 12 Tags

I really must have needed the sleep. I didn't pop up until 3:02 this morning...a whole hour late. I love Tim's third tag though...assembly line type to really whip out gift tags...so cool. Can you believe he came up with the idea of taping two tags together like he did to complete two at once? That "man" really is a creative genius! I never even knew he did the Carol Duvall Show way back when. That is before I even knew who he was.He even had big hair back then...LOL!!!

For my tag I had to improvise as so many are...very creatively on their part I might add! I do not have ANY reinkers...go figure. I have never had any of my pads dry up yet so I didn't think I needed them. Mistake! I did have the foam though from last year's tag, but I didn't use it this time. Although, I thought I might use alcohol inks, I didn't. Instead I used Tim's other technique of embossing after applying ink to the texture fade. It turned out great...lighter than what I wanted but great nonetheless. It looks more vintagey that way anyway. I also decided to add more red hence the poinsettias. I had so much space to fill up, but I refrained, so not my style to do so, and it was hard to leave well enough alone. I was in awe of Tim's use of the curled twine...never even knew you could do that. How is it that a "man" knows so much about cool crafting tricks??? By the way, if you are loving looking at all the blogs and projects from crafters around the world that are on Tim's blog as much I do, please send Inlinkz a thank you via twitter (if you tweet). What an awesome service they are providing for all of us!

Day 2 of 12 Tags

My internal alarm didn't wake me until 2:11 a.m. today...I really needed that extra 10 minute sleep I guess. What a cool canvas reindeer Tim has created! I am loving that this tag is masculine. That is something we don't often see in paper crafting...aside from a lot of Tim's projects of course. I decided to give my reindeer the Hanz and Franz, and "pump him up". He needed antlers and a thick, burly coat around his neck...more like an elk!!! Since I work with the jumbo tags I thought he needed a friend to fill up space. I did not have the Ornate die so I improvised with the Styled Labels Die and added the word Wish. I am super proud of this tag. I love the way the deer came out. I think doing them on canvas was key to really make them stand out. I had a horrible time with trying to do the snow look Tim talked about. Mine are not droplets...more like mini waterfalls. I will need to practice that a lot more. 

If you haven't already checked out the uploaded tags on Tim's website for Day 2, do so, and check out all the fabulous creations and blogs from people all around the world. I am whiling away the time (Wasting??? NO!) visiting fabulous places abroad! Thank you so much Inlinkz for allowing all of us to do this. It has been a wonderful experience to reach out to others that we would never have the opportunity to do so before.

Until tomorrow with Tag 3...Lord willing.

Day 1 Of 12 Tags

Wow!!! I know most of you felt the excitement at midnight to see Tim's tag like I did! I am in love with those cutey potooty pine cones. I have made several, and they all have names and love for me to talk to them! What a fabulous opening number for Tim to create at the start of this show! I am loving all of Mario's behind the scenes (BTS) via Twitter. It gives me a heads up and a laugh, and I get out all that I have that looks comparable to Tim's. I was making pine cones at around 9:00 and had them ready to go. I fell asleep around 11:00 and ironically bolted upright at 1:58 a.m...I kid you not. I did not set an alarm. Tim's tag went public at 2:01 a.m. my time, and I got to see it happen...so cool! Even the Sandman has a creative dark side!!!

For my tag I had to improvise because I didn't have the Noel or Banner dies. I love improvising though because it forces me to be more creative. I used Electric Blue Glimmer Mist on the background instead of using colored card stock. For the Noel, I used Thicker letters and adheared them to a piece of white card stock that I cut into a flourish, and stickled it because get this...I had no glitter. Imagine that!  The banner is just a strip of music paper from my stash of scraps that I cut and folded. I also like to make my Christmas tags using the jumbo tags that are 8 1/2 inches long. I like the extra room which allows me to really gaudy things up. You know how I like to cake it on! While Tim's tag was really blingy for him...which I loved...I added more bling with my hanging charm. I wanted to add a little more red, and the beads really made the holly berries pop off the tag. I loved, loved, loved the way Tim embossed while embossing! It was so much faster and made a complicated thing so easy to do. That is a technique I will use over and over.

Hello my little cuties. Mama loves you. Oh yes I do!!!

I am getting ready for the next one already. I can't wait and I am sure you can't either. Join the fun and upload your tag as well on Tim's blog. Is that a fabulous idea or what to have all of us doing show and tell? What a guy! And, it is surreal to see all those tags and visit their blogs from people all around the world. I love seeing the written language from other countries like Russia and China. It is amazing to know we all have a love of crafting and All Things Tim!!!

12 Tags of Christmas of 2010

I am positively giddy with anticipation for tomorrow's first tag! What am I talking about?  As if you didn't already know! Tim will start his 12 Tags of Christmas, beginning of course with day 1. How awesome is he to do this year after year! God broke the mold after He made Tim and Mario! If you haven't already watched his 'trailer" for this event, it is a must see. The man is a creative genius! This event has become a mini tradition of sorts for my darling daughter and me, and every night after dinner we try to recreate his tag in our style with what we have on hand. Oh who am I kidding? I run out to either of our craft stores searching frantically for the things he uses!!! However, before Tim starts his 12 Tags of Christmas 2011, I thought I would share with you the tags I created last year since I didn't have a blog then, before I start blogging about my tags this year. I did not do day 8, because I didn't have a mask, and I never went back to complete it after I did...lazy I know! You can also link back to his 2010 tags. Get ready to be "tagged" everyone!!!

Day 1

Day 2 (sorry...it wouldn't upload horizontally for some reason)

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12