Day 11 Of 12 Tags

Here we are on the Eve of 12 Tags! I cannot wait for the finale tomorrow.  Tim's day 11 tag has a vintage whimsical feel to me and he used an uber cool technique using the ever so fun melting pot, that Suze Weinberg has made famous, and shrink plastic. I am sad to say I have no shrink plastic, and have never even used it. For some reason it has never appealed to me, and I have many charms people have made using it that are awesome. But now...I have to have some, just to really try this technique out with! Instead though, I just die cut greenery and a star out with plastic packaging from a texture fade I recently purchased. I could not pass up an opportunity to play with Alcohol Ink...love that stuff, but my fingers and nail beds do not. I even used the plastic packaging for the title piece. I colored all of that with the inks and flipped them over and gave them a coat of White Picket Fence Paint Dabber, so my inks would pop better on the blue background. On my Santa, I stamped the image on glossy paper, but with Pumice Stone Distress Ink, because I cannot stand the fact that Santa's suit would be black if I used Archival Ink. Yes, I am strange, I know! But, to me, Santa's suit has to be red. So after stamping, I filled an Alcohol Ink Pen up with Red Pepper Ink and colored in the lines (this time) to fulfill my need. The rest of Santa was colored in with Sakura Glaze Pens...love them! I cut only my Santa out, because I did not like the look of all the extra paper that comes with the movement lines. It would cover up that great background of the tag. Instead, I drew the movement lines on the tag itself.

Day 10 Of 12 Tags

Ten down and two to go! Tim's day 10 tag had ornaments on it made from faceted pieces that had self made image transfers on them. It was such an amazing technique that you can use for so many things. I am already thinking about an ATC project using this technique.  Talk about great Christmas presents with this! 

I wanted this tag to be a streamy blue color, as I am feeling a little blue myself (funeral today). I dyed the "believe" with alcohol ink in Stream. Alcohol ink colors anything. I even dyed a leather belt a couple of weeks ago to match an outfit I was wearing, perfectly. Anyway...off track...I recently picked up some old chandelier crystals at a flea market in New York City and decided to use one for this tag. It was shaped like an angel so I added wings to it. The image is from Graphic 45 's Steampunk Debutante Line, as well as the Santa in blue coat. The other one is a Tim Santa. The "believe" and transparency trim is from K&Company. The wings are from Artchix Studio...love them! Everything else is from my stash.

Day 9 Of 12 Tags!

When I viewed Tim's 9th tag this morning I thought to myself, "Wow, this looks easy and will only take me an hour tops!" Perhaps if I would have stuck with Tim's design, it would have only taken a short time...but no! I decided to keep pulling stuff from my stash, try it on, get more, etc., etc., etc.! It was like an eight hour episode of What Not To Wear. Except that, I did not learn anything and left the show still looking like the "chandelier from a brothel". Yes...that would be my title for this tag! Instead of the cool vintage Christmas chandelier I had swimming around the corners of my mind, it came out like this...high on creative crack! I really think my first mistake was using a black tag. The chandelier ended up lost amongst the patterns of the double embossed image. The background is beautiful, but it and the chandelier just don't mesh. So I kept adding stuff to make it pop, and now it belongs above Madame Porter's boudoir. Oh well, we are kind of big, flashy, and gaudy here in Texas...or is that just my tag!?!

Day 8 Of 12 Tags

Tim's day eight tag is now my new favorite! I love SteamPunk type themes, so I really had a lot of fun creating this tag. I thought I would follow Tim's tag to the tee, but as I dug through my stuff ideas kept popping up. I had to stop myself several times from going to the totally gaudy side, so my tag is only semi gaudy! Aside from Tim's stamps I also used The Rubber Cafe's SteamPunk Charity Wings stamps for the background. The 25 and the Santa face chipboard pieces are from K&Company's Brenda Walton Chipbox. The large key was given to me by my friend Tamara. I thought it looked great on this tag. The metal Joy was purchased from Target. It was originally an ornament. I used the spring coil that was attached to it as part of my ribbon and attached bells instead. The tiny wings on the hanging piece are from Creative Imagination's Marah Johnson Line. Everything else is pretty much Tim stuff, except the crown and watch parts, which are from my stash.

I loved the background.

Day 7 Of 12 Tags

Wasn't Tim's tag number 7 wonderful today??? I loved it, and I really wanted mine to be as great. So after 30 minutes of cleaning up my space from last nights creative storm, I started getting out the things I would need for today's tag. I thought I had everything I needed this time, but no...I didn't have the leaf die. That's the main thing I really needed! So I once again improvised by using all the teeny, tiny leaves from the Autumn Gatherings and Festive Greenery dies. This "small" fact was really going to change the look of my tag, not to mention a lot more tedious work. So I thought I would over compensate by adding some major bling. I lifted an idea from Shelly Hickox, about using the caps of real acorns and gluing in something else...something blingy! I had pink crystal beads that I dyed with Red Pepper Alcohol Ink. I love how they came out! Thanks for the idea Shelly! I also used Tea Dye and White Picket Fence Distress Stain on my background, along with Blue Patina Perfect Pearls Mist, rather than the colors Tim used. It was hard for me to cover up the background because I really liked those color combinations and the cool pattern that was made after I splattered water on top. A very cool technique Tim! I also decided to combine the Angel and the Merry Christmas on one tag rather than two. To really make the title pop I added some dots with my favorite white Sakura pen. Even though I didn't have the cool, large Glassine leaves, I am very pleased with how my tag came out.

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?