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?