Christmas Tag, Mini Snow Globe, Deer

I've opted to make a tag for a child for Day 25 of

Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags.

Here it is...

My idea came from seeing this tag (below) with the cute image inside the snow globe.

Did you notice that I had a snow globe mounted on my star shaped tag? 

My husband didn't! 

Supplies Used:

Dies:

MFT/Die-namics 'Stitched Star STAX'

Memory Box 'Small Snow Globe' 

Open Studio 'Snow Globe Bases'

Marianne Design/Craftables 'Tiny's Pine Trees'

Impression Obsession 'Wreath'

Stamp:

Stampin' Up 'Forest Friends'

Memento/Tsukineko Marker Pens:

Gray Flannel

Tuxedo Black

Bamboo Leaves

New Sprout

Other:

Crafter's Companion 'Spray and Shine' Varnish

Twine - Gray

Gems - Pink

Although Tracey's challenge clearly states 25 Days, she snuck in an extra day!
So that's one more tag for me to show you on my next post...

Just one more tag to go...

Donna. x

Winter Tag, Owl on Branch, Christmas

I went for something a little fiddly to make for 

Day 15 of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags...  but boy, did I have fun.

Here it is.  A tag with a bit of 'movement'...

The fiddly part was attaching those threads to the baubles and then tying them around the branch so that they hung where I wanted them to.  

But I like the effect of the baubles having some movement to them, so I can't complain!

If you look at the inspiration tag I chose for today, you'll see that it's blatantly obvious where I got my ideas from.  Owl on branch.  Easy to spot, isn't it?

(If you aren't someone who stops by regularly, you won't know that I quite often take design 'detours' that make no sense until I explain my things to you). x

Supplies Used:

Dies:

Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Circular Tags'

MFT/Die-namics 'Stitched Circle STAX'

Penny Black Creative 'A Pocket Full'  

Poppystamps 'Christmas Baubles'

Punch:

McGill Dimensional 'Tree Branch'

Stamps:

Stampin' Up 'Forest Friends'

Penny Black 'Berry Bevy'

Memento Marker Pens:

Olive Grove

Tuxedo Black

Expresso Truffle

Rich Cocoa

Ink:

VersaCraft 'Tangerine'

Embossing Folder:

Cuttlebug 'Distress Stripes'

Other:

Sequins

Twine

Patterned Paper

Hope you are enjoying your day...

Donna. x

Tag Shaped Card, Butterflies, Water Spritzing

It's Tag You're It Challenge time again, everyone...

...  and you know what that means?

It means I had a tag to inspire me and to ponder over before coming up with my own version.

Yay!

My fellow DT buddy Anja Curvers came up with the most beautiful design for this fortnight's challenge.  But before I show you her tag, here's my version...

Now take a look at Anja's tag.  Can you see why I love it so?

I've kept quite closely to Anja's colour scheme.  I've just mixed things up a bit and put all of the elements together on one large tag shaped card.

I must admit this stamped image with the very bold outline wasn't the look I was going for and I'm not sure I could recreate it again even if I wanted to.  I was experimenting with ink to stamp/stamp to watercolour paper/spritzing stamped image with water and this was one of the results.  I think my stamp wasn't completely dry when I inked it up and created this version.  It's kind of messy, but I kind of like it...  I think!




Supplies Used:

Stamps:
Stampin Up 'Close As A Memory'
Darkroom Door 'French Script'

Die:
Mama elephant 'Tags A Lot'
Poppystamps 'Meadow Clover'

Punches:
Tim Holtz 'Butterfly' (Large)
Martha Stewart 'Pop Up Butterfly'

Inks:
Memento 'Teal Zea'l
Memento 'Bamboo Leaves'
Brilliance 'Platinum Planet'

Stencil:
Memory Box 'Splatter Spray'

Other:
Vellum
Wooden Peg
White Acrylic Paint
Distressing Tool



Challenges I'm Entering...

CAS Mix Up
(Stamping, Die Cut, Water Spritzing - plus two Punches and some Stencilling)
 I really wanted to enter this design for your feedback Bonnie and Loll (as I need to know if this 'works' or not), so I made it into a tag card as the challenge rules only mention cards.  Am I correct in saying you are a card challenge only?  And is it ok to have more than three components or not really?

Simon Says/Monday Challenge
Summer Garden

Allsorts Challenge

Week #366  'The Great Outdoors'

Addicted to Stamps and More

CAS-UAL Fridays

Addicted to Stamps
Challenge #128  'Flowers'

Of course, I may look at this card in a few weeks time and think 'what on earth was I thinking'...
So...  If you have the time, please let me know your thoughts.
If enough of you like it I may have to try and recreate my experiment.  If not, then thank you for being honest.  It's all trial and error to me, but I'm hopefully making some progress!!!

Thank you for stopping by today...

...  and if you have the time and are feeling inspired, why not join us for this fortnights challenge?

'Bye for now...

Donna

Acetate Tag, Christmas 'Drop' Ornament, Female

It's time for another challenge at Tag You're It, and this time it's Tracey's turn to inspire us all...

But before you read on and see her tag for this challenge, I have something I'm going to tell you.

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE red, green and white/near white colour combinations (throw in brown as well and I'm in colour heaven), so it would have been so easy for me to just go with those colours and have a lovely time...  but every once in a while a girl needs to 'dip her toe' in other directions. 

So I've come up with a design that's very...   'rustic' looking, shall we say?

I would say 'not my usual style', but as pretty much everything I make is still an experiment of some kind I'm not really sure I have a style as yet!!!

Anyhow...  Here's my tag...

Before you say anything, I am aware that the stamping on the word 'Blessings' is not even throughout...  the 'E' is a little bit squiffy at the bottom and the 'GS' has obviously had more pressure applied to it than the rest...  

Normally I would have discarded this straight away, stamping and restamping if needs be...  

But do you know what?  

I decided that it didn't matter as it was all still perfectly readable and somehow suited the 'feel' of this tag.  Do you think I'm crazy?     

Now, just take a look at Tracey's design (below).  

Those beautiful, vibrant colours, the classic ornament shape with the word 'joy', the holly, bells tied on with thread... 

My tag looks nothing like that, I know...   

But it should be obvious (I hope) which parts I chose to keep true to Tracey's design...  and if it isn't I shall go find a quiet corner to sit in and have a good cry!

Dies used:

Memory Box 'Drop Ornament'

Papertrey Ink 'Wet Paint Holiday Die'

Impression Obsession 'Twig Wreath Die Set'

Lifestyle Crafts 'Basket'  (cut down portion of the handle has the word 'Blessings' stamped onto it)

Other:

Stampin' Up 'Ornament' Punch

Papertrey Ink 'Wet Paint Holiday Stamp Set'

Corrugated Card (Recycled Packaging)

Texture Paste

Twine

Bell

For those of you wondering where you are supposed to write anything on this tag, I have punched out a second 'ornament' shape from Kraft card and stuck it on the back...  although truth be told I'm not sure as yet if I'm going to use this as a tag or put it to one side and use it as the main focus on a Christmas card.

You may be aware that Tracey has been running her 

25 Days of Christmas Tags event...  

This tag was also made to tie into that challenge (Day 19 of the event)...

... and as I've used snippets of green, black and silver...  and corrugated Kraft and acetate offcuts... I'm also linking this to my friends over at 

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge...

...  Loll's 12 Tags of Christmas ...

(remaining open until 22/11/2015)

As ink has only been used for stamping I'm not sure this one counts as Mixed Media?

...  Happy Little Stampers ...

...  Happy Little Stampers ...

...  Allsorts Challenge ...

...  Craft Rocket Challenge ...

...  Anything But Cute ...

If you can, come and join us...

...  we would love to see you stop by :)  

Donna

CAS, Butterfly on leaves, Female

I don't often make CAS cards...  and if I'm honest I had no idea this would end up being one.

You see, I wanted to join in with the latest Butterfly Challenge and I had a rough idea in mind weeks ago when I first saw the 'E' for embossing theme...  but I thought I had longer than I did and almost missed the boat altogether. 

(Thanks for mentioning it on your blog, Di)!!!

Anyhow, in a last minute 'I've got eleven hours to the deadline' (which realistically means four hours tops to make the card and try and get a decent photo...  then zoom off to get daughter from school, hear her news for the day, feed her, etc...  Oh yes, and get some washing on, washing put away, prepare and eat my evening meal, etc...  That doesn't leave an awful lot of time really. does it?

Oh well... 

So like I said, this wasn't going to be a CAS card.  It was going to have more layers and embellishments...  and initially I had a choice of two designs in mind.  But...  whilst moving things around I looked and thought 'this looks better like this...  Clean and Simple...  uncluttered.'

So that's how this card was made.

Minimal supplies used:

Stampin' Up 'Best Blossoms'

Memory Box 'Blissful Butterfly Border'

Cuttlebug 'Tag Team Butterflies' Cut and Emboss Set 

Memento (Tsukineko) Ink Pad 'Bamboo Leaves'

Twine

Foam Pads

Here's the card...

I know Winter is setting in, but I still have room in my life for Butterfly cards.  If you do too, maybe you could pop over to the latest Butterfly Challenge and have a go yourself.  There's always room there you know...  unlike my craft cupboard!!!

Butterfly Challenge

(Butterfly + 'E' for Embossing/#40)

Also adding to...

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge

(Butterfly from snippets collection)

Take care...

Flowers on Tag Card, Glitter Butterflies, Female

I saw a challenge just the other evening that only had three and a half days to go...  Not a lot of time for me but I couldn't resist with the colour scheme involved :)

So here's a quick, 'no ink' card that fits the bill for a few other challenges, too.  I LOVE it when that happens...  especially as I'm still quite new to 'blogland'  and I'm eager to 'meet' new people, see their blogs/craft style...  and hopefully learn from them along the way :)

When I choose to go for a 'no ink' design, I always try to make up for it with added dimension.  I've seen people's swirly, circle 'nests' on their designs before now and contemplated that idea before deciding to settle on threading the raffia through the tag.  If I'm honest, I wasn't quite sure how that would work out...  much better than I'd envisioned, so 'yay' :)

...oh, and just a quick note...  all three butterflies were punched from this pretty glitter paper.  (That was definitely one of my better finds on eBay)...  I only mention it as I'm not sure this photo shows the glitter on all three :)

Dies used...

Hero Arts/Frame Cuts 'Large Tag'

Open Studio/Memory Box 'Distressed Windham Collage'

Punches...

Stampin' Up 'Five Petal Flower'

Sizzix/Tim Holtz 'Large Butterfly Punch'

Embossing Folder...

Cuttlebug 'Leafy Branch'

I'm entering this card into the following challenges...

Cupcake Inspirations

(Challenge #328)

Crafty Cardmakers and More

(Make it Sparkle/Challenge #148)

Allsorts Challenge

(Sparkle/Week #329)

Make My Monday

(Nature) 

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge

(Anything Goes/Week #195) 

Whole card make from 'Snippets'...

Cute Card Thursday

(Things with Wings/Challenge #392)

Butterfly Challenge

(Butterfly + 'K' for Knot/#39)

4 Crafty Chicks

(Sparkle and Shine/Challenge #265)

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

(Use Patterned Paper/September Challenge)

It's nearly the weekend...

Back tomorrow with a Tag You're It post.

Donna...

3D Tag, Happy Birthday Bunny, Male/Female

It's going to be a beautiful, hot sunny day here in the UK...  maybe!

  We've already had a few false starts here where first thing it looks like it's going to be a lovely day... but within the space of a few short hours the clouds loom and the rain falls down.

Anyhow...

Tag You're It are starting their new challenge today...  and I do so love making tags, you know.  I think it's got something to do with creating on such a small space as I love making mini cards just as much.

Here's my tag... 

I'm still trying to decide if this suits all age groups or just children.  

What do you think? 

This is the first time Bunny (retired Stampin' Up 'Forest Friends' set) has come out to play since I acquired him, but as you may know...  my stamps stay hidden a lot of the time!!!

None of this tells you how I came up with this design though, does it?

Well, let me confess...  Anja's design stumped me for a while initially.  

Just because I'm honoured enough to be on a DT does not mean my brain doesn't need time to stop and think for a while first, you know!  

Here's Anja's tag... 

What I noticed first was the way that the tortoise was stamped with half it's body on one tag and half on the other.  I also noted the size difference between the tags, that their shapes did not match, two sets of different masking/stencilling techniques (if I count the design on the card rather than the tag itself), two sets of twine and a red hat that I knew would have to feature in my design somewhere...   Oh yes, and some text.  That's a lot to pack into one tag!

So what did I do?

I used a birch tree stencil (Creative Expressions) with some Memento (Tsukineko) Olive Grove ink on the biggest of the two tags and dry embossed my smaller oval tag (Crafter's Companion) with the Memory Box stencil 'Rings and Puddles'.

After giving it some thought I decided that my little bunny could be stamped as a 'whole', cut out and then glued on to the small tag whilst overlapping the bigger tag a little.  

But my bunny had no hat...  and I NEEDED something red.  

No problem :)

Anja's tag says 'let's party', so I decided that a 'Happy Birthday' theme would suit and substituted a red balloon instead.  After all, the balloon's string nicely echoes the second set of twine I needed to stay true to Anja's design.

A completely different colour palette, a very different look...  I wonder what you will come up with if you decide to come and play?

As Simon Says Stamp and Simply Create Too (Challenge #91) are both hosting an 'anything goes' challenge this week, I figured I would include this little tag.  Might 'meet' some new people along the way, you never know :)

Thanks for stopping by...

Donna 

Stampin' Up Best Blossoms, Textured Brickwork, Butterfly

A lot of stamps in my craft cupboard are completely untouched...  (Hangs head in shame)!!!  It's not that I dislike them, it's just that I like my craft dies a little too much :)

To make a start on remedying this situation I dug out my Stampin' Up Best Blossoms set.

It took me a while to come up with a design I was happy with as using stamps like this takes me out of my comfort zone!

Believe it or not, the background's actually been stamped using Impression Obsession's / Cover a Card, Distressed Brick stamp.   The stamp wasn't big enough for this card so I stamped off and kept over stamping / re-inking until I was happy with the overall look.

I wanted to do something a little different, so once the ink was dry (Versa Magic, Niagara Mist) I added the aperture window and some texture with a Tim Holtz, Bricked stencil and embossing paste.

Fussy cutting the flowers took a while!  I've used a combination of Rosebud and Elderberry Memento ink, stamping and then stamping off for the lighter shade.

The leaves are from my Lifestyle Crafts, Treat Box die set.  If this set is was available anywhere in the UK I couldn't find it, so I had to go hunting online to an American craft store.  I don't do this kind of thing very often, but sometimes it's nice to at least have the option.

The blue butterfly is from Marianne Creatables (Butterfly 3) and the tiny brown one's are from my Martha Stewart, Pop Up Butterfly punch.

As for the cute Forest Snail...  That's from Memory Box  :)

My original inspiration for the colour scheme came from the latest Fusion Challenge...

As there are several challenges with a Spring theme I"m also linking this card to Sunday Stamps, The Pink Elephant, Curtain Call...

...  and House Of Cards...

Hope you are having a good day...