Encre, papier, ciseaux

Winter Skating Tag

I stopped by my local scrapbook store yesterday and lucked out, as the owners had put some of the Distress Sprays in the clearance section for $1 each. The available colours were Hickory Smoke and Blueprint Sketch, so I grabbed both today and sprayed them on the media mat to ink a media heavystock tag. I overstamped an image from the Festive Collage set in HIckory Smoke Archival ink. It didn't show up as much as I expected, but I notice we do see it on the finished tag. I stamped some images from the Vintage Holidays set in VersaMark and embossed them in Prize Ribbon Distress glaze. I used the Holiday Knit stencil and Denim Stencil Butter to add a border at the bottom and I set aside to dry. 

In the meantime, I pulled some white seam binding, sprayed it with water and then sprayed it with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide spray and Hickory Smoke Distress spray. I crinkled it and let it aside to dry.

Once the tag was dry, I added a few chipboard images from the Celebrate Winter collection. This was sold at a deep clearance price at my store and I figured I could use them on cards or pages even though I don't have the specific matching papers. I also finished a diamond painting project during the holidays and have quite a few leftover diamonds, so I used some in matching colours to embellish the tag.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Festive Collage, Vintage Holidays (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Tags: #8 Mixed Media Heavystock Distress Tags (Tim Holtz for Ranger)
Ink: VersaMark
Sprays: Hickory Smoke and Blueprint Sketch Distress, Tumbled Glass and Iced Spruce Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Holiday Knit Stencil (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous); 
Denim Stencil Butter (The Crafter's Workshop); Gems (Diamond Dotz);
Celebrate Winter Chipboard Accents (Echo Park); Prize Ribbon Distress Embossing Glaze (Ranger)

 

Carved Up Tag

The next collection I was eager to dive into was Simple Vintage October 31st by Simple Stories. Even though when I saw the previews online, I was thinking maybe I didn't need one more Halloween collection added to my stash, but when my local store brought this one in, I found it hard to resist as it is very appealing.

For my base, I used the Halloween text patterned paper and tested out the Framed Tags dies from Tim Holtz for Sizzix. I didn't ink the borders, but you can still see the impression left in the paper by the die. I added doodling using the Dylusions journal block and then I used some of the cut-apart pages to layer images on the die. 

I had previously made a button when I first got the Button Press using patterned paper from this collection, so I pulled it out to add to my tag. I added decorative brads and a few tickets from the Pewter Ticket Essentials box from 49 & Market, which looks like they were made to go with this collection.

At the bottom of the tag, I wrapped Orange Scrubby Sparkle yarn. This is a new find that I was quite excited about. Years ago, Stampin' Up! sold what they called tinsel trim in one of their Holidays minicatalogue. I purchased some from the Clearance rack after the catalogue had retired, not necessarily thinking much of it, but once I started adding the tinsel to my projects, I found myself really loving it. And then seeing my roll of it getting depleted much faster that I would like to, seeing that the product was retired and not available for purchase anymore. I had searched high and low since then trying to find something similar, searching under tinsel trim, eyelash trim or yarn... When I saw this Scrubby Sparkle yarn, I wonder if it could make a worthy replacement. I couldn't find it locally, so I placed an order and it came in this week. Right off the bat, I got very excited when I pulled it out of the packaging. It is VERY, very similar. I got three colours (red, white and orange) and the Marshmallow is a true white, which also makes me happy because I prefer this to sparkle that has colour to it. I pulled out whatever I have leftover of the original tinsel trim and it is different, in that it has little hair on both sides of the cord, making the look fluffier. That being said, it is a really close equivalent and it does look really cool added to a project, as illustrated here.

Part of that order also included orange organza ribbon with black velvet dots on it. I took the wiring out of the sides and threaded this ribbon at the top of the tag, tying it in place with thick black twine. And from the Halloween assorted glitter set, I pulled tiny bats and stars and added them to the tag as well.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Paper, Decorative Brads, Cardstock Stickers: Simple Vintage October 31st (Simple Stories)
Sparkle Paper: Autumn (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Framed Tags (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Pewter Ticket Essentials (49 & Market); Button Press (We R Memory Keepers);
Dylusions Paint Pens, Dylusions Journal Block (Ranger); Decorative Scissors (Fiskars);
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Orange Scrubby Sparkle Yarn (Red Heart);
Ribbon (Celebrate It); Black Twine, Halloween Assorted Glitter Set (Recollections)

 

Comfort & Joy Tag Set

This is officially the last project I will be making using the Comfort and Joy collection from My Mind's Eye, as I've now worked it down to smithereens. I used the remaining die-cuts on various sized tags and used a few dies to create shapes and sentiments to fill in the space. The three larger tags were die-cut with the Stitched Nested Tags from Tutti Designs, and the last one is actually a die-cut from the pack.

I used different ribbons and trims from my stash on the tags, but I will note that the green seam binding was actually hand dyed using Distress Mica spray following Tim Holtz's instructions shared during his Ranger Live a couple of weeks ago. I used two green sprays and made sure to keep the seam binding scrunched up while it dried so that it would remain crinkled afterwards. It worked out great! I used some Soft Sky seam binding from Stampin' Up! I had on hand but I'd love to create more crinkled ribbon in a variety of colours so I'll probably look to purchase a larger roll of white seam binding.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Ephemera Pack: Comfort & Joy (My Mind's Eye)
Glimmer Paper: Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Nested Tags (Tutti Designs); Doily (Coco & Reno); Joyeux Noël / Bonne année (Crealies)
Accessories: Black Glossy Opaque Confetti Mix, Moonshine Snowflakes (Cartwright's);
July Crystals (Studio Katia); Glossy Berry Pearl Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Minty Mix Shaker Sprinkles (Maker's Movement); ½" Circle Punch, Soft Sky Seam Binding,
Clear Faceted Buttons, Mini Stampin' DImensionals, Mini Stapler, Eyelets (Stampin' Up!);
   Large Eyelet (We R Memory Makers); Buttons (Foof-a-La);
Marshmallow Scrubby Sparkle Yarn (Red Heart); Mica Distress Sprays (Ranger)

 

Holly Jolly Tags

Before putting away the Holly Jolly collection, I decided to make a tag with it... and it turned into making a full series using the leftover Bits & Pieces and patterned papers.

What got me going putting together so many was that I pulled the Stitched Oval Scalloped Frames dies and since I wanted the frame to be a different colour from the center, I cut it twice. I was not liking the colour combo against my patterned paper, so I tried a couple of other options and so I ended up with a lot of leftover pieces that I decided to use on other tags, hence the final tally of 7 tags. A lot of the ephemera pieces were also pretty small, so the size was working out better on tags than on cards. I've commented on my last post that the patterned papers are quite tricky to use together. I'll add that the ephemera images are a very random assortment as well. It goes from a moped to trees to a house to a whisk and cake... It's all over the map. I'm a big fan of Simple Stories, but this collection is a little bit of a head-scratcher to me.

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Enamel Dots, Bits & Pieces: Holly Jolly (Simple Stories)
Dies: Stitched Oval Scalloped Frames (My Favorite Things); Stitched Nested Tags (Tutti Designs);
Tailor-Made Tags, Bonanza, Tasteful Labels (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Wonderful Snowflakes, Stampin' Dimensionals, Various Ribbons, Designer Buttons, 
Pearl Basic Jewels, Triple Corner Punch, Mini Stapler (Stampin' Up!); Buttons (Button Galore & More);
Corner Chomper, Eyelets (We R Memory Makers)

 

No Peeking Tag

The gnome die-cut from the Mistletoe Kisses collection inspired me to make a Christmas tag. I cut the polka dot paper with the Happy Day Tags dies from Carta Bella and I glued a few paper scraps from my desk on it, before adding the gnome and the "no peeking" banner with foam adhesive. I added a hole reinforcer to the top of the tag and threaded white and silver baker's twine at the top.

I had some snowflakes die-cut out of white glimmer paper sitting on my desk, so I added one to the tag and topped it with a red button found in the Deck the Halls cube from Buttons Galore & More. I used red and green sequins from the same set as well, and topped them with matching pearls. I added puff paint to the gnome pompom and finally, I hung a little dangle at the top of the tag.

I recently found the one-step looper tool at my local Michaels and this tool is truly life-changing. I had dabbled a bit in bead wrapping in the past couple of years after seeing crafters share how they made dangles online and while I was managing to make some, it was always with a lot of sweat and effort as I discovered I'm not that great with handling small-scale items. The one-step looper is SO quick and easy in comparison, I started wrapping beads and just couldn't stop! I now have a nice selection put aside to choose from and this red and green version was one of them.

To finish it off, I added Lime Green Stickles to the tree on the gnome's hat.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers, Bits & Pieces: Mistletoe Kisses (Simple Stories)
Glimmer Paper: Red/White (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Happy Day Tags (Carta Bella); Sparkly Snowflakes (Crafter's Companion)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Puff Paint (Stampin' Up!); 
Silver/White Baker's Twine (Recollections); Deck the Halls Sequins Mix (28 Lilac Lane from Buttons Galore & More);
Beads (Bead Landing); One-Step Looper Tool (The Bead Smith); Hole Reinforcer Punch (We R Memory Keepers);
Lime Green Stickles (Ranger); Glossy Berry Mix and Moss Green Pearls (Studio Katia)