12 Tags of Christmas - #8


With all that's going on right now, it's such a pleasure to have the creative escape of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. I'm working on mine starting with #7 (see yesterday's post) and working through #12, then I'll start at the beginning until I have my 12 complete.

I'm sharing with you my spin on his tags because I hope to inspire you to try them yourself and make them your own. Also I hope to teach you how you can get around having to run out and buy every little supply item Tim uses (which he also encourages us to do). You might be surprised what you can do with what you already have.

On to today's tag. Here is Tim's tag #8...


I don't know how he does it, but he truly has his very own unique style that can't be duplicated. Isn't this great?

Now here's my "tag"... (which is actually a portion of a banner)


Feel free to click on the photo to get a nice, close-up view.

Boy, this one was a little tricky for me due to his horizontal design this time. But that's the fun part of this. The challenge! 

Before we get rolling, hop over to Tim's blog and check out all his steps and techniques, then come back here and we'll dissect my process a bit.



There are so many wonderful products Tim used in today's tag and I don't have MOST of them, so this should be interesting. Since I don't have his "Seasonal Mask" I improvised with my Cricut. I cut these pieces from the "Joys of the Season" cartridge on plain cardstock.



Then I pieced them together like this.



I traced the image onto some old laser transparency film using a thin Sharpie pen. See how messy I did it? Doesn't matter!



I carefully cut out the image from the transparency with a craft knife, put some repositionable adhesive on the back (Tombow) and stuck it to my pennant. Notice I'm using the negative part of the stencil. Save the positive, you'll need it.  Be sure to put the adhesive all over, close to the edges so the stencil doesn't allow any color to leak under.



I added color (Fired Brick) with a foam tool into the opening of the stencil.



With the stencil still in place, I stamped the images you see here with archival black ink, then gently peeled away the stencil. Voila! 



Then I put the positive part of the stencil over the image (also with the repositionable Tombow) and swirled some blue inks around, then did the edges with Walnut Stain. 

Before I peeled up the stencil...



I stamped all these swirlies. (Close to my Heart "Snow Flurries" stamp set). I used archival black and wish now that I hadn't. It's a little overpowering here. If I had it to do over again, I would have just used the Walnut Stain for a softer look. But oh well. Too late now!




I don't have Tim's "Townscape" on the edge die so I grabbed a piece of Grungeboard and drew two little houses. (Remember my pennant comes to a point, so I don't need a long row of houses.) See Tim's houses above my pencil? That's a print-out from his blog for reference. It looks so real and dimensional in this photo, I could've probably just cut the photo out and used that! (But that would be cheating.)



First I stopped everything and put a brand new blade in my craft knife. Grungeboard is a little thick, but cuts easily with good sharp tools.



Using distress inks, I colored my houses green and red, then added a layer of clear Crackle Paint. I don't know why I have some little bubbles. I guess I heated it too much. It started to smell funny, so I stopped while I was ahead. The wire to the right is a little thinner than Tim's, but it's all I had, so it had to do. I curled it this way and that, and now it's the swirly smoke that will be coming out of the red house's chimney.


Here's a better look...


Cute, eh? You'll notice that my houses now have some snow and sparkle on them. I daubed a little pearl paint then spritzed with some Frost Shimmer (Tsukineko) Spritz. Also, I felt that I needed to put something behind my windows of my houses, so I ink distressed some plain cardstock with Walnut Stain and placed it behind the openings. I popped up my houses with foam tape so that the wire would be more noticeable. 



Tim used his Dymo label maker with a great scripty font option called "Dymo Caption" to create these phrase emellishments, but I don't have that either so I just typed mine on the computer and printed it on glossy photo paper, cut it out and stapled it in place. (No one has to know.)




Here's another look at my "tag". I forgot to mention the time piece and the key, but there they are. 

I hope you enjoyed my take on Tim's tag #8. 

See you tomorrow!

Comments

  1. Hi, found you via your FB link. Think your take on the tags is great! Like your other stuff too. I agree that when they are strung together they will be a great display.

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  2. Looks awesome Annette. Thanks for the tips esp when you don't have all of t!m's stuff. Jody and I are pulling our t!m stuff together to see if we can make all of them over Christmas vacation. Can hardly wait to get started. By the way, what size are your Maya Road banners?

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  3. Oh my girl-you must send a pic of the finished banner to Tim Holtz!!!! He would love to see it....I love how you are mixing CTMH in there with Tim's goodness....

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