Bells of Joy

Bells of Joy is what I named today's tag.  I was inspired by Linda's Week #10 in her Funkie Junkie Tags of Christmas challenge which is sponsored by her store The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Her tag used the cool tinsel stencil which I loved as soon as I saw it.  I had decided to tinsel it up with some shimmery silver embossing paste sprinkled with glitter.

After I created this over the top shimmery background I was trying to decide how to play against the beautiful background.  I took inspiration from Linda's tag with her focal point of a wreath and scattered snowflakes and decided to use a big snowflake.

I wanted a bright color to go with the silver and the citron spoke to me.  I splattered, sprayed and died my snowflake, ribbon and background.  I then dangled some bells from the bottom.

When I think of bells of joy, I think of walking into church with the ground covered in snow, seeing my breath and listening to the bells sing. Christmas Eve Mass at midnight the church filled with everyone celebrating the birth of the Savior.

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Suzz

Wintry Scene

Brrr... The temperatures are dropping and we are hoping for a white Christmas.  I have been staying inside and playing with my crafty supplies. 

This tag was inspired by Linda's lovely tag for her 12 Tags of Christmas challenge.  This is week #9 tag.  Linda had a beautiful snowy scene with the deer and trees.  I used stamps instead of dies but the design and images are very similar.  I am almost finished with my tags for Linda's challenge which has fun prizes offered from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

The tag was created by splattering the white paint on cardstock.  Letting it dry and then coming back in with a mix of distress inks to create the blue/gray background.  

I then stamped the images and used brown embossing powder to help make them pop on the background.

I added a touch of stenciled embossing powder along the top and bottom to frame my scene.  I also cut my tag down to fit to my main images.

Thanks for coming over and visiting with me.

Suzz

Glitter much?

Hi!  I am back with my final tag for Linda's The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge.  I  have a few queued up for the next few days.  This one took a glittery turn and once it started I couldn't stop it!

The inspiration for this was Linda's week #12 tag.  You will look at Linda's beautiful vintage tag and wonder how did I get here?  Well it started with me trying to create a pattern in the background like the pretty pattern paper.  I pulled out stencils with patterns which I used to make a few background patterns with.  As I was doing that I thought what if I added texture with embossing paste and oh why not sprinkle it with glitter while it is wet.  

After that I was on the glitter train and it picked up speed!  Needless to say I am covered in pink and green glitter!  I decided to go with a vintage retro Christmas and did a little die diving (meaning digging through my extra pre-cut die images) and found this cardboard deer.  What deer doesn't want to be covered in bright pink glitter?

I then needed a sentiment and decided to use vellum to allow my shimmer background to shine. :) I finished it off with pearls and gems to really add some glam. 

I hope your day was brightened up with all this shimmer and shine. 

Linda's tag challenge is sponsored by her wonderful on-line store called the Funkie Junkie Boutique and I don't do much on-line shopping but I definitely shop at her store.  If you have a little time to get creative you should join in on the fun. 

As always I appreciate you stopping by! 

Suzz

Snowflakes

Howdy!  I hope you are getting some time off to get ready for the holidays!  I have been busy playing and catching up on Linda the Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas challenge.   This card is based on her beautiful Week# 8 tag.  The challenge is sponsored by her boutique The Funkie Junkie and she is offering prizes for playing along.

Linda's design and snowy background had me thinking of how to create snowflakes and add a banner as my focal point.

I used the snowflake stencil and crackle embossing paste to create a snowy background.  I then used a mix of sprays to create a blue green backdrop. 

I added the vellum banner and then pulled a few die cuts from my scrap pile and finished with a simple sentiment stamped and embossed in the center.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Merry Little Christmas

Hi!  I have been very busy with work and getting ready for the holidays.  I am now taking a few days off and hope to finish up all my tags for Linda The Funkie Junkie's Twelve Tags of Christmas.  Her boutique The Funkie Junkie sponsor's the challenge and there are randomly selected prizes if you follow along with the guidelines provided. 

Today's tag is inspired by Week #11.   I started by stenciling in green on the background to emulate the lovely background on Linda's tag. I also tried to follow Linda's lovely design with a main focal point of the clock.  But then I wandered into my own design. :) 

I misted the background with mowed lawn.  I then added a layer of pattern paper on the top and bottom. Once I did that then the background didn't match so I had to distress it with Antique Linen and some spotting of brown dye ink.

I then found the fun fringe (courtesy of the Funkie Junkie)  and added that as a divider between my background and pattern paper.  I added the fun lasercut clock and layered in the ephemera.

I hope you enjoyed my tag. I will be back with a few more of these before Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I am wishing you all a day filled with family and blessings!

I have two tags today... I have been working on these for awhile and just finished them up.  They are for Linda's 12 Tags of Christmas.  She is hosting this challenge on her blog The Funkie Junkie and the challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. 

First up is my tag inspired by her beautiful Week # 7 tag.  I finished my tag before she posted this weeks tag.  My tag has components of her tag from this week. Ha Ha...  

I was inspired by the plaid in green and blue on Linda's Week #7 tag. I wanted to continue that rustic feel and used a green and blue combo which I emphasized with brown drawn stripes.

I then decided to add the reindeer and trees to go with the rustic design.  I added mica snowflakes.

My next tag is a case of Linda's Week #6.  Beautiful red and white snowy tag inspired me to create a pocket tag with snowflake cut-outs.

I cut one piece of cardstock which I scored to create a pocket. I then folded it over to die cut the snowflakes in the front cover.  I lined the inside with acetate to help keep the snowflake flat. 

I stamped the background with Vermilion and a background stamped. I embossed the cover with white embossing pasted sprinkled with crystal glitter while wet.  I masked the snowflakes with the leftover snowflakes to keep the acetate clean of embossing pasted.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Suzz

Joy

Hi!  I wanted to share my latest creation inspired by Linda's Tag# 5.  She is hosting on her blog The Funkie Junkie a 12 tags of Christmas challenge sponsored with prizes by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.

I was inspired by her beautiful Santa Image and then the lovely tree circles.  I decided to create a wood grain background.

I created a lovely wood grain embossed background to showcase the fun framed Santa.

I love the wood circle that Linda used in the background and decided to use a mask and frame Santa with the edge of that image.

I then added some fun embellishments!

That's all for me today!

Suzz

Candy Cane Stripes

Surprised to see me?  Me too!  I have been trying to catch up on Linda's 12 tags of Christmas and have been playing in the studio.  This card is inspired by Linda's Week #3 which was a beautiful mix of red and white with a candy cane stripe.  The challenge is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique with lovely prizes to be won if you play along for all 12 weeks!

I bet you can see the inspiration... All those lovely red and white stripes.  I decided to use the Wendy Vecchi Strips stencil and tilt it on an angle to create a background. I used the Distress Oxide Ink (candied apples) to sponge through the stencil.  It looks very orangey in the picture. 

I then wanted to use these vintage poinsettia die cuts and I glossed them up with a coat of white frosted embossing powder.

Linda had a wonderful frilly edge along the top of her tag and I decided to find a little fringe to add some texture as well. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Deck the Halls

Today I am back with a tag and a card inspired by Linda's 12 Tags of Christmas Week #4.  This is a weekly challenge hosted by Linda and sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique with wonderful prizes.  You just need to play along for all 12 weeks and have an opportunity to win.

Linda's lovely tag had black die cut images with music behind them and that had me thinking about this vintage gent and how I haven't used him very much. 

 I die cut a few different ones and then decided to play around with him on a tag and a card.   I didn't quite get there with either.  A lot of times I let things sit for multiple days until I get an inspiration on what to do to finish it off.

I tried something different on each of these so I was happy with my playing sessions.  On the tag I ended up smearing a layer of black embossing paste along the bottom and the top to give it a gradient effect. (A mistake I was trying to fix)  I like how it gave a nice dark shadow. 

On my card I had shadowed my image and sentiment with watercolor and black pencil but decided to add texture and outline it with a mix of black and gold glitter. 

Something fun and different.  Please go check out Linda's blog and her challenge!  Every week she delights us with a new tag and inspiration!

Suzz

Golden Texture

I am back with my week 2 tag inspired by Linda at the Funkie Junkie's week number 2 tag from her  annual 12 Tags of Christmas!  If you play along with her for the 12 weeks leading up to the holidays you have a chance to win gift cards at her wonderful boutique The Funkie Junkie Boutique. 

The fabulous inspiration from Linda for week 2 had me thinking of how to create a similar background follow her lead with the snowflakes / design.   

Linda's tag has this soft white patina built with crackle and soft shabby golden brown hues.  This had me pulling out the crackle embossing paste along with a variety of stencils. 

I created about 4 different tags using different stencils and the crackle paste.  After they dried I decided to go with gold  and brown mists to show off the texture in my background.

Inspired by Linda's design/layout I started searching for an image/focal point for my tag.   I wanted to make sure you could still see the beautiful design and texture on the background.  After digging through my leftover die cuts, I was lucky to find the weathered clock (already bronzed up) and the deer which fit perfectly into the center of the clock. 

I sponged the deer with brown dye ink and then put it inside of the clock and attached it off-center onto the tag. I found all the snowflakes in my die cut extras. (I really don't like die cutting so I will usually die cut a bunch of any image and then store them for future use) The snowflakes were spritzed with the gold mist lightly so they remained mostly white with touches of gold.

The sentiments were stamped in coordinating brown ink on a gold misted background.  I took a few vintage buttons and threaded them with gold thread.  I added a hint of gold ink to the buttons and attached them to the snowflakes. The best part is I also have two or three more backgrounds to play with! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Tag Time!

Linda at the Funkie Junkie has started her annual 12 Tags of Christmas!  She hosts a challenge where if you play along with her for the 12 weeks leading up to the holidays you have a chance to win gift cards at her boutique The Funkie Junkie Boutique. 

The fabulous inspiration from Linda for week one can be found here.  I loved her tag and used a lot of the same products, colors and theme to create my tag. 

I can't believe we are starting the tags already and Linda has 3 beautiful tags completed already. I am going to try to play along with all of them. 

Thanks for stopping by!


Suzz

12th Tag of Christmas

Hello!  I am happy to say I have finished my final tag in Linda's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge.  Her challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  I have had fun playing along as Linda is always inspiring in her beautiful artwork.  Week #12 tag had a pocket and some fun inserts. 

 I decided to go with my neutral colors again just because I love how they look.  I did layer my background following Linda's inspiration.

I took a jumbo tag and folded the bottom up.  I stamped the holly in the background and embossed with ivory embossing powder.  I then stamped a script across the background.  I mixed a variety of sprays over the backgrounds of all my pieces. 

The bottom flap got a layer of embossing paste spread over the surface.  I then laid the concerto stencil into the paste to create an imprint. 

To apply the sentiment I stamped it onto tissue paper with versamark and heat embossed with the ivory embossing paste.  I then used fast finish to collage it over the bottom.

Well I hope you are all staying warm. We are below zero right now with the wind chills. 

Suzz

Joyeux Noel

Happy Sunday to you!  Linda at the Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas is winding down.  We are on Week #11 and tomorrow she will post her 12th tag.  The challenge stays open til Dec. 19th with lovely prizes sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  If you have some time you should join in the challenge!

Linda's tag this week inspired me with the strong colors and design.

I loved that she paired the white, and red with a strong black. 

I decided to pull out my favorite Artistic Outpost stamps and use them as the focal point of my card.
Linda's many layers on her tag had me layering up my stamps and papers.  I was so happy to ink up and stamp many backgrounds!!

The main image is from Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods as well as the sentiment. The background stamps are from retired Hero Arts stamps. (Map and Christmas Definitions) 

I used a new stencil I just received from The Funkie Junkie Boutique to give my pop of red in the background.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Peace and Love around the World

Hello!  I am back with my take on Linda's  week # 10 tag.  Linda is creating 12 tags before Christmas and sharing them every Monday on her blog The Funkie Junkie.   The challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and there are prizes for randomly selected participants.

I was inspired by Linda's tag to create a card using her colors of kraft, white and instead of black I used brown.  I also loved the burlap, twine and cardboard across the front of her tag and used that as my background for the main images.

I have a pile of die cut images left from various projects and decided to pull them out and use a mix of them on the front of my card.  I already had a gold tree leftover and thought it was a lovely touch to the card along with the handsome deer.

As I was working on this card I thought of the Anything But Cute Challenge this month which is rustic glam.  I think the burlap gives it the rustic and the gold the glam.

Well that is all for me today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Joy, Hope and Wonder

I am back on the tags again to catch up in Linda's wonderful 12 Tags of Christmas... Seems I lag behind 3 weeks at a time and  have to catch up. Linda's challenge is hosted by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and there are prizes to go along with her challenge.  I truly don't do much online shopping but I do shop at  The Funkie Junkie Boutique regularly online.  The shop has great prices all the time and the customer service is wonderful.

Onto my tag for Linda's Week #9 tag.

 I am in love with what happened when I started playing around with the technique Linda did on her tag.  She painted the background with a hint of silver and then sprayed the Ranger Distress Stain Sprays over the surface.  I painted my whole tag with the paint making sure there was a thick coat of the paint. (Ranger Pewter)

 Then I sprayed a mix of greens, and blues and it looks so cool as it looks like alcohol inks on the surface after it dries. I used a heat gun and tilting the tag to get the pooling as the spray sits on the surface of the paint. 

 I thought that was so pretty I almost didn't stamp the branches over the surface but that got even cooler as I used a versafine ink which was very liquid on the surface and I had to heat set it.  To make sure it dried completely I then inked up the entire surface with versamark watermark ink and encased it in clear embossing powder.   What a beautiful effect all around and I can't wait to try this again with another metal paint and different spray colors!

The next tag from Linda used blue, silver and white!  Week #7 Tag had so many different pieces of it that I loved and I had fun trying to replicate some of the effects she put together. There was this yummy snowflake and accents at the bottom of the tag.  A little of everything all so lush and beautiful!

And then there were beautiful touches of snowflakes in white against a painted blue background. (I sprayed my background over painted white snowflakes and then added the deer stamped with silver and a silver snowflake behind him. 

The last tag for Week #8 tag from Linda went way off the beaten path and took me the longest to come up with an idea.  Linda's beautiful tag had all these lovely elements of which I had none!  So I decided to use the ideas of the sprayed background and the design and turn it into something very different. :O 

 Here is a close up of the main image. I love this Hero Arts stamp and always look forward to pulling it out for the holidays.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Suzz

Christmas Tags

Hello.  I have been in and out of my craft room with a big mess on my desk. In addition to my stars that I was working on I had 3 different tags in process.  I finished two of them and stopped to share them with you.  These are inspired by Linda The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge.  She has an annual challenge sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and you have opportunities to win a gift certificate at her store.

For Week #6 Linda used the beautiful white offset by the kraft and layered in wonderful die cut branches and trees.  I loved the whole effect and emulated what she had done with a different mix of dies but tried to achieve the same effect. 

For Week #4 Linda created a beautiful poinsettia card. Her flowers are always gorgeous.  I loved the colors and design and tried to case the layout.  I unfortunately had not a poinsettia flower on hand either in die cuts or paper flowers so I improvised.

I did follow Linda's tag by die cutting the holly leaves in the shape of a poinsettia on the top two flowers.  I then took the pieces that were die cut in the top two flowers to create my bottom two flowers.  I added a nice sprinkling of gold and aged mahogany ink spray to the front. I sponged the background and the flowers with aged mahogany. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Gold & Kraft

Hi!  I am working on three different projects right now and several of them are for Linda The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge which is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.  This tag is for week # 5 which is a gorgeous tag in kraft and gold.  I love how the gold glows next to the neutral of the kraft.

 My tag is a pretty close case of Linda's beautiful tag.

I love this Merry Christmas definition stamp.  This is a small stamp that comes in a set of 3 from Hero Arts.(retired).  I used the Sizzix Holly leaves to cut the reverse image as well as the individual holly.

That's all for me today... I hope to get another tag or two done today!

Suzz

A Trio of Tags

Hi!  Happy Saturday!  I have been busy playing with tags today.  Linda of The Funkie Junkie is hosting her annual 12 tags of Christmas.  She posts her tags on Monday and you have until Dec 19th to play along for chance to win to her boutique The Funkie Junkie Boutique. 
 
Week # 1 Tag.  I loved Linda's soft bluish tint behind the gorgeous gold stars and decided to continue with that color scheme and include gold trees.

Week # 2 Tag:  Linda's week #2 tag had me thinking of  a charming rustic Christmas. I love how Linda used the red polka dots and red pattern on the top and bottom of her beautiful tag.  I decided to use a gingham effect on my tag.

Finally Week #3 tag:  Linda's rich gold and black color combo was striking.  I had to change up the elements a bit as I was lacking in most of the same elements.  I loved how the gold stood out on the black backdrop. 

Thanks for stopping by!


Suzz

Funkie Junkie Tag # 11 & 12

Happy Christmas!  It is getting very close to the big day!  I snuck in some time this morning to finish up my tags for Linda's Funkie Junkie Twelve tags of Christmas.  Her on-line store the  Frilly and Funkie Boutique sponsors her challenge. 

Linda's tag #11 is a beautiful shimmery tag with lovely hints of blue and a snowy snowflake inspired tag.  I tried to play with the ideas of the embossing paste, snowflakes and the shades of blue in my take on her tag.

I started with a coat of embossing paste on my tag.  I laid a layer of tissue paper over the embossing paste and inked up the snowflake stamp and stamped into the tissue paper. You get the stamped image and an impression in the embossing paste. I repeated randomly and at the end I sprayed the entire surface with a blue mist.

I let that dry and while it was drying I decided to cut out a series of snowflakes in vellum. I thought I would use the soft vellum to place the snowflakes onto my background. 

When I finished I realized you couldn't see them so I decided to edge them in silver which lead to embossing them with Aged Silver embossing powder and then of course I had to emboss the edge of my tag as well. :)

It ended up darker than I intended with the aged silver embossing powder but I love the heavy metallic feel of the snowflakes.

Next up is Linda's rustic charming tag # 12.  I love that Linda' folded her tag to create a folded tag with a message inside.  I was sketching this idea and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with her lovely plaid on the outside and holly on the inside, when inspiration struck.  What if I cut off both sides of the fold to make it a tag on either side.  After I sketched this and thought about the plaid I realized it would look like a dapper Christmas vest.  So here is my Santa's vest folded tag.

 I used the Tim Holtz stripes stencil with Candy Apple Red and Lucky Clover to create the plaid on the front.  I used Antique Linen in the back with the same plaid pattern.   I added a few buttons and died my suspenders to coordinate.  Linda had the adorable tag and holly on her band which inspired my tag on the suspender.

 When you open it up inside there is a smattering of holly with red stickle berries

I added Christmas music in the background using the Antique Linen Dye Ink and then the berries over that with the Penny Black sentiment stamped in the center. 

A close up of the tag and holly:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Oh Deer!

Time for week#8 tag at Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas.  Her challenge is sponsored by her boutique The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Her tag inspired me to cut out trees to emulate her forest on her lovely tag.  I also used hanging banners from the top as I loved her design on her tag.

 My background is a mix of sponged stars from the Memory Box stencil and spots of blue stain spray.  I then used a mix of October Afternoon Papers.  I cut a few trees drawn by hand and sponged the edges with brown dye ink.

I added a touch of glitter on the deer hat and bow.  I cut the words and covered them in red glitter. I ended up with a few other ideas from this tag but will save those for a future post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz