Reflections of Christmas - Day Twelve

Hurrah!! The project is completed!  I have had so much fun playing along with Linda Coughlin's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas challenge, I'm sad to have it come to an end.

The 12th tag was so much fun because I actually had a small Artist Trading Card sized window die so I could interpret Linda's version more literally.  And then I found a wreath stamp that fit the window - how lucky could I be??  What a great ending to a fantastic 2 weeks putting this whole project together.  Thank you again Linda for all the inspiration and fun!!

Inspirations from Linda's twelfth tag:  Everything!!

Frame

• Trim: Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel: Tim Holtz Sizzix “Dot Matrix” Texture Fade (not embossed, painted resist technique)
• Decorative Cutout: Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Bird and Tattered Pine Cone Pine Branch
• Reflection: Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment: Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment: Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Eleven

Almost there - here's day eleven!  Something new again today - embossed foil, with alcohol inks and heat embossing on top of that.  Be sure to check out Linda Coughlin's version in a faux galvinzed finish on her Eleventh Tag of Christmas - really cool!

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  The embossed foil background, snowflakes and the sentiment,

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Crafters Workshop “Branches (Reversed)” Stencil
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Ice Skate
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Ten

Holly and Hearts was the theme for this tag.  I got to try something totally new today - I ordered some of the Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste from the Funkie Junkie Boutique and experimented with it on this tag.  It's easy to use and clean up, and boy does it shine - although you'll have to take my word for it - try as I might, I could not capture the sheen in the photos.

My inspiration, as usual was Linda Coughlin's  tag in her "12 Tags of Christmas", since I am playing along with the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge. Now we're up to number ten in the series.

Inspirations from Linda's tag: Holly stencils, "trellis" (although I had to use a punch to create the effect), heart, embossing paste. 

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Tim Holtz “Hollybough” Stencil
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Holly Leaves
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Nine

I hope you are enjoying seeing this Christmas project come together.  It sure has been fun  playing along with the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge - Linda Coughlin's tags are fantastic and a great source of inspiration.  Between them and a Pandora Christmas station, I'm really in the holiday spirit.

Again another serendipitous discovery from the bag of goodies Linda includes with each order - the gold mesh ribbon already tied in a bow with some dyed seam binding.  Perfect for this ATC - thanks again, Linda!

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  I used both the same Tim Holtz stencils as Linda did, the sentiment is the same (although I used the rub-on version) and the gold mesh ribbon. Since I had already used a snowflake rosette on an earlier ATC, I had to settle for some stickers to incorporate the snowflake theme.

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Tim Holtz “Christmas” Stencil
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Candy Canes
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Eight

Up to day eight now.  Since I made all the frames to begin with, I've actually been able to keep up with making the ATCs and keep the project on track to get completed before Christmas.

My inspiration, as usual was a tag in Linda Coughlin's  "12 Tags of Christmas", since I am playing along with the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge.

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  Tim Holtz Stencil background, sentiment, rickrack and stocking (since I was using the stocking die cut I didn't want another one on the ATC, so I thought - who fills the stockings?  Santa of course.

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Tim Holtz “Holiday Knit” Stencil
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Mini Stocking
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflection of Christmas - Day Seven

A variety of bits and bobs decorate this next Artist Trading Card (ATC).  My inspiration was the seventh tag in Linda Coughlin's "12 Tags of Christmas".  Sometimes it is tricky to find elements of the correct scale to fit the size of an ATC but for this card I was very furtunate.

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  Background for the ATC (similar to the "Gothic" stencil), ornaments, holly and the sentiment "Yuletide Greetings"

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Crafter’s Workshop Mini “Cosmic Swirl”
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Bell
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Six

We're still looking for snow, so I'm glad to focus on the flakes again!  My inspiration, as usual was Linda Coughlin's  tag in her "12 Tags of Christmas", since I am playing along with the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge - this time it's the sixth tag in her series.

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  Script background, snowflakes - two ways, "Joy" sentiment - three ways-word band, ATC, reflection and the use of the Distressed Doily die.

A fun little side note...several years ago my niece was looking through my die collection.  I have the "On the Edge" dies sideways so they can fit on the shelf space, so I printed the names of the dies in Sharpie on the narrow end.  Apparently for this one my penmanship was lacking, because she thought it said "Distressed DOLLY"!  Now we always call it that and share a little laugh.

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Crafter’s Workshop Mini “Doodling…Art Is”
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Small Poinsettia
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Five

Up to the 5th tag in the Funkie Junkie's Christmas challenge.  My inspiration, as usual was Linda Coughlin's  tag in her "12 Tags of Christmas", the fifth tag in her series.  This one was a little challenging because I didn't have many of the items that were in the inspiration piece, so I did my best.  And then a little serendipitous event took place...Linda always includes a little bag of goodies when she ships your order, and in the last one I got were some stars and a diecut from Tim Holtz Clustered Stars On the Edge die.  Woohoo!  I'm going to have to get that die, but in the meantime I colored the one she sent and added it to my ATC,  Thanks Linda!!

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  Background "Rays", Stars:  Background Stamped Stars, On the Edge Star Cluster die,"Twinkle" sentiment.  I didn't have the "Festive Gent"die, so I made do with soldier/nutcrackers.

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Handmade Stencil
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Soldier
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Four

Day four, and my accordion book of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) is growing.  My inspiration, as usual was Linda Coughlin's  tag in her "12 Tags of Christmas", since I am playing along with the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge - the fourth tag in her series.

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  The "Festive" background, the red rickrack, little heart, the deer and the sentiment (I used a word band with the same sentiment)

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Tim Holtz “Festive”
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Small Deer
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Three

We haven't seen much snow yet this year which is kind of unusual.  Maybe this snow-themed Artist Trading Card (ATC) will shake some loose from the sky!  My inspiration, as usual was Linda Coughlin's  tag in her "12 Tags of Christmas", since I am playing along with the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge - the third tag in her series.

I'm making frames for each of the ATCs and then joining them together to make an accordion book.

Inspirations from Linda's tag: Snowflakes...snowflakes...snowflakes, including the snowflake background (I followed the same process as Linda, except I used the stenciled results), the Tim Holtz metal snowflake and lots of other snowflakes.

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel:  Homemade stencil from smallest snowflake Tim Holtz Stacked Snowflakes
• Decorative Cutout:  Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers  Snowflake
• Reflection:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day Two

Here I am with my second "Reflections of Christmas" Artist Trading Card (ATC).  My inspiration was Linda Coughlin's second tag in her "12 Tags of Christmas", since I am playing along with the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge.

I'm making frames for each of the ATCs and then joining them together to make an accordion book.

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  I used a similar background in the frame.  The ATC also has a checkered background.  There are a couple of Christmas trees; the one on the ATC has a red bow as Linda's did.  The "wish" sentiment from Linda's tag is echoed in the Reflection and the Christmas word band.

Frame

• Trim: Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel: Crafters Workshop “Cubist”
• Decorative Cutout: Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Tree
• Reflection: Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment: Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment: Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band

Reflections of Christmas - Day One

Ever since last year I have wanted to participate in the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge.  I'm getting kind of a late start, so I'm not sure I will get all 12 done, but at least I will have fun trying!

If you are a mixed media artist or paper crafter I hope you already know about the Funkie Junkie blog and boutique.  Linda Coughlin always has cool ideas on her blog, and her shop and customer service are outstanding.

The challenge is to make something inspired by each of the 12 tags that Linda has created. It can be anything you want as long as it is Christmas/Winter related.  I'm making a set of Artist Trading Cards (ATC) in little frames instead of tags.  Since ATCs are only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"they have a lot less real estate then the tags Linda used, so I can't include all the wonderful ideas she used, but I'll be able to include several for each card.

Inspirations from Linda's tag:  I used the same background, included a Santa and reindeer, the same sentiment, a music tag and the 25,

Each of my ATCs is in a frame - it's about 5/8" thick, stands a little over 7" tall and is made out of medium weight chipboard.  My plan is to link them together to make an accordion display.

Frame

• Trim:  Bo Bunny Woodland Winter
• Back Panel: Tim Holtz Holiday Knit stencil (I used Antique Linen Distress Paint to stencil which formed a resist for inking ontop)
• Decorative Cutout ”25”:  Tim Holtz Die
• Reflection “merry”:  Printed in MS Word, Segoe Print Font
• Pediment:  Tim Holtz Pediment die
• Metal Sentiment:  Tim Holtz Christmas Word Band