Happy Christmas Everyone

It is Christmas morning and I have been up four hours - I can't believe this - I have not opened a single present yet.

Been outside sorting food out for the birds and then decided to begin the mammoth task of clearing the drive in front of our house so that the people in the bungalow next to ours have some access for their family who are coming to visit them today.  I think Paul (neighbour) was quite touched and so he got a spade and started helping - I've now left the men to it.

Anyway, thank you to all who take the time to read my blog, special thanks to those who leave a comment - it is very much appreciated.  May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and I hope you are all surrounded by family or friends.

Here is our snowman - note there is another large snowball beside him (and there is one behind) so I am hoping to build another one (or two) before the snow melts.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Displayed my Tags

This is what I have done with my tags.

I put them on a long piece of gold ribbon and have now got them as door hangers on my craft room.  Seems the most appropriate place to have them.  As we have a bungalow they are quite easily seen when you walk from the dining room to the hallway.  Perhaps I should find last year's tags and put them on the bedroom door which is next to this one.

Still had more snow overnight, looks like a good inch has fallen.  Yesterday morning I took this photograph from the door, it is the same scene as before but just look at that sun.  Sorry about the red dot - I don't know how to use Photoshop to get rid of it.  Got an idea of how to but no time for it as I must build a snowman today.

If You Can

Just a quickie.  Was going through my bloglist and went to A Place to Bark - the video reduced me to tears and I just had to make another donation.  If you are an animal lover please visit Bernie Berlin's "A Place to Bark" (see my sidebar) and look at what she is achieving.

The Other Six

Got up early this morning as my hip was aching and besides which I must do a dust and polish around the house - spent far too much time crafting (LOL) and we need to go out and get the turkey!  On the bus I might add, not able to get the car out yet.

Tag 7

This was my seventh tag.  A different Father Christmas but still Tim's masking technique.  The white flourishes don't show up much but they are there.  Was stuck for what wording to put on until I remembered this "Joy" stamp - it just fits.

Tag 8

This was my favourite of all Tim's tags when I saw them.  I don't know why but I love this lamp post stamp.  Might need to get Tim's though as I do like it.  Loved doing his technique with the vellum.  The key was one I found in the drawer, not sure what it is for but I felt it was the right choice as I didn't have the one he used.  Again I think I need those keys.

Tag 9

Now at the risk of upsetting the creator I must say I was not that thrilled with this tag.  That is until I did it.  I love it and it is one of my faves.  Because of lack of supplies it got left until the last.  I really must get some of that film strip Tim used.

For my film strip I used black cardstock and punched down the side, measured the photographs and punched down the other side.  I think it worked out pretty well.  The main photograph I cut out a deckle edge because I remember old photographs having edges like that, shows my age!  Put on tiny photo corners (took me ages to make them so small) and made my own words up to fit on the tag.  The flower is a German Scrap again but I coloured it in with my Alcohol Inks this time.  Finally the letters "S" and "C" were stamped and embossed and then I put Page Pebbles over the top.

Tag 10

I thoroughly enjoyed making this one as I love using my paper stump on metal sheeting.  As you can see I did go over mine with a Black Dabber because I liked the antique look and felt it fit in better with the other tags.

Tag 11

This has now become one of my favourite tags.  I just love the fresh green colours.  Had to improvise with the reindeer and used the one that my friend Mary gave me when I was in America in November.  I don't have one of those brad making tools so I found some letter brads and I think they work quite well.  I like the contrast of black against this green so I stamped the words and embossed them on a strip of cardstock and put that on at the top.

Tag 12

Here is my final tag.  What a mess I made of my fingers when I was doing the roses.  I still have green down the sides of my thumb nail.  Was so glad I was not doing any baking that day (or the next one).  They were not supposed to be greenish but I quite liked them when they were done.

Well, that is it!  My 12 tags for Christmas.  What an enjoyable journey I had making them.  The one "plus" of all this snow.  All that is left is for me to display them.  Perhaps I will take a photograph and upload it tomorrow as I am sure I won't have much time to do anything else for my blog.  On the other hand I could write up my list of WANTS (or are they NEEDS) ready for my next trip to America!

Is it really Christmas Eve tomorrow?

Snowbound - Tee Hee - Crafting

Why am I laughing when I haven't been out of the house in days?  The fact that we have had so much snow and the roads are dreadful surrounding our home has meant that we could not go out without risking sliding all over the road - so what else could I do but craft?  Apart from going just through the door to feed the birds and make sure they had fresh water each morning all I have done is make tags.  Tim's tags to be exact.

I had wanted to do the 12 tags of Christmas on Tim Holtz' blog but never got around to it because of other preparations for Christmas so here are the first six.  Because I had not got all the "ingredients" he had used I have had to make substitutions (first of all the tags themselves), I have lots of his Ideology range but found I did not have some of the things he used.  More spending!

Tag 1

Had to substitute an Angel for the snowman so the words also became different.  Copied his techniques but just substituted stamps, and I think the grungeboard flourish is different to the one he used.

Tag 2

Again the stamps are different as is the flower at the bottom.  I had to use a piece of German Scrap for my flower.  I did use the correct Distress Embossing Powder but it does not show up a great deal - love the corners, especially now they have been sanded.  I'll do that sanding trick again.

Tag 3

Diffferent stamps again, but the technique and the Ideology pieces are the same as TH used.  I want his Christmas Trees though - I thought that stamp was magic.  Don't look too closely at my tartan background, it's a bit wobbly but I loved doing it and will be using it again and again.

Tag 4

I only had those frames left in this shape so I put this little Caroller inside and put him in Everton colours because that is the team my son supports.  I used a Paperartsy stamp for the background because I really like it but I think I want the one Tim used now.  This looked a bit plain so I put the bow and bell on to fill it up a little bit.

Tag 5

This was one of my favourite tags (before I started - things have changed with almost every tag I have done) and, again, only the stamps are different to the ones he used.  I did baubles like this on my banner for the Ready Steady Stamp Challenge.

Tag 6

This one started off as a problem.  I didn't have a car.  Apart from one on the ATC stamp, so I used that and cut it out.  It was a bit small to be cutting windows out but as Tim said, grungeboard is great for things like that as it does not tear.

Used one of his tree stamps (cut down somewhat) but didn't have the fluffy stuff (going to cost me a fortune with all the things I now need (want) when I go to America) so I used Liquid Applique and put Stickles Icicles over - it looks good!  I did have one of those wooden numbers but it was far too big against the car - used a postmark from Paperartsy.

So there are my first six tags.  Will upload the next six tomorrow as this post is going to get awfully long if I put all twelve up.  I have an idea what I am going to do with all my tags - have you done anything with yours?

Enabling - Blog Candy Giveaways

There are some great Blog Candy giveaways out there for Christmas - try this one and see what you could win, but hurry it closes on the 21st.

What about visiting the Artistic Stamper and trying for her candy - or have you done the 12 tags - if so you can try for other prizes with Jennie.

Or do you fancy winning this little pile of goodies from Lacey?  You have until 4th January for this one.

And if you are a fan of those Martha Stewart punches why not visit Lisa

and try for these before Christmas Eve

Happy blurfing!

Three Posts in One Day - Ridiculous or What?

Was up early this morning (did you guess?) so decided to enter the Play Date Cafe challenge.  Why am I still making Christmas cards - ah well, this will be a start for next year - a good intention!  Only trouble is it is a bit too big for my box so no doubt it will be put somewhere and forgotten.

As you can see, the colours this week are Blue, Gold and Cream.  For some reason I used a Pale Blue and now wish I had used a more Royal Blue - but what the heck!

Here is my card:

Another of TH's stamps and another of my favourite Father Christmas images.  I stamped and embossed him in Gold, mounted him on some Pale Blue cardstock and then on Gold Mirror card which had been through the Cuttlebug with the Snowflake Folder.  Finally mounted on Cream card and Merry Christmas (TH again) stamped in Dark Blue, cut out and mounted on Gold.