Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for the creativity that Sharon, Claudine, Julie, Jennifer, Kittie, Teri, Julia, Kelly, Paula, Maile, and Carolyn bestowed upon us during this years 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist! A HUGE THANKS to each of you for sharing your beautiful work with us here in the CLASSroom!!
Thank you to all those who have shared your tags on our challenge post - you still have time to join in the fun by continuing to add your projects until Sunday, December 16th! It has been a true inspiration to see how you have taken ideas shared here and come up with fabulous little treats that utilize layouts or techniques and then created sweet tags or cards that are truly unique to you! As well, I would like to thank each of you for joining us for the past 12 days and sharing your thoughts and appreciation with this talented group of ladies! It most certainly would not be the same without the enthusiasm and joy you have shared with each of us!
So now it is my turn to share a feminine tag with you. I decided to step outside my "elegant" box as I thought about what direction to take. One of the goals I worked towards this year was to try and share a fabulous mix of styles with you so that we could try and have something for everyone. With this in mind I decided to share a saucy little tag with you that is bold and cheerful - one that will hopefully bring a silly grin to your face and perhaps a little laugh as you realize that this is my Grinch inspired creation. Dr. Seuss I think these trees would look delightful in one of your books - LOL!
Can you just see little Cindy Lou Who peeking around the corner of one of these trees?
Brayer three different ink colors on three separate pieces of Craft-a-board. Die cut the largest size tree from these pieces. This will become the base for each of the tissue covered trees.
Cut seven strips of white tissue paper 4"x12".
For the green trees use a mix of three different inks. The first two tissue paper pieces were created by brayering one with Green Hills and the next with Grass ink.
For the third and darkest piece of green tissue combine Meadow and Grass inks. To avoid muddying your ink pad swipe the color on to the non-stick craft sheet and run your brayer back and forth through the two colors. This will combine the colors to create a custom color that will be the correct tone.
Fold the tissue paper so that you have three layers. Die cut the two largest tree sections from the darkest tissue, the next two smaller sections from the medium green tissue and the smallest or top tree section from the lightest color of tissue paper.
Each section of tree should have three pieces of tissue paper when cutting is complete. As you can see from the photo in the top left corner I had multiples of several sections as I was uncertain what type of color scheme I wanted to create when I first started this project. Separate the tissue paper before proceeding as it is easier to do this without gluey fingers (guess how I know that little tidbit - LOL!)
Squeeze a small amount of Matte Multi-medium on to the top portion of the tree.
Use a studio brush to spread the medium over the top portion only and attach a piece of tissue paper. Make certain that no adhesive is applied to the bottom portion of each tissue piece as you want it to be free and have a ruffled appearance upon completion. Repeat for each piece of tissue paper.
Continue to layer all pieces of tissue paper until you have only one top piece left. Allow your tree to completely dry and then use Be Creative tape to apply this last piece. Wet adhesive leaves a dark appearance on the tissue paper, whereas using a sticky adhesive such as Be Creative tape creates a uniform look.
Fringe cut the bottom edge of each segment of the green tree using fine-tipped titanium scissors being careful not to snip off any edge pieces as you do so. You want to create a fringe effect but keep all tissue paper intact. This tree will become the focal point of your project.
Brayer Soft Yellow ink to one strip of tissue paper, Sunshine Yellow to a second and a combination of Soft Yellow and Sunshine Yellow to a third. Stack all three tissue papers and cut out all die shapes. You want to end up with one of each color in every size.
Layer each of the tree sections starting with the darkest yellow layer first, then the medium color layer and top it with the lightest yellow color. Continue adding all levels of the tree in this manner. As the edges of the tissue paper tree layers curl back you will see the varigated colors emerge.
Brayer Soft Pink ink to another strip of tissue paper and Bubble Gum on the last strip of tissue paper. Die cut the bottom, middle and top layer of the tree from the darker pink tissue paper and the two remaining pieces from the lighter pink color. Attach the tissue paper as shown in the picture above. Once again you want to make certain you have three pieces of tissue for every layer of the tree.
Chalkboard effects have become all the rage. When creating this project an old technique that has been buried in the recesses of my mind begged to be experimented with.
Squirt a small amount of Blank Canvas Studio paint on a non-stick craft sheet and brayer the paint into a very thin layer. This will become your "ink-pad". It is essential that you have this palette ready to work as speed is of the essence with this technique.
As you can see I worked on a non-stick craft sheet. If you work quickly AND more importantly clean up quickly you can do this. If you use your non-stick craft sheet I found that Cleans It really helped with the clean-up process.
BUT if you like to take your time then I would recommend pulling out some freezer paper to work this technique on as you can simply throw it away when it is time to clean up.
Begin by tapping your ink pad on the work surface covering an area about 8" x 10" with dye ink. Squirt liquid applique on the wet ink as shown.
Brayer the liquid applique into the ink combining the two media.
Brayer this mix on a die cut manila tag. It is best to work on a tag that does not have a reinforcer in place as it is easier to work on a smooth surface.
Ink the Dylusions Starry Night stamp on the Blank Canvas paint and stamp into the wet surface. Repeat until you have the entire background covered. The beauty of working from your paint "ink pad" is that you do not need to clean your stamp between impressions. It really doesn't matter if the white ink gets green in it :-D BUT once again be certain to clean your painty stamp immediately to avoid having to go to great extremes later to clean it!
Heat set the tag with your embossing tool and watch the magic happen. As you heat the surface the color and texture magically change - it is really cool to watch and has a funky feel to it that is totally fun! I can hardly wait to experiment with more traditional chalkboard colors such as black and a darker green.
This technique also creates the best animal textures for elephants, giraffes and the like! I can hardly wait to see what you all come up with because I know that the Liquid Applique has been flying out our doors since Kittie has been using it on her beautiful scenes and I thought it would be fun for you to be able to use it in yet another way as well.
Once dry cut a 3/8" strip from the bottom end of your tag to be used on the back side below.
Using the fabulous trick Kittie shared on her tag I rolled glue dots to add dimension to this sweet little Savvy banner without that dimension being visible - definitely a very cool tip!!
Another tool that is a must-have for creating beautiful chalkboard effects is the Pitt White Brush Pen. Hand draw a border around the edge of the tag.
Custom color white twine with a coodinating Copic marker. Tie the twine in place and snip to the correct length. Remove to add the tassels.
Die cut two tissue paper fringe borders and cut down to 4 3/4" in length. The shorter length will create a smaller tassel more suitable to this project than the full die cut fringe.
Add a 3mm strip of Be Creative tape to the edge. Adhere the end of the twine and roll the tassel closed. Attach a second tassel to the opposite end.
What better surprise then to find a gift card tucked into the back of your tag? Cut a second tag from striped paper and adhere to the back side of your tag.
Cut a 3 1/8"w x 4 3/8"l piece of polka dot paper and score 1 1/2" from the end. Adhere the 1 1/2" piece to the front side of the tag and add adhesive down the sides only adhering it on the back side and creating a pocket. Add the chalkboard strip along the top edge of the polka dot paper to create a finished look.
To add interest to the top of the tag cut a second piece of polka dot designer paper 1 5/8"w x 2"l. Score at 1" and angle notch corners using an angle chomper tool. Adhere and punch hole.
Cut two pink reinforcements from the pink colored Craft-a-board and adhere to tag.
Attach the trees using 3D-Dots and adhere the banner across the top end. Tie on the tissue tassels and your Grinch inspired tag will hopefully bring a great big smile to your face!
Now it is your turn - create a colorful Dr. Seuss inspired tag or go vintage. I can easily see these trees cut from off-white tissue stamped with collage music or text and edged with Antique Linen distress ink! Add a little sparkle and create a soft vintage feel using the same process I have shared today. I can hardly wait to see the magic you work with this idea!
Once again thank you so much for joining us for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist again this year!!!
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We hope that you have enjoyed this year's 12 tags and that it has brought moments of joy to your days! This is your last opportunity to win a chance at a gift certificate to our store. Please leave your comment below to be eligible for the random drawing of the $25 gift certificate to our store www.ellenhutson.com - be certain to do so before noon on December 13th to be eligible (one comment per person please.)
