Did you enjoy Ellen’s 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist challenge? I sure did. I was very inspired not only by the tags presented each day by the designers but also by all of the gorgeous tags each of you uploaded for the event. I couldn’t resist sharing one more Christmas tag with a snowy nature theme today. I think this would be a perfect tag for a guy but I would love to find it on one of my presents as well. I love creating dimensional die cut scenes that draws the eye on in past the front focal point. I guess these scenes could be considered mini unframed dioramas. Speaking of dioramas, did you happen to see Julie’s darling Diorama Holiday Ornament article on the In Touch blog? If not you need to check it out. It is so precious.
I started by covering my tag with pale blue cardstock and creating a soft cloudlike sky by smearing white distress paint on with my finger.
I cut the tree using kraft cardstock and applied brown ink with my mini applicator. I think using a lighter color paper for the tree and applying darker ink creates a more natural looking tree with depth and dimension versus a tree cut from plain dark paper.
I applied lighter brown ink on all three deer and then applied darker brown around the ears, antlers, legs and back areas. The blending of the lighter and darker brown adds life to the images.
I cut several pieces of fir sprigs, several fir trees and four sections of ground snow. I lightly crimped the trees with my straight crimper and crimped the ground sections with my wave crimper.
I wanted all the trees and fir sprigs to be covered with a soft snow. I lightly applied glossy accents and sprinkled with white flower soft. Then I had to whistle the Jeopardy tune as I waited for everything to dry. I hate waiting for things to dry. LOL! But don’t they look so soft and wintery.
I applied all the ground pieces to the bottom of the tag to create the base for the scene. Although the layers are all flat to the surface of the tag they are the stage for building depth in the scene with the images.
I began assembling the scene from the back and worked my way forward. I think the big bare branched tree mixed with the evergreen trees of different sizes creates a much more interesting scene.
I applied a double layer of mounting tape on the deer to hold them out away from the base and to create dimension.
I attached the two larger deer in front of the first three trees and each on a different snow layer.
I attached the little deer, added the smaller trees into the scene and tucked the fir sprigs in around the feet of the two front deer. I couldn’t resist using the cardinals to add pops of red to the scene for the finishing holiday touch. Here’s a closer view.
Here’s a view from the side to show the dimension.
Thank you for joining me in the classroom today. This will be my last post before the holiday so I would like to take this opportunity to wish each of you’re a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’ll be back on New Year’s day for the first post of 2014. Woo Hoo!
