Jolly Star Tags...Mini Tips!

Tags, tags, and more tags! I have to admit, sometimes working with a smaller medium is just as fun, if not more, than making a card! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all things paper crafting, but sometimes with a smaller work area, your main design can really POP! So today I'm sharing these fun tags along with some tips for working with larger focal points that may slightly hang off your smaller cut of paper. Follow along my crafty friends!

Love this color combo! It's a nice break from the traditional Christmas colors.  Anyhow, I knew I'd be using larger die cuts and my card stock would slightly hang over my paper base, so I needed to add some extra support as to not bend my thinner card stock.  I remembered in my stash of supplies that I'd purchased some super thin chipboard coasters and they are just the correct thickness to run through my Big Shot.  You don't want to go too thick on the chipboard otherwise it 'flakes' on the edges when cut...not too mention your die cutting machine will be REALLY upset with the added stress due to thickness!

The chipboard cut like buttah!  Once you have all your chipboard cut, you can now apply your choice of card stock directly over the chipboard.  Any adhesive will do, but I prefer Tombo because it has a nice thin applicator on top to reach the tight areas as well the tips of the stars.  Easy peasy, right?! 

Tag Time x's 2...

Festive and jolly, but not much holly...to be found in Japan!  After living here a few months, it's evident to me that the 80's never left this island.  If fact, the 80's thrive here, along with all the tacky tinsel and holiday decor you may remember from your childhood!  For the most part, I do love it, but you will NOT catch me in a neon green shirt or hair scrunchies any time soon, but the 80's music I will always LOVE!

Anyhow, aside from my 'flashback' moments, today I'm sharing more festive Christmas tags!  I used a lot of Crystal Effects here as well as foam tape for 3-D effects. 

Hello there Rudolph!  I added the red glitter strip at the last moment and I love how it accentuates the sentiment.

Sweet mittens!  Colored these with my Copic markers.

Lovely birdies!  You cannot see in the photo here, or at least it's hard to tell, but the birds are stamped and cut out with a die.  I also cut out the same die shaped birds from thin chipboard so they are 'raised off' the tree branch.

Great detail shot of what Crystal Effects can add to your art work.  It adds a nice shine, right?  It took me some time to use Crystal Effects correctly.  After a few tries of overloading when I poured and numerous air bubbles, I've been using it for years now and absolutely love it!  It's important to let it dry COMPLETELY before running your fingers over it...unless you want to give gifts of fingerprints...it's best to let it dry overnight before touching.

Snowflake dies with Martha Stewart snowflake glitter!  YUMMY!

Peppermint Candy Tutorial...

It's beginning to look A LOT like Christmas! At least at my crafting station it is...the weather being in the 70-80's...not so much! It still puts me in a crafty mood and I was really excited to try something new for my tags this year. Follow along and I'll show you how I made some easy-peasy candy tags!

SO pretty and glitter-y!  I love the 3-D effect the twine gives to the candy.  The candy twists on the ends are made with my small SU! heart punch.

Here we go!  I've showed all the steps here...looks tedious, but I promise it's 'easy as pie'!

Step 1:  Punch out a 1 1/4 circle and cover with double sided tape.  My tape does run over onto the table, you may not want to do this, but I prefer this method because it holds my circle in place as I wind the twine around and around.  To find your center point, use a circular piercing mat, place your punched circle right on top and VOILA, you can punch a center dot with  your piercer.

Step 2:  Once your circle looks like a candy, pull up gently from the table.  I used a small pair of mustache scissors that I keep in my tool box...these scissors are great for fine detail cutting as well!  You can simply fold under the excess tape tabs onto the back.

Step 3:  You can certainly stop here if you want to keep the 'soft threaded look', but I really wanted to achieve a shiny piece of candy.  I love SU! Crystal Effects for many reasons and I use it often!  Squeeze a generous amount over your candy and let dry overnight.  Once your candy is dry, the Crystal Effects not only makes your candy shiny, but it also helps keep a nice BIND of all the twine. 

Owl Tags...

Another owl themed post! I shared in my last post owls made of simple shape punches and today's post is all about the SU! Owl Punch. What's so great about this punch is that the body, eyes, and nose are all separate dies allowing you to mix and match colors. All papers, with the exception of the patterned one(LilyBeeDesigns), are SU! This first set of tags is made with the PTI die--Tag Sale #2. The sentiments I used are from a variety of PTI's sets. I also used my trusty wood grain bg in versamark.I went ahead and made some fun mini tags as well! These fun little tags were made with Verve's--Sweet Scallop Die and coordinating stamp set. I've made up a few extra sheets of owls if you'd like to make some tags of your very own. You will get a full sheet(9 owls total) of owls to create tags, cards, or gift tags. You can find them HERE.

Sharing the Odds and Ends...

I decided to gather the rest of the projects I've been working on over the last few weeks, and put them into a single post. These Spring Bird tags were a spin off of the one I made on yesterday's notebook. I'd made the notebook first, and liked it so much, I made several more. I didn't share the others here, but I have another set made up with 'celebrate today'. Here are some fun mini-tags using Sweet Treats and THIS coordinating die/stamp from Verve. I wanted a little more dimension, so I used my woodgrain bg stamp in versamark. The flowers were all die cut with leftover paper I had stamped for a previous project. The red flower is cut from felt. I recycled more of the hearts I used on my glitter heart string for Vday. Using my SU! flower trio punch, I created some fun, 3-D flowers. The rhinestone centers are a sage green. I did a 2-for-1 here and created cards and tags! I really love these phrases from the Verve stamp collections. There are several sentiment sets they sell, and they are nice to use in place of regular images I would normally color.

Restoration Hardware Inspired...picture HEAVY!

Have you ever had the pleasure of turning the pages of the Restoration Hardware Kids Catalog? Well, I can say I've never bought anything from them, but continue to receive their catalogs. If you thumb through the pages, the designs are all the same...simple blues and pinks with chocolates! Their designs inspired me to make up several things up while I had the same stamp set out. I wanted to keep all these projects on one post since I used the same stamp sets...you get a visual of how many different projects you can create! All stamps are PTI and cs is from SU! The little feet are from the Loss of a Child set and I pulled the double layer circle from the Borders & Corners set. The pleated pink skirting is made from crate paper! Yes, the same streamers you use to decorate for the kids birthdays?! I was so excited to play with this. It is thin, very thin, but as long as you don't tug too tight with your adhesive, you get a really fun look to your projects and you don't have to worry about the extra bulk for postage! I was on a roll here...so I kept going and made up a stash of tags! WHEW! That's a long post! The next few days will be super busy getting my table finalized and last minute things I need to grab for the craft show. I'm almost...not even close really...to being ready! Happy crafting my friends ;)

Tag Week....BLOG CANDY!!!

So now that I've gone tag crazy this week, I'm giving YOU the opportunity to join the craze!! It's been long overdue since I've shared some blog candy and I thought today is the day! I'm including the basic supplies to make tags of your very own. I've also thrown in a post-it pad made by yours truly. Kit includes: 5 kraft lunch sacks, 5 white doilies, 5 large manila tags, 5 white sentiment tags, handful of clear and vintage cream buttons, and post-it pad.

Now, all you have to do is leave a comment about what inspires you in your crafting adventures...this could be products, blogs, or people. All I ask is when you comment, PLEASE leave your email so I can contact the winner. If no email is left in the comment, I will choose an alternate winner. Winner will be chosen Monday, March 7th by noon est. Happy Crafting!!!

Tag Week Post #4...

Electic Easter tags! Time got ahead of me this morning and I didn't get this post up early, but have no fear...tomorrow you will have a chance to win some blog candy...a blank slate to create your own goodies! Be sure to check back tomorrow and enter for a chance to get tagging! I will be including the basic essentials to create 5 tags, along with a handmade post-it pad so you can jot down all your great ideas! All my tags were made with PTI's-Egg Hunt. On this first set of tags, I used my Beautiful Blooms II flower die. The flower petals are double layered and curled up with a pencil edge. After I had the flower curled, I used 3-D foam tape to lift the layers up. The pink circle matte is cut with my CM circle cutter.Ready for an egg hunt? The purple egg is die cut and stamped with one of the 3 egg patterns that come with the set. The other two eggs are simply die cut from patterned paper. I had cut the green paper portion before I realized just how long my sentiment would be. After a little figgiting, I decided it looked kind of cool hanging off the sides of the tag.Same design as above...just changed out the grass pattern and added a ghost shape butterfly (double layer). I used E6000 to adhere the butterflies down and it dries clear so they look as though they are floating.A little doily fun! This is actually one doily for 2 tags. The ink I used is a sparkly dew drop green and it really helped the eggs POP! The ribbon is probably some of the oldest ribbon I've owned (I'm guessing 10 years...give or take!)...I knew if I held on to it, I'd find SOMETHING to use it on...YOU know what I'm talking about, right? Perfect example of use what you have and not hoard ;)

Tag Week Post #3...

Flutter-by butterfly! Using the same layout as yesterday's tags, I decided to break out my punches. The butterflies are from the large MS butterfly punch. Although, I don't have any of these in bulk, like the other tags, I plan to make more to finish up the green polka dot paper. This tag would be delightful for a baby gift or new mom!