Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Christmas Tag–Toy Soldier by the Tree

toy soldier and tree tag w border

I am having so much fun with Christmas tags! I just counted—looks like I have made 11 tags in 9 days, with a couple of art journal pages in there as well! Yep, a busy but happy crafter of late. It’s good to have this much done, as the day after Thanksgiving, it’s Christmas shopping (mostly online) nonstop for some weeks!

I made this tag this morning and then worked the rest of the day with Thanksgiving Dinner preparations:

Autumn Gold Pumpkin Pie – CHECK
Pecan Pie – CHECK
Wild Rice Casserole – CHECK
Overnight Lettuce Salad – CHECK
Table Set and Serving Dishes Ready – CHECK

Dinner is tomorrow at 1, so the turkey goes in at 7 a.m. My favorite thing to make for Thanksgiving is my own made up Stuffing (do not actually stuff the turkey, so I guess it’s more Dressing than Stuffing)!

This tag was just fun because of its simplicity, I think. I particularly enjoyed combining Graphic 45 (Nutcracker Sweet) and Tim Holtz and my Cricut.

I covered a #8 manila tag with Christmas March paper (Nutcracker Sweet). I distressed the edges and inked them with Vintage Photo.

For the Christmas tree, I used my new Cricut cartridge “December 25th” that I bought specifically because it has images I could envision on tags. For the tree, I used some “real” chipboard for the first time (I have always used cut up cereal boxes)—I have a crafting friend in Alaska who was kind enough to send me this chipboard. I love the chipboard because I can cut it on my Cricut (I have tons of Tim’s grunge board and grunge paper, but it doesn’t do well with the Cricut). I inked the tree with Distress Ink (Pine Needles on the tree, Walnut Stain on the trunk, and Vintage Photo on the edges), topped the star with Gold Paint Dabber and then spritzed it all with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist.

The little toy soldier is adorable—it’s my newest Tim Holtz die. Using my Vagabond, I cut it from grunge paper. It has several pieces, and I inked or painted or colored each piece to combine for the finished toy. Though you can’t see the dimension in the photo, I popped him up on the tag with black foam tape. Probably the most fun thing I discovered was that I could do intricate “inking” using a nib with the Black Soot Distress Ink.

The little postcard is from the Nutcracker Collection. The ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

3 comments:

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

PINNING!!! Absolutely fabulous!!! I love your toy soldier guy and that tree is a wow...need that die!

Claudine said...

Tasks is wonderful, I love that tree!!

Marjie Kemper said...

Love it! That toy soldier die is gorgeous. When you have a minute, please share what Overnight Lettuce Salad is.... sounds intriguing!