Holiday Tags

I made a few tags to decorate my presents this year.  The first one I made with my new ornament stamp and some yellow Bister.  First I embossed the ornament in clear and then sprinkled on some yellow Bister and sprayed on water.  When that dried I also used a bit of Antique Linen and Scattered Straw around the edges.  The next one uses the medium sized tree and some green Bister.  I sponged on Gathered Twigs around the edges.  Some fibers that a friend sent me were used for the ribbon.  They turned out really great and were so fast to make!

Stamps:   Michael Strong (Cloisonné Dove Ornaments, Christmas Trees)

Sketch Help!

This month's Michael Strong sketch is this:

 I had an idea to try the 3 strips in blue and have the center as Mike's Christmas tree.  That evolved to the blue being a starry night background and I could use my Crosshatch stamp and put white dots where the lines met for stars.  The sponging starts off light on the bottom strip but then gets darker and darker for the top strip.  I tried to use both my white pens but both had dried up so I ended up using white paint instead.  Now for the tree.

I tried first with white shimmer paint for the tree to show a snow glistening tree:

Then I tried stamping the tree in Chipped Sapphire but the ink pad needed refilling so I ended up having to sponge all around the edges so you wouldn't notice the stamping wasn't very good:

I reinked my ink pad and tried the tree again:

So now I like ALL three cards the same!  I don't know which one to post as my sketch!  Help!

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Technique Thursday

Awhile back my technique Thursday was "One-Sheet Wonder" and I created a bunch of cards using one 12x12 sheet of paper.  People asked how I made that designer paper so I figured I'd show you around Christmas time since it'd be a perfect thing to do for Christmas cards.  Here's basically what I did:

Step 1: Emboss a piece of paper (here I used an 8.5x11 sheet of paper and silver embossing powder for a festive look)

Step 2: Stain the paper with a distress stain (Tumbled Glass) -- I tried to make streaks in it for a less uniform look but you can make the staining more even if you desire.  Let dry before you go on to the next step.

Step 3: Rub another ink over your paper (Broken China) -- just go directly on the paper and smear.

Step 4: Rub another colour ink over that (I used Broken China again so as to not be too radical!) -- I probably should have done the lighter colour first but whatever...

Step 6: Spritz with water

Step 7: Use the paper to make lots and lots of different looking cards!!!  Here are a couple:

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Wednesday

I first stamped the tags in Early Espresso and punched out.  I stamped Mike's small Christmas Tree three times on Soft Suede paper in Versamark and embossed with white embossing powder.  Then I cut out the top third of one tree, the top two thirds of another tree and all of the last tree and layered them on top of one another.  I used Stampin Up! clay dyed with Early Espresso to make the button and tied with some linen thread.  I used a woodgrain embossing folder to emboss the Early Espresso core paper and then sanded so the woodgrain really stood out.  I cut a bit of burlap ribbon and took out some threads and moved the rest around to get the look I liked.  Then I assembled the card and added a bit of silver trim and paper punching to make it a bit more festive!

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Tuesday

Here are a few more Christmas cards.  For both these cards I took Mike's largest Christmas Tree die cut and cut out a scrap piece of paper so I had a stencil of the outline of the tree.  I covered up the holes and then used this stencil to sponge ink (Tumbled Glass) onto the white card stock so I had a large tree sponged on it. 

For this tree I took away the stencil and then stamped (in Broken China) the second largest and smallest tree on top of the sponging.  I stamped a third smaller tree behind without reinking so it's a bit more faded but that way I didn't have to mask the other trees.  I sponged all around the edges and added the sentiment.  Then I put on a couple of pearls, misted with some shimmer mist and added a ribbon.

For this tree I kept my stencil on the cardstock and then stamped (in Broken China) the second largest tree on top of the sponging.  I masked it and then stamped a couple trees behind it.  I added the sentiment and a couple of pearls on just the largest tree and misted with some silver mist. 

Michael Strong Holiday Blog Hop

It's time for anther Michael Strong Blog Hop!

This time we were to make a holiday tag using a Michael Strong stamp.  I made a couple of tags 'cause I have a couple of kids!

This one is for my daughter.  She loves blue.  I used some blue (broken china and faded jeans) distress stains on it and used the embossed resist technique.

This one is for my son who loves green.  Again with the distress stains (pine needles) and embossed resist.

Next up in the blog hop is HERMA - http://hermaf.wordpress.com

If you get lost along the way please link back to Hetty's blog - http://craftchaos.blogspot.com

Of course there is also a prize available -- naturally a Michael Strong stamp set!  In each of the blogs in the blog hop there will be a letter.  My letter is "D".  Unscramble all the letters to make a wish and send the wish to buzzy4you@hotmail.com . Do NOT put the wish in a comment please!  That way others can have fun playing.  Hetty will draw a winner on Wednesday the 7th of December.  Have fun and hope you enjoy the blog hop!


Heidi

Michael Strong Blog Hop

Today is the Michael Strong Blog Hop featuring the Christmas Trees stamp set!

Plus it's the worldwide premiere of my blog!  So much to celebrate I couldn't do it with just one thing alone.  So I made a few...

For this project I used the Burnished Watercolour technique to make my own designer paper for this Christmas scrapbook page.



For this project I used the mini milk carton from Stampin Up! to create boxes full of candy for the kids at Christmas.



And last but not least here is a simple Christmas card.



Hope you enjoyed the projects I made.   Please leave a comment and if you make a comment on every one of the blogs in our blog hop you get a chance to win a new Michael Strong stamp set!

Click HERE to go to the next stop on our tour or if you get lost there's a list below.

Mike: http://www.blog.strongstamps.com/
Herma: http://hermaf.wordpress.com/
Heidi: http://heidi-thereluctantblogger.blogspot.com/
Dorly: http://modernadesignsart.blogspot.com/
Dani: http://stampingwitch.wordpress.com/
Trena: http://www.trenabrannon.typepad.com/
Hetty: http://craftchaos.blogspot.com/