Ingenious Inkling

Merry & Bright

Today's Tag for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist is inspired by this beauty by Sharon Harnist.

I am also calling this the Messiest Tag of Christmas, since each step created a different mess in my studio ... all fun messes, but messes nonetheless.

First mess - inky background.  I started with gelatos, but didn't get the intensity of color I wanted ... so I added some sprays ... still not there.  Next I dropped on Distress Ink re-inkers and smooshed that around ... then more gelatos, more spray ... you get the picture.  I love the final effect, but there was a lot of color to clean-up (and dry overnight).

Next was my Prize Stag (which if I had been thinking, I also would have inked and let dry overnight ... but of course, that would have been too easy).  I crimped some kraft cardstock and then die cut.  The crimping didn't work quite as well as the corrugating, so it was harder to see.  

Next I applied color with my Hero Arts White Ink Dauber, which pretty much obliterated what was left of the crimping ... so I decided to sprinkle on glitter (mess #2 due to over-pouring).  It's hard to see in the picture, but it is very pretty and sparkly. I also added a pink gem for a feminine nose.

I didn't have the wreath die cut, so I used lots of leaf punches to create my wreath effect (and lots of tiny glue dots).

Finally I decided to stamp my sentiment from Brushstroke Christmas rather than die cut, but after stamping with white ink and clear embossing, it didn't show-up enough.  So I stamped a second time (hence the slightly off-set effect that makes you think you're looking at this card after having a few too many Christmas toddies) and embossed with white embossing powder for more contrast.

The final touch was an SRM Christmas Sticker sentiment and a wide white ribbon (neither of which created any mess).

So despite this project feeling like a 4th grade art class, I had a ton of fun making it ... and love the finished effect.

As always, you can use Coupon Code STEPH15 for 15% off your order of $25.00 or more (before tax and shipping) in the a2z Store, your stop for all things Hero Arts.

Joy to the World

Tonight's tag is inspired by Heather Campbell's gorgeous design for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist..

I loved the contrast of the black, white and pink with the big moon and dark skyline.

I stamped a different circle moon from the same Avery Elle set in white ink and embossed to resist the sponged ink in the sky.  I added the Hero Arts Skyline cut from Black Cardstock.  Rather than create a shaker tag, I added pink & silver sequin stars to the sky.  I attached my tag to the front of a card, since I still have a few more holiday cards to mail.

With all of my sparkling sequins, I'm also joining the Bling it On Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Thursday Link Love

Another week of fun finds from blogland:

• Origami Bows from Magazine Pages
• Free Digital Scrapbook kit ... adorable Whoo? Me? by Norma Kennedy ... and also To You With Love
• Energy Boosting Breakfast Toasts ... refried beans & fried egg sound yummy to me
• Lauren has some amazing December Journals in her Etsy Store
• Inserting Movie Scenes in Real Life ... so fun
• Linzer Cookies are a favorite, but a lot of work to make ... so I love the idea of Linzer Bars
• Cute Snowman Necklace tutorial (shown)
• Tutorial for Cute Corner Bookmarks

Have a terrific Thursday.

Peace Love & Joy

Today's Tag in the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist is by Sandy Allnock.

I loved the vibrant pink and blue sky ... the full moon ... and the trees with a snowy landscape, so those are the elements I incorporated into my tag.

I inked Hero Arts Winter Moon with Doll Pink & Cobalt ink, trying to use my ink pads to blend a bit where the colors overlapped.  Next I stamped Hero Arts Many Branches Tree with the same Doll Pink Ink (which had a bit of blue smudged on the pad).  I used clear Wink of Stella to add a little sparkle to my moon.

I cut a snowy landscape and then attached my larger tree.  I intended to use gems to decorate my tree, but while I was searching through my stash, I found these tiny heart pillow stickers from Basic Grey's Smitten line, which I thought worked perfectly with my Very Mery Christmas Sentiment.

I'm also joining Loves Rubberstamps where the Challenge is Winter or Christmas.

As always, you can use Coupon Code STEPH15 for 15% off your order of $25.00 or more (before tax and shipping) in the a2z Store, your stop for all things Hero Arts.

'Tis the Season

Today's tag by Dawn Woleslagle for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist is so graphic and classy.

I folowed her basic recipe with a little twist on the colors.

Instead of stamping my stripes, I created them with strips of silver glitter paper.  I needed a bit more contrast, so I added a few glittery red cardinals and red gems to finish my design.  My sentiment is the same as Dawn's from Julie's 'Tis the Season.

I'm also joining The Paper Players Black Tie Challenge and ...

the Sparkle Challenge at Just Us Girls.

Have a Cool Yule

When I saw Jill Foster's Tag with a Feminine Twist, I wanted to run ... her style of coloring leaves me with my jaw dropping every time ... but it also scares me.  She manages to make her designs look natural and a bit artsy-messy ... without actually being messy.  I tend to veer into messy-land.

However, I committed to make every tag, so I went in search of a Christmas image I could color.  I chose this vintage ornament stamp from Magenta, because it already looked sort of mess and had nice white lines for me to stay inside.

After I used her water-color Pencil technique to color my ornaments, I wanted to stop there ... but decided to brave it and try to add the highlighting around the image where she did ... that's were it started getting a bit muddy/messy (hence the sentiment along the messiest part at the bottom) ... however, overall I was pleased with the finished design.

I used a Pilot Silver Marker for the tops of the ornaments and mounted my tag on black for a bit more contrast ... yea! my tags are caught-up ... what a fun weekend of Christmas creating.

I'm also joining the Non-traditional Holiday Colors Challenge at the Love to Create Challenge Blog.

Season's Greetings

Jean Manis' sequin-decorated tree is so fun ... as is her entire tag for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.

I started by adhering double-sided adhesive to silver glitter paper and then punched out my Christmas Tree ... I used silver, because my Gran always had an silver holiday tree in her formal livingroom when I was a child.  After peeling off the second layer of adhesive, I decorated my tree with three colors of sequins.

I used Paper Smooches Borders 1 Die Cut for my snowy landscape.  I orignally had two hills, but due to smudging some black ink, I had to add a third ... and it turned out to be a great touch.

Instead of packages, I added a Paper Smooches Swanky Snowdude to my landscape (die cut with coordinating die).  I colored him with Spectrum Noir Markers (BT6, PL3 & CR8) & added a sentiment from the same set.  The finishing touch was a silver sequin snowfall in the sky (or silver sequin stars ... take your pick).

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at Paper Smooches.

Christmas Sled

When I saw Julia Stainton's design for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist, my jaw dropped ... she turned a simple tag into a fabulous Christmas Sled ... brilliant!

I followed her recipe pretty closely.  I stamped Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain Background in Brown and then again in Red on Kraft Cardstock.  Next I scored and drew the board lines with a black marker, although my marker was drying out, so it's not quite as predominant.

Since I knew I wanted to attach my sled tag to a card, I didn't use foam tape for the runner ... but instead used foam tape to attach my entire sled to my card base of pre-embossed holly cardstock.

I loved the glittery die cut Prize Stag, but didn't have a wreath, so I used some holly stickers.  I finished with Brushstroke Peace Die Cut ... such a fun card to make.

As always, you can use Coupon Code STEPH15 for 15% off your order of $25.00 or more (before tax and shipping) in the a2z Store, your stop for all things Hero Arts.

Bokeh Christmas Tag

My next tag for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist is inspired by this cute design by Kelly Alvarez.

She has a great photo tutorial for creating the scalloped edge background, however I hated that you couldn't really see the cool effect after she attached her focal panel, so I decided to just focus on the pink.

I started by inking white cardstock with a combination of pink inks using these ColorBox Art Daubers.

While I love how they fit on the end of my finger, I kept getting circles of ink that wouldn't blend well (operator error I have no doubt).  I tried spraying the paper with Hero Arts Gold Shimmer Spray, but that just made the effect muddier.

So I set that paper aside, and tried again ... this time focusing on achieving the circular bokeh effect by just pouncing straight down with the inked sponge, doing it 4 or 5 times before re-inking to get different intensities of pink.

Next I added several spritzes of Angel Pink Fireworks Spray, which produced tinier bokeh dots and a bit of shimmer.  The final step on the background was to stamp the tiny snowflakes from Avery Elle Joy to the World.

I wanted to add a globe from the same Avery Elle set ... and when I thought about what color to use to stamp it, I thought my discarded first attempt at inking would be perfect (the subtle golden shimmer of the Hero Arts Shimmer Spray is very pretty behind the stamping).  I also stamped my banner sentiment on the same paper.

As I went to attach everything to my tag, I decided pull in the beautiful aqua blue Kelly had in her tag ... such a fun color combination for a feminine holiday design.

I'm also joining the Anything Goes Challenge at The Corrosive Challenge Blog.

O' Christmas Penguin

I must confess ... I always gaze in awe at the creations of Kittie Caracciolo ... but I struggle to figure out how to incorporate her design style into my creations.  Here's her tag she made for the 3rd day of the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.

So instead of trying to incorporate a more literal interpretation of her design, I took a step back and thought about what I could incorporate.  Can you see those elements in my design?

 Here are the elements I incorporated:

• a tall vertical tag with standard tag corners (4"x8")
• green designer paper on the top half of the tag
• a central element attached with foam tape for dimention (in this case these adorable free tags)
• Hero Arts Fancy Flourish Die Cuts instead of vines & tree branches
• a poinsettia in the corner
• and another red element at the top of the tag.

As always, you can use Coupon Code STEPH15 for 15% off your order of $25.00 or more (before tax and shipping) in the a2z Store, your stop for all things Hero Arts.