Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas - Week Eight

     It is Week Eight at Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas. When I am done I am going to miss making these! I have had so much fun!

      I was a bit stuck with this tag...I really loved it - but I did find myself myself facing some hesitation...I only had one stamp of Father Christmas and I really hadn't wanted to repeat any images - but lets face facts...I don't own a huge amount of Christmas stamps, so I am always going to be a bit limited with my choice....

       When I saw the Faded Jeans DI being used I was again a bit hesitant....It is probably my least favourite and least used colour....(I have a board that I velcro the foam ink pads to...the plain white pad with a smudge of blue ink stuck on the 'Faded Jeans' square spoke volumes about how little I use this colour - especially when compared to all the other ink saturated, worn out blending foam pads used for the other colours!!!!)

      And I didn't have any snowflake die cuts....Oh bother!!!!

     When I began to make the tags I had decided that I would follow closely to Linda's originals - I wanted to make my own versions, but know that they are recognisable as being inspired by Linda's tags. So that meant that I was going to use that Faded Jeans ink...and Father Christmas was going to appear again! ;o)


        ......As it turns out I am so glad that Linda used Faded Jeans DI...I LOVE that colour now!!! I always avoided it before thinking it was too dark and not 'my kind of blue' - How wrong I was....and how glad I was that I decided to leave my comfort zone!

     I must say I love the technique she used...Faded Jeans DI over a tag and then embossed with clear embossing powder and then covered with Picket Fence DP....I was so sure I was doing it wrong but suddenly after wiping the DP away I saw this gorgeous effect...after the biscotti pearls were added it gleamed! - Gorgeous! I will be doing that technique again! It is very hard to capture the prettiness of this effect on camera though - You still have the slightly raised embossed effect, but it is smoother and less obvious - it seems to have blended into the background slightly.....I'll stop waffling now!....

I used a Tim Holtz script stamp that I hadn't used for ages. It is smaller and more delicate than my favourite one and I felt a delicate script was needed here - using Potting Soil Archival ink.

    The Father Christmas stamp was done in Coffee archival - I did try Potting Soil - which is the ink I always use now - but for this tag the effect was too dark and I wanted something more delicate. And I did try other images - believe me!!! I tried everything.....but nope - Linda got it right and Father Christmas it had to be - anything else just didn't work and looked boring and out of place.....I figured just go with it! I got the Fired Brick DI out and coloured in the image, adding Peeled Paint DI for the holly. I might not have wanted to repeat any image, but the vintage effect this gives is just gorgeous!

      I added some Rock Candy Distress stickles glue to the image to give a very subtle frosty effect....it slightly smudged the Peeled Paint DS but I think that it adds to the vintage look!


       I used a die cut frame, painted in Nougat Fresco paint and then covered in crackle glaze. When dry I rubbed a bit of Chocolate Pudding Fresco paint into the cracks and wiped with a baby wipe.

          Some Nougat painted brads were used to secure the frame to the tag.

    All of my Christmas stamps were too small to add to the frame so I used a digi image that I printed up ages ago and coloured it with some Faded Jeans DI

    Now to solve the problem of lack of snowflakes...Linda decided to ban herself from using the poinsettia die, but I decided to go for flowers! I had several in kraft card so I painted them in Nougat Fresco paint and then covered them with Glossy Accents glue and sprinkled them with Rock Candy distress glitter - this glitter has become one of my crafting essentials!

 I used a pale white button for the center of each flower - specially chosen for its delicate mother-of-pearl sheen. I tied an ivory hemp string bow in each and stuck them to the center of each flower....So I might not have snowflakes, but I managed a snowflake shaped flower instead.

  I didn't have a metal bell but as a substitute for that I added vintage looking gold effect holly
 leaves.

A white organza ribbon bow finished off the tag.........and there is my eighth Frilly and Funkie Christmas tag!

Why not come along and share in the fun of this challenge too?...all you have to do is make something inspired by each of the 12 tags and you could be in with a chance to win $50 to spend at the Funkie Junkie Boutique

                       
                Thanks so much for being here - Hope to see you all again soon!

                       

I would like to enter this in the following challenge -

Funkie Junkie - 12 tags of Christmas