Inspired by the 12 Tags of Christmas

Did you have a FANTASTIC Christmas?  I hope so!
To all my friends who sent Christmas cards, THANK YOU.  Each and every one is awesome!

In some respects mine was fabulous. . .I had my grandkids here!  (Technically they are not my grandkids yet because the wedding is not until April, but they have stolen my heart already so they ARE my grandkids!)   They are such sweethearts!  In other ways it has been a hard few days as this it the first Christmas without Mom.  Having Brandon and Izzy here definitely helped me though!

Izzy

Brandon

It's always a busy time of year but I managed to follow along while Tim was creating his 12 Tags of Christmas.  I even created about half them, but somewhere in the early days of the 12 tags I was inspired to create a shadow box using Tim's "Configurations"!  The box is why I don't have all the tags completed yet because I was making boxes!  I really had fun with this!

Some of the compartments were created using the technique introduced in the 12 Tags, other compartments were designed around the images used in the tags. Thank you Tim for the inspiration (and for designing the cool products!)

Day 7

Day 2

Day 1

Day 10

Day 4

Day 11

Day 6

Day 12

Day 5

Day 8

Day 3

Day 9

Please let me know if you have questions about any of the boxes, and I will try to answer them for you.  

Products used (most if not all the products came from my stash, some of which has been waiting for a long while! lol):

Ranger:

Distress Inks, Studio Matte Medium, Sticky Back Canvas, Embossing Powders, Rock Candy Stickles, Paint Dabbers, Alcohol Ink, Distress Embossing Ink

Idea-Ology

TH Seasonal Paper Stash, TH Vintage Shabby Paper Stash, Configurations, Grungepaper, Grunge board, Word Keys, Facets, Adage Tickets, Baubles

Sizzix

Reindeer Flight die, texture fade

Miscellaneous products

Hot Off The Press papers

Christmas House Holly Bush

Celebrate it Christmas pine bough

DecoArt Glistening SnowTex Glittering Snow

jewel

eye hooks

K & Co - Tim Coffey Metal Tags

Dress It Up "Tree Trimmers"

Hero Arts Embossing Powder

Pocket Change by Heidi Grace Designs

Mrs. Grossman's "stuffed stickers"

Early December

December started out with a bang for me!  On the first Saturday of December, SJ came over for an "impromptu" Scrappin' Saturday!  I am slowly "dragging" her into the "Tim World"! lol  We made Days 3 & 4 tags from Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of Christmas.

SJ's Day 3

SJ's Day 4

    

Linda's Day 3

Linda's Day

(note as of 12/20 I have a few other tags completed, just haven't taken pictures yet.  As soon as I get pictures I will post along with the "big" project!  We keep the house "cool" in the winter (around 64 degrees F) and it takes FOREVER for stuff to dry, so while I am a bit closer to being finished I am still waiting for stuff to dry before I can move on to the next step!)

The First Sunday in December means it's Gingerbread House Day at Aunt Linda's!  On the Friday and/or Saturday before I bake a gingerbread houses or trains (from scratch) for each "little" guest.   The house smells so yummy on those days.

The third annual event was a little different, instead of making houses just for the kids, I made houses for their moms too!! Last year my great-nieces, Savannah and Erica, were not too happy with the "help" offered by their moms (my nieces Marie & Debbie).  Marie and Debbie did an admirable job of trying not to help too much, but I could see their fingers itching to "help".   So this year everyone had their own house!  

Soooo many choices!  

Getting started

Erica and Savannah with their creations

Debbie and Marie with their houses!

A close up of Savannah's

A close up of Erica's

A close up of Marie's

A close up of Debbie's

Didn't they all make AWESOME houses?  

In case you are wondering where mine is, I don't make myself a house on Gingerbread Day, I just sit back and watch the fun (and make sure icing is available, candy bowls are filled, take pictures and help as needed!).  Totally LOVE the afternoon!   Sometimes I make a house (or train) for Christmas Eve dinner if we are bringing the desserts.

If you are going to be in the neighborhood next year on the first Sunday in December and want to drop by, let me know and I will have a house ready for you too!

In case you are wonderin' (and CCC# 24)

I haven't forgotten how to blog. Really, I haven't!  I have been busy; besides getting ready for Christmas, I decided an unexpected root canal would be fun.  It was my first ever and I was kidding about the fun part because this last week had not been fun.

I have managed to get a few things finished including Compendium of Curiosities Challenge #24 hosted by the fabulous Linda at StudioL3!  Today is the last day of the challenge, but there will be a brand new challenge posted tomorrow morning, so be sure to check it!

For Challenge 24 we were instructed to turn to page 47 for the Rock Candy Distress Stickles technique.  Check out the  Compendium of Curiosities  by Tim Holtz for the details on the technique.  For the base of my tag, I found a couple pieces of scrap paper that had obviously had been used to make Christmas trees at some point and used the leftover "frame".  Under the trees I used some leftover TH Seasonal Paper Stash. (I LOVE using all the little leftover pieces of paper I can't throw away!)  Once I had the tag base created, I followed the directions in the book!  It's a fun easy way to add some sparkle!  If you haven't already, I hope you give it a try! 

Did you follow along with Tim and his 12 Tags of Christmas?  The man is a creative GENIUS.  Even though I haven't posted any yet, I have 6 days completed, 2 days in progress and 4 waitin' to get made plus another project.  I hope to have the project completed by tomorrow and the tags before Christmas.  As soon as they are complete, I will post pictures!


Have a fabulous week!


Linda


Products used:
tag
TH Seasonal Paper Stash
Vintage holly garland
Rock Candy Distress Stickles
Burgundy Stickles
Archival Ink - jet black
Ofray ribbon

Queen of Last Minute, part 2

The other challenge that I wanted to create something for and also ends tonight (Sunday) is GingersnapsCreations GS78 Spicy Supply Challenge: Sewing Notions.   


I used Tim Holtz' Configurations for the base.  If you haven't played with one yet, you really need too!  I am HOOKED.  Don't be surprised if you see more configurations on my blog!

I started this project shortly after the challenge was announced.  I just finished it because I wanted a sewing machine and found one on eBay.  When I got it, it wasn't quite as big as I wanted. I have been pondering every since on what to include with it. There's a hanger in there now (even though it's hard to see), but I'm not sure if I am satisfied.  Any ideas or suggestions?


Years ago my aunt gave me a box of old sewing notions that I had no idea what to do with it, but I couldn't get rid of it.  From that box of goodness I used the pincushion (I applied a coat of Studio Matte Medium because the covering is so thin from use and age.)  I also used part of an old tape measure I found in the box.  


Other items such as the snaps, zipper pulls, thimble and bobbin came from the "nuts & bolts" cabinet I claimed after my mom passed away.

This is a close up of the cover on plain background so it's a little easier to see. The stamp is from Wendy Vecchi's Fashion Style and Art stamp set.

The flowers are some I made  when Tim (Holtz) Tattered Floral die came out. They are in a vintage wooden spool.  The pattern in the background is a reduced photocopy.  The lace if from my mom's stash.

I have a few other configurations either started or planned!  They are loads of fun and I hope you will be able to play with some SOON!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!  Have a fabulous week!  

Linda

Queen of Last Minute, part 1

So Linda at Studio L3 gave us 2 WEEKS to finish the 23rd Compendium of Curiosity Challenge and here I am minutes before the deadline finishing my project and posting. . . .  


Without further ado, here is my entry!

Take care,

Linda