Modern Traditional Tag

I am finally finished with ALL of my Tag Swaps.  It was a lot of fun and I would do it again!!

This is what the final project looks like:

The top of the pink ornament is embossed in silver, cut out and glued over the top of the Cricut shape.  The ornament is attached by Baker's Twine so that it actually swings.  It makes me smile every time!!  The tag is Pear card stock stamped with Garden Green ink.  I used New England Ivy for the TO and FROM.

I had to weigh down the ornaments when they dried, or else they curled from all of that glitter glue.  In order to get enough weight in a small area, I had to recruit some of my teddy bear friends!!

Modern Traditional Tag - In Progress

Yes, I realize that it's a strange title, but that's the name of the swap category.  Modern refers to the color palette, in this case Pear and Cotton Candy.

This is one of my the ornaments for the tag that I am designing:

It required the masking technique with a little twist, so I thought I would share it today. First I stamped the entire ornament on thin scrap paper and cut out the bird.  I put some repositional adhesive on the backside of the bird, then set the good-side against the stamp exactly in place.

It stuck there well enough while I lined it up on my ornament shape.  I pressed the un-inked stamp down and the bird mask stuck with the repositional adhesive.  Now it is perfectly in place to mask the bird.  Below you can see the mask alone on an ornament, as well as the finished stamp once the mask has been removed.

Also note on the carrier sheet, around the stamp image there is a little line and the numbers 2.5".  This lets me know to set my Cricut at 2.5" when I am cutting this shape on the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge, so that it is the perfect size for this stamp.

Lastly, I cut a rectangle that was 1" X 1 1/4" to fit just the bird.I inked the center of this ornament in Cotton Candy and just printed the bird.  I attached it with foam tape for a little dimension.

I hope to be able to show you the finished tags tomorrow because time is running out!! Tick, tick, tick..

Vintage Christmas Tag

So, I've been kind of worrying about this next tag.  I signed up for a tag swap in four different categories.  This one is vintage.  Vintage is really IN right now.  I know how to distress the edges of paper, but I haven't ever really "done vintage."  I looked through my Christmas stamps several times and I guess that I haven't bought much of what I would call vintage, so then it came down to this: go shopping?  borrow stamps? or make something work?  My first inclination was to borrow because I knew of the perfect set of stamps* that I was sure that I could make work, but I really hate to bother people, so chickened out.  I could buy something, but I have been really trying to keep this blog Close to my Heart!!  Plus, I rarely buy anyone else's stamps anymore.  So, make what I have work!!  I knew it was going to come down to this!!  Why do I fight it?

In yesterday's post, I talked about how it takes a few tries to get things right.  Here is another example:

My idea was that when you lift up the plain cover tag, you would see the decoration, but then where do write the "To:" and the "From:"?  If you write that on the cover, there is really no need to look inside:

So, I tried switching that around.  The background music stamp has to be stamped twice to fill the tag, but because you can see through the block it is pretty easy to line it up right.  On the upper right you can see a tag that has already been distressed.

For this swap, there is a requirement of, at least two embellishments.  I knew sparkles were out of the question.  I asked Will and he said buttons, ribbon and metal.  Smart guy!!

That was Lisa looking through old buttons - real vintage!!

I tinted the ribbon with matching ink.  I'm very happy with the color.  I sewed the button on with embroidery floss that Lisa dug out of her room.

Yes, I sewed around the edge.  Lisa had a matching green embroidery floss that I had to put to use.

I finished off the back of the tags with a second generation print of the music notes. While I was sewing, I was shocked that my allergies weren't giving me any problems. I am allergic to old books and papers.  This tag looked so old, that I forgot that it was new paper.  Yep, I fooled myself!!

*This is the stamp set that I would have borrowed.  Christmas Delights D1518.  Vintage, right?

Modern Color Tag Swap

Tick, tick, tick...  Christmas is looming!!  I've got to get going on my tags for the swap.  This is what I am designing for the Modern category:

After seeing it on the computer like this, I think it needs a present on the right side for balance!!

The joke is that after you peek in the bag, you get told not to.

I see that I also have to line Santa's hat and hand on the back because this way it looks pretty tacky (and not just because you can see glue!!)

A few minor adjustments, then I make a batch of nine more.  At that point I will be half way done.  See?  That's not so bad!!

Winter Waterfall Gift Tag

I joined a Tag Swap, so it's time that I made some tags that another paper crafter might think is neat.  For the Winter series, I decided to scale down the waterfall card to see if it was possible to make it into a card.  It is:

The colors on this photo didn't turn out quite right.  Believe me when I tell you that the chocolate colored strip matches the other papers well, and it all looks rich and pretty.

By adding the chocolate decorated strip on top of the chocolate card stock, I was able to cover the end of the waterfall strip.  I think it looks much more finished this way (versus what I did two posts ago).

I don't think that I'm ever going to get tired of this waterfall effect!!

The back is just covered with a Grey Flannel card stock with a few light snowflakes stamped around the edges.

I know that it's Halloween, but it's time to get started on those Christmas crafts!!

More Bread Tags for Dad

I hope that everyone is safe and warm and dry tonight!!  It was so very windy here in SE Michigan, that I was really worried about everyone in the path of the big storms!!  I don't follow the news much, because anxiety is the main trigger for my migraines (and I woke up with a big one this morning), so I don't know exactly where Sandy is right now in terms of strength.  I hope that it will all be over soon!!  Hang in there!!

It's a very small project today because of my headache.  This one hurts!!  I was able to do some thinking about possible future projects though, so all was not lost.

I heard, recently, that Dad has been giving out a lot of loaves of his Cinnamon Craisin Bread, so that must mean he'll be needing more tags.  These are the few that I made this evening, while I watched Life on Netflix with Tom and Lisa. (We love that show).

I just didn't want to ruin the daily blog streak that I have going right now just because of a dumb migraine!!

Tags for Dad's Homemade Bread

You have to understand that my dad doesn't really cook.  One Thanksgiving, he held the bottle for me so that the last of the dark Karo syrup would dribble into the sauce pan and then he told everyone that he helped make the pecan pie.  I let him get away with it because it was the first time he had been that close to a hot stove in my memory.  He doesn't have to cook.  Mom's a great cook.  You know how some Dads become the grill master.  Yeah, that wasn't really my Dad's thing.  (Mom had a Jenn-Air grill in the kitchen.  They were covered.)  Dad was happier in the garage, but now he's the master of the bread machine!!  He is becoming famous for his Cinnamon Craisin Bread.  He is selling 3 loaves this Friday at their retirement community's bake sale, so I said that he needed tags and I had some. Well, I couldn't put my hands on them in time to add them to the box I was mailing today, which was just as well as they were store bought.   I know, what was I thinking??  (It was that Clearance thing. Another quick Mom-story.  Lisa was 3 and I was showing my husband something that I had bought and she asked me if I had bought it at Clarence.  It took some repeating for us to realize that she meant on clearance!)  So I whipped these up before going to the Post Office, hope you like them:

It's hard to tell, but that's colonial white card stock edged in cocoa, with sunset, tulip, olive and more cocoa.  The stamp set is a retired one called Spice of Life D1214.  It's all Close to My Heart, of course.

I think the measuring spoon stamp is positioned best on the bottom tag.  I made more and probably should have done a better quality control job before photographing them. The oven mitt tag is a small card that opens - see below for the inside view.

Lisa cut the tags on the Cricut (4") and Tommy helped me with PhotoShop and blogspot.  Oh, and Will helped Tom with PhotoShop - and he also drove me to the Post Office!  Thanks guys!

Anyway, for just a few minutes work they really fulfilled what I needed.  I would have been even more happy if I had had some coordinating Baker's Twine on hand.  Olive would have been perfect!  Next time.

P.S. I think Dad's still happiest in the garage.