Snow Tag how-to

 I was a guest this week on the paperclipping roundtable (we’re talking double page layouts) and my crafty pick was the Hero Arts + Basic Grey “Life of the Party stars” background stamp. (Available @simonsaysstamp.com)

I’m loving this stamp because while it’s stars, it can take on a festive holiday “snowflake-like” look with the right ink – or in this case paint (dabber in pearl)! Today since I just picked that stamp (and that new episode is now up!) I thought it would be the perfect time to show you this fun thing I’ve been doing with my snowman texture fade.

Pictured above is just about everything I used to make this tag. I’ve been having a BLAST with my foil sheets (by ranger) – they’re adhesive backed and super thin so you can die cut, emboss, do anything to them AND they work great with alcohol inks, embossing powder, and more. Such fun! Ok, so here’s the how-to:

Apply Ranger’s paint dabber (pearl) onto stamp and then stamp onto foil. Allow to dry fully before moving on.

Once dry, place sheet into texture fade folder and run through die cut machine. The result is an embossed snowman ready to play! This could be cut out, made into a card, a page accent, a tag…

Today I’m going to make a tag. First, I need to spruce up our snowman. I will start by attaching the foil to my tag (it’s adhesive backed, so just stick it on!). Then I will drop some blue alcohol ink into his snowflakes. Then I will apply some pearl alcohol ink to his body, and use this to ‘tidy up’ around the snowflakes if the blue overflowed. Though honestly? A bit of overflow is fine. Once that is set, I wanted more texture so I added pearl paint dabber to the snowman’s body, as well as along the base to add “snow” to the ground.

Now that the foil part is set up, time to move onto my embellishing! I attached some ribbon to the bottom (to cover where the foil didn’t cover the tag), and I altered a metal snowflake to use at the top of the tag:

To alter the metal snowflake I first dripped pearl (alcohol ink metallic mixative) onto snowflake until fully covered. Then I used the felt applicator to rub brown (ginger) lightly onto it so that some of the raised surfaces took on that color. LOVE altering my metals this way!

At the bottom of the tag I added a sticker (says snow.. I didn’t wait long enough for my glossy accents to dry so my pearl paint mushed it! WHOOPS!), foil snowflake die cut, and a doily.

At the top I attached ribbon and my charm – and that’s it!

Hmmm… if only I had a bit more dimension, some “snow”…

I sprinkled UTEE (pearl) onto my tag and then heated from underneath with a heat gun. This melts the powder in place, and creates a sprinkled effect. Love it! The foil works really well for that technique.

As you can see I’ve been having all kind of fun! You’ll be seeing all of these products more in my 25 days of holiday craftiness series for sure!

Supplies:  

day 3 | simple + inexpensive idea

Day 3: Let’s look at a little idea. Put some effort into decorating a tiny gift (this could be ANYTHING) and make it special.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vONMcD9BxQ]

note – scrapbook.com has these Martha Stewart food picks only has a few left – and they’re on clearance!

supplies:

day 2 | holiday mood

What gets me in the mood for holiday craftiness? Quite often it’s music or movies that play an important role in making things feel a bit more festive. Today I want to share some favorites.

Movies:

    • White Christmas – the original, classic, good any time of year and always makes me feel warm & fuzzy. My sister and I watched this together… maybe a hundred times. possibly more.
    • Elf – family favorite + most quoted holiday movie around here. Who doesn’t adore Buddy?
    • Love Actually – a personal favorite but WATCH OUT! It’s rated “R” due to some rather random nudity… so don’t watch when kids are up!

     

Music:

 There are other single songs I love – like Mariah Carey’s version of “All I Want for Christmas is You” , and I’m a sucker for Sleigh Ride, Winter Wonderland, White Christmas… oh a number of songs. I haven’t named everything here – and obviously there are a ton of movies I enjoy having on as I work this time of year including some of the cartoon specials, cheesy ABC Family made for TV movies, Christmas Story… so many… What are your favorites?
 


day 1 | snow globe + polar bear tag

Let’s get some holiday crafting STARTED!!

While at Stampers Corner last weekend teaching I fell in love with the Polar Bear stamps + the snow globe die cut from Memory Box. I’ve been a fan of the company for a long time, and I couldn’t say no to them… even with my long history of not actually using adorable animal stamps. I’m determined though – and here’s my first project with them.

enabler note: simonsaysstamp.com has the snow globes (there are a few sizes!) + the polar bear stamps in stock!

After I die cut the snow globe pieces onto manila paper I used pearl dabber paint on the circle, then once dry stamped with black archival ink. The result was a “textured” look to the stamped image. LOVE! The base is stamped with black archival ink lightly – so it’s not even and has an aged look.

Here’s a video of the rest of the process:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA2-Ix2SIPQ]

and more detail shots…

LOVE how the paint adds that texture! Then how the glossy accents on top adds, well, glossiness! Also? Applying distress stickles before glossy accents is dry = great subtle “snowflakes” in my globe. So fun.

To finish it I just threw on a little tag (edged in ink) and topped with a brad + ribbon.

Supply info/links:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
now I just have to decide…
 

Which gift gets this tag? AND… what will I make with this die cut next? I am just starting to warm up – and I’m loving every minute.