Happy Holidays 2011

Loved making these little book trees this year. I'm absolutely covered with glitter, but well worth it.

I actually got a double bloom on my amarylis this year. First time in a long time, we'll have it through the new year I think. Some of my favorite holiday decorations too. I didn't put out very much though, as we have the master bath completely gutted to redo soon and stuff is piled everywhere.

A Wreath of Tags

I decided I needed a place for all the tags I've done over the last 5 years and chose a foam wreath as my base. I covered it with holiday fabric and then poked wire through and made coiled up clips that I could put a brad through to hold the tags on. I haven't done every tag over the years, but I do have about 50 on there with room for next year's too! Have a very safe and happy Holiday!

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 12

Ahhhh, day 12. It's been a fun journey through the 12 Tags of Christmas this year. Already looking forward to next year's journey.

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 11

I just loved playing with the melting pot for this one. Wish I'd had a more whimsical Santa stamp, but I worked with what I had. Kind of  a super easy technique for this one, but I like the vibrant colors you get.

The 12 Tags of Christmas, Day 10

Day 10 brings us to those lovely little faceted charms. Love the look of putting the foil tape behind them. Genious! I used a Club Scrap Christmas tree stamp for my background and then trolled around in the bling box for the rest of the doodads.

The 12 Tags of Christmas, Day 9

Just a little improvising for today's tag. I used a Club Scrap UM stamp from Written Word Remix for my back ground swirls. Pine Needles and Fired Brick Distress inks. I coated some grunge letters and swirl with black EP and added some bling. The lamppost and greenery were an RAK from my friend Monica which I stamped with some bg noise and embossed with Marcasite EP. Topped off with ribbon and pompom yarn from my stash.

The 12 Tags of Christmas, Day 8

This is one of my favorite tags this year. I kind of changed the umbrella man into a bit of a santa. Not sure I like him yet, but he's growing on me. I used some ClubSscrap background stamps from Retro and Workbench kits and then just started looking through the stash for bits and baubles to jazz it up.

The 12 Tags of Christmas, Day 7

My day 7 tag went so different that it turned 90 degrees and went horizontal! I had none of the supplies on the list for this one so just started rummaging through the stash for this one. The leaves are done with the the divider papers in my pastel sketch book. Kind of looks like unwaxed waxed paper and seemed to have the same properties of the glassine paper that Tim uses. Had some sparkly red mesh and pearl beads from a broken necklace, so those worked. The stamp is from a clearstamps sheet and polka dot sheer ribbon inked with Fired Brick Distress.

12 Tags of Christmas Day 6

I'm catching up on my tags and really enjoyed this technique. I swear it looks like vintage enamel work. Definitely going to play around with this some more. I don't really have any holiday embossing folders so I went with the post card one again. Added a little 3-d sticker and a charm, but mostly wanted to leave the tag open to show that great technique.

Tribute to a Wonderful Lady

 My grandma passed away last week at the wonderful age of 91. I spent many week ends with her and my grandpa as a child and she taught me so much. I am in Washington for her memorial service today and thought I would put up a few pictures of her.  This is me, my grandpa (who passed in 1985) and my grandma at Mowich Lake in the foothills of Mt. Rainier. I was 5.

Here she is with my 2 boys shortly after Will was born in 1991. My oldest is now 24 and happy he got to know her into his adult hood.

Here she is with a rare candid smile on her face. She was tough to photograph, always hiding from the camera.

And here is one of my favorite photos of me, my mom and her mom. We were always gabbing and drinking coffee when we were together and often went on spur of the moment shopping trips.







Goodbye grandma, I will miss you................

The 12 Tags of Christmas Day 5

Day 5 brings us that fun alcohol ink technique with a negative image. Well, no reflection stamps here so I just used some fun snowflakes and a stocking. Punched some holly leaves out of dark green and sheet music for the wreath and colored some bling with red pepper AI for berries. The little treble clef clip just looked like it went.

The 12 Tags of Christmas Day 4

So far, the tree theme is working for me. I used the big branch die to make an icy, wintry tree with some faded jeans and weathered wood distress stains. The flowers are K&Company and the snowflake is from Stickopotamus. I made the little bauble at the top with some jewelry beads and findings. I like that technique with the picket fence distress stain on the background. It really softens the colors.  Head on over to Tim's blog and check out the inspiration.

The 12 Tags of Christmas Day 3

After baking all day and mulling over what I was going to do, I ended up going in a totally different way today. I really didn't have a stamp I wanted to repeat the color stamping and I don't have any matching embossing folders and stamps, so I started with the postcard folder on some black pastel paper. After running through the Big Kick I colored various areas with perfect pearls. Then found a desert "yule" tree and tacked that on with a pretty little cardinal sitting in the crook of its arm. The "peace"  is from some Kay & Company glitter rubons. And I just noticed I have a bit of a tree theme going on here for the first 3 days. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

12 Tags of Christmas--Day 2

Ahhhh, day 2. More improvisation here since I don't have the seasonal kraft, but I do have the regular seasonal paper and that worked pretty well, with some of my own stamps and clear embossing powder. I'm kinda liking that picket fence distress stain (first time I've used that). I have the tree die and not the deer so I went with that version and then found these cute little bead strung gold and silver light bulbs that looked great with the tree. Some brocade trim and brads in place of the border strip and a little gold dove charm round out the tag.

The 12 Tags of Christmas Day 1

The 12 Tags has arrived! Yeah! As you can see I've gone off on a little tangent as I didn't have many of the supplies for today's tag. If you want to see the inspiration head on over to Tim's blog and check out today's tutorial. I did the background on the tag following the tut, but using the cracked glass folder. I added some cut out snowy trees with a touch of glitter, a very glittery snowflake and a gold santa charm tinted with alcohol inks. The baubles are homemade from broken jewelry and the ho ho ho sticker is a K&Company from last year.

Hope you all are enjoying the kick off to the yule as much as I am.