Christmas tag with cardinal by Tim Holtz

About a week ago I have posted my Christmas cards featuring a cardinal by Tim Holtz. After finishing the cards, I decided to make a tag as well, but this time I wanted to colour the bird with acrylic paint instead of ink.

Well, as I said, used paints to colour the bird. I used DecoArt Americana and Distress paints too. The main piece of the bird was painted dark brown and as you can see the rest were painted red, black and yellow. To the tail - which was brown - I added a layer of red.

The tag was cut out with an old Sizzix Bigz die, Tag&Bookplates (656938) from white paper. I started to ink the tag, first I added Lost Shadow. But it wasn't dark enough, so I added Hickory Smoke in many layers and Black Soot around the edges. In the end I splattered with white paints to create a snowy background.

Before I started to build the front side. I glued a black tag to the back side where I stamped and heat embossed a bold Christmas text with silver embossing powder. For this, I used the Stampers Anonymous Bold Tidings 2 stamp set (CMS419).

I cut out the branch with a Sizzix Bigz die, Bird Branch (657833) but I cut off the bird. I painted it medium brown, with dark brown at the edges. I glued it on the tag. I also splattered the branch with white paint.

Then I cut off the excess. And attached the text to the left side. For the text I used the Stampers Anonymous, Tiny Text Christmas (CMS424). I stamped with embossing ink and heat embossed with embossing powder.

Then I added white texture paste to the top of the branches to make snowy branches.

Then I just attached the bird with double-sided foam adhesive to the tag. I tied an organza ribbon with a snowflake charm from the Idea-Ology Snowflakes set.

With my tag, I would like to join the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Use Dies and Wednesday Challenge: Use Dies.

A set of Christmas cards with a cardinal

Let me show you the three Christmas cards that I just finished. For the cards, I used the cardinal die, which I believe was created in 2020 as a collaboration between Simon Says Stamp and Tim Holtz and was a free gift with December orders. And I've never used it before. 

The birds

First I created the three birds. The back piece was coloured with brown (Ground Espresso) and black (Black Soot) inks, and the bigger red piece was coloured with Fire Brick.

The rest of the red pieces were coloured with Lumberjack Plaid, Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany.

The beak was coloured with Fossilized Amber and with Vintage Photo around the edges. Later I added Lumberjack Plaid to the brown tail.

The backgrounds

Then I cut three panels from watercolour paper and I started to colour them with Distress inks. I wanted each card to have a different background colour.

One was coloured with Weathered Wood and Speckled Egg.

The second was coloured with Speckled Egg and Salvaged Patina.

And the third was coloured with Stormy Sky.

Then I toned them down with diluted white paint. The acrylic paint is also good for protecting the inky background. When it was dry I spattered with the same white paint to create snowy background. When they were dry I glued them on red background panels.

The pine branches

I wanted to place my birds to pine branches and I found the perfect branches in the Pine Branch Sizzix die set (664228).

I cut the branches from white watercolour paper and coloured them with Rustic Wilderness ink, and I went through the middle part with Vintage Photo marker.

How I put the cards together

So, my inky background was already placed to a red panel. The next step was to adhere to a folded creamy white card. When it was done, I started adding the elements to the card.

First the branches.

Then the birds. I also wanted to add some bigger snowflakes, so I cut out a few using the Twig&Stump (666072) Thinlits die and Winter (663098) Side-Order die. I also added a little sparkle for the snowflakes. First I put Glossy Accents then Distress Glitter. You might see it here:

The texts are from the Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text Christmas stamp set (CMS424).

And you probably see that I added a little glitter and snowdrops to the branches.

With my cards, I would like to join the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Matching Set

Tags with plaid backgrounds

About 10 days ago I posted a tag with a plaid background. And since I really liked that background, I decided to make more. So I made 6 different background with. I really enjoyed mixing the colours and creating my own plaid backgrounds. First I show you the tags then I give you a tutorial.

Well, here is the tutorial.

I cut out the three layers of the Sizzix Layered Plaid die set from different colours. Sometimes I didn't use one of the cut out layers because I didn't find that colour good enough for the other two.  Here you can see the layers before gluing them together.

Then I glued them together.

Then I cut out the tag shape from these background panels. I added white paint to the edges.

I also spritzed them with white paint.

The cookie forms are made the same way like here. But this time I used not just the gingerbread men but more shapes.

For the Fa-la-la-la-la text I used the Holiday Drawings stamp set. I also stamped on the back sides. For those texts, I used the Bold Tidings Mini stamp set.

What I used:

Sizzix Thinlits die, Fresh Baked 1 by Tim Holtz (663100)

Sizzix Thinlits die, Fresh Baked 2 by Tim Holtz (663116)

Sizzix Thinlits die, Layered Plaid by Tim Holtz (666068)

Stampers Anonymous, Bold Tidings Mini (CMS440)

Stampers Anonymous, Holiday Drawings (CMS284)

Ranger Distress ink (Vintage Photo)

Ranger embossing powder (white super fine)

etc.

With my tags, I would like to join the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Use dies in DieCember

Tag with Cool Yule deer

Hello everyone, I would like to show you my latest make, a Christmas tag. For this tag, I put together not just the deer but the plaid background paper too.

For the blue plaid paper, I used the Layered Plaid die set, two different shades of blue paper and a black paper. I cut out the three layers then I glued them together one after another. 

Then I cut out a tag from this plaid panel with a middle size tag die.

Unfortunately I lost the original scarf die of the deer, so I had to make one using two different dies. One of the pieces was the white trim part of Santa's hat and the other piece was part of Mr. Frost but I cut it shorter.

I also added glittery stars, using glitter paper and the star die of the Cool Yule set.

The text was in the Christmas 2023 Sticker Book.

What I used:

Sizzix Thinlits die, Layered Plaid (666068)

Sizzix Thinlits die, Cool Yule (663099)

Sizzix Thinlits die, Mr. Frost (665581)

Sizzix Thinlits die, Framed Tags (666065)

Idea-Ology, Christmas 2023 Sticker Book

silver glitter paper

etc.

With this tag, I would like to join the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Make it Sparkle

Christmas card with a winter scene in an oval frame

Hello everyone, I'm ready with another Christmas card. For this, I used the Stampers Anonymous Scribble Woodland stamp set by Tim Holtz.

For making this card, first I stamped the image (wooden cottage with pine trees) to Neenah Solar White paper with Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa ink.

Then I cut out the image with the biggest oval die of the Stitched Ovals die set. Then I coloured this scene with Copic Sketch markers. In the end, I spattered the image with white paint and added thick paint to the branches. As always, I inked the edge with Iced Spruce and a slightly with Gathered Twigs.

Since I didn't have a one size bigger oval shape die, I glued the image to a black cardstock and I cut out around the image a quite even frame. To make it more even, I distressed the edge with a knife.

You can see here that it wasn't perfect at all before the distressing.

Then I glued this framed image to a plaid patterned paper. I created a distressed frame for the plaid rectangle panel. 

The text was stamped on a black cardstock with embossing ink, then I heat embossed with Princess Gold embossing powder.

What I used:

Sizzix Thinlits die, Stitched Ovals (661188)

Stampers Anonymous, Scribble Woodland (CMS282)

Stampers Anonymous, Tiny Text Christmas (CMS424)

Idea-Ology Backdrops, Christmas 2023 (TH94346)

Neenah Solar White paper

Tsukineko Memento ink (Rich Cocoa)

Copic Sketch markers

Ranger embossing powder (Princess Gold)

etc.

With this card, I would like to join the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Trees