It's Almost Christmas!

Only six more sleeps and it is Christmas! I hope you are all doing well and trying not to stress too much during the merriest and busiest time of the year! Oh and I sure do thank you for taking time to stop by for a visit! I have finished all my card and package mailings and wrapped the gifts for my hubby! Had a little time to play and just had to make one more Christmas tag/card! I had everything put away as well, so now I have to clean it up again.

We started by inking the background with Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive, Barn Door and Vintage Photo on vanilla paper and a manila tag. Then the tag was embossed and highlighted and spritzed with water and a bit of white paint!  Sorry about the photo below, the weather has been really odd here and it was hard to get a decent photo to show the background, which was stamped using Distress Markers.  All stamps are from Artistic Outpost's MidWinter collection and I just love these!

The ornament was cut from manila paper and stamped using Sepia Archival ink and clear embossed. I added color to the cardinal and pine using an applicator and Distress Inks. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is "Stamp Out 2013" and so it is!

Hey I tied a bow and had to show you! I am so bow tying incompetent, it is not even funny! Even managed to get a bell attached! Miracles do happen this time of year!

Added little bits of white paint for a snowy touch.

Frosted the large metal snowflake!

Well there you have it! If you have some of those fabby AO stamps, there is still some time left to join in the December "Anything Goes" Referral Program for a sweet chance at a gift certificate! Enjoy the days leading up to Christmas, which I hope will be wonderful! Thank you again for stopping by.

Oh Christmas Tree!

How are you all doing? All caught up and ready to enjoy the Christmas season? I am still working on it and need to finish up my cards/tags will be traveling a distance! Hey, at least I finally went out and did a little Christmas shopping this last weekend! Seriously, where does time go??

As you can see, I am still having some fun with snowy effects! It is so cold here and I mean really cold and yet there is not a snowflake to be found! I feel if it is going to be that kind of cold, at least let there be snow!  I do believe these lovely little "Birds Of A Feather" Artist Outpost sweeties are pretty excited about their Christmas tree and can't wait to open up the packages! Lisa's Bloggers Challenge is "Joyeux Noel" and this will be linked over there!

I first inked the background with Distress Inks (Antique Linen, Old Paper, Brushed Corduroy) then did a spritz and flick with water and added a little snow! Next was to use my new Hollybough stencil and Bundled Sage, Fired Brick and Brushed Corduroy was applied.

The tree was cut from a greenish paper, but further inked and snow applied on the branches with whit paint and some flicks for fun. It is not a Christmas tree if not decorated and the lovely girls wanted some lights and garland and a star for good measure (which was colored with red alcohol ink).

The girls were stamped in Coffee archival and watered colored. I use Tattered Rose for flesh tones! And of course they were fussy cut. I stamped part of the sentiment from Christmas Chalk in Coffee Archival.

I do believe it was the younger of the two, who suggested standing of the box for a closer view of the decorated Christmas tree. Doesn't it appear as if they are enjoying the festive moment?

The packages were cut using my new die from Mr. Tim! Love that die!

Well I do thank you for visiting me today and I know you are all busy with your Christmas preparations. I will be finishing my inky part of Christmas this week, but will be around during breaks to visit you! The current challenge at Artistic Outpost is still "Anything Goes" and there is a random gift certificate to be given to someone, so come on over and join in!

December Tag 2013!

Woo Hoo I am done with Tim's 12 Tags of 2013 and boy was December's tag a blast! I had so much fun, that I had to make a few extra plastic pieces! Mostly followed Tim's lead. A big THANK YOU to Tim for a fabulous year of fun and creative learning!

First I made my poinsettias and snowflakes and inked them and then shaded around the edges. Yes, I got carried away with the snow effect and I did it on purpose!

I was thinking of my Mom and a painting class we were in and it required the splattering of white paint and boy did she go to town! I asked her why she was covering it up so and she just said she was having so much for! So the snow was for my Mom and a nice memory!

Well I meant to take a picture of the tag background, after I inked and stenciled Tim's stars in random sizes and places and did soft stamping on the background, but I forgot! Hopefully you can see a little of this.  "Bah, humbug" is the challenge theme over at Country View Challenges and so we go!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by during this most busy time of the year. I do appreciate your visits and have a wonderful rest of the week!
 

Christmas Thank You!

Hope you all are doing well and getting ready for fast approaching holiday season! It is so hard to believe it is already December and I have not done one bit of shopping! Wish I could get back to when I started in October and had my entire house decorated the weekend following Thanksgiving!

Like many of us, there are those people who you want to give a little "thank you" gift to during Christmas and this is what I have done using the Christmas Chalk and MidWinter stamp collections From Artistic Outpost.  My little collection will be linked to Frilly and Funkie for the "Gift Tags and Note Cards" challenge.

I was wanting to go with a black and white theme (minus the chalk) with pops of green and red. The images were simply stamped using clear embossing ink and then white embossing powder. After I framed the moose another black layer was edged with embossing ink and powder, because I just liked it that way. Very easy and simple, but a nice little touch to give a cash gift or gift card.

Thank you for stopping by today and you have plenty of time to join in AO's new December Anything Goes Challenge, so come on and get inky!