OLW71: Tag, You're It!

This week's OLW71 challenge was to make a tag, or three.  I had trouble with this one at first, but once I got started, I couldn't stop, and ended up making six!  The lighting was not ideal for taking photos, but this shows the general idea:

My favorite is this cheerful bit of holly. I used an old border set from SU, glazed the leaves and berries using my favorite Sakura glaze pens, and trimmed it with a gold leaf pen.  The tag itself is a leftover bit of white SU cardstock, trimmed with scissors and a corner rounder.  Simple!

 For this next one, I wanted to play with some flourishes.  Instead of the more usual gold, I decided to see what bronze would look like.  I added some sparkle to the sentiment using a Sakura glitter pen.  It does not show up too well on the photo, but I'm fairly happy with the results.

The workmanship on this next one is a bit sloppier than I would have liked (I didn't realize that my lines were crooked until too late), but I like the basic concept.  I masked off the center, and stamped snowflakes all around the border.  I then used the glitter pen to make the snowflakes sparkle, and also added some tiny dots and the aforementioned (crooked) lines.  My silver leaf pen added some contrast on the edges.

This next tag was actually the first one I made.  I realized that my tag template page included a round tag which looked a bit like an ornament.  I used SU Cranberry Crisp (retired years ago) and the poinsettia from the SU Christmas Cardinal set on SU Kraft paper, then freehand cut the ornament, added the label, and edged it with the gold pen.

About halfway through this process, I realized that tags are a wonderful way to use up stray bits of cardstock that might otherwise go to waste.  All it takes is a few clicks of the corner rounder and my mini hole punch, and voila! you have a tag.  This one uses a very old border stamp from SU, navy ink, and a glitter pen.

And finally, this one really did start out as a scrap: I was testing the "emboss resist" technique on a stray bit of cardstock.  Rounded the edges, clipped the corners and punched the hole, and now it too is a tag.  (The name of the recipient will go on the back.)

I will add the ribbons when I put the tags onto the packages, to coordinate with the wrappings.

I had a lot of fun making these tags, and I hope the recipients will enjoy them, too.

Christmas Rose

I loved this stamp set the first time I saw it, but was afraid it would be too difficult to color it properly.  I finally found a method that seems to work: I stamped it in green ink onto shimmering paper, then used various colored marking pens to add just a few touches of color.  Added little edging with a gold leaf pen, mounted it on matching green paper, and viola!  Simple and elegant.

Of course, after finding the perfect shade of green paper and ink, I have now discovered that Stampin' Up has discontinued the Happy Hunter color.  Sigh...  So much for my plan to make this my mass-produced 2011 Christmas card design.


Stamps: Christmas Cardinal (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Happy Hunter (Stampin' Up - retired)
Paper: Happy Hunter (Stampin' Up - retired), Shimmery White (Stampin' Up)
Other: Gold Leaf Pen, colored marking pens, folded cardstock

With Sympathy

Sometimes a hand-made card conveys an extra measure of sympathy.  At least, I hope it does.
This one was inspired by some of the beautiful designs I saw on Simplicity.

All products except the card base are from Stampin' Up
Stamp: Oh So Lovely
Sentiment: Very Versatile
Ink: Mellow Moss
Paper: Mellow Moss and Whisper White
Other: 4x6 card base (from my stash)

Not A One Layer Christmas Card

This card was intended to be for a one-layer challenge using only the colors red and white. I knew that I wanted to use the poinsettia ornament, the script sentiment, and a box drawn around them.  It took forever to figure out the best place to put the ornament.  I finally decided to put it in the bottom corner so that it would look as it if was hanging from the drawn line.  One corner of the drawn box smudged, so I accented the corners with red Stickles, and also used the Stickles in the centers of the flowers on the ornament.  But when I was done, it still looked unfinished.  The design, while reasonably elegant, looked too plain on its own.  So I ended up cutting around the stamped portion and mounting it onto a panel of Stampin' Up Real Red cardstock.  Bingo! 

OLW70: Red and White Christmas

Here is my card for the OLW70 challenge at one of my favorite blogs (Simplicity One Layer Wednesday 70: Red and White ) I was surprised by how difficult it was to come up with a design that worked, but I'm pretty happy with the look of the final result. However, I think I made a mistake - I used Pigment ink on glossy paper, and I'm very much afraid that it will smear...

I started by stamping the Pointsettas on the corners, and then added the sentiment. Some of the smaller flowers did not stamp cleanly (they smudged), so I filled them in with a Sakura red glaze pen. I considered spraying the card with a fixative, but then I would lose the shine of the glossy paper. Oh well. At least the design came out nice.

Stamps: DD0014 Pointsetta Bunch (Prickly Pear)
Sentiment: GR1145 Warm Your Heart (Stampabilities)
Ink: Scarlet Pigment (Color Box)
Paper: Glossy (unknown maker) Probably glossy paper was a mistake
Other: Sakura Red Glaze Pen

Trying out a One-Layer card

I'm rather happy with the way this one turned out.