Tags of +55 Christmas Cheer

Salutations. There is a lot to inscribe today, so I shall keep the preamble short. I have been shut in the crafting chambers for the past 17 hours as the candles wore down, toiling away on a gift for our neighbor, Madam Wendy. A kind soul, I figured she could use some magically infused gift tags for her Winter Festival gifts. 

Click to make BIGGER!

I started this set by cutting all the tags using the Winter Frolic cartridge. I then started stamping the tags. The penguin tag was stamped with the Unity “Tinsel in a Tangle” itty bitty and coloured with Distress Markers. I added some glitter to the tinsel for some extra sparkle. 

The reindeer tag was stamped using the Hero Arts “Christmas Reindeer” set. I coloured him in with Distress Markers and paper pieced his sweater. The sentiment came from the My Pink Stamper “Christmas Wishes” set. Up next is an owl stamped using the Lawn Fawn “Winter Owl” set. He was also coloured with Distress Markers and had his scarf paper pieced. The sentiment was stamped with the Lawn Fawn “Winter Fox” set.

On the next row is a punny tag stamped using the Penny Black “Joyful Peas” stamp. I coloured it with Distress Markers and added some snowflakes in the background. Next over is the fox from the Lawn Fawn “Winter Fox” set. I coloured him with Distress Markers and stamped the sentiment using the Lawn Fawn “Cozy Christmas” set. Next tag was stamped using an Inkadinkado stamp. The next tag was stamped with the Unity “One of a Kind Christmas” set. I coloured him with Distress Markers and added some glitter to his hat. The snowflake was cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge. Want to know a secret? The only reason I added that snowflake was because when that tag was being cut, it actually messed up that part, so I used the snowflake to cover it. 

See - I cut two snowflakes and glued them together to cover the messed up part of the tag. This earned me +693 stealth exp points.  

The next tag was stamped using the Lawn Fawn “Winter Sparrows” set and coloured with Distress Markers. The last tag (and my personal favourite) was stamped with the Lawn Fawn “Yeti, Set, Go” set. I coloured him with Distress Markers and then covered him in Ice Stickles.

Don’t worry...I didn’t skip the first two tags. The top left tag was stamped using the Unity “Warm Winter Comforts” itty bitty and the Echo Park “Holly Jolly Christmas” set. I coloured it in sepia tones using Distress Markers.

This particular tag will be entered into the following challenges:

Milk Coffee Challenge: Christmas in Non-Traditional Colours

My Creative Moments Word Play Saturday November Challenge: Snowman
Unity Friends With Flair

This tag was stamped using the Lawn Fawn “Making Frosty Friends” set. The sentiment came from the BugBites “Mistletoe” set. This tag also got the snowflake treatment for the same reason as that other snowman tag. The snowflake was cut using Art Philosophy and then I glued a shiny iridescent snowflake and a rhinestone on top.

This particular tag will be entered into the following challenges:

Cardz TV Challenge #9: Winter Wonderland

Craft Your Passion Challenge #192: Let It Snow

Incy Wincy Designs: Let It Snow

Sentimental Sundays Challenge #184: Snowman
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Let It Snow

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge #116: Snowflakes

Because I made this set as a gift, I couldn’t very well just give the recipient a mitt-full of loose tags, so I had to make something for them to go into. I cut this folder and snowflakes out using the Artbooking cartridge. The sentiment shapes were cut using Art Philosophy. I stamped the title of the little folder using the Lawn Fawn “Cozy Christmas” and “Harold’s ABCs” set.

And look how nice and snug the tags look in their new home :)

This set will be entered into the following challenges:

CHNC Challenge Extra For December

Crafting For All Seasons Challenge #67: Anything Christmas But a Card

Crafty Sentiments Designs: Christmas

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #299: Christmas Catch Up

Die Cuttin’ Divas Challenges #145: Tag It

Divas By Design: Anything Goes

DRS Designs Challenge #100: Anything Goes

Loves Rubberstamps Challenge #82: Anything Goes Christmas

My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #121: Christmas Neighbor Gifts

Try It On Tuesday: A Handmade Gift or Tag

Madam Wendy was very happy with the gift tags. I neglected to tell her of the creative spells I cast upon the tags, to be unleashed upon the opening of the present they are attached to. I’ll let that be a fun surprise on Christmas morning.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

A Colourful Stroll Through Shimmer Forest

Today I spent some alone time walking through Shimmer Forest. As the snow softly fell, landing on my heavy winter cloak, I admired the delicate pearly flake trees where the snow fairies were known to make their home. The fresh snow crunched underneath my boots of +70 agility as I moved silently through the forest. Against the snowy white backdrop, the different coloured trees created a beautiful pearlescent rainbow, and it wasn’t hard to see why the snow fairies chose to live here.

Hold onto your potion satchels - there’s a lot to show here. I made this card set by first stamping all the white pieces of card stock with the tree from the Unity “Warmth and Winter Wishes” itty bitty and heat embossing it. I then created a couple masks and proceeded to colour the background and tree using Distress Inks and a blending tool (choosing colours based on the challenges I was entering).

After the backgrounds and trees were coloured, I sprayed some Perfect Pearls mist onto my craft mat and using a paintbrush, flicked it onto the background for a snowy look. I also “painted” the inside of each tree with it as well for some added shimmery exp points. The sentiment on this particular card came from the My Pink Stamper "Biggie Christmas Sentiments" set.

This particular card will be entered into the following challenges:

Divas By Design: Use Some Red

Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge #187: Green Christmas

I created the top border with a snowflake edge punch and, not wanting to waste anything, glued the punched out snowflakes around the trees, earning me +55 completionist exp points. The sentiment on this card is from the My Pink Stamper "Christmas Wishes" set.

The inside are all the same (so I won't bore you with pictures of each one), but match the outside of the card. The shape was cut with Art Philosophy, using the same paper as the top border.

The snowy hills were cut using the Give a Hoot cartridge and some shimmery white paper. The sentiment on this card is from the same set as the tree - Unity's "Warmth and Winter Wishes".

This particular card will be entered into the following challenges:

Pile It On Challenge #47: Non-Traditional Christmas

Creative Craft Challenges2 #24: Non Traditional Christmas Colours

Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge: Anything Goes

The envelope for each card was stamped with a snowflake stamp using the same colour of Distress Ink that the tree was inked with. I'm not sure how I feel about this colour combination, but I wanted them to all be really different and I only have so many Distress Inks. This sentiment is from the Unity "Ornamental Season" itty bitty.

You really have to catch it in the right light to see the Perfect Pearls.

The final touch was three gems which I stuck on each tree for even more Christmas bling. The sentiment on this card was stamped using the Echo Park "Holly Jolly Christmas" set.

This card set will be entered into the following challenges:

CHNC Challenge Extra For November

Christmas Cards All Year ‘Round November Challenge: Winter Wonderland

Sentimental Sundays Challenge #182: Winter Wonderland

There She Goes Challenge #235: Christmas Card Sets

Friends Of SpeedyTV Challenge #100: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Challenges 4 Everybody #34: Anything Goes

Simply Create Too Challenge #51: Snow

The Corrosive Challenge #188: Happy Holidays

Little Scrap Pieces Fun Friday Linky Party
Allsorts Challenge #234: Bring on the Bling

Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes

Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long: Christmas Gift Set (I hope it’s okay there are more than 3 cards)

Then...as a total experiment, I created this card box following the tutorial I found on the Lawn Fawn blog. I only have diamond shaped dies, so my window was a diamond instead of a rectangle. I just used some clear plastic that was the packaging from a set of clear stamps. 

I did run into a few issues (buuuuuuut this was intended as a “test box”)

1) I will not use paper from the DCWV “Shimmer Stack” again. I chose it because I don’t have very much patterned paper that has stuff on both sides, and it's really thick, which I thought would be good for a box, but it looks like crap when you fold it. The edges all crack and you can see the white core. Blech. That got me -77 presentation points.

2) As you can see by the bottom mangled reinforcement, I had some issues with that. I don’t really know what the best adhesive to use is to get the “start” of the twine stuck in there. I tried my liquid Scotch white glue, but it didn’t hold. Then I got the great idea to use hot glue, but I managed to glue down the reinforcement making it almost impossible to wrap the twine around. Siiiiiiiiigh. I peeled it off as best I could, and was left with this mangled mess that barely works.

Ah well...lesson learned. My next one will be better.

After all the chaos surrounding the Winter Festival preparations, it was nice to decompress a little amongst the beauty of Shimmer Forest. Unfortunately, I did run into a couple of rogue ice-storm bandits, but being the prepared guildy that I am, was able to dispense of them quickly with a few well aimed arrows. Weapons - never leave home without ‘em.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

A Christmas Cheer

Salutations crafty traveller. Thank you for stopping by the Guild Hall today. This morning, the Lady Commander of Copics and Guardian of Glitter decided to set up the Christmas tree in our massive dining hall. Despite my complaints that it may be a tad too early for Winter Festival decorations, they were adamant to get the thing up. A few of the house gnomes assisted them in their Christmasy endeavour, also very excited for the fast approaching Winter Festival. Speck, one of the smaller house gnomes hastily made a sign and just danced around the room, cheering everyone else on.  

This Christmas card was created for the reminder about the Just Some Lines November challenge which is happening right now! Make a project using a Just Some Lines image and three different embellishments for your chance to win!

I started this card by colouring the Just Some Lines “Em Thank You Sign” image using Prismacolor pencils and paper piecing her dress. I stamped her sign using the Echo Park “Holly Jolly Christmas” set. I then die cut the image using the Lawn Fawn “Tag You’re It” die set, trying that “off the edge” technique with the sign. The little holly in the corner I stamped from the Tim Holtz “Christmas Memories” set, using Distress Markers as ink so I could get the two different colours. I cut the Christmas Tree out using the Art Philosophy cartridge and added some embellishments for decorations. 

On the inside I stamped the sentiment from The Greeting Farm’s “Holiday Blessings” set, paper piecing the trees with some scraps that were left over from the front’s background paper.

The envelope I stamped with trees using the Hero Arts “Christmas Reindeer” set.

This card will skip on into the following challenges:

MFPSpeedy TV Simple Salutations Challenge #72: Holiday Cards

Brown Sugar Challenge #69: Anything Goes

CHNC Challenge #152: For a Child

CHNC Challenge Extra For November

Crafty Sentiments Challenge: Christmas

Penny’s Challenge #154: Anything Goes

Well...even though it’s another moon’s turn before the Winter Festival, we now have the tree erected in the Guild Hall. I suppose it will be one less thing to do in our growing list of preparations.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Maxwell's Big Win

Today the Lady Commander of Copics left to Mount Moonstar to ride a snow plank down the side of the mountain...for fun. I told her there wasn’t time to be endangering her life for fun when there were so many quests to be completed - she could endanger her life completing them! She said it was a dual purpose trip as she was aiding the Moonstar Mice prepare for their annual Winter Games event that is held on the mountain. I chuckled to myself picturing the little guys riding down the hills on tiny little snow planks. Then I decided to turn that idle thought into a card.

I started by stamping the “Maxwell Snowboarding” Kraftin’ Kimmie image and colouring him with Prismacolors. I set him aside and started working on the background. I had an idea to try after watching my lord husband airbrush a background using a stencil and thought I could apply the same technique using Distress Inks and the blending tool.

I started by cutting a tag shape from the Winter Woodland cartridge that reminded me of clouds. Then I used my newly created “stencil” and Weathered Wood Distress Ink to make the cloud/snow puffs. I was pleased with how it looked and saved the “stencil” for use in future projects. I earned +150 technique exp points for successfully trying something new. Using the Winter Woodland cartridge I also cut out the sentiment and the snowflake for the front of the card, adding some glitter to the snowflake to sparkle up the front.

Ooooooo....sparkly :D

On the inside I cut out another tag shape from the Winter Woodland cartridge and stamped the sentiment using the BugBites “Mistletoe” set and the Echo Park “Holly Jolly Christmas” set.

I liked how the clouds/snow puffs looked so much, I did it on the envelope too to make it match the card.

This little guy will snowboard into the following challenges:
Kraftin’ Kimmie Challenge: Anything Goes
CHNC Challenge #107: Rudolph is Resting
Fairy tale Challenge #58: Animals & Pets
Love to Create Challenge #48: Sparkle & Snowflakes
Creative Card Crew Challenge #27: Snow and Ice
Paper Playtime Challenge #1: Pets
ABC Christmas Challenge: A for Animal
Christmas Cards All Year ‘Round: Anything Goes Christmas
Spark Your Creativity Now! Challenge #5: Anything Goes
CHNC Challenge Extra: January

With the Lady Commander’s help, the Moonstar Mice Winter Games went off without a hitch. She ended up judging the snow plank competition and awarding the winning mouse, Maxwell, with a shiny medal and an invite to visit us at the Guild Hall whenever he was in our end of the realm.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Sweat Shop Infiltration

Today the Lady Commander of Copics and I decided to go on a little recon mission in preparation for freeing the enslaved elves that my house gnomes had told me about. We were determined not to rush into the mission ill-prepared as it would surely spell disaster. We made our way North over the snow covered plains to the workshop where the elves were forced to build the toys. I donned my +80 boots of stealth to increase my sneak stats, allowing us to approach the building undetected. We peered through a dirty window into the factory below. A large overweight fellow in red pants and a stained tank top strolled through the aisles sucking on a fat cigar and absently flicking a leather whip clutched in his thick hand. If an elf took even a moment to catch his breath the whip cracked, echoing loudly throughout the shop. We spotted one elf carrying numerous presents stacked on top of each other. Angela and I held our breath as we watched the elf struggle with the load, hoping it wouldn’t topple to the ground, thus enraging the heavy set chap.

I started by stamping the Kraftin’ Kimmie “Balancing Elf” image on watercolour paper and colouring him with Distress Markers. I then inked the edges with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, earning me +173 distress exp points. I used some patterned paper that was already cut up from my stash and a scrap of cream ribbon. Instead of stamping a traditional sentiment I used one of the Melissa Frances Christmas flashcards from the package that I had bought strictly because it was on sale to complete the front.

The inside sentiment was stamped from the My Pink Stamper “Biggie Christmas Sentiments” set. I added some presents using the Echo Park “Holly Jolly Christmas” set.

I used the same presents to decorate the front of the envelope.

This balancing act will be entered into the following challenges:
Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps Challenge #156: Feelin’ Festive
Stamping For Pleasure: Rudolph Day
Hooked On Craft Challenge #27: Christmas
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #47: Anything Goes
Paper Playtime Challenge #89: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamps: Dawny’s Sketch

Eventually, the little fellow’s elven arms gave out and the presents all tumbled to the ground. I heard something shatter as one of the boxes struck the floor. The fat man rounded on the elf, his eyes blazing. The Lady Commander and I covered our eyes as we heard the whip crack followed by a cry. Enough was enough...it was time to free these elves!

~ Guild Master Crystal ~