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 ~

Return to Frostvale

Today the Lady Commander of Copics and I travelled to Frostvale to see how their sparkle fields were faring this season. With Christmas on the way, the realm was soon to be in need of a vast amount of the powdery glitter. Upon arriving we were surprised to see that the “white beast” that had given them some problems last year had since procreated. The little white offspring was frolicking merrily amongst the townsfolk of Frostvale, who were all too happy to stop and snuggle him.

I started this card by stamping the Penny Black “Snow Kiss” image and, borrowing my sister’s weapons, coloured it with Copics. Being that those aren’t my usual battling sticks, I was surprised when it didn’t turn out hideous and managed to earn me +80 Copic-y exp points. I added some glitter to the girl’s hat for some extra sparkle damage. The card base was cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge and embossed with the Cuttlebug. I stamped the sentiment using the My Pink Stamper “Christmas Wishes” set. Last I added the blingy snowflake and some small gems to the centers of the red stars.

On the inside I cut the shape out with the Art Philosophy cartridge and stamped the sentiment using the “Christmas Wishes” set again.

The envelope was stamped with some little snowflakes using Lawn Fawn’s “Making Frosty Friends” and “Winter in the Park” sets.

This card will sparkle in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Penny’s Challenge #151: Add Black or Bling

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #293: Sparkles

Jingle Belles: Not a Creature Was Stirring

CHNC Challenge #149: Bling it Up

Catch the Bug November Anything Goes Challenge

Allsorts Challenge #231: Christmas Cheer

A Gem of a Challenge #104: Christmas is Coming

CAS-UAL Fridays Challenge #119: Embossing

Penny Black and More November Challenge: Anything Goes

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #34: Have a Beary Christmas

One Crazy Stamper November Christmas Challenge

CHNC Challenge Extra for November

Penny Black Saturday November Challenge: Sparklers

Christmas Cards All Year Round November Challenge: Winter Wonderland

We were pleased to see that the villagers were living in harmony with the friendly bears and seemed to have created a symbiotic living arrangement. After spending the afternoon playing with the cute little bundle of white fur and snuggling the heck out of him, Angela and I took our leave and headed back to the Guild Hall laden with bags of sparkly harvest.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Like Two Peas in a Pod

Greetings traveller. Welcome to the Guild Hall. Our stores are getting thin as the winter wears on and last night we had yet another meal of peas. The Lady Commander of Copics and I set out today to ride to a nearby village to see if we could procure a more varied selection of produce. We stopped at four different towns and all anyone had available for sale were peas. Being the Guildy I am, I started to grow suspicious of some kind of vegetable conspiracy...also I had a sudden urge to make a pea-based card (must be from eating all the peas).

Peas on a Christmas card? I know I know...I did it again...I couldn't help it. The front of this card was put together pretty quickly, earning me +231 speed exp points, allowing me to level up my speed skill! I started this card by stamping the pea pods using the My Little Shoebox “Farmer’s Market” set then colouring them using Distress Markers. I used some double sided patterned paper to create the background, separating the sides with a shiny gold ribbon to bring some Christmas bling to the front. I then added a cardboard holly thingy I bought in a package that was on clearance a while ago. I’m not even sure why I bought those...I don’t really like them. Oh well. At least I used one up with this card!
 

On the inside I stamped the Penny Black image to use as the sentiment (making the peas on the front make more sense and less random - lol). 

On the envelope I stamped a little green holly from the Tim Holtz “Christmas Memories” set.

This pod-tastic creation will pea-form in the following challenges:
CHNC Challenge #110: P-p-p pick up a penguin or anything else beginning with P
Challenges 4 Everybody Challenge #13: Anything Goes
Sparkles Christmas Challenge #25: Anything Goes
CHNC Challenge Extra for February
Spark Your Creativity Now! Challenge #6: Anything Goes
Brown Sugar Challenge #28: Anything Goes

It turned out my Guildy instincts were correct, as the Lady Commander of Copics and I uncovered a vegetable conspiracy when we travelled to the fifth town on our list. Why were all the towns left with only peas? What had happened to all of the produce that was harvested for the winter? We vowed to get to the root of the problem and liberate the realm from their pea filled meals.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

The Glide Boots

Today the Lady Commander of Copics and I went to the market square to purchase some new winter equipment. After taking stock of what we had, it seemed we were lacking some key necessities. We came across a stall where a fellow was selling unusual looking boots with blades attached to the bottom. I asked what purpose they served, as they were obviously ill suited for walking. With a smile he simply gestured behind him. There was a frozen pond behind the man and across it a girl was gliding as if dancing on the ice. I watched mesmerized as she was able to slide across the frozen water without slipping and sliding. I looked at Angela who nodded once. Turning to the man I purchased two pairs of the Glide Boots.

I started by stamping one of the images from the Penny Black “Christmas With Mimi” set and colouring her with Copics, warming the Lady Commander’s heart. I then stamped the tag from the Lawn Fawn “Bows and Holly” set. I then used a skill never before attempted and heat embossed the sentiment on the tag. I earned myself +203 heat embossing exp points and leveled up!

The inside sentiment was stamped from the My Pink Stamper “Biggie Christmas Sentiments” set.

I stamped some snowflakes on the envelope to make it all wintery, just like the card.

This skate-astic card will be entered into the following challenges:
Penny Black Saturday November Challenge: Cute Christmas
Tammy’s Scrapin’ Corner Challenge #38: Let It Snow
Pixie Dust Studio: Winter Holiday Creation
Dream Valley Challenge #46: Non-Traditional Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes
The Corrosive Challenge #163: Anything Goes
Hooked On Craft Challenge #27: Christmas

It turns out the Glide Boots aren’t as easy to use as the girl on the pond made them look. Angela and I will spend the remainder of the evening practicing as I feel they will come in handy in our winter quests once we get the hang of them.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Peeled Paint Pea Pie

Olga, one of the house gnomes, had sat down with me today to review the menu for our Winter Feast. It is still about a month away, but some of the items are hard to obtain and she needs to start now to ensure we have them all here in time. One of my favourite dishes she makes is her peeled paint pea pie. For that she would need to get the gargantuan green peas from across the Pearlescent Sea, unless we were fortunate enough to have a wandering traveller pass through the village before the Winter Feast. As the weather has taken a turn for the worst, I didn’t expect that to happen soon. “What if the peas could somehow come to us,” Olga mused, a dreamy look on her face.

This simple tag was cut out using the Winter Frolic cartridge. I stamped the Penny Black “Joyful Peas” image onto the tag and coloured them with Distress Markers. After inking the edges, I finished off the gift tag with a piece of twine.

On the reverse side I stamped a to and from using the My Pink Stamper “Christmas Wishes” set.

I would like to peas offer this tag to the following challenges:
Winter Wonderland Challenge: Food Glorious Food
Penny Black and More November Challenge: Any Die Will Do
Lawnscaping Challenge #46: Tags

After giggling with Olga about the possibility of peeled paint peas somehow making their own way here, we started formulating a real plan to obtain the elusive vegetables before the Winter Feast.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Peas Pass the Salt and Spices

Today the house gnomes were busy at the Guild Hall canning and freezing food to fill our winter stores. Winter tends to be harsh in these parts, and we need to be prepared for any emergency crafting sessions that may occur. Olga, the house gnome overseeing the winter food supply, assures me that we will be well stocked for the winter months ahead if the road to the village market should become impassable from any winter storms.  As I watched the little gnomes shelling peas to prepare for freezing, sudden random inspiration stuck.

So I know at first glance this seems random...maybe even a little weird...but stick with me. So the pea pod was cut from the Country Life cartridge. I did one of my favourite things (well mine and the Lady Commander of Copics' favourite things...) - added googly eyes to an inanimate object making it ULTRA MEGA CUTE! This earned me +2043 SUPPA KAWAII EXP POINTS, allowing me to level up twice!! I decided the peas (now named Peter the Pea Pod) needed a festive hat, so I cut him one using the Winnie the Pooh and Friends cartridge. Added some buttons and fancy score lines and the front of this card was done. Now let's look at the inside, where it all comes together. 

See...now Peter the Pea Pod makes sense, right? {lol} I used my Penny Black "Joyful Peas" stamp and coloured the little guys in with my Distress Markers. Ahhhh...this card still makes me giggle. 

I made an envelope and stamped some ornaments on it to make it look more Christmasy.

This garden variety Christmas Card will be entered into the following challenges:
Cardz TV: Anything Goes Cricut Cardz Challenge 
Tammy's Scrapin Corner Challenge #32: Anything Goes 
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge #32: Anything Goes 
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Dies and/or Punches 
Divas By Design Challenge #56: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge: Your Favorite (googly eyes)
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round October Challenge: non-traditional image with traditional colours 

As the day wore on, our shelves were lined with canned and dried foods alongside spices and salt for cooking. I'm glad the food situation is being taken care of for the winter. Now I just need to call upon the village enchantress to place a spell upon the store room doors so it won't be broken into like last year. That's going to cost some gold coins. Best get questing to earn the cash.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~ 

A Polar Bear's Tale

Today the Crafters Guild was dispatched to slay a giant white beast who was terrorizing the ice village of Frostvale. We donned our winter gear (in which the Lady Commander of Copics was already clad due to her unreasonable affliction to the cold), armed ourselves, drank some mana potions, packed some elixirs and mounted our horses for the journey to Frostvale. Upon arriving it wasn't immediately clear what the danger was. We could see no visible damage to any of the huts or market stalls. It wasn't long before we spotted the massive white bear in the sparkle fields beyond the town. 

I started off by colouring the "Bear Hug" image from Penny Black using Copics, causing the Lady Commander of Copics great pleasure. I used a scrap piece of that snowflake paper left over from another card for the background. I then used some scraps of that "glitter" paper and cut them into even rectangles. I used a snowflake Cuttlebug folder and embossed the pieces. A couple brads, and the front of this puppy was done.

For the inside I used the last scrap of that snowflake paper and a small bit of some leftover seafoam paper to stamp the sentiment on. I earned +98 neatness points with this card for using up so much scrap paper.

I stamped a pretty snowflake design onto the envelope, since I thought it went with all the other snowflakes on this wintery-fresh card.

This chilly creation will be entered into the following challenges:
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge #32: Anything Goes
Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge: Scrappy Christmas 
Crafty Hazlenut's Christmas Challenge #94: Snowflakes 
Creative Card Crew Challenge #21: Birds
Penny Black Allsorts October Challenge: Animal Magic

It turns out the gentle bear wasn't trying to create havoc in the sparkle fields of Frostvale; he was just trying to gather some sparkles to decorate his cave for Christmas. The Guardian of Glitter  bestowed a sack full 'o sparkles upon the cute bear so he wouldn't have to ravage Frostvale's sparkle fields any longer. Once again, the Crafters Guild save the day (and the sparkles)!

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

The Paperweaver's Preview

Welcome to the Guild Hall. Today we were paid a visit from the local Paperweaver. He stopped by to give us an advanced look at the various patterns of paper-wrapping he will be weaving for his shop this holiday season. The Lady Commander of Copics and I like to coordinate our holiday cards with the wrapping paper of the gifts, and his visit gives us some advance time to prepare accordingly. He also gave us a new spell scroll that supposedly can turn any colour of paper into a plaid pattern. You do need a rather high die roll to cast it successfully though, so it may be a bit before we see it in use.

I stamped the "Gift of Giving" Penny Black stamp and coloured it up with Copics under the direction of the Lady Commander. I am not well versed in the art of the Copic, but I suppose it wasn't a complete failure and it earned me +79 Copic exp points. Since she was holding a piece of post, I thought she needed a mailbox to put it in. I stamped that from the Lawn Fawn "You've Got Mail" set.

That house image was embossed using the Cuttlebug and cut out. I honestly can't remember what set that sentiment came from as I borrowed it from one of my guildys.

I also crafted a matching envelope for this card.

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:
Penny Black Saturday September Challenge: Buttons and Bows
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes
Stamping for Pleasure September Rudolph Day
ABC Christmas Challenge: S is for Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Penny Black Allsorts September Challenge: Early Christmas Makes
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round September Challenge: Christmas Presents

Angela and I wasted most our mana trying to cast that darned spell. As you can see, we did get it to work though and changed the red background into a plaid one. It's a good thing the Guild Hall is well stocked on mana potions. The elixirs however...those still seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

A Melodious Gunblade

The market square was alive with the Fall Feast Festivities today. I went to purchase one of those new gunblades I've heard so much about and ended up strolling through the square, enjoying the music of the lutenists and flutists as they played and danced for the small folk. As I passed the Paperweaver's shop I noticed he was having a sale on music inspired paper. "I could sure use some of that," I thought to myself. "And it's not like paper goes bad," which is always how I justify buying more paper when the crafting chambers is clearly already bursting at the seams with the element. I rushed back to the Guild Hall, eager to use my new purchase in a creation.

So in reality I actually hoard music note paper like no tomorrow! If music note paper becomes a form of currency in some weird dystopian future I will be the richest person in the land! I love it and keep buying it and never use it because I don't want to cut it because I love it so much. Well I summoned up a bravery spell and managed to cut a sheet for the background of this card. I inked and distressed it to make it all old looking. The "olden days" Santa and star came from the Tim Holtz "Christmas Memories" set and the ticket is from his "Odds & Ends" set. The tag I inked using the winter Distress Inks. I also stamped some subtle snowflakes in the background that are just from some cheap Recollections stamps from Michaels. 

That little circle do-dad I got at a craft fair a year ago as part of a giveaway and have been "saving" it for some weird reason (because that's what I do), and finally decided to use it on this tag I made for this card. This earned me +91 bravery points, replenishing the ones I lost from casting that bravery spell.

The inside I stamped with a Close To My Heart music note background stamp (I think the set is called Universal Backgrounds, but I'm not sure because I actually borrowed this stamp from the Guardian of Glitter during one of our Christmas Card Crops). The sentiment and snowflakes are from the Penny Black "Let It Snow" set.

I also made an envelope and stamped the same star stamp on it to make it match the card.

This Christmas creation will be entered into the following challenges:
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #36: Music
Simply Create Too Challenge #21: So Old or Vintage
Cardz TV Stamps Design Team Challenge #14: Happy Holidays ~ Pick One!
Penny Black and More September Challenge: Early Christmas Makes 
Christmas Crafting Challenge #14: Traditional Christmas Colours
Use It Tuesday Challenge #39: Anything Goes (cut my music note paper I've had for over a year *gulp* and the metal do-dad I've been "saving" for a year)

As an aside, I've recently starting playing over at The Perfect Sentiment and they're having some anniversary celebrations over there:

Well, despite my unplanned trip to the Paperweaver Shop, I did manage to find that gunblade I was looking for. An adventurer named Squall recently stopped by the Guild Hall sporting one, and I thought it would make a nice addition to the armoury. I am excited to try it out during our next crafting quest!

~ Guild Master Crystal ~