Tag Swap

I've never done much with tag making, but made these for a swap on the Paper Wishers message board. 

Tag Base: I cut the base tag from white card stock using a die from HOTP (Tags & Trims).  Next, I colored the tag with Distress Oxide inks (Peacock Feathers, Broken China, and Faded Jeans) - starting with the lightest color all over, then adding the other two colors, covering a smaller area each time, keeping it more and more to the edge of the tag.  

Decorations:

• Ribbon - a sparkly velvet ribbon from my stash
• Deer - Cut with dies from Heartfelt Creations (Woodsy Critters) out of lavender glitzy paper (DCWV)
• Christmas Trees - cut with dies from the same Heartfelt Creations set from white glitter card stock (with silver glitter in it).
• "Snow" cut from the glitter card stock & edged with Broken China distress oxide ink
• "Winter Greetings" stamp from a HOTP small stamp (Winter Wonderland) stamped with purple ink from my stash

I made six of these - all similar, but no two exactly alike.  Four went for the swap:

And I kept two:

Zebra Cards

Today's set of cards come a Hunkydory Kit called "Wild at Heart" - the zebra set from there.  I also used adhesive backed zebra faux fur (from the dollar store!), zebra striped faux fur ribbon, greetings from the HD Essential book of pearl greetings, metallic gold tag board, and a couple small paper pieces from my stash.

This first card is a center step card - angle makes it a little hard to tell that.  I love the feel of that faux fur!

Next up is an easel card.  I had to cut the inside greeting so the card would stand up correctly!  Here's what the inside looks like:

This card was an A2 size.

Next up is a long card - 4" x 9".  Once again, that faux fur feels so luxurious!

This one is a dual center step card.  

This last one uses the faux fur ribbon.  The texture is nice - though not quite as luxurious as the other faux fur.

UpCycled Cards

Every year when I get Christmas cards, I save some parts for my "scavenge pile".  If the card front is pretty & isn't a specially hand made one and doesn't have a message on it, I save it for card making later so it gets double duty.  This year as I was preparing my cards, I found I needed another 6 cards.  So, I went through my scavenge pile and found some pieces that looked interesting to make the remaining cards I needed.  For this first one, I embossed the front of the card base & then added the scavenged embellishment (and a sentiment from my HD "Essential book of Christmas Greetings").

This cut-away card was quick to make.  Embossed the card front & cut it away to add HohoHo on the inside so it could be seen when the card was closed.

Again I embossed the card front before adding my scavenged topper with a greeting from my HD "Essential book of Christmas Greetings".  On the inside, I added a HD die cut from an older set.

I loved this framed bird, and thought it went well with the background paper.  To make the greeting stand out, I attached it to a piece of fun foam.

This scavenged topper was already embossed, so I just matted it to a simple plaid design & added a greeting.

This beautiful topper was a paper tole style scavenged piece.  I added a piece from a HD deco set - and another to a patterned paper border on the inside.

Clothe Yourself

The stamp used was from a set called "Paper Dolls" (HOTP).  It was stamped with StazOn ink after the page was protected with clear gesso.  The flesh tones were watercolor pencil with a water brush - the rest was Inktense (I don't have a good flesh-toned inktense color).  I did the background with distress ink - added some with blending tool. For close around the body, I applied the distress ink to a craft mat &amp added it with a watercolor brush.  The highlighted section was Inktense, blended with with Wink of Stella.  The lettering was created with Pitt pens.