Sunday, November 29, 2015

I'm in the Funkie Junkie Christmas Tag challenge!



I am so delighted that this year I can actually play along with Linda Coughlin's inspiration Christmas tag challenge!  The challenge is sponsored by Linda's wonderful Funky Junkie Boutique, one of my favorite stores because of her wonderful service and quick turn-around (not to mention the great products!)

Here is Tag #1, inspired by Linda's use of poinsettias, one of my favorite flowers -  I never have them in the house, though, as my mischievous cat likes to chew greenery and this is poisonous - so I am making do with some paper versions of my favorite white poinsettias on this tag.

I started with a #10 tag from Linda's shop, and covered it with foil tape.  Then I used one of the very large Teresa Collins embossing folders in my Big Shot Plus.  Although regular-sized folders do not quite cover the length of the tag, with a pattern like this, it would be easy to line it up again to get the tag fully embossed.


Next, I generously applied Ranger Alcohol Inks, in Red Pepper and Lettuce, letting them drip here and there, and adding more as needed to make that happen.  The dark areas are the brown blend that results from blending red and green....but I liked the grunge look so let it happen.


I lightly sanded the raised bits to further expose the silver, and then added diluted Picket Fence stain and let it noodle around.....  I like the red, white and green combo.... but it ended up covering a lot of the nice patina from the inks,  so I wiped most of it off.



 I cut several sets of flowers from the Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia steel rule die, and them smooshed them around in a mix of Picket Fence and Antique Linen Distress Paints.


 While they were still a bit damp, I scrunched them up to give some texture.


And once dry, I applied a very light wash here and there with Silk Acrylic Glaze in Pretty Peridot and Lime Green.  I also sprayed one large petal set with Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron Distress Sprays, to make the leaves.


Once all the petal sets were dry, I layered them up, twisting them to create dimension, and added purchased stamens, gluing all the layers together with matte medium.   Then I glued the finished flowers down to the tag, using a clear liquid glue.

On the final tag, you can see just the littlest  bit of white here and there from the Picket Fence Spray.....


 Next, I added a small bow made of green and red ribbons from my stash.... you could also color plain seam binding with ink to get a similar effect.


I wanted a sentiment, and this bit took me quite a while to figure out.  I had not staged everything to figure it out ahead of time (mistake!)..... so the "Noel" I thought I would use from this set (657470) turned out to be too large - had I reversed the larger and small flowers, it likely would have worked.

Meanwhile, back to the drawing board....

Maybe these would work.  The black alone got lost on the tag, so I thought to emboss it with Lindy's Stamp Gang Caesar's Gold, and then add a bit of Stampendous Vintage Olive in the Tinsel EP line.


 However, these die-cut words are quite slender, and once I applied the gold, I didn't see a need to add the green, as it would very likely not show up.  Even the gold lettering got lost, so I ended up cutting another set of words from plain black cardstock, offsetting them a tad from the top words to create a shadow.  They still do not show up as much as I would like, but better than any other idea I had!


The shadowing is hard to see here, and again, by not thinking ahead I caused myself a lot of extra work - I should have cut the top words by making them as a "sticker" (using double-sided tape or Ken Oliver's Stick It ) and then embossing them.  Once done, I could have readily applied them to the "shadow" lettering.  As it was, I ended up using little dots of matte medium - worked but a lot messier!


 Thank you so much for stopping by, and please do leave a comment - I love hearing your thoughts!

I am placing this into Tag One of the Funky Junkie Twelve Tags of Christmas, and the The Emerald Creek Dares Bits of Cheer challenge

xxx Lynn

24 comments:

  1. Beautiful take on Linda's original Lynn, love the background and the poinsettias look fantastic!! You are going to be a busy lady catching up on all those tags :o) Have fun with it!!

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  2. LOVE this version Lynn!!! That background is awesome! Jenny x

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  3. Oh Lynn, I am so glad that you did not cover up the background too much because it is stunning! I love your off white poinsettias too, they could easily be mistaken for real ones, they are so beautiful. Since you cannot have real ones, you should make a small bouquet of these and have them out on display at Christmas (or perhaps your cat might chew on them too - lol). Gorgeous!! Anne xx

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  4. What a fabulous funky metallic background - a really great version of Linda's original. I'm starting to think I may not have time to play this year after all... but this is giving me hope!
    Alison xx

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  5. Fantastic Lynn!! LOVE that metallic background, wow, those colours are so vibrant and must just shine like crazy in real life! Beautiful poinsettias too, so soft...what a lovely contrast against the metal! hugs :)

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  6. My thoughts...OH WOW! You are a crafting genius, you are! I do so enjoy ready about your process...seems you and I craft in a very similar manner...(hmmm...maybe this will look good.) I call that creativity, although it can be much more work in the long run. All of your work is SO worth it in the long run, because this tag is gorgeous! Love the metallic background, but those poinsettias really ring my Christmas bell! Your embossed sentiment came out great...love the shadow! Big hugs!

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  7. Whoohoo, welcome Lynn! So delighted to have you playing along with me this year for my annual challenge! And what a sensational first entry this is. I was already drooling just seeing the first step of the silver embossed tag. And then it just kept getting better and better! Such a gorgeous pattern and the colors are fantastic. Your white poinsettias are amazing too. Thanks so much for sharing this beauty!

    Hugs,
    Linda

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  8. Perfect background, like grungy stained glass, never have poinsettias had a better setting! Ruth x

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  9. I am ABSOLUTELY going to try this! The background is stunning, simply exquisite! And the poinsettias and gorgeous sentiments are perfect accents. Great inspiration, TFS!

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  10. What an awesome tag! I love the folder you chose, and I'm totally down with the grunge look! The pale poinsettias are perfection with their yellow stamen!

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  11. Love the AI inks and the metallic that shows through! This tag is so very festive and fun and good grunge to oogle. Lol! Awesome sauce!

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  12. This is yummy! I love the patches of colour where the two colours of AIs have blended together, definitely adds a touch of grunge, elegant grunge I'd call it!
    The sanding of the texture is a gorgeous touch and I don't imagine you could have picked a more perfect embossing folder to create with. The flowers are beautiful and look all the more amazing, set against that gorgeous background.
    A truly elegant festive tag.
    Wishes
    Lynne

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  13. Good grief! You're fabulous! I'm drooling profusely on all your posts, so pardon the mess. I'll wear a bib next visit. Your comment to me was so sweet and I thank you but now I'm just in awe of your latest makes. SO happy your in the 12 Tags!!!! Best of luck to you!
    Big hugs,
    Lisa x

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  14. Okay this one was crazy! It got me so excited to make gift tags. (Do you want to enter it at emerald creek too). I love what you're creating and you found a follower here. 😀

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  15. Beautiful Tag! I love all of the detail you have added to it! Thanks for joining us on the Emerald Creek Dares.
    -Katelyn DT Member at Emerald Creek

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  16. Love this!! The layers of colors on your tag are wonderful! Thank you for sharing with us over at Emerald Creek Dares!
    Cathy - DT Member at Emerald Creek

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  17. WOW - gorgeous tag - fabulous background and love those poinsettias. Thanks for joining us for our Festive Emerald Creek Dares Challenge

    Karon DT

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  18. Okay. I still love this and will probably use the ideas from here this week. Thank you for entering and sharing every aspect including the change you had to make. It gives 2 ideas and shows we all make the same layout changes at times.

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  19. This is gorgeous! I love all the yummy texture and the colours are stunning!
    Thank you so much for joining us at Emerald Creek Dares.
    ~~julia~~ Emerald Creek DT member

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  20. Beautiful tag! Congratulations on your WIN at Emerald Creek Dares Challenge Blog!

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  21. Congratulations on your WIN at Emerald Creek Dares!
    ~~julia~~ Emerald Creek DT

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  22. Woo hoo so excited for you and your win at Emerald Creek Dares! You so deserved it!

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  23. Lynn, I am so happy to see your tag was chosen as winner at Emerald Creek Dares! It's truly a beauty, and so deserving of the honor!I also want to thank you for all your support on my blog. Big hugs and Merry Christmas!

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  24. congrats on your win at Emerald Creek!!! totally deserving!

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