Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas - Bonus Tag#1

Hello Friends and Followers. I do hope that however you spent it, your Christmas was a joyful one. How quickly Christmas came and went! Now it's almost time for New Year's Resolutions and I realize that it's six days since I last blogged! And there are all those 'Thank Yous' to send out. Over at Linda's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge - click HERE for the details of this fabulous challenge, which has been extended until January 8th - Linda has now created the two promised 'Thank You Tags'. Please click HERE to see Linda's Tag #1 which has inspired my post today. Linda's Funkie Junkie Boutique is offering fantastic discounts and a prize draw too, so please click Here to take a look at what is available in the store.
I was so inspired by Linda's Tag #1 and the way that she created such a neat little envelope from her tag, so I decided to adopt this style of tag or something similar. I took a jumbo-sized manila tag and used a Crafter's Companion Multi-board to fold it.

I sponged my tag with some Paper Artsy Fresco paint in Antarctic and then blended in a little Hey Pesto, using some Ranger Cut and Dry foam.

I mixed some Antarctic and some Inky Pool Frescos with half a mister of water and sprayed my tag.

I used a Stencil Girl stencil of little birds and grasses with Shabby Shutters Tim Holtz Distress Ink to create one side of my tag. While this was drying, I dyed some beige seam binding with Broken China, Shabby Shutters and Evergreen Bough. This tag was to be a Thank You for some old friends of my husband's, Bob and Hazel who always remember our family with a little gift at Christmas. When he was a boy my husband helped in their garden and it was Bob and Hazel who introduced him to footpath walks and inspired his lifelong interest in the Natural World. For this reason, I wanted the tag to have a Nature theme. The little birds in the grass remind me of one of my son's favourite folk songs sung by Shirley Collins - 'Hares on the Mountain' - one line goes, 'If all the young men were black-birds and thrushes...' If you have a minute do give it a listen, as Shirley has a beautiful voice and it's a lovely, light-hearted song that makes me think of Spring around the corner when the hares are leaping, the birds singing and the fish teem in the brooks.

Linda's use of film on her tag and her wonderful snowy effects really inspired me. I had no film so I die-cut a Tim Holtz tattered leaf from Acetate and coloured it with alcohol ink.. Before fixing it to my tag with Glossy Accents, I stamped three Paper Artsy Mini feathers in Wendy Vecchi Fern Green Archival ink; a small punched out leaf and just a hint of script from Paper Artsy Mini 75. I distressed the edges of my tag with some Shabby Shutters, Broken China and Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil.

 I was also inspired by the way Linda edged her tag. I had nothing similar to her metal effect, so instead I sprinkled UTEE gold along the edges of my tag, having Versamarked them first to prevent the EP from fluttering free as a bird from my birdie tag! I melted some Gold UTEE over my leaf too. I'm sorry about the shine in the photo, as Acetate is really difficult to photograph without this effect.

On the reverse side of my tag, where I planned to write my message, I sponged and spritzed with Antarctic and Hey Pesto, creating the suggestion of a landscape with water and reeds and then stencilled my birds over this, this time in Potting Soil. Some of the Manila tag shows through and I like the effect of this, as I think it gives something of the gleam of wintry sunshine at this time of year. I wanted to add a sentiment, but I didn't feel I had one that would go with images. I didn't even have one that just says 'Thank You' - something else for the Wish List, I think!

Here is the tag in envelope form, I was so pleased with the way the seam-binding had worked.

I should like to enter my tag for Linda Coughlin's Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge. Thank you if you have stopped by today on this New Year's Eve. I wish all my friends and followers every happiness and Creative Joy in 2014. Thank you for all the support and kind comments over 2013 and for being such great and inspiring friends to me!