Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas, Tag #10 - A Language of Trees

Hello and thank you if you're still dropping by and taking a peek at my twelve tags of Christmas. I've been loving this Challenge. If you would still like to join in, there might just be time, especially as Linda has extended the deadline to January 8 and added two extra tags. Please click here for all the details of the Challenge. The Funkie Junkie Boutique is offering discounts if you complete the challenge correctly,so do read all the directions very carefully and check out the Funkie Junkie boutique here to see the fabulous products Linda used on her tag. Today I completed Tag #10. Linda's version can be seen here and it is absolutely stunning! I think it might be one of my favourites of all Linda's creations, although they are all so beautiful it is hard to decide. I was inspired by the Linda's wonderful use of texture and colour on this tag and the central frame enclosing a gorgeous oval of holly leaves. I have wanted each of my tags to convey a story or something that signifies Christmas to me and this one is no exception. I am  fascinated by symbolism in art and I have mountains of books on the subject, which I can lose myself in! I was reminded with Linda's tag of how, before Christianity gave a new meaning to the symbolism of the plants and trees in the green-wood, our pagan ancestors delighted in the holly and ivy because they seemed to speak of new birth even in the depths of winter: the forest trees and plants had a language and if you looked and listened the rustling leaves would speak to you.With the coming of Christianity new stories were layered over the old: the holly came to symbolize the crown of thorns and the ivy everlasting life. Once again I was challenged by this tag, as I had no holly leaf stencils or embellishments. I decided I would just have to make my own festive greenery and 'give birth' to something a bit different out of Linda's inspiration.

 For my background I sponged my die-cut tag with Paper Artsy Fresco in Nougat and stamped it with ivy leaves in Wendy Vecchi, Fern Green Archival ink. I also made a stencil using what remained after cutting out some Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves and then inked over with music script from a Sara Nauman Eclectica plate for Paper Artsy in Wendy Vecchi Geranium Archival. Ultimately most of this background became hidden, but I did enjoy doing it and I gain a certain satisfaction from knowing it's there. I arranged two of my Tim Holtz leaves at the top and bottom of my tag and, to give them a wintry look, I attached a skeleton leaf to each using Claudine Hellmuth Multi-medium. I then sprinkled them with dry distress glitter to further create a frosty look. I have also used Gesso on this tag to add a snowy texture to the tips of my leaves and to the coils of wire entwining the frame.

I had this red mesh you can see in the top corner since last Christmas and I never knew quite what to do with it so I added it with some more Multi-medium. It really glints in the light and provides texture, especially with the Shabby Rose Frantage melted around it. Linda's frame inspired me, so I took a Spellbinders die-cut and added Grunge Paste through a Crafters' Workshop stencil of flourishes. Over on her blog, 'Laurart', Laura Bomber painted her frame with Old Gold and a layer of French Roast Fresco. I tried this out and also added some Rose Quartz Treasure Gold. I added this because I love the way it highlights any raised surface: I really wanted the Grunge Paste swirls to stand out.

Then for my home-made holly! I sanded some shrink plastic and painted with Tinned Peas. I then drew some holly shapes with a Sharpie. I love the effect of stamping on Shrink Plastic so I stamped my favourite Santas from the Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods Plate and the Lynne Perrella Santa from her Russian Doll Plate 016 . I punched out tiny leaves from card painted with Tin Peas and some stamped with script and frosted over these with dry distress. I thought about how even though the woods can seem dead at this time of year, really nature is sleeping ready to spring into life with the Spring. One of my favourite poems of all time in Thomas Hardy's 'Darkling Thrush'. The poet has lost his religious faith and the world seems gripped by hopeless winter when he hears the song of a bedraggled thrush that seems to speak of hope in a cold world. Does the bird, a messenger from the world of nature, know something Hardy does not?

Frantage, Gesso and Distress Glitter gave a snowy look. If you click on the images you can see the tiny flakes of frantage that give the impression of falling snow. I loved constructing this tag, building up layers of leaves, berries and tendrils and contrasting living greens and reds with the colder frosty tones.

I added some tea-dyed lace and coloured it with some Festive Berries Distress Ink. I finished off my tag with a tiny Prima brad with a robin - another courageous winter bird - on it and a piece of seam-binding dyed with Festive Berries distress stain.

There it is, my take on Tag #10. I have just two more of the 12 tags to go now! I can hardly believe I've got this far, but I've loved every minute of it and every tag has been a voyage of discovery for me. I do hope that this Christmas and New Year you will find joy and a message of hope in the natural world, creativity and the love of family and friends.

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas Number 3 - Take 3 Kings

Welcome to Magpieheaven! I am still enjoying my journey through Linda Coughlin's 12 Tags of Christmas, the details of which you can find here. There is still time to enter, as Linda has extended the deadline to January 8 and adding two extra 'thank you' tags: if you complete the Challenge you could win the draw, or discounts on products from the Funkie Junkie Boutique - click here for details of all the goodies on sale. The tag that inspired me today can be found here and it's Linda's #3. Before I entered the Challenge I admired this beautiful tag and some of the superb interpretations of it. I loved the billowing robes of the angel and the silhouette of the Magi , and Linda's starry background, which must have been even more gorgeous in real life! But I have no Wise Men in my small collection of stamps; only one very tiny angel and - I thought - no stars! This was going to be quite a challenge! What I do have, though, is a 'Lost Coast' image that suggests 'angel' to me.
We don't know, for sure, how the Angel who appeared to the Wise Men in their dreams might have looked. In Wim Wenders' beautiful movie, 'Wings of Desire' the angels watch over the city of Berlin, passing by unnoticed in their dark overcoats, listening to the thoughts of the commuters on the metro as they go about their daily lives. In every age ideas of angels have changed:  maybe angels pass through the crowds in busy cities with messages to share if we are willing to listen, or step in to lend a hand when life is tough! Here are my winged messengers and my take on Linda's tag.

I wanted to create the idea of the sweep of the Angel as it fluttered down to intervene in the human world, so I painted some card with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish in Antarctic and Mermaid and then stamped the same Lost Coast image on it with different inks and paint: Cornflower Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink, South Pacific Fresco clear embossed and silver embossing. I frantaged over parts of the wings to suggest a touch of snow  as the Angel flutters down. For my background I used Baltic Blue Fresco with three snowflakes from the Snowy Woods plate embossed with Wow white embossing powder. and a sprinkling of Wow to suggest snow.

There are also three punched out snowflakes. On each of my card snowflakes there is a sprinkling of a little embossing powder to symbolize gold, frankincense and myrrh, the gifts the Wise Men brought. The white snowflakes are to suggest the Magi themselves. If you remember I said that 'I thought' I had no stars...but right at the bottom of my box of bits I found these little blue and silver stars.

Finally I added this sentiment from the 'Snowy Woods' plate. I stamped in Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil Archival onto my card painted with Antarctic and Mermaid. I would like to have used the beautiful 'Noel' from Linda's tag, but I had nothing remotely like this. This quote from Frost's poem reminded me of the long journey the Magi took just to see a tiny child born of obscure parents. They kept their promise to the Angel too, returning a different way so as to avoid disclosing the child's whereabouts to Herod. My tag, then, looks very different to Linda's yet the same inspiration, the Journey of the Magi has led me on a quite different visual journey. Thank you, once again, Linda for this challenge, which has me digging deep into my stash and into my imagination! And thank you, my visitors for dropping by at this busy time. 

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas - Leaping forward to #11

As visitors to Magpieheaven may already know, I am playing along with Linda Coughlin's beautiful and inspiring 12 Tags of Christmas. Please click Here if you would like to find out all about it. There's time to join in, as you now have until January 8 to play and there are discounts at the Funkie Junkie Boutique here for those who complete the challenge and there's a prize draw. Many thanks to those of you who have stopped by to see my offerings at this very busy time of year. It's so inspiring to stop by and take a peek at the other interpretations of Linda's tags too. I'm doing the tags randomly because I started fairly late in the day and for this tag I'm leaping forward to Linda's Tag #11, which you can see here. Here is my take on her beautiful deer, which really inspired me to think 'medieval heraldry'.

I so fell in love with this die when I saw it on Linda's Tag #2 that I had to buy it and I have had so much pleasure from using it. This time, though, instead of the standing deer, which looked full of enchanting anticipation on Linda's tag, I wanted to use the one that appears to be leaping. This reminds me of my favourite carol 'The Holly and the Ivy' and the chorus 'The rising of the sun and the running of the deer.'

 I added some medieval script from the Paper Artsy mini 26 because this carol always reminds me of a medieval Christmas. I loved Linda's pine tree background, but as I didn't have this kind of forest to place my 'white hart' in,  I painted the background with Paper Artsy, Fresco Antarctic and then used my Clear Snaps mascil which is part stencil part mask with some Peeled Paint Distress Ink, Broken China and a little Snowflake Fresco to 'Knock Back'. I added two podium dies top and bottom and the 'On the Edge' Snowflake die painted with Baltic Blue.

I added Mica Flakes in Shaved Ice; Frantage and extra snowflakes punched out of card painted with Baltic Blue and embossed with white musical notes to symbolize 'The Singing of the Choir'.

Although the carol speaks of 'the rising of the sun' my deer seems to be frolicking in the moonlight. I painted him with white Fresco paint which I then clear-embossed, adding a little Shabby Blue Frantage. He has a speck of Arctic Ice Stickles for an eye. I think he looks like a creature from a tapestry in a fine lady's bed-chamber, caught in the light of the moon while she sleeps in her frosty castle on Christmas night. Thank you Linda for another truly inspirational tag. I would like to enter this version for the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Challenge.

Another Funkie Junkie Tag - Number 9 and Frost Fairs!

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven where I'm busily working on Linda Coughlin's 12 tags of Christmas. The times they are a-changing, though. Linda has extended the deadline from December 22nd to January 8 and added two extra tags to the challenge. Find out about it here. Take a look at The Funkie Junkie Boutique too, as there is a prize on offer and a 10% discount on products if you meet all the requirements with the 12 tags and  15% discount from the Funkie Junkie shop if you complete the two extra tags that Linda is creating and posting later in December. The tag that has inspired me today is Linda's tag #9, which you can see here. I loved the silky-looking blue roses and the silvery blue background. As I looked and admired the silver snowflakes, I was reminded of the Frost Fairs that used to be held on the River Thames. It's amazing to think that once the River used to freeze over so hard people were able to walk across quite safely. Apparently Queen Elizabeth 1 spent Christmas Day 1564 practising archery on the icy Thames!

As I worked I imagined a story centred on the idea of the Frost Fair. I decided my tag was going to be another two-in-one because at its heart there was going to be a Frost Fair Romance involving two lovers. I cut one tag with die-cut snowflakes. I spritzed it with Distress Stains in Picket Fence, Faded Jeans and Spun Sugar. I embossed silver snowflakes from the Snowy Woods plate by Artistic Outpost and used Shabby Blue Frantage around the edges. I stamped some script from a Crafty Individuals stamp in Wendy Vecchi Cornflower Blue. I dyed some lace with Faded Jeans and Spun Sugar too. For my lower tag I painted with Paper Artsy Fresco in Antarctic, embossing it with silver musical notes from Sara Nauman's Eclectica Paper Artsy plate. The Paper Artsy hearts and Spellbinders label are also painted with Antarctic, edged with Peeled Paint distress and Shabby Blue Frantage. The podium is Baltic Blue.

Time to embellish and create a story around my two-in-one tag, which I joined with a white eyelet and a Tim Holtz Tattered Pine Cone Rose. In 1607 the Thames froze over from 5th December-February 14th, which resulted in those resourceful Elizabethans creating a fair consisting of all kinds of stalls, activities and entertainment, including cats so musical they played dulcimers! Shakespeare would have been in Southwark then, did he visit the Frost Fair, I wonder? What if he had written a comedy not set in Illyria but on the Thames and concerning two young lovers who meet at a Frost Fair? I wonder what kind of a masterpiece we would have had? I can only imagine a wonderful combination of A Winter's Tale and Twelfth Night with a hint of As You Like it. One of the lovers would definitely be a maiden disguised as a page who gavottes effortlessly across the ice on silver skates and wins the heart of a young English Countess! But what, oh dear - she's not really a boy, what will she do?  Never fear her long-lost twin brother returns from a sea journey to claim the hand of the Countess and the Countess has a noble cousin who falls head over heels for our heroine. For my lovers I used Lynne Perrella's amazing faces from Paper Artsy LPC 012 and 013 stamped in Coffee Archival.

I painted some card with Baltic Blue on one side and embossed it with musical notes in white Wow Embossing powder and then painted the reverse side with Antarctic fresco, which I then glazed with Paper Artsy Metallic Glaze. I was then able to die-cut the rose from this and the sprig on the left as well as punching the snowflakes from it and mixing and matching. I also added a silver skeleton leaf. You can see Linda's influence in the colour scheme, the hearts, the rose and the scattering of diamonds.

I edged the rose with some White Fire Treasure Gold.

Here is the tag closed with the other lover hidden.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and looking at my tag#9, which I should like to enter for The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge. This is my sixth offering for the Challenge, so I'm half way through. I wonder how easy I will find it to create a tag with a story that suggests Christmas to me inspired by each of Linda's beautiful tags? And my two 'Thank You' tags, of course! If I complete all twelve pre- Christmas tags, I shall be photographing them in their vases hanging from my Christmas twigs, so I hope you will be able to drop by for that.

WOYWW - Siouxsie on my Kitchen Table and Christmas Cards on my washing machine!

Good Morning and welcome to Magpieheaven! Thank you to my newest followers for joining me on my crafting odyssey. I do hope you'll be able to pop in often. What's on your workbench today? Is it Christmassy? Or are you so well organized that you can sit back and compose a list of New Year's Resolutions all ready for January 1st? If you wonder why I'm about to disclose the extraordinary apparition on my table and the little festive collection on my washing machine just pop over to Julia's amazing Stamping Ground and find out all about WOYWW! I'm sure you know all about this brilliant blog-hop that forges friendships and encourages snooping - oops, sorry - INTEREST in the work of others, but in case you don't: do look it up and join in when you can! And now, without further ado, here is a glimpse of my unfinished kitchen - no closer to completion than it was last month, but with my daughter's friend, Kat elegantly posed across my kitchen table - or is it really Siouxsie Sioux? Last week some 'deskers' asked to see Matilda's Siouxsie shoot that she decided should take place in our Work-In-Progress kitchen, one or two actually professed to having been fans back in the day! Well, how convincing is she? I think she's a 'dead ringer' for the 'seventies' star; but what do you think? By the way Kat's wearing a wig and the dress was from a Retro shop, the jacket from the college wardrobe. She doesn't normally look like this or sprawl across our table! And Matilda hadn't even heard of SS until she was given the brief to create a fashion shoot inspired by her 'look'! Imagine - she had to do historical research into the days of my youth! Eek!

This is a photo in its raw state. The final project has been refined and processed into a double-page fashion spread meant to 'showcase' the jacket. Below is my washing machine with my recent tags for the Funkie Junkie Challenge and another card. Progress is slow, but I think I'm getting there - I'm keeping calm, anyway.

Thank you so much to my followers, old and new and my 'desker' friends. It's so lovely to have you drop by and although I have to scoot off now - no I haven't bought all my Christmas gifts yet! I will try to get round to visiting as many of you as I can.

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas #6

Welcome to Magpieheaven, where I'm still gaining lots of fresh inspiration from Linda Coughlin's beautiful 12 tags of Christmas. I am loving creating these tags and the vase above my mantel-piece is gradually filling up with twigs heavy with glittering tags. If you would like to play along with Linda's challenge then click HERE, there is still time to join in: you have until December 22nd and it can be any Christmas themed make. Why not drop by the Funkie Junkie boutique and check out some of the lovely crafting goodies on sale here. The tag that inspired me this time is Linda's Tag #6, which you can see here. I love Linda's composition so I took my inspiration from the way Linda composed her tag and balanced the different elements. I also wanted to include that all important 25 on my tag too. Apart from that, I just went where the inspiration took me. Linda's tag had the strong central image of a Christmas tree. I had no die that resembled this beautiful, fluid shape, but I did have a lovely Lynne Perrella stamp from LPC 016 of an Edwardian lady who looks as if she is metamorphosing into a fir tree, or is the tree morphing into a lady? I've always been intrigued by this stamp and wondered if there is a story behind it.

I die-cut my tag from card and then die-cut another one out of the text from my Christmas book and stuck this over the top. I chose a page about the 'wonder' of Christmas. You can just see a little scrap from the page on the left of the top image. I then sponged the tag with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Linda's tag had two squares of machine stitching, top and bottom. I cut two squares from some Bo Bunny Silver and Gold paper and doodled stitches around them. I couldn't resist adding some Shabby Blue Frantage to the corners.

I added little frosted leaves painted with Paper Artsy Hey Pesto Fresco, a colourful Christmas button with some red waxed thread and some seam binding dyed with Vintage Photo and tied in a little bow. Linda's tag had a beautiful button and big ribbon bow, but as my tag is smaller I kept to buttons and bows but arranged them a little differently and went for a smaller scale. The top of my tag is finished off with some tea-dyed lace, seam binding and an idealogy pin. My Edwardian lady was an imaginative combination of fir tree and drapery, so I stamped her onto different cards and papers in Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil Archival. I edged her with Green Amber Treasure Gold and gave her a dry distress glitter choker and a pearl earring.

I added extra punched out snowflakes with Frantage, some red pearls and some ruby Stickles.

I combined real tea-dyed lace with paper lace and layered the lady using little foam pads to give her dimension.

It's difficult to show the subtle glitter effects that can be achieved with dry distress glitter. The fir tree lady really shimmers as the tag catches the light. The final layer of her skirt has the 'Believe' sentiment on it from Paper Artsy Lynne Perrella Collection 016, which seemed appropriate to the theme of my fifth tag, which is the wonder of Christmas. I love how mysterious the lady looks, as it reminds me of the miracle that is at the heart of Christmas. Thank you so much for stopping by today, as the festive season draws ever closer and Thank You, Linda for all the inspiration your twelve tags are giving.

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags - Tag number 5, Saint Nicholas.

Hello, visitors to Magpieheaven and welcome! It's been such a beautiful sunny Advent day and I've managed another tag towards the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Challenge - yippee! As I used exclusively Artistic Outpost Snowy Woods stamps on this tag, I should also like to enter this for the Artistic Outpost December Anything Goes Referrral Here. Please click HERE if you would like to find out about Linda Coughlin's challenge. You have until December 22 to create 12 tags inspired by her wonderful designs. The Funkie Junkie Boutique, which offers lots of crafting goodies can be found here. This is the tag that inspired my make this evening. It is Linda's fifth tag and my fourth, as I'm not completing the tags in any particular order. My inspiration for this tag was Linda's beautiful Santa image and the warm, vintage tones on the tag. I am using the Tim Holtz tag die and cutting my tags from card myself, so I have to be careful not to attempt to crowd too much onto these fairly small tags. I tried to get around this this time by creating two tags in one! I'll show you what I mean.

I cut two tags, one plan and the other with the Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers snowflakes cut out of it. I then ran this one through an embossing folder after which I sponged it with Vintage Photo and Evergreen Bough and applied a little Green Amber and Spanish Topaz Treasure Gold. I spritzed the plain tag and swiped it through Festive Berries Distress Ink sprinkled with Perfect Pearls Gold powder. I had some seam binding scrunched up and stamped with Festive Berries and Vintage Photo and some tea-dyed lace.

I attached both tags together with a pine-cone brad and some seam-binding after embossing the Festive Berries tag with the fir bough stamp from Artistic Outpost 'Snowy Woods', stamped with Wendy Vecchi Fern Green Archival and then clear embossed. I stamped and clear-embossed the wreath from Snowy Woods, but it is only just visible under the little punched out leaves, which I painted with Paper Artsy Hey Pesto, a stroke of Glossy Accents and some Dry Distress Glitter and little red pearls.

Linda had a large Santa in the centre of her tag, but as my tag is smaller than hers this would have taken up the whole tag, so I used the book plate from the TH die as a frame and decided to create a little miniature of Saint Nicholas. I added some Hey Pesto Fresco to some Grunge Paste and squeezed this through a swirly Crafters' Workshop stencil before painting the whole frame with Hey Pesto and applying Green Amber Treasure Gold when the GP was dry.. I used just a small section of the image from Snowy Woods and it is exactly as I imagine the original Saint Nicholas to have looked. I stamped with Potting Soil, Wendy Vecchi Archival onto some card painted with a blend of Nougat and Cinnamon Frescos. There are so many amazing stories about the kindly Saint, how he resurrected three boys killed by a wicked butcher who stored them ready to make into pies and the poor man whose daughters had no dowries and would have had to make their living as 'ladies of the night' had Saint Nicholas not lobbed three bags of gold coins through their window, keeping his identity a secret. Is this the reason for those gold corn choccies we get in our stockings?

Here is one view of my Saint Nicholas tag. I added some punched out lace with text from the story of the Saint on it over the tea-dyed lace.

The tag can be moved to display the evergreens beneath.

If you get them in the right position, you can see the red gems at the centre of the snowflakes. As always, if you would like more detail, please click on the images. Thank you Funkie Junkie for creating such an inspiring challenge. I should like to enter this tag for Linda's Tag #5 and many thanks and Advent Wishes to  my kind and creative Visitors and Followers.