Keeping Christmas {Die cut tags-4 ways}

"I will honor Christmas in my heart...and try to keep it all the year long!" ~Charles Dickens

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...LOL! I had so much fun being a guest for the Verve release this last week! I'm sorry if there were some of you looking for my Keeping Christmas post back on the 25th. I didn't want to bombard you all with any more posts than I already was posting.

 Not gonna lie...this month was rough for me as far as getting my project done. I just kept stressing about it and in the end I had to remind myself that I started this to #1 Have fun #2 Make things that I wanted and needed for this coming Christmas #3 Have fun! LOL! There are quite a few ideas I have that I am planning on executing, but unfortunately they are things that will have to wait until October or November.

Well, to be honest...I don't think I need any more tags but I FINALLY got the Tremendous Treats Die Set. I have had the Stamp Set for YEARS and ended up by not using a lot of the images because I felt they were a little small and I couldn't give them much presence, but with the die cuts it makes it a lot easier to make them a little more special. I die cut each of the images twice, stamped them using Palette Noir ink and then colored them using Copic Markers. I colored them assembly line style by coloring each color on each image as I went along...so, all the red on all the images, all the black, and so on. I like doing it that way so I don't end up with a pile of markers rolling around on my desk.

Once they were all colored, I added some Nuvo Glaze to bits and pieces of each image as well as a generous amount of Wink of Stella. I set them aside to dry while I got to work on the tag bases for each image. I thought it would be fun to use the Fancy Flakes die as the base for some of the smaller images. I really like how they turned out and I like how easy it was to add the twine to one of the open spaces on the snowflake pattern.

After I was done die cutting the snowflakes, I thought it would be cute to emboss the snowflake onto a circle die cut. I like how it has a cohesive feel,but a little more subtle than the tags using the snowflake die cut as the base. To execute this, I used my brown embossing pad in my Cuttlebug that makes it possible to dry emboss with a die cut.

Then...I thought it would be nice to try the die cut snowflake added to the die cut circle to step it up a notch. I really like all of the different ways that I tried for these tags and depending on the time you have, you can tailor it to your needs. The die cut snowflake was by far the quickest, obviously and then they work their way up from there. Each tag base is spritzed with Shimmer spray for some extra shine!

I've used the coordinating sentiments that come with the stamp set forever and for today's tags I thought I would change it up and use the Cozy Critters sentiment set. I really like how nicely they pair up with the different images. They are all stamped in white...some directly on the tag and others on a sentiment strip.

Each tag is tied up with some black baker' twine. I got a HUGE roll half off at Hallmark in July and I have used pretty much the ENTIRE roll. I'm thinking of heading back to see if they have another roll because it ended up being $2.50 for a 25 yard roll. 

My daughter auditioned for Ballet West's production of The Nutcracker and she made it! I am so excited for her! That is part of the craziness of August as well as my 7 year old playing his first year of football and my oldest playing his Senior year of football! Things have been crazy around here to say the least, but it's all fun stuff! Thanks for fluttering by!