Christmas is coming... and we’re making Christmas Tags at My Partner in Crafting Crime :)

Hey Bloggers!! :)

Well, two weeks since my last post... :( Sorry for going AWOL-  has been a pretty rough feeling few weeks here as our neighbours are having their garden completely dug out and re-paved so it has been three weeks solid of too early rude awakenings and then noise and vibrations all day meaning I’ve not been able to get the rest I need so have been feeling pretty ill and not managing to do much :S I have managed some crafting time (and an odd bit of crafty shopping to cheer me up!!lol) and have plenty of things I want to try out and share with you so I’ll hopefully get around to those soon, but for now...

... another two weeks have just flown by and it's time for another challenge over at My Partner in Crafting Crime... this will be our last challenge for now as we're taking a little break for the Christmas festivities... but what a lovely challenge it is to get us in the Christmas mood as we'd like to see your 'Christmas Tags'!! :) We're sponsored again by the fab Bows & Berries Digital Stamp Shop with the winner getting to choose some of their gorgeous digis to play with!! :)

I went a bit mad with this one as I made not one but four tags- I've not made a fancy tag before as I never really see the point knowing nobody would keep them, but I had a lot of fun with these little bite-sized projects and they were the perfect opportunity to experiment with resist embossing with different powders... something I've been meaning to have a play with for ages!! :) Heat embossing is what got me hooked on cardmaking after a teacher brought her heat tool, powders and some stamps into school to show me (about 12yrs ago!! eek!!lol)- I thought it was like watching a little bit of magic then and I still do!! :D

I was also in the mood to make something really pretty and sparkly and I think I achieved that... the trouble I had getting a decent pic because of all the glare proves I got the sparkly part at least- these shine from tip to toe!! :S lol

I used stamps that came free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine last month and they really are gorgeous!! :) I embossed them with a silver glitter powder and watercoloured with my Brilliance ink pads... I had intended to make them more different in colour but when I looked at my inks I realised they are mostly purples and blues from my less daring, earlier crafting days!!lol I think it helped that I'd been watching Frozen Planet the night before I coloured these... such pretty inspiration!! :)

My mum and I recently bought the new Nestie bauble dies- I love that my mum has now passed from buying craft stuff she likes so that I can make cards with it for her friends, to buying stuff so she can make her own... really nice to share that enjoyment... not going to turn down offers to go halves on stash either!!lol- and I gave them their first work out for my tag shapes :) I stamped and embossed some gorgeous snowflakes in various powders so I could see the different effects and then inked over that... I think my fav is the Silver Pearl on the lighter of the large tags and the topmost one of the smaller two- but then I just love that powder anyway, it's stunning!! :)

A different image and ink colours for the smaller ones but the same besides that... :)

A couple of closer shots of the embossing (sorry the pics aren't brilliant, I took loads trying to get the right angle for showing all the shimmer without too much glare and still didn’t really get there!!lol) ... but isn't that Silver Pearl just beautiful!?! :)

The List:

For the images-

• Image stamps by Adam Prescott free with Cardmaking and Papercraft
• Silver Glitter embossing powder, Versamark and heat tool
• Brilliance ink pads: Pearlescent Purple, Pearlescent Lavender, Pearlescent Ice Blue, Moonlight White, Platinum Planet, Galaxy Gold, Pearlescent Lime, Pearlescent Jade, Cosmic Copper

For the tags-

• Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments 2011 dies
• Snowflake stamps from Wild Rose Studio
• Clear, White Holographic and Silver Pearl embossing powders, Versamark and heat tool
• Brilliance inks: Purple, Lavender, Ice Blue
• Crystal Stickles
• Seam binding from the Ribbon Girl in Lady Lavender and Sky Mauve

I'd like to enter my tags in the following challenges: Crafty Ribbons - Anything But A Card :) ; Fussy and Fancy - Make a Gift/Anything But A Card :) ; Paper Sundaes - Beautiful Bows :) ; Crafter's Companion - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow :) ; CES - Snowflakes :) ; Winter Wonderland - Awwww, what a Cutie!! :)

Thank you for stopping by today- I hope you like what you saw!! :) Please do pop over to the PCC blog to see the creations by the rest of our fab team and I hope you'll be able to join in with our last challenge of the year!! :)

I hope you're all well and have had a lovely weekend!! :) And thank you for all the lovely comments on my last cards!! :) I'll hopefully be back again soon as I've plenty to share... fingers-crossed we get some peace from next door so I can get some rest soon, too, cos I really need to feel better so I can crack on with Xmas prep or there will be people not getting cards or presents again... but I won’t be holding my breath as they’ve hardly started the back garden yet!! :S