Let it Snow

I'm starting to get ready for Christmas and here is the first of many tags that I need to make.   This is my variation on the Satin Damask Background tag that Tammy Tutterow had on her blog this week. 

I started by putting some Broken China stain on my craft mat and dragging my manila tag through it.  I covered the entire surface of the tag with the stain and then dried it with a heat tool.  I took some of my snowflake stamps (I have several) and stamped on the the stained tag with Distress Embossing Ink.  I this with clear embossing powder.  Next, I put some white acrylic paint on the craft mat and misted it with water to make a white wash.  I applied this mixture to my tag with a sponge.  I quickly dried this with a heat tool.  I grabbed some Perfect Pearl mist and sprayed it over the entire tag.  I let it sit for a few seconds and then I blotted some areas with a paper towel.  I then heat set the tag.  Now I have the base for my tag's background.  Here is where I somewhat diverged from Tammy's tutorial.  I not only inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, but I basically covered the entire background (this gave some of my snowflakes more definition and gave the tag a more vintage feel).   Since this tag went into a vintage direction, I am entering it into the Vintage Stamping Challenge #14: Traditional Christmas Time. I concentrated the ink in some spots (like around the snowflake at the bottom of the tag). Next I spritzed and flicked water on the background, waited a few seconds, and then dabbed blotted with a paper towel.  The white wash comes through and really made it look like snow flying in the background.   The perfect pearl still gives a sheen to the overall background.  It's really pretty.

Next I used a Sizzix snowflake die and die cut a snowflake out of some Nostalgic Collection Core'dinations paper.  I used coffee archival ink to stamp some script on to the snowflake.  The edges were barely hit with Cracked Sapphire Distress Ink.  I adhered it to my tag with adhesive foam squares to give the tag some dimension.

Next I grabbed my Tim Holtz Christmas paper stash and found a piece that had some distressed triangles in white, Broken China and a purple.  The white triangles reminded me of icicles.  So I covered them with Crackle Accents.  When that had dried, I inked the top of the crackles with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  This was glued to the tag with Glossy Accents.  I then added some Tim Holtz tinsel that I colored with Caramel alcohol ink and "shriveled" with a heat tool to give it a very vintage look.  I glued the tinsel at the top of my "icicles' with some quick drying glue. 




Finally I used Cobalt archival ink to stamp "Let It Snow", a couple of snowflakes, and some "stitching" onto a piece light green cardstock.  I inked over this with some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.  I used a Martha Stewart punch to give a lacy edging to my sentiment.  I distressed the paper with some sandpaper and then hit the edges lightly with Walnut Stain.   This was also glued on with Glossy Accents. 

I stamped some light blue ribbon with snowflakes (Coffee archival ink) and grunged the ribbon with Walnut Stain Distress Stain and Black Soot Distress Ink.  Finally -- a finished tag.  One down and ... a bunch to go :)  -- Mary Elizabeth