Mixed Media Medley of Tags...Loll's 12 Tags of Christmas~Mixed Media Tag Event, STAMPlorations November Challenge~Stamps & Layers

Happy Sunday...and oh, what a crafting weekend it's been! My husband is out of town, so I had the run of the kitchen (aka: my crafting zone), and I took full advantage. No cleaning up...until tomorrow *grin*

Over the past few days, I'm sure many of you have stopped by Loll's blog,  Stamping with Loll~12 Tags of Christmas Mixed Media Tag Event,

to see what she, and her incredibly talented friends, have shared by way of mixed media Christmas tags. Nothing short of stunning creativity to be found.  I've been tempted often to dabble with mixed media - even invested in a couple of products I have no clue about using (gesso, for example) - but it wasn't until Loll's series began unfolding that incentive to get 'inky' was fully sparked.  Saturday was my 'mixed media' tags only day', (the Christmas cards had a day off...), and although I didn't make as many tags as I'd hoped (being a mixed media novice, and all), I think I'm verging on becoming addicted. Just a little bit. There's so much to learn, but...I've made a first step.

Now, before I share my 'attempts,' a few things to be clarified:

• All my tags are exponential cases of others' work, as you'll see and as I've 'cited', which means

• that my sharing today is simply 'because'.  Loll, no need for you or Judge Jeremy to count me as a contender for your challenge.  I'm here because YOU and your guest designers inspired me to do something totally beyond my comfort zone (not to mention my ability zone!), and I enjoyed every second of creating my tags....even when I was filling up Mr. Recycle Bin's tummy. All the learning will, I hope, translate into cards/tags that are more original down the road. For now, I only want to prove that: I did it!! Yayyyy....(I do, however, have two tags I'm sending off to a challenge 'for reals', because those two were 'kinda sorta' more of  'my' figurin' and thinkin' *grin*

With that said...here's my journey. A while back, I spotted and consequently fell in love with Jill Foster's tag here.  I ordered the dies through my 'local' distributor in Edmonton, and proceeded to wait...and wait....and wait for them to arrive. Nearly two months later (something went awry with my request, but all is resolved), I picked up my goodies, along with some gesso (and other things...she twisted my rubber arm. Again.) on our most recent trip. I fully expected 'not' to tackle the tag until my mom's cards were done, meaning December.

Enter Loll's inspiration.

So, I created my tag yesterday, following along with Jill's video. Here it is:

Of course, I missed a few things along the way (let's not talk about my wonky gesso zig zags and drab "Joy" ticket...), but still...it turned  out okay-ish.  In fact, okay-ish enough that I forged ahead and 'practiced' by creating three more.  Boring ticket switched for word dies, and my snowflakes are cut from some new glitter paper (local distributor enabling...again).  I wish I could show you the twinkle...

I was 'feeling the muse', and carried on, creating five more (one of which I can't get to photograph properly. It's blue and rather pretty, but I lost the daylight before I could get it on camera. I'll try again tomorrow and add it at some point down the road...).

This tag: sponged with two shares of red, zig-zag stenciled, stamped with a 'Fa la la' stamp (hard to see here), spritzed with pearlized water (another new to me), and then decorated with a triple cut, inked, pearlized and red-stickles berries Holly and Berries die cut (Penny Black, as is the poinsetta - Joyful - above).

 Next up: more red ink sponging, over an embossed word stamp, paired with a duo of glitter paper cut trees, stickle decorated and an embossed, sponged sentiment. In real life, this one is rather cute.

My last two tags are heading off to STAMPlorations November Challenge~Stamps & Layers

Again, sponged with two red inks, stamped the Vignette: Christmas block stamp with a third red ink, and added my die cuts. The poinsettia petals are glitter paper with some stickles; the leaves are sponged with Delicata gold, the sentiment embossed, then sponged. The second tag - same background - with the holly and berries, again, triple cut for dimension, red stickle berries and pearlized water spritzed.

Whew....enough from me! Thank you, Loll and guests for this opportunity to try something new! I'm going to pass these along to my mom, to attach to some of the chiffon cakes (she is the QUEEN of chiffon cakes!) she'll be baking for the Christmas Bazaar. I think cakes and tags will go quite well together!

Thank so much for dropping by; your visit and comments add sparkle to my day!