Christmas Tags 2021

I meant to post these last month, but here we are in a brand new year.  2021 seemed to fly by so fast.  December was crazy busy and I'm ready for a much calmer month.  My daughter Emily helped me make the tags this time, mainly by choosing the cardstock colors and getting me started by die cutting a lot of the pieces.  I decided to use the My Monthly Hero kit from Nov 2021 because I thought it would go quickly and I was short on time due to procrastination.  Ha!  It took about eight hours start to finish.  It was fun though!

Aren't those cute?  I debated over buying the Nov 2021 Hero Arts monthly kit, but I couldn't resist those adorable dies.  I didn't have time to get super creative over choosing stamp sets and designing four different tags this year, so this kit was perfect with the four different characters.  As usual, I made four of each tag.

First up is this cute little elf.  The main reason these tags took so long is that I cut pieces in multiple colors so that I could layer them.  If I'd had more time, I would have stamped some details on the hat and collar for this tag, as well as the hats or scarves on the others.

Dies:  Nov 2021 My Monthly Hero Kit (Hero Arts); Tag Sale #3 (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Blush Blossom (Stampin' Up); New Leaf, Green Parakeet, Dark Chocolate, True Black, Terracotta Tile (Papertrey Ink)

Misc:  white gel pen

Next is the reindeer tag.  I added Glossy Accents to the nose for some dimension and shine.  My daughter added the little highlight dots to all of the eyes of each tag with a white gel pen.

Dies:  Nov 2021 My Monthly Hero Kit (Hero Arts); Tag Sale #3 (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Creamy Caramel, Shaded Spruce (Stampin' Up); Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate, True Black, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Misc:  white gel pen; Glossy Accents (Ranger) 

Next up is Santa.  I love the little pierced details on his beard and mustache.  For this tag, I added white flocking to the hat trim.

Dies:  Nov 2021 My Monthly Hero Kit (Hero Arts); Tag Sale #3 (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up); New Leaf, Terracotta Tile (Papertrey Ink)

Misc:  white gel pen; glue pen; Cotton Ball White (Fun Flock) 

The last tag is the snowman.  I added a little sparkle to the scarf by using a clear Wink of Stella pen to color subtle circles.

Dies:  Nov 2021 My Monthly Hero Kit (Hero Arts); Tag Sale #3 (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  White, True Black, Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Misc:  white gel pen, clear Wink of Stella pen

These tags were really fun to make.  Next year though, I need to start much sooner so I can really take my time.  I've gotten into a bad habit of waiting until the last minute the past couple of years.  I'm really grateful for my daughter Emily's help in getting all these done.  I couldn't have done it without her!  She doesn't join me in the studio very often, so it will be a lovely memory of this past Christmas.

Illuminating Bloom Bracelet

I purchased a kit from The Bead Place to make this Illuminating Bloom Bracelet.  I followed an instructional video in the Great Bead Extravaganza group on Facebook, but I believe it is also available on youtube.

 

It's a cool design using memory wire and tubing along with pretty red and gold beads.  Very easy to make!  I adore the flower button closure.

I had never used memory wire before.  It keeps the shape very well.  I have tried all kinds of new things this summer!  Red is my favorite color and I love all the gold accents in this design.  There's even gold dusted on the tubing!  It is so pretty in person.

Treetop Bracelet

I'm really proud of this bracelet.  It's a design called the Treetop Bracelet by Humblebeads and I purchased a kit from their website to make it.  There is an accompanying instruction video that was posted in the Great Bead Extravaganza group on Facebook.  I believe it is also on the Humblebeads Facebook page as well.

I really enjoyed making this.  It's not a complicated design and wouldn't take all that long, except for the fact that I deliberated over every single "random" bead to make sure that the same color didn't end up next to each other.  The kit came with a custom mix of SuperDuo beads that go beautifully with the waxed linen cord and the other beads and findings.

It's such a pretty design and I love how it looks on my wrist!  The nest focal bead is really cool.  Humblebeads makes some very beautiful art beads.  I had my eye on them for a long time before I finally purchased some.  Mainly because of this fun bracelet design!

Green Necklace

My mom really likes to have matching jewelry.  I've made her several pairs of earrings over the years without thinking about this, but she usually has something in her jewelry box to wear with them anyway.  I had a lot of these green beads in my stash, so I made a necklace to match these earrings that I gave her three years ago.

My mom was thrilled to get it!  I love the variations of greens in the beads.  It's a simple design, but that makes all the difference.

Garnet Necklace & Earrings

I made this jewelry set for both my mother and mother-in-law for a Christmas gift many years ago.  It was one of the first pieces of jewelry I ever made and I didn't take pictures at the time, so when I was out visiting my parents this summer, I took the opportunity to get a few photos for my blog.  The design is from an issue of BeadStyle magazine.  If I remember correctly, I got the beads from Fire Mountain Gems and Rio Grande.

You can better see the rich color of the round garnet beads in these additional pictures.  I ended up remaking the necklace at my mother's request later on.  Originally, there was an additional garnet bead in the upper loops and it wasn't laying nicely.  It was a simple fix to solve the problem.

I always intended to make a set for myself, but never got around to it because I didn't have quite enough beads.  One of these days!

Elephant Earrings

I made this fun pair of earrings for my sister this summer.  I went out west to visit my parents and thought it would be a great little belated birthday gift.  She collects elephants, so when I saw these beads at Michaels on clearance, it was an immediate purchase.

I just happened to have some matching howlite beads in my stash already.  I found the skinny coconut shell beads at Hobby Lobby and those made a fun accent for the dangles.  Simple and unique!

Toddler T-shirts

Time to do a little catch-up on this blog!  I've made quite a few projects this summer that I haven't posted yet.  None of them actually involve stamping though.  I finally used my Cricut to make some vinyl designs for t-shirts for my little grandson Elliott.

This cute yellow shirt uses a lightbulb svg design by Caty Catherine and was cut from Siser Easy-Weed iron-on vinyl.  So easy to do!  I don't know why I waited so long to try this.

The second t-shirt uses an image of Clover the bunny from the Sofia the First tv show.  My grandson loves the show and this character was far simpler to cut and put on a toddler-size t-shirt than Sofia herself.

I also made a couple of shirts for my daughter, but I don't have pictures of those.  Elliott loved his two shirts.  I'm glad I finally pushed through the fear of trying something new.  I've been meaning to do this for ages.  The rest of my summer projects are all jewelry, so look for those on my blog over the next few days.