The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 8

Masks And Wire

No, not part of a robber's kit or a bondage outfit, but two of the cool techniques in Tim's day #8 tag.  This was a challenging tag for me to make.  While I loved the one Tim did, I'm less than thrilled with the two I came up with.  Part of it might be my stubborn determination not to copy; the mask Tim used is just perfect in size and shape for the tag.  Well, it is what it is, and I learned new techniques, so what am I complaining about?

Tim used the outside of his santa sleigh mask (the part we usually discard) as a stencil, positioning it on the tag and inking it and stamping over it.  I cut my own mask from the pine tree die instead, working vertically on the tag instead of horizontally.  I added some extra trees with a Stampin' Up stamp (one of my favorites, BTW).  Love the technique, not wild about my execution.  I think I should have positioned it lower on the tag and eliminated the trunk.  Also, my stamping over the stencil was a bit sloppy imperfect. (I'm embracing my imperfection, honestly, I am!)

I didn't have the distress stickles that Tim used to give the look of snow on the rooftops, so I substituted a regular stickles called stardust.  Not quite as effective and it took forever to dry. 

Also loved using wire to create the look of smoke coming out of the chimneys.  I didn't have the same gauge wire Tim used, and I would have liked to have the thicker wire.

I also like using my retro Dymo label maker to create the look of a banner, and that's a technique I'll use again for sure.

The last technique Tim used was dabbing metal with white paint, then rubbing it with a finger tip for a nice shabby look.  Tim's metal pieces included corners, a clock face and a spinner.  Because of my tag's orientation I really had no place for the corners, and though I tried a clock face on mine, I didn't care for it.  I opted for a grommet with a brad that fit inside the hole, trying for the look of the moon in the sky.  Hey, I said trying, not succeeding, LOL.

And now, my Wendy version:

I think this one works a little better, but I guess I just have to admit that today's attempts are not my favorites. 

This one obviously doesn't have a Christmas theme.  I started by making a mask from the Sizzix lovebird die.  After inking the stencil part of it on the tag with different shades of green, I over stamped with one of Wendy's stamps, using olive archival ink. The leaves in the background (done with coffee archival ink) are also from a Wendy stamp.   Since I opted not to use the townscape on the bottom, instead of using wire for smoke, I used it for tail feathers, pretty much following the curves of the tail on the die.  Again, I wish I had thicker wire for this technique.

My whitewashed metal includes corners (smaller ones than Tim's), a funky little piece I had in my stash that fit perfectly on the bird's head, a tiny brad for the eye, and a larger brad which is keeping all the wires in place.

Instead of a Christmas sentiment, my label has one of Wendy's favorite sayings, make art every day.