The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 12

So, it's the 12th and final tag of Christmas for 2011.  Kinda sad, but I think Tim and Mario need those 6+ hours back each day, not to mention running all over Prescott looking for a signal when their internet goes down.  Thanks for the fun, guys.  Your generosity is beyond measure.

Today's tag features one of Tim's little faux frozen Charlottas.  You know, those bizarre porcelain dolls with missing limbs.  I don't have any of his version, but I knew I had a bag full of some I'd gotten on the internet, but when I looked......no bodies, just heads.  Even more bizarre.  So, that caused me to change up my design quite a bit.  One head would have looked a bit lost sitting on top of the artful dwelling that Tim used.  So I did a rosette instead.  Which would lead to another change, and another......well, before I go into all that, here is my tag:

First, I should mention that I did use the background technique with Tim's tissue paper.  What I added after the stickles was some weathered wood distress stain.  And under the tissue paper I used the background stamp from the Papillon set.  Much of this is covered with the tag's embellishments, but it is a really lovely background.

I don't have the decorative strip die that Tim used to make the faux German scrap, so I thought I'd try one of my border punches.  Varied success.  The first one I tried, a Martha Steward punch, didn't cut through the metal tape all the way.  My second choice, also one of Martha's, worked perfectly.  Go figure.   If you don't have any decorative punches, maybe you still have one of these oldies but goodies lying around:

That's right, decorative scissors work like a charm.  And if you want more detail, you can pair them with a decorative hole punch.  Here are some examples.  The first is the border punch I wound up using; all the edges of the ones that follow were done with scissors.  The one in the middle also has my tiny flower shaped hole punch.

A closer view of my faux German scrap (the metal tape I used was glaringly bright so I toned it down just a bit with some black archival ink):

For the letters, I did use Tim's tip of cutting them twice; once from the cardstock covered with metal tape, and once from black cardstock.  They really do pop.   And I discovered that if you attach your metal to textured cardstock, when you run it through your die cut machine the letters take on that texture.  How cool is that!  Good way to use up those pieces of paper with nice texture but hideous color.  You know, like that neon paper pack that was such a big bargain.  :))









I made a tissue paper flower, following Tim's easy directions, and it is so sweet:

Too bad I couldn't find a use for it on this tag.  Remember, I opted for the rosette, and it and the flower were just too close in size and shape, and looked terrible together.  So, I adapted another of Tim's tissue paper techniques, and using my trusty fringe scissors (yes, I really do have a pair), I followed the pom pom directions, but stopped just shy of  making the pom pom and popped the fringe behind the rosette.

I haven't figured out yet what will occupy my early mornings now.  Sleep, maybe?????