Loll and Friends - 12 Tags of Christmas - Day 8

I was thrilled when Loll Thompson invited me to be a guest designer again this year for her wonderful Twelve Tags of Christmas event over on her blog Stamping with Loll.  Her event runs from November 6th - 17th so we're a little bit more than half way through!  

If you want some beautiful and creative ideas for Christmas tags - be sure to check it out!

And now, without further ado -  here is my tag for Loll's Twelve Tags of Christmas 2017!

I have a few photos to show you how I put this together.

First I created the background by rubbing Ranger Distress Walnut Stain ink on my nonstick craft mat.  I spritzed over the ink with water and then bounced the tag into the mix.  I dried it with my heat tool and then tapped it in again to get more bead-like drops.

Then I stenciled over the background with Tim's Merry Christmas stencil using Barn Door Distress Ink.  I put removable tape on the back of my tag to hold it on the mat while I sponged over the stencil.

Then I got out Tim's Mini Pine stencil and decided where I wanted to put a few trees - and sponged them on over the text - using Forest Moss Distress Ink.  I sponged the bigger tree on the left, then shifted the stencil and sponged the big tree again as well as the medium tree.

I die cut a Ribbon  banner out of red card, stamped it with a sentiment from Tim's new Watercolor Trees stamp set and sponged the edges of the banner with Walnut Stain Distress.  I also sponged around my whole tag at this point with Walnut Stain Distress.

I put an extra thick foam dot in the center of the banner and thinner foam dots near each end so the center stands out off the tag.  I looped red and green wrinkled seam tape through the hole and knotted twine around them

I always layer my tags to a slightly larger colored piece that I just cut from cardstock and trim off the corners - here I used red.  I like how it defines the tag - plus it covers up any mess created on the back with all the distress inks!

I flicked water over the tag with my fingers to create water spots.  You can see them on the trees here -  you can also see how the trees DO actually look greenish in the right light!

I added this cute wooden deer 

(I don't know where I got these critters - the bag has no company listed on it - maybe Hobby Lobby?)  A adhered two Clippings Stickers/Christmas from Idea-ology on the bottom of my tag.

So what kind of tags are you making for the holidays?

Look here for my 2016 tag

Look here for my 2015 tag

Look here for my 2014 tag

You will find my 2017 tag over at Loll's 12 Tags of Christmas post here.   I'd love if you'd take a peek!
 We hope you'll create a mixed media tag as well and link it up over at  Stamping with Loll!

 The guidelines for Loll's challenge are that it must be a mixed media Christmas tag (any style / any size) which includes stamping, plus two mixed media elements (techniques or products).

I'm also linking my tag to:
Happy Little Stampers

Stamps:  Water Color Trees - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous
Paper:  #8 Manila tag - Ranger, Pure Poppy - PTI
Ink:  Ranger Distress Forest Moss, Barn Door, Walnut Stain, Archival Jet Black
Accessories:  Clippings Stickers/Christmas Idea-ology, twine, Wrinkled Seam Tape, Wooden Deer - Hobby Lobby?, Ribbon Banner Die - Nestabilities