hi! it's day four - just two days until merry kiss-mas and the rest of the papertrey ink october release are revealed and in the shop. as you can see from my inspiration pics, today i'm focusing on tags and embellishments that you can make with the mistletoe, particularly the die - things to tie up or tie on! (photo sources, clockwise from top left: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6/center)
first up, a felt bundle of mistletoe - one of the first things i thought of when designing the die! i cut four, added small pearls for the berries, and attached them to each other using floral tape and wire. two face the front, and two face the back so that you can see berries on both sides if hung from a doorway. i left the wire long enough to bend down to create a hook and added a red and green string bow and hanging loop to finish it off. one other thing i did before attaching them to each other was to clip apart the leaves where it made sense to gain a little more natural movement. i designed the stamp with overlapping branches for depth when stamped alone, but was careful to have places where it would be easy to separate leaves for projects like this. one clip on the right, two on the left - use the image as a guide to see where the leaves meet but don't overlap that much, and then round out your cuts gently. this little bundle would also make a great present embellishment!
speaking of presents, next up i have two gift tags. first, a mistletoe bundle created from two paper die cuts tied to the top of instant photo die 2, which was cut three times and stacked. i love the two photo dies and this layout is one i've done before, placing an element right over the photo space, leaving it open. as for the mistletoe, i wanted the results to be less stiff than card stock usually is, so i softened the paper by rubbing it on the edge of my desk and breaking the fibers down a bit. once flattened it was much softer and more pliable and has a soft wrinkled texture, which makes it easier to manipulate the leaves without creasing and adds interest to the bundle. the large verse in the set fills the lower part of the photo frame nicely. i can't wait to find the perfect gift for this little card!
for the second gift tag, i had to create a faux chalkboard tag based on the print in my inspiration set - and because i thought the image would look cool that way after being stamped in red and green all week! black card stock; white embossed mistletoe, twine tie, and sentiment; additional offset stampings of each with white pigment ink, and lots of fun "chalk" smudges with more white ink and a paper towel - and voila! the back is blank, ready for another stamped sentiment or a personal note. this design would also be great on a full card.
and finally, a mini mistletoe garland inspired by the one above, which is probably bigger. originally i intended to create this in felt, but my order didn't arrive in time. i wanted it to look different from the first project, so instead of using the same felt again (actually you could make several of those and string them together!), i went shopping around my studio and found some printable canvas pages. not as soft as the felt and not as flimsy as regular fabric; stiff, but definitely more pliable than card stock. stamping did not work well because of the texture, and i wanted to be able to snip the leaves apart like with the felt, so having them fully colored (i used a copic) was better anyway. they look a little like gingham, but that's just the texture showing through.
for the berries, i was running low on pearls, so i went looking for something else fun to try and came accross a pack of air dry clay. it was super easy to roll the tiny balls, which i adhered with glossy accents and the end result is so cool! i added a second die cut without berries behind each one to build them up a bit. to the second from the end, i also added a small tag with a mini clothespin. i cut it to fit the sentiment and punched the top corners with a tag punch. i can't wait to add this (and the felt bundle above) to my christmas decorations this year! and just like i said with the felt one, a single sprig and a tag done this way would also make a great gift embellishment as well. so what do you think? so much fun, it's addictive! there's one more countdown day and i still have lots more ideas, so c'mon back tomorrow to see. meanwhile, it's group post day so head over to nichole for the details and links. melissa has a post up with her new set as well.
hugs & kisses!
:) lexi
