Thursday, December 30, 2010

2010 Christmas Alphabet Tags Swap

Each year on the Yahoo Group CanadianStampTalk*, there is a swap of alphabet tags for Christmas. I have taken part most of the years it has been going (must be close to 10 now), and so I have a number of lovely Christmas tag collections in a basket under my Christmas tree. It is so much fun to flip through them each year and see all the variations on, oh, let's say, the letter Q! Admittedly some letters are easier to manage than others. Here are some scans (sorry for the rough quality, but click on them to view larger) of the 2010 tags:


Darlene Crane hosted once again (THANK YOU!) and created the lovely front cover on purple cardstock with two turtle doves black embossed and painted in with shimmery silver paint and edged with silver Krylon. She created the index of players for the final back tag and a festive beaded and beribboned tassel. Thanks to everyone who played this year.

A: Pat Makarenko’s All I want for Christmas is red and green, with roboon and layers. Pat, I hope we all get your wish!
B: Kristi-Ann Watrin had the cutest Bear and Bells; loved the srapped teal twine affixing the mini-bell to the letter.
C: Barb Krupa used brads and glitter to make her Candy Canes pop!
D: An elegant die cut and stamped Dec. 25 popped up on foam with ribbon, stamped snowflakes and crystal gems from Gail Akister.  The silver snowflakes are almost holographic against the red ones. Gail, who makes that label/frame stamp?
E:  Is for busy, high-kicking elves. Gaylene Ouchar sponged her blue tag with a darker shade of blue and coloured in the embellishments with metallic paint or markers. 


F: Bettiann Nielson did a warm tag for Faith, using a resist technique for the nativity scene and sponging terra cotta hues over top.
G: Christine Telega made a sparkly gingerbread man that looked real enough to eat, complete with the recipe and a gold snowflake.
H: Val Braun provided an angelic Holiday Hello in soft blues with layers and just the right amount of subtle bling.
I: Is for “It came upon a midnight clear” and Melissa Groenink stamped a background, resisted a hearkening angel, and sponged overtop to highlight. There is a shimmery sheen overall.
J: A rather busy tag from me (Charmaine Stack) that featured the word JOY. I stamped in black on acetate, and inked and glittered the underside for colour.
K: Karen Gilmore sent us a sweet, distressed Kris Kringle masked to create a background of Silent Night sheet music. Little red berries in his cap were glittered for sparkles.


L: Marg Elcich says “Let it snow” and it sure did on her tag!  A dry embossed snowy tag was painted white and spattered with blue ink, then layers of die cut or punched snowflakes were affixed with a crystal gem, and five more were added for effect. The main banner and its border were popped up with two layers of pop dots.
M: Music and Merry Christmas got equal billing on Karen Cielen’s red, black and cream tag featuring large musical notes. Very dramatic!
N: Heather Robinson featured an elaborate texturized background and a collage of a little gal that is either naughty or nice.  Guess only Santa knows for sure!
O: Teena Steele embossed ornaments on her green tag, sponged the edges, glittered the bows and stamped NOEL in the corner. Bright and festive!
P: Our hostess, Darlene Crane, provided the letter P. Peace on Earth was sparkle embossed on a lilac tag and overlaid with white vellum that was embossed with iridescent snowflakes. A white eyelet finished the tag nicely.
Q: Melanie Wortman patiently paper-pieced a quilt together to back her large gold Q.


R: Judy Preston brought us a wonderful reindeer on a red tag that was dry embossed with a great wood grain texture. The large letter R was glittered and the reindeer’s nose was beaded.
S: Lynne Martel’s homage to snow featured three different snowflakes (dry embossed background on luxe metallic cs; blue sparkle embossed feature stamp and a 3-D snowy glittered charm).
T: Donna Tameling created a snowy tree-scape with layers of glittered snow banks modern trees against a snowy sky.
U: Brenda Thain had one of those “tough” letters but did a great job with a banner proclaiming “U is for Universe where Christmas brings joy to all the world” and a wonderful globe ornament against a dry-embossed starry background.
V: Vintage Christmas was presented by Beth O’Brien and featured old-fashioned script writing, Victorian postoid images framed in red and green, red and gold ribbon and judicious use of glitter. The gold hole reinforcement and tiny gold stars finished the look.
W: Maryann Lawrence, who used white embossed snowflakes to resist sponged blue inks, created Winter in all its snowy glory.
X: Another challenging letter, but Sandy Proulx was up to the task, with a polished stone background in blues over stamped with silver snowflakes and embellished with glittery 3-D snowflake charm and blue crystal. The final touch?  A round tag that says Snow puts the x-citement in Christmas!

Y: Susan MacDonald created a VERY deeply embossed brocade background for her sage green tag, then attached music with brads, a burgundy ribbon and a flute of champagne with a sentiment about the New Year.
Z: Agnes Bottomley made me chuckle with her wonderful Zazzy (flashy, stylish or something shiny) bunny, who has a string of lights wrapped around his ears but needs to stay close to the electrical outlet to remain lit up!





*CST (CanadianStampTalk) is the largest forum on the net for rubberstamping, card making and paper crafting resources in Canada! The list is for Canadians, looking to meet other stamping and paper crafting Canadians and find out more about our passion for rubber, ink and all things related to card making including techniques other than stamping. We have swaps, friendly chit chat, great information, messages from Vendors.... and a great network of friendships and information! Membership is currently restricted to Canadians only. To subscribe to CST, email this address.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Belated Christmas Greetings!

Where have I been? Here it is Boxing Day (December 26) in Canada, and I have a quiet moment to write a brief note. I have missed blogging, but there have not been enough hours in each day to do all I need to do. Hopefully 2011 will allow for more. A belated Merry Christmas from me to you!


I made these Victorian style cones for my staff this year. I cobbled together terrible instructions from one site Michaels.com Christmas-Cocoa-Cones, a template from another site Escapade Direct, and then revised to get these the length I wanted. Double-sided scrapbook paper helped it go quickly, and stamps were from the Around Christmastime set from Waltzingmouse. Most are filled with hot chocolate powder, mini marshmallows and crushed candy canes in clear plastic cake decorating bags (they are already cone shaped).

I am looking forward to 2011 and more creative time. My thoughts are already turning to Valentines Day!