The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge 2015 (Part One)

Hi everyone and welcome. How are you all doing? Super organised and just counting down the 'big day' or still running around like a headless chicken with a 'to do' list as long as your arm? Whatever your current state I hope you all make it through to your own celebrations in one piece and get the time to enjoy the results of all your hard work.

For a few years now I've been joining in with Linda Coughlin's 'Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas' 2015 challenge, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique as a way of creating my festive cards and this year is no exception. Armed with Linda's tags for inspiration, a pad of the Tim Holtz 'Yuletide' Paper Stash collection and a heap of my favourite Distress products I set to work creating cards in batches of three. As the deadline for submission looms (December 27th) I'll show them in two parts, so grab a cuppa and we'll get started...

Linda's Tag #1 featured gold embossing paste stencilling and a large poinsettia. Given the need to keep my cards flat I opted for a stamped poinsettia, coloured with Distress Inks, covered in Micro Glaze and spritzed with Distress Spray Stains. The gold stencilling ended up looking relatively subtle on the patterned background.

Linda's Tag #2 featured more gold stencilling and shimmering Christmas trees. I used the 'Tracks' stencil and silver embossing paste this time to emulate a 'forest scene', with my own shimmering die cut trees and Yuletide trims. 'Painting' the inner portions of the trees with Distress Ink was essential for making them more prominent.

Linda's Tag #3 featured a dramatic Holiday Knit background with a reindeer. Replicating that look on a tag it made easier to coordinate with the Yuletide papers and provided a backdrop for the die cut reindeer and holiday wreath. I used a stencil and Tarnished Brass Distress Paint for the pattern rather than die cutting it.

Linda's Tag #4 featured more silver stencilling and Holiday Greens holly, making it an easy design to replicate. I opted out of the plaid background as the pattern came from the Yuletide papers again. The joy of using that collection comes from the fact that you get two sheets of tickets and two with a mix of ephemera snippets.

Linda's Tag #5 featured Scribbly Christmas stamping and Festive Scribbles die cuts, again a look that was easy to replicate. My version was more of a forest scene again and I took the dramatic decision to use some black kraft core Coordinations card for the central tree to make it stand out even more on the stamped design.

Linda's Tag #6 featured a Wendy Vecchi stencilled Christmas tree with stencilling behind. I opted for more subtle stencilling at the top and bottom of this design with gold embossing paste through the Old Ledger stencil and stencilled lettering combining with paper snippets. The gold embossed tree provided a focal point.

So that's it for Part One of my Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of  Christmas 2015 run-down. I hope you can join me again tomorrow for a whistle-stop tour of Part Two. In the meantime whatever you're up to today take care of yourselves! Jenny xxx