Gift Card Holders

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!  Mine was so busy, I can't believe it's all over!
I meant to post these last minute gift card holder ideas before Christmas and completely forgot!  So, here they are anyways; you could take the basic idea and alter it for any occasion:

This first one is made using Sizzix's In The Bag die with the movers and shapers magnetic die, Mini Reindeer and 25 set.  I cut out the 25 with the bag die and adhered patterned paper behind the openings.  The deer was cut out with paper and chipboard.  The papers here are from Kaisercraft's Turtle Dove collection.

My next package is cut out with the Tim Holtz Pillow Box die (with Tim Holtz paper) and the insert is with his movers and shapers Wish die.  I covered the word, wish, with Ranger's Crackle Accents. The poinsettia's are cut out with Tim Holtz's movers and shapers mini Poinsettia die and red kraft Coredinations paper, topped off with Rock Candy Dry Glitter.  The leaves are from Sizzix's Birds and Branches Decorative strip, also cut out with Green Kraft Coredinations paper.

This little box is actually the Suitcase XL die from Sizzix.  I cut it out with mat board called Little Sizzles, from Sizzix and then embossed with the Diamond and Circles textured impressions folder.  After painting a layer of turquoise, silver, and brown paint, wiping off the excess in between each layer; I cut out the trees with my movers and shapers mini Pine Tree die, overlapping the middle one.

With one of the cut out trees, I stained it in a few places and adhered to the front.

My final gift card holder is made from the Movers and Shapers Pocket Envelope and Kaisercraft Turtle Dove paper.  I added the bird and leaves ( Kraft Core Core'dinations paper) cut out from my Sizzix Birds and Branches Decorative strip die.  I inked, then applied Rock Candy Dry Glitter to the leaves and bird.  Just add a ribbon to the branches and you are done!

I get a lot of use out of these Mover and Shapers dies, there are so many different looks you can get just by adding a different mini magnetic die to cut out the center.

Have a great New Year!

Jan

2

Carta Bella Sketch

Today I have a layout featured on Carta Bella Paper's blog using their collection, "Christmas Day".   You can use this sketch that was created from my layout to create your own:

Here's a sneak peek, visit me at Carta Bella Paper to see the entire layout!!

Have a great day,

Jan

1

Happy Holidays!

I can't believe it's Christmas in six days.  My list of things to do gets longer and the days seem like they are getting shorter.  The only reason I'm sitting down to write this is; yes I am crazy, I'm waiting for a coat of paint to dry so I can put on another coat.  My husband and son were moving a mattress down our stairs last month and because it was such a tight squeeze on our curved staircase, they put a hole in our drywall.  It's one of those little jobs that you totally ignore until the very last minute and my husband has been threatening to paint his patch work if I don't.  I let my husband paint once, never again!  I was pregnant with our second child so I couldn't paint our son's bedroom.... my husband painted the entire room during half-time on a football game he was watching.  Unfortunately, most of the paint didn't end up on the walls.  There have been a few times where he's tried to sneak in some touch ups in places, but the tell tale signs of paint everywhere didn't go unnoticed.  So, here I am trying to get this done, as our family Christmas dinner is at our house.
I'm not supposed to be doing things like this right now; as just because my life isn't busy enough, I had some minor surgery last week on my arm.  Thank goodness it's not on my writing hand!  It's amazing what you can do with one arm!
I have help arriving today though, my oldest son Reece, is coming home for Christmas from Australia!  He hasn't been home for over two years, so we are looking forward to his visit.  Typical Canadian, he's already scheduled to play in a hockey game on Saturday!
Some other really exciting news in our family, our daughter Cassandra was chosen as a contestant on the reality show, "Fashion Star"on NBC.  It's already been filmed, everything was top secret, so it's been a big surprise for everyone.  Can't wait to watch the show starting March 8th to cheer her on!  She's not allowed to say anything about the show, so it will be nerve wracking to see how far she makes it.
That's a little bit of my busy life, I'm sure you all trying to check off your lists too!  But back to scrapbooking, here's a layout I did for Carta Bella Paper, using their Winter Fun collection:

I took one of their coordinating cardstock papers and lightly stamped snowflakes (Tim Holtz snowflake stamps) with white paint.  Just be adding some stickers, hand cut paper and a diecut snowflake, and a photo, my layout was done!
Back to my painting, have a great day!

Jan

1

A Christmas Gift Box

Today I have a tutorial on Carta Bella Paper's blog.  Here's a sneak peek of my Christmas Gift Box:

Hope you visit me there!

Have a great day,



Jan

1

Holiday Wreath Card

Today I have a tutorial on the Sizzix blog on how to make this card:

There's even a surprise inside!  Hope you visit me there!

Jan

1

Merry & Bright

Today I have a card tutorial featured on Carta Bella Paper's blog.

Hope you visit me there!

Have a great day,

Jan

0

December Monthly Challenge

This month at Urban Scrapbook, our December challenge kit was all about Merry & Bright, which it certainly was!  Our papers that were included were from Carta Bella Paper's collection called, "Merry & Bright and there were lots of fun embellishments to work with.

I hadn't used my new Tim Holtz stamp yet called, "Christmas Blueprint"so I decided to use it as part of my background.  I just stamped with clear embossing ink and clear embossing powder to make my own resist on paper.  After that, I dry brushed white acrylic paint over top and wiped off the paint on the snowflakes.  For those of you who haven't dry brushed paint, it just means wiping of some of your paint from the brush onto paper towel before you apply it.  This way it just goes on lightly, but you still see your brush strokes.  Because my snowflakes were embossed, the paint wiped off easy.

Love these light bulbs from Prima!  They come with a word(like a rub on) on the acrylic top, but I just scratched it off  and put a piece of paper underneath.  

The kits are for sale at the store, but they go fast!

Last year Urban Scrapbook donated a decorated tree to the "Festival of Trees".  We ended up winning silver and a couple of people's choice awards.  We all worked hard to make all the flowers out of white cardstock and the bird out of red cardstock.  I don't know how many we ended up making, but it was A LOT!  

This year we entered again, but inside of a tree we made a Snow Lady.

Not flowers this year, but a lot of snowflakes!  Pat and Lori did an amazing job building the body from scratch!  Pat made the top out of paper mache and the little houses are from Melissa Frances house kits.

We ended up winning gold and two people's choice awards!  It's a lot of work, but so rewarding!  Everything is auctioned off and the proceeds go to the University Hospital.  It is amazing how much work all the volunteers put into this festival every year.  

Hope you are enjoying this season wherever you are!

Have a great weekend,

Jan

1

Page Maps

I'm sure you have all used Becky Fleck's Page Maps at some point.  For those of you who haven't; for years, she has been creating sketches for all of us scrapbookers who have hit that creative wall.  This month the Carta Bella Paper design team was invited to take part in the December maps.  Here's a peek at my double page layout:

I used Carta Bella's Winter Fun collection for my layouts. To see the rest of my 2-page layout, check out Page Maps December 2012 maps here!  There's some great inspiration there to help those times when you need something to kick-start those creative juices!

Have a great day,

Jan

1

Sizzix Blog Hop

The U.S. and U.K. Sizzix design teams have joined forces today for a Festive Blog Hop, so there is double the inspiration!

I'm sharing with you today, a Christmas decoration I made using the Sizzix Tim Holtz 3-D Star die.

  

                  

I cut out two of each size of star.  The paper I used is from Glitz's Joyeux collection.

Fold the the tabs under and crease the scored lines.  Glue the two sides together with your choice of adhesive.  I used Sookwang tape.  If you are using very thick paper or glitter paper, I recommend a hot glue gun, it holds better.  There's a thin wire that goes through the middle of both the stars and to make things easier, I placed that wire in between  the two star halves before I glued them together.  I cut about an 18" length of wire(allow for extra).

After the stars were glued together, I covered them with Rock Candy crackle paint.  I covered one side, let it dry, then applied it to the other.

When the stars were dry, I dabbed a bit of Picket Fence and Antique Linen stain on the edges and random areas of the stars.  Next, I used an embossing dabber (love this stuff!) on the edges and creased areas.  The embossing powder I used was Ranger's White Puffs.  I didn't even know that Ranger made an embossing powder that puffs up when heated!  I saw it the other day, and had to try it!  I think I might have overheated it in some parts, I'm going to have to experiment with it a bit more.  But see that spot where the puffed embossing powder got in the crackled Rock Candy?  It looks so cool!  I painted a little on certain areas with more rock candy and applied Dry Rock Candy Stickles glitter.

Using the bow from my Sizzix Holiday Wreath die, I cut it out with Red Kraft Coredinations paper, sanded the edges, applied Rock Candy Crackle paint, and Rock Candy glitter.

For the little pennant on the bottom, I used one of the Cash Keys from Tim Holtz.  But instead of the numbers, I wanted a small Christmas picture, so I cut out a portion of a sticker from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Salvage Stickers.  I used the outer part of the oval sticker for a template.  I put the picture in the blank medallion and covered it with the epoxy cover.

Now you are ready to assemble your ornament.

If you want a small spool and beads in the middle like I did, pull your wire so there's extra to play with in between the two stars and cut apart.  I strung my beads and spool, then twist the wires together again, hiding the attached parts inside the spool.  Finish off the bottom, attaching the medallion.  Finish off your top, leaving a space for the bow.   I attached the bow with very fine vintage gold bullion angel hair wire and then continued on wrapping it loosely around the stars.  This wire comes in very tightly coiled pieces and when you pull it slightly apart, it can be used on your projects.  I love using this stuff, but it's very hard to find.  I found mine at Tinsel Trading Company on my last trip to New York.
I think these stars are one of my favorite Sizzix releases this winter, there's so many ways you can use them!  Hope I have inspired you to try making ornaments out of this die, they would make great gifts!

Make sure you visit the other Sizzix designer blogs listed on the U.S. Sizzix site and the U.K. site, they have outdone themselves!  And what would a blog hop be without prizes!  If you would like a chance to win a pack of Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, comment on Paula's post on the UK Sizzix blog (depending on your location) or Tammy's post on the US Sizzix blog(depending on your location).  10 lucky winners will be chosen from each of their blogs on Wednesday, December 5th.  Winners will be announced on Thursday!
Until next time,


Jan    

24

Autumn Splendor

We've had snow for about three weeks now, and I'm already wishing I could go back to our beautiful Autumn days!  Our winters here are way too long!  So on that note; I'm sharing a Fall layout using Carta Bella's beautiful "Traditions" collection.

I love the colors in this line, perfect for the golden tones of Autumn.  Other than the coordinating sticker elements and alphabet, the only embellishments were flowers and swirls die cut from the patterned paper.  I used a mixture of Sizzix, Cheery Lynn and Spellbinders dies for those.  Some of the smaller flowers were stickers and the rest were hand cut.  I pop dotted the title and to finish off the flowers, added liquid pearl to the centers.
 I enjoyed working with this line so much, here's a card I made with it too:

Again, this is just "Traditions" paper and the coordinating stickers, finished off with a Carta Bella brad and liquid pearls.  I think I'm becoming addicted to liquid pearls, I seem to be using them on everything!

Until next time,

Jan

1

Happy Holidays

I've been making some cards for Urban Scrapbook's store display and thought I'd share a couple today. These two were made with Sizzix's embossing and framelit sets.  This one is called Ornament Set #2.  The sets come with two embossing folders and matching framelit dies.  After embossing, I just inked over the raised area with Tim Holtz Distress inks to bring out the designs.  The smaller embossed designs have matching framelits so you can cut them out as I did for the greenery behind the bow and the "Happy Holidays."  For the center of the embossed card, I made a poinsettia from Tim Holtz's Tattered Poinsettia die.  After cutting it out, I used his matching poinsettia texture fade (yes, it matches the die perfectly!), inked the edges, covered the petals with Rock Candy Crackle paint and threw a bit of glitter on top while it was still wet.  I certainly will be using this die and embossing folder a lot!

The cream paper and poinsettia patterned paper are from Glitz and the card base patterned paper is from Authentique.  The ribbon is from 7Gypsies, an old one from my stash.

This next card is made with Sizzix's Framelits set, "Ornaments".  The Merry Christmas is embossed and then cut out with the matching framelit, then pop dotted.  The Merry Christmas, birds, and a few areas on the ornament are highlighted with Ranger's burgundy stickles.  The patterned paper is from Pink Paislee.

Hope you enjoyed my cards, I'm busy making more!  

Until next time,

Jan

7

Perfect Moments

I can't believe it's the middle of November already!  We went right from a beautiful warm fall to full winter weather in such a short time.  Last week it started raining in the middle of the night and four hours later, this is what we woke up to:

It did not stop snowing for two days!  Even for us, this is too much snow, too early.  Those beautiful fall colors and warm weather are now a distant memory!  

I used one of my fall photos (a good reminder that we do get some nice weather!) for Urban Scrapbook's November monthly challenge.  We were out at my in-law's lake house and I captured these trees on our early evening walk.  In the monthly kit this month, it's filled with Teresa Collins paper and embellishments from her Vintage Finds collection:

There was also some die-cut muslin flowers in it, which I had fun playing around with.

I stamped them first with Archival ink, then stained and inked them.  After they were dry, I dabbed them with Ranger's Embossing dabber and then applied clear UTEE.  Immediately after it had melted, I pressed my rubber stamp into the melted utee (you have to work fast!) and that's how I got the embossed look.  To finish them off, ink or stain, then wipe of the excess, so just the crevices are tinted.  There's a chipboard keyhole in the kit, which I embossed with Ranger's Antiquities Rust embossing powder.  Love this powder, it looks just like rust!  The little tiny leaves that were cut out from the black tag were cut out with Memory Box's Leaf Swirl die.
Hope you check out what the other design team members have created with these kits, we have a very talented team!
Have a great day,

Jan

0

Christmas Carry All Box

Today I have a tutorial on the Sizzix blog on how I made this Christmas Carry All Box:

These are so easy and fun to make, and also addictive!  Hope you visit me there!

Jan

1

Pop 'N Cuts Snowflake Card

Hi everyone, this weekend on the Sizzix blog, they are featuring one of their very talented designers, Karen Burniston.  Karen is the creator of the Pop 'N Cuts dies that create pop-up and interactive cards. With the card base die and different magnetic inserts, you can create different pop-up elements to your cards.  

I created this card with the Base Die and the circle label insert, which is included with this die.

I wanted my card a bit bigger, so I cut out a 6 x 6 base and rounded the corners.  I used a variety of snowflake dies (can never have too many snowflakes!) and papers from Bo Bunny's Snow Day and Basic Grey's Aspen Frost.

The large snowflake is an older Sizzix die, but it is one of my favorites.  I've done this a few times with it; cutting it out of chipboard and patterned paper, inking the edges, then covering with clear micro beads.  The other large snowflakes are cut from paper and acrylic(tinted with alcohol ink) using the Sizzix Bigz Snowflake Border die.  The smaller ones are cut out from Sizzix's Snowflake#3 set.  I topped them off with a snowflake charm.

For the inside of my card, I used the same snowflake dies, plus the mover's & shapers Tim Holtz Mini Snowflakes die.  I glued some of the large snowflakes to the edge of the circle label first, so my platform was larger.  I added a couple of tags and my card was done. It doesn't show well in a photo, but there is so much dimension to the snowflake pop-up when you open your card!
Hope this inspires you to create your own pop-up cards.  Don't forget to visit the Sizzix blog and the other Sizzix Designers for more Pop-Up inspiration!  Also, you have until midnight (PST) Friday, November 9th to add a photo of your Pop 'N Cuts creation and/or leave a comment on the Sizzix blog for a chance to win a Pop 'N Cuts prize!
Have a great weekend,

Jan

9

It's Almost Halloween...

and I have one more project to show you.  I've been playing with my new Sizzix Pop 'N Cuts base and decided to make a Halloween Card.  Here is the front:

I wanted my card to be a little bigger so I cut a 6 x 6 card base and adhered my Pop 'N Cut card to the inside.

I cut out the Sizzix Movers & Shapers Headstone Diecut  with the magnetic Movers & Shapers mini 31 in the bottom corner, using We R Memory Keepers dark purple paper.  I embossed a spiderweb with Tim Holtz's Halloween Cutouts stamp with clear ink and embossing powder, inked the gravestone with Distress ink, Seedless Preserves, mostly on the outer edges. Fill the "31" with Rock Candy clear crackle paint, let dry and then stain with Rusty Hinge distress stain.  I was ready to adhere my gravestone to the center pop up circle, but because the edge was not a straight edge and my piece was quite large, I adhered a piece of paper to the back.

Now watch my little video, to see the skeleton on my card!

This part is a little confusing, but Karen Burniston explains it perfectly here.  I don't know how she thinks of these things, she's amazing!  Once you figure it out, these are so fun to add to your card.

For my card front, I used Echo Park's Chillingsworth Manor paper.  The gravestones were cut out with Sizzix's On the Edge Graveyard die, then embossed with their Poison texture fade.  I heat embossed it using Ranger's Antiquities Cement embossing powder.  I sanded it a bit after and inked with Vintage Photo Distress ink.  Love this embossing powder, it looks just like stone!  The bats and tree were cut out using my Sizzlit Decorative strip, Halloween Shadows.  I also cut out a banner using my Tattered Banner Sizzlit die and placed it underneath haunted sticker.

Hope you enjoyed my card, and if you have the Pop 'N Cuts die, you have to try the spinner insert!

I did have a few more Halloween projects that I was hoping to get done , but I don't think I'll have the time to start them.  I guess I will be saving those for next year!

Until next time,

Jan

4

Blog Hop Winner!

Thank you to everyone who took part and left a comment here in Carta Bella's blog hop.

       A big congrats to  Margie!

MargieOctober 19, 2012 11:39 AM

Gorgeous tag and card!

Thanks to the random number generator, #14 was chosen and you are the lucky winner of a current Carta Bella Paper collection Kit of your choice.  Please send me an email (jan.roxy49@gmail.com) with your name, address and which collection kit you would like to receive!

Thanks again everyone, for stopping by and leaving a comment!

 Have a great weekend!

Jan

1

Glitter Die Cuts

Today I have a tutorial on Carta Bella Paper's blog. It's about creating micro bead glitter embellishments for your projects like I did on this card:

Hope you visit me there and don't forget to leave a comment here or here for a chance to win a Carta Bella Paper Collection Pack of your choice.  Winner will be announced Friday, October 26th!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

0

Carta Bella Design Team Blog Hop

Welcome to the Carta Bella Paper Design Team Blog Hop! Join our Design Team on their individual designer blogs as they share their current projects using Carta Bella Paper products. Follow the blog hop list below to hop from one blog to the next. ONE winner will be selected from each blog to receive a Carta Bella Paper collection kit of their choosing. To qualify for the drawing, please leave a comment on each corresponding blog. All comments are due by midnight EDT on Thursday, October 25th to qualify. Winners will be announced on each blog on Friday, October 26th so be sure to check back to see if you won!

I have a tag to share with you today using Carta Bella's "All Hallow's Eve".  I love this collection!  How can you tell, I keep thinking of another project to create with it!

I used the Skeleton paper for my tag base and cut it out with my Sizzix Tag die.  The skeleton was a little longer than the die, so I kept the skeleton legs and feet on a square, cut the same width as the tag, matted with black cardstock and hung it on the end with chain links. I also die cut the 31 with Sizzix's movers and shapers spider/31 die on the bottom left side. A slit was made along the skeleton arm so I could tuck in the "Warning Toxic" sticker behind it.  All the tag edges and parts were inked with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress ink.  For the flower, I die cut three flowers (Sizzix Tim Holtz Tattered flower die) and then made an accordion flower which was punched along the edge (Martha Stewart Halloween fence border punch) before I scored it.  I then inked the edges, attached them together with a All Hallow's Eve brad.  My tag was matted with black cardstock, about 1/8" around the edges.  The word, Scary, was cut out from the "Halloween Words" paper and adhered to the bottom of the small square.  To finish off my tag, I added a few stickers, the letter stickers, ribbon, and a bit of chain across my links.

For those of you who are finished with Halloween projects and are getting an early start creating Christmas cards, here's a card made from the "Christmas Day" collection:

This is a fairly simple card, created with paper, stickers and a bit of ribbon. The card base is Carta Bella's cardstock and the Holiday Borders dotted paper is matted with Christmas Day, Snow White and Striped paper.  The yellow printed side of the Ornaments paper was die cut with Sizzix's Scalloped circle Framelits and inked with Forest Green Distress ink. The Santa, Christmas Tree circle, and stars stickers were added, along with the strip of ribbon and bow.  The colors and patterns are beautiful in this line, I hope to make quite a few more cards!

Hope you enjoyed my Carta Bella projects and make sure you visit the other designer's blogs and leave a comment on each one.  We will all be drawing a name from the comment section on our blogs, so don't forget to check in on October 26th to see if you are a winner!  Who wouldn't like a Carta Bella Paper collection of their choice?!

Patricia Roebuck                  http://www.roebuck-adventures.blogspot.com/

Jen Chapin                          http://www.jenchapin.blogspot.com/

Tamara Tripodi                     http://happylifecraftywife.com/?p=1894

Jan Hobbins   (me!)              http://www.janhobbins.blogspot.ca/

Kim Watson                         http://kj-starre.blogspot.com/

Pam Brown                          http://happytobecreating.blogspot.com/

Natasja Verbeek                   http://www.vintagetearooms.com/

Carta Bella Blog                   http://www.cartabellapaper.com/blog/

Until next time,

Jan

59

Spooky Tag

Actually, I should say this is the spooky tag that never ends.  I remember when my kids were little they used to love singing that song that would drive every adult crazy, "The song that never ends"

This is the song that doesn't end.

Yes, it goes on and on my friend.

Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue singing it forever just because...

This is the song that doesn't end.

Yes, it goes on and on my friend.

Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue singing it forever just because, Etc.

Or the version I say is more fitting:

I know a song that gets on your nerves,

gets on your nerves, gets on your nerves.

I know a song that gets on your nerves

and this is how it goes.

I know a song that will get on your nerves,

get on your nerves, get on your nerves.

I know a song that will get on your nerves,

and this is how it goes.

Ahh, memories!  Anyways, back to my tag.  I kept thinking of that song when I was working on this tag, because I had an idea, and when I did the first step, it looked ugly.  There's something in me that doesn't like to give up, I'm determined to make it work.  I'm like that when I'm reading a book too.  Even if it's a terrible book, I'll finish it, always hoping it will get better.  Any of you like that? So, I added another medium to my tag, still ugly, added again, and so on.  I had so much stuff on there, that I had to leave it overnight to dry.

The next morning it had curled right up.  I was not giving up.  I know I'm sad, aren't I.  Sorry, I'm rambling today, but here is the end result:

It's not a very good photo, it's very gloomy again here and extremely windy out, so I couldn't take a photo outside.  I don't know if I can remember everything I used, but I did start out with my Sizzix Tag die and white double thick cardstock.  Next I cut out the Brick Wall decorative strip from cardstock, poked out all the bricks, and used the remaining strip as a template for my molding (or modeling) paste. I thought it was black molding paste I had, but it turned out it was black gesso, so I mixed the two together and applied it to the left side of my tag.  I put it on quite thick with a spatula and spilled it over on the inside.  Hey, it's all coming back to me!  I forgot, I added in some Rock Candy crackle paint as I was applying the paste, so it didn't quite mix into the paste.  My original thought, was to have some of the brick areas transparent.  Didn't quite work out how I wanted (this how it all started!).  I inked the white areas of the tag with Antique Linen, Rusty Hinge, Frayed Burlap, maybe some Twig, Seedless Preserves and Persimmon Distress ink.  I wasn't happy with the bricks, so I covered them with  Rock Candy crackle paint and after it dried, Frayed Burlap and Rusty Hinge stain.  Now you know my secret, I really have no plan when I'm creating, I just keep adding and playing until I'm either happy with it or I have nothing left to try.  I think that's the beauty of all these new products now, they all work together so well.  The last thing I added to my bricks was some copper perfect pearls(powder mixed with a tiny bit of water on my craft sheet).  The Tim Holtz Holiday Lamppost was cut out with black chipboard, embossed with the Tim Holtz Cracked Texture Fade embossing folder, covered with Rock Candy crackle paint and a bit of copper Perfect Pearls.  I cut out a small piece of paper from my Tim Holtz Seasonal Kraft Resist and a small piece of acrylic (colored with yellow alcohol ink) and adhered both of these to the back of the lamppost light.  The bats, small squares of paper, and the cat were also cut out from the Kraft Resist paper.  The cat was embossed with purple embossing powder (a few times) and while still hot, stamped with a Tim Holtz poison stamp.  I covered the bats with Rock Candy.  The "Spooky" word was a sticker from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Salvage Sticker book.  I inked the edges of the papers, bats, and spooky word with Seedless Preserves Distress ink.  After I finished my tag, it was matted with black cardstock and finally tulle and Autumn tinsel twine.

I told you this is the tag that never ends....

I don't know if any of you have bought the new Sizzix dies lately, but inside your package is a small square that says "The Talking Tag".  There's a free sample of one attached.  After downloading a free app on your phone, you can record anything, and when you scan your barcode tag it will play.  I stuck my barcode tag onto the back of my tag and recorded spooky halloween music, so when I scan it with my phone, it starts playing.  Isn't that cool?!   You could record your kids saying something and attach it to your layouts or record a message and attach it to a card, so the person receiving it will have a personal message from you.

                                                              

So, don't throw out that little slip of paper, there's a barcode attached for you to play with!

Hope you don't mind my rambling today, and hopefully that song doesn't stick in your head!

Have a great day,

Jan

1