CHRISTMAS ETCETERA TAG

Hello everyone!  We're already at Week 4 of the Tim Holtz Holiday Inspiration Series and I hope you are all enjoying the amazing creations from his designers as much as I am.  Today I am sharing my third project, this Christmas Etcetera Tag.

My base, the Tim Holtz Etcetera Tag, is the largest one, measuring 8 1/4" x 14 1/2".  These sturdy tags are laser cut from thickboard and can be collaged, painted, altered and embellished.  There's lots of room on this one for those wonderful Tim Holtz embellishments!  Are you ready to find out how I created my Christmas tag?

I painted my board with white gesso, as I wasn't quite sure if I was going to cover the entire board with paper. My patterned paper from the 8 x 8 Christmas Paper Stash (TH93625) wasn't large enough to cover the entire board, but I pieced two together and trimmed the top to match the tag. I also left 1/4" all around the paper and tag base.  When piecing paper together like this, I like to have an idea where I'm going to place things so I can cover my seams.  I knew I was going to use the wood boxes, so I made sure my seam was covered mostly by them.  Christmas Design Tape (TH93628) was added around the edge.  Before adhering my paper with Tim Holtz Collage Medium, I machine stitched around the edge of the paper. Glue the paper onto the board with Distress Collage Medium.

Now, onto the Vignette Boxes.  For the larger one, I made my own background, using Stencil StarryTHS093, and Ranger's Texture paste in the corner before painting with layers of various Distress paints that coordinate with my Vignette box. I start with a darker colour and dry brush additional layers, usually the lighter ones last.

The Vignette Box Top Structures (TH93663) fit right over the Vignette Wood Boxes. I chose this National Garlands one (3 7/8 x 5 1/2") which is the largest.  After cutting my background down to size,  I adhered my chosen Christmas Paper Doll (TH93665).  Check your placement with the lid on, so it is visible within the opening.  I used thick pieces of foam  (about 1/2" thick cut from the foam pieces that I had saved from the old texture fade packaging) to build up the paper doll, so it's more visible.  Add in some Christmas Clippings Stickers (TH93651), and Christmas Remnant Rubs (TH93636).  Adhere this to the inside of your Vignette box, then adhere the Top Structure.

Here's a look at the finished box which I lightly sanded to give it a distressed look.

The smaller Paramount box is 2 7/8 x 4".  The music note paper is a piece from the 

Christmas Ephemera Pack (TH93627). The inside has a small Woodland Tree (TH93638) lightly coloured with Bundled Sage Distress Stain Spray, accented with Glossy Accents and Rock Candy Clear Glitter.  Christmas Paper dolls (tinted and lightly sanded) were adhered at different depths(foam dots) and the Mirrored Stars (TH93083) were lightly tinted with Latte Alcohol Ink.

I love tiny metal findings and these fluted stars(TH93660) add that perfect vintage touch to your projects. I was just going to glue them to the corners of this Christmas Baseboard(TH93652), but decided to hammer them into the board with these nails from the Vignette Hardware Findings set(TH93668).  I think this is my favourite Baseboard, I could have a whole package of old looking ads or signs, just in the vintage black & white, couldn't you?  If you're not up to putting a hole into the fluted star, there are the Fluted Fasteners(TH93273) that have a hole in the center and include a brad, but they are smaller and not as dimensional.

I had a scrap piece of wood to hammer the hole through my star.  I turned the star over to hammer so it wouldn't flatten out and I also used a stronger regular nail instead of the decorative one (didn't want to bend it).  I love my little Tim Holtz hammer, they're not available anymore unfortunately.  My husband kept stealing it, he liked to use it when the regular hammer was too big, so I had to hide it on him!  I've tried to buy him his own or one similar but the closest I could come to it was a short handled hammer, so it's still hidden. Once I had the hole hammered in, I painted the star with black paint and after it dried, lightly sanded off some of the paint.

You can add a bit of paint to the nail after it's nailed into the board.

When nailed to the board, the nails poke through slightly from the back, but I just nailed them flat.  It will be covered with paper later. The bottom right hand corner one ended up be removed because  my small Vignette box ended up being on top of it.  I just hammered it again through the small box as you will see in a later photo.

I die-cut lots of various foliage from the Sizzix Mini Holiday Greens Thinlits set(661597) and Kraft-Core cardstock.

Once my small Vignette box was adhered to my tag, I adhered my Holiday Greens die-cuts, Red Alpha Dice Findings spelling out the word "JOY"(TH93654) with the edges lightly sanded. Also a Wood Slice (TH93662) frosted with Glossy Accents and Distress Rock Candy Glitter, and finally a ribbon bow(TH93646 Metallic Trimmings) with two Tiny Bells also frosted up(TH93658).  The metallic ribbon was lightly tinted with Distress Stain which I think was either Lucky Clover or Cracked Pistachio, I think.  Usually when I'm taking photos of my steps, I include the product in the photo so I don't forget what I used.  For some reason I didn't on these photos and it's been awhile since I've finished this project.   So sorry, if some of you want to know the exact colours I used!

I highlighted my Salvaged Santa(TH93661) with Gold Mixative Alcohol ink, removing some of it so it just stayed in the crevices.  Vintage Platinum Glitter Dust was added to the Santa and a small Decorative Deer Finding(TH93640).

These were adhered to the top of the large Vignette Box, along with my coloured trees, Holiday Greens and a few Bead Berries Findings (TH93666).  The trees and paper die-cuts were all highlighted with Distress Clear Rock Candy Glitter and a bit of Picket Fence Distress Paint.

The bottom corner was filled with a couple of Quote Chips (TH93655), a Holiday Flash Card (TH93645) with a few Christmas Clippings Stickers(TH93651)added to the corner later, a small calendar from Christmas Ephemera Pack (TH93627) and a Wood Slice(TH93662) slightly stained and stamped with Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz set, Holiday Postmarks (CMS323 Love this set!).  There are quite a few of these small round postmarks in this set that fit perfectly on the wood slices.  Glitter was added to the top also.  You can also see my little Star Finding hammered into the back of the Paramount box.

I added in the ring that comes with the Etcetera Tag, covering it with Christmas Kraft Paper Stash (TH93626) and sanding the edge.  A Tim Holtz metal Wreath Adornment (TH93634) fit perfectly on the ring, so I painted it with Picket Fence paint, and glittered that too. My Christmas Typed Token Finding (TH93629) was also painted; first in red, then lightly green on the edges, sanding just a bit.  My Crinkle ribbon (TH93020) was coloured with Distress Stains (a combination of reds) on one and greens on the other. A bit of Metallic ribbon that had also been lightly tinted was tied here too.  I love the fact that I can dye my ribbons to exactly the colour I need to match my papers, don't you?

Here's a look from a side angle of my finished tag.

Here's a few from the front again!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and hopefully it has sparked some creative ideas of your own to create an Etcetera Tag for yourself or a Christmas gift. Don't forget to check Tim's Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter daily for new projects from his Inspiration Team!

See you soon!  I have another Tim Holtz project coming up this week on the Sizzix blog.

Thanks for visiting, and your comments are all so appreciated!

Jan

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