Advent Calendar Countdown Tags

Hi crafters! December is starting tomorrow and I am happy to have finished my Advent calendar countdown tags just in time. 

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The base for the calendar was made in 2015. I make new tags every year and reuse the base. You can make a similar base or perhaps hang the tags in your tree or on the wall. The tags later go into my December Daily, as dates for the journaling pages. In earlier years, I have made larger tags, which I have written the journaling on, but this year I made a different kind of December Daily journal, which you can see to the left.

 

Here are all the finished tags. I made 26 since Christmas is celebrated until Boxing Day here and I like to include that whole weekend in my journal.

Start by smearing Distress Ink on a non-stick craft sheet, mist with water and press watercolor paper into the ink. When dry, die cut 26 tags using Simon Says Stamp Label Tags. 

I used Tim Holtz Worn Text for the numbers. They were all stamped with shades of green Distress Ink. Mist with water before stamping.

Next, I stamped a small sentiment on each tag. The sentiments come from Simon Says Stamp Season's Greetings and from various Tim Holtz sets.

I used traditional Christmas colors, since my December Journal was made with traditional colors. Mist each stamp with water before stamping, for a watercolor look. The stamps are from different Tim Holtz Christmas sets.

I think I might have used 'Hello December' on a countdown tag before, usually on the very first tag of the month.

A few of my sentiments went a bit off the edge, but I was fine with that. 

Its a lot of fun stamping in this way and I love being surrounded by a whole pile of stamps.

Some of the sentiments fit perfectly, as if they were made for this label tag die. The star stamp is from Jolly Holiday.

The Simon Says Stamp Label Tags come in a set of three sizes.  This is the mid-sized tag. I really like the shape of them. You can find another example, where I used both the smaller and the larger tag here.

I really like how the Lucky Clover ink the the left almost shines.

This is how I plan to use them as dates in my December Journal. You can find the journal and its tutorial here. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! The tags can also be made as gift tags. Just skip the number and write the person's name there instead. 

You can find the previous years' countdown tags here: 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Thank you for visiting my blog! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

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Snowy Winter Landscape Canvas

Hello friends! We have gotten a whole lot of snow and the world is beautiful outdoors. I made a mixed media canvas with a winter landscape.

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I wanted the landscape to look a bit like a hill from the side, with the trees climbing higher towards the right-hand edge. I always add words to my projects, but in this case I decided to skip it, in order to only get that frosty and glittery feel. The project is very glittery, which you might not see on the photos since it was overcast when I took them. The canvas is 5.5x8 in.

Coat the canvas with gesso and then die cut Tim Holtz Forest Shadows from watercolor paper and coat with gesso.

Apply Ranger Crackle Paste to the canvas and press trees into the paste. The crackles will appear as the paste dries. The thicker the paste, the larger the crackles. You need to add a little matte medium behind the trees where they overlap.

Paint with blue and grey shades of Distress Paint. Mist with water to blend and so that the paint seeps into the crackles.

Paint the trees and mist with water.

Glue the trees to the canvas with matte medium. Apply a little Texture Paste to the branches and sprinkle with Rock Candy Glitter.

Apply a thick layer of texture paste as a snowy hill. Place a few drops of Salvaged Patina paint into the paste. Cover with Rock Candy glitter.

Apply a little Sizzix Luster Wax in Silver and Ivory, for extra shine.

Die cut the stars from Forest Shadows from Simon Says Stamp White Glittery cardstock.

The texture paste and Rock Candy combo looks like cold snow.

I painted the trees darker on one side as a shadow.

I like the combination of larger and smaller trees in the Forest Shadows set.

More tree details. You could also make these trees for a card.

It was hard to capture just how much the snow glitters since the day was so grey (and it was snowing). I added a little Silver Wax to the snow too.

The mix of larger and smaller crackles makes for an interesting textured background.

This is about how our forest looks right now, although with even more snow.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. The canvas will make a great gift and you can easily adapt it to a smaller or larger size.

Thank you for visiting my blog! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Winter Pine Forest Tag

Hi friends! I hope you are well! We went from autumn to winter in just a day and have the most beautiful snowy landscape now. 

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This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog we have a Tree theme. I love trees and add them to my projects often. Don't miss the last project by Anita Rao who is our guest designer during November.  

I was inspired by the falling snow and created a winter pine forest tag, with quick and easy techniques. I was going to add more texture to the sky area, but the misting created such a great pattern that I decided to leave it and just added a few stars.

Die cut a tag from watercolor paper. Ink the Simon Says Stamp Tall Pines folder with embossing ink. Sprinkle with white powder and emboss.

Mist with various Distress Spray Stains. 

Die cut Tim Holtz Forest Shadows from watercolor paper. Apply embossing ink here and there and emboss with white powder. Always be very careful when using a heat tool and do not touch the melted powder until it has cooled down completely.

Apply Distress Ink to a non-stick craft sheet, mist with water and press the paper into the ink. Let dry and repeat until you are happy with the look.

Die cut the stars from Tim's Forest Shadows from Simon Says Stamp White Glitter Paper.

Stamp the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp All Season's Tree on white paper and cut into a strip.

Die cut the Forest Shadows from Simon Says Stamp silver glitter paper and place behind the colored die cuts. This adds a glittery shadow to the trees.

I stamped another two sentiments and cut into strips. 

I hope you will join us this week in our Trees challenge. You have a chance to win a $25 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

Home December Journal Tutorial

Hello friends! It is time to share one of my favorite projects each year. My December journal, inspired by Ali Edwards concept of documenting the month of December. I have been doing this since 2012, making this my twelfth December daily journal.

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.

This year I made a journal celebrating Christmas at home and using traditional Christmas colors. The book is about 6.5 x 5 in and my December Countdown Tags (which I will share soon) will also go into it. The cover is a window from Tim Holtz idea-ology Baseboards and Transparencies, with an added red door on top. 

These are the pieces used for the cover. The back is a Sizzix Little Sizzles Mat Board cut into the same size as the green window.

The mat board was covered with Tim Holtz Christmas Backdrops paper. Sand the edges.

Ink the edges with brown ink.

White emboss snowflakes at the top of the door. As you can see, I turned the baseboard piece around because I wanted the larger windows at the top.

Color Simon Says Stamp Acetate with alcohol ink.

Stamp stars from Jolly Holiday with black Stazon ink.

Sand and ink the edges of various ephemera and baseboard pieces. I also stamped sentiments and cut into strips. The gold letters were die cut with Tim Holtz Emporium dies from gold kraft stock paper. 

Glue the door to the background with matte medium. Apply some matte medium to the windows and sprinkle Rock Candy glitter on top, to create frost.

I used a mix of my favorite papers and stamped some of them with Simon Says Stamp Ledger Paper Background and Red Geranium ink.

Punch holes with a Crop-a-dile and bind with rings.

I sanded the edges of quote strips from Tim's Christmas Baseboards & Transparencies. Ink and glue to the background.

Glue ephemera here and there.

I used 24 as a number instead of 25, since the main family celebration during Christmas in Sweden takes place on Christmas Eve.

Apply glue to the candy sticks and cover with Rock Candy glitter. Apply Texture Paste to the base of the book as snow, sprinkle with Rock Candy.

The first page in the journal is a card from Christmas ephemera and the second page is a piece of Christmas Backdrops. I wanted the tree and the holly to show through the windows.

Here you can see that the tree is visible through the window to the left. 

I will add a photo to the panel to the right.

Using a mix of papers adds interest and I am also planning to write with different types of pens. My December Countdown tags will be added to the pages, and some photos too, although I do not use that many photos in my December Journals. The focus is on the text.

Matte medium and Rock Candy is a fun way of adding frost to windows.

I might add more pages to the journal if needed and in that case it is possible to change to bigger binder rings. These are Tim Holtz Mini Book Rings.

I am looking forward to filling my journal with Christmas memories.

You can find my previous Christmas Daily journals here:

2022 - Folio December Journal

2021 - Snowy Hills December Journal

2020 - Peaceful Winter December Journal

2019 - Snowy Mountains December Daily

2018 - Birch Forest December Daily
2017 - Narnia December Daily
2016 - Winter Village December Daily video
2015 - Believe December Daily
2014 - December Daily
2013 - Christmas Daily
2012 - December Mini-book

 

Thank you for visiting my blog! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.