Tags from Christmas Past - Parts 2 and 3

Hello all, and a very merry Christmas all round.  I'm dropping in to share some festive inspiration and delight that's available on my YouTube channel.  Yes, there are more Christmas tags, but also some non-tag projects, not to mention a gentle festive reading with musical accompaniment.  

First of all, there's the second part of the crate unboxing... digging deep into my crafting history for some tags and other creations, some of which I'd almost completely forgotten about!  And some are much more recent - those recycled tape rolls you can see in the photo below, for instance. 

You'll find that here: Tag Time - Christmas Projects Unboxing Part 2

And then, as I said, there's some words and pictures and music to enjoy in the Christmas Eve episode - a gentle reading of the words on each of the 25 countdown tags I made a couple of years ago, along with some favourite festive creations from other Christmases past. 

Find that episode here: Tag Time - Christmas Words and Pictures and Music

I know I've only been an occasional presence here in Craftyblogland this year, but I do love to drop in every now and then to catch up with you.  Love and light and peace to all for 2025, and happy crafting, all!

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind.

Calvin Coolidge

I don't think Christmas is necessarily about things. It's about being good to one another.

Carrie Fisher

Tags from Christmas Past - part 1

Hello, all - hope your festive preparations are going well.  I've been unpacking my storage crate of Christmas and winter creations so that I can decide what gets to go on display this year... and it's not easy to whittle it down! 

(You can watch the unboxing over on my YouTube channel and see all of these as they emerge from storage - and hear a bit more about the products used.)

I've got a seasonal corkboard which can display 21 tags at a time, chosen to reflect the time of year.  Halloween/Autumn had been up for far too long, so it was time to make a change.  But I'm only halfway down the crate, and already I've got far too many to choose from... I sorted them into groups so that I could try to make more sense of them all.

There are the reds... 

There are the blues and greens and neutrals...

And there are the jumbo tags created from the 12 Tags of Christmas inspiration provided by Linda Coughlin, the Funkie Junkie, when she used to share a Christmas inspiration challenge in the weeks leading up to the festival... 

It's a little bit overwhelming seeing them all together... and as you'll see if you watch the video linked above, we're not done yet!  

There are some non-tags in the crate too, and they'll be coming up next, and then there's an Advent set of 25 numbered tags for the final countdown.  

I'll aim to share those with you over the next week or so in the run-up to Christmas.

But in the meantime, which 21 would you put on your corkboards, if you had to choose?!  See you again soon for the next bit of unboxing.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy crafting, all!

Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.
Edna Ferber

It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees. They’re putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace.
Joni Mitchell

Getting in the festive mood...

Hello all... well, I did quite well there on posting for a few weeks, and then it all slipped out of focus again!  I'm just hopping on quickly to keep you posted about what's going on over on my YouTube channel - which is also called Words and Pictures, of course.

I always find it hard to get into the festive swing before December arrives - I prefer to keep Christmas confined to as close to the twelve days as possible.  (24th December - 6th January are when I feel properly Christmassy!)  But things are starting to look a little more festive as I try to get myself in the mood.  Tougher than usual this year, what with everything that's going on in the world.

But you can join me for some starry, snowy backgrounds with lots of stencil techniques here... A Few Minutes of Fun with Mixed Media Winter Backgrounds

Enjoy some watercolour stamping with Distress Inks and Tim Holtz stamps here...  A Few Minutes of Fun with Winter Greenery

And/or see a couple of those backgrounds take the next steps, with my PaperArtsy EAB29 Mistletoe Edition stamps and lots of Tim Holtz die-cuts here... A Few Minutes of Fun with Mixed Media Mistletoe Tags

There's a final (for now, at least) episode of Books Books Books, looking at a couple of festive book-based creations - a couple of altered covers and some art journalling here...  Festive Art Journalling and Altered Book Covers. (Over the next couple of Wednesdays, I'm planning to take a look back over past years of Christmas tags... it's a big crate!)

And if you're not ready to go full-on Christmas yet, how about a flip through - including readings of the poetry fragments - of the accordion album I created for my recent PaperArtsy stamp launch.  I promise this one will bring you a few moments of calm in the hubbub of the run-up to the festive season.  Here you go... Winter Sunrise Accordion Album

There's lots more to explore on the channel since I last updated you, so join me at the craft table for the perfect escape from all your festive to-do lists.  I hope you're all doing well, and good luck with the preparations!

Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.
Paul Theroux

Christmas is not an external event at all, but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.
Freya Stark

Santa Claus has the right idea... visit people only once a year.
Victor Borge

It's all about Nature (and my stamps!) over at PaperArtsy...

Hello all!  The theme over at PaperArtsy this month is Nature, with a focus on my very own Eclectica Alison Bomber stamp designs.  There have been some truly beautiful contributions from the PaperArtsy bloggers, and now I'm there myself with a super-speedy make celebrating the turning of the seasons.

Head over to the PaperArtsy blog to see how easily these textural collages came together, and while you're there, do take a look at the other projects from this month's Nature theme, all using my stamps too.

And I do hope you caught the Q&A with me which started off this month's Designer Focus over on the PaperArtsy blog... it's quite the in-depth interview!!  Thanks so much for stopping by and for hopping onwards, and happy crafting, all.

Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.
John Ruskin

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Lao Tzu

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.
John Burroughs

(All these nature quotes, and more, are available on my PaperArtsy stamp set EAB21 Nature Edition.)

Halloween Storytelling

Hello all, and happy Halloween!  I hope you've got a spooky night ahead on 31st October if that's your thing.  And if so, I just wanted to drop in to let you know that I've got a couple of helpings of Halloween Storytelling for you over on my YouTube channel, Words and Pictures.

The videos are flip throughs of a couple of Halloween journals I've made in previous years, each of which is packed with unnerving tales of the dark side of human nature.

Halloween Storytelling Part 1 - click here!

If creepy stories are one of your Halloween pleasures, then I invite you along for the fireside (or at least candlelit) storytelling.

Halloween Storytelling Part 2 - click here!

If you're of a nervous disposition, then maybe steer clear... you have been warned!!  (Or just come and watch with the sound turned down and enjoy all the Tim Holtz Idea-ology goodies layered up in the pages and pockets and tabs.)

I hope you'll all enjoy celebrating this All Hallow's Eve in whatever ways you choose.  And I'll be back soon with some more autumnal creativity and some more samples from my latest stamp launch too.  Happy Halloween, all!

October was always the least dependable of months … full of ghosts and shadows.

Joy Fielding

Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve.

Ray Bradbury

There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.

From Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Stencil It - Guest Designing for Simon Says Stamp

What a joy to be in the Designer Spotlight for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this month.  Thank you to the whole team for having me.  I had a glorious time with all the challenge themes, but I think this last one may have ended up being my favourite of the lot... see what you think! 

This week's challenge theme is Stencil It!  I grab my stencils all the time, so this one was definitely up my street.

 

If you head over to the main challenge website, you'll see all the amazing stencilled projects from the SSS design team... with all the inspiration you could possibly need to join in this week.

I do love a brick wall, so for my featured stencilling I grabbed the Ranger Crypt Paste and put it through Tim Holtz's Bricked Layering Stencil to create a textured background for my autumnal gatherings. 

Some paint, a Pumice Stone Distress Crayon and Walnut Stain Distress Oxide all add to the distressed look of the bricks.   (I recently did a whole YouTube video on creating similar kinds of brick and stone backgrounds, so if you're interested in more details, take a look at that Few Minutes of Fun episode here.)

And over the top, what else could I choose but my very own berry stamps from the PaperArtsy Fodder Berry Edition?  These are the hawthorn berries, a lovely sprig, full of movement and twisty stems.

And these are actually Porcelain Berries but I decided to make them into unspecified red berries, to celebrate the autumn colour palette.  (Take a look at what colour they usually are here!)

I used my Tim Holtz stamping platform, so that I could re-stamp for perfect detailing after "painting" the berries.  

I think they look really luscious, painted with the Distress Watercolor Pencils.  It's so easy with the pencils to get a really detailed botanical look to your painting.

The leaves are die-cut from papers smooshed in Distress Inks, Oxides, Spritzes and Mica Stains, using the Fall Foliage and Leaf Fragments Thinlits dies.  

(Again, there are YouTube videos available on my Words and Pictures channel, both of the background-making, and of the die-cutting of all these leaves.) 

And the berries nestle amongst real twigs and flax seedheads from my garden.  It took a bit of juggling to get the arrangements to work to my satisfaction.

It can also be tricky to identify where you need to put your glue so that the twigs make contact with the wall and the berries make contact with the twigs.

But I think it's completely worth it to create these dimensional collage clusters full of movement and energy.

A few Snippets Ephemera - Curator labels and Number Strips add detail to the background.

I don't know where I would be without these brilliant tiny vintage labels... you can find them on almost everything I make these days.

And the words are from the Clippings Stickers.  I'm always amazed how somehow I always seem to find the perfect combination of phrases or ideas to fire off a story in my brain!

Sometimes, I have to be patient, because I do like to find ones which have a similar font and page colour to go across a pair of tags.  But in the end, so far, it has always worked out.

So I hope you like these tags as much as I do.  I think there are newer followers of mine over on Instagram and YouTube who didn't believe me when I told them my colour palette would be changing in the autumn... I know you long-time blog followers know better, but if you ever doubted it, I think these tags are pretty definite proof!  It's autumn!!

Do head over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for all the details of how to join in with this week's Stencil It! challenge, as well as to see the amazing projects from the Design Team.  I know you're going to love them.

Remember, you could win a randomly-drawn voucher prize for a Simon Says Stamp shopping spree, or you might get picked by the Design Team for a moment in the spotlight.

It's been a real joy to play alongside the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge inspiration team for October.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing the projects even half as much as I enjoyed making them.  And what a good way to get me posting a little more regularly here again!  

Watch out tomorrow for a really exciting post (yes, two posts in two days... it's almost like the good old days!).  Happy crafting, all!

On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads...

Charles Dickens

Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.

Wendell Berry

Designer Focus at PaperArtsy

Happy weekend, all!  It's an exciting focus for me at PaperArtsy this month, and well-timed with my Winter Botanical Textures stamp release.  As part of the Nature theme, the PaperArtsy bloggers are all going to be creating projects with my Eclectica³ Alison Bomber stamp sets.  Expect inspirational creations with lots of words and lots of botanicals!

To kick the whole thing off, there's an extensive Q&A with me over on the PaperArtsy blog, diving in to my creative story, and especially the journey with PaperArtsy towards designing stamps (with lots and lots of photos of projects past and present!)

I hope you'll find time to head over there... I hope it'll be a lovely weekend read for you, with hot drinks and good food to hand!

You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
Maya Angelou

Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence.
Osho

The creative adult is the child who survived.
Ursula Le Guin

New Stamps at PaperArtsy - Winter Botanical Textures

Hello all!  I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to introduce you to three new stamp sets I have designed for PaperArtsy.  Meet the Winter Botanical Textures, launched today.  

Do hop over to the PaperArtsy blog to discover a bit more about the inspiration behind these new designs, as well as to see some of these samples in more detail.  (They will also be appearing on Instagram and here on the blog over the next days and weeks, so keep an eye out.) 

And of course, I would love you to hear all about the stamps from me personally, by watching the launch video in the PaperArtsy People Group over on Facebook.  Just click the link to watch the launch video on catch-up.

I hope you will love them as much as I do...

There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons...
... When it comes, the Landscape listens –
Shadows – hold their breath –
Emily Dickinson

Something Spooky (and Purple!) - Guest Designing for Simon Says Stamp

What a wonderful time I had with this week's challenge theme for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  It's such a thrill to be featured in the Designer Spotlight for the month of October, but to have this much fun into the bargain is a real treat.  Later this week, you can watch a whole YouTube episode on how these eerie moonlit tags came to life, but for now, I hope you'll enjoy these photos and a few details about the ingredients.

As always, the brilliant Monday Challenge team have created some amazing projects to kickstart your creative imagination, so do make sure you hop over to the challenge website to drink it all in.  The theme this week is Spooky/Add Some Purple... I ended up doing both!

I love adding a touch of purple to autumnal projects... for me it has that wonderful echo of both dawn and twilight in it.  Autumn has some of the best sunrises and sunsets, I think - certainly where I live in rural South Bohemia, right in the heart of Europe. 

And those crepuscular times of day have their own inbuilt eerieness, I think - so as soon as the Tim Holtz Moon Masks came out to play, the creepy element became inevitable in the gathering dusk.

My darkening sky is a combination of Shaded Violet and Villainous Potion Distress Inks, with Hickory Smoke, Lost Shadow, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Scorched Timber to provide the neutrals in the landscape, as well as extra shadows.

I added subtle layers of meadow stamping with the grasses from Tim Holtz's Nature Discovery stamps, as well as some of my own PaperArtsy Umbellifer Edition stamps. 

The background layers are stamped in Pebble Beach Ranger Archival Ink, so as to stay put if I'm adding any moisture later.  The Umbellifers are stamped in a secondary imprint of Scorched Timber Distress Ink (oh, how I would love to have Scorched Timber in an Archival formulation!)

(You can see the full process from Saturday onwards, when the A Few (More) Minutes of Fun episode goes live on YouTube - I'll add links here when that happens.)

But hidden away amongst the grasses and wildflower stems are some slightly unnerving objects... the gleaming white bones from the Tim Holtz Anatomy Chart stamp set, embossed in Wow Bright White embossing powder.

As if that weren't creepy enough, there are colonies of bats silhouetted against the moon(s)... courtesy of Tim's The Scarecrow stamp set...

... and more spooky winged things to brush against your face as you cross the meadow... the Idea-ology Halloween Moth Transparencies.  Beautiful, but definitely not pleasant when they're caught in your hair!

My word stickers are from an older edition of the Halloween Clippings Stickers...

... but you'll find similar ones in this year's Idea-ology Halloween Sticker Book.

I love how you always seem to find the exact right phrases (if you look hard enough and don't give up on a compromise option too soon!).

I mounted the tags on some white card, just to give them a bit of framing - and it helps the moon to pop... with slightly raggedy edges done with the blade of my scissors for extra texture.  And some fine twine finishes things off as usual.

Hopefully, that gives you some inspiration to start you off with this week's Something Spooky/Add Some Purple theme... If you still feel the need for a bit more, do hop over to see what the regular team at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge have been creating.  I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

As always, there will be a randomly drawn prize voucher so that one lucky winner can go shopping at Simon Says Stamp... and the Design Team will be featuring projects that catch their eye(s) (how's that for spooky?!) in the spotlight at the end of the week, so do come and play along.

I hope you'll have a grand time getting spooky and/or purple - I certainly did.  Have a great week, and happy crafting, all!

Moonlight is sculpture.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

Oscar Wilde

Between our birth and our death we may touch understanding, 

As a moth brushes a window with its wing.

Christopher Fry