You'd better not shout; you'd better not cry...

You'll see why I'm worried that you might: yes, Santa Claus (or Father Christmas, as I've always known him) is coming to town - or at least to Words and Pictures - a good five and half months before he's due.  It's all Artistic Outpost's fault, not mine!!




Our bloghop theme this month is Christmas in July...

I know there are some incredibly organised people (unlike me) who like to get their Christmas crafting started good and early, so really this one's for you!

If you'd like to see what the rest of the DT have created, here's the full hop list of my amazing team-mates:
Gerrie, Lisa, Suzz, Tracy, Linda, Alison, Terry, Kate

And here's my contribution...  just look at all that wonderful Christmassy sunshine!

I decided to stick with simplicity, and let the amazing images from the Snowy Woods plate speak pretty much for themselves. 















This is one of AO's very few A4 sized stamp sheets - in fact maybe the only one? - and it's completely worth it.  

(Just look at that festive door... beautiful!)










Every single stamp is simply lovely.  And I've barely used half of them for this set of gift tags.











The images are stamped onto tea and coffee-stained tags, using blended Sepia and Coffee Archival inks.














Each tag has a white snowflake added, stamped in paint on separate tags and cut and inked for added definition.









I added a "dusting of snow" (a.k.a. gesso) around the edges, as you can see on these close-ups of some of the stamps.

Fabulously gnarled St. Nicholas...











Wonderful Gothic font in the sentiment... 

Astounding detail in the image of the poor chap tramping through the snow - just look at the trees in the forest, the toys in the woven hamper, and the little trumpet and tambourine at his side, never mind his shadow stretching away before him...  

I love this stamp.










And, of course, no tags of mine are complete without their little topping decoration.  Raffia, twine, and some shabbied up seam binding for these...









Thanks so much for dropping in today... If you want some more a-seasonal inspiration, do visit my teammates to see their wonderful creations.  If you get lost along the way, you'll find all the details here.

I know it's been a busy few days here at Words and Pictures, what with the romantic canvas for Our Creative Corner, the crazy salty ATCs for Fun With ATCs and now Christmas with Artistic Outpost... so let me just say again how much I appreciate your visits and your wonderful feedback.  It's a joy sharing this journey with such creative, generous, warm-hearted folk. Thank you!

My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?
Bob Hope

I'd like to enter this over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge, where they'd like to see something Cleaner and Simpler than our usual style.