A Sprig of Holly

Hello all!

Apologies for my absence around Craftyblogland - I've been battling the seasonal cough and cold, and generally feeling pretty sorry for myself.  I hope to get back in the saddle soon.

But I couldn't allow myself to fall at the final hurdle with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013.  So far, the tags he's inspired me to make have been some of my favourite creations of the year, so I couldn't miss out on the lovely December tags.  

Yes, that's tags in the plural because (after my shocking recent admission that I don't much like poinsettias!) it was Tim's second tag that really captured my heart, just down there at the end of Tim's tutorial post.

In the absence of the poinsettia die, I had considered hand-cutting my flower.  

And I was thinking of going for a white poinsettia (more in my colour line than the red), but then the fabulous Trace over at inkypinkycraft came up with the perfect white poinsettia - no way to follow that, so I decided to give up on poinsettias altogether and give in to my first love, the holly version!

It still wasn't that simple, as I'd forgotten that Decorative Strip Dies are reluctant to cut more than just paper or light card.  I did manage to get an outline by running the frosted Clearly For Art through with the Festive Greenery die, and then finished the cutting by hand.  

And I cut a couple of larger leaves completely by hand.  

I used Olive and Cornflower Blue Archival inks to stain my leaves, and added a couple of golden berry decorations.

I had a lovely time with the background of the tag - Broken China, Stormy Sky and Frayed Burlap were the main colour ingredients, and some Walnut Stain for edging.

I stamped the sentiment in Potting Soil - it seemed the right earthy sort of touch.

 

There's a little touch of my new favourite ribbon, the Idea-ology linen ribbon, at the top.

And the splattering was great fun...

But then, horrors, the brief break in the weather we'd been promised came earlier than expected, so I had to dive out to take the photos before my blobs and splatters of paint were fully dry, so sadly some of them got a bit smudged.  

But it was worth it, because the wind's got up again now, and I don't suppose the tag would stay still long enough to be photographed!

So, a huge thank you to Tim for an amazing year of inspiration - I've had an absolute ball and created, as I said, some of my favourite makes of the year, thanks to the 12 Tags.  

Fingers crossed for more next year... Since I'm so late with this, I've not got long to wait to find out!

And thank you to all of you for your amazing support, and your incredible inspiration.  Where would I be without Craftyblogland?!

Wishing you all a very happy New Year, and a peaceful, prosperous and (if you like that kind of thing) adventurous 2014!

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

Neil Gaiman

I'd like to enter this as my December tag in Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013
And also as Bonus Tag 1 for the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas (plus bonuses!) sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique - the holly leaves on Linda's lovely thank you tag are the obvious inspiration, with thanks for a joyful Christmas of creativity.