Ring In The New!

Hello all! I hope you're all enjoying the festivities, as well as my Artistic Stamper 2014 top picks.

Christmas Day is blissfully quiet round here... it's the 26th that is the family celebration, so there'll be presents and lots of eating.  But while I'm busy with that - or recovering - it's time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey, and our host is the wonderful Brenda.  The theme is Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New, and she's given us some words (yay!) to play with:

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Brenda suggests we focus on key words from the poem and interpret one or more of them in any way you like.  For instance, you could use something old/new on a project; include bells or snow on a card; design a new year card/project/invitation etc.  Be creative, and just tell us what your links are to the words and what your Tim inspiration is on the project.

So here's the card I came up with - a celebration of this time that I love between Christmas and New Year, the lull in activity before we go hurtling into fresh adventures.

I think the Tim inspiration is pretty clear - everything I've used is part of his ever-expanding and ever-desirable product line.  And there are lots of other inspirations going on, including Tim's December tag.

Work has meant I've missed the whole second half of the year tags-wise (more catching up to do!), so I'm very happy to be able to join in again for a last hurrah.  The sparkly die-cut, the sprays of Holiday Greens, the Distress Spray backgrounds, Distress Paint altered metal, and the little bells all find a place.  I didn't have any of the new Frosted - which looks so cool - but my embossing is within the card itself.






As you read, it will seem I must have spent hours working out how to include all the words of the poem, but it honestly wasn't like that.  I just wanted to play with some of my new toys!


I took advantage of one of the fabulous Country View Crafts Advent offers to grab the Festive Gent die...










... as well as the delicious Holly Branch embossing folder which provides the underlying texture on my kraft card panel.

There's also an old year/new year thing going on in the colour palette.  I started out in my Christmas neutrals, but found myself yearning for the vivid blue-greens which seem to be where my crafty instincts carry me in Jan/Feb (check the archive if you don't believe me).

So now the card combines them both!








I blended Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo DIs over the branch to make it pop, and used Broken China Distress Glitter over Glossy Accents to create the dimensional holly berries.










And I think the Holiday Greens Thinlits still count as new to my stash, even though they've had plenty of use since getting here...














... as do the Distress Spray Stains used to colour the greenery as well as to spatter the kraft background.










I used the Rays Layering Stencil with Vintage Photo DI to add extra movement and depth of colour, and then spritzed the panel with Picket Fence Distress Spray.













I had a lovely time creating spritzed blue/green backgrounds - but my fingers are still looking a little bluesy!











Once cut, I arranged the greenery (including the wax paper cuts) in loose sprays...













... and added the clock, altered with Distress Paints, and warning that it's almost midnight.  Our Festive Gent is going to have to hurry if he's going to be the First Footer tonight!









He, of course, is dressed up in sparklingly new array for the celebrations.  This is, in fact, the test cut that comes in the package (waste not, want not), inked up for some shading and then given a good dusting of Rock Candy Dry Glitter.












I edged him with a Big Brush Stampers Pen (shock, horror, not a Tim product!! - but that's allowed too, as long as you let us know your Tim inspiration) to make sure he stands out against the background.










Obviously, I've got my little rusty bells (rusty and therefore old)... and they're happy bells too, filled with the Merriment of the Idea-ology Muse Token (which I only noticed as a happy coincidence once I was taking the pictures... subconscious selection of the most appropriate token).








The bells are ringing out across the snow-y spatter of some Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain, and the alcohol-ink-altered Word Band lets us know the noise they're making as he goes.












The main kraft panel is layered up over some more of that Distress spritzed card, some white card and onto another kraft layer, all distressed with the TH distresser to create extra texture and dimension.











And since this is doing duty as a "voucher" during the present-giving today, I zhuzhed up a plain brown envelope to hold it.  I continued the holly theme spritzing Tumbled Glass and Evergreen Bough sprays through the Holly Bough Layering Stencil, and then spattering with Picket Fence.









Just as a little added extra, here's a sneak peek of some more handmade wrapping paper that will be putting in an appearance this afternoon...

This is done with Stormy Sky and Evergreen Bough sprays, also turning the stencil over occasionally to print with once it was nice and inky.













I always wrap gifts according to a wrapping paper code - each person has their own pattern/decoration so that I can tell what is for whom (not all handmade papers!)... these and the voucher are going to the same person.







That's quite enough from me... we hope you'll come and Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New with us.  If you're in need of further inspiration you'll find plenty of it over at A Vintage Journey, where my amazing team-mates have been busy, and you can also check out the small print of Brenda's challenge details and our Travelling Instructions - just to make sure you qualify for the chance to win the gift voucher from our generous sponsors, Country View Crafts (where you can also find all the goodies I've used to create this).

I hope you enjoy this quiet time in the run up to New Year's Eve.  I'll be hoping to do some hopping and see what you've all been up to but, until then, stay warm and safe and happy!

Of all sound of all bells... most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year.
Charles Lamb

I'd like to enter this as my take on the December tag for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2014
And in the Anything Goes theme over at That's Crafty Challenge Blog
With the ringing of the bells and the WordBand with the lyrics from "that song", I'd also like to join in with the Sing, Sing It Loud musical theme at the Inspiration Journal