Bare Branches

Hello all!  I'm glad you enjoyed walking in my Ginger Wonderland but, apart from that flurry of inspiration, I've been having trouble getting back in the craftroom - partly busy-ness, then sick-ness, then can't-find-anything-in-there-ness - so I decided to dive in with a full-on challenge and try to catch up with the Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas.

For the 5th year in a row the fabulous Linda Coughlin - the Funkie Junkie herself - has been offering up a Christmas tag per week for us to be inspired by, with prizes and vouchers sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

They started back in September, but I've got just over 12 days left to get my 12 tags done and posted.  So here goes with number one.

For the challenge, you can choose to follow Linda's tag closely, or just allow yourself to be inspired by a particular element or technique and see where it takes you.  If you check out Linda's Tag 1 here, you'll see that I've been inspired by...

1) the musical background (though mine is slightly different)...

I'm sure I've got a music stamp somewhere but it's lost in the throes of the can't-find-anything syndrome, so instead I used a sheet of old music manuscript and borrowed a trick I learned from Linda yonks ago of distressing the page by tapping sticky tape on and peeling it away.  It's had a wash of Fresco paint and some inking around the edges, and there's some tiny white paint spatter too.








2) the trees (though my tree is slightly different)...

I don't have the tree line, though I do have it on order, so I chose to use the wintry bare Branch Tree die, layered over some pine tree stamping to give the impression of undergrowth.  It's cut from kraft card and inked with Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso, with just a flick of water droplets.













3) the stars (though my stars are slightly different)...

I used Finnabair's Snowflake paste through the stencil for a sparkly look, and some of my favourite tiny Studio Calico wooden stars for dimension)...











4) the black Small Talk stickers (mine are only different in the choice of words!)...

I've said it before but I'll say it again - I simply don't know what I did before these fabulous little Idea-ology phrases were available.  Well, I do know - but how simple it is to add words when you have these around.

And for my topping I've gone in quite a different direction from Linda, down my favourite simple route - a rustic natural feel with a piece of twine.












So that's my Tag 1, and after one of the quietest years since Words and Pictures began, you're now in for daily posts until the 19th December deadline.  Wish me luck, and I'll see you tomorrow!

I often lay on that bench looking up into the tree, past the trunk and up into the branches.  It was particularly fine at night with the stars above the tree.
Georgia O'Keefe

I'm entering this as Tag 1 in the Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique