The Running of the Deer

Hello all!  We've made it... I'm here with my final tag for the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge - twelve tags in thirteen days.  After all that running to catch up, I think we deserve hot toddies all round to celebrate.  (Seriously, you might want a drink to get you through this long final post!)

This is my finale, though it's actually Linda's Tag 7.  If you take a look at her gorgeous original, you'll see it's a strong inspirational influence, but I've gone just a little off-piste from Linda's design.  And it's definitely ended up being one of my favourites of the twelve.

Tis the Season and Dreaming of a Kraft and White Christmas probably join it to make up my top three, though I do love A Christmas Wish and Snow is Falling too.  Oops, and Pine Cones Galore!  Oh dear - that's a top 6 then.  But I don't even have to worry about saying how much I like them, as most of the credit goes to Linda's inspiration...




There's a chance to see the whole collection at the end of this post, so you'll be able to pick your own favourites, should you have nothing better to do amidst all the mad final preparations for the holiday.  But for now, let's get back to the matter in hand...





I was uncertain about the solid blue of the background to start with.  It felt pretty full on.

I started stamping my snowflakes, and once they were in place I added some of the fabulous scratches from Andy Skinner's Industrial stamps and a finger full of paint around the edges.












The stamping is done with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Metallic Silver.














I paint a thin layer onto the craft sheet and then use that as my "stamp pad".














I just love the look of old scratched-up painted metal that you get.  From then on, I was very happy!













I die-cut the deer, painted him and gave him his dusting of Distress Glitter.  But, being me, I felt the need for a little bit of Vintage Photo inking.














And I think there's probably some Ground Espresso right on the outer edges too.












And I loved how Linda had given her deer a sort of frame to set him off, so I worked something similar with a krafty arch which had been hanging around on the craft table for an age. 

(I think it's probably left over from this journalling page, so that's 18 months of hanging around.  Worth the wait though.)











I can't tell you how much I loved Linda's Stacked Snowflake - suffice it to say I just wanted to have pretty much exactly the same thing on my tag.

I'm not usually much for glitter, but I'm prepared to make an exception at Christmas...

... as well as in the case of Distress Glitter, which really is a different proposition from the usual stuff we played with as kids.

And you can ink around its edges even after you've applied it, which has to be a plus in my eyes!

Rather than all that luscious netting which Linda does so well, I've gone for a slightly more austere setting for my snowflake.  













There's a krafty decorative strip behind - it's actually a Sizzix die intended for creating paper chains which I picked up in a sale for about £1.50.

I haven't got around to making paper chains with it yet, but it was just what I needed for this tag.










And around the snowflake I've added some of my much-loved pine cones (see Pine Cones Galore! or I'm Dreaming of a Kraft and White Christmas or The Holly and the Holly).

There are some more of the tiny sparkling berries which also put in an appearance on Tis the Season.









Here is the "shadowed" Noel word I mentioned in a previous post (the reason I used "wish" on Tag 12 A Christmas Wish rather than the Noel Linda used was that I'd already used the Noel for this one).  I loved how Linda offset the second die-cutting to create the dimensional look.












Hers actually is dimensional as her second cutting is done with foam, but I just used card.  (There are some things I don't have in my craft stash... not many, I grant you, but a few, and foam is one of them.)














Some more pine cones and frosted berries adorn the simple twine bow at the top of the tag, and we're all done with the final tag of the challenge.








I think these final two (Tags 6 and 7, but the final two I'm sharing) work rather well together as a twosome.  They were made pretty much simultaneously, one bit drying on one while I worked on something on the other.

The two deer, the pine cones, the dimensionality, the wintry woodland feeling - I think they belong together as a pair.

So how about the whole set together then?  From very early on, it felt as though the these tags were "talking" to one another - elements and colour-ways were being echoed and repeated from tag to tag.  And so that became another part of my challenge to myself... to keep creating "a set" of tags.  Well, here they all are together, so you can decide for yourselves whether I achieved that.

(Remember you can click on a photo to see it in a larger view, or just scroll back through the last 12 days if there are any for which you missed the making-of details.)

And completing Linda's 12-week challenge in just over 12 days definitely achieved my own aim of getting me back in the craft room after so long away from it this year.  The first four tags, done on standard size #8s were okay, but I wasn't really anywhere near "the zone".  But as I moved onto the jumbo size #10s, starting with my version of the folded Tag 9 (the first one I did out of order, because I just really wanted to make that tag) I started to feel more at home at the craft table, and I think that shows in the resulting tags.





So huge thanks to the Funkie Junkie, Linda Coughlin, for her stunning inspiration tags, and for a triumphant fifth anniversary edition of the Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas, and also thanks to all of you for cheering me on from the sidelines (or often from on the pitch next to me - it's been lovely visiting the other FJ 12 Taggers to see your versions too).

And now I'll leave you all in peace for a few days!

The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.
Oh, the rising of the sun, and the running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir.
Traditional English carol





I'd like to share this as Tag 7 in the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique, and completing my full set of twelve
And there's just time to get one more under the wire for Let There Be Snow at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too...