Joyous Noel

Hello all!  We're moving on to Tag 3 of the Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas today, and for this one I've travelled quite a long way from Linda's funky inspiration tag.


I've pretty much followed the layout but I've gone in a different direction with style and colour.


As Linda says, red is her favourite colour, but it's one I'm really not used to working with.  The red of the holly berries, both in the paper and the actual berries, is about as much as I can take!















I used design paper for my background, and it does sort of have stripes (the major feature of Linda's tag) in the shape of the staves of music.  It's from the 8x8 Anna Marie Designs Christmas Jingle pad.













I don't have the transparent tiles, but I had a lovely time making my own little tiny tags for the word J-O-Y-O-U-S.  I used another paper from the same stash, this one a lovely soft green with a subtle woodgrain pattern.














I cut the tags using one of the tiny dies from the Tim Holtz Framelits Tag Collection, and then inked up my Christmas Alpha foam stamps for the first time (also Tim Holtz) to create the lettering.  They're stamped in Archival Library Green - a good match for the holly.













More dies in action to cut the word NOEL (from the Vintage Tidings Thinlits)...













... and some more of the gorgeous Holiday Greens Thinlits too.  I have them in the regular and the mini-size, so you can always find something which works for what you're making.















So far, they've featured on each of the Funkie Junkie tags I've made this year, and I'm really enjoying them so I decided they would appear instead of the tinsel at the top of this tag.














And there's some more greenery tucked in behind the NOEL too.  The pale ones are cut from the same paper as the tiny tags (but un-inked) so that it all ties together nicely.












I also couldn't resist adding some extra words - well, this is Words and Pictures, after all - so I got out the Christmas Clippings again to find some suitable phrases.














The little frosted berries are from my stash.  I love that they're exactly the right colour to work with the holly berries on the papers.















And they provide just that tiny touch of festive sparkle.










Thanks so much for stopping by today.  There's a non-12-Tags-of-Christmas project coming up next - I know, weird, huh?! - so I hope you'll be able to check that out, and then we'll be back on the Funkie Junkie trail.

Look forward to seeing you soon, either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.

And as, when all the summer trees are seen
So bright and green,
The Holly leaves a sober hue display
Less bright than they,
But when the bare and wintry woods we see,
What then so cheerful as the Holly-tree?
Robert Southey



I'd like to enter this as Tag 3 in the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique