Brown paper packages tied up with strings

Hello all and a happy December to you!  I'm delighted to be here to share a project created for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog.  The new challenge is a festive one: It's the Holidays!  It launched yesterday with wonderful inspiration projects from the fabulous FJB team, so do check out all the details over there.

I was invited to be their guest for this theme after my Sunrise, Sunset book cover was the chosen winner last month.  That was one of my more complicated creations, but at this time of year when we're all so busy, it's often best to keep things simple.  So to fulfil the brief of making something I can use over the festive season I've created some gift tags to go on the presents I'll be wrapping.

I've used brown parcel paper for my Christmas presents for decades, each year with slightly different decorative features - sometimes a few berries, sometimes some real greenery, sometimes ribbons or more recently even some stamping or stencilling.






These tags will provide the main decoration on some brown paper packages tied up with string (string to match the string on the tags... I've got a huge great ball of the stuff.














They're really very simple.  I used some pre-cut tags (also pre-strung, though I've changed the string so that it will match the stuff I'll be using on the parcels) and stamped some of Tim Holtz's beautiful ornate festive greetings on them.














They're embossed with Wow Bright White embossing powder.  I think it looks great against the kraft, and the touch of texture and slight glossiness is so effective against the rustic look of the sepia background.














I spritzed a whole sheet of A4 card with various green Distress Sprays and Oxide Sprays (it's part way through the spritzing stages here, but the camera didn't keep hold of the next few process photos)...











... and then used the TH Holiday Greens Mini Thinlits to cut my fir fronds and branches.  (I've got plenty of inky green card left over to use on more Christmas creations, time permitting.)














Then it was just a case of layering up the greenery - trying to keep as much of the stamping visible as possible!
















Each tag has a little cluster of sparkling berries too.














I seem to have taken these photos before the berry glue was properly dry... apologies!














I really knocked these up very quickly.  The most time-consuming and fiddly bit was poking out all the tiny detailing in the die-cuts.
















Oh, and deciding where to position some of my ivory sequins for some extra light-capturing gleams.  But once that was all done and stuck down, I was able to finish off with my favourite snowy spatter.














Now all I need to do is buy some presents for people so that I can wrap them up and label them!














I hope this has given you some inspiration for ways to zhuzh up your gift-wrapping this Christmas.














If you're still after more festive creativity, do hop over to The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog and see what the team have been making, and then come and join in with the challenge.








Many thanks to Cec and the amazing FJB team for inviting me along to be their guest, and many thanks to all of you for stopping by today.  I hope that your Advent countdown will go smoothly and that all your to-do lists will soon be done.  Happy crafting (and Christmas prep) everyone!

The ribbons! The wrappings!
The tags! And the tinsel!
The trimmings! The trappings!
Dr. Seuss

I'd like to share these at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the invitation is Let's Sparkle - there are the berries and although the sequins are subtle, they definitely sparkle too
At Tag Tuesday, Joan's theme is White Christmas - I've got lots of snowy spatter to offer