So last year was the first year I went with hand made tags for Christmas instead of the usual store bought ones, and I swear everyone was more excited about the tags then the gifts themselves.  Then starting about a week ago, people started asking if I was going to make my tags again…. So I guess I am back in the tag making business.

This works out pretty well, since there are several different places that have tag making celebration extravaganzas.  The biggest one happening right now has to be Tracey McNeely over at In My Creative Opinion has her seventh year of her 25 Days of Christmas Tags.  It really seems this yearly challenge has grown to a huge event, and I am rather excited to be playing along.

I decided to group tags on one post in groups of 5 to save some space, so without further ado here is the first five tags from the event.

Day 1:  I was inspired by Lindsey M-P’s super sweet kitty tag, so I created one of my own.  I used a kraft tag with a die cut box from Craftin Desert Divas hand colored with my copics.  The sweet kitty came from a Honey Bee Designs stamp set, while the sentiment can from a retired Craftin Desert Divas stamp set.

Day 2:  On this day I was inspired by Jennifer Timko’s elegant silver tag with the white embossed snowflakes and vellum banner.  I didn’t have any silver paper, but I did have this beautiful metallic blue card stock, so I trimmed it up to look like a tag.  Then using a Craftin Desert Divas stencil and some whip spackle.    I then trimmed up some vellum and added a die cut sentiment from Little B on glitter paper.  A few red crystals finished off this sweet little tag.

Day 3:  Lisa Lahiff’s brightly colored sleigh was the the insparation for this day’s tag.  I don’t have any sleighs stamps or dies lying around, but I did have a sled…and well, they both help move you through ice and snow, right?  So I used the bright and bold colors from Ms. Lahiff’s design for my sled.  I die cut this sled from a Craftin Desert Divas die set and assembled it, trying to keep to the bold color pallet.  I then stamped it with a retired sentiment from a CDD stamp set.  Finally, I added some ‘snow’ from a Liquid Applique Marker and heat set it to puff up the ‘snow’.

Day 4:  The gorgeous mitten tag from Jeanne Jachna was the source of inspiration for my day 4 tag, with its beautiful blue mittens and silver snowflake.  I die cut some mittens and a cup of hot cocoa from a My Favorite Things die set.  I trimmed up some silver snowflake card stock and lined my tag with it.  All of the die cuts got a little bit of simple copic coloring to add some depth, and the mittens got a bit of white gel pen.  Finally the mittens and the tag got ‘trimmed’ with some blue and white ribbon.

Day 5:  Finally, for today, I was inspired by Svittlana Shayevich’s super elegant kraft tag stamped with brown and white pine needles.  Seriously, this tag was gorgeous!  I pulled out a kraft tag and stamped with with the only pine stamps I have, an older set from Inkadinkadoo.  I added the brown stamp first with an archival stamp pad in tree branch and then in white with a Momento stamp pad in white.  I added a few tiny crystals and called the tag done!

I will be back soon with the next five tags from the challenge, but I hope you enjoy these for the time being!