Pinecone Christmas Tag by Trina Pham

Hello everyone. I have something a little different to share today. This month is the 10th annual 25 Days of Christmas Tags event hosted by Tracey McNeely. There are tons of tag inspirations each day for 25 days with chances to win prizes. One way is to create a tag inspired by one of the tags. When I saw one of Bobbi Lemanski’s beautiful tag on day 15, I couldn’t help myself to join in.

I didn’t use a specific tag die, and you don’t need one. I started by die cutting a piece of Bristol paper and pattern paper from the Christmas Plaid pack using the 2.5”x3.75” Rectangle Basics die. Glued them together then trimmed off one corner with my paper trimmer.

Flipped the cut-off corner piece to the opposite side and used it as a guide to trim off that corner. Punched a hole with a hole punch and the tag is ready to decorate.

The Pine Cone Stackers were die cut from suede cardstock and the edges sponged with white gouache paint using a sponge dauber. The direct-to-paper method was then used to add color to Memory Box watercolor paper before die cutting the Forest Pine Branch and Mistletoe Swags from them. For the pine branch, I used Lucky Clover and Evergreen Bough distress oxide inks, but it wasn’t dark enough, so Mowed Lawn and Pumice Stone distress inks were applied on top. For the mistletoe, Candied Apple, Aged Mahogany and Seedless Preserves distress inks were used. Copic markers BG99 and RV69 were used to color the edges of the die-cuts to cover up the white and give them a clean look.

The pine sprig from Antique Pine Label was die cut from Bristol paper and left uncolored. Assembled the tag, then splattered with white gouache paint for a snowy look. The Peace Cheshire Script sentiment was die cut three times from black cardstock and once from the gold Polished Foil paper. Stacked them onto another piece of black cardstock and a black shadow was fussy cut from it. Thread a black ribbon through the punched hole to finish.

One great thing about tags is it could easily be turned into a card if you don’t want to use it as a tag. So with the leftover die-cuts, I made another tag for a matching card! And that does it for me today. Thank you for joining me. Enjoy your day.