The inspiration for my cardinal tags (I made a total of 6) came from these by Nichol Magouirk. I loved the pop-out feature, and decided to use one of my favorite images--a cardinal--rather than the penguins she used. The cardinal stamp & die came from Hero Arts' "Vintage Christmas Post" set. I also used snowflakes from "Holly's Snowflakes," from Mama Elephant, to stamp the inner background.
To begin, I stamped kraft cardstock with Hero Arts' "Designer Woodgrain" stamp (apparently discontinued) & Lawn Fawn Walnut ink. I die cut my tags from that using one of the dies from Mama Elephant's "Tags a Lot" set. I also die cut the opening with the "Peek-a-Boo" die from Pretty Pink Posh at the same time.
I stamped & colored my cardinal, then die cut him with the coordinating die. I added black glaze pen detail to the eye, and put highlights in with a white gel pen after the black ink had dried. I stamped green cardstock that I'd die cut using the same tag die with snowflakes in Lawn Fawn Yeti ink. After that dried, I adhered the 2 tags together. I glued my cardinal in the opening, so it looks like he's standing on the flap. I added glue dots under each flap, just to keep them in place and so they wouldn't tear off. I added a hole reinforcement from "Tags a Lot" that I'd cut from gold shimmer cardstock, & punched a 1/8" hole through the tag. I die cut a smaller tag to stamp the "to/from" on (behind the main tag), and threaded that & my main tag onto some red & green bakers twine.
I decided to make treat sliders for my brother & SIL for giving them gift cards. I followed this tutorial at Splitcoaststampers & used patterned paper from The Paper Studio's "Happy Holiday's" letter-size pad. For my brother's, I used the "Cool Deer" image from Crackerbox Palace, printed onto Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper. I die cut it with a circle die, and colored the image with Tombow markers. I added shine to his sunglasses with a black glaze pen, & applied a coat of Christmas Red Stickles to his nose. After the Stickles dried, I inked around the perimeter of the circle with Barn Door Distress ink, and then used foam tape to attach it to the pouch.
For my SIL's treat slider, I used the same tutorial & paper from the same pack. I stamped one of the "Christmas Ornaments" from Our Daily Bread Designs onto smooth bristol paper with Hero Arts Silver ink. I colored the red & green areas with my Tombow markers, leaving the rest white. I didn't think the silver ink was shiny enough, so I overstamped with Delicata Silvery Shimmer ink. Since I had used my MISTI stamping tool, and not removed the stamp, I was able to pop the panel back in and stamp with the Delicata ink. I die cut that with a Hero Arts "Oval Infinity" die, inked the perimeter with Barn Door, and adhered it to the pouch with foam tape.
I'm entering the tag & reindeer treat slider in the "Anything Christmas" challenge at Dies R Us.
