12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style - 2017 - Tag #1

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Hello!  I'm back after a long crafting break.  My DH and I did a lot of traveling starting in early May. He turned 65 last year and I'm hitting that milestone this month so we decided it was time we started checking things off our bucket list.  Between that and managing my Funkie Junkie Boutique, it hasn't left me much time to focus on paper crafting.  Thankfully, I have my 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style kicking off now to get me back into my craft room.  

Every September I start making a tag a week with a winter/Christmas theme and challenging my visitors to be inspired by something on the tag that will get them going on a winter/Christmas project of their own.  I hope you will play along with my little challenge this year. It's a nice way to get your Christmas cards done.

Here's the deal.  Each Monday for the next 12 weeks, I will post a Christmas tag. If you wish to play along, you can make any sort of Christmas or winter themed DIY project. It can be a tag, but doesn't have to be. It can be a Christmas card, a holiday decoration, a scrapbook layout, a tree ornament, a banner, whatever you want but it does have to be inspired by my tag and must be Christmas or winter themed. For those of you who chose to make a Christmas card, this challenge will help you complete at least 12 handmade cards.

Everyone is invited to play along. Below are the challenge requirements, which must be adhered to in order to be eligible for the prize drawing at the end:

• This is an inspiration challenge. Each week, I will post my tag and you will use it to be inspired to make something. You can enter any sort of craft. It can be a tag, a card, a home decor project, a scrapbook layout - your choice but please make it winter or Christmas related. 
• You must take inspiration from something on my tag and tell us in your post what inspired you. You don't have to use my style, my layout, my colors, my theme or anything except be inspired by something on my sample. Your make can be shabby, it can be grungy or it can be clean and simple. I don't mind if you CASE my work, but if you do, please give me credit. 
• We will have 12 weekly challenges beginning Monday, September 25. You can link your project using the linky provided at the very bottom of the post. 
• To be eligible for the drawing at the end of the 12 weeks, you must: 1) enter all 12 challenges, 2) provide a link back to this challenge and mention that it is sponsored by my store The Funkie Junkie Boutique, with a link to the boutique www.thefunkiejunkie.com. 
• You do have to have a blog (or some other way to provide the required links and inspiration information).
• All 12 challenges will remain open until midnight Eastern time on December 29, 2017. You can play any of the 12 challenges up through that date in any order. To be eligible for the prize drawing, you must have submitted an entry into all 12 of these challenges by midnight Eastern time December 19th.
• On December 30th, from the pool of players who participated in every single challenge and provided a link to the challenge and a link to my store on their post, I will draw three winners. There will be one $50 grand prize gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique given out plus two runner up prizes of $25 gift certificates. 
• Additionally, everyone who participated in all the challenges and met the requirements will receive a 10% off coupon good for their entire order at The Funkie Junkie Boutique during the month of January 2016. 
• Here is the blog publication schedule for my 12 inspiration tags: Week 1 - September 25, Week 2 - October 2 Week 3 - October 9, Week 4 - October 16, Week 5 - October 23, Week 6 - October 30, Week 7 - November 6, Week 8 - November 13, Week 9 - November 20, Week 10 - November 27, Week 11- December 4, Week 12 - December 11, December 29 - challenge closes. 
• This is a super easy and fun challenge. I hope you will play along and link up your projects. Don't forget, you can complete the 12 challenges at any time and in any order, just as long as all 12 are linked here by December 29th.

Now for a few details on Tag #1.  I went for a woodsy theme using three items from Tim Holtz's new Chrismas products:  Pine Stencil (TH096), Great Outdoors stamp set (CMS321) and Winter Wonderland Thinlits die set (662426).  I began with one of my usual jumbo shipping tags and stenciled with the Pines stencil and Forest Moss distress ink, then stamped the deer and trees from the Great Outdoors set in Jet Black Archival.  Next, the falling snow die from the Winter Wonderland die set was used to cut the tiny holes in the upper section of the tag to create snowfall.  I always back up my tags with chipboard so they will stand up and not curl.  I added a layer of silver Deco Sheets to the chipboard so my falling snow is silvery and sparkly.  It looks really great but unfortunately it doesn't photograph well so you can't really see the sparkle in the photo.  

My deer were cut from plain white card stock and colored with Gatered Twigs DI using a Mini Ink Blending Tool and popped up on a bit of craft foam for dimension.  I cut a bit of greenery (Holiday Greens Mini Thinlits) for the top and colored it the same way using several different green distress inks.  The panel for the top sentiment was cut with the Labels Thinlit set from white CS, colored with Gathered Twigs and then clear embossed.  Same for the rest of the sentiment except they were cut out by hand.  The bronze deer head is a charm from our boutique.  The bottom seemed to need a small touch to finish it off so I die cut a piece of white CS with the Holiday Knit Thinlits die and colored it with Gathered Twigs.  

That's a wrap on Week #1 of this challenge.  Thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you will play along with me this year!

25 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12	50 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12	Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Pines	Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Great Outdoors	Winter Wonderland - by Tim Holtz
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Deco Sheets	Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Distress Ink Pad - Forest Moss	Ranger Tim Holtz Seasonal Distress Ink Pad - Gathered Twigs	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool - With 4 Blending Foams	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool Replacement Foam
Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black Reinker	Sizzix Holiday Greens Die Leaves	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Holiday Knit by Tim Holtz	Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Labels
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear	Antiqued Bronze Large Christmas Deer Head Charms - Set of 3

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