Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas - Day Ten

Wow - only two days left to Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas! Now that ten tags have been completed, it's fun to see them lined up in my craft room. Each tag is so different and incorporates so many techniques....very cool! One of the things that I've most enjoyed about participating in the tags is how many new techniques I've been able to try...today's tag is a prime example. When I opened Tim's blog this morning I thought, "oh man, how am I going to create today's tag? I don't have any metal letters..." and then I read through his post and saw this amazingly wild technique. Definitely check out his post to read all of the details but the short story is that these aren't metals letters, they're chipboard (or grungeboard) letters that have been glued to the tag and then metal tape has been applied over the entire tag. I happen to actually own a big 'ol box full of Tim's grungeboard letters so they were a perfect choice for the tag. However, there isn't a sheet of metal tape anywhere in my craft room...but there is an entire roll of heavy duty aluminum foil, which worked perfectly, in my kitchen! A few notes on the foil...It does tear easily, even the heavy duty stuff, so you have to be very careful when pushing the foil around the letters. I found that simply rubbing over the letters with my fingers did the best job. Foil isn't going to be as smooth as the metal tape but I felt like that added to the worn look of the piece. Copic markers worked wonderfully well on the foil and dried quickly and I was also able to gently rub some black Memento ink over the letters to tone down the shine and darker up the creases. This is one of the most literal copy of Tim's tags that I've created but I really wanted to work through his tutorial step-by-step. This same technique would make a fun small tag, with one word for example or shape, on a regular sized card. The one difference on my tag is that I added a large chipboard snowflake to the ribbon...you'll notice the photo on the left has the snowflake and the one of the right does not. I also added some silver brads and staples to my tag...You can enlarge the photo, to see more detail, by double clicking on it. Well I think I'm fighting getting my oldest cold so I'm off tonight...feeling super tired. Early bed time tonight! Looking forward to tomorrow's tag...what will Tim think of next?