Christmas in January

I can’t believe that we have nearly finished one month of 2012!  So far it has exceeded all my expectations.  As the month is nearing its end, it is time for me to do my first gift project.

Last Christmas I made boxes with gift tags for all my girlfriends. Each tag was different and I included 26 in each pressie. I just love having tags on hand. As I don’t spend a lot of money on presents, I always try to wrap my presents beautifully and to add a personal touch to each and every one. I’m not really into card making but tags are so much smaller and I do try to do projects where I can use up all my scraps. If ever I get the opportunity to write a book, it will definitely be “365 tags a year” by Hazel Hamman. (sounds good to me)

Anyway, one of my friends saw the tag project in the making and therefore I decided to give her a different pressie. In the end she was taking samples of every tag I made and I ended up giving her a whole set!

This year most of my girlfriends requested a refill as they are not very crafty.  So, I have this month’s project covered.  I found that it was getting boring to do 26 tags in one month and therefore decided to do 2 sets every month of the year. OK, this doesn’t really count as a full Christmas project but for me its fine. Once I have the idea and start on it, it counts and I know I will finish as my friends are expecting their requested refills. Also, this means that I will use the scraps as they accumulate. It makes sense to do a layout and then use the scraps left to do tags or cards. Its funny how everyone is telling you something and one day it just makes sense!

Without further ado, my first set of tags for 2012.

I couldn’t wait to try out my new die from Hero Arts so I used all my cream and white off cuts and some brown ink to stamp the bicycles. I just love them. Well worth my effort of buying online and struggling to get it delivered to South Africa. I also did some bicycles in red and blue ink to use on cards while I had all the tools out. I’m not a very good stamper but I love doing it. A friend came over for a visit while I was working on this and loved it so much that we sat down with a cup of coffee and chatted while she stamped and I cut out about 20 for her tag stash. Now I feel a lot better about indulging in buying the stamps and dies!

Next up I used an idea from “Shimelle’s Pretty Paper Party” - use stripes, dots and a print on one layout.

As you can see, I can’t do “links” yet, but I have arranged with my son for a lesson on them ASAP.  First I’ll try to Google it – just maybe I can get it sorted myself or maybe someone can send me a link as how to do them.

That’s all from me for today.

Love and lots of sunshine from South Africa.

Hazel