Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

I've been following Tim Holtz on his blog as he presented his 12 tags of Christmas for the 3rd year running this year. This is the first time I've seen it, and I was so impressed! He taught a new technique every day and made some outstanding tags along the way. Of course, he uses all his own products, and while I have a few I certainly didn't have everything he used. So I followed along, making the tags as I had the time, taking from his inspiration but certainly not making them the same. (Trust me, even if I had all the products I would never be able to make the tags as good as Tim Holtz!)

So here's what Tim did:



And here's mine set out in the same order so you can compare, or really contrast.




Some I was happy with, some not so much! But I sure learnt a lot along the way, stuff that I'll be able to use over and over again. Some techniques that really stand out to me are:

1. Using Perfect Pearls mixed with water and then splashed over the page (Tag 2)
2. I hardly ever use glitter as it's not really my thing, but the Rock Candy Stickles really did add a whole new dimension to a lot of the tags.
3. Making a plaid background with ink and gloss cardstock (Tag 3). I didn't do this myself as I don't have the right ink applicator.
4. Using masks of your stamps (Tag 7)
5. Burning vellum! (Tag 8)
6. Embossing metal (Tag 10)

And so much more that he did with his products that I couldn't do like making metal roses, grungepaper flowers and lots of stuff with plain sheets of grungeboard. You really should check them all out, it's worth reading through the step-by-steps.