Home for Christmas tags

Created these house tags for a swap on one of my groups. Theme was Home for Christmas so I searched for images on a clipart CD until I found a couple that spoke to me and I created tags using them as inspiration!!

The first one reminds me that Christmas, at one time, was all about the basics - friends, food and family!! People were grateful to be home with a fire burning and loved to prepare good food and plenty of it so when friends and family dropped they could share from their bounty. Stories were told, experiences were shared and a year's worth of blessing would be acknowledged. It was all about getting together and sharing!!

To create this tag I applied white gesso to a book page and stamped it with a large background stamp to add texture. Glued it to the house shape and trimmed it to the edges. Outlined the house with a black Sharpie and added yet more texture with a fine tip Sharpie marker to the interior surface of the house. Added the heart and framed photo with 3D foam tape and wrote the words and hearts by hand.

The second one reminds me of Christmas when I was a kid. It was always exciting to see cars pull into the yard one by one spilling people, food and presents as they came. Often, people had traveled distances in cold and less than desirable weather to be part of Christmas at our house. Cars would be plugged in or run several times during their stay so they would start, in the well below freezing temperatures, when it was time to head home. We would go to church and open presents when we got home. We always hoped that our one big present would be one of the items we had picked out of the Sears catalogue after months of perusing and making lists. We played board or card games, ate sweets, played outside and went for walks or ice skating!! It was about family and getting together.

For this one I added a bleached navy cardstock to the top and bottom and layered colourful scraps in between. Over the center section, I added a strip of sheet music. I coloured the frame black, mounted the image and added it to the tag with 3D foam tape. Added stitching with a black sharpie on the light areas and with a white gel pen on the dark areas. The heart is also mounted with 3D foam tape and the words are hand written.

I am getting into the Christmas mood. Have been creating Christmas card all year long and just all kinds for classes during the month of November. This was a fun little project and I am happy with the way they turned out!!

Therese