Ellen Hutson 12 Tags of Christmas with Altenew

Hi Folks! Oh boy, I'm beyond excited to partner up with Norine Borys from the Altenew design team as part of Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas series! So far in this series you've seen 8 pairs of wonderful tags where each team has a theme. Norine and my theme is "watercolor". I created a set of four tags, each using the Altenew Hug Me stamp/die set, and the Essentials by Ellen Snow Days by Julie Ebersole.

I was thrilled to try out the Altenew watercolor paint and couldn't be more pleased with how saturated the colors are. Sometimes when I use a set of watercolors there are several colors included that are too close to each other, or half of them are blues and greens, or they just aren't colors that I'm drawn to. After trying out all the colors I'm happy to say there are a really good mix of colors included in the set, and I know I will get lots of use out of them all.

I watercolored inside the fox with a very dry brush. Before I stamped the berries, I watercolored those with red instead of inking the stamp.

The background on the tag is lightly blended with ink through the Altenew Flowing Drops stencil. To make the sentiment fit below the fox on the tag, I stamped the first line of text separately above his tail. It's a good reminder to not feel constrained to stamp the words as they're laid out on the stamp.

This tag uses the same dry brush watercoloring for the fox and his balloons. I put a mask over him and then blended ink through the Molded Lines stencil. While the mask was on the fox I also stamped the sentiment.

I couldn't decide what I wanted to dress him in, so I made a few different shirts ... the shifted polka dot shirt with blended ink through the Feeling Dotty stencil, and the berry shirt with the stamped berries from Peony Bouquet.

The berry shirt was a little much with the vibrant second layer tag (two rounds of blended ink through the Altenew Elegant Swirls stencil) so I went with the polka dot shirt. To finish this one off I added some Essentials by Ellen FROSTY snowball droplets.

Here's another tag with a Flowing Drops background. The second layer is stamped with the pattern stamp from Snow Days and blended with the same color ink (Catherine Pooler's Tutti Frutti).

I was going to leave it at three tags, but then I saw these two little foxes left over on my desk and knew I just couldn't leave them behind. How little effort would it take to make just one more tag, anyway?

So glad I did, as they look adorable hanging together at the bottom of this tag! I raised the sitting fox with some foam for a little dimension to the scene. The background of the top tag is stamped from Snowy Day, and the background of the bottom tag is stenciled with Flowing Drops.

And there you have it! A set of four foxy Christmas or winter tags!

I really do like layering the tags, as it gives you a chance to add another color in the mix.

 

Having a bottom layer to your tags also helps set the tag off from the present. In this case, the tag is light so you can write on it, but the present is also wrapped in a light kraft color. Without the dark bottom tag, the light tag might just get lost on the light kraft present.

I also feel like you have a little more leeway with the height of your layers on tags, than on cards which are going to have to fit in an envelope. So if you generally hold back on using foam adhesive for cards, now's your chance to use it on a tag.

Sure hope you enjoyed the watercolored winter fox tags!

Please go check out Norine Borys' blog to see the gorgeous tags she watercolored!

Thanks so much for stopping by : )
- Kelly

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Altenew Clear Stamps, Hug Me (Retiring) Altenew Clear Stamps, Peony Bouquet Altenew Dies, Peony Bouquet Snow Days by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Altenew Stencils, Flowing Drops Altenew Stencils, Feeling Dotty Altenew Stencils, Elegant Swirls Altenew Stencils, Molded Lines Snowball Droplets, Essentials by Ellen Embellishments Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Black Jack Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Tutti Frutti Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Party Dress Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Garden Party Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Eucalyptus Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Spruce Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Green Tea Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Mint To Be Altenew Watercolor Paint, 36 Pan Set My Sweet Petunia Mini MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (6-1/8 X 7) Altenew Watercolor Palette - Medium Altenew Watercolor Pan Case