Christmas Tag for October Swap

I was partnered with my friend Mary for this month's swap & I'd seen a card in the newest Stampers Sampler (pg. 59 by Lynn Stevens of Kuna, ID). I loved the image she created & wanted to utilize some of the elements as I knew I had a pine cone stamp that I'd picked up at a Customer Tag Sale at Life's Memories & More... Thanks, Lynn for creating the original card & I hope that you consider this tag a compliment.

This tag is much more defined than it appears, but I couldn't wait for the sun to rise & give me natural lighting, so you'll have to crisp it up in your mind.


The elements are:
Vintage tag naturally aged
Border punch from Fiskars using a scrap of pale green card stock
Border chalked using Color Box pigment color: Celadon
Black piece of cardstock
Page from old Hans Brinker book
All Night Media pine cone stamp
Archival Ink
Vintage Photo Distress Ink sponged on the pine cone
Pale grey Prismacolor colored pencil for snow on the cone
Tiny holly leaves
Holly berries using Ruby Red Stickles
Soft fibers

I began this project yesterday after work & finally added the stickles at 6:30 this morning. I'm so pleased as it's just the final touch I was looking for. Mary loves bling, but this image is so natural that a crystal or even a flower didn't seem right. I played with the idea of a small cardinal, but didn't want to distract from the star of the show. I think a delicate chickadee would work with the color combination, but Katie taught me to add a "pop of color". The holly berries are because of you, Kate.

Mary's receiving 3 identical tags (per our organizer's instructions). I would add a separate To: From: tag attached with a brad so that I could keep the original tag intact ...

I might have to make more of these for my own gift-giving.