so knotty tutorial - xmas tag

welcome back gypsies! it's beginning to look a lot like xmas, so what better way to celebrate that to get our hands dirty and make a xmas tag!

this tag has lots of different techniques going on, and using twine is just the icing on the cake. so are you ready gypsies? then hold onto your sleigh bells and away we go!

 so let's start by making our holly and berries. i used tim holtz's "tattered leaves" die and a piece of authentique's "free bird" paper to make the leaves, and chose the twinery's "marachinno cherry" twine, which is an awesome xmas red.

to make the berries, i put a dab of "glue n seal" on a piece of scrap paper, then used my burnisher to hold the twine in the center while i coiled around until i got a berry that i liked. you might need to sculpt a little and flatten a little to get the shape. remember to stay small.

you'll need three berries for the tag. while the berries dried i shaped the leaves by misting them with water and crumpling them up. then i flattened them out and folded each in half, to get the "vein" down the center, and curled the edges a little for a more natural look.

next came the green layer. i took a piece of authentique's "free bird" paper and ran it through my sizzix using an "alterations" texture fold. using ranger ink's acrylic dabber in "pearl", i lightly painted the embossed paper, giving it a metallic look.

next i glued down the leaves and berries to the edge of the card - i like to use a glue gun because i can't stand waiting for glue to dry. once glued in place, i tipped the edges of the leaves and bits of each berry with glossy accent, and then sugared them with twinklets "diamond dust".

while the diamond dust dried, i prepared the tag. cutting a 3 1/2"x6" tag from a piece of authentique's "gathering" collection, i sanded the heck out of the edges, then edged it heavily with both "festive berries" and "evergreen bough" distress inks. lots of blending and layering gave me the vintage color.

once all the pieces were dried and ready, i glued down the green card onto the tag, added a strip of crumpled and inked craft paper, and hand stitched down the card with twine. i used my biggest paper needle and sewed a back stitch.

then it was time for the fun stuff. i took a chipboard scrap and used tim holtz's "fleurish" die to cut a fleurish. i coated the whole with the pearl dabber and glued onto the edge of the tag., the pom-pom trim is from my treasure drawer, and the xmas quote and "to" tag are elements from authentique's "wonder" collection. red stickles adds sparkle to the tree, and of course the edges are all sanded. i used "iced spruce" distress ink on the edges of the xmas quote. a punched hole and some more twine, and the tag is ready to give.

i hope you have been enjoying my "so knotty" tutorials as much as i've enjoyed making them. don't forget to leave your comment below for your chance to win this fabulous prize.

have great journeys this week, and come back to the caravan for the final "so knotty" on nov 26 - "sweater letters"!

so knotty tutorial - faux spiral notebook card

hello gypsies and welcome to the first "so knotty" tutorial. today i'm showing how to make a faux spiral binding. the project i used this for was a card, but this can also be used in page layouts - think "back to school" - and smaller minibooks as binding instead a coil binding.

so are you ready? well here we go!

 

first i chose something rosey and bright - it's been grey and rainy for days here, and i needed some bloominess. i chose authentique's "uncommon" papers and the twinery's "stone" twine - perfectly matched!

now if you're new to my caravan you should know that i hate clean untouched edges. so after choosing a paper and cutting it to 4"x6", step one is sanding! i sanded down the edges of the papers and the "unique" element. don't be intimidated by sanding - authentique papers are very thick and take a lot of abuse so grind away. {i use a mat to protect my table.}

 

next i pierced a row of holes along one edge of the card. tim holtz's acrylic ruler is great for this - did you know it has a line of holes along one edge just for this kind of work? i didn't until he told me! for the spiral binding look you'll want to pierce at 1/8" increments.

next i used my biggest paper needle and threaded the twine through, and sewed. i kept the twine very loose, and occasionally adjusted the loops as i went. you can also use a pencil for this part - lay the pencil along the card's edge and sew around it to maintain your "coil".

 

now that the spiral binding is done, it's time to build the card. i lightly inked the edges of the "unique" element and all of the card papers with "worn lipstick" distress ink.

i selected 2 more pieces of paper for the card's base - one striped piece cut to 4 1/4" x 6", so a little piece of striping shows below the top layer, and one piece 8"x6" folded in half to make the 4"x6" card base. i layered all the papers then set the "unique" element with a double stack of pop-squares for extra height.

 

final touches are stamps - these are cut from a 12"x12" sheet from the "uncommon" collection, with the edges sanded and inked, of course!

i hope you've been inspired by today's "so knotty" tutorial. make sure to leave a comment below and come back for the next "knottiness" on november 16 - the "loop-d-loop" card. remember, every time you visit and leave a comment, you're entered in the drawing for this fabulous prize!

so enjoy your journeys this week, and see you back at the caravan!