Hi, crafty friends! November and December are usually fairly hectic around here, and this time, they were especially hectic. I changed jobs and felt like I worked around the clock, which left little time for blog posts and to upload my creations to Instagram. As a result, I’m playing catch-up, and I have a few more holiday cards and tags to share over the next few weeks. Let’s face it, I make Christmas cards all year anyway, so I’d probably be sharing holiday cards in January even if November and December hadn’t been as crazy as they were.

Every year I seem to create just enough Christmas cards by making them all year, but I tend to neglect gift tags and scramble last minute to get them done as I wrap presents. This time I was a little more ahead, and this gift tag was one of the early ones I made, featuring Mittens from Purple Onion Designs, as well as the Snow-capped Duo in the background.

I created a very layered tag for my niece and used the Stitched Traditional Tag STAX die set from My Favorite Things to achieve that faux stitch look that I’m such a fan of. I used another stitched die from MFT to create the slope in the background and added both the ground and my fussy cut cat using foam tape.

Through the hole at the top, I looped a bit of tinsel and tied a bow around it using Purple Plum divine twine from Whisker Graphics. I also die cut a letter tag using the Personalized Tags die set from My Favorite Things from some Winter Wisteria cardstock from Papertrey Ink. My niece loves purple, so I thought it fit nicely. I also added a charm with a pair of mittens, I just couldn’t help myself. This tag doesn’t even have to be a holiday tag, it’d be perfect for someone born in the winter months (not my niece, though, her birthday’s in June).

On the back of the tag I used a piece of patterned paper from the Forever Green paper pack from Moda Scrap. I die cut it using that same stitched tag die from MFT that I used on the front and stamped a to/from stamp from the B06 stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS using Milk Chocolate ink from MFT. I love their inks, they stamp so well!

You wouldn’t think I’d use this many colors for such a small image, but I did. I even airbrushed the sky in the background using B93, 91 and 90 (a color I’ve made myself), and used BG93 and BG90 with a tip to tip technique on the trees in the background for just a hint of color. I wanted the main focus to be on the cat in the foreground, so I chose very soft colors for the background.