Hello all, and a very merry Christmas all round.  I'm dropping in to share some festive inspiration and delight that's available on my YouTube channel.  Yes, there are more Christmas tags, but also some non-tag projects, not to mention a gentle festive reading with musical accompaniment.  

Hello, all - hope your festive preparations are going well.  I've been unpacking my storage crate of Christmas and winter creations so that I can decide what gets to go on display this year... and it's not easy to whittle it down! 

(You can watch the unboxing over on my YouTube channel and see all of these as they emerge from storage - and hear a bit more about the products used.)

I've got a seasonal corkboard which can display 21 tags at a time, chosen to reflect the time of year.  Halloween/Autumn had been up for far too long, so it was time to make a change.  But I'm only halfway down the crate, and already I've got far too many to choose from... I sorted them into groups so that I could try to make more sense of them all.

There are the reds... 

There are the blues and greens and neutrals...

And there are the jumbo tags created from the 12 Tags of Christmas inspiration provided by Linda Coughlin, the Funkie Junkie, when she used to share a Christmas inspiration challenge in the weeks leading up to the festival... 

It's a little bit overwhelming seeing them all together... and as you'll see if you watch the video linked above, we're not done yet!  

There are some non-tags in the crate too, and they'll be coming up next, and then there's an Advent set of 25 numbered tags for the final countdown.  

I'll aim to share those with you over the next week or so in the run-up to Christmas.

But in the meantime, which 21 would you put on your corkboards, if you had to choose?!  See you again soon for the next bit of unboxing.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy crafting, all!

Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.
Edna Ferber

It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees. They’re putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace.
Joni Mitchell

Hello all... well, I did quite well there on posting for a few weeks, and then it all slipped out of focus again!  I'm just hopping on quickly to keep you posted about what's going on over on my YouTube channel - which is also called Words and Pictures, of course.

I always find it hard to get into the festive swing before December arrives - I prefer to keep Christmas confined to as close to the twelve days as possible.  (24th December - 6th January are when I feel properly Christmassy!)  But things are starting to look a little more festive as I try to get myself in the mood.  Tougher than usual this year, what with everything that's going on in the world.

But you can join me for some starry, snowy backgrounds with lots of stencil techniques here... A Few Minutes of Fun with Mixed Media Winter Backgrounds

Enjoy some watercolour stamping with Distress Inks and Tim Holtz stamps here...  A Few Minutes of Fun with Winter Greenery

And/or see a couple of those backgrounds take the next steps, with my PaperArtsy EAB29 Mistletoe Edition stamps and lots of Tim Holtz die-cuts here... A Few Minutes of Fun with Mixed Media Mistletoe Tags

There's a final (for now, at least) episode of Books Books Books, looking at a couple of festive book-based creations - a couple of altered covers and some art journalling here...  Festive Art Journalling and Altered Book Covers. (Over the next couple of Wednesdays, I'm planning to take a look back over past years of Christmas tags... it's a big crate!)

And if you're not ready to go full-on Christmas yet, how about a flip through - including readings of the poetry fragments - of the accordion album I created for my recent PaperArtsy stamp launch.  I promise this one will bring you a few moments of calm in the hubbub of the run-up to the festive season.  Here you go... Winter Sunrise Accordion Album

There's lots more to explore on the channel since I last updated you, so join me at the craft table for the perfect escape from all your festive to-do lists.  I hope you're all doing well, and good luck with the preparations!

Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.
Paul Theroux

Christmas is not an external event at all, but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.
Freya Stark

Santa Claus has the right idea... visit people only once a year.
Victor Borge

Hello all and a slightly belated happy New Year!  (Anyone singing along after that post title is revealing their age!)  Just squeaking in under the promised wire (to share the rest of the Advent Countdown tags before the end of the 12 Days of Christmas - 6th January)... here are the remaining December tags, with a shot of the whole collection at the end.

Here's a sneak peek of the final arrival...

The last of the juniper berry backgrounds (using my PaperArtsy EAB28 Juniper Edition) were the last of the red and green collection... 

These two don't actually belong together as a pair, but they got made and posted at the same time.  Each of them does have a partner in the collection - you'll see them united at the end of the post.

Some more juniper berries to finish things off... and we all know who appears at the end of the Advent Countdown!

Apologies all... the days before Christmas got away from me, with all the running around and preparations. I'm sure you know what I mean!  These quiet days after all the hustle and bustle are my favourites - curled up by the Christmas tree, with candlelight, music and good books - time for hibernation and reflection. 

But I did keep up my tag-making over the days of Advent, so I'm here to share those creations in a couple more batches.  Even though we're done counting down to Christmas, instead we're counting the twelve days of Christmas.  Today is the fifth day so, instead of five gold rings, here are some more tags!

The amazing Tim Holtz Layered Snowflake die, and some of my own PaperArtsy text stamps creating detail in the icy backgrounds:

I made several of these starry snowy backgrounds in some mixed media playtime.  Again, it's Uncharted Mariner for the most part (which was fast becoming my colour of the season by this point!)... that beautiful turquoise blue has a gorgeous wintry look when paired with white:

Fussy-cutting is not my strong point, but it's much easier when you leave a white frame - and that works so well for winter.  It was definitely worth the effort to get these sprigs of my PaperArtsy EAB29 Mistletoe layered in with the Tim Holtz greenery (over some more starry snowy backgrounds):

I had no idea where these two were going when I started, and at one point I thought I'd completely overdone it with the layered backgrounds, but it all started to work again as soon as I positioned the two Paper Dolls.  In fact they became some of my favourites of the whole countdown:

That's enough for one go... I'll be back with the rest of the collection before the 12 Days are up (6th January), I promise!

Hope you are all enjoying a peaceful, happy time - and that those of you affected by the winter storms are staying safe and warm.

Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.
Winston Churchill

Hello all!  I'm trying to create something daily during December so I'm here to share the first week's worth.  There are definitely some new wintry favourites among them for me...

Day 1

Day 2