Vintage Christmas Tags and a little Extra - by Claudia

Servus and thanks so much for stopping by today! Claudia here to bring to you a bit of Christmas crafts inspiration.

When it comes to Christmas decorations and gift wrapping I seem to be pretty much on the vintage and traditional side. Instead of using modern printed wrapping paper or going for the latest Christmas decoration trends I love to wrap presents in brown or red kraft paper instead and then decorate them with some self made gift tags. Our Christmas tree is also traditional - with lots of red in midst the dark green of the tree (alongside some silver, gold and white ornaments and baubles).

So I went for the same style with the gift tags. I especially fell in love with the new "Cardinal on Snowy Fir Bough" wood shape!

My first intention was to use it for a Christmas tree ornament, but I changed my mind while painting the bird and went for some gift tags instead. I guess the idea came from some playing cards I had covered with old book pages and which I have on my desk (in this Calico Craft Parts container HERE) - ready for use whenever inspiration strikes.

I knew I still had some gorgeous Christmas and winter themed wood shapes in my stash that would be just perfect for what I had in mind....some mistletoe, a fox in the snow, a Christmas tree - I used these three ;)

Calico Craft Parts used: 

- Flighty Fox MDF Wood Shape Style 13
- Christmas Tree MDF Wood Shape Style 4
- Cardinal on Snowy Fir Bough - MDF Bird Wood Shape
- Mistletoe Branch - MDF Wood Shape 


I started painting the lovely Cardinal with DecoArt Americana Primary Red and Plantation Pine. I left the branch unpainted and only painted the fir's needles. I rather dry brushed the Primary Red on instead of painting the bird, so not to loose any detail from the wood shape.

I went in with Hanser Light Green for more dimension with the fir needles.

Then I added the darker areas to the Cardinal using DecoArt media Carbon Black fluid acrylic paint and used Charcoal Grey and True Red Americana paints in some spots for additional depth.

The playing card that I had covered with some old book pages was given a coat of diluted DecoArt premium white Gesso to soften the contrast of the black text. Then I painted the edges with Charcoal Grey Americana paint in watercolour technique. Once that was dry I sprinkled on some Titanium White premium paint using my paint brush.

To glue the Cardinal to the dry tag I used matte DecoArt Decou-Page. All it needed then was a stamped on quote and some string...voilá!

I painted the mistletoe, the Christmas tree and the fox in the same technique - using a lot of DecoArt Americana paints and the white DecoArt Americana premium Gesso and Titanium White.

I also found a lovely sleigh in my stash of Calico Craft Parts that I simply painted in Americana Cinnamon Drop red. It will look great on our Christmas tree (or on a parcel...I haven't decided yet).

These are the finished tags:

Once again the lovely Cardinal...

...the gorgeous fox in the snow...

...a traditional Christmas tree with lit candles...

...and this most beautiful mistletoe branch!

I really love all the winter themed Calico wood shapes! They're perfect to create a feeling of Christmas magic and nostalgia, aren't they?

By then I was on a roll and decided to also paint some of the beautiful 3D Snowflake Bauble Wood Shapes and turn them into vintage style beauties!

I recently discovered a new product in the DecoArt range - Vintage Effect Wash paints! And they are really cool - I have used colours "Patina" and "Beige" on my baubles and the look they produce definitely transports you back to the Sixties! I have added a little glittery bling by using DecoArt Glamour Dust "Ice Crystal" on top, but that was almost impossible to capture in the picture...

...maybe the close ups show it a bit...

I primed the baubles with a coat of white DecoArt premium Gesso ...

...and then added the Vintage Effect Wash paints on top.

Once that had dried I applied the Glamour Dust (with a soft brush) and some DecoArt Snow Tex (with the very tip of my palette knife).

I added more Glamour Dust on top of the dried Snow Tex to imitate the look of glittering snow.


....aaaaand another attempt at showing the Glamour Dust effect. You can see it especially well on the right bauble, but the baubles all glitter - depending on the light and the angle you look at them.

It's such a quick but effective way to turn your Calico Craft Parts into vintage glittering beauties! I think these will look good on our tree as well.... ;)

Calico Craft Parts used:

- 3D Snow Flake Bauble - Style 1
- 3D Snow Flake Bauble - Style 2
- 3D Snow Flake Bauble - Style 3

I will be back on the 24th (which is the day we celebrate Christmas over here) with my three favourite Calico Craft Parts projects I've made this year. Just in case you won't be online, I would like to

wish you all a 

Merry Christmas!!!

Hugs and happy holidays!

Claudia

xxx