Rusty Bells

(click on each photo for a close-up look!)
I am such a pack rat when it comes to craft supplies but I always know that sooner or later I'll eventually use things! I bought rusty bells, rusty trees, rusty flags and rusty stars years ago, I had all these rusty things and didn't know what to do with them, I guess I was going thru a rusty stage! hee hee!
I have been working on these tags on and off for a few weeks as I wasn't sure which direction I was going to go in embellishing them. I had added the paper and distressed them and then got stuck. I was sitting at my craft table and looked up and saw my bag of rusty bells and all these ideas started going thru my mind and these are what I came up with.
The large snowflakes and snowman are white felt stickers I got at Walmart a few years ago (knew I would use them one day!) and I painted them an ivory color and inked with Antique Linen distress ink and then stickles. I used some leftover coffee and dipped the felt I used for the snow and the fabric ties in it and let them dry overnight, which gave them an aged, rustic look. I hand embroidered a black line across the top of the "snow" and adhered it to the tag before I sewed around it with my sewing machine.

I wrapped the rusty trees with some copper trim and also used a copper leafing pen on the black buttons that are on the snowflakes. The primitive star is Bazzill chipboard which I painted, distressed and glittered. Ticket stubs are Tim Holtz and I added the "let it snow" rub-ons (which my dear friend Angela gave me for my birthday!)Medium snowflakes are sizzlets and I inked and glittered them. I used a punch for the small snowflakes, same technique and added a Kaiser Pearl to the middle of each one.

It wasn't that crowded out shopping today, well, except Costco (it was a madhouse by the time we left and that was only an hour after it had opened!) but at least we were able to get some yummy free samples!
It feels so good to be all done shopping and now I can play for the next month!
I'm so excited about my next project idea and I can't wait to get started on it!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Annette