Here is why this project was one of my faves! While I was thinking about what colors to use to color each of the images I thought of my Winnie the Pooh toy from my childhood. I immediately knew I had to make the teddy bear look like Winnie the Pooh. This toy was one of my favorites as a child and I still have it, so I definitely felt like I was adding childhood Christmas memories to this project.
I hope you enjoyed this stroll down memory lane with me and seeing how this Making Spirits Bright Christmas Tag came to life!

Supplies

I began by painting the Shrine with Black Soot Distress Paint both inside and outside. I also painted a small Vignette Box black and placed that on the bottom of the shrine to create the altar.The tablecloth on the altar is a piece of Bristol Paper trimmed to size and inked with Salty Ocean Distress Ink. I then adorned it by using the Fanciful Impresslit which was cut and embossed from a piece of Bristol Paper and them very lightly inked with Salty Ocean Distress Ink.

The banner was created using the smallest square die from the Stacked Square Thinlits. I first inked small pieces of cardstock with Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn and Spiced Marmalade. I then die cut each several squares from each color. Next, I layered on a small skull from the Trick or Treaters Thinlits, which was lightly inked with the same color. Each banner was then adhered to a length of white craft thread to create the banner and then attached to the shrine and across the front of the altar.The background inside the shrine is Bristol paper cut and trimmed to size. I stamped the paper with Mustard Seed Distress Oxide using the Tapestry Stamp Set. After stamping the image, I lightly wiped over it to smudge and blend the ink. I then adhered it to the back and sides of the shrine using Collage Medium. Once the inside was completed, I added the black zig zag edged Halloween Trim Tape to the edge of the shrine to the give edges a more finished look.

In the center of the back of the shrine I framed a Found Relative, trimmed to size, with an Idea-ology Deco Frame.
For the pieces on the altar, I created a mix of sugar skulls, baubles and chrysanthemums to mimic some of the items you would find on a traditional Day of the Dead altar. The baubles were colored with Alcohol Ink in Fiesta, Sailboat Blue and Citrus. The sugar skulls were created using the same technique Tami Bastiaans used in creating her Halloween Candy Shoppe. I quickly brushed the skull with Collage Medium and cover it with colored Distress Rock Candy Glitter. I used the same Alcohol Ink colors on the skulls as I did on the the baubles.The chrysanthemums were created using a couple of flower dies from the Funky Florals 1 Thinlits. I inked Bristol paper with Spiced Marmalade and the die cut a million flowers from the paper. At least it seemed like a million! I only used the large flower shape and not the centers to create these flowers. After die cutting the flowers, I spritzed the lightly with my Distress Sprayer and the crinkled and folded them so as to bring the petals up from the center of the flower and to create a 3D flower shape. Once all of the flowers were dry, I then hot glued a flower into the center of a second flower to make it even more 3D. For this step, I choose the faster drying of a hot glue gun just to speed the process along for creating so many flowers. Once all of the flowers were completed, I also added in some flowers from the Idea-ology Bouquet to mix up the size and texture just slightly. To adhere all of the flowers, I once again used a hot glue gun due to the faster drying time.

Now to the main feature...the Day of the Dead Colorize! These two characters were so fun to put together and added the perfect touch to my Day of the Dead Shrine. I have found that I prefer to cut all of the pieces from white Bristol Paper and then ink it the color I want it as I'm assembling the pieces. When working with really small thin pieces, I adhere a piece of Purple Tape (any low tack tape will work) to the back side of the paper that the die cut was cut from. I then put the die cut back in place and the tape keeps it secure while I ink it using a foam blending brush. For the Day of the Dead I used the following Distress Ink colors: Picked Raspberry, Candied Apple, Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn and Spiced Marmalade. The black pieces were actually cut from black cardstock and the guitar was inked with Ground Espresso, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo.Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed learning how my Day of the Dead Shrine featuring the Tim Holtz Sizzix Day of the Dead Colorize Thinlits came together. I also hope it inspired you in some way to make your own version of a Day of the Dead Shrine.

Hey friends! The holiday crafting continues as Tim Holtz just released his Sizzix Chapter 4 dies. Although this release is a bit smaller than the others, it is filled with loads of inspiration and so many great dies that are perfect for the upcoming holiday season. If you happened to miss the Facebook Live, you can always watch the replay either on Tim's Facebook page or his blog. Today, I'm sharing this Christmas Greetings Card using the gorgeous new 3D Texture Fade Engraved, which was one of the projects I created for the Facebook Live.

Embossed Shimmer Technique

I just want to share, that the photos really don't do this card justice in my opinion. There is so much shimmer, shine AND distress with this technique! When I was first working on this card, I really thought it was going to just end up in the trash. I really didn't like the way things were going. However, I was crafty chatting with a friend of mine (AKA crafting and chatting on Facetime) and I had mentioned wishing I could add some shine to the card, but I didn't want glitter. She mentioned Perfect Pearls and my brain took off. So let me walk you through what I'm calling the Embossed Shimmer Technique.I began with a piece of watercolor paper cut to 4.5 x 6.25 inches. I embossed it with the Engraved 3D Texture Fade following the recommendations of spritzing it with a little water and then running it through my machine three times.Once the paper was dry, I rubbed over it with an embossing ink pad. I then sprinkled it with Weathered Wood Embossing Glaze and heat embossed it. Next, I worked in small sections and rubbed Walnut Stain and Evergreen Bough Distress Crayon into all the nooks and crannies of the design and then wiped over the entire piece to remove any excess.