A very green tree!

While I was at the Eastwood crop over the weekend, one of the ladies was making a Christmas decoration using a technique I remembered from a long while back.  It is such a great way to recycle and create something to decorate your home that I decided to play today and create this tree.  Can you guess what its made from - it started life as a magazine!!
With just a few simple foldsI turned a regular magazine into a dimensional tree decoration.  It looked pretty good just as it was but the pages had a lot of pink and purple on them and I'm more a modern traditional kind of girl when it comes to Christmas decorations so I had to alter it!  I painted a rough coat of gesso to act as a 'tooth' for my colour layers and then added Distress Stain and Glimmer mist to create an ombre effect where the colour faded from dark at the base to light.  A few strings of pearls and some Adage tickets threaded with jump rings and word charms added just the right touch.  It was tons of fun and I will be adding a step-by-step photo tutorial to the forum in the next day or so. 
I have the perfect place for this and I think it might have a few baby brothers and sisters very soon.  A tree doesn't get much greener than this one which was saved from the recycling bin and given a new lease of life!

Today was also the last day of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas :( 

This was the last of his creations for this year......

I have to admit to finding the broken doll a bit freaky but I love the base layers of stamped text under music tissue paper.  He used his new punch to make a hole in the metal snowflake charm at the top and I have to admit to being a bit in love with that tool now I've seen it in action.  I have loads of metal embellishments that are hard to use as they don't have holes and this gadget solves that.  I will be keeping an eye out for it and also a few rolls of the tissue paper which comes on a roll just like kitchen foil!  It feels kind of sad that the 12 Tags are now over but that means that the madness of Christmas is stepping up a gear!!
We are offering a chance to step out of that madness with a 'Finish your Pages' open crop day next Saturday 17th December in Essex.  We have details on the shop website at www.totalpapercrafts.co.uk where you can also book - escape the shopping crowds and take some time for yourself!