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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Imitation: The Sincerest Form of Flattery



So Tim Holtz began his annual 12 Tags of Christmas (see first image above)

Not to sound snarky, but I've never seen the point of tags. I mean, it's not like people are going to go through all this trouble in order to make such beautiful and intricate tags for the typical purpose of tying on a package for the purpose of identifying the sender and the recipient.

So I've decided to play along, but my plan is to attach the tag to something I see as more practical. In other words, I'll make the tag and attach it as a card front for a card I intend to give this season. Or, I'll find a way to incorporate the design into a home decor item, with the hope that the result might end up being a Christmas decoration for years to come.

My other gripe is that I don't have all the supplies, and frankly I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff. You can see that I incorporated old dictionary pages as a background for the tag. The definitions are season and holiday appropriate. I made my wreath out of buttons. I didn't have wire to fashion into a tree, so I used a Holtz tree stamp. I didn't have a die cutting machine or the die that cuts that particular house, but I did use two of his stamps (a notebook paper stamp and a texture stamp) in order to fashion a paper house. He used some sort of flocking to indicate snow on the house, the tree, etc. I used glass glitter. He used a rubber stamp to make the admission ticket. I used some of his ephemera stickers.

And the fence....

The fence is pure Wendy. It's pure Re-Used Muse. It's actually an aged book binding. It's the stuff behind the spine in really old books...it looks like some sort of gauze or mesh adhered to thick cardboard.

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you are doing this because I need ideas...I signed up for a swap that includes some tags and I have no idea what to do. I might be copying you copying Tim...

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  2. The fence is my favorite.

    And I agree...I don't know what the point of tags is either!

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  3. I don't believe Tim ever meant for people to exactly copy everything he does. You get an idea and go from there. that is how you learn.

    Of course stamps and all the other things he has come up with plus classes etc. is How he makes a living. He is very Artistic and very likable--an excellent teacher.

    I enjoyed what you have done, Everyone has their own idea. I like Tags and others like to do cards, but that is the way it is.

    If we all did the same exact thing--said the same thing. What a Dull world this would be,

    Enjoy your life as you see it and learn

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