Once again my planned project didn’t quite turn out as I’d originally planned. This morning I sat down intending to make a Christmas-themed bottle tag. It was inspired by the “Cheers from our home to yours” sentiment from the Tidings & Trimmings Stamp Set. However despite pulling out card in traditional Christmas red and green, things took an entirely different direction. Sometimes that’s just how it goes…

BOTTLE TAG BASICS

My bottle tag started very simply with a 2-3/4″ x 8-1/2″ piece of Real Red Card. This is a nice size as it means you can make four bottle tags from a single 8-1/2″ x 11″ sheet of card.

After cutting the card I scored it at 2-3/4″, folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. This smaller top section would become the part that slides over the bottle neck, but first it needed a hole. For this I turned to the Layering Circles Dies and the #3 plain-edged circle (counting from the smallest up).

At this point I cut some Old Olive Card to layer on top of the main section of the tag but decided not to attach it just yet. Instead I thought I should get the sentiment and decorative pieces prepared first.

So I pulled out the Tidings & Trimmings Stamp Set with the “Cheers from our home to yours” sentiment. Using VersaMark ink I stamped it onto a scrap of Basic White White Card. Then I sprinkled the sticky ink with black embossing powder from the Basics Stampin’ Embossing Powders pack. After tapping off the excess I checked the piece and removed a few stray specks. Then I melted the rest using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

Once the embossing had cooled I went back to my Mini Cut & Emboss Machine and cut out the sentiment using the #2 plain-edged circle die. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I mounted it onto the Real Red circle cut from the top of the tag. With that done I set the sentiment aside while I worked on the final elements of my design.

CHRISTMAS TRIMMINGS?

The last pieces would be quick to do, but first I had to attach Adhesive Sheet to the back of some gold card from the Brushed Metallics Cardstock. Then I cut out one large detailed star and two small detailed stars using the Christmas Trimmings Dies set.

Next from the Christmas Trimmings Dies I took the two star outlines. These I cut from Basic Black Card, again one large and two small. Finally after pulling the Adhesive Sheet backing I simply layered the gold stars onto the black ones and pressed firmly.

Now I was ready to work out exactly where all the various pieces would fit on the front of the bottle tag. As I positioned the three stars I realised that they didn’t necessarily have to be for Christmas. So here’s where I went looking for an alternative background layer.

I found what I needed in the Simply Elegant 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. It was a simple pattern of thin black lines and dots on a white background. Delicate, but when positioned vertically gave an interesting sense of movement. Perfect. So I cut a 2-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ piece of the DSP and mounted it onto the tag using liquid glue.

The three stars came next, all attached using Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then to finish I stacked two layers of Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back of the layered sentiment and nestled that among the stars.

This wasn’t what I had in mind when I started, but I love how this bottle tag turned out. What do you think?

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Tidings & Trimmings Stamp Set and coordinating Christmas Trimmings Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the same two items separately. I’ve included both options below in case you want to explore these further.