Finally!

It’s only two months late, but I have managed to complete a project inspired by each of Tim Holtz’s 2011 12 Tags of Christmas.  Done is good!

(Click on any photo to see a larger image.)

On day 11 he gave us a video showing how to use Shrink Plastic in the Melting Pot with UTEE Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel.

While it was highly entertaining to watch his video, it was even more fun to make my own pieces. I thought they would make wonderful little charms for a bracelet.

I used a whole bunch of different dies to cut the plastic, and also hand cut some purposely wonky hearts with scraps.

To make your own charms you’ll need to use a Crop-A-Dile or other hole punch to make a 1/4 -inch hole in each piece before shrinking.  This is so you can hang your charms with jump rings.  While the plastic is still a bit warm, use a an awl to poke the hole out.  This is easiest if you poke into something squishy, like an old mousepad.

It was hard to know from the start just which sizes were going to work out well for charms on a bracelet. That’s fine, because now I have a whole box of pieces that were either too large or too small that will be used on future projects.

I’d thought the birdcage and bird from the Caged Bird die would be cool, but the birdcage was a little too big.  I did use the bird though, he was just right.

The dress form from the Sewing Room Die was too big, but the thread spool was just perfect.

I also used the Tattered Florals Die, the Tattered Leaves die, as well as some older Sizzis dies.

All the pieces were colored on the back with alcohol inks, some got Snow Cap mixative on the back to create contrast.

This was a fun project, and I’m so happy to have completed a project with techniques from each of Tim’s 12 Tags. Now that he’s doing just one per month, it should be easy to keep up!

Happy creating. 🙂

Like my tutorials? Support me on Patreon for weekly peeks into my creative process and a bonus video every month!