How to Host a Holiday Craft Party

 

Happy December crafters!  Last year I couldn't get around to participating in the In My Creative Opinion 25 Days of Christmas Tags challenge, but this year I just had to find time to play along.  This is Tracey McNeeley's NINTH year of hostessing this fun and easy challenge.  This is my second year participating.  But the idea for making this into an annual holiday craft party has been brewing for some time...  My daughter and I regularly craft with my friend @carolinasweetlee.  Together, we developed quite the system for making a load of tags in one day's play.  Here's how...  Make sure to pin this for reference later.  :)

Start an assembly line.  Either come to the craft party with multiple sized tags precut/purchased for each participant or do like we did and spend the first hour in assembly line style production die cutting your tags and embellishments.  Cut at least four of each element for every person.  Make sure to have a variety of sizes and shapes for your tag bases.

Break for food.  Our arms were tired at this point so we stopped for tasty snacks/lunch.  Ask each participant to bring something simple to pull together a quick bite. 

Get inspired.  Have the coordinator email/text Tracey's Pinterest board to the group for inspiration.  Each player can pull up the board on her phone while they craft.  CASE the tags using products you've gathered beforehand.  Have each player bring a few key stamps or dies.

Make multiples.  The best way to end the day with a great variety/quantity of tags is to make at least 3 or 4 of each tag as you go.  It is so much easier to  make a few of one tag at a time than to spend all that time and end up with only one tag.  Go for gold!

Finishing touches.  Assemble your tags first, embellish last.  As you hunt for bling or ribbon you can grab what you need for each set of tags at once rather than spending time on a treasure hunt for just one set.  Plus if you all pull our your ribbons and accessories at the same time you can trade and share.  

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Wrap it up.  To finish the day sort and photograph your tags, take a group selfie, then make a few quick and easy gift boxes.  I've shared a post HERE with tons of sized boxes you can make with a bit of cardstock and a scoreboard.  Give away sets of 6-12 tags in little boxes.  What a perfect way to say thank you/Merry Christmas to teachers and coworkers!

I made a simple box following the instructions on my post, die cutting a window before gluing, then embellishing with upcycled ribbon and Tim's Shadow Script Christmas dies.

My original post:

Now let's take a look at my tags and the beautiful creations that inspired them.  I used 95% Tim Holtz products for my tags because those are the products I have and love the most.  It's always fun to make something "your way" you know?  :)  Make sure to visit Carol and Sydney's Instagram pages to see their tags. 

First up, this bright set.  I used Distress Oxides with Tim's Tattered Christmas stamp set and coordinating die cuts.

Bonus Day 26
Inspired By Grace Camou

I stamped Tim's Festive Overlay stamp set onto tags I cut from the Labels die set and embellished with Festive Things dies.

  Day 25
Inspired By Leanne West

The sleigh stamps are from the Mini Carved Christmas stamp set stamped onto Stacked Postage dies.

 Day 25
Inspired By Tracey McNeely

I layered Festive Things dies and Holiday Words dies with stamping from the Flurry and Pine stamp set stamped in Picket Fence Distress Ink.

Another version of this tag using the Tattered Christmas stamps and Distress Markers.

Day 23
Inspired By Maryám Pérez

I used an Elizabeth Craft mistletoe die over Tim's Snowfall and Speckles Texture Fade.

 

Day 20
Inspired By Ardyth Percy-Robb

Mini Carved Christmas stamped in Festive Berries DI with punched Juniper over Mini Swirly Snowflakes. 

 

Day 20
Inspired By Lisa Bzibziak

Using punches is a great timesaver.  This XL snowflake punch is by Martha Stewart.  I used the castoff portion to CASE these tags.  I inked them with Evergreen Bough DI and stamped them with the Tattered Christmas sentiment.

Day 20
Inspired By Sharna Waksmulski

Throughout the year when I participate in the 30 Day Coloring Challenge, I do some coloring with my future tags in mind.  This darling stamp set is by STAMPlorations, colored with Distress Markers and layered over Tim's Paper Stash.

 

 

Day 18 

Inspired By Cupcakes, Cards & Kim

More Paper Stash layered with Mini Carved Christmas. 

 Day 17

Inspired By Just Me: Carol

Tattered Christmas stamps colored with Distress Markers.

 

Day 10
Inspired By Natasha Kara

More Tattered Christmas stamps colored with Distress Markers over sponged Distress Oxide backgrounds. 

 

 

Day 7 

Inspired By Leanne West

Ranger Mint Chip Speckle embossing powder over the Martha Stewart punched snowflakes, layered over Tim's Snowfall and Speckles Texture Fade.

 Day 4

Inspired By Julie Beech

These were a fun way for me to mark my kid's Christmas Eve gifts.  We always forget which box they are in!  LOL!  I used Tim's Storybook Bigz XL die with stamped Mini Swirly Snowflakes.

 

Day 1

Inspired By Svitlana Shayevich

Thank you so much Tracey for hostessing another fabulous year of inspiring tags.   Check out these generous sponsors for Tracey's challenge.  Make sure to check out the rules in her post HERE to play along.  This challenge ends on December 6, but make sure to follow In My Creative Opinion in anticipation of next year's challenge.  Hugs, Autumn

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