Welcome to Day 11 of 12 Tags of Christmas 2020!
Today we’re joined by Kelly Griglione, sharing loads of clever ideas inspired by “Deck the Halls.”
Be sure to leave a little love for Kelly – by commenting on this post – for a chance to win $25 to spend at ellenhutson.com, then click over to this post to enter the 12 Tags Challenge!
Hello Friends! It’s Kelly here to kick off Day 11 of our 12 Tags of Christmas with the carol “Deck the Halls.” When I picked this carol, I was thinking you could either:
1) be inspired by the title of the song and “deck” out your tags with pine branches, holly, berries, etc;
OR
2) go for the verse and draw from the “Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la.”
I took the latter approach and drew inspiration from all the “Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la’s” in two different ways for my tags.
The first interpretation is quite literal, as you can see. I cut a tag with the Altenew Holiday Tag Die Set and then cut letters with the new Altenew Linear Pathway Alpha Die Set from several different colors of green cardstock. This is a great time to use your scraps!
Funny story: Originaly I only had three “La’s” on my tag, until I figured I better double check that. Even after singing it a few times I had to slow the song way down and count the actual “La’s” on my fingers. Wouldn’t you know … there are FOUR “La’s” hahahahaha
The second interpretation is to feature the actual caroler who sings the Fa-la-la’s. But I don’t have any caroler stamps. What to do?
Modify! I used the elf from Essentials by Ellen Holiday Characters (on the left) and made three easy changes to turn him into the caroler on the right:
1) made the ball on his hat larger so his hat isn’t as pointy (used the snowflake from Altenew Holiday Tag Sentiments);
2) cut his pointy elf ears down to size; and
3) connected the lines from his nose and smile to create an open-mouthed (singing) oval
Now we’ve got an honest-to-goodness caroler!
There are so many different sentiments that work with your new caroler. All the sentiments I’ve used for these tags, including this one, are from the Altenew Holiday Tag Die companion set, the Altenew Holiday Tag Sentiments. Love the mix of open font that you can color in, and the scripty font. I’ve used one of the tiny branch images to fill out the sentiment. The wonky circle background is from my favorite Essentials by Ellen Wonky Backdrops.
Any time I use a sentiment like “from all of us,” I feel compelled to represent everyone in our family. Naturally I had to make 4 more carolers. It took me awhile to figure out a pattern to color the stripes in their hat, but once I got a pattern I was happy with, I was able to repeat it for the other color families.
I didn’t have any musical stamps handy, and since I was being too lazy to go look for them, I just grabbed a felt-tip pen and drew in a few notes. Don’t always feel constrained by your stamps, you can always just fake it if you need to, especially for small and simple things like this.
I had two carolers left over from my hat-coloring attempts, so instead of tossing them, I cut another tag. This particular tag die set comes with several different edges for you to cut, like this zigzag. I think it’s a great place to add the sentiment. Often I like to cut a second tag with a coordinating pattern so I can write on that layer instead of the front of the tag.
This tag is a combination of interpretations … we’ve got two singing carolers WITH the Fa-la-la’s between them. Obviously I needed a much smaller set of alpha dies to fit them all, so I turned to the Essentials by Ellen Letterboard Dies (which are nice because not only do you get a set of dies, but you get the whole letterboard to put them on.)
One more leftover, the elf. All I needed to add for him were some presents and holly. I used the edge die to cut the tag itself shorter so the background shows through.
With all of these carolers, don’t the tags seem so joyous and festive?
Now it’s over to you – what direction will you go with the Deck the Halls carol? I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
Thanks so much for stopping by, and hope you’re having a happy holiday season!
-Kelly
Kelly isn’t the only one decking the halls! Check out what these designers have created …
And don’t forget: we want to see your tags too! Head here to learn more about entering the 12 Tags Challenge!
57 Comments
Your elves turned carolers are so cute! Love all the tags.
well. actually there are 8! but you gave me a giggle, and always a smile, this morning, Kelly! Darling tags, wonderful job making these guys sing! xx
=]
These tags just made me smile. I love them. They are so cute!
Look at those elves, singing out their Fa-la-la-las and spreading joy! Adorable and most definitely festive! Fabulous array; Christmas spirit soaring in seeing these!
~carol
Very creative to make the elves carolers by using what you have on hand!
All of your tags are cute and colorful!
Thanks for the inspiration.
Your tags are really fun and festive, love the little elves.
Such a wonderful set of tags. Very festive 🥰🎄
Very fun! You got me singing the “Las” too! ha!
Kelly has started my day with a big chuckle! Love those huge letters and how she had to sing the song to herself and count1 Also, the surgery she did on the elf…….perfecto and so creative. Called stretching your stamps, for sure. Love the bright colors and the pure fun of these tags.
Love the monochrome tags!
Fun tags for this song today! The carolers are just adorable, and I love the colors you used for the Fa La Las!
Thanks for sharing all of these adorable tags!
Clever to turn the little elves into carolers. They are the cutest and the Fa La Las tags are so colorful.
What a cute and festive set of tags.
These caroling elves, and smiling elf, are some of the cutest designs I have seen this Christmas season! The way you put the tags together, the colors…LOVE THESE!!
Adorable tags! Love the elves…
Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful tags, you can’t help but smile! Love the idea of a second tag that you write on!
These elves are ADORABLE! I love the FA LA LA!!
Love those elves! They make me want to sing, too!
Love how you modified the elf stamps! Perfect carolers!
These are great, Kelly! This stamp set is now on my radar :). And I love the patterns you mixed in–and behind.
What a fun bunch of tags. I love those elves singing!
Super duper cute–all of them, Kelly! I absolutely adore the one with the 4 carolers! Happy Holidays!
So fun, love the monochromatic fa la la tags, and so clever how you created your carolers!
There is a whole lot of CUTE happening here!!
What beautiful tags! So beautiful! 💜
I just love what you done for these adorable tags and how you turned the elfs into carolers it’s a great idea thanks for sharing
How clever and cute to turn the elves into carolers.
So much fa la la la la fun
[…] is Day 11 of Ellen Hutson’s 12 Tags of Christmas 2020 Challenge and the talented designer is Kelly Griglione. Kelly chose “Deck the Halls.” Wow so […]
These tags are cute and festive I like that you figured out how to change up those stamped images and make them into something different
Oh these tags are
adorable! Love how
you created the elf
into carolers.
Carla from Utah
What a delightful collection of tags! The elf carolers are adorable and the FA LA
LA is so festive and fun!
music is one of my fav things about the holidays! these are so cute!
What a great collection of tags!
These are all adorable. How creative to make you own carolers.
l love that you used what you had on hand to make your carolers. Great inspiration!
Love these little guys.
Ohmygoodness, these are amazing! I love the festive colors and all the lettering you did for the falalas…and how genius turning your elves into carolers.
Such fun and festive tags!
Those carolers are so adorable!
Cuteness! Love the double tag idea!
What cute carolers you created! Love the tags you shared with us!!
I love how you changed those smilers to singers!
Your tags are adorable!
These are great! Love the retro vibe with your colors and style.
What an adorable set of tags that practically sing out with joy! Love the non-traditional colors and cute images.
Jolly and fun tags! I especially love the FA LA LA tags!
This is so clever! I love them!
Wow! Fantastic designs and colors! I love them all!
Love your tags and the somewhat non-traditional colors.