Christmas at Sweet Stampin' PSX tags

It's me! I'm back! (giggle)
Welcome to my little blog - And some Christmas tags! Every year I intend to make "to-from" tags, and I never do! So here are three, and if no other tags are made, at least I finally did three (chuckle).

Today begins a new challenge at

Christmas at Sweet Stampin'!

My marvelously brilliant teammates have fantastic samples to share! We hope to see your imaginative artwork each month in our "Anything Goes Christmas" Challenges. The challenge is for ANY Christmas theme craft project. March's Challenge is open until April 9.

This month I'm playing with a virginal "used" stamp gifted to me by friend Paula. Paula and I both went into deep mourning when PSX stopped producing.
Do you remember PSX? Do you have any of their beloved stamps in your stash?
This stamp has been in my stash for years, and I'm guessing that Paula had it for at least 10 years previously.

Sporting blue (for my cold northern friends):



Pretty in Pink for my girly-girl blogging friends:

And red-green for traditionalists:

All the products are "golden oldies" except for the colored pencils. It was fun making these sweet tags!

Some Products Used:
Image: PSX F1321 Christmas Bird House - Ebay has one here.
Dies: Darice Ornate Rectangles, Poppystamps Stitched Main Street Tags, Poppystamps Stitched Festival Tags, Spellbinders Labels 23, 
Colored With: Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 Color Pencils and various inks.

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

• ABC Christmas Challenge (March) E-F-G (E embellishment, F fabric, G glitz) lots of embellies, fabric ribbons/fibers, glitter & Gold glossy 4/1 (sep post)

• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #45 AG Christmas 3/26 (sep post)

• Merry Little Christmas Challenge #8 AG Christmas 4/1 (sep post)

• Crafting from the Heart #238 AG 3/18

• Incy Wincy Designs #16 Let's Use Ribbon 3/18

• Colouring in Scrapland (Mar 4) "Critters" 4/1

• Happy Little Stampers (March 5) Christmas Tags 4/2 (winners tag right bar)

On A Personal Note:

(if reading directly from blog post, click photos to enlarge)
Are you familiar with a tropical plant called Platycerium (commonly known as a Staghorn Fern)? Most people see a "pup" in a nursery:


We moved ours from Tampa back in the 1980s and they were already 15 years old. Because our climate has frequent freezes and frosts, we used to "cover them" with many king-size quilts and blankets for weeks at a time to keep them warm enough through the winter. But they have grown considerably, and we have grown not quite as energetic, so they are no longer covered during freezes and frosts. Apparently they have acclimated because these photos were taken last month after 2 days of freezing temperatures (and other frosty-freezing days prior to that):



Hanging in homemade wire baskets that are about 4 feet across with long quadrupled lengths of 1 inch "mule tape", the fronds (leaves) are rather "pale" and beat up from cold northern winds at this time. The fronds are between 2-3 feet long each.

The "shield fronds" cover the base of the plant where the lengthy fronds come out. If a knife or ice pick is used to puncture a green shield frond, more "pups" will emerge. Then the pups can be cut out later and transplated, or left to grow in place, as we have done here. They are about 8 feet across (2.5 meters) and seem quite happy with their home. We never dreamed they would survive here.

In the following photo the bright green trees in the background are wild NON-indigenous cheery trees (no fruit) which are, SADLY, taking over the native oak habitat. Those are on someone else's property. We remove all non-indigenous trees on our property.

We call the oak trees "Live Oaks", although there are several varieties of oaks in our hammock. There are 2 squirrel-proof bird feeders (to the extreme right a box, and left, a cylinder). The one on the left is a dream at keeping the heavier birds and squirrels out of the feed. The right feeder is 30 years old and needs to be replaced. The squirrels can "hang" from the top because of the rust (giggle).

The azaleas in the far back right are twice the height of a person:



At the top left (below) are some white and pale pink azaleas, again, twice the height of a person. Azaleas require shade in Florida due to the hot, sunny summers, and enjoy an acid soil:



thanks for visiting!
hugs,