Paper Straw Christmas Tree Tag

I've been having so much fun with the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event this year.  With the exception of yesterday, I've entered a tag every day so far.  For me, that's a lot of entries.  And yes, there are those people who whip up oodles of quick tags so that they can link up several times per day or in a row; but that's not my style.  I prefer to put a bit more thought into each tag (or project) I make.  I think the talented artists who inspire our creativity deserve that, and our own integrity deserves it as well.  At least that's the way I see it, and we're all entitled to our own opinions, right?  I also believe that if and when I'm meant to win anything, I will.  So...I just continue to do what I love....and that's to simply create.  Win or lose, I'm having fun!

I created this little tag by cutting a tag from Paper Sweeties' cute tag die-cut called For You Sweet Cuts.  It's the PERFECT sized tag, and a must-have for everyone's crafting.  You can still get this sweet set before they're gone.  Just stop by Paper Sweeties, or click this link to get your FOR YOU SWEET CUTS.

I cut small pieces of Strawberry Paper Straws, Licorice Paper Straws, and a few others I had on hand.  For the colors of paper straws I didn't have, I rolled up patterned paper to create those "logs" (the plaid and the green polka dot).  I inked them all just a bit to give them an aged or "grunge" look, and I attached each one to my tag using pieces of Scor-Tape.  At the top of my "Christmas Tree", I added a hand-cut star that's covered in copper glitter and a smaller PTI star tag with a PTI stamped image.  The final touches were the two different ribbons I attached at the top.  One is super old Making Memories ribbon, and the other is Red Center Stitch Burlap.

Here's where I'm playing along:

25 Days of Christmas Tags - I was very inspired on Day 17 when JilliBean Soup was the featured sponsor.  I created a few tags inspired by their creative Design Team Members including Kristine Davidson who shared this sweet tag using paper straws to create a Christmas tree.  I loved that idea!

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Challenge #360 - Anything Goes Christmas/Optional Blue - I didn't use any blue, sorry!

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - November Challenge - I used two patterned papers (the plaid and the green polka dot) to roll up and create "logs" for my tree because I didn't have enough different Christmas colors of paper straws.