The Legend of the Christmas Spider ala Tim Holtz

The 2nd compendium challenges are winding down...I wonder what Linda over at Studio L3 has in store for the next challenge theme?  Challenge #33 can be found on page 36....Tissue Tape.  Simon Says Stamp is the sponsor and will be giving away a $25.00 gift certificate for their store to one randomly chosen winner.  I have a shopping list ready to go...just saying!  lol

Do you know the Legend of the Christmas Spider? 

Long, long ago, on one Christmas Eve, the spiders were banished from homes while the houses were cleaned for Christmas and their webs were broken. They just managed to survive and had to move to the farthest corner of the attic for the time being. However, some of the young spiders longed to see the decorated Christmas trees and the little Christ child that came to bless the homes in the midnight. The elders tried to make them understand that they were not allowed inside the rooms but the young spiders were quite curious and adamant. Finally, the oldest and wisest spider came up with a solution and suggested that in the night, when everybody went to bed, perhaps they could creep out of their corners and get a closer look of the magical Christmas tree.

Even the adult spiders felt the thrill of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them and in midnight, when the house of a noble family was dark and silent and everybody was fast asleep, spiders crept out of their hiding place and slowly reached the Christmas tree. They were so captivated by the ethereal beauty that they spent all night in the tree, crawling up and down and examining its beautiful ornaments. They could not curb their urge to weave pretty and delicate spider webs all over the tree as they danced on its branches. In the wee hours of the morning, the little Christ child came to bless the house. He was surprised to find little spiders and their webs on the tree.

He knew that every creature was made by God and yet he knew how the mother who had worked hard all day to make everything perfect would be dismayed to find the spider webs on its tree. Thus, with a heart full of love and a lovely bewitching smile on his lips, the Christ child gently touched the spider webs and set them sparkling and shining in silver and golden colors that made the Christmas tree look even more beautiful than before. It is said that this is how tinsel was introduced to decorate Christmas trees. Some people also hang a plastic spider in remembrance of the devoted little spiders who worked hard that Christmas Eve.

The tissue tape is on the grungeboard spider, grungepaper star as well as the pleats at the bottom of the #11 (3.75x7.5) tag.   I did some wrinkle free distress on the tag then randomly stamped the evergreen branch (Mini Holidays) in Iced Spruce and Pine Needles distress inks.  'Believe' was stamped in Festive Berries distress ink and covered with clear embossing powder; heat set.

I cut the Pine Tree (Sizzix/Tim) from dark green kraft core and sanded it before removing the scraps around it.  Using Crayola Spider Writers (yes, that's really what they're called!) I created webbing on the tree.  Black Soot distress stickles was smeared over the spider.  Once I printed the legend on white paper, I tore it out, edged with brown and black distress inks, then sprayed with Perfect Pearl Perfect Pearls Mist.  A crinkly red ribbon was added to the top of the tag.

Next week I'll share the Studio 490 version...stay tuned!