Tim Holtz December 2013 Tag Turns into a Candle Decoration

The TH December tag was gorgeous. Tim used his poinsettia die to cut petals from his Clearly For Art modeling plastic coated with his Frosted Film. I do not own any of those products so I decided I wouldn't be abler to create a December tag. However I began wondering if I could use clear packaging acrylic and mold it the same way he did using a heat gun. To my surprise, it worked pretty well.

I used my two largest petals from the Tattered Floral die, and I also cut the Tattered Pinecone greenery as Tim did. First I tried roughing up the acrylic pieces to imitate the frosted look and then applied red Distress Ink instead of the archival that Tim did (I don't own archival red). It was fairly successful, but I really wanted a more vivid color, so I ended up applying red Alcohol Ink and skipped roughing the surfaces. I used citrus and lettuce alcohol inks on the greenery. With a bit of trial and error I was able to mold the petals after heating section by section with a heat gun. After assembling the flower and attaching the layers with a brad,  I splattered white Distress Ink on it to resemble snow and hot glued a bit of bling to the center.

Since it's Christmas and I needed a hostess gift, I decided to apply my faux poinsettia to a candle rather than a tag. I wrapped a glittery ribbon around the candle near the bottom and then hot glued my flower and greenery to it. It may not look exactly like a poinsettia, but it's definitely festive!

Thanksgiving Goodies

My husband just got back from the post office to mail our Thanksgiving cards. Thanksgiving is only four days away, but I made my cards so many weeks ago that I almost forgot to send them. So much for getting things made too early!

I thought I took some quick snapshots on my phone before sending them, but when I started writing this post I discovered that I had taken videos rather than photos. After exploring how to isolate a single frame from the video using my phone rather than resorting to using iMovie on my computer, I read about an app (video 2 photo) that easily does it. I purchased and downloaded the app and quickly converted them to stills and emailed them to myself so I could edit them through iPhoto. HOWEVER the images were saved as .png rather than .jpg, and they wouldn't import to iPhoto or upload directly to this blog. So it was back to searching the web on ways to convert them. No problem according to an OS X site, just open them in Preview, pull down the edit menu, hit Save As, and choose ,jpg. Easier said than done. My Preview version only had Save and not Save As. Here comes the weird part. When I went to Help in Preview it brought up a picture highlighting Save As (nonexistent on mine) but when I clicked on it in the Help section it brought up a screen allowing me to save it as .jpg. Go figure!

Here's proof that my Preview file menu does NOT have the Save As option:)

Anyway, back to the actual projects. My Thanksgiving cards were made using a terracotta card stock that I embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Autumn Type' embossing folder. I highlighted the raised type with a lighter colored chalk ink and then mounted the piece on a darker piece of patterned card. Embellishments include ribbon, leaves, flower, and tags.

For this year's Thanksgiving favors I made treat boxes using the Sizzix 'Carry All Box' die. I used a variety of autumn themed card stock for the boxes and added paper flowers and Happy Thanksgiving tags to spruce them up.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Chalkboard Tag - November 2013

Tim Holtz's November tag for 2013 uses a chalkboard technique on a black tag. I chose a dressmaking theme for this tag. My images were stamped in white ink, and then I rubbed white chalk over the tag with my finger. The bodice on the dress form was embossed and then applied atop the stamped image of the form with foam tape along with the button, scissors, and Paris tag for added dimension.

Fall Flowers

I've been busy making paper roses in fall colors (using mostly Graphic 45 papers) and have attached them to wooden skewers that serve as stems.

Today I found the perfect container for my arrangement at Michaels where all Halloween items were 80% off. Flower arranging is not my forte, but after much trial and error I was able to come up with a passable autumn arrangement.

Collage and Assemblages

Today I was inspired by one of my Pinterest pins, a collage by artist Michael Wilson. Its central element was a vintage family photo and the background reminded me of a package of card stock that I recently found at Goodwill.

I used a photo transparency of my grandfather's family (parents and siblings) as a starting point to create this weathered collage. Although my great grandfather had Swiss roots and my great grandmother was 100% English, the children they produced look like a U.N. conglomeration of ethnicities: my grandfather looks Irish, his brother definitely Scandinavian, the two older sisters appear to have Mediterranean and Mideastern roots, while his red-headed youngest sister looks somewhat Russian. Their combination of genes is fascinating!

I've also done more experimentation using embossed and aged foil tape. This "doll" assemblage uses the foil as the skirt with assorted metallic pieces, charms, and photo in a bottle cap to create the rest of her body.

Here is a Tim Holtz die cut embossed bird with Rub 'n Buff metallic accents followed by a birdcage ornament with hanging charms.

Hocus Pocus

My craft room and I are covered in glitter. I am not a big fan of glitter since it attaches itself to you and follows you around for days. But in order to complete my Tim Holtz October 2013 tag I threw caution to the wind.

Because I don't have the new Distress Paint colors, I blended some of my own. Some of my efforts doing the background for the tag(s) were too intense, but I finally achieved a result I could live with. I used black archival ink to stamp two different scripts as my next layer. 

These colors were too intense!

I then used a combination of TH and Cricut cuts (Teresa Collins's Chic & Scary cartridge) for Halloween elements that I inked, coated with Glossy Accents, then covered with black, white, and orange glitter before attaching with Glossy Accents. I embossed a spider with black embossing powder and attached it to its web with a line of diamond Stickles.

This was my first effort; I liked the background but thought I got a little carried away with the glittery elements.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Mothers Day Card

I know it's not the season for a Mothers Day Card, but I just came across a photo of one that I did for my mom. It was made using my go-to tools: embossing folder, stamps, and Distress inks. The unique feature of this card is the 3D butterfly. I used an Elizabeth Craft metallic Peel-Off sticker which was applied to double-sided tape (leave the backing on one side until applying it to the card). Typically ultra fine glitter is used to fill in the open areas, but I used alcohol ink and Stickles instead because I didn't have the glitter colors I wanted (very expensive) while the others I had on hand.

September Tag of 2013

After seeing Tim Holtz's post featuring his new layering stencils, I preordered some right away. That's why I was so excited that his September tag used them in so many different ways. However I was really bummed when I got an email saying that my order won't be shipped until late September, so I had to rethink my options without spending any more money. Then I starting wondering whether I could cut my own stencils from acetate using my Cricut mini. Several people posted success stories online so I decided to give it a try. Overall I was happy with my results.

The embossing paste and Distress paint techniques using the stencils went smoothly. The problem I ran into was using Distress stains for the background color. I sprayed the tags before applying the stain and although it went on smoothly, the colors were too vivid for my taste. Here are the first ones I did.

Next I tried diluting the stain, and I was getting closer to something I liked.

I think the bright red was the jarring note, so by eliminating it I was happier with this next background. Still it wasn't to my taste.

Finally I decided to stick with shades of blue and I finally achieved a background that I was happy with. Instead of introducing a lot of other colors with the Distress inking portion, I just used a variety of blues for my next layers of stenciling (Chipped Sapphire, Broken China, Faded Jeans, and Tumbled Glass) as well as Black Soot. The pear was stamped using black Archival ink and the words were shaded and outlined with Pumice Stone ink and Distress marker. The tag was embellished with a keyhole and a charm that I first painted with black acrylic paint (which I partially removed) and then highlighted with patina Rub 'n Buff (although the pictures don't show it very clearly).

The last step was staining the crinkle ribbon, then stenciling stars in Faded Jeans ink. This is probably the first tag of 2013 that I really liked! The process was also a lot of fun!

Recent Birthdays

Our older son just turned 30. I finally can do numerals in any size with my Cricut Mini. The upper section was embossed with an embossing fold and then the raised images were inked with Distress Ink.

My sister and I play lots of games through Facebook which gave me this idea for her birthday card.

This last card is for my good friend, Nancy. We've been friends since high school and even though we rarely see each other, we always pick right up where we left off. She is my "forever friend."

I used the same embossing folder that I used on my son's card, and I used music card stock both outside and inside since we became friends through choir and madrigals. I've been using a lot of frames and shadows lately because there are so many options in my Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge. Completing the cover is a favorite vintage photo, a layered flower, and a Tim Holtz "forevermore" token.

I usually try to make the coordinating inside special, too!

Back-to-School and August Tag(s) of 2013

As a retired teacher, I can't break the habit of anticipating the start of school at the end of each summer. When I saw Tim's August Tag on his blog, the techniques he used were really appealing and I especially liked his tip about misting the tag before running it through the stains; it seems like they blended better than usual.  I made quite a few that were okay but didn't really seem that special, so  I thought I would look through my stamps for inspiration and realized that school was still on my mind. 

Below are some tags I made at first, but most of them look kinda dirty rather than vintage which is why I really muted the intensity of the background stamps on my school tag.  All the tags began life using Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap stains, and all had the focal stamps applied using a combination of black StazOn and Ranger Archival Ink.  I masked the main images - and I might add that I detest the fussy cuts needed to create the masks for them - before I overstamped.

I like the general effect of this overstamping but think I overdid blending the Distress Inks in the background.

I tried some of my Asian stamps here and added a couple of Chinese coins.  It's pretty ho-hum plus I have no idea what it even says.

Here's another less-than-stellar attempt even though I love the little girl clown stamp.  The mask wasn't tight enough so there's too much empty space around her.

Another set of stamps that are favorites are the Oxford Impressions Civil War set. The mask used on the cannon again wasn't tight enough, so the overstamp was too far away.

Another unsuccessful masking job.

Overall it's been a fun challenge!

A Birthday, 2 Anniversaries, & 1 Whatever

There were quite a few cards I wanted to make last month for special occasions. I wanted to make something bright and cheery for for my sister-in-law's birthday. I love a cupcake theme, and  I have plenty of stamps and stickers to choose from.

Both of my sisters-in-law have August anniversaries and I wanted to incorporate their wedding photos into their cards. The first card has the photo inside (and I forgot to take a picture of the inside :), but the outside uses squares and a heart that were embossed with a variety of embossing folders.

The second card used the wedding picture on the card cover. I used my new Cricut to create the photo frame layers and edged strip across the bottom. I embossed the bottom frame layer and used Distress Ink on the raised pattern. The rosette was cut using my TH rosette die and topped with an enamel embellishment.

This last card used my favorite vintage child photo once again. I stitched around two of the papers with the battery operated, hand held "sewing machine" I found at Good Will. I layered the stitched papers on top of the background paper and added the photo mounted on a paper doily. The flowers were made from a combination of silk and cardstock petals.

Cricut Boxes and a Birthday Card

I think I mentioned that I recently got a Cricut Mini. Using the 'Mini Books' cartridge I experimented making the small box in two sizes.  They're about 3/4" in depth. The top one was my first effort but is quite flimsy. The bottoms one is embossed and inked and then lined with a layer of card stock to give it more stability. They have velcro closures.

Here's a birthday card I recently made. I love the large Tim Holtz 'Best Friends' stamp. It's a bit hit-or-miss trying to ink it in 3 colors, so I ended up having the most success using ColorBox Cat's Eye ink pads. The pointed ends help ink hard to reach areas of the stamp.

I haven't had the best luck getting a solid, dark image of the boy and his dog no matter what type or brand of ink pad I use, but I think the toned down result works here. I stamped the central image on a manilla sheet that has mustard and gray paint blotches and streaks printed on it. Although it looks quite white in the photo, it's actually more cream and looks quite vintage. I used a piece of a weathered clock die cut, a New York Central train ticket that I stamped with Ladybug ink on gold card stock, several background papers, and a Tim Holtz muse token to embellish the card front. 

 

Finished Project

This morning I finished assembling my shadow box (for lack of a better term). I started with the box that was already painted white and weathered.

I gathered, measured, and cut background papers and then glued them in place.

After arranging the elements from yesterday's post, I added a few more embellishments and fastened everything in place.

Now I just have to find a place to hang it :)

Family Project

Several weeks ago I found two good sized shabby chic shadow boxes at Home Goods that were on clearance. I wasn't sure what I would use them for, but they were too good to pass up. Maybe I could use one to display a few of the tags and cards that I'd recently made, but then I decided to make new versions of some of my favorites using family pictures. I also wanted to use a blue and brown color scheme and so the project began.

Here are pictures of my mom and dad as young children. My dad looks to be about six or seven and my mom had to be four. I printed out copies of the photos and slightly colorized them using DI. I was able to cut the frame and its shadow on my dad's card using my new Cricut Mini. That background used a favorite script embossing folder and then was colored with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain DI. Note that I included some of my cockeyed roses.

Next I printed out photos of my husband's parents. The only picture we have of his father as a child is really poor quality so I used his high school graduation photo. His dad was somewhat of an artist and had colorized his own background blue, so I tried colorizing the black and white print the same way. There's been some debate about whether the photo of his mom is of her or an older sister. We think by comparing it to another picture that it is definitely his mom, and I think the pose is so cute. I added a piece of mica over the top of her photo for a vintage feel.

I also wanted to include a photo of our two sons but wanted it to have an old fashioned feel, so I settled on a Halloween picture when one was a cowboy.

I've been busy making rosettes lately so I will throw in a few of those as well as a picture wheel with photos of our family when we are children as well as adults plus two of our grandson who is still a toddler.

 I'll post a picture when I've assembled the whole thing.