Tearing it up.

Hey:  Today I find myself a little cranky.  Ok a lot cranky!!  I did what most of us crafters do I headed to the craft room to get rid of my bad mood.  first I came upon an idea-ology tray set.  Rip off the packaging and decided this was going to be used.  Kinda a big deal because I am a self diagnosed TH hoarder.  Anyone else?   Given my mood ripping up the packaging felt kinda good.  Next I grab a Tim Holtz 8x8 pad of paper (Etcetera)  I've decided to do a torn paper collage.  I pulled out a few piece of paper and started tearing and inking.  I made a couple of Kathy Ortas hidden hinges to fit my tray and made a few pockets for tags.   I have a ton from all the years of TH monthy tags.  I decorated every pocket I made front and back with torn and inked paper.

    The tearing of the paper helped with my mood and what I came up with is a tray with pockets to hold tags.  How does everyone else un-cranky themselves?

MK&S with Flowers

Hi :  It's been awhile !!!  I carved out a little time to put together a scrapbook page.  I used this gorgeous paper line by bo bunny called Aryia's garden.  I've only been able to find  the collection pack!  I used some Tim Holtz distress stain  (Picked Raspberry and Tumbled glass ) and water to make it drip down the page, some Dusty Attic chipboard corner which I painted with gesso and Peeled paint distress ink, and  a few idea-ology industrious sticker.   Simon Says Monday Challenge is- " Splash it on".  So of course I'm entering in on the fun.  I hope you like it!!

Journey Christmas tag

Happy Holidays Everyone:
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!!

This months tag for the  Tim Holtz's 12 tags of 2016 became a journey of cleaning out my craft room to find my shadow press station.  So now with my room cleaner and my tools organized I got to work.  I didn't have any Christmas shadow press.  So I used Journey.  Because at this time of year are we all not on some kind of journey?  The hunt for the perfect gift, the adventure trying to find it at a good price,  and the stress of getting it all done in time.  All I can say is thank you  Amazon prime.  I got out my die cutting machine out ( vagabond)  and cut two tags one for a base and the other out tim's textile surfaces ( burlap).  got my holiday knit stencil and applied candied apple distress ink on the burlap.  Now to crafting I then dug around and found several packs of Tim Holtz paper with Christmas themes to make my tiles with.  I used bottle alcohol ink on and idea-ology star, applied some jute string and arrow from- yep idea-ology.  I used a wreath and bells from my stash and more jute on the top.  I wanted the journey to stand out more so I used red stickies to sparkle it up a little.

I hope you like it:

Peace/ dragonfly

Evening all:  I finally got to play at my craft desk.  So I played all day trying to come up with a tag or card I like for my November entry to the  Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 .  I love this dragonfly stamp  .  It's an old one but a favorite.  For this tag we were supposed to use the spray stain, I have a hard time keeping control of where I spray so inside a shoebox my tag goes; otherwise I end up spraying everything.  After adding my remnant rubs I applied my distress spray ( stormy sky, crack pistachio, faded jeans, and spun sugar).  I added water to make the colors blend and drip.  I used my distress crayons on my dragonfly and fussy cut it out.  I wanted a little sparkle so I added wink of stella.  I cut my peace from the Christmas thinnest set.  attached the cork peace to some corrugated  cardboard and then to my tag with tiny brads.   Hope you like it.

Witchy Woman

Happy October All:  I was looking through Pinterest a few months back and discovered Lavinia Stamps; and I'm hooked.  These stamps speak to the whimsey in me.  I know dorky.   So back in June I ordered a few.  The stamp company is in the U.K. so shipping takes awhile.  So bummer my order hadn't arrived my the middle of August so I emailed the company.  Worked with both Jane and Tracy and they sent me a new order.  I finally got them last weekend.  And I must tell you I fell in love with this witch stamp.

  She is just fun.!!  Creative Card Blanche's October challenge is -
Witchy Woman-  Well this stamp is perfect.  so my pulled out my inks, canvas, water color paper, paints, plastic, stickies, perfect pearls and stamps and got to work.  I made a few color combos to see what screamed Halloween to me.  I made a couple of messes and in the trash they went.  I sometime have trouble inking the stamps that aren't rubber.  So I went through a few pieces of scratch and water color paper.



Once I got the scene the way I wanted it.  This is what I came up with.  Hope you like it.

Everyday Butterfly

Happy Fall everyone!
Just uploading my Tim Holtz- September tag for the 12 tags of 2016 remix.  i must have watched the video at least 50 times.  this was not a simple or easy effect to pull off.  my first one too light.  The next one I pressed too hard and didn't  make sure to use a clean area to wipe. Big mistake!!   I kinda liked the car though.

The third time was the charm.  I really liked the effect of the 2 tone swiggle background.  I put the alcohol ink (Indigo and Teakwood) in 2 long stripes each on my applicator and wiggled as I placed it on the Yupo.  I got these thick lines of color.  Then I inked my butterfly stamp from the Perspective cms213 set from Stampers anonymous with Ranger Archival ink Potting soil  stamped my image and gently wiped using the clean area of my felt.  This is what I came up with.

Summer colors

Hi :  It's been a really long time I know.  I been traveling, working, and basically just running around getting stuff done.  I'm seriously ready to take a breather.  I just realized it was only a couple of days till the end of the month and I hadn't even looked at what the Tim Holtz August tag for 2016.  So over the weekend I got to work.  The techniques were fun to experiment with.  Brayered stained was challenging, because I want to color it all.  So instead I went sideways instead of up and down.  I used distressed ink - wild honey, fossilized amber and picked raspberry.  I also used fossilized amber distress paint on my framework pieces.   The frameworks part was much easier for me.  I love these dies, they are like little puzzles.  I hope you all like it.

Horizontal NYC tag

Afternoon :  Today I needed to do something creative.  You know those days where you need something happy; making things makes me happy.  So I decided to a make my  July tag for the Tim Holtz's 12 of 2016.  I know a shocker but, for this one my idea came fast.  I love those cityscape stamps by Stampers Anonymous & Tim Holtz, so I dug them out and just started playing.  I am usually inspired by colors before anything else, how about you guys/gals?   So I looked online to see the colors of the city.  Cracked Pistachio is the perfect distress color for the Statue of Liberty and the top of 40 Wall Street.  From there I continued water coloring with different Distress pens and then used a gel glitter pen to add a little sparkle. When I was done painting I dried the picture. Which for once I did on the smooth side of the watercolor paper.  I added Distress Glaze and rubbed off the extra with a paper towel.  Next thinlet time where I cutout my words on a craft tag and  used a craft knife to make a belly band to slide my watercolor picture in.  Next add a few Ideology items and twine.  This was a fun tag to make.   I'm going to  laminate this  and use it on my luggage.

Hope you like it!!

Journal page 2

Hey-  I'm still experimenting with my journal.  This time I used distress ink, stencils with paste and different texture gels.  I forgot how much fun a journal is!!  The hardest part is waiting for your different mediums to dry so you can try something else.  Simon Says Stamp also has a Wednesday challenge that I decided to enter my journal page in.  Hope you like it!!

Summer journal post

Hi All:  I've decided when I'm cleaning the studio I need someone to tell me to put stuff down.  My goal today was to clean out my studio.  I have trash bags, kids crafting tubs,  and give away piles.  I was doing good until I ran across my Dyan Reaveley journal.  You know the one with the craft cover. I started looking at it, and then I found a stash bag from H.L.  and there were clearance stamps I bought and never put away.  I put the journal and stamps on my desk.  Organized a few more shelves and then I was bored.  Yep I started playing in the journal.  As I always do I looked online at Simon Says  blog to see what the Simon Says Monday Challenge was.  This week its Tic Tac Toe-  This is my attempt at Tic-Tac- Toe . I used one of the stamps in the bag ( the tricycle) and another stamp that says summer to me, some washi tapend twine.  Embossed, then sprayed with distress spray and inked with distress ink.  Hope you like it.

Summer Butterfly

Hi All:  Yep it's the last day of the month and I'm just not finishing my Tim Holtz's  technique remix tag for June's  12 tags of 2016.    I  do this all the time!!!  And I shouldn't have because this tag ran the gambit.  New surfaces- substrate sheets and textile surfaces.  Stamped on tissue wrap , die cut,   vintage collage medium, and  even got out the sewing machine.   I'm getting a little better at the sewing thing.  So here is my tag.  Hope you like it.

Fork and Roses

Afternoon All:  We finally have a little sunshine.  Not for long though I hear :-(  .  Where I live in North Texas it's either feast or famine with rain.  Anyway enough of that.  A couple of my friends and I were talking about blogs.  Two of us have them and Beth who doesn't said she wished people would sometimes post their oops projects just so people who don't have blogs would know they aren't the only ones who make mistakes.  Well from that comment we launched into a bunch of different discussions which is why hanging out with friends is so fun.  By the end of the conversation both Teressa and I promised to post something that wasn't perfect; of which I have a ton.  Anyone else??
I took a couple of totally fun classes @ the Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie Texas a couple of weeks ago.  One is a monthly Tim Holtz tag class  where she sets the stuff out and  you make it your way ,and the other was to learn how to use Wendy Vecchi products. Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016

 Loved it!!!  here's my tag .  Now as I promised Beth my oops.  I got to mad at myself.  I was loving how my cover was turning out then I looked at my piece---- Really I couldn't have noticed it earlier. do ya see what I did.  The backward lefty strikes again.   thanks of looking!!

Spring flowers

Hey again:  When it rains I play in my craft room.  Actually I do dishes, pick up, sweep, cook (well some meals) and then I craft.  Which is normally late at night.  I made this card for 2 Simon Says Challenges.  There is the Simon Says Monday Challenge which is-April showers bring may flowers ; and for Simon says Wednesday Challenge- Lets do polka dots.  Hope you like it.

A little Ice Cream

Hey All:  Happy Easter!!   I'm Between holiday activities so I thought I'd  share a simple  birthday card I made.  I sometimes get into these moods where I think I have to use every item in the craft room  I have on all projects I make.  It's as if I don't know when to stop.  My wise friend Melody told me , " walk away from your project, when you come back you'll look at it differently".  Of course she was right !!    So this week the Simon Says Monday challenge theme is Food and/ or drink so I tried my new mind set ; let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking

The Butterfly Escape

Happy Monday Everyone:  Its time to post my March Tim Holtz tag.  This tag was a challenge to photograph.  I couldn't get the words in the banner to show up.  Also this is a major!  I manged to damage a die and a plate.  My sandwich was too thick for my Vagabond and I forced it through.  Huge mistake.  If I had just looked and slowed down all could have been avoided.  I just grabbed without looking and ruined a black plate used for  embossing not cutting.  I also managed to get my die stuck into it and pulled it up from the base.  The black embossing plate was warped and gouged so into the trash it went; fortunately my husband was able to fix my tag and bookplate die ( one I use all the time).  Live and Learn right!  I do like how my tag turned out though.  Thanks for looking

The Red tag

Hey All:   Last summer my husband and I stayed in Morro Bay and explored the city for a day.  As we were checking out the shops on their main street I ran across this shop called Lina G's and all the trimmings.  My husband couldn't get me out of there fast enough!!  There was every kind of ribbon,  lace, and embellishment you could imagine.  I met the owner Lina, she was making a headdress,  the kind worn by Las Vegas showgirls.  The details were amazing!!!  If you in the area don't miss this place.  Of course I shopped and came home with a bag full of goodies.  Vintage lace, new lace, buttons, and embelishments.  So I loaded up as much as the hubby would let me.   The crafting hoarder in me wouldn't let me use any of my items from there, til tonight.  I'm making a tag for the Simon Says Monday Challenge.  This weeks challenge was to use Red.  I finally cracked the plastic my latest color from Tim Holtz and Ranger, Candied Apple.  The items I used  from Lina G. are the tartan pinwheels.  I'm going to have to call her and see if she can send me more.  This is my result.

Thanks for Looking!!

!

The flip tag

Hi All-  This year for the 12 tags of 2016 Mr.  Holtz is showing us how to combine techniques.   I'm really looking forward to this.    By combining techniques I will be able to see them in a different way as well as learning them better, because  some of the techniques I've only used one time.  I also think method will help with those times I get creative block.   So I'm looking forward to the challenge. For the January tag we used the chalkboard and industrial metal techniques.    I  also used a hinge technique as if I was making a mini album.  Please let me know what you think.

Almost too late

Hi All:  Seriously crazy month around here!!!   I almost forgot to post my 12th tag for Tim Holtz's 12 tags of 2015.  Last minute I know, procrastination!!  We had company though and I can't find my punches, manila tags, and my festive berry stain.  My fault I cleaned, organized and stashed (I mean put away) my supplies.  BIG mistake.  This is my 12th tag.

not as detailed as I would have liked it.  But he looks dapper.  Happy New Year Everyone.  

Thanks for looking and I hope you all like it!!

Wing Tutorial

Hey :  Since my friend asked me to;  I'm going to try a tutorial on how I made my last tag/card.  The Feathered wing die is simple to use!!  First of all I cut my manila card stock to 8 3/4 x 6 1/4 this size fits in my vagabond and the die, it also gives me wiggle room if I some how move it by accident. Then I put Antique Linen distress ink and dried it.  Once the inks dry I shook up Picket Fence distress paint and scribbled it all over the paper and let that dry.

   Your paper should look like this.   While that was drying I took a Manila Tag and ran it through the sizzix basic grey pine branch embossing folder and then inked up the tag with Victorian Velvet and Evergreen Bough distress stain and painted on Perfect pearls.  I then edged it with Vintage Photo and inked it some more with both Victorian Velvet and Evergreen Bough distress ink.  

 Once the paper was dry I die cut my wings using the feathered wing die.  I glued the wings together (longest on the bottom and the smallest on the top. ) I inked the wings edges with Vintage photo.  Once they were glued I added gold foil with a glue stick to random places on the wings. Then I added perfect pearls.  The Winged Feathered die was made for perfect pearls!!  I then curved the wings to give the dome dimension. I used glue dots to attached the wings to the tag.  I then took seam binding and added water and the swished the ribbon in Victorian Velvet distress stain, squished it all up and let it sit and dry.  Next a clear gem with facets had Pink Sherbet alcohol added. Once everything was dry it was assembly time.  For a finishing touch I added some dollar store sticky back pearls and a ideology word band.  This was my end result.  Hope you like it.

Feathered Wings Card

Hi again.   I have a few backed up post to do so here goes another one.  This is how I use the feathered wing die by Tim Holtz.  I saw this die used by  Emma Williams and Paula Chenney.   And I had to have this die.  so here is a card I made. I made it so you could pull out the tag and add it to you Christmas tree if you wanted.