Spring Inspiration

On Ranger's blog site they have a little challenge/inspiration Earthy palette going on.  Since the theme was Earth Day, I tried to upcycle for this project.

So to start, I had this piece of chipboard from the back of a paper pad, that through serendipity of paint on fabric, ended up with this great background.  What can't be seen from the photo is all the great texture.  Love lumpy bumpy!

 I used a piece to make a tag.

 I coloured the edges with Broken China Distress Ink

 I then took a white paper bag and used my distress marker on my mat, sprayed with water and created this background. After it dried, I used my punch to cut out flowers.

 Next, I then used alcohol inks on a piece of plastic packaging.

 And cut out a butterfly.

 I did the marker technique again on another scrap of paper bag but in green.

 I free hand cut out leaves.

 To complete, I used Tim's paper tape and folded it onto itself to make a paper ribbon.  I didn't think the butterfly was vibrant enough, so I added more dark blue alcohol ink. Very happy with the results, which I may use for a layout.   And so here is my finished tag!

Scrapfest Fall 2012

This past weekend I had a fantastic time, hanging out with my Scrappy friends at Scrapfest out in Oshawa.

My friend Rana (a card maker extraordinaire) made this awesome collage in Instagram. 

I love seeing all my friends and all the inspiration. Like I've said in the past, the make and takes alone make this totally worth a visit!   I also got about 3 layouts done at the crop, which considering I had only one real day to crop, is not too shabby. When I get a chance I will try an post those here.

My Friday I spent helping Heidi and Simon out at the Pointer Scrapbooking booth with set up,  and later did this make and take in their booth.

I was inspired to use the Collage Glue stick technique that was shown on Ranger's site.  Here are the steps, all supples are available from Pointer Scrapbooking.

I made a foam stamp out of Tim Holtz's Flourish die and stamped using the collage stick as my "ink".  Dried it with a heat gun, followed by a heavy dose of Barn door distress ink.  I then used a baby wipe and pulled off the collage stick mask, dried the tag again, and added a bit more ink.  The paper line I used was the new Teresa Collins' christmas line, the bird is the Prima resists canvas and the twine is from Queen & Co.

Tim's new online class

I know I can't stop talking about this guy but I think he is a creative genius and a marketing machine. I can't get enough. So Tim Holtz will be teaching this online class over at Online Card Classes in March and of course I've signed up.  (And come on - it's got Chemistry - I have to take it!)  I've taken Jennifer McQuire's class previously and it was fantastic.  I'm guessing this will be the same calibre and I'm so looking forward to when it starts.

Seems I'm up to one post a month

I'm a very happy crafter! I was a very lucky commenter on Tim Holtz's blog and won these awesome stamps from his CHA Winter release. Happy dance!
I will try and post some of my most recent work shortly but thought I would do a shout out on my blog cause I'm just a happy crafter now!

Well I did it

I completed 3 tags in a night, as I'm trying to follow along with Tim. They aren't fabulous, but for me it was about trying out the techniques and playing with my stuff!  Will likely used these on Christmas cards or on gifts I give away....we'll see - has to be someone who would appreciate it.

Day 3 - loved making my own custom stamp pad

Day 4 - loved playing with stains on this tag and then crackle paint. Some of my favourite mediums!

Day 5 - love the technique for the background, but can never seem to get it "right". Might need to try a stamp that covers more surface. Made "ribbon" out of cheesecloth and coloured it with Distress Ink.

Day 2 tag - boy am I behind!

So I've been trying to do Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas, but typical in my life, I didn't even have my weekend to do much creating!  I got #2 done and have 3 and 4 as works in progress on my table. Hoping to get them done tonight.

Here is my version where I used the regular Kraft resist paper and his scallop edge die. Using his techniques for the background and the sticky back canvas on the wreath.

Day 1 of 12 Tags

As most of my crafty friends know, I simply can not get enough of this man. That's right, Tim Holtz is doing his 12 tags of Christmas again on his blog and I've decided to play along too.

Believe it or not, I don't own many of Tims dies or embossing folders, so I improvised. I took the Sizzix snowflake embossing folder and did my version of Tim's double embossing, using glitter embossing powder. For the "Joy", I used my Slice FaLaLaLa card and DCWV glittter paper. Since I own the magnetic cutting pad, I put my Slice in position and cut without moving 4 times - 5 might have worked better, since I still had to use the scissors.  I used Tim's new Limited Edition distress inks to colour this in added the glitter tape and pearls to the top to finish it up.

 And speaking of another man I can get enough of - here's my munchkin man sporting his Movember 'stash.

Altered binder for my Tim stamps

My work was finally clearing out the shelves and this was heading to the dumpster (is it dating myself when I can say "I remember using MS-dos!"?) The hoarder squirrel in me decided to save it.

I was thinking along the lines of 8x8 album, but this weekend inspiration hit and I thought "let's see if my Tim stamps fit" Happy dance, they fit perfectly!

 

So here is the altered binder for my stamps. I haven't decided how I'm going to close it yet, I'm thinking hair elastic or hairband but if there are better suggestions, I'll take them.  

I covered the outside with Claudine Helmuth's gesso first because I thought it would need some "tooth" for everything to stick. 

After that dried I used Claudine's multi-medium to attach Tim's Vintage Shabby Paper Stash. I attached the lace ribbon over the seams using the same.   I cut out the butterflies on the dot grungeboard using Tim's dies.  

I then painted the grungeboard with pearl paint, and then used Faded Jeans Distress Stain. The rose ribbon is actually from Maya Road, but I covered that with Distress Stain too.  I used the alphabet background stamp from Tim's Stampers Anoynomous Going Somewhere to stamp the paper behind the butterflies.  I then completed it with the letters and heart from the grungeboard Mixed Mini plain.

A CHA video to share

Here's a video of Tim Holtz doing a demo of his new Snow Cap mixative at the Ranger Industries booth.  I'm sorry for the poor video - it's my first one ever that I've actually posted. I now know for next time what not to do!