I am so fortunate

To be surrounded by loving people. July I reached my milestone birthday and celebrated it first at the crop at Pointer Scrapbooking.  Lots of lovely cards from the customers and a great cake to share with everyone.

Thanks to Heidi and all the wonderful customers at Pointer's who kicked off my celebrations.

I was then given a great party from my family. And even though the surprise of the party was up(thanks to some forgetful friends), what was a big surprise was the fact that it was 80's themed. Almost everyone showed up in costume - it was awesome!

Love my family and friends!  It has been an awesome birthday!

Abandoned

Yikes, I have been a terrible blogger. Too much on my plate these days to keep up. I will say though that I have been trying to incorporate crafty things into my week, so I have plenty to share.
First up is this fabulous tag I won from Christine Urias' blog which she got from the amazing Tim Holtz at CHA winter 2012 show. I'm such a happy camper!
More craftiness to share this weekend for sure!

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!

My Tim Tags - finally!

Happy New Year - 2 weeks later

Wow! Happy New Year blog readers! I have no idea how time is escaping me these days but it all seems a blur. I can not believe we are in 2012 already! I have been pretty busy these days and have plenty to share in the next little bit, including some of the tags I did for the 12 tags (I got up to 10). Off to scan and photograph my stuff to share!

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.

Some other creative things to share.

I can not believe it is December already! In the creative front I will be trying to do December Daily and Tims 12 tags again this year. We'll see how it goes!

I'm very excited to share that the online bead magazine Beading Times  posted my watch that I had Etsy, as an example of good watch design (thank you so very much - blush!)

Now, waaaaay back in October, Pointer Scrapbooking hosted a day for the Creative Chicks to come and do demos. Below are the make and takes we shared that day and I thought I would post them for inspiration. If Heidi hosts another one of these days, you should definitely come out and play.

Nadya's 6x6 layout

My tag using a "bleaching" technique and Ranger Stains

Jennifer's fussy cutting embellishment

Florence's watercolour technique

Nicky's card using Ranger Stains

Also in October ,at Scrapfest Oshawa I did a couple of Make N' Takes with some of the vendors. So worth the price of admission. Here are a few that I did at those booths.

Cute little notebook holder at Got Scrap booth

Mixed Media card at The Art House booth

Here is something I made for my son's teacher who left, because she was only covering a maternity leave of his actual teacher. A cute box made using Little Yellow Bicycle's paper, I used instructions I found on You Tube, which I filled with card making supplies (I'm such an enabler).

Now going even more way back in the summer,  I took Christy Tomlinson's She Art class.  I've done others that I posted but here the final one from her class of the She-Art canvas' I finally finished. I think the next mixed media canvas I do will be Christmas themed or something like one I saw done by Maya Road. Stay tuned!

New stamps

I have been lucky to get my hands on some new stamps that are exclusive to Pointer Scrapbooking. Usually I don't work with stamps like this but I think these are pretty darn cute. Disclaimer here - I am not a very good colourer, so please don't be too critical!  I used 2 kinds of pencil crayons and mineral spirits to blend on regular white cardstock.

 Both of these brands gave me a creamy colour on the paper and blended effortlessly with the mineral spirits.

Here's using the  Box Train Express stamp. It reminds me of my son playing with his friend Sarah. I just put it on a backing because I plan on using it on a layout in the near future. Stay tuned!

I'm happier with the colouring on this card using Scooter Fun. I used the Bo Bunny 6x6 Blast Off collection for this card, kraft cardstock and brads. Easy peasy!

Finally for this card I used the Friendship Building stamp. Again the Bo Bunny Blast Off collection and some bakers twine on dark brown cardstock.

I chose the boy images mostly because I have a boy but there are so many other great images. Go check it out!

And if you do end up using some of these stamps. Definitely go and post on Pointer Scrapbooking's  Facebook page.
.

Tote Bag

Last month at Pointer Scrapbooking's birthday crop, we were all given blank canvas bags to decorate. I actually had the heads up and took the bag home to do. My hope was to inspire others at the crop to create something beautiful with their bag too.  

Got lots of positive feedback from everyone at the crop.

Anyways, Heidi, the store owner, then asked me to create one similar for her. So I thought I would provide a step by step with photos, for my blog readers, of me creating that bag. I actually like this one better! Enjoy! Everything you need is available at Pointer, except for the paint (but I know that Claudine Hellmuth's stuff is available in the store now and would work too!)

I did a colour wash with 3 shades of turquoise acrylic paint. To make a wash, I just poured a dollop of paint into a tray and put some water into it to make a thin "water colour". I then used a flat brush and painted in a side to side fashion. After, I dried the bag with my heat gun.

I then set down a doillie on the left bottom area and spritz with Tattered Angels Dragonfly glimmer mists (this is one of my fav colours and it's a limited edition -sob!)  Again dry with your heat gun

Now time to embellish!  I used this fantastic ribbon from Maya Road and created this flower.

Heidi has these flowers in the store and I thought it would make a great centre for the ribbon flower.

These Petaloo Color me flowers, I inked with Broken China distress inks. I then used a wet paint brush to "blend" the colours.

For the smaller Petaloo flowers, I used Tattered Angels Cherry Blossum glimmer mists. This is a very faint pink but pretty!

For the leaves I used Studio Calico's clover to colour (this is unfortunately not available at the store).

I then used a technique that Virgina Nebel showed everyone at Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine using this tape and chipboard.  So much fun!

So here it is all put together.  I used a Prima vine and cut it up and added all the embellishments I had spritzed and coloured to the bag, using Helmar glue (love this stuff 'cause it's like a glue gun without burning myself!).  I then added glitter stickers and it was done!

A quick post

I've been coveting this stand from  Pottery Barn for awhile. Other scrappers have been using it for storage of their scrappy supplies, which I think is fantastic. However, the $90 price tag here in Canada is another story.

So over at Pinterest, some fellow scrappers have been posting some DIY's. I was inspired and headed over to my Dollarama and picked up 3x Flan pans, 2 candle stick holders and used a bottle of Gorilla glue from Home Depot. Total cost $12.00 my friends!  I'm quite happy with my paint/ink holder which seems to be holding up okay so far to my enormous stash of inky goodness (ignore the craziness in the background please!)

And finally I can post the costume my son wanted for Halloween. He's Fire Nation Aang from Nickelodeon's Avatar. It's simple but stressed me out because I waited last minute to make it. I'm hoping next years I will either get a head start or just buying his costume!!!

(graphic from Spider Cookee at Deviant Art)

That's all for now and I will post some more of my craftiness shortly I hope!