Compendium of Curiosities Finale: A birthday Card for Tim

What a perfect way to end this series of challenges by Linda Ledbetter over at Studio L3.  Although I have not had the opportunity to participate in many of the challenges this year, I have been following along and watching the fabulous work submitted by the participants.

I chose the Dabber Resist technique on page 37 of the Compendium of Curiosities Vol 1.  It was one of the first videos I watched by Tim - I still laugh at the fact that he is using Shell Pink as the colour for his resist!  I chose to use Snow Cap for mine and the ubiquitious Umbrella Man which I adore.

I chose not to add an obvious birthday reference on the outside but instead included a personal message inside.

My favourite bit of the card is the sentiment.  I tried something different, altered it, scrunched it and in the end was very happy!  The sentiment is from the Lost and Found set and says "Not all who wander are lost".  I stamped it in Versamark and then embossed it with silver.  As it is a mostly solid stamp, the words didn't show up to well but I thought "I wonder if?!"  So I rubbed black acrylic paint over the entire surface.  It made the sentiment look more grungy and metal like look.  It also made the words come up out of the embossing!

I can't say a big enough thank you to Linda for running these challenges this year and of course to Tim Holtz who revitalised my love of craft and ink with his unique take on all things artful.  Here's to a fabulous birthday Mr. Holtz and another year of fantastic inspiration!

**UPDATE:  I forgot to show you the inside!  It's manila cardstock with walnut stain Distress Ink and some corner stamps!  TFL.

Compendium of Curiosities 2, Challenge 20

Today's work is my first chance to participate in the Compendium of Curiosities 2 challenge being hosted by Studio L3.  I've wanted to join in but life got in the way so I've been enjoying all the other participant's entries.

This week is Enameled Stamping and can be found on page 44 of Tim Holtz's book, Compendium of Curiosities 2.  If you want to know how to do the technique, you'll have to buy the book!

So here is my take on the technique:

Now, for a self confessed addict like myself, you'll be surprised to know that I don't own any background stamps!  So I improvised with a large one I had.  I also chose to ink with 3 colours - Spiced Marmalade, Stormy Sky and Shabby Shutters and then finished off with Vintage Photo.  To add a little extra sheen, I put on a few spritzes of Perfect Pearl Mist in Pearl.  The embellishment at the top is a Pink Paislee Artisan Element that I inked with alcohol inks and then misted with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Iridescent Gold.  I've also included to Word Sticks that were altered with black acrylic paint.  The final element is a die cut made with the eCraft machine that is FINALLY sitting on my desk!  It's a layered flower from the Fundamentals cartridge that comes with the machine.  I cut it out of white card stock and then inked each layer with the same distress inks used in the background.  I curled the edges and popped it up on foam tape to give it a bit of height.  I added a few small paper flowers under it with small beads as the centres.

Here are some close ups of the detail:

I had fun with this although it was one of those projects where I had to stop and step away to like what I had come up with.  I hope you have enjoyed looking and that you too make some time for your hobby of choice!

xoxo
Kim