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.

12 Tags of 2012 - November

Hi all!  Don't have a lot to say on this one.  I used the tissue paper idea from last month's tag as my background and the focal image is based on Tim's work for November.  As we don't do Thanksgiving in Australia, I went for a Christmas theme.  Thanks for looking!

12 Tags of 2012 - October

It's that time again - Timmy time!  No, not Shaun the Sheep Timmy but one of my favourite crafters - Tim Holtz. His tag for this month is a fabulous tribute to Halloween - which all of the US crafters have been showing off but which just doesn't fly here yet (see what I did there, wink wink).

So, I decided that since it is Spring here (well, I think it is although the weather doesn't seem to agree), that should be my theme.  Here is the finished tag:

I don't often use my own hand writing because like most of us, I don't like it!  But, I had a photo that I needed for Fat Mum Slim's October Photo a Day and I know that you should try to capture your own writing as often as possible, so I did.  I combined some Dyan Reaveley techniques here too and I am very happy with the out come.  So, how did I do it?

First, please make sure you go and show T!m some love.  His tutorials are always so well done and informative and I wouldn't be able to do half the stuff I do without watching his videos and following his blog.  My challenge this time was to create the tissue paper that he has in his line because I haven't gotten around to purchasing any (although as usual, I want to)!  I used two sheets of regular tissue paper that I stamped on with Archival Ink in Jet Black and glued together and this is the result:

I ended up choosing the script paper as I just wasn't happy with the memories stamped one.  So I adhered it to the tag as per T!m's instructions.

I glued it down with the wrinkles then painted it with acrylic paints in a pale green, yellow and blue, wiping with a baby wipe as I went along.  

Then I added the black acrylic paint around the edges, wiping with a baby wipe.  I did find here that the tissue paper was getting very fragile so I needed to be VERY gentle.

I added Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw and Bundled Sage Distress Inks over the top.

Next, I stamped using Archival Ink in Jet Black.  The bottom stamp is a KaiserCraft Stamp and the stamp at the top is a Hero Arts.

To finish the background, I sprayed it with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist - I love that shimmer!

I die cut the bird (Caged Bird Bigz Die) from grunge paper using my Vagabond and painted it with Snow Cap paint dabber before I added glitter (see how to make your own coloured glitter with Ranger's Dry Glitter on T!m's blog - using my other favourite - Alcohol Ink!).

Here's the glittered bird.  I added the wing later (using the Alcohol Ink Gold Mixative to colour the glitter) and inked the branch and legs with Gathering Twigs Distress Ink.

Finally, I die cut some leaves using the Mini Branch and Leaf Movers and Shapers set and the sentiments shape from the Mini Labels Movers and Shapers.  I inked them with Distress Ink and wrote out the quote and adhered it with foam tape.  I traced around both the die cut and stamped leaves with and Inkssentials Opaque Pen in white too.  The bird was glued directly to the tag using Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.  My ribbon was a piece of cord from some clothes I bought the boys for summer!

And that folks, is my October Tag.  Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed the process!

xoxo

Kim

Hmmmm, That Didn't Go to Plan!

Truly.  This project was meant to be done yesterday - Saturday even!  But, I was enjoying family and friend time more.  All of this is a good thing.

Then, I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do with my butterfly!  So after struggling with my eCraft to cut three of them, I had to play.  These are what I came up with:

 The black one has been cut from glitter paper (although hard to see that in the photo) and I have edged it with Viva Pearl Pen in Ice White.  I don't know if I'm done with it yet but I kind of like it like this.  The bottom one was white card stock that had the wing pattern cut from blue mirror paper with the eCraft and glued on.  I sprayed it with water and then coloured with Distress Stain (Spiced Marmalade, Broken China and Spun Sugar).  I dried it with the heat tool and added Distress Ink (Vintage Photo) around the edges and then spritzed it with water again.  Once dried, I added Diamond Stickles to it.  I should have left it alone - because I like what it looks like in this picture.  But I have continued to play...more to come on that later.

This butterfly is a little larger and was cut from green glitter paper.  The wing decoration was then cut from red and blue mirror paper and gold glitter paper.  All of the cutting was done with the eCraft.  I glued some ball chain in the middle to make the body.  At this point, I'm not happy with it.  It's out of balance - it's the blue...I don't like it.  I may take it off and replace it with the gold.  Again, work in progress!

I am hoping to share a finished project using at least one of these soon.  I started all of this to join in on the final Simon Says Stamp Stamptember challenge but I just didn't get it done!  So now, it will just be a labour of love!

Thanks for looking and I hope to get lots of blogging done this month!

xoxo

Kim

Tape It Up Challenge

Right, so today's creation started from the Simon Says Stamp Challenge of Tape It Up!  I created my own tissue tape using the tutorial from Let's Scrap by Sue Dawn.  I changed it up a little by using Distress Stain to colour the tape ad then colouring some of the images with Smooch Ink.  This was the result:

It's a little hard to see the colour as it's on a brown background but I think you get the idea :0)

Then, I had to decide how to use this tape I had created.  It took me a while to decide to make it into a "framed" piece of art.  I cut a frame shape using my eCraft Fundamentals card and framed a 3 1/2" square of tape.  Then began the odyssey of finding the "right" paper.  You see, I'm one of those "Oooo, that looks nice!  What about that one?  I wonder what these would look like together?" people.  It took me a fair while to choose.  In the end, I went with some Webster's Pages from a 6x6 paper collection.  I cut two of the pieces in half and attached them together to make a 5 inch panel, hiding the join under some Webster's Pages trim.  I adhered the framed art and began the search for a sentiment.

It didn't take long - a Tim Holtz Philosophy Stick took my fancy and I altered it with a Snow Cap Paint Dabber.  I added some jewels to the corner and I thought I was done, but I was wrong!  The whole piece needed a frame.  So I found a piece of Tim Holtz Kraft Resist (with butterflies, of course).  I cut it to 5 1/2 inches and began colouring.  I started with Picket Fence Distress Stain and then added some Broken China and Peeled Paint.  I finished it off with some Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist and a bit of Walnut Stain Distress Ink on the edges.  I stuck it behind the panel and I knew I had nearly finished. I adhered my pieces to a 6 inch card base and voila!

My tissue tape card!

Here are a few close ups AND a picture of the back which has just the Kraft Resist on it.

 The tape framed art.

 The philosophy stick.

 You can see that the panels are elevated here with foam tape.

 Oooooo!  Look at that shine!  I love the Perfect Pearls Mist!!

The finished panel on the reverse of the card.  You can see the colour and resist pattern here.

It was a good exploration today.  Thanks for looking and I hope to see you here again soon!

xoxo

Kim

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

12 Tags of 2012 - September and My New Craft Space

Yay!!! I'm back on line and in our new house.  I can't tell you how much I detest moving but at least it is done for the next to last time.  Which means, I have a new crafting space!  It's fabulous for me as it is right in the middle of everything but still all mine so no need to clean up if I need to leave what I am working on.  It's right next to the windows so it has great light and it has been Kiminated - overly organised for those of you who know me.

Here's what it looks like:

Of course with a new space, I had to give it a try.  Oooooooohhhhhh....heaven!  The right amount of space with everything close at hand and just a few steps from the cabinet of goodness that protects all my stash from 3 year old hands.  And being that I am inflicted with "Tim Holtzitis", my first project in the new space had to be a Tim challenge.

This month is an industrial look (see Tim's tag here) and it required me to improvise a lot, which was fantastic.  I have been watching videos and listening to podcasts while waiting to get back into it and the one saying that has really stuck with me was "What If I...".  I heard it on the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast that Tim was recently on and it was from an amazing crafter, Laura Denison.  Do yourself a favour, check her blog out.  You will be blown away.

So, with "What If..." in hand, I began my tag!  I didn't have foil tape or the right colour alcohol inks or steel wool or even any of the embellishments that were used on Tim's tag but I wasn't going to let that stop me!  Here is what I came up with:

I used aluminium foil to replace the foil tape and instead of alcohol inking it, I used black acrylic paint. I  found an old scratchy dish cloth under the sink and used that to rub the paint off and scratch up the surface a bit.  I used the pen technique from Tim to create the rivet look and my pick for the holes.  The "stitching" was created using my bone folder.

When it was time to embellish, I had to think hard because my Vagabond hasn't been replaced yet and I have no die cutting machine (so many dies and no way to use them!).  I don't have any really industrial stamps but for some reason iron scrollwork popped into my head and I remembered some Kaisercraft stamps I had.  I had actually picked out a bird but in the end, the dragonfly spoke to me more.

I stamped it using Staz-On ink onto silver foil card and embossed it with a glitter embossing powder.  Then I used the ginger alcohol ink to colour it in.  

I had a message in mind when I pulled out the word band and key.  But where to find the words "the" and "is"?  As I rummaged through my stickers, I came across the DCWV Once Upon a Time chipboard stickers and there was my "the".  Still looking for the "is"... and then it hit me!  I have had the grunge blocks for ages and barely used them.  I could try a modified version of rusted grunge as I have no Distress Embossing powders!

So, it's not exactly what I was in my head but it is close and I like it.  The blocks were inked with Black Soot Distress Ink and then I dusted silver embossing powder over the top.  There's a lot more black showing that this picture suggest.  The letters were inked with Vintage Photo and then embossed with clear powder.  Before I heated though, I ran my fingers over the letters to remove patches of powder.  Then I inked the top with Black Soot.  I got a pretty decent speckled look.

Overall, I am extremely please with my improvisation!  I hope you had fun looking and that you too will think with "What If I..."!

xoxo

Kim