12 Tags of 2014 October Tim Holtz....and then some!

Finally back in the studio for some fall creations, inspired by the beautiful foliage.  Took a trip up to the White Mountains last weekend and now the color is peaking here at home!  First off is my entry for 12 Tags October.  Love the new distress sprays and had to order them in every color of course!

Next up from the fall inspiration is the card below using Tim's Pumpkin Blueprint stamp, colored with Copics and some accent leaves. Just love Fall cards, such great color combos!

Lastly I finished a great project that Shelly Hickox wrote a tutorial for on her blog- I love that you can create just about anything with paper and chipboard/matboard!  I really love how this piece came out and plan to make an advent calendar next for Christmas!

Moments....Tim Holtz Blueprints Fall

As the summer winds down, I have been getting in the Fall/Halloween mood!  Just love all the great colors associated with that time of year.  So...I created my first fall card this year with the Tim Holtz Blueprint Oak stamp- using the Sizzix Framelits kit to cut out different pieces of the leaf and layer for dimension and color! Just love these sets, although I will admit that "fussy" cutting is relaxing to me! I used Distress Ink with a watercolor brush to get just the right mix of colors

After finishing the main frame of the card I decided to mount it on a square piece of corrugated folded card and tucked some altered tattered leaves under for additional efffect.  I just love how this card came together and the all the colors.

I am busy in the studio creating and making a ton of cards for an upcoming fair where for the first time I will be selling my work and ALL the proceeds will be going to a local dachshund rescue!  More info to come on the time Cannot wait to see how it goes! I am a little nervous !

Halloween Creations

Well I know it's still summer and the weather is beautiful but I have been busy in the studio working on some Halloween projects.  By no means am I trying to rush summer but Fall /Halloween is my absolute favorite time of year!  So I thought I would post some pics of some cards I have done so far. Some have definitely been inspired by Tim Holtz, Richele Christensen and Anna-Karin where I have taken bits and pieces of some of their projects and gone a bit astray to create my own.

Candlelight Fright using beeswax from the melting pot for the candles-great texture!

I am attempting to use ALL my Halloween stash and using that as a bit of a challenge.

Love how the tissue paper effect on the headstone makes it look old.  Just love creating texture effects!!   Rangerhas a great tutorial on this!

I used my Stamp2Cut to cut out the witch in the size I want since I don't have this die!  Love my eclips and stamp2cut, endless possibilities.

Hope you enjoy! Happy Halloween!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags July 2014

Just getting this in with a day to spare! Below is my creation for Tim's 12 tags of 2014 July.  You can get step by step instructions from Tim himself on his blog here. 

I really love the technique of making the sand-so realistic! I do admit this one was a bit challenging for me because I am very impatient waiting for crackle paint to dry and I tend to want to heat it with the heat tool and the effects are just not as good.  Thus I chose the quotation "embrace imperfection" for this tag!

Here is a close up of the sand dollar, starfish and sand:

And one of the seahorse:

What a fun tag-reminds me of the beach- great fro summer!

CC3C 7: Tim Holtz Painted Industrial

Even though we are in the heart of summer, this is the time of year I get so excited to dive into my Halloween creations. Looking forward to the arrival of my new Tim Holtz seasonal new releases that I just ordered from Simon Says Stamp! In the meanwhile I wanted to create a Halloween themed entry for the CC3C  sponsored by Inspiration Emporium. The background was made using Distress Paints and the halloween words background stamp. Using the paint as a resist I then went over with Distress inks.  Also put it through the matching embossing folder for additional texture. The Rickety House was done in the industrial theme as Tim demonstrates in his Compendium of Curisioties vol 3.  I added the picket fence, painted with picket fence crackle paint and distressed with black soot.  I just love adding distress stickles to just about everything-as I did to highlight the windows (mustard seed) and doors/sills (black soot).  Die cut a bat and added distress glitter for an added touch to the spooky sky! I just love Halloween and cannot wait to share more creations in the weeks and months to come.

Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge #4 Layering Stencils/Texture Paste

This ended up being a two part project- I originally had this idea for merely the tag. But since the new Challenge was using the texture paste with the layering stencils, I decided to go ahead and make a patriotic background as well.  This card incorporates sp many of  Tim's products, I just love it.

The tag itself was made using layering stencils with texture paste for the stars and distress ink for the stripes.  I used Tim's rosette die to create the ribbon and his blueprint stamp USA (cut out with my Stamp 2 Cut), then water colored and glossy accents to give dimension and texture.

The background is a full on flag made by repeating the layering stencil stars using texture paste.  I then colored over each section with the Distress stains, wiping off the stars (as a resist) when I was finished.  And YES that is white distress stain Picket Fence in the middle layer- LOVE that!!.  A little black soot around the edges to grunge it up!


I am entering this in the CC3C #4 which can be found here

12 Tags of 2014 Tim Holtz June Entry: Layering Stencils Monoprint

In the studio today and so excited to try out my new mini Distress ink pads- LOVE them!!  I followed Tim Holtz's inspiration and example for the tag itself, but played with all my layering stencils to create different backgrounds using the monoprint technique that Tim describes.

I just love this technique....

I chose the star background (as did Tim) for my tag.  The colors in this technique are just amazing!!!

For this tag I didn't stray too far from Tim's idea, but plan to make some additional tags with my own unique ideas using these great backgrounds. I will definitely share when complete.  

Here's the completed tag: