A Pearl-ish Christmas Card

This week at Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge blog the theme is "Just Add Pearl". Any kind of pearl as long as you have something pearl on your project. As always, they are giving away another 50.00 gift certificate to a random entry. They are so generous!!

Since Hurricane Sandy has me staying home and inside, I figured I would use this free time to work on this challenge. Besides, I'm thrilled that I can spend the day creating in my craft room. 
I decided that I needed to get to work on some Christmas Cards and this year I really want to do something different than I have ever done before so I plan to make several and then go with one of them. 

I really wanted to use Tim's new stamp set "Blueprint Christmas" and I just love snowmen so I went with that. 
I used Tim's craft resist paper in a sort of blue print design and sprayed a ton of red and silver Perfect Pearl Mist onto a sheet and dried it with the heat gun. You can really see the shimmery goodness on this. I destressed the edges with a distress tool and used Walnut Stain distress ink on them.

I used an old folder for the card base and covered it with Peeled Paint distress stain and brushed pewter metallic.    

I used a piece of burlap and cut it to size and sprayed it with Adorondak sprays in various Christmas colors and then sewed that onto the base of the card.

I also created a cool tree with a Tim tree die and some glossy paper. I used alchohol inks to color the tree. 

I used some more of the burlap to make a ribbon and stamped Merry Christmas onto it to spread across the front of the card. I stained the burlap with forest moss distress stain. 

I also cut a button out of another Tim Holtz die and some cardboard, added some embossing ink and red glitter embossing powder. Heat set that and added burlap ribbon to it. 

To finish it all off I added some silver ribbon, pinecones and misc greenery. There are lots of layers and loads of distress stains, inks and perfect pearl mists. 

Enjoy!!!

Crumpled Craft Suede

Linda over at Studio L3 's Challenge for this week's Compendium of Curiosities is "Crumpled Craft Suede" Based on Tim Holtz' book and page 40.
Sponsoring this week is the gals at The Funkie Junkie Botique
with a 25.00 gift certificate to their store. 
Also over at Simon Says Stamp and Show the challenge this week is "Inspired By Wendy Vecchi" and you are supposed to use or do something on the project that inspires you by Wendy. SSS is giving away a 50.00 gift certificate to their store. Plus they have 25% off Wendy products until the 29th YAY!!
One other challenge is the folks at Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog 's challenge this week is Autumn Leaves! One of my absolute favorite things!!
So for this particular tag I incorporated all three challenges into one. The butterflies are Wendy's stamp and so is the word "Art" I absolutely love Wendy stamps and they are so awesome, I always have fun with any of her products. I also made the background using the Tim technique Crumpled Craft Suede, it's a super fun technique and if you look closely the paper actually looks vieny like a real leaf would so it's perfect for this background.  I cut out some of the smaller leaves from Tim's fall decorative strip die and used the glassine as well for that.  The larger leaves were made by using Tim's Fall Leave Big Sizzix die and some resist patterned paper and distress stains in various colors. I also stamped onto them with different stamps and Adirondack ink.

The glue was still drying when I took the picture so the leaves have  a small brown spot in the middle but those won't show once dry. 

Winner!!!

Thanks to all my followers for coming to the blog and leaving such sweet and kind comments. I really appreciate you all. A Winner has been randomly chosen for the Tim Holtz Distress Inks, the stamps and the mini charm that I made... 

A BIG CONGRATS TO:

Julie LeakeOctober 24, 2012 5:30 AM

Wow am I glad I found you , I am new to your blog. I went from the latest to the begging of your art work and my how you have really really improved into a beautiful professional i'm really impressed love your work!

Keep on the lookout for more give-a-ways. I am hoping to do more of this in the coming months ...

Dia De Los Muertos - Day of the Dead ATC

I'm hosting a swap for one of my yahoo groups called ATC_Fun. It's a lovely and talented group of ladies and I enjoy the group a lot. 
This swap is to celebrate the upcoming Mexican Holiday "Dia' De Los Muertos or Day of the Dead. 
Typically sugar skulls are used as a symbol for day of the dead so I went with a free printable sugar skull from about.com it's a really cool one and I added a few elements to it as well. 
To start this project I used black cardstock and ran it through a cuttlebug embossing folder with a design that I thought would look nice for the background. Prior to running the cardstock through, I painted the inside of the folder with Tim's Metallic Stains in the color Pewter . It gave the background a nice shimmery look. 

 Once that was done I sanded to top of the cardstock and ran over it with Black Soot Distress Ink to make the design pop a little more. 

The Piece on the top of this picture is the one that is sanded. It's not much different but it did add a bit more black and made it look more metallic. 

After that I took my printed out skulls and colored them with Distress Markers and since I don't have all the colors of Distress Markers I also used a few Bic Markers. You have to be careful with Bic though because they tend to run, that's why I love the Distress. 

I then wanted the sugar skulls to have a sort of sugary look so I used some embossing ink and Ranger's Clear Embossing powder over them AND while the embossing powder was heated and still wet I poured the new Dry Rock Candy Glitter over the top. Not all of the glitter sticks but it leaves just enough for it to look like sugar. It's the coolest stuff, I just love it. Not to mention the clear embossing powder really makes the Distress Ink Colors pop. Look how nice the skull turned out......

I also used the distress markers to color a stamp that says Dia De Los Muertos and stamped that onto white cardstock.

I love how you can just color a stamp with the markers and stamp with them and get a wonderful colorful image. 

Once that was done I cut out the words and added them to the ATC. 

Lastly I added a flower from the company Recollections  I thought it looked cool with this set. They are really cool and metal-ish looking.

Recycled Paper Stash Birthday Card

I have so many family Birthday's in November that I have been making loads of cards. I always like to send homemade cards for everyone because I just feel that they are a treasure to keep forever. I wish I got more homemade cards for Holiday's, I really love them. 

This is a card for my brother. Him and my father have been working together for years in my Father's Foundation business and my Dad gets tons of plans all the time that he has to asses and put bids out on. Well, I have this really cool paper that someone sent me once that looks like recycled plans. So I used that for one of the backgrounds here. Then I used a paper bag advertisement that I had laying around for another portion of the background.

I used a few Stampin' Up Stamps for the boat and phrase and a few Tim Holtz brads. Also added some bakers twin to match. It's a simple card but I think he will love it!!

 

Words & Phrases Chaos Swap

I have joined another Chaos swap on my All Things Tim yahoo group. This will make the third one that I have joined. One was the Halloween, two was Christmas and this one is Words and Phrases. Can you tell I love these? My tag was a smaller one up in the upper right hand corner so I couldn't fit a whole lot on my tag but I used my space wisely. LOL.
My Quote comes from the Tim Holtz Stamp Set
Odds and Ends, this set also has the outline of the tags too. So I used both for my tag. I really love this quote, it's one of my favorites from Tim.
First thing I did was stamp the tag and quote and then I used Tim's Stamp Blocks, one of the smallest rectangle ones is the exact size of the tag stamp so I used that to cover my stamp while I went over the edges with Distress Inks. I used DI in colors Peacock, Faded Jeans and also Seedless Preserves. They blended well together and by using the stamp block I didn't gt any on the white center where I stamped my quote.

I then ran it through the Sizzix machine inside a small gear folder that I have, not sure even where I got it. I stamped the Words "Art" and "Shadow" in the two colors and cut each little one out and added it to the quote to make it pop more!

I then ran over the gear embossing with Distress Ink in black soot. I have some funky ribbon that matched pretty well with the bright colors so I added that.

I didn't think the tag was quite done so I made some shrinky dink charms that say "Enjoy The Journey" stamped with one of Tim's stamps. I added alcohol inks in the same colors to match. 

I had to make 12 for the swap so these are some of the finished tags. Here is a close up of the charm.

I hope your having a wonderful crafty week!!!

WINNER WINNER & ANOTHER GIVE-A-WAY WOOHOO!!!!

Today is the day for a winner of the fantastic three sided tag hanging.
First let me say "thank you" to all my followers, I sure wish I could give everyone something that I have created. SO.... I am doing another give-a-way!!! YAY!!! But first let's see who won that three sided tag.
I put names into a hat and had my daughter draw one out for me. The lucky winner is:

Jeannie M.October 16, 2012 8:28 AM

As always another super project that you have produced. I sure wish I had your imagination and creativity (even a little speck of it). You are a true ARTIST in every sense of the word and I am so thrilled to be a part of your creativity. Jeannie 

Congrats Jeannie, I'm thrilled you won!

Onto a new give-a-way.....

Since Christmas is coming up I have a little package to get your Christmas crafting off to the perfect start. 

In this give-a-way, I'm offering a set of Tim Holtz distress inks in the limited edition colors. Iced Spruce, Evergreen Bough and Festive Berries, yes you get all three!! Tim Holtz and Ranger has made these wonderful colors available in their regular line now. 

Also, you will get three Imaginisce clear stamps the cute Reindeer, Christmas Cottage and Stocking.

Last but not least you will get the cute little charm that I made myself. It says Santa Clause on the little white ring. 

So to be entered into this drawing you need to:

1. Be a Follower

2. Leave a comment

5. Leave a way to contact you

That's it!! Good luck!!!
This give-a-way will close on Friday October 26th 11:00pm Eastern and I will randomly draw a winner on Saturday the 27th

NOTE: Please only leave one comment, if it doesn't post right away it's because I moderate and it will post as soon as I get it. Thank you.

Creepy Freaky & Weird

I have the privilege to be a part of a wonderful Yahoo group dedicated to the wonderful Wendy Vecchi. They have weekly challenges and I don't have much of Wendy's wonderful items yet so I haven't really taken part in those challenges but for this week I decided to just go for it and use what I have. The theme this week is: Creepy, Freaky and Weird and I am loving this theme. I am also entering this page into this weeks challenge on Frilly and Funkie the theme this week is "Anything but a Tag With a Twist" .. What a fun theme!! Your supposed to make a project that has something hidden in it.
Here is my page for these Challenges:

this is my journal page but wait....

Look at the next picture, who is popping out of the top there??

who is that back there? It's her little mummy buddy. There is a built in pocket in the back where he sits and waits to pop out and scare you.

 I really like the feel of this page. It's not your typical girl on the front there, she lost her head!! I think it fits the theme for the Wendy Vecchi group. 
I am also entering this page into the following challenges:
1. Order of the Opus Gluei
2.Simon Says Stamp Challenge
3. Stampin' for the Weekend

All with Halloween, Spooky or scary themes.
Here is a list of a few of the products I used for this page... 

Pieces from Wendy Vecchi's Stamp Sets:

She Created Art - Circles on background

Botanical Art - The Spider & words in background

An Eye For Art - Square Eye

Art Gone Postal - Wire Background

Tim Holtz Items:

Adirondack Color Wash - Cranberry, Lettuce, Terra Cotta & Butterscotch

Stamps - Spooky Stuff - Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat - Spider Web

Black Tinsel Twine

Claudine Hellmuth - Classic Teal Paint

Ink Palette - Perfect Pearls CC2C #25

I am So honored to be able to play in the CC2 Challenge this week. I really love this Tim technique and for this challenge Linda over at Studio L3 is showcasing the technique on page 53 of Tim's book "A Compendium of Curiosities 2". 
This technique uses Perfect Pearls powder and the new Ranger Ink Pallet.  For this challenge I made a Birthday Card for a family member of mine and I used Tim's stamp set Falling Leaves shown here Falling Leaves. I created a mask and stamped the leaves on top of one another.
This week's sponsor for this week's challenge is the ever generous Simon Says Stamp they are giving away a 25.00 gift certificate to one lucky winner. Thank you SSS!!!

A Different Kind of Tag Challenge & A GIVE-A-WAY

Over at Frilly and Funkie there is a great challenge. Hosted by one of my friends Anita Houston her challenge to us was to make a tag but switch it up a little bit. For this challenge I went with three tags and attached them all together to make a hanging or just something you could set on display. This was a fall theme but instead of leaves and things I just went with fall colors. I'm also entering this one into this weeks Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, "My Favorite Technique"...I really wanted to do a Tim Holtz technique called Riveted Patchwork. This technique is listed in his book A Compendium of Curiosities and it's a good one. If you don't have this book yet, you really should invest, it's chock full of great techniques. I also used his technique called Shattered Stains" for the butterflies on this, I love the way the crackle paint and stains look with this effect. I have attached it all together with some grungeboard hinge hardware, that I made look rusty  and then added lots of gears and flowers. The words are "Life is a Journey," and were added with Tim's Idea-ology alpha parts. I also made a matching top (so you can't see the un-kept inside) and some ribbon for hanging, but it also looks great just laying on top if you don't want to hang it.
Here are some pictures of my project for these challenges.

Ok, so my picture taking skills aren't so great but it really looks much better in person haha!!

This project is also going to be a GIVE-A-WAY!!!

YAY!! I love making these projects but I love to share them even more and what better way to Thank my loyal Followers than to give them something I have made?? So all you have to do to be entered into this random drawing is:

A. Must Be a Follower of My Blog 

B. Leave a comment below

C. Leave a way to contact you if you win!!

I will take entries until Saturday October 20th 11:00pm EST

Check back on Sunday the 21st to see if you won!! There might also be a special surprise too.. :)

Steampunk Spiders for Halloween

I am in yet another Halloween swap on my yahoo group, AllthingsTim. This months ATC swap theme was Steampunk Hallween and I decided to do a little steampunkish spider for mine. I just got this really cool Memory Box spider web die the other day and I just love how it looks against the cardstock. I used Tim Holtz alcohol inks on the background in shades of Wild Honey and Seedless Preserves. On top of that I added (my favorite) Brushed Pewter distress stain, it makes it looks like the fog is rolling in behind the spider web. I love the effect that the brushed pewter gives it.
For the spider I used some of Tim Holtz Idea-ology gears for the body and then a black gem for the head and I added a little sparkle gem as well. I used some metal wire for the web string coming out of the spider.  The "Boo" was cut out of Tim's Big Letter Die with some cardstock and then some metal tape on top of it to give it a metal look. I didn't distress them because I really wanted them to just be metal and to pop a little. Hope you all enjoy the ATC. :)

Be on the look out for my next post, there will be a give-a-way :)

Halloween Rules!!!!

This particular project was done with a lot of chaos on my brain. I actually wanted to join in so many challenges this week that my brain was all scrambled, so in order to join them all I came up with one design and used loads of techniques. :)
I am entering this into the Simon Says Stamp and Show with their challenge being Rustification!! and also the Studio L3 - Compendium of Curiosities 2 ,Their challenge this week is based on Tim's book and techniques, this weeks technique is  Alcohol Ink Resist and is listed in Tim's Compendium of Curiosities Book on page 59. 
I'm also putting this one on Tim Holtz blog for the 12 tags of 2012, this will be the very first time I was able to participate. No worries though, I have a huge idea brewing in order to complete all the tags of 2012, I'm just a bit behind!! HAHA!!!!
I also entered this one into Inspiration Emporium's October Challenge.. Spooky Decorations!!!
For this project, I  have about 4 or 5 of my daughter's old school rulers on my work station and I decided, "why not alter one for Halloween" ... so I got the paint out and let the magic begin. 
1st.... drilled holes for the label pulls on the back (these will actually act as my stand for the entire project. I used Tim's Rusted metal technique to make the label pulls distressed and old looking and then used brads to attach them to the ruler's back so the ruler will stand on it's side.

2nd.... pulled off one side of the ruler numbers and painted black with paint dabbers

3rd..... used Tim's Tissue Wrap technique listed on his blog for this months tag of 2012. (if you haven't seen this, go check out his blog, it's fantastic)
4th.....more paint dabber colors and perfect pearls mists

5th.....Used my Tim Holtz dies, On The Edge Graveyard and New Decorative Strip Halloween Shadows to cut out my shapes, I really like the Halloween Shadows and I really wish those kids came in a Big Steel Die (hint hint Mr. Holtz) Anyhow, I cut the graveyard out of grungeboard and the Kids out of Distress Paper. I wanted the kids to pop a little so I also cut them out of thin cardboard as well and painted that white. I layered the white underneath the black card stock (that I distressed) to give it a shadow type of look. With the graveyard I used a bunch of different techniques, one was Tim's distress stickles dry glitter with alcohol inks, I love the way it turned out. I also used a distressed metal technique on one of the crosses and used clear embossing powder and distress ink on some of the other gravestones. 

6th..... Stamped the Black bird from Tim's Mini Halloween 2 stamp set  onto grungeboard and cut him out. Again used Tim's dry glitter technique on him. Not covering the entire bird but just a little.

7th.....To create the 31 sign, I used the Holiday Lamp Post die but only cut out a portion of it in grungeboard. I then used the Dry Glitter technique, once again, on that. I used Tim's alcohol ink resist technique on the 31 and the sign, I also outlined the "31" numbers with black marker to make them pop a little more.

8th... glue glue glue, I used E6000 to adhere most of this project to the ruler and some glossy accents and red line tape.

9th... added some finishing touches to the "Trick or Treat" with white gel pen and red eyes to the bat and added a few grunge paper pumpkins, a tree and grunge board swirl and Whalla!!! It's done and looks so cute on my side table in the living room! I love it!!!

Here are a few more close ups of the entire project.

Fall Rolodex Swap

For the month of October the theme got the Rolodex swap in the AllThingsTim yahoo group is Fall. I am so glad that this theme and the Simon Says Stamp and Show 
Theme's coincide so I can join the challenge and make the rolodex card all in one!! How awesome!! The theme for SSS and show is Leaf-spiration!! I am also entering this into (for the first time ever) Frilly and Funky's "fall into fall" challenge. I just love fall leaves and the beauty of the season. For this one I used the Tim Holtz die "tattered leaves" and cardstock. I cut them out and then stamped one of Tim's word stamps onto one of them and used another word stamp on the other one. I then ran them through in an embossing folder and used some of the fabulous Tim Holtz distress stain in the new metallic colors on them. Once that was dry I lightly went over them with Vintage Photo distress ink. For the background I went over the card with Orange marmalade distress ink and fired brick and also vintage photo around the edges. Then stamped the tattered tree branch (not Tim's can't remember the name of this one) 
I also cut out some smaller leaves and branches from Tim's strip die "autumn gatherings" with distress paper and tattered them up, using inks and sanding. 
I used a Stampin' Up alphabet set for the word "fall" and then went over it with a white gel pen and also added the white dots around the edge to frame.
I added a button with burlap ribbon for the finishing touch. Hope you like it!!!

Here are a few links to help you find the items I used.

Metalic Distress Stains

Autumn Gatherings Strip Die

Tattered Leaves Big Die

Pumpkin ATCs

Hello Bloggies, this week I've been working on some ATC swaps that I really want to get in. I joined a pumpkin swap and made some fun and not so grungy ATCs for this one. Normally I go the grunge way but I found these really cute stickers from Martha Stewart. I know what your thinking... I normally don't use stickers nor the Martha Stewart items BUT these came out really fun and I after I incorporated some Tim stamps and Dyan Reavely stamps it turned out super fun I think. I hope you like them also.