Tim Holtz Flip Frame Christmas Display

Hello and welcome back to the blog today. I had a bit of free time last week, (just a small bit) and I know I haven't been crafting a whole lot lately due to my busy schedule so I wanted to really sit down and go back to some of the things I love to do. 

Tim Holtz has always been one of my favorite styles and designers and as soon as I saw his flip frame, my brain went into overdrive. I love the idea of a flip frame for multiple uses but for today I made a Christmas display.

This Christmas display is loosely based on one of Tim's older 12 tags. It's from his post way back in 2011, if you want to check out Tim's tutorial here is the link

12 Tags of 2011 Tag 2

On the edges of the frame I added some snowflake paste so it looked like there was little snow, I sat that aside to dry.
(Snowflake paste is something that my store Simple Pleasures where I work sells it and  has gotten it in stock like 3 times and it keeps selling out, we cannot keep the stuff on the shelves.)

Next, I added some of Tim's Holiday letterpress blocks to the outside of my frame with my glue gun BUT first I added some really nice red glitter to each letter. I simply added a little glossy accents to the front of the letters and dipped them into the red glitter face first, setting them aside to dry

my last step was the centerpiece, which was mostly explained on Tim's Blog with his 12 Tags of 2011 Tag 2 
I used the general idea for the reindeer and background for my display. Tim used Seasonal Craft Resist for the background behind his reindeer and I am out of the seasonal SO, I used some of the butterfly craft paper that I had. To add the resist, I used versamark and stamped the word "Believe" from the stamp set called Handwritten Holidays.  I then used clear embossing powder to heat set. This way when I went over the entire background with white distress stain, the word "believe" resists the stain, so it pops. 
Once my middle section was mostly complete I added two Jingle Brads to the bottom and also made a poinsettia for the bottom right side. 
My poinsettia was made using Tim's Tattered Poinsettia Die
and for the leaves I used Tim's Holly branch die. I also used these little things called "Prills" in the center of my poinsettia
They are these tiny little beads that you just adhere with glossy accents or any other clear glue. They are fabulous, we have them at Simple Pleasures and we ship!! They are the best thing and they give the center of my poinsettia a realistic look. I also added a touch of gold glitter to them
 Check it out:

I just added a bit of greenery around the reindeer to mimic a wreath and attached an ideology snowflake with burlap ribbon
I love how it turned out, so festive!

This makes a super fun display piece for Christmas. 
I hope you have enjoyed the little tutorial, I'm off to take it to work with me and share it with my co-workers!! 
CHEERS!!

A Simple "Hi"

Good day everyone, I hope your having a wonderful day and staying cool. Here in Colorado we have been in a bit of a heat wave. 

I am staying cool in doors and working on some crafting. There are a few challenges out there in blog land that I want to participate in so I'm in my craft room creating

My project today is Tim Holtz inspired, I have been seeing all the new products from Tim that are coming out this summer and I'm always fascinated by Tim and his many talents for designing

To begin I started by cutting a card with Eileen Hull's Sizzix  Garden Gate Die I used red card stock for the base (cut two of those, one for the front of the card and one for the back) and white for the picket fence portion. This die is designed for an album but today I'm using it to make a card

I then cut and embossed my layered butterfly, I used yellow distress card stock for that so I could rough it up after embossing. 

I used Rusty Hinge distress ink to add some color to my butterfly and also really make those embossed areas POP out

I cut some flowers out of white card stock using Tim's mini tattered floral movers and shapers

I used distress stains in various colors to color my flowers

I then used Tim's  Mixed Media stamp set to stamp onto my card background and also my flowers

I went around my edges with distress ink in order to grunge things up a bit.

I used distress stain to color my ribbon for my bow (sorry didn't photograph that step)

I used various Idea-ology trinkets Custom Fasteners to create my flower centers and added a Chain Tassel to the bow. I used the Memo Pin to adhere to paper with the word "Hi"

Here are a few photos of my finished card

I am entering this card into three challenges today -

The first challenge is over at A Vintage Journey and this week they are asking us to use some "Dies and Distress" they are a Tim Holtz themed challenge site so anything in that style is 

A-ok. The sponsor this month is Country View Crafts and the winner will win a 10.00 gift card

The Next Challenge is from Frilly and Funky and their challenge theme is "Summer Heat" they are asking us to remember the colors, red, orange and yellow and also add a  summer bloom somewhere in our projects - the winner will win a 25.00 gift card to The Funky Junky Boutique

Lastly the challenge over at Our Creative Corner this month is "Homemade Flowers & Hand Died Ribbon" - Their sponsor this month is Ninecrane Designs and you could win a voucher to shop

Thanks so much for coming by, I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial. 

Have a happy day!!

Journal Soup - Portion 3

If you follow me regularly, you know that I have been doing the online class Journal Soup.. 

This is a journal series online class by Kate Crane over at

The Kathryn Wheel

I am really loving this class, it's so much fun and I love Kate's esthetic. 

I have learned quite a bit and have put away my inhibitions about adding too much paint etc...

This is my 3rd portion of the class, Kate takes you through page by page and I'm on my 3rd page. She actually makes a 4x6 size postcard so that is the size I'm working with. 

For this particular class Kate wanted us to try our hand at making your own stamp. I did not have the rubber she used or the tools so I decided to use a thick piece of foam and a hot tool.

These are the stamps I made for my project

Not perfect but I wasn't trying to be perfect

Here is a look at my page during the process.. I made two for this session

The green circle stamp, darker yellow squares and black lined stamp are all the ones I made

Here is what my finished postcards look like

for this first one I drew the figure onto text paper

Thanks again for stopping by, I hope you have a Happy Monday!!!

Cheers!!

Postcards

I think I have my scheduled worked out so that I can finally start to craft and blog on a regular basis again. Anyhow, I wanted to take a moment to share with you some postcards that I created.
One is for a good friend of mine and the others are for a postcard swap that I had joined which was the theme "Halloween"!! One of my very favorite holidays.

I didn't get to do a full tutorial for these but I did take photos of my finished products. 

This is the postcard that I mailed out to a friend. (I have owed her one for awhile now) oppsie!! I also created one to keep, I just love how they both turned out. I used the one of my new Prima Julie Nutting stamps and paper pieced her dress.  
I also used Dyan Reaveley sprays for the background and misc stamps and stencils. 
I added a piece of washi tape to both sides and a few swirl punches. 

For the next postcards I created them in a Halloween theme. 

I used the Tim Holtz Haunted House Die and a small skull stamp to created the skull in the window. I used a pumpkin stamp and heat embossed it with orange embossing powder and then colored it with distress ink in the color Rusty Hinge. The embossing powder really made the pumpkin pop. 

I also used Embossing powder on the background and stamped the skull lady and embossed her. I added glossy accents to the windows so that they would look shiny (like real windows.)

I am entering this postcard into the new
Simon Says Monday Challenge
The theme is Embossing
Also, for those that do not know it, Simon Says has moved their challenge blog to a new location. It is now located at
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge

Well all, I will see you soon for more... Thanks for hanging in with me while I moved.

Cheers!!!