More Christmas Tags

I finally had a day where I didn't have to go to an appointment or leave the house for any reason so I made it my play day/jammie day.  I know... bad me, but I had the time, didn't have to see anyone, and could just do what I really wanted and that was do some crafting.  :)  This afternoon, I sat down and started with my Christmas theme tags again.  I used a variety of stamps sets I have kicking around, a Sizzix die and Tim's Alterations die, some holly chipboard I had on hand and the tags were some left over tags I had colored extra's of when doing the Creative Chemistry classes.  I didn't want to waste any of that wonderful yummy color on my craft sheet so I used extra tags to sop up that delicious color.  I had 2 that worked really well with the themes I had in my head.  Whoohoo...

The first one is my winter wonderland tag.  It's in crisp wintery blues.  The trees are Sizzix die cuts colored with distress inks in mowed green, peeled paint and vintage photo.  I used Aleene's glitter snow for the branches to simulate snow.  I applied it with a large bulby type of Qtip.  The snowman is from one of my many Xmas stamp sets, I think this one was an Inkidinkadoo set.   The flying reindeer is from another set I had and I embossed it with distress tea dye embossing powder for some texture.  And I added a few second generation snow flakes to the back ground.  :)

 

 

 

I really like my second tag.  It's using Tim's ornament dies.  I did a rough rustic texture on the bell using distress embossing powder in brushed corduroy after I painted it with distress tarnished brass paint.  After the embossing I inked around the edges in vintage photo.  The holly is a set of chip board from Antic Attics and I painted with distress paints and then added peeled paint distress glitter to add some bling!  :)  I used another sentiment stamp in amongst my large population of Xmas stamp sets I have and inked it with distress peeled paint ink.  

 

 

 

That's all folks!  I'm patiently waiting for my chicken wings to defrost so I can pop them into the oven to bake and have me a yummy supper and maybe throw in a movie tonight.  As I'm typing this I'm looking out my back window and watching the sunset go down... so beautiful.  I hope everyone else is having a wonderful day as well.  :)  

Xmas lantern

Hi everyone.  Well, I was totally inspired by Nicole from CanadianNickel Scrapn with her last tag challenging herself to use stuff that she didn't use and wasn't sure what to do with them.  So, my intention was to use what I have and have not used yet... well, that was my intention!  BUT... because I have a hoarding problem when it comes to scrapbooking supplies, I had to run right on over to our local scrapbooking store when she posted on her FB page that her order was in with a bunch of Tim Holtz stuff... Need I Say More!  ;)  

I am still inspired by Nicole's tag and I will still challenge myself in the same way, perhaps my next tag!  LOL  However this time, I had to get into my new stuff and do some playing.  Since Christmas is approaching quicker than I wish I am into Christmas tag mode.  :)  

I bought myself the Rustic Lantern die so that was my inspiration for today's project.   I also used the boughs from my Pinecone die set, and a dove from a QuickKutz die. 

 

 

The tag was colored in a marbling technique using Distress paints, vintage photo, frayed burlap and tarnished brass.  After I cut the lantern from grunge board, I took the body and covered the whole piece with distress embossing ink and distress embossing powder in vintage photo.  After embossing, I inked over top with vintage photo and walnut ink to give that rust look.  This is one of the techniques in Tim's Creative Chemistry classes.  The globe part of the die I used Distress paints in antique linen and scattered straw, once dry I inked walnut stain around the sides, then smothered the globe in Distress clear rock candy crackle for that shattered glass effect.   The tree boughs are from the Alterations Pinecone die set, and I inked them with Distress peeled paint, mowed grass and vintage photo.  After the dove was cut, I took some liquid glass and spread it over with my finger and then sprinkled on Distress glitter in broken china.  I stamped a sentiment onto a strip of paper inked in barn door.  The rusted snowflakes are some embellishments that I have had for years and not used.  So I did use one thing that I haven't used before.  :)  The red bow is some scrap ribbon I had in my stash.   

 

I really like the lantern, and I'm glad that I ran out to purchase it today.  The rusting technique is one of my favorite techniques I learnt from Creative Chemistry and I'm ecstatic that I was able to do it today along with the crackle.  Love crackle!!!  :)  

 

Hope you like my tag and off to contemplate my stash and dig out some stuff I've never used and see what comes from it, with Christmas still being the theme.  :)  Need to make Nicole proud, since she is the inspiration in using what I have.  :)   

Best medicine

When life hands you lemons make lemonade?  Is that they saying.  Life sure has handed our family it's share of lemons this past month.  Three deaths in a month span is a little much to handle.  Having lost one of my best friends this past week and my unborn granddaughter yesterday has been a bit much.  So today I've been trying to keep my mind busy with other things.  Laundry, cooking a nice supper, and of course the best therapy of all... making tags. 

First up is my Christmas tag.  I love Christmas and this gives me happy thoughts.    I colored the tag with Distress stains first and finished it with Distress inks to blend and intensify the colors.  I used Tim's birdcage die and the pinecone die for the branches.  I stamped images, cut them out, colored with inks and stickles and then did Tim's alcohol inks onto some tinsel ribbon and heat set it to shrink the tinsel as he showed in his CC102 classes.   I used clear rock candy stickles on the Merry Christmas which you can't see in the photo but it has that awesome sugary sweetness to it. 

 

 

 

Next tag I had left over from Tim's Creative Chemistry classes with marbling Distress paints.  Love the colors.  The rest was just using die cuts from K&Company stuff I had laying around and stamped  a sentiment.  I did add some clear rock candy stickles to the butterfly for some more of that sugary goodness it gives.  



 

 

 

Creating fun tags is always the best medicine for putting me into my happy place.   However, for tonight I am done and if all is well tomorrow I hope to find some time in my craft room again.  Have a great night and may life be kind to you.  xo

Tim Holtz tag November 2013

Ugh... winter is upon us.  I can see myself finding somewhere tropical to live in my retirement years!  Be gone with the snow.  However, today I am taking this opportunity to do some playing in my craft room and work on the chalkboard technique for Tim's November tag.  I don't have any of the dies and stamp sets combos so I had to make do with what I had.  I did go shopping yesterday and I got myself a few new stamp sets.  I really wanted to try to do something with colored chalk and so I used one of Tim's Visual Artistry sets for a soft pastel colored garden theme.  I like how it turned out.  Here is my tag for November. 

 

 

 

Off to my room to work on more fun tags today.  Well, between some housecleaning and laundry that is.   Hope everyone is having a crafty fun day as well!  To my northern friends with snow, keep warm!  

Creative Chemistry: Day 5

Yes!  I have finished and can say I have graduated from school again!  :)  Well Creative Chemistry school anyhow.  This has been so much fun and can't wait for CC103.  ;)  I hope there will be a 103!  I'm going to keep this short cause it's super late and I wanted to post this before going to bed.  So here are the last of my tags and lessons from this amazing class. 

Rusting:  This is an awesome technique and I know I'll be using it a lot!

 

 

 

 

Sticky Glitter:  This didn't turn out quite as well as I hope for, but I'll definitely practice.  :)

 



 

 

 

Sticky leafing:  I found myself buying the leafing sheets instead of the loose because it was half the cost.  I also embossed with tinsel glitter around the edges.

 

 

 

 

Shabby Chic:  This took me two tries to get it.  I was challenging finding the right balance of dryness before starting to rub off the paint. 

 

 

 

 

Tarnished Silver:  Cool effect but for the amount of work that went into embossing the layers and then using the distress paint, I find I really like the look of the new Tarnished metal embossing enamels by Stampendous and they look really cool without all the layering. 

 

 

 

 

Chalkboard:  This is really cool!  I really like the effect of this one. 

 

 

 

 

 

Had a blast doing all these lessons and learning all these new techniques.  Now to put them to practice and incorporate them into my projects.  :)  In the meantime, my bed is calling me and tomorrow brings a new day with new surprises.  Night night...



 

 





Creative Chemistry: Part 4

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing goes right and you just decide to pack it in and work on crafts?  Yup, that was me today.  I didn't get to have my favorite sushi cause my lunch date cancelled 20 minutes before meeting.  I decided to try to go find some chalk for Day 5 of CC102 and while in Staples there was this huge BOOM that sounded like a semi truck drove into the building.  Nope, wasn't that, but it was a huge explosion about 50 km north of the city at the military base doing experimental something or other!  The sound wave shook the city like an after shock of an earth quake.  Buildings shook, things fell of shelves in some places... insane!  After all that I decided to go have the best burger in town at our drive thru before they close for the winter next week and had the most disappointing burger ever.  Where's the beef was all I could say.  I think it was a Diet burger cause the onion slice was thicker than the beef patty.  Sigh.....   So, needless to say, I decided that I needed to have something positive happen for the day so I started on CC102, Day 4.  Alcohol inks!  Yesterday I watched the video's and decided that I needed more colors of inks in order to do several of the lessons, so off I went to Michael's to get some.  I couldn't decide which packages to get so I got them all!  OMG... I feel like the U-tube Scrapbooking hoarder lady!  LOL  If you haven't seen her video, you really need to watch it!  It was like watching myself.  LOL  I'm sure many of us feel the same way.  Anyhow, here are my projects from Day 4's lessons. 

Faux Patina: 

 

 

 

Tinted Tinsel: I didn't have any of Tim's tinsel so I went looking thru my stash and found this tinsel ribbon stuff and thought heck why not!  It didn't turn out too bad.

 

 

 

Ombre': 

 

 

 

 

Monoprint:  I think this is one of my favorite techniques.  It's like marbling with alcohol inks!  And I love the marbling effect with any of the mediums, but by adding in the metallic mixatives, it makes this so unique and amazing.  Love love it...wish the picture showed the gold metallic shine better.

 



 

 

Faded layers:  Probably my least favorite technique.  Maybe with a bit of practice, but my first attempt did not turn out the way I thought it might.  It's ok but it's not even close to Tim's tag.  I think I felt most challenged with this technique.  But that's ok, practice makes perfect.  :) 

 

 

 

And so ends another day of Creative Chemistry.  I can't believe there is only one more day to go before I graduate this class.  Kind of sad actually!  However, this will give me the opportunity to use what I have learnt and put it into practice.  Day 5, embossing!  Yes!!!  I adore embossing.  Can't wait to learn the blackboard/chalk technique!  I have my chalks purchased and ready to go!  I bought a pack of colored chalks and want to try with some colors not just white!  Fun fun fun...  See you at Day 5!  :)





Creative Chemistry 102: Part 3

I've had a productive day!  Yesssss... I was able to sit down this afternoon and get going on Day 3 of CC102.  This was a fun day, the lessons were great and I'm loving the smudged ink technique.  I wasn't sure if I would like it until I actually did it!  Yup, in love!  And I am kinda lovin' the photo tinting as well.  :)  This is a really cool technique that I think I'll be able to use when I start doing a scrapbook album with some vintage photo's.  And the faux cracked glass, well, let me just say, brilliant! 

Day 3: Smudge stamping, regular stamp and smudged stamp

Day 3:  Brayered stains

Day 3:  Photo tinting, I just can't believe how awesome this technique is.  In love! 

Day 3:  Faux Cracked Glass, I used Alcohol ink in aqua lights to make the cracked glass to be more like cracked ice for some deep sea ice fishing!  ;)

 

 

Day 3:  Distress Glitter Rock Candy, I also used the smudge technique for the base of this tag.  :)

 



 

Day 3:  Distress Glitter, I love this tag.  Nothing is better than bling!  I used the precut grunge pieces from Tim Holtz, Distress stain marbling for the background and some soft second generation stamping.

And this ends my day!  :)  These techniques have really opened up my world.  Tim is amazing.  Can't wait to see what he has in store for day 4!  :)

Creative Chemistry 102: Part 2

I'm back and ready to get started again with my Creative Chemistry 102.  It feels like it has been so long since having started and then having to stop.  And I guess it kind of has been, with it being three weeks since Dad passed away.  I really needed to push myself into getting started again, but when I did I was thankful that I was doing what makes me happy again.  I got a lot done today and am pretty excited to be able to post something. I managed to get the remainder of Day 1 done, and all of Day 2.  Whoohoo...  Tim sure has packed in a lot of stuff into each days lessons.  Wow.  Here is what I am happy to have completed today: 

Day 1:  Marbling, colored crackle, altered surface, eroded metallic, stamping resist and industrial

Day 2:  Mixed media, embossing and embossing through

 

 

Day 2:  Stamping, sketching and ink monoprint

 

 

 

 

Day 2:  Paint monoprint

 

 

 

 

My table is a mess with all my paints, and stains and inks etc, but my philosophy is if I don't clean it up I'll be able to get started tomorrow after my appointments and hopefully finish all of Day 3.  It really is a bonus some days to have hubby working away from home.  I am hoping to complete all of CC102 this week.  I would love to check out some other creative souls out there.  If you like my tags, follow me and I'll be able to check in with you and follow you too.  :)   In the meantime, have a great day and I'll see you when I'm back with my tags from Day 3.