Happy Autumn!

This is definitely my favorite time of the year; I love a typical autumn day in NYC when the skies are blue, the air feels crisp, and there isn't even a hint of humidity to cause hair problems.
I have been keeping up with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2012, and as expected, his October tag is all about Halloween.  I know so many people who are into that holiday, including Tim, and try as I might, it just isn't my thing.  Autumn, however, is right up my alley.  So, my entry sort of nods at Halloween, but is really about the season.  And, it's not even a tag.

Another favorite regular challenge I like to participate in is the Making Art Challenge over at the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group.  Wendy did an autumn tag recently that was featured on the Ranger website, and our challenge was to use the featured technique (adhering sticky back canvas to Wendy's Clearly For Art) and at least one of Wendy's stamps in any sort of creation.

So.....I combined the two, tried several of the techniques Tim used, and the sticky back canvas/CFA technique Wendy used, and came up with this:

 

 

Tim demonstrated making custom colored glitter with the new rock candy dry glitter and alcohol inks.  I don't have any of that product (yet), so used what I did have.....some chunky glitter, and it sure didn't work the way Tim's did, LOL.  But I love taking part in these artistic science experiments.  The larger of the two jack-o-lanterns is covered with my version.  I glittered the smaller one with plain old orange just to show the difference.  When I get some of the rock candy stuff I'll be trying that again.  BTW, the jack-o-lanterns and letters are grungeboard, from two of the many sets of pre-cut shapes I have in my stash.  I don't know if they are manufactured any more; they date back to the days before the Vagabond and Tim's Sizzix dies.  But being a good hoarder collector, I still have tons of them.

 

The tissue paper background is straight out of Tim's demo, but over top I used Wendy's background stamp from Optical Art.  On the bottom left you will see her little spider stamp from Botanical Art.  To make it stand out a bit more, I used black soot distress ink and black embossing powder.

 

All of the autumn leaves were done on the canvas covered CFA.  For those who don't know, Clearly For Art is a wonderful product (some sort of plastic, I think) that can be heated to make it bendable.  Yes, lots of products do that.  But the cool thing about CFA is that it can be heated, manipulated, then reheated if you don't like it.  It goes flat again, hardens up in seconds, and can be heated and shaped that way countless times. 

 

I cut the leaves from both the regular sized and mini tattered leaves dies, and colored them with both distress stains and Dylusions sprays.  Although they don't match up exactly, I also stamped over the colored leaves with Tim's Falling Leaves stamp set.  I used black archival ink for that, and didn't press too hard.  I just wanted a hint of the leaf veins to add some texture and realism. 

 

Happy Autumn!

 





One Down, ????? To Go

I'm not on facebook very often, but yesterday I updated my status to tell the world that I was starting to fulfill my 2012 goal of finishing all my half (or less than) done projects.  That's how excited I was.  I was surprised at how many comments that posting generated.  Apparently I'm not alone in the "unfinished symphony" problem.  If I can do it, so can you.  Step away from the computer, DO NOT enter into any swaps or challenges this week, and get busy completing the unfinished.  You'll feel so much better.

My first project was the travel journal we began during the 2009 Tim Holtz/Wendy Vecchi cruise to Mexico.  On board we did all the foundation work....decorated the grungeboard pages, added some stamping, inking, etc., but I never got around to adding photos or any journaling.  I always keep a small notebook with me when I travel, so I had all the details I needed, and all the photos are on my computer, so it was just a matter of actually sitting down and DOING it.  Yesterday was the day.  Yea!

First of all, click HERE if you'd like to see what the journal looked like before I got started. (You'll have to scroll down when you get there to see the section on the journal.)   Look at it now!

There are enough tabbed pages to have a section for each day of the cruise, and each section also included pocket pages made from small brown paper bags.  The ribbons you see are attached to tags, inserted into each pocket.  You'll see more of that in a bit.

You can see here that I added a photo from my day in Los Angeles, prior to the cruise, some ephemera from the hotel, and a bit of journaling.  On the brown paper bag I glued down some Day 1 cruise notes that I cut from the newsletter you get every day on cruises.  These went on each bag.  If you journal or scrapbook it's a good idea to keep all the newletters if you cruise; bits and pieces of them come in very handy.

Here's a close up of the journaling tag that we made to insert in each bag pocket.  I had them all completed and just had to add the journaling.

Here are the front and back of the Day 1 tag.  Again, I used a bit of the daily newsletter as well as my own writing.  Thanks to my notetaking, I even could write down what I had for dinner each night.  In the greater scheme of things, is that information earth shattering?  No, of course not.  But I think it's those kinds of little details that make your journal or scrapbook pages come to life.  And in a million years I'd never have remembered our waiter's name, even though I did remember that he had a great personality and added a lot to our dinnertime fun.

In addition to the tags, the bag pockets are roomy enough to include other mementos, such as this welcoming letter from Scrapmap.  Other items that fit are additional photos, postcards, maps, etc.

This page shows photos of my workspace before we started working on this journal, and also me in the studio finishing up some decorating during my free time.  And you can see the journaling I added (computer generated on kraft cardstock).

Another bag pocket page.  In case you were wondering, all those pages were stamped using a fantastic foam alphabet set from way back when Tim worked with Junkitz.  No longer available, Tim had a few sets for sale, and I immediately scooped one up.  I use it a lot, and really love the look of it.

As I mentioned before, I always take notes when I vacation.  Although I used these notes in my journaling here, I didn't include every little detail.  So, I created a new bag pocket and inserted those notes inside.  Even though they really only amounted to scrawls in an old steno pad, I didn't want to lose anything I wrote. 

This shows just how nice and chunky my journal became.  I even have a few more spots on some of the pages for additional photos, so I just may go back and see if there are any I'd like to include.

I have a whole lot left to finish, but having this one finally completed has been great motivation for me to continue, until my "to-do" list is empty.

Another Two-Fer

Before I get into today's challenge(s) piece, I just noticed that my last blog post was my 600th.  And I wonder why my laundry never gets done.  Who knew?  Well, here's to having the right priorities, and onward to the next 600 posts. 

This week's Compendium of Curiosities 2 challenge can be found on page 38 of Tim's second book.  It is called Tissue Wrap Collage, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I have.  As an added bonus, The Funkie Junkie's Boutique is the sponsor, so there is a chance of winning a gift certificate.  Just sayin'.

When Linda announced the challenge I already had an (unexecuted) idea for the current Make Art! challenge on the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group, so I used the tissue wrap technique for my background and some Wendy stamps for the rest.  The challenge there was to make a tag and include a house.

So, here is my tag, ready to go out to the next person I know who is moving to a new home. 

Tim's Branch Tree die (cut from grungeboard) is what I used for the tissue wrap collage.  With a little snipping, I transformed Wendy's Art Market stamp (from the Destination Art set) into a pickup truck, hauling a house (which is also a Wendy stamp (from the Homemade Art set), also edited somewhat.  Both pieces were stamped with archival black ink on scraps of manila tag, and colored with distress markers.



Journal Pages With An Asian Twist

One of my favorite collaborative journals is turning out to be the one with the Asian theme.  Something about it has made everyone in the group create the most beautiful books for us to work in.  Every one I've received so far has been hand made and they are all just lovely.  The other day I received two in the mail from my pal Lee in Australia.  Yesterday I was housebound and worked on them all day long (well, with a few breaks in between to watch a White Collar marathon on tv).

First up, Daisy's book.  All her pages have a white border and black to work on.  Very dramatic.  Daisy also requested that we use no bulky embellishements or dangly things, so for interest I turned to texture.

Above, the two facing pages.  I started out by embossing black cardstock with Provo's Asian set.  The first page has the bamboo, the second the cherry blossoms.

I then swiped the embossed parts with clear ink and sprinkled some of Ranger's antique gold powder over top.  Sure, some of the powder went to the unembossed areas, but I didn't let that worry me, as I knew I'd be adding other bits to the page.  The gold strips are from torn up joss paper, which you can find online or in many shops in any Chinatown.  The flowers and bird are from a decorative napkin.  The chinese characters are stamped with clear ink and embossed with black powder.

Now, I know I'm mixing up Chinese and Japanese images, but I claim artistic license, and I hope no one reading this blog belongs to the purist/factual police and certainly don't mean to offend anyone.  The kimono is a Judikins stamp which I colored with metallic mica paints.  The gold frame around it was done with sticky tape and gold microbeads.  BTW, I covered the beads with a layer of Ranger's matte Glue N Seal, so they will stay put forever.

The close up above is a little fuzzy, but I wanted you to see the flower....fussy cut from a napkin, and after it dried I outlined it with a fine black permanent ink pen.  You can also see the embossed bamboo on the background.

I'm not sure how much of the shimmer shows up, but the entire kimono does have a subtle metallic glow. 

Next up, Carla's pages.  I started out with red textured paper, over which I glued a decorative napkin which featured cherry blossoms, but in an unexpected color palette....the whole thing just black, white, and gray.  Some of the red peeks through as pink, and I really liked the look.

After the tissue paper tried I stamped over it with clear ink and embossed the images with plain (not antique) gold powder. 

The square above is a stamp from an unknown company, found in my stash, embossed with gold, and popped up on the page with a few foam dots.  A heart shaped "coin" dangles from it, and I added some gold German scrap....not exactly Asian, but it works.

On this page I did something I've been wanting to do for a while.  I acquired a few small brass latches a while back and wanted to use them on a "door" on a page.  I used grungeboard so it would withstand bending from opening and closing it.  And yes, there is something to see inside....some images I took from the catalog my friend Kyoko gave me on the cruise. 

I glued a few select images together and then added the gold embossed stamping of the dragon and the dragonfly.  The red paper you see on the inside of the doors is really just there to cover the prongs from the brads used to attach the latches to the doors.















The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 9

Tim's tag today so inspired me, I did two versions!  The main feature is a beautiful background technique that involves double heat embossing.  Tim used traditional Christmas colors and the result is really striking.  I went in an entirely different direction.  First, tag #1:

I used a Hero Arts background stamp that I fell in love with during Jennifer McGuire's Inspiration Showcase class a  few months ago.  The inks I chose were old paper and evergreen bough, which gives a more subtle look than the vivid one Tim achieved with the green and red.

Tim's focal image was a candle and candle holder, cut from grungeboard, inked and highlighted with glossy accents.  I used one of the guys from reindeer flight instead.  I got the spots by using that technique where you flick drops of water from your fingers to the inked surface.  The deer is covered with vintage photo and gathered twigs, then glossy accents over everything.

The third element I took from Tim's tag was the use of lots of foliage, cut from varying shades of green.

The idea for my second tag came to me while I was still working on the first one, and I couldn't wait to get going.  It may not look a bit like Tim's, but it does incorporate the three techniques:  the double embossed background, the highlighting grungeboard shapes with glossy accents, and the use of lots of greenery.

The background is a Cornish Heritage Farms stamp of license plates.  I had a somewhat different idea in my head when I stamped it (an idea that didn't work), which is why the license plates are sideways.  I still liked the way the background looked, so I went with it. The sentiment is a Wendy Vecchi stamp.  The old car carrying home a Christmas tree was done with movers and shapers; after inking the car with vintage photo and black soot, I highlighted the tires and headlight with markers, then gave the car the glossy accents treatment.  When it was completely dry I attached the tree to the car with twine.

The house was put together with chipboard shapes I've had lying around forever.  The square was embossed with Tim's bricked folder and then inked with fired brick, aged mahogany, and vintage photo.  On this tag, the greenery took the form of trees behind the house.

There are lots of ways to do snow.  This is what I did here.....I applied some glossy accents (since it was already right in front of me) to wherever I wanted a bit of snow, then covered it with white embossing powder.  When heating it, the still wet glue underneath bubbled up a bit as the powder melted, creating some texture and dimension.  I like the way it looks.

Is tag 9 now my favorite?  Could be......

And now, pardon me, but I have to get on a soap box for a moment and explain one of the many reasons I adore and respect Tim Holtz.  He featured a Hero Arts stamp on his tag and is participating in a blog hop celebrating their new catalog.  Even though he has a signature stamp line with Stampers Anonymous.  Some stamp designers act as though their stamps exist in a universe with no others.  Some stamp companies do the same.  I have always felt there's room for excellence from many sources, and I so appreciate Tim's collegial attitude and willingness to showcase the talents of his peers.....and think of them as peers, not competition.  OK, soap box is put away.













The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 8

Ah, be still my happy heart.....today Tim went all steampunk on us, and I love it!  Not for everyone's taste to be sure, but I have always been drawn to those industrial/sci fi images, and using them on a Christmas tag is just plain fun.

I have a lot of steampunk stamps, dies, embossing folders, and even some stickers and rub-ons.  I have gears, watch parts, all sizes of small light bulbs, springs, and other assorted industrial type metal bits.  Lots to choose from.  So, while I followed the general layout of Tim's tag, and did use his background techniques on the tag, I pretty much went off and used what I had.  And had a blast doing so.

Instead of using the gadget gears die, I chose the steampunk on the edge die and attached it to the right side of the tag.  It was cut from grungeboard, pounced with gold and copper paint, then distressed and sanded and covered with both walnut stain and black soot distress inks.  Some of Tim's idea-ol-ogy pieces were attached to the top.



Tim's steampunk set includes a stamp of three men.  Since I don't have it, I used the stamps I do have, from Oxford Impressions.  I added a little something to one of the guys to put him in the right holiday spirit.

The santa hat was cut freehand from a scrap of grungeboard and covered with.....are you ready?.....flock.  Yep, good old flock.  I'm sure I haven't used any in years, but when it came out and was all the rage, I must have bought it in every color.  The other fella's hat was covered with glossy accents and he has some holly (mini movers and shapers die) and berries (stickles) on it.  Both gents have stickled bowties.  As for what's on the bottom.....I raided my steampunk box (yes, I have one) and came up with some springs and an odd looking piece (in between the two springs) and attached them all together with brads.

Tim's tag has a ticket with a pointing hand, letters made shiny with glossy accents, and one of his miniature lightbulbs as an accent.  Here's how I put some of those elements together:

I used the Merry Christmas ticket stamp from Tim's odds and ends set.  It doesn't show up very well, but the number 25 got the glossy accents treatment.  The bit of chain is held onto the ticket with staples (Tim's tiny attacher), and a miniature (decorative only) light swings from the end of the chain along with one of Tim's lightbulbs.  I used a pointing hand stamp (one of Wendy Vecchi's) a bit differently too.  It is on a memo pin, which was stuck behind the santa hat.

I love Tim's tag, and I'm thrilled with my version.  But if you don't love steampunk you probably won't much like either.  Me, I'm as happy as can be.







The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 5

When I clicked on Tim's blog early this morning, my first reaction upon seeing today's tag was an actual, audible "wow!"  It is very graphic and modern looking, and really makes a statement.  I'm sure you've seen it already, but if by chance you stumbled upon this blog first, do go and look at it now.  Plus, there's a great video in which Tim explains all the cool ways to use his reflections stamps (you know, the ones that are backwards and probably had you scratching your head the first time you saw them).  Yep, today's tag features those stamps, alcohol inks, glossy cardstock, and a tag cut from thick plastic.  Are you ready? 

Tim covered the plastic tag with several alcohol inks in the red family.  I used blues.  He used the Christmas reflections stamp from the seasonal set.  I only have the original reflections, so I opted for the script stamp, and used it on an angle in the center, leaving room to stamp the snowflakes above and below the script.  This is what the tag looks like mounted on glossy white cardstock, after doing the technique:

I think you can see the script, and the snowflakes really show up.  I had lots of trouble the first time I attempted this technique a year or so ago, but it went well this morning.  Here's a closer look:

For the focal image, Tim created a beautiful and very dimensional wreath using the foliage from his Regal Crest die.  Of course I wanted to do something different, and besides, I didn't think the wreath would work as well with my background.  I had that pack of seasonal grungeboard on my table, and decided to use the elegant reindeer instead.   It was painted with a pearl paint dabber, and I did cut some leaves from the Royal Crest die to give him a blinged out scarf.  And here is the finished tag:







I have to say that I'm very happy with my version, because while it doesn't look a bit like Tim's, it does incorporate the wonderful techniques he featured.  This might be my favorite so far.....probably until tomorrow, that is.

The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 4

The tag Tim created today is (like all the rest) full of doable techniques, and as usual, I wanted my tag to include them all, yet look different.  Tim's focal image was his snowman die, cut from grungeboard.  I couldn't find a Christmas themed die amongst my many that would also take a movers and shapers die cut into it, but then I remembered my package of seasonal grunge shapes.  The two large ornaments seemed a good substitution.

Other than changing up the images and colors, I followed Tim's instructions for all the techniques.  I used the following distress stains on the background:  picket fence, peeled paint, bundled sage, and forest moss.

The ornaments were covered with white paint, a thick coat of rock candy distress crackle paint, and then several stains in the red family:  barn door, fired brick, and aged mahogany.  Instead of using the tulle buttons as an accent, I incorporated them into the decoration of the ornaments.  The larger of the two had enough space to cut one of the movers and shapers snowflakes from the center; I just left the smaller ornament whole.

This tag, though not complicated, took the longest to finish because there was so much drying time involved.  Thick crackle paint takes a long time to dry, as does the layer of glossy accents that fills the opening in the ornament made by the snowflake die. 

I'm more than ready now for tag #5!



The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 2

Yes, I realize it's barely 6am in NY, and here I am, already finished with the Day 2 tag.  No, I'm not really that obsessed; I'm just not much of a sleeper, and  I conked out at about 10 last night, which means I was up and wide awake at 3, when Tim's new post went live in my time zone.  I just thought I should establish that I am not a total lunatic.

Click HERE to check out Tim's tag.  It is not a very complicated one to make, and I think the background is beautiful.  I had to improvise on this background (more on that in a bit), and I chose a different focal image, just to be.....well, different.

 

Tim's background called for using his seasonal kraft resist paper.  I do not have that pack, but I do have the "regular" kraft resist paper.  Here's what I did:  first I found a sheet that had a large enough area without any resist images to create a tag.  Here are two possibilities (I used the first one):

Once I had the tag cut from the center portion of the paper, I just stamped over the script with a variety of Christmas stamps, using clear embossing ink and clear powder.   And that is how to create your own seasonal kraft resist paper.  Ta da!  Now, if you don't even have the regular kraft resist pack, all is not lost.  Cut a tag from a plain old grocery bag and stamp the background of your choice with brown or black archival ink.  Then procede with the embossing as explained above.

While I dearly love the reindeer Tim used, (and have that die, by the way) I did want my tag to be MY tag, so I went another route.  Back in the olden days, before Tim teamed up with Sizzix, when we wanted seasonal grungeboard images we bought them, and I still have a ton of them.  In the seasonal pack I found the tree, and covered it with the sticky back canvas, which was inked with evergreeen bough and gathered twigs around the edges.  It was embellished with some tinsel and a star charm.

Back to the background for a minute.  Have you attempted to create snow flurries by holding, squeezing, spraying the perfect pearls mist, as per Tim's directions?   Were you successful?  No?  Neither was I.  So here is a tip if you, like me, lack the patience to practice Tim's technique (which I'm sure is awesome and doable, just not by me).   Spray some of the mist onto your craft sheet.  Load up a brush with it, and aiming at your tag, smack the handle of the brush over an extended finger on your other hand.  Repeat as necessary, then follow the rest of Tim's directions.  Voila!  Perfect perfect pearls snow flurries for the impatient and/or uncoordinated.

About the bottom of the tag......Tim used gold paint on the trim, but I thought silver would work better for my tag.  I couldn't find any silver paint, so this is how I created the tarnished silver look I wanted.  First I covered the grungeboard trim with clear embossing ink and silver embossing powder.  After it was heat set and cooled down, I distressed it with sandpaper and then inked it with gathered twigs distress ink (because it was on the table.....black or any other brown would work as well).   Here's a closeup, that unfortunately does not do it justice; it is really a very nice aged look:

I don't have the Christmas muse tokens, but the "believe"philosophy one seemed appropriate.  I just covered it with white paint, then wiped the paint off.  It settled into the letters and makes them pop.

And now, I think I deserve some breakfast.











OMG, A Non-Cruise Post!!

Grungy Monday #22 - A Tim Inspired Halloween

and

Simon Says Stamp and Show Something With Wings

I was so happy to see Grungy Monday reappear, and lucky for me, I was able to create something that also works for the Simon Says challenge this week.

I'm not much of a Halloween person, but I know plenty of people who are, so this tag will be headin' out sometime soon.

The base is a black Ranger tag which was embossed with Cuttlebug's spiderweb folder.  Embossing ink was swiped over the raised parts and then brushed with copper and grape Perfect Pearls.  The top of the tag (where there was no embossing, is covered with some of Tim's Halloween tissue tape.

The bird is from Tim's Raven/Scaredy Cat die.  It was cut from grungeboard, inked with black embossing ink and covered with black embossing powder.  Then it got a coat of rock candy crackle paint.  When I went to finish drying it with my heat tool it did some crazy bubbling, but I'm going to say it was deliberate because I like the texture.  (But it really was a happy accident).

Behind the bird are both sizes of the mini rosette die. They were cut from some Cosmo Cricket Halloween paper that I've had for about two years.  The Happy Halloween ticket is hanging from a bit of ribbon behind the raven.

OK, I think I'm done with spiders and black cats and ravens and witches.  Bring on Santa!