Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 - August - just!

Where did August go?  Here's me thinking I had plenty of time to play along with Tim's 12 Tags of 2014, when all of a sudden, September is staring me in the face.  

This month, we are free to follow our own muse.  I wanted to use a combination of colours that (a) I hadn't combined before and (b) appealed to me (always helps!), along with a few of my favourite Tim Techniques.  I sponged Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick, Stormy Sky and Evergreen Bough on my tag, then flicked water onto the tag, and water-bleached more colour off with the text stamp.  Then I overstamped with the diamond pattern in Versafine Smoky Grey and stamped the dragonfly with Versafine Onyx Black.  I stamped a second dragonfly on to acetate with black Staz On, then coloured the reverse with alcohol inks, trimmed it and stuck the body over the partially stamped image on the tag.  I've folded the wings up but it's not easy to tell from the photo.

I sponged some Vintage photo around the edge of the tag and added some white raffia and string.  Oh, and some Crackle Distress to the other wings in the top right corner.  And some stencilling in the bottom left corner.

Pretty!  I Like it.

Sharing The Love at Winnie & Walter

I've been having a Winnie & Walter Fest over the last couple of days.  All this week Winnie & Walter have been sharing the love with Simon Says Stamp, with a different challenge every day.  Just one problem, I keep merging the challenges!  This first card was using the colours for Playdate No. 3, but I made it in 6 minutes 18 seconds so it qualifies for the Day 2 challenge - 10 Minute Dash.  And I think it also qualifies for Day 3 - Focus on 1 Stamp.

I've used the leaf mask from Simon Says and the sentiment from The Big, The Bold and The Happy.

This second card is also for the Day 2 - 10 Minute Dash, and Day 4 - One Layer Card.

This one took 5 minutes 22 seconds.  I saw a recent video by Shari Caroll of Simon Says Stamp where she resurrected a Tim Holtz technique.  I didn't use compressed air, I just splatted Distress Stains.  The sentiment is from The Big, The Bold and You, and the other stamps are from Simon Says Stamp, but I'm not sure what the sets are called (unlabelled blog candy).

This next one was going to be a one layer card, and I'm so glad I didn't set the stopwatch for it, it took forever!  The idea had been to cut the Merry Christmas sentiment, adhere it temporarily, wash colour over then reveal a white sentiment.  Unfortunately the inks soaked straight through the paper die cut I'd used.  So I cut another sentiment in white card and adhered it in place.  So it's no longer a one layer card.  But it does qualify for Day 3, focus on one stamp (Scenery: It's a Wonderful Pennant) and use one Simon Says Stamp product - die cut sentiment.

 Today's challenge is a sketch.  I've stretched it ever so slightly ;)

I laid the leaf cluster mask on my card panel, sprinkled it with Brusho powders (new toy) and spritzed, then removed the mask (and laid it on another piece of card).  Look at that fabulous detail, I love it!

I never did Day 1 - Rainbow.  I could be back!

A Fun Birthday and A Blog Hop With A Difference

A quick card, followed by a long post!  I'm entering this into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes, and Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday.  The image is my own design, and the sentiment is from Winnie & Walter.

 

A Blog Hop With A Difference

Last week I was tagged by my supremely talented teamie, Vicki Dutcher, to take part in the Blog Hop with a Difference, where you answer a few questions about yourself, then nominate others to do the same.

What project am I working on right now?

It's Top Secret, if I told you, I'd have to kill you!  But keep your eyes peeled, if you haven't already guessed ;)

But here's what else I'm working on that I can tell you about: 

• Two paintings and and two cards for the village show next week (paintings and handmade cards have been added to the categories this year)
• A burlap block and card for a commission
• Some (several) design team assignments
• A couple of cards for challenges
• Monthly newsletter for the craft club I'm in
• Tidying my craft room (ha!)
• Multitasking ;)

How long does it take to create a project?

Depends on the type of project.  If I'm making a card using Distress Inks, it's usually pretty quick, around 15 minutes or less.  Check back tomorrow and you'll see two that I did in less than 10 minutes each.  If it's a mixed media card it takes longer because there are more elements and more drying time.  And if it's a design team assignment that's outside my comfort zone - could be hours!

What are my fave things I love to create with at the moment?

Distress Inks are always right at the top of the list.  I love how they react with water, how they blend with each other, their translucence, the pure colour.  I always wanted to be able to paint with watercolours but we didn't get on with each other.  I get on really well with Distress Inks, and get results that I'm really happy with - I love sloshing them around!  I love starting with the confines of a stamped outline image, then painting outside the lines and adding splattering.  I get a bit twitchy if there's no splattering.  And it's great for disguising any mistakes ;)

My other newest fad is Brushos.  One of the paintings I'm submitting to the village show uses Brushos.  I'll post a photo of it after the show.

How does my creative process work?

I'm on design teams for STAMPlorations (including fortnightly feature posts), Craft Stamper Take It Make It, Seize The Birthday and The Mixed Media Card Challenge, so there's always a project to make for these, but I also enjoy playing along with, and combining, challenges.  I like to combine two or three challenges with one card so that often determines the theme, colours and sometimes the sketch that I'll be using.  I used to have issues with sketches but I'm learning to live with them, especially if they're CAS.

Having sorted all that out, I've usually got a picture in my head of what the main image/focus of the card will be, but it does evolve.  Quite often I'll start a card then go off at a tangent and make two or three different ones, changing my mind as I go.

I very rarely have a practice run, I just go with the flow.  Probably because I don't can't do precise, so there are less "mistakes" - I can get away with incorporating mistakes into the design.  And if it's not working straight away I abandon it and try something else.

How do I become inspired and stay inspired?

Challenges are a huge inspiration: colour combinations I wouldn't have thought of, different ways of using stamps or other products.  And the interpretations of those challenges by design teams and participants are also a big inspiration.  I do pin things on Pinterest, but don't often think to refer back to it.

What is my signature style?

Sloshing and splattering!  With a sprinkle of artsy?

One random fact about me:

I'm allergic to cheese and I hate shellfish.  Which drives my chef DH mad because it limits his repertoire.

And now I'd like to nominate these people who inspire me:

Shery Russ of One Layer Cards and owner of STAMPlorations.  I first started stalking following Shery after seeing this card.  Then she made me buy some poinsettia embossing folders after I saw this card.  I was thrilled to be accepted onto the design team for STAMPlorations (I get to play with her stamps, yay!), and also onto Shery's latest challenge blog, The Mixed Media Card Challenge.  Shery makes the most wonderful detailed one layer cards.

Jenny Martin of My Paper Epiphany.  I love what Jenny creates with butterfly stamps.  Look at this card, and this one.  And this one's got splatters, yay!  And look at how she uses colour here, and with these birds here.  I had the pleasure of meeting up with Jenny when DH and I were in Australia last year visiting our sons.

(My third nominee unfortunately wasn't able to accept the invitation, so I'm leaving it at two.)

If you made it this far, you deserve a medal!  Thank you for reading:)

Seize The Birthday - Black and White

It's time for another challenge at Seize The Birthday, and this week it's black and white.  The 'Oh Snap!' sentiment just screams out for a belated birthday card, so I used an Eiffel Tower image from Paper Artsy along with the film strip image and sentiment from Bo Bunny.  I wrote the rest of the sentiment.

So what will you do with black and white?  Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for more fabulous inspiration from the design team.  If black and white doesn't inspire you, you can still play along with any birthday project.

I'm entering my card into Simon Says Wednesday, Anything Goes,

and Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday.

Christmas Bells

I'm playing along with the sketch at this week's Less Is More, although I've stretched the sketch a little bit.

I used my bargain-fell-into-the-supermarket-trolley-Sharpies to colour the bells and Distress Inks for the background.

I don't normally start making Christmas cards until November (it's bad enough that the shops start with Christmas in September!), but I got these gorgeous new Christmas stamps from STAMPlorations and they're burning a hole on my desk so I had to use them. (And they're on pre-release offer here.)

Looks like I'll have all my Christmas cards done in record time this year!

Chevron Birthday

I've finally broken open my Winnie & Walter V for cheVron set to play along with a few challenges.

The first one is Time Out, where the challenge is to case this lovely card by the even lovelier Anita, with a twist.

I don't mean that Anita has a twist. (She may well have a twist on a Friday night, bopping along to the radio in the kitchen with a glass of vin rouge.)  No, we put a twist on our case.  I twisted mine by 90 degrees.  Then I stretched it to the edge.  Because I'm also playing along with:

Muse - it's the chevrons that did it for me :)

A stretch too far, do you think?

I'm also joining in with Simon Says Monday Challenge - Anything Goes.

And Winnie & Walter Join In To Win.

Happy Birthday, Nonni!

It's party time!  Today we're celebrating the birthday of my lovely STAMPlorations teamie, Nonni from Korttikarkuri - Runaway Cards.  Sandie from London Days is kindly hosting the linky party.

Nonni is a fabulous cardmaker and expert colour-in-er ... colourer-in ... she's great with Copics!  I don't own Copics, although I did bag a set of 24 Sharpies for half price in the supermarket yesterday - and they don't count as a spend because they fell into my trolley when I was grocery shopping :)  They're still in the packet, so today I used my trusty Distress Inks to do a stencil print background, and inked the flower in Distress Ink then pulled the colour with a water brush.  The stem is made from a brushstroke stamp.  All stamps are STAMPlorations.

You need to click on over to STAMPlorations.  For one, you can see Nonni's oh-so cute puppy, Rafa, making a guest appearance, and also the Design Team's pet gallery.  And for another, you can't miss the fabulous offers Shery's got on at the moment with the pre-release and the stamp club.

I'm entering this card into Simon Says Monday Challenge - Anything Goes and CAS(E) This Sketch.

 

New Toys and A Couple of Plugs

I've been playing with new toys.  I saw this card on Pixie's Crafty Workshop and immediately had to have some Brushos.  As it was DH's birthday weekend when I was ordering them, I chose second-class postage (free) because I knew I would't have time to play with them for a few days.  I ordered them at 6pm and they turned up the next morning - great service, Amazon!  But I was very good and left them alone for a couple of days.

Brusho is highly concentrated transparent watercolour powder, and the colour explodes on contact with water giving fun and unpredictable results. (And stained hands. Or anything else it comes into contact with.  And for goodness sake, don't cough.)

For this panel, I die cut a Tim Holtz tattered flower from watercolour paper and stuck it down temporarily, sprinkled lemon, leaf green and aquamarine powders, then spritzed, and removed the die cut.  Wheee!!  I drew in a stalk and leaves and stamped the sentiment.

You can make a wash by mixing the powders with water, but I'm still playing with the exploding properties yet.

I'm entering this into Simon Says Monday Challenge, Anything Goes.

Now for the plugs ;)

Don't forget, Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge is still open - you can choose any technique from any issue this year so far.

Also, I'm over at STAMPlorations tonight with a feature on generational stamping.  See you there!

STAMPlorations Sketch #18

It's time for a new sketch at STAMPlorations, and I've been playing with my new toys stamps :)  First, the sketch: look at that, hardly changed anything!  Just moved the sentiment.

And here are the new toys, Bloom Sketches.  They're available now at a pre-release discount, and they are also the first release in the newly-launched STAMPlorations Stamp Club.  Check out the link for all the fabulous money-saving details.

I stamped the California poppies in Antique Linen Distress Ink then painted them with Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint and a touch of Forest Moss.  I'm loving no-line colouring this week ;)

Our guest designer is Carol from Just Me: c.  Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see what Carol and the rest of the DT have created for your inspiration.

I'm entering my card into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Summer.  What speaks more of summer than gorgeous vibrant flowers?

More Roses

Another quick post in between DH's birthday festivities (he's watching the footy ;).  Playing along with Muse - here's Therese's inspiration card:

And also playing along with Fusion photo:

I used my open line roses stamp (the same one I used on this card) together with a solid stamp that I made to co-ordinate.  I stamped the solid image first with Picket Fence Distress Stain, then overstamped it with the line image in black.  I used a Dymo tape for the sentiment.

Split Personality Rose

Quickie from me - I'm supposed to be helping DH prep for a dinner party tonight in honour of his birthday tomorrow!  Couldn't resist playing along with a few challenges:

Paper Smooches SPARKS (see the rosebud?):

Fusion (there's no linky tool yet, girls, we're having to link through comments):

City Crafter Roses:

I used the same technique that Dawn demonstrated in Stretch Your Stamps 2.  For me, that is the best example of stretching your stamps and I love the technique.  My rosebud has a split personality because it's actually the tulip stamp from the Bold Blooms set!  Just shows what a bit of squidging and scribbling can do.  The leaves are from Reflections and the stem is from Bold Blooms.  I used a 0.5 pen to scribble.

Ok, playtime over, back to the kitchen to help DH :)