'Tim tags' part #3 - Tags 5 & 6

OK, I'm on a roll now! I've actually finished tag 7 too but haven't got the light to photograph that one and I've got to prepare the studio table for tonight's scrap class!
So here are 2 rather unusual tags: #5 with its alcohol ink and plastic background has a rather clean & simple look. Tag 6 is metallic card, embossed, painted, sanded, inked and embossed with clear powder. You really need to go to Tim's blog to see the techniques explained - and his great tags of course - and you can believe him that you need to do the technique on tag 6 to see how good it is and that photos cannot do it justice!

Materials: both tags: Sizzix 'Tag and Bookplates' die; for tag 5:  Sizzix 'Festive greenery' die; adirondack alcohol inks: watermelon, terracotta, sunset orange; plastic packaging; white card, ribbon and pearls.

Materials for tag 6 acrylic paints: Metallic card from PaperArtsy; retired cuttlebug folder 'Lace Tree'; acrylic paints (PaperArtsy, Ranger Studio and DecoColor); Dovecraft brad and flower; ribbon.

'Tim tags' part #2

I'm back with the 3rd and 4th tag inspired by Tim Holtz. 8 tags behind as of today but ready to craft as soon as this post is finished...
For this tag I used Tim's Christmas background embossing folder and inked over the raised words with different colours of Distress before giving it a good coat of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. To get the different directions, I embossed the top part of the tag sideways then lined up the bottom half of the tag with the edge of the plates so it only embossed that bottom section and didn't put pressure on the part already embossed. After that, a little arrangement of leaves from the Sizzix Strip die 'Festive Greenery' with some red bling for the holly berries, ribbon coloured with frayed burlap and some twine with a bell and I was finished!

Tag 4 has a beautiful background, explained on Tim's blog, using Distress Stains (Picket Fence, Broken China, Weathered Wood) and stamped with Weathered Wood stain. I then embossed the tag with the snowflakes border that comes in the Christmas background and border Texture Fades set and run Pearl Dabber over it to highlight the texture. The snowman is grungeboard cut with the Winter Wonder die and then the 'Noel' movers and shaper die, painted white and then with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint and coloured with the Distress stains. I stuck a scrap of Lost and Found paper behind him, decorated him with ribbon, tulle and a bit of bling and then stuck him on the tag. The snowflake from the Winter Wonder die got the same paint, rock candy, Distress stains treatment and was then stuck (top right) on the tag. I added tulle to some buttons and stuck them down and then used tinsel, silver jute and a snowflake charm to decorate the top of the tag. Finally, I filled the spaces in the Noel with Glossy Accents and left it overnight to dry.
I used three further alternatives to tags 1,2 & 4 as the basis for workshops on Tuesday and Saturday where I introduced others to the wonders of Tim's products and techniques and they all left with their own versions of these tags:

'Tim Tags' part 1...

I wasn't late making these just slow to blog them... Have you seen Tim Holtz's fabulous tags this year? Still a few days to go: I love waiting for each one to appear.
Well, here are my versions of Days 1 and 2...

The first one features Tim's Kraft Core card, Sizzix 'Vintage Noel' die, Tattered Banners die, Festive Greenery die, idea-ology baubles, Distress Cardstock, Distress Inks, Distress Stickles, Lost and Found paper plus Snow Cap paint dabber, cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder, white embossing powder, Prima poinsettia, red pearl bead and ribbon. Please see Tim's blog for the techniques involved.


My second tag uses Tim's Christmas Memories kraft resist paper, Picket Fence Distress Stain, Distress Inks, Tattered Banners die, Pine Tree die, Ornate edge die, Trinket Pin, Muse Token and Grungeboard along with Sepia Archival Ink, Sticky-back canvas mounted on card, brads, PaperArtsy Old Gold paint, ribbon, jute, twine and my own home designed and produced stamp! Tags 3 and 4 are already done so I'll be back with those tomorrow I hope...

Alcohol inks on foil

Despite my lack of blogging for a while, I've been doing LOTS of crafting and that's included lots of metal work. I promise I will catch up on projects over the next few weeks but, for now, here are a few pieces made using foil on card coloured with alcohol inks. The ornaments were embossed before being coloured and are my entry for Grungy Monday #28 taking inspiration from Tim Holtz beautiful foil covered pumpkin. My ornaments follow the same technique except that I put the foil on to card before embossing it and used a blending tool to apply the alcohol inks.
I'm also entering these to the Crafts 4 Eternity challenge: Christmas decorations.

Just before I started to blog these I saw Sarah's lovely rosette hanging and took inspiration from that to make this little hanging of rosettes. I love how the foil and shiny colours catch the light: Ideal for this time of year.
All of my foil pieces are backed on to the same shimmery green card that I cut the letters from so they are pretty from the back too. For extra shimmer I also covered these letters in Crystal Ice Stickles. I am busy making cards and other bits for a charity sale (le téléthon) next Saturday so these will get added to the mix, hopefully with a few others as they are quick and easy to do.

Materials: Tim Holtz dies: Carved Ornaments, 'Noel' mover and shaper, Mini-rosette, Vintage Market alphabet; Cuttlebug Ornament embossing folder; alcohol inks: Watermelon, Bottle, Citrus; sticky-back foil; Crystal Ice Stickles; Trimcraft Shimmer card.

Charm kilt pin

I really don't know what to call this: I just know I've been wanting to make one for ages and finally got round to having a play! First attempt, and I'm not a big jewellery fan, but I quite like it.
The 'charm' materials are basically Tim Holtz idea-ology and some watch parts all held together with jump rings and glossy accents!

The Grungy Monday challenge #21 to use Tim's Fragments links to 'Transparent Illusions' on his blog where he shares even more techniques using these. I have used three Fragment Charms: One glued with glossy accents on to some of Tim's Lost and Found paper, a second one glued on to a scrap of My Mind's Eye paper and embellished with an idea-ology metal foliage flower and watch part and the third one which is coloured on the back with alcohol inks (terracotta and copper) and embellished with watch parts. While the alcohol ink was pooled on the back of the fragment, I also dabbed some on the pin itself so it takes away a bit of the bright silver.
With the use of gears and watch parts I am also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp and Show 'SteamPunk' challenge.
Materials: Tim Holtz idea-ology Fragment Charms, Sprocket Gears, Trinket Pin, Foliage, Lost & Found paper; Ranger alcohol inks and Glossy Accents; kilt pin, jump rings and watch parts.

Handmade bead flowers

Here's another holiday snap (only another few hundred to go - lol!) scrapbooked with some handmade flowers so I thought I'd share the technique too: I started off by tying some thread through one seed bead, then threading on 5 more and taking the thread back through the first bead. Repeat this 4 more times (for a total of 5 petals), always threading back through the first seed bead, then tie off the thread. If you want bigger, more open flowers you can simply add more beads to each petal. Using thin wire as the thread is another good option. I've used the flowers here as the centres to paper flowers which I've inked a little with some Wild Honey Distress Ink.

 Materiels: Papers/ card / vellum by Bazzill, ColorCore and Clairfontaine; Distress Ink; Gold Cosmic Shimmer spray; Heidi Swapp mask; Sizzix Wingo Zingo alphabet; Prima flowers; Tim Holtz stamps (Bitty Grunge); WRMK snaps; gems.
Entry for : Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything goes; Paper Play challenges - Make your own flowers

Trimcraft (Dovecraft) Inspiration

My delighted to say that two of my cards, made with Trimcraft (more usually known as Dovecraft) decoupage 'Fairy Cakes', have been featured on Aussie Scrap Source in their Inspiration weekend! It is worth having a look at the fabulous scrap pages the team have made too: They really are great inspiration. I'm also pleased to say that I have all the Trimcraft products featured in stock too!
Here is another card that I made for our Grandson's 2nd birthday this month:

This one is using the new 'Cookie's Birthday' decoupage and Paper Pad. I love how quick and easy the pre-cut decoupage are to make and you don't have to scramble for the right papers as there is a choice of double-sided papers included too! I just added ink, text and a bit of paper ribbon and layered it all on a Dovecraft card blank  :)

Travel - Intergalactic or Tunisia?

So who knew parts of Star Wars were filmed in Tunisia??? Not me, not until after we booked the holiday and started researching the tour sites: Wow, was my son excited when we found we were visiting two Star Wars film locations!
This week Simon Says Stamp and Show 'Travel' which is the perfect excuse for me to get started on scrapbooking my holiday photos! This 8x8" (20x20cm) page shows the place at Matmata where (apparently) Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle lived until they were killed by nasty stormtroopers! In real life it is a troglodite hotel but they left the props in place after the filming was done. Of course, Jack had to wear his favourite Star Wars T-shirt that day! 

Materials: Bazzill kraft; Distress Inks (Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain); Distress Stains (Peeled Paint); Tim Holtz idea-ology: Sprocket Gears; Tim Holtz Stamps: CMS-089  Bitty Grunge Stamps; MSE alphabet stamps; Punches: Dovecraft star and circle; Spellbinders 'Labels 1' and embossed with Cuttlebug 'Script'; lots of scrap bits of card.

Summer Tag - GM#20 & SSSS

Back from a fantastic week in Tunisia, I've made a tag to try to encapsulate our little adventure. I've made 6 for an exchange of Summer tags and I collected things to use while we were on holiday: the bottle cap, the charm taken from a necklace I bought there and real Saharan sand! The stamps were printed out and I was inspired by some art that I saw in Tunisia to have a go at metal palm trees!
I've also incorporated the Grungy Monday #20 challenge - to use Tim Holtz' Distress Stickles - and the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge - Bling. Well, if Distress Stickles aren't bling enough there is the charm and all that shiny metal so I hope that's covered?!
You might need to look closer for the Distress Stickles: I've used the Rock Candy which is a lovely sugary texture and I made good use of it as a glue for the sand and then over-coated that in places to define the 'dunes' a little: Subtle but lovely sparkle.

Materials:
Tim Holtz - Ranger: Manilla tag; Distress Inks (Broken China); Distress Stains (Broken China, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint); Rock Candy Distress Stickles; Foil Tape; Alcohol inks (Bottle and Citrus) and blender tool; Paint Dabber (Pitch Black).
Tim Holtz idea-ology: Charm clips;
Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous: CMS-089  Bitty Grunge Stamps
Other: ribbon (coloured with Distress Stain), Ten Second Studio metal tools to create the palm tree.

Grungy Monday 16, 17 & 18 !!!

Ooops, been a bad blogger again!!! I've been crafting in snatches and not getting to blog, at least not in time for Linda's Grungy Monday challenges: Until now!!! Made it for #18 !
So challenge #16 was to use grungeboard/paper; #17 was to use Rock Candy crackle paint and #18 is to use this technique demonstrated by the genius himself, Tim Holtz.
So here's my project with all three! The current challenge is the page with the stamped parchment in the 4th photo: You can zoom in to have a closer look :)

I have wanted to use Tim's Valise die to make a mini-book since he demo'd it back in January and here is my first: A little travel book for me to keep my notes and souvenirs as we travel around Tunisia for a week soon. I have made it general with lots of pockets and spaces for notes so that afterwards I can use all the bits I collect in scrapbooking the holiday and hopefully the little book will last for many more adventures to come.

Materials:
Tim Holtz - Sizzix: Vintage Valise die
Tim Holtz idea-ology: Dotted Grungeboard, Grungepaper; Lost & Found Papers, Ring Binder; Salvage Stickers; mini paper clips;
Tim Holtz - Ranger: Manilla tag; Distress Inks (Walnut stain, Vintage photo); Rock Candy Crackle Paint; Archival Ink (Sepia);
Stamps: Tim Holtz, Inkadinkado, Hampton Art.
Other: Zutter strap & clasp; PaperArtsy Old Gold Fresco paint; brads; scraps of paper, card and ribbon