A HEART TAG

It's Friday!  I finally had a chance to make a Valentine's style of tag for several blogs that I love to follow:

GRUNGY MONDAY- the challenge is to make anything with a Valentine theme using at least one Tim Holtz Product.  No problem!

TIM HOLTZ - 12 TAGS - a new concept Tim has announced on his blog.  Instead of his annual 12 Tags of Christmas that we've all come to know and love; Tim is switching it up a bit.  He's still doing 12 Tags...only now it will be one a month, to feature a holiday or something that month is known for.

INSPIRATION JOURNAL - Simply make something with a heart on it.

Here is the large tag I have made for these three challenges...

 I used an oversized manila tag and began with a masking technique used by Heidi Swapp.  Then I started randomly stamping around the masked heart and blending the black around the heart outline.  I then reversed the mask and used Fired Brick and Barn Door Distress Inks to color the interior of the heart.  Then I randomly stamped the background of the tag using Black Soot Distress Ink and various Tim Holtz and Dyan Reaveley stamps. When I finished stamping, I added the colors of Vintage Photo and Barn Door to the background of the tag; blending them together.

I used Gold Embossing Powder to stamp over the wings and to create a crown at the top of the heart.  I replaced the exterior of the heart mask over the heart and heat embossed the gold script in the center of the heart.  I used Tim's technique to create the dimensional heart in the center using honeycomb paper.  I cut a slightly larger mini heart out of Grungeboard to use behind the dimensional heart.  I heat embossed it with Gold Embossing Powder and put all of those elements together.  Finally, I added Gold Stickles to the honeycomb portion of the heart for that added detail.

Next I added some random Gold Embossing Powder around the edges of my tag and topped it off with just a hint of a Black Cats Eye Ink Pad swiped around the edge. 

The bottom of the tag features a Tim Holtz sentiment that I thought was appropriate for this heart themed tag:  LISTEN TO YOUR HEART ABOVE ALL OTHER VOICES.  I first distressed a scrap of a manila tag with primarily Vintage Photo, some Gathered Twig and a hint of Barn Door.  Then I used Tim's distressing technique; flicking water onto the tag.  Next I sprayed the tag with a hint of Sunflower Sparkle to give it a subtle glisten.  I tore the edges and distressed them with Gathered Twig and swiped a Black Cats Eye Ink Pad around the edges.  I glued it in place and then added the distressed Grungeboard Keyhole and the "Memory" Word Key.  

The keyhole is embossed first with Gold Embossing Powder then sprinkled with Black Embossing Powder and then topped with Clear UTEE.  I added antique gold Long Fasteners that I pounded with Tim's Hammer Tool.  The key is held in place by wire wrapping it in place.  At the very top of the tag, I have placed 6 more antique gold Long Fasteners that have also been pounded with Tim's Hammer Tool.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  If you've not already entered these challenges, create something with a heart and enter them!  Have a great weekend and take time to play!!

GRUNGY MONDAY~DISTRESS CRACKLE RESIST

I love this technique and wanted to play along with Grungy Monday's Challenge this week.  It's Distress Crackle Resist.  If you're not familiar with this cool technique, here is Tim's video to show you how it's done.

Here is my tag that I made using the Distress Crackle Resist technique in part of my background.

I started with a plain manila #8 tag.  I used Dried Marigold Distress Crackle Paint on my background.  When that had dried and crackled, I added Broken China and a little Wild Honey Distress Ink to colorize the tag.  I flicked a little water on the Distress Ink areas so that I could get a little of that splattered look.

Here is my background before embellishments were added.

Next I ground a little Broken China followed by a hint of Black Soot Distress Ink down into the cracks and wiped away the excess ink.  Then I heat embossed Tim's butterfly using black embossing powder and I also stamped a few areas around the edges of the tag with black embossing powder.  I stamped some script, some little numbers and a little of Dyan Reaveley's harlequin stamp using Jet Black Archival Ink.  I cut up a piece of scrap Mica Tile into little pieces and added it to my tag using Glossy Accents.

Here is a better look at the butterfly and the background behind him.  You can see the Distress Crackle better in this picture.

I added Tim's Weathered Clock stamp to the tag only with a twist.  I cut out the center of the clock and added a piece of Mica behind it.  Then I replaced the center of the clock...so the Mica looks like an old watch crystal. The clock is distressed using Broken China and a touch of Wild Honey and Black Soot Distress Inks. I also added just a touch of Gold Paint Dabber to bring out some highlights.  Then I added Crackle Accents randomly around the exterior clock ring.  You can see the small hairline cracks in it as well.  The Ideaology Game Spinner and Sprocket Gears have been touched with a Juniper Paint Dabber to make them look patina.  "FLY" is Tim's Ransom Alpha Parts that have been dabbed with a Gold Paint Dabber and then a touch of Juniper Paint Dabber for the patina look.

"Wish" is stamped on watercolor paper that has been distressed with Vintage Photo and then spritzed with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist.  I added some Gold and Juniper to the Ornate Plate to make give it an antiqued patina finish.  Then I added some Crackle Accents to "WISH".  I love that crackle effect.  Then I added a Swivel Clasp with some patina Ideaology and charms to dangle from the edge of the Ornate Plate.

Here is a better look at the lower half of the tag.

I hope you're having a creative day!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM HOLTZ/GRUNGY MONDAY

What fun is this???  Check out my friend, Linda Ledbetter's blog at GRUNGY MONDAY.  She's throwing a birthday party for ... guess who ... TIM HOLTZ!  His birthday is January 7th and Grungy Monday is celebrating with a birthday card (for Tim) challenge this week!  Hop on over to Grungy Monday and leave a card for Tim!

Here is the card I just finished for him and am posting to Grungy Monday's challenge.

I know Tim loves Mickey Mouse.  And for some reason, the idea of using Tim's Weathered Clock as a vintage Mickey Mouse clock popped into my head.  So I set out to find a vintage image of Mickey online.  I loved this one and altered it just a bit, to remove his arms.  Then I used Claudine Hellmuth's technique of transferring pictures on to metal using Matte Multi Medium.  My "tin" is a piece of Ranger's Foil Adhesive Sheet.  It is the coolest technique!  It makes pictures look like old tin types.  I love it!

The picture doesn't pick it up that well, but Mickey looks like an old tin type on the metal background.  I then fitted the tin transfer to the center of Tim's Weathered Clock die cut, so that Micky could be the center of my vintage clock.  I distressed the edge just a little with Gathered Twig Distress Ink.  I love how the Distress Inks are transparent enough that the old tin look still comes through the distressing.

Next I distressed the Weathered Clock (cut out of Grungeboard) with Black Soot Distress Ink.  I then coated the Weathered Clock in Embossing Powder and lightly sprinkled some Black Embossing Powder, followed by Queen's Gold Embossing Powder randomly over the clock face.  I wanted to give it that aged, metal peeling feel.  I did the same thing with the Weathered Clock hands.  Then I heat set everything.

I found the little Micky hands on line as well and sized them to fit my Mickey.  I covered them in Clear Embossing Powder and heat set them.  Then I glued Mickey's hands to the ends of the clock hands and fastened them on Mickey with a Long Fastener.  They will really move. It's so fun to play with Mickey's hands and move them around the clock!

Here is more of a closeup of the results of sprinkling Embossing Powder .  I also rubbed the edges of the vintage red insert on the cover of the card with Embossing Powder and sprinkled Queen's Gold Embossing Powder around the edges.  I brushed some of it away with a dry paint brush and then heat set the rest.  I love this technique for adding interest to edges of things.

The clock is telling everyone it's time for a party!!  I got the letters "PARTY TIME" from Tim's Seasonal Salvage Stickers and popped them on the card front using black pop dots.

Then I hot glued the Weathered Clock in place around the center rim.  Finally, I placed Mickey Mouse in the center and pop dotted it as well with the black pop dots.

I have not signed the card yet, but here is the interior of the card.  I distressed the edges with a little bit of Gathered Twig and used the January calendar from Tim's Lost and Found Salvage Stickers.  I circled Tim's birthday, in case he forgets (smile).  Finally, I stamped my sentiment.  I thought it was perfect for this card!  It speaks to the child in all of us when it comes to birthdays, parties and blowing out candles.  Oh ... and Mickey Mouse! 

SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM!!!  I hope you have a MAGICAL day!

Grungy Monday 15

It may be Tuesday but for me, it's GRUNGY MONDAY!  I love this challenge because it's all about THE TIM and his amazing techniques!  Yes, I freely admit it...I'm a HUGE t!m fan!  It you've not checked out his Summer CHA previews yet, better hop on over to his BLOG and have a gander.  Really cool stuff!

The technique for this week is from Tim's very first 12 TAGS OF CHRISTMAS ~ DAY 7 ~ 2007.

I won't give away the technique but you can click on the link above and be transported to Tim's blog to check that out for yourself.  This is one of my favorite techniques.  The results are AMAZING!  I love to call it Rusted Enamel.

This tag started out as a manila tag.  I die cut "IMAGINE" using Tim's Movers and Shapes "IMAGINE" die cut.  Then I put black cardstock behind it.  The background colors for this tag were Tumbled Glass and Wild Honey Distress Inks.  I blended them together and then did the technique for this week.  The "pitting" was colorized with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.  I wiped away the excess Frayed Burlap and then using Jet Black Archival Ink, I stamped a design from Tim's Bitty Grunge stamp set.  Most of it is covered up with the quote...but you can still see some of the black design from underneath.  

The quote was something I found on the internet and thought was perfect for an "IMAGINE" tag. "TRUST THAT LITTLE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD THAT SAYS, 'WOULDN'T THAT BE INTERESTING IF...' AND THEN DO IT."  Totally true and perfect example of using your imagination!
I colorized the saying using primarily Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and then spritzed it with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist.  Then I mounted it on a piece of black cardstock and pop dotted it in place.

  The black flower is four layers of one of Tim's Tattered Florals die cuts on black cardstock.  I then sprayed the black cardstock with Ink Refresher and worked it into the cardstock.  If you have not tried this....you really need to!!!  The ink refresher actually changed the texture of the cardstock to make it feel like suede or leather within seconds.  It's AMAZING stuff!

Then I crumpled up the flower and semi smoothed it out again so it would take on even more of an appearance of faux leather.  I then brushed on some Perfect Pearls powders:  Sunflower Sparkle, Berry Twist and Turquoise.  They give a great iridescent glow to the faux leather flower.  Then I put the flowers together, joined them with some black wax thread and a gold-ish button and put them in place on the tag.  There is also a little flower petal peeking out from under the bottom of the saying.  

The ribbon is Hug Snug seam tape.  One piece is black and the other I colorized using Wild Honey Distress Stain and my own concoction of Broken China and Blue Patina Perfect Pearls and water mixed together in a Mini Mister.

Enjoy your day and remember to take time to Play ... It's SOUL FOOD!!!

Grungy Monday 11

Where did the weekend go?  It's already Monday and we all know what THAT means...a new week for Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenges and Grungy Monday!  My sweet friend and Ranger U Alum, Linda Ledbetter hosts Grungy Monday.  And my fellow Simon Says Stamp and Show Design Teammie, Dan, is one of the featured artists on Grungy Monday this week!  This week's challenge is from Tim Holtz' January 2008 Technique Challenge.

I chose the Umbrella Man as my subject to highlight using this technique.  While I won't give the technique away, I will tell you the colors I used and the steps I used to create this tag.

I started with a manila tag and stamped the Umbrella Man with Antique Linen.  I then distressed the tag using Tumbled Glass, Mustard Seed and a hint of Rusty Hinge.  After completing Tim's technique, I distressed the edges with a Tonic Distressing Tool and then inked the edges with Walnut Stain.  I then lightly swiped a flourish stamp with Vintage Photo and randomly stamped a few flourishes on the tag.  Finally, using a Tonic scratching tool, I scratched areas on the tag for a more distressed look.  Now to embellish the tag....

I sprayed some Worn Lipstick Distress Ink spray I made onto a Mini Heart cut from Tim's Mini Hearts Die Cut.  Then I stamped the sentiment onto the heart using one of the sayings from Tim's "Stuff To Say" stamp set.  I inked around the edges of the heart with Black Soot.  I added the Game Spinner and the Foliage piece to the heart and topped them off with a snap.  Then I began a small silver link chain underneath the umbrella and slinked it down the side of the tag.  At the bottom, I added a little silver heart, another piece of chain and a silver key.  The chain is held in place by Glossy Accents until it comes out from under the heart.  At that point, the chain can swing freely.  The heart is put in place using black pop dots.

Finally I added some Harlequin images to the tag by swiping Vintage Photo onto the stamp surface and lightly touching it to the tag.  I added just a hint of Barn Door Distress Ink to areas of the tag to pull in more red.  

I hope you're having a Grungy Monday!  Doesn't it feel GOOD to get ink on your fingers?!?!

 

GRUNGY MONDAY CHALLENGE

It's time for another Grungy Monday...only it's Tuesday.  Here is my entry into Studio L3's really fun and fantastic Grungy Monday Challenge.  I love doing this challenge because it lets me get my "Tim" style on and play with all of his wonderful stamp, dies, inks and Ideaology stuff.  The possibilities are endless!!

So, here is my tag using Tim's technique from The Twelve Tags of Christmas 2007, Day 8 for the background.  I used a Terra Cotta Paint Dabber and then a combination of Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and a touch of Black Soot to finish the background.

Then I stamped the vintage camera "Photographic Studio" image from Tim's Captured Moments Stamp Set.  I slit the top of the camera and made a ribbon from Tim's Filmstrip Ribbon coming from the top of the camera and winding its way down the side of the tag. 

I used Tim's Mini Baroque die cut on a piece of chipboard and cream cardstock.  I stamped a portion of the vintage photo image (with Walnut Stain) from Tim's Photo Studio Stamp Set.  I distressed the background with Vintage Photo and a bit of Walnut Stain and just a hint of Dried Marmalade to pull in the orange from the background.  I popped the image into place using pop dots.  

Finally, I added some Tattered Flowers cut from basic cream cardstock and Kraft Glassine Papers.  I heat embossed a script with white embossing powder on the Kraft Glassine flowers and went over the image with Vintage Photo.  I then stamped a checkerboard pattern on the cream cardstock by multi inking the stamp with Dried Marmalade and Walnut Stain.  I then inked the edges of the flowers with the browns and a touch of Black Soot.

I will be at SCRAPBOOK GENERATION in Springfield, MO this evening doing free demonstrations on EMBOSSING 101 from 6 to 8pm.  If you're in the area, come on by and learn all about embossing powders, techniques and then have fun playing and experimenting!

I hope you are having a wonderfully creative GRUNGY day!

Take time to PLAY... it's SOUL FOOD! 

GRUNGY MONDAY CHALLENGE

Hello again! Here is my GRUNGY MONDAY CHALLENGE tag for this week's challenge....Texture Fades and Distress!!

This started out to be a Steampunk dress form but when I cut out the bird cage die, it was bigger than I wanted it to be.  (I'm still waiting for my mini birdcage die to come!)  

 So, I switched gears from Steampunk to Debutante!

The background is done using Fired Brick and the brick texture fade.  Then I distressed the bricks with Vintage Photo.  I used the cardboard "stencil" that was created when I cut out the dress form and stenciled a "shadow" behind the dress form with Black Soot.  Then I inked around the edges of the tag with Black Soot.

The dress form bodice is made from canvas that is distressed with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.  The "metal" base if a mixture of Pewter and Silver embossing powders. 

I gathered two strips of bright gold tulle and tied around the dress form.  I cut out 7 roses from my Maya Road Organza Rose Ribbon and sprayed them with Fired Brick and Sunflower Sparkle spray.  Then I hot glued the roses onto the tulle skirt.  I finished off the dress with a Fired Brick sash made from spraying some white Hug Snug.  The scarf around the neck is a piece of Hug Snug that was sprayed with bright yellow Glimmer Mists and then I attached another rose.

 The button card is a stamp is a Red Lead stamp.  I distressed it in Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Black Soot.  I colored a button with a red colored pencil and added Glossy Accents to all of the buttons on the card so that they would have some dimension.

The Spool Labels are from Tim Holtz' new Haberdashery stamp set. I distressed them with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.  The one label looked torn on the stamp, so I tore it in those areas as I was cutting it out.  I mounted the labels on chipboard that I distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Stain.  I thought it really made them look more like labels that were still attached to a spool.

Hope you guys are having a wonderful day!  I've been playing all morning...so it's been a GOOD DAY!

GRUNGY MONDAY (on Tuesday)

Good Tuesday morning everybody! Have you checked out Studio L3's Grungy Monday challenge yet?  It's a fun, weekly challenge that encourage and inspires you to use Tim Holtz techniques to help you create art!  Today's challenge takes you to a video from CHA 2010 and Tim is demonstrating the technique used this week.

When this challenge started, I decided I wanted to do all tags.  That way, when this challenge is complete, I'll have a bunch of cool tags using a lot of Tim techniques that I can display somehow.  So, learning or relearning new techniques, making tags, having a cool display when I'm finished...WIN...WIN!!! 

Here is my entry for this week's Grungy Monday...

 

I started with a shipping tag and covered it with text I'd torn out of an old book.  I layered the text using Multi Matte Medium and heat tooled it dry.  Then I burnished a couple of pieces of masking tape on the paper and tore it off.  It sort of gives you the effect of several layers of wallpaper being exposed on an old wall.  I had no idea where the tag was going from this point other than I wanted to use the largest flower from the Tattered Flowers die cut as my stamp.

I distressed the tag with Stormy Sky followed by Wild Honey.  It went green on me; which was okay since I was using the outline of the flower as my background.  Then it just kind of all fell into place pretty quickly.

I made what I like to call an "Attic Flower" from some cream netting.  I tore a little bit of brown netting and stuck it underneath.  I finished off the flower with a button from Tim Holtz' Accoutrements.  I found the brown leaf ribbon in my stash of trims and used a little of it to vine up the tag.  Then I added some Chestnut Roan cats eye ink pad around the edges of the tag to pull in the brown.  Loved it!  I cut out the old woman from a vintage picture and popped her onto the tag.  Next I gathered a piece of old lace onto some double sided tape and stuck it across the bottom of the tag.  

I turned around to look at my stamps to add a sentiment and it was like this little stamp jumped off of my shelf..."How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"  Think about that for a second!!!  What a GREAT thought!  When I'm able to play in my studio...I'd say I'm about FIVE!!!

Y'all have a wonderfully creative day and take some time out to PLAY!!

GRUNGY MONDAY

Yay!!!  Linda has started up another GREAT Tim Holtz inspired series of challenges at Studio L3's GRUNGY MONDAY!  This is the first of the new series...so get involved!  This theme is taken from Tim's Christmas Tags of 2008 ~ Day 10.

Here is my entry into "Grungy Monday" ... featuring Tim's famous "Umbrella Man".  I chose Tim's stamp "LIFE IS NOT ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORM TO PASS BUT LEARNING TO DANCE IN THE RAIN" for this tag.  Boy, how true that is!!

 

I started with one of Tim's "Borderline" masks and spritzed the tag with my concoction of Broken China Distress Ink, Kiwi Perfect Pearls and water in a Mini Mister.  I rubbed on some Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and edged just a bit with Black Soot.  Then I did Tim's splatter technique.  LOVE that technique!

The text features "LIFE" and is copied out of an old dictionary.  I tore the edges and inked it with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain; with a touch of Black Soot on some edges. 

The Umbrella Man is stamped onto Grungeboard with Black Embossing Powder.  Before I heated it, I brushed away a bit of the powder so that I would have more area that would accept the "paint" I made out of Green Patina Perfect Pearls and water.  It worked really well.  Then I inked the edges with Black Soot.   I thought the mini pins looked like raindrops falling...so I wired them onto the umbrella.  Aren't they great?! 

 The filmstrip is from Tim's "Captured Moments Stamp Set".  I heat embossed it with Walnut Stain Embossing Powder.  I cut away the centers and added a piece of clear vellum.  Underneath the vellum, I added three vintage pictures of little boys take from Tim's old "Distressables and Doo-dads" strips.  I added some antique silver brads and glued or pop dotted everything into place.  Finally, I added a couple of pieces of color coordinated ribbon and a funky piece of black trim to accent the tag.

So, that's it...Oh my gosh!!!  That was so much fun to get my fingers all INKY again!!!  Thank you Linda for starting up GRUNGY MONDAY!!!  Have a great day everybody...and take time to PLAY & CREATE!!