Christmas Comes Early!

So, I couldn't wait anymore...I had to start my Christmas crafts. Here's a gift I put together yesterday...a Paper Rosette Wreath!

Supplies:
Assorted Christmas Paper, cut into strips
Tim Holtz Rosette and Mini Rosette Die (and accessories)
Glue gun, low heat
GLITTER!
Embellishments
KrazyGlue
Wreath Form
Wide Christmas Ribbon
straight pins

Wrap the wreath form with ribbon, and tack in place with straight pins to keep from slipping. Make a loop of ribbon the desired length to hang and suspend wrapped from from loop. Adhere loop to form to secure.

Cut paper into strips and run through die cutting machine to create rosettes. Glue rosettes together using hot glue. Coat rosettes with liquid glue and glitter as desired, and let dry. Adhere rosettes to form using hot glue and straight pins. Glue embellishments to center of rosettes as desired. Let dry completely, hang, and enjoy! Time: 8-10 hours.

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Mom's Birthday

I made this giftset for my mom's birthday. The set includes a custom gift bag, card, and giftcard holder. I worked with burlap for the first time, but otherwise relied on some tried-and-true Holtz techniques to create the finishes. I stamped the images using versaink in black, then distressed the backgrounds with tea dye and victorian velvet distress inks. Spritz with a hint of pearl glimmer mist, hot-glue flowers, and voila! Done.

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Halloween Cards

I can finally post about my Halloween Cards!!

I found these funny gravestone stamps at the store, and I knew I had to use them for something, so I made little mini-cards for everyone. I tried to send a different card to each person in a family group, too, to keep things interesting.

The cards themselves are pretty simple:

3x6" black cardstock, scored and folded to make a 3x3" card
2.5" square of patterned Halloween paper, distress edges
2" square white cardstock
Black embossing powder
Embossing ink
Halloween Stamp Set and blocks
Markers
Pop Dots, tape adhesive and glue dots
Halloween ribbon.

Distress patterned paper edges and adhere to card. Stamp Halloween image on white paper and emboss. Color with markers, and cut out. Use pop-dots to adhere over patterned paper. Tie small bows out of ribbon and adhere using glue dots. That's it!

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Technique Try-Out : Working with Stampbord

I found this awesome product at Aaron Brothers in the spring. The product, called 'Stampbord', was baffling at first to me. It is billed as the 'perfect stamping surface' which is clay-coated pressed board that accepts basically any pigment.  The advantage is that layering is much easier on the surface and then, using assorted tools, the artist can carve areas of the image out to emphasize or create images. I promised the manager of the store I bought the product from that I would bring her a sample when I figured out how to use the product. So here's what I came up with!

Products used:

• Stampbord, ATC size
• Stampbord tool kit
• Distress Inks in Victorian Velvet, Tea Dye and Tattered Rose
• Distress stain in Antique Linen
• Ink blending tool
• Versamark ink
• Versaink in black
• Graphic 45 and Tim Holtz stamps
• Assorted embellishments

First, I stamped the rose image on the board using versamark ink. Then I painted over the ink using the distress stain (see picture two) and then distressed the image with the distress inks and blending tools. Stamp image of woman and use stampbord tools to carve out accents. Add embellishments...lovely! At the very last second, I decided to emphasize the lips and eyes of the image, so I smeared some distress stain in fired brick and peeled paint and then used a tiny brush to dab it onto the surface. I have mixed feelings on that outcome, but ah well.

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Technique Try-Out: Painting with Distress Ink

I love watching videos showing new techniques, and Tim Holtz is the master of such demos...but I've noticed that sometimes first attempts at a project don't always quite turn out as nice as the demonstration. So I've started trying out my techniques on artist trading cards (so as to save paper) and displaying the more successful ones on a 7 Gypsies ATC Display Spinner (to remember past successes) and I decided to share my attempts here as well.

Today's project: painting with distress inks.
Supplies needed: embossing-quality ink, stamp with large negative space, embossing powder, assorted distress stain colors, heat tool, water mister or glimmer mist, and embellishments.

To create:  ink stamp well with embossing ink and stamp image on paper. Cover with embossing powder and heat to set. Allow to cool. Paint using distress stains. Note how the stains will layer without getting muddy (a quality of all Tim Holtz Ranger Ink products!) but will alter the colors slightly. In this case, the blue darkened the green which is lovely.  Mist with water or glimmer mist to allow the colors to interplay further and add additional shimmer. Allow to dry. (Remember, if you heat-set glimmer mist, it will bond on the embossed areas as well, but you can't pat it dry then or the embossing powder will smear.)  Add embellishments as desired.

Some challenges: I worked on a manila-covered surface, so my colors were not quite as vivid as I'd like. Next time I may try working with picket fence paint on the bottom layer first.

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Lucky Me - Mini Album

I love mini-albums! I think its so fun to collect a few pictures together into a tiny theme, with all sorts of coordinated bits and bobs and do-dads. Unfortunately, I usually give them away before I take pictures of them. I made this album for my coffee table though, so I thought I'd share it (or at least the cover!) The entire album is from the Little Yellow Bicycle Lucky Me! Collection, which I particularly admire for the combination of colors and the overall message that love is a lucky business. I used the decorative edged tablet, coordinating chipboard album, and several different sticker sheets. I filled the album with pictures of the most important people in my life, engaged in a variety of activities.

I'm most proud of the cover in the album and I wanted to share it specifically because it employs several different crafting techniques. First, notice how the embelishments are clustered together on the cover. It may be difficult to tell from photographs, but I used a combination of transparencies, card stock stickers, and patterned papers, intermixed with flowers, gemstones, and epoxy buttons, to create a very layered, textured effect. I also used pop-dots to help me lift different areas up off the page. I colored the blue rose on the cover using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Moonlight and distressed the olive-colored flower just above it using glimmer mist in copper. Then I used my new embellishment making tool from Epiphany Crafts to make the epoxy "JOY" button on the lower right side. Expect more of these in the future!

I also want to point out the ribbons on the rings. To achieve these custom colors, I used a white ribbon that I colored using Distress Stains...one of my first attempts at using this awesome new product. I used Peeled Paint, Walnut, and Broken CHina to color the ribbon and then I cut it into smaller bits. The texture and vibrancy of the color this yields doesn't really photograph well, but suffice it to say: I'm very impressed.

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Listen to the Spirit - Giftbag

This bag was created for my sister Madeline at her confirmation. I sell gift bags with matching tags and cards for all sorts of occasions if you're interested, but since they're all one-of-a-kind, I can't promise I can perfectly duplicate products you see here.
Materials:

• White gift bag
• 12x12 sheet Bazzil in Teal
• 12x12 sheet Bazzil in Royal Purple
• Jolee's Boutique Winter Angel stickers
• Jolee's Boutique Crosses stickers
• Cricut Lite: Inspired Heart and Cricut Machine
• Tiny Attacher by Tim Holtz
• Clever Lever scallop circle punch: green and pink sizes
• Light blue and white raffia
• Purple sheer ribbon in 5/8" width
• 4" thin twine, any color
• Adhesive: tape runner, spray adhesive, pop dots, and low-heat glue gun

Cut the "Listen to the Spirit" sentiment from royal purple cardstock and the shadow from teal cardstock. Adhere together to create the layered look, then adhere to the gift bag. Use spray adhesive for both.  Adhere cross sticker as desired.  Punch a scalloped circle out of royal purple cardstock using pink size and adhere angel sticker to scallop. Apply powder to the back of any bits of the angel sticker that are not adhered to the cardstock. Punch a scalloped circle out of teal. Use the raffia and ribbon to create loops radiating out from the center of the teal scallop and adhere using the tiny attacher.  On the back of the teal scallop, use the tiny attacher to staple the thin time to the back, creating a tie. Use pop-dots to adhere the purple scallop over the teal scallop, so that the loops of raffia and ribbon fan out around the angel but the staples are hidden from view. Use the twine to tie the tag onto the giftbag and voila! Finished.

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