Second Tag repeat -

Oh my.  I have uploaded my tags to Tim's website, day by day.  BUT,  i learned that if you mis-type your email address, you can't delete your entry, AND, therefore will not be considered for the big prize.  So, I am having to create a new post, with a new link in order to upload day 2.  Ugh,  Hope this works.

Final Day - The marathon is complete

Day 12 - This was an amazing 2 day journey through everything Tim Holtz - He truly is the Due of Distress.  Todays tag was to use his new tissue paper - I didn't have that - but I did have some tissue tape.  Great stuff.  I've had a blast - I hope someone stops by to check out my tags.  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Happy New Year to ALL!

The completed set of 12.

Eleventh Tag - Making colors POP

Day 11 - Today is probably my least favorite tag.  I improvised on most of the stamps and leaves - but must admit, I do love the tag colors using all those amazing blue distress inks - broken china, faded blue jeans, dark sapphire.  The whole tag was based on glossy paper and distress inks - showing how they really pop on that texture of cardstock.  The santa really does look alot like white plastic.

Tenth Tag - Trinkets

Day 10 - It's days like this when you realize just how MUCH Tim Holtz stuff you have in your stash!  Today we made our own trinkets to decorate the card.  Check out the link above for all the details on how to transfer the image from paper to plain old packing tape.  The card again has that beautiful Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist to make it really pop with sine.

Ninth Tag - Enamel technique

Day 9 - Someone asked me the other day what I do with all these tags.  Hmm,  had to think on that one.  I actually save them from year to year as inspiration.  Each tag represents new color combos, techniques, or tools/stamps/etc that I can use throughout the year.  Whenever I get stuck or am looking for something new to try, I dig through my big box of tags, and get inspired.  How about you?

Todays tag used double embossing, which makes the tag end result look like enamel.  First the leaves are embossed, then distress ink is rubbed all over the tag, covered with yet more clear embossing powder and embossed.  We added glossy accents to the letters for extra depth and shine.

Eighth Tag - Steampunk Christmas

Day 8-  Don't you just love these 3 guys?  It was fun to pull out all the gears, and get all steampunky with them.  The new seasonal distress colors for Christmas are so beautiful.  The Holly Berry Red really stands out.  No real new technique today - but we did get to grunge up the gears after they were die cut, and used a few inks to make them look a little more rusted.  Well,  I'm on the downward slope - only 4 more to post.

Seventh Tag - Gold and Glorious

Day 7   - Don't you just love these colors?  Nothing beats Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist, over a tag distressed with all the browns in the distress family.  The other technique today was to play with glassine paper.  I have done a few things with this before, but never alcohol inks.  Too Cool!  After you pounce all over this great paper with the alcohol inks, you heat it to get it set in, then scrunch it up into a ball, over and over again until you like the amount of wrinkles.  The cool thing is that the more you wrinkle it, the softer it becomes.  Way too beautiful.  I didn't have the holly die cut, but think the tattered leaves worked for a close second.

Sixth Tag - Foiled again

Day 6  took some thinking.  It turned out kinda goofy -  since I improvised.  I tried to make it look like the jalopy was driving into the woods, but adding that embossed piece turned out to be more tricky than I thought - and since I didin't get the logic gene - I didn't realize how it was going to affect the trees I embossed first.  Oh well.  The technique was fun, loved the effect of painting on the foil, and then adding the high gloss of clear embossing powder.

Fifth Tag - Merry Christmas

Day 5 - Never ever throw away the plastic packaging all those fun embellishments come in.  That is what I used to cut out todays tag.  The technique today is really fun. It's like 'magic'. I used all the red colors of alcohol inks I had to make this gorgeous colored tag.  THEN - you stamp on the ink with black archival ink.  I used the trio of trees.  After you stamp, while the ink is still wet - you blot it off.  Amazing the way it takes the color away and leaves you with a clear image.  Pretty cool right?

Fourth Tag - Frosty the Snowman

Day 4 was my favorite so far.  The colors, the techniques,  all very fun.  There are so many layers of color and texture, you have to really look closely.  You start by painting the grunge board white.  After cutting out the snowflake and snowman (I used some pieces from the old holiday grungeboard cutout packs), you paint them with rock candy crackle paint - real thick so it gets great crackles in it.  After the pieces dry - i used two different colors of  distress stains (weathered wood and tumbled glass) to get that gorgeous blue color.  The tag was created using the same blue stains along with the new white picket fence distress stain.  Don't you just love that color!  I also stamped some snowflakes on the tag, and attached an 'on the side' snowflake border I cut out of old packaging materials.  I had not tried using the movers and shapers to cut out a design in a die cut yet - so that was fun to play with.  I really like the way it turned out.  It is backed with old music paper from my piano books, and topped with glossy accents to make it shine.  This tag reminds me of a cold winter day in Minnesota!

Third Tag - Holiday Greetings

Day 3 was a bit of a challenge.  I didn't have the 2 main items - the stamp and embossing folder.  SO - I pulled out all the holiday saying stamps I had, and built a collage.  I don't know if you can see the shimmer or not - but I used biscotti perfect pearls.  One of my favorite ways to add a little pizazz to a project.  I love all the different pieces in the festive greenery die.  It's one of the 12" long ones and has holly, ferns, flourish, and other 2 other types of greenery.  Very fun to put together.

2nd Tag - Leaping Reindeer

Day 2 provided a few challenges.  I didn't have a few of the items, but was able to improvise.  I really liked the way the Picket Fence Distress Stain muted the kraft resist paper and created a perfect background for the reindeer as he flies through the skies.  I didn't have the die cut, but was able to use a mask I had leftover from an old grunge board seasons set of cutouts to trace the reindeer.  I found some fabulous tinsel made by Webster Pages. I tried dying it green with alcohol inks, but it didn't work quite as well as I had hoped.  I must admit - this is really fun.  I haven't participated in the challenges the last few months due to other commitments and it is really fun using some of the items that have been sorely neglected in my collection of Tim Holtz/Ranger Products.

First Tag - Pine cones and foliage

Day 1 was packed with ideas and new techniques.  I love love love flowers, foliage, and all things outdoors - so was thrilled to have already picked up the 2 new dies that Tim used in todays tag.  I was however intimidated by the complexity of the pine cone.  How cool that he included a video to show us all the tips and tricks to success.

I used the new kraft Coordinations paper, it is colored on the outside, kraft color on the inside.  After I used the sizzix snowflake embossing folder, I sanded off the the tops of the snowflakes, exposing the craft color.  Really nice effect.  A fun technique to use with the embossing folder, is to use embossing ink on the inside of the folder before you emboss.  It embeds the ink on the indented parts, allowing you to emboss just the background, not the raised pattern.  WAY too cool!  Check out the link above for more details.

12 Tags of Christmas Marathon

Wow,  2 days in my wonderful craft room, creating the 12 tags of Christmas!  It was a blast!!  Here is a photo of all of them...then I'll post the details one by one.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about...Check this out - Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas.

This was an amazing 2 days.  I didn't have all the tools, stamps, embellishments, colors, etc.  BUT - I did have all that I needed to make the tags as close to the original as possible.  I know some folks like to mix it up, and make their tags very different - not me.  I follow everything as close as possible, learning the technique so I can use these tags as reference all year long to spark creativity, and generate new ideas.

I challenge all of you to check out the Duke of Distress, and his magical talent.  Also,  feel free to check out my blog entries detailing each tag.  let me know what you think!

Grungy Monday 28 - It's good to be back!

Life does have a way of getting away from us doesn't it?  I cannot believe how long it has been since I made it a priority to create art!  Linda over at Studio L3 challenges us each week to try a new technique by the King of all things wonderful - Tim Holtz.  This week the challenge was too wonderful to not join in.  We get to play with my favorite Ranger product of all times - Alcohol Inks!  In fact,  I had such fun,  I have 2 entries this week.

Alcohol Inks Challenge

I have a good friend having a birthday next month, so this gave me time to play and see what I could come up with.  For the first card, I used the adhesive foil sheets by Ranger.  I ran it through the Vagabond using a Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder.  Then the fun - I used my 3 favorite Alcohol Inks - Lettuce, Wild Plum, and Stream.  I rubbed a  black ink pad over the top to highlight the embossing.   The flower was from a Rubber baby buggy bumpers kit I received many years ago, and I loved the way it brought out the turquoise coloring.  I matched it with a banner cut from one of Tim Holtz dies from last year.  The paper was misted with Patina, Denim, and Biscotti Perfect Pearls, to match the flower.  

The snowman card  was a little different;  I started with navy blue metal, that I de-embossed with the sizzix snowflack folder.  Then - I tried a technique that Tammy , a friend of Tim Holtz's posted a few days ago.  I covered the entire piece with Rock Candy Crackle paint, then scraped it off.  The crackle stayed 'in' the snowflakes making them sparkle.  Pretty darn cool - check out her tutorial.  Then I covered the whole thing with every color of blue AI I had along with snowcap to mute the colors a bit.  I used 2 colors of blue distress stains along with picket fence on grunge board to create the snowman.    The snowflakes are made from the new glassine paper, spritzed with patina and biscotti perfect pearls.  I added another banner, and a fun little ticket to top it all off.

I hope you enjoy my card,  and I can't wait to see what everyone else has posted this week.  Be sure to check them all out.

Christmas is in the Air!

Oh how I have missed the Outlines Rubber Stamps Weekly Challenge!  I'm glad to be back for Christmas in July.  They have some amazing design team members - go check them out.  Each week they give us a theme, and an opportunity to create art with their wonderful stamps  - AND - get this - win a $25 gift certificate to spend in their store.  How cool is that!

This week I used some of my absolutely favorite stamps.  This was my very first flower stamp that I purchased from Outlines.  It is SO versatile.  I hope you enjoy my design - and I can't wait to go check out everyone elses art!

Stamps used:
Merry C-279
Swirly Leaf SM C-136
Swirly Leaf MD C-103
Clematis Med E-111
Clematis Lg H-108

Grungy Monday 15 - Getting Rusty

Oh my - is it really Grungy Friday?  Work really got in my way of having fun this week.  The truly amazing artist Linda, over at Studio L3 has challenged us to us Tim Holtz's 'Get Rusty' technique this week.  This is a technique he debuted in 2007!  There are actually 2 technique challenges in this weeks tutorial.  One for the 'rusty' technique, and the other where you use multiple ink pad to add a touch of color to a stamp.  Both were fun and deliver great results.  Although I had to test this a few times to get it right.

It was fun to pull out many of my favorite colors this week.  For the background piece I made using the main technique, I used Broken china Distress Ink with Vintage Photo rubbed over the top for the 'rust' look.  The flower is a new stamp that I got last week from Wendy Vecchi.  It was a great bold image to color with many beautiful colors (barn door, peeled paint, forest moss, scattered straw - DI).  I sprayed it with a bit of water to blend the colors, then stamped on watercolor paper.  I painted some tattered angels glitter paint over the leaves, but it didn't show up in the photo - BIG surprise :-)

I also colored the ribbon with some more tattered angels copper spray, and added some doo dads for extra interest.  I hope you enjoy the card - it is going in the mail tomorrow for a dear friends birthday.

Thanks for stopping by - I also posted another card a few days ago that I did for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers.  I Love Love Love the Kraft resist paper! Check it out.

Sunday Stampers - Something Flying....

Oh how I love Sundays.  Hels gives us the most inviting challenges.  AND - entertains us with her wit and creativity.  This week was no exception!  If you have no idea what I'm talking about - check out the details here.  Her artwork is always amazing!  This week she has challenged us to something in 'flight'.  Since I do not have any airplanes...I have chosen butterflies.

This week I decided to use some new items in my 'stash'.  I pulled out Tim Holtz wonderful Kraft Resist paper.  OMG - this paper is amazing.  It is kraft, with embossed designs, as well as black 'stamped' images all over it.  I selected the butterfly (papillon) paper.  I used my favorites - Victorian Velvet and Dusty Concord Distress Inks to bring out the image resist.  I have added another new fave - Sizzix Butterfly 2 collection which includes not only that delightful 2 part butterfly - but the wonderful 'dream' script.  I also used a fun saying from Wendy Vecchi as well as a butterfly from Tim's die cut collection with a fun pen nib as the body (ok  - totally stole that from so many others that have used that -but loved it).  

Grungy Monday 14 - Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls

Can't believe I missed my favorite technique last week while I was enjoying some much needed family time at the beach. Looks like I've got some catching up to do! Linda, over at Studio L3 has offered up yet another fun technique (from the 2008 archives of the ever so talented King of Distress - Tim Holtz) for us this week. If you do wander over to Tim's site today - check out the fabulous 4th of July card he made. I thought I could include the photo below, but obviously - I have alot to learn about blogger.

Now, on to today's challenges. Linda tempted us to get back into using our mini misters with some favorite inks and powders. Simon Says Stamp and Show has challenged us to use a Flourish, and Hels of the Sunday Stampers fame, has added words to her challenge this week.  I thought both fit well in my card today.  I used 2 combinations - Spiced Marlamade DI/Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls, and Scattered Straw DI/Green Patina Perfect Pearls. I first stamped one of my favorite 'rockin' heart stamps using picket fence dabber to create a resist for the sprays. I sprayed the maralade color on top, the scattered straw on the bottom. I also colored my ribbon with the marmalade spray. I love the color combo and the intensity of the color. This is definitely something I will try again. The sentiment stamp is from Wendy Vecchi, flouris - Stampington and Company.

I'll share the 4th of July idea in a few minutes. Happy Freedom day to all my stamping buddies - I am proud of all our military and thankful to be living the life I am.

Ribbons and Bows - Outlines RS Challenge

If you love the wonderful stamps from Outlines, then you are sure to enjoy their new weekly stamping challenge. This week was Ribbons and bows. I stamped and embossed the J-986 Ellason Background with Peeled paint Distress Ink and embossing powder. I used some flowers from their new mix and match flower series: E-1031 Jagged Posy Med., E-1043 Pointed Posy Med., E-1039 Round Posy Med. Be sure to check out the blog for many more card submissions. Last weeks were simply gorgeous!

Grungy Monday 11 - can you believe it?

The lovely Linda over at Studio L3 challenges us each week with a technique from Tim Holtz. Ya know how photos don't always show the real deal or maybe it is more that the concept didn't quite turn out how you expected? Now that I am looking at this - it kind of looks like chicken scratch :-( But - it is really a faux batik look that the amazing Tim Holtz taught us in January of 2008. It is loads of fun - you stamp your base image, emboss with clear powder. Then you get to smoosh all your favorite Distress Inks over the top. You take some brown paper bag and cover the card - iron to remove the embossing powder, and wala - Batik. I used Tim Holtz Spring Sprung set with the kind of crazy wildflowers. I used shabby shutters, crushed olive peeled paint, tumbled glass, stormy sky, and broken china to get the grass and sky look. I guess you'll have to use your imagine this week to see a field of wildflowers with a butterfly fluttering by...

Sunday Stampers Steampunk

It has been a busy busy day in my craft room. So many challenges, so many ideas running through my head. I started with the Sunday Stampers Challenge by the lovely Hels Sheridan. She just celebrated her birthday, so she is especially excited and joyful this week. Her theme this week was Steampunk. I had to really do some looking up for this one. I had no idea really what it is. I just realized I forgot to add on my gears that I so carefully die cut this afternoon. Oops :-) I used some crushed olive, frayed burlap, and black soot DI on the background, using the crumpling, dipping, swiping, and drying method. I got to finally put ink on my Tim Holtz Steampunk stamp set. That certainly made this challenge a little easier! Check out her blog for all the details about the challenges. They are always fun.

Outlines Challenge - My favorite colors...

This is one of my all time favorite color combinations! How fun is it that it's also the challenge over at the Outlines Rubber Stamp Blog. I have been an admirer of their stamps for quite some time. I am thrilled to have discovered they started a weekly challenge. Be sure to check out everyone else's artwork. There are some very talented artists submitting their art.

Products used:

E-657 Striped Petals Lg

D-658 Striped Petals Md

B-350 Scatter joy

Cuttlebug texture plate

Grungy Monday 10 - Distress Inks

Do you LOVE Distress Inks as much as I do? I simply cannot do a project without them. SO...this weeks challenge from Studio L3, was to use, just that DI. Check out her blog and not only get the details, but see all the amazing artwork fellow Tim Holtz addicts have posted. I got to use my new favorite stamp set, Papillon, in the new TH collection. Also, some of my favorite DI colors: Broken China, Peeled Paint, Stormy Sky, and Tumbled Glass. Added to my tag is a tissue tape ribbon across the bottom and some lost and found stickers and tags. I am also entering this in a couple of my newly discovered challenges: Sunday Stampers - Anything that makes you happy with the amazing Hels Sheridan, and also a newly discovered challenges, Use it Tuesday, Tag it on, Winged Things, Just for Fun. And last but not least, Simon Says Stamp challenge Tags. Whew - Fun week, fun challenges. I'd love to hear your comments.

Outlines Challenge - Black and White + one

New territory for me. I have been an Outlines RS admirer for many years, and just found their weekly challenge. This week, we were challenged to create a black and white piece of art, adding one color for accent. Oh how hard it was to not color the leaves too :-) If you don't know what I'm talking about - hop on over to their blog and get all the details. You will also get a chance to peek at the wonderful cards that have been posted by others joining the challenge. It's a great way to see how to use all those stamps in your 'collection'. I'm glad I found this blog, and a reason to dust of some much loved stamps. enjoy everyone.

Stamps used: Swirly Leaf - small, C-136, Striped Poppy - Med, D-106.

GM 09 - Shabby Chic - or Fun in the Wild West

Wow, Can anything top the beautiful artwork from last week? I have looked at the gallery almost every day to soak in all the gorgeous cards and tags. This week we are introduced to a fabulously new (to me) technique from the amazing TH himself. Check out the technique HERE, and for more greatness - peruse his BLOG. If you are still craving more - Linda, over at Studio L3 challenges us each and every week and you can see some of the most beautiful and creative art there is HERE. This week we were challenged with Shabby Chic. As soon as I read through all the steps, images of a southwest sunset came to mind. If you've ever seen one, you know what I'm talking about. All the trees and cactus turn to black and you see this amazing color blazing behind them. I am lucky enough to see this most evenings while relaxing on my back patio. I have experimented every which way I know how - but I can't seem to share the beautiful depth of colors with you. But you get the idea....

I used a scenic stamp from Ink Blocks, sentiment and posse are from Rubber City Rubberworks, and daubers are gold, red pepper, sunset orange, and sunshine yellow.

Tim Holtz watercolor technique

Lurking no more! I dipped my toes in the water trying a new challenge last week over at Sunday Stampers with Hels Sheridan. I had such fun, saw some more amazing art, and can't wait to do it again this week. The theme over there is Diamonds and Pearls. The ever so talented and amazing Linda at Studio L3 continues to challenge us with yet another fun, left on the shelf, technique by none other than Tim Holtz himself. We are transported back in time to a fun, easy watercolor technique. You can get the details 'here'. I really had fun with this one. I have always used this technique with flowers, so thought I would stretch my imagination a little and since we were traveling back in time - played around with Tim's jalopy and a tie-dye look. I used stream, bottle, lettuce and wild plum (my all time favorite colors) of adirondack inks by ranger. I stamped Mr. Jalopy twice, only spritzing with water the 2nd time to create a more muted image in the background. The stamps are from my TH collection, and the pearls and diamonds are from the 'stash'. I am a little addicted to those dreamy pearls and diamonds that come on the rolls at Michaels. If you haven't checked out the new Reflections line of embellishments - run on over now.

Sunday Stampers - camouflage

This is a new venture for me. I am new to the challenge scene, only participating in one with the lovely Linda at Studio L3. BUT - how can you help but notice the amazing Hels and her art each week. She is so inspiring, creative, with a great sense of humor. SO....I decided to give a go at her Sunday Stampers challenge - this week was Camouflage - using those great colors of green, gold, etc..... I used my favorite color washes - pesto, lettuce, and butterscotch for the background - and then spritzed it all over with a beautiful copper tattered angels glimmer mist. (which i'm sure you've read over and over again - does not show up in the photo :-( Then I ran the whole thing through a music texture fade by Cuttlebug and rubbed frayed burlap DI over the top. The paper is from an old music book of mine. The saying - which I must say is one of my absolute favorites is by Impression Obsession.

Grungy Monday 7 - Color BlockingDI

Ok, So does everyone love, love love the challenges that Linda offers us each week? I sure do! Not only does it get me off my duff and using my stuff...I am learning fun new techniques each week!! If you don't know what I'm talkin' about - check it out here. Tim Holtz is our 'man', and he's got all the techniques, tools, inks, and stamps! My entry this week uses the totally famous brolly man - which I FINALLY received from my pre-order. It was completely painful watching everyone using him, and me sitting in wait. SO...I hope you enjoy the entry. I used Faded Jeans, Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Broken China, Pumice Stone, and Scattered Straw DI. Brolly man was cut using paper from the Lost and Found Stack (which is on clearance at Michaels (but the way)). The saying is from TH. Enjoy

Grungy Monday 6 - Weathered Wood

Just under the wire here, but glad to get in on this weeks technique. The amazing Linda over at Studio L3 has continued the Duke of Distress challenges since we just couldn't get enough. This week's challenge was from the 12 Tags of Christmas 2007. I used Cloudy Blue Daubber, Wild Hone and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks. The stars are part of a new stamp set from Wendy Vecchi which I just love. This is graduation week and I had a few cards to make - I loved the sentiment.

3-D fun - Grungy Monday 5

Oh how fun this was. Reminded me of the shaker cards I made when I first started stamping. It was all I could do to leave off the acrylic cover and rummage for that confetti I used to collect! The amazing Tim Holtz, Duke of Distress has a very fun technique to use foam core board to create a fun niche and 'put' something in it. I stored the word Giggle, one of my favorite stamps of his in the niche. I used a wee bit of paper from the crowded attic stash, added some worn lipstick, picket fence, and rusty hinge DI, and trimmed it with the fabulous pearls from Reflections. If you have no idea what I'm talking about - check out the amazing Linda at Studio L3 who is challenging each and every Grungy Monday with a different Tim Holtz Technique

Gotta love Texture Fades...Grungy Monday 4

Looking at this - very simple design, - but I just love this techique. It was so amazing to me and opened so many doors to creativity when I saw the challenge on the Tim Holtz 10th tag of Christmas 2010. I used broken china and chipped sapphire Distress Inks with the clocks texture fade. Vintage Photo DI was used to distress the card and saying. The stamp is one of my new faves from Penny Black! If you have ever wondered why Tim has some really open 'blank' space on his texture fades -this is WHY. Not only can you color in the blank areas and create beautiful texture, you can stamp on it and make it multi-dimensional. Check it out!

Terry Maderis Stamps

I thought I would share a card I made for a stamp company here in Tucson. Terry Maderis, has a great variety of stamps. His technique is using colored pencils, shading, and creating beautiful images. This is a sample of the 4 cowgirls stamp which I personally adore. Enjoy and check out his stamps.

Color Wash - Take 5 (Grungy Monday 3)

Okay - if you're anything like me - and I have learned a few of you are....These color washes have been collecting dust in your stash of treasures for quite some time. Seems easy - take lid off, spray the color wash, make a card, and tada, you're done. Not SO. These colors are so bright, deep, and beautiful when you spray them on, then they dry and take on a look of mud, or dullness I could not imagine. I tried every kind of paper I could find. I finally settled on a piece of music from an old piano book (a hint I picked up from another stamper a couple weeks ago). I used Lettuce, Butterscotch, and Eggplant color washes. The flower was made with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die using the new glassine paper colored with distress inks. Fun Fun Fun! I finished it off with one of Tim's new sayings. I am submitting this challenge to Grungy Monday 3, over at Studio L3 with the amazing Linda Ledbetter. She has been challenging us with All Things Tim Holtz for the better part of a year - we couldn't get enough, so she is keeping it going with the Grungy Monday challenge. Thanks for stopping by.

Grunge Monday - Ranger Videos

Ahhh, Another monday with the Wonderful Linda over at Studio L3. For all of us Tim Holtz Junkies/Addicts (yes, that's what we are) we are continuing honoring the Duke of Distress with a new technique challenge every week. Get on over there to see what's up. This week we were challenged with a wonderful technique you can find on the Ranger website - Distress Ink with Multi Medium. I can't believe I didn't have ANY fun foam in the 'stash', so I improvised and used a new stamp I got from Wendy Vecchi. I used Concord Grape, Sapphire, and Peeled Paint distress inks. I loved the way the more ink you used, the more the stamped image came through. You can't see it, but I used the STAR page out of the dictionary to go with my star stamp. Cool huh?

Thanks for stopping by, and head over and check out the challenge - you'll be glad you did. Not only do you get to make really cool stuff - you will discover some amazing artists!

Grunge Monday #1 - More Tim Holtz!!!

Yeah for the wonderful Linda at Studio L3. We had such a fun year with Tim's Compendium of Curiosity techniques, no one wanted it to end. Hurray for linda, because she thought of a way to keep this going. This week we were challenged with techniques from the 2008 12 Tags of Christmas, Tag #10. That is a link to the technique as well as Tim's blog. I enjoyed this challenge. Masking is not something I do well, but learning to make your own pearlized sprays was fun. I used Frayed Burlap and Rust (which looks pink to me) to get started on my Spring tag. Flowers are blooming like crazy here, it was almost 100 degrees on Friday, and my absolutely favorite time of the year, Enjoy the tag, join in all the fun, and let me know what you think.

Hurray for Linda!!!!

Okay - so we have all been waiting to see what the fabulous Linda at Studio L3 will have in store for us now that we have successfully completed all 35 lessons in Tim Holtz's book, Compendium of Curiosities. Well....drum roll please....she has announced that we will be doing. What you ask? I guess you'll have to hop on over to her blog and find out!

I must say, it was a great journey to work through all of the amazing techniques in Tim's book. Now I can't wait until a new adventure begins on March 28th.

(Sad face) CCC Week 35 Design Details

It is with a sad face that I load this last weeks entry to Linda's wonderful Tim Holtz challenge. The joy will come tomorrow when she tells us of the next wonderful adventure she has planned for us. If you have no idea what I'm talking about - hop on over to her blog and check out the details. This week I used some of my favorite items in the 'collection'. Peeled paint, concord, and marmalade DI's. I used the collage texture fade, design ruler (of course). It's been a blast working my way through the book, taking in all the amazing art by other TH lovers, and meeting some very fun people at the same time. Thanks the for the great ride y'all!

CCC Week 33 - Altered Metal

Week 33 - I cannot believe it. This has been one of the most fun and creative journeys I have ever embarked on. This week, the King of Distress challenged us to alter metal. To get the details you'll have to hop on over to Studio L3. Or pick up the Tim Holtz book, Compendium of Curiosities and turn to page 56. I didn't even know alcohol ink pens existed. HOW fun are they going to be? and were! To all my TH addicts - have you seen all the new stuff he has designed for our crafting pleasure? Who has had the strength to resist all the pre-order offers? What's your favorite item?

CCC Week 32 - Masking Fun

So...I used to feel SO cool when I used this masking technique. It was one of the very first that i tried. I have all the tools in my stash, and guess what - never use them. This week reminded me how fun and easy it is. My stamp, part of a kids quotes set that I bought awhile back reminds me so much of a group of my dear friends. As hard as we try...we just can't be that 'good'. When we get together we laugh so hard our sides hurt - now that we are all at 'middle age' we are taking a little more care with our 'style'. I bought these stamps thinking of us. If you have no idea why I've posted this tag - check out the details at Linda's Blog at Studio L3. She is the queen of all things Tim Holtz and is hosting the most amazing challenge. We are all on pins and needles trying to imagine what she has in store for us when we reach the end of this fun journey. When will she reveal the details? Only Linda knows....

CCC Week 31 - Rusted Enamel

I cannot believe the 'rest' I took from this awesome challenge. I had some serious making up to do this week. I love this technique that Tim created, using all the fun little items I had in my 'stash'. To get the complete details - you'll need to turn to page 41 of his book, Compendium of Curiosities. To see some great examples, meet amazing artists, and enjoy some time spent perusing the fabulous submissions, head on over to Studio L3 and see the frenzy the amazing Linda has created. Being this is 'Valentine's weekend', and I have been working on a card for my wonderful husband of 3o years - I was in the mood for more hearts. As seems to be the case, the color and technique don't shine as well in the photo as in real life. I do love the technique and can't wait to make a few more samples. Have a great week everyone.

CCC Week 26 - Rusted Grunge

I simply LOVE days off. Time to play with all my toys. What an amazing technique Linda chose for us this week. If you want to know how to make rusted art - look it up on page 45 in the Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities book.With only 3 items out of the Tim Holtz stash of magic, you can make a beautiful, rustic, rusty piece out of simple grunge paper. This man never ceases to amaze me. You may wonder what i am talking about - check it out here. Linda, over at Studio L3 has all the details. Join in the fun with all the other Tim Holtz fanatics out there, and check out the amazing art.

Happy New Year everyone@!