Grungy Monday at Studio L3

This week's Grungy Monday Challenge at Linda Ledbetter's Studio L 3 blog  is using Tim Holtz Perfect Distress Technique. There are already 32 entries posted, if you want to see them click here and it will take you straight to Linda's Grungy Monday 24 post. I enjoy seeing what everyone is working on. There are so many different ways you can use this technique.

Here's a quick run through of how I made my tag. The background has Broken China, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire with just a touch of Dusty Concord. I inked up the pine tree stamp from the Reindeer Flight stamp set with shabby shutters and antique linen and spritzed the stamp with water before stamping to get a water color effect. I tried to keep the colors light so the reindeer would show up better. Once th tag was dry, I stamped the reindeer in rusty hinge and then used Perfect Bronze. After heat setting spritzed a little water and then heat set.  Then I inked the snowflakes from Min Holidays CMS066 with distress embossing and applied Perfect Pearl. I only lightly misted the snowflake with water. Next I did just a little blending around the edges in spots with Broken China, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen and a little Walnut Stain. I also used a little Meadow alcohol ink with White mixative on the Believe metal tag, and a December calendar from the roll of tissue tape and a little ribbon. Love that tiny attacher which i used to attach the ribbon. I really enjoyed this technique and since all the supplies are out think I'll play a little more. Thanks for stopping by.

Collector's Edition

OK. I know we all say it when something "New" comes in at our local scrap/stamp/craft store. We look at it. Maybe drool and then say "I have so much stuff at home I haven't even used yet" and then we buy it anyway. Well this story is the same . . . but different.

I work part time at Archiver's. We recently had an employee contest at the store. The rules were simple. Design a Christmas card. Use our own tools and supplies. Make the cards on our own time. Only use items that were currently sold at the store.

Now I'm a big Tim Holtz fan and love to use his products so of course I decided to make a card using Tim Holtz products and techniques. I already had a huge collection of products to choose from at home. I didn't really need to buy anything to make a card. But I did want to have some new "Must Haves" to make my card. I already had the "Tag and Bookplates" die. I had bought it when it first came out. I figured if I had the "Mini Reindeer & 25" Movers and Shapers die I could make a really fun card. My purchase made, I set off for home. I ended up going back the next day and buying a few more items: a pack of gold metals from Mark Richards, a sheet of velum and a pack of Red A7 pre-scored cards for the base. I really didn't spend that much. OK, I had recently bought the Tim Holtz Christmas Kraft Stash. But we can't count that. It was already part of my collection.

I checked carefully and made sure everything I else I already owned and planned to use was something we still carried and started to work. I loved working on my card, looking at it a while and then saying "Oh yeah, what if I add a velum bookplate here. It's on the same die that I'm already using to cut out the tag!" and "Oh! Since I'm already using the tissue tape for ribbon I can cover the vellum bookplate with the tissue tape like Tim Holtz did on his blog". Then step back, take another look and I was off adding another piece to the card."Yes, I can use that gold leafing pen on the tissue ribbon to pick up the gold." Then I would ask my daughter what she thought. I had so much fun adding little touches. One thing lead to another but finally I declared my card was finished. I took it into the store, wrote up my supply list and dropped it off to be mailed in. I saw the other ladies cards and loved them too. I began my patient wait to hear who won.

I wasn't scheduled to work today but went into the store to scrap with some of my friends. When I got there, I found out I didn't win. No one from my store did. Of course I was disappointed but I was ok. I had so much fun working on my card and felt the ladies that did win must have loved making their cards too. I am making multiples to mail out and had an extra one so I asked my manager if she wanted one of my cards for the store to display and she said yes. Then she asked me if I had made a copy of my supply list. We list the products inside the cards in case the customers want to know how we made them. I hadn't thought to make a copy but she said she could make one up. I told her the colors of inks I used and went over the card supplies quickly. I went off to the workroom to scrap with my friends.

A little later, she showed me the hold ticket where she had scanned the items for the product code. Of course when she scanned them it also gave her the price of each item along with the total. She asked me if I knew how much my card would cost to make. When I said no, she and the other ladies had a grand time teasing me about my $179.89 card. Then they said that of course, it did not include the price of a die cut machine.

Tim in 10 Challenge

Happy Halloween Tag Card, close up of inside showing spider webs stamped in VersaMark and inside of card with greeting embossed with white embossing powder.

Linda Ledbetter has a "Grungy Monday" challenge at Studio 3 L  "Celebrating the Techniques and Products of Tim Holtz!"  Linda is an amazing artist and always post a project with each challenge she post on Monday. You can see some of her past Grundy Monday projects here.

I have been following Linda's blog and admiring her work and all the entries to her challenges but this is the first time I've actually created an entry by the deadline. I like to think about my projects for a while, and play with them for a while and usually by the time I get serious the deadline to enter has passed. Not today! What has changed you might ask? The challenge itself. I was to finish the card in 10 minutes and use at least 1 Tim Holtz product. Now as anyone who knows me can attest, using any amount of Tim Holtz product would not be a challenge for me, but finishing any project in 10 minutes? Impossible for me? Usually but not today. I think Linda's timed challenge it made it easier. By limiting the actual time to put it together to 10 minutes, I really had to focus and it worked! I will admit it took me two tries. (My daughter insist my first card opened the wrong way.) But my having to start over I eliminated some steps and had time enough to add a few more details. I am very happy with the final project.

For my card I used a scrap piece of Halloween paper from Tim's Seasonal Paper Stash and cut it with the Tags & Bookplates Alterations Movers & Shapers dye to use for the base and since it is two sided also used it for the bookplate and small reinforcers (all from the same die so only one pass through the big shot. Stamp set used is Trick-or-treat CMS 050. I used VersaMark to stamp the spiderweb over the inside of card heat set to dry ink and then stamped Happy Halloween and Zing white embossing powder and heat set. Then applied Black Soot Stain to a small cat from Seasonal Grungeboard and quickly heat set to dry. After folding the tag to make a card I attached the bookplate to the cover and used small black Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares to attach small cat. Then I added the ribbon and the gem stones. I still had a few minutes left so I tore the edge of the tag and inked away with walnut ink. I must admit I used a foam pad that already had been used with black soot but just didn't have time to find the right one. Then I realized I had just enough time for 2 quick sprays of Perfect Pearls Mists heirloom gold, just on the cover. It doesn't really show in the photo but adds a nice splattered mist of gold since it was so quickly applied.

I love Tim Holtz's blog. I have learned so many techniques through the years since he first started his blog. I wake up early every morning the first 12 days of December for the 12 tags of Christmas. (Well actually 13 because he does have drawings for fabulous prizes the day after the final tag posting of the season.) and collect Tim Holtz products like they were going out of style, which they never will. You should check out his blog if you never have before. He has some pretty amazing Halloween tags posted today and his instructions are the best. The web address is http://www.timholtz.com/ .

Linda's Tim in 10 challenge was a lot of fun. Now that it is done, I can't wait to see what the next challenge will be.

Tim Inspires Me...Again.

My Journal

Here it is, my new journal. Back in September I won one of Tim Holtz's new journals from his District Market line and it is gorgeous! I was taking an online class at the time and while the thoughts of how to decorate the cover percolated in my head I was busy with other projects. I must admit that one of the reasons I delayed was the fact that the cover is so gorgeous that it really didn't need anything. I could use it just as is but I wanted to decorate it with Tim's products. And I think Tim would want me to. One thing that helped me get started was the fact that I realized it didn't ever have to be finished. OK, that sounds a little strange but I just had so many ideas. Which stamps should I use? What colors? Which techniques? So many products to choose from? Just how many could I get on that 5" x 7" cover?
Then while contemplating the overall design I realized I could have the one piece that was giving me the most indecision be exchangeable. That way it is always a work in progress. I can always change it out when a new product or technique comes along or I want a change. The piece you see tucked behind the ribbon is removable. So when I'm ready for a change, it will be moved to the inside pages and a new "Inspired by Tim" project will take it's place. So it's not finished yet. It will always be a work in progress. But I am very happy with the results.
The ribbons are dyed with Distress Stains and wrap around the journal to tie it shut. The Ideology pieces are colored with alcohol inks using the white mixative to give them the lovely patina. The R is using grungeboard with paint dabbers for the block and Distress Crackle Paint for the R. The Star and the Fleur de Lis are on ribbon tied to the spiral in the spine and will be used as bookmarks inside the journal. The removable quote on front is stamped on half a page torn from inside the journal and uses perfect pearls, distress inks with the blending tool and stamps. The black ink is Archival Jet Black. I just added a piece of smaller card stock to the back of the tag to give it a little more stability and  used a couple of mini glue dots to keep it in place for now.