Kindness

Love the new Tim Holtz Distress Markers!

I love the new Distress Markers from Tim Holtz. This is the first card I've made with the few I have. I only have 3 so far but plan on buying more.

You can find an excellent video from paperclippings.com here showing Tim demo the Distress Markers.

I inked Tim's texture fades embossing folder with a Chipped Sapphire distress ink pad before embossing some white cardstock. Then I used the blending tool with Faded Jeans to add more dimension to the embossed paper. I used the new specialty paper from Ranger Inkessentials for the stamped surfaces. Using Distress Markers in Chipped Sapphire, Tumbled Glass and Wild Honey to color the butterfly stamp, I was able to get 3 impressions after huffing on the stamp between each stamping. You can see each impression is a little lighter. I used the blending tool to add Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint to the edges and it does not disturb the images stamped with the Distress Markers. The ric rac ribbon is from my stash and is wrapped around the white card and threaded through the center of the foliage flower (also Tim's) and tied in a knot to hold it on the card. The "You're the Best" Is a Hero Arts stamp but the Butterfly and Floral Sprig are from Tim Holtz collections. Everything is then mounted on a piece of Kraft cardstock and distressed then inked with Walnut Stain distress Ink.

I made this card for someone who did something kind for me but didn't want me to know who they were. I couldn't thank them in person so I made them this card and gave it to someone who knew who it was. They said they would deliver it for me. If it was you and you're reading this post, Thanks again! What you did was really kind and I appreciate it.

Oh Yeah, Did I say that I Really Love My New Tim Holtz Markers!

Leap Year 2012

Today is the last day of February in a leap year. One extra day to take advantage of all those extra hours we've been accumulating each year since the last leap year. For me it's one extra day to enter Tim Holtz monthly challenge for February 2012. So here's my tag. You can see Tim's original tag here

I usually follow Tim's tutorial when I can so I can learn the techniques. I usually have to modify the tag somewhat when I don't have something he uses.

For this month's tag Tim used a stamp with matching embossing folder and it is a great technique. Since I did not have an appropriate set, I used one of his embossing folders and a Snowcap paint dabber  to go over the raised area. Once dried the paint works as a resist to the distress inks. I applied the distress inks with  a blend tool and then spritzed a paper towel with water and removed the ink from the raised areas.

The Cherub and hearts are from Tim's Seasonal Grungeboard package. The Be Mine is cut from paper in his Seasonal Paper Stash. The rosette is diecut from his tissue paper with an added layer of tissue tape and foil tape. The button at the top was part of a give a way that I won the first year of 12 Tags of Christmas.

I was sad to read that Tim has "decided to officially retire the "12 tags of christmas" as we know it, and begin the 12 tags of the year." He discussed the new direction he has decided to take along with the monthly challenge for February.

I do want to say I support him fully. Tim has given so much time to us not only with the 12 Tags of Christmas, but everything he does on his blog, at Ranger Industries and no telling what all behind the scenes. Before he releases a new product, he takes time to make sure it is a quality product. Then he takes time to promote it by sharing with us his wonderful videos and tutorials showing all the amazing things it will do. He is constantly traveling (I love his travel videos) giving classes and keeping us up to date on his class projects. I have seen him promote fellow artists and often refers us to other blogs to see what others are doing. Not only that but he enjoys randomly giving away product to those who post on his blog.

I will miss the Christmas tags and getting up every morning and with half open eyes, stumbling to the computer to see what magic Tim did overnight. But I follow Tim's blog and I'm not about to miss anything he shares, whenever he decides to share it. And as always I will still be able to ask all my friends "Did you see what Tim did on his blog?"

Grungy Monday 35

Linda Ledbetter's  Grungy Monday 35 challenge this week is to create a Holtz-ian ATC card. I had a lot of fun and created 2 ATCs. I started with Tim's Vintage Shabby Paper Stash. Tim's paper stash pads have a page with the various pattern papers reduced to ATC size. Once I quickly trimmed out the ATC cards I then moved on to some of Tim's Texture Trades embossing folders. I selected the Wing for one card and the Umbrella Man for the other. These smaller embossing folders are the perfect size for ATCs.

I blended some distress inks onto the cards and then added Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. I first heard about this technique when Tim posted about it on his blog. He directed us all to Tammy Tutterow's blog and of course I loved what she did. She calls it Frosty De-boss and has a great tutorial here.

Another favorite of mine is Tim's Vintage Lace Alterations die. I used it to diecut lace from the pink Vintage Shabby paper. I painted  2 different lace patterns with Brushed Pewter Distress Crackle Paint. It gave it a nice finely crackled shimmer.

The pink and blue cogs were die cut from grungeboard using movers and shapers dies and then painted with Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint and inked with Worn Lipstick and Faded Jeans Distress Ink. I used Jet Black Archival Ink for stamping, it works great on the Rock Candy Distress Ink. Then I added the Idea-ology elements for embellishments.

I also used the Frosty De-boss technique for my second ATC. I blended Dusty Concord Distress Ink at the top and Shabby Shutters at the bottom. The middle blue is from the Vintage Shabby Paper. "RAIN" is die cut from Chip Block Alterations, inked with Chipped Sapphire, water splashed, heat set and then covered with glossy accents.  The letters for "Singing in the" are from my stash. I glued the letters to printer paper and punched them out with a basic hole punch. You may recognize the music notes from the Stampers Anonymous Feative Sounds DMS 048 stamp set. It's the one with the lamp post. Tim shared a "ghost stamp" technique with us during the 12 Tags of Christmas 2011. I used the idea and rolled the stamp on the ink pad so I had just enough ink for the area I wanted to stamp.

I really like the glossy shine on my ATCs. You can't really see it in my pictures, but I wanted to capture the color. Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint is a wonderful product. My little jar has lasted a long time and adorn many projects, but it is almost empty now. It is definitely on my shopping list for next time I buy supplies.

Distress Ink Storage

front and back view of my distress ink case.

I started working on a project for Linda Ledbetter's Studio L3 Grungy Monday 34 challenge but didn't get it finished in time for the challenge deadline. It is still a work in progress but here it is so far.

Drawer with foam pads                          Handle

I had made a small storage box for my distress inks but I outgrew it. This is my new storage case. I made it from chipboard and covered it with paper from Tim Holtz's Vintage Shabby paper stash. I've used crackle distress paint (see Tim's video here), distress inks, grungeboard for flowers and flourishes, fragments, acetate with alcohol inks, stampers anonymous stamps, tissue paper, glassine, idea-ology, an embossing folder and Alterations die cuts. While the challenge was to use the Distress Crackle Paint after watching Tim's video, I wanted to decorate my case using much more of my favorite Tim Holtz products and techniques so it would be a reminder of all the different techniques I have learned from Tim's blog over the years. My reminder to be curious and try new things.

The drawer holds a foam pad for each of my Distress Inks. The shelves have a felt strip to help hold the inks snuggly  in place. I made a handle using Tim's ball chain and grungeboard to make it is easy to take with me when I go crop. The case is not a deep as the ink pads. I designed it so the pads stick out about 3/4" which makes it easy to grip the ink pads to slide them out of the case.

I don't have all the colors available in the pads but I also have quite a few of the Distress Stains. Between the two I do have a pretty good selection. I love my Tim Holtz Distress Inks!

I Miss Trixie

Trixie

I miss Trixie. Trixie was very loving. She was really very smart, but if she didn't want to do something she acted like she didn't understand you, or didn't hear you or even completely ignore you. My daughter said she acted more like a cat than a dog. She was best buds with Betsy who we lost a year ago. Trixie and Betsy would take turns sitting beside me on the couch at night while I read or watched TV. We loved Trixie for 15 years. She passed away last Wednesday night as I comforted her.

My daughter wrote a wonderful memorandum for her. You can read Valerie's post here.

OWH Scketch Challenge 104

Sketch 104 along with inside of card

I was inspired by this week's Challenge sketch for OWH  Their mid week throw down was a color challenge to make a black and white card with a splash of color. I decided to combine the two. I've used another one of the OWH set by Hero Arts. CL583 "Right at Home". It's a sweet set with great sentiments, a house, a kite, a cloud and even a little picket fence along with a couple of little hearts. I also used one of the little outline hearts from CL 582 "Year Round Sentiments".

The black and white pattern paper was from the KI Memories value pack I used on last week's cards.

First I colored in the hearts with my red Zig Millennium pen and then I used glossy accents to add shine and dimension to them. On the inside of the card I also stamped another image in the lower left corner. The "You are my Home" adds a nice touch when you open the card. The little heart in the center of the O is part of the stamp. I stamped the image once in black and then once separately just coloring the heart with the red pen and then cut it out and glued it in place.

Now that my card is complete I'll upload a picture to the challenge page. A new sketch is posted each Sunday. Here is a copy of sketch 104. Here's the link to the sketch. If you are really up for a challenge they have a pdf file you can download that has their first 100 sketches. They also have a checklist and you can check off when you complete each sketch. Be forewarned that the list has boxes for 160 checkmarks. It's the OWH
 Sketch 
Challenge 
Checklist
 for 
2012. Here's the link to the sketch collection page.

A quick note. If you've been thinking about sending some cards to OWH now would be a great time. I just saw this message from Sandy on the Stars and Stamps blog:

"Through November and December, there was a small drop in cards, which was expected, and totally fine - but usually things start to pick up up more in January when the holidays wear off. Not so this year! I checked just this morning and we're at 9,633 cards as of today...which is a fraction of what normally would be coming in - to compare, last January saw 39,665 cards!"

You can see the whole message here.

More cards for the box to go out on Monday!

I was excited to received my free little Operation Write Home stamp in the mail today. I'll use it to stamp the back of my cards with the OWH logo. Since I don't work tomorrow I plan on making some more cards. Then I'll be heading to the post office on Monday to send off all my cards. Every card sent in helps!

Operation Write Home and Hero Arts

Sketch Challenge 103 for Operation Write Home

OWH Sketch # 103

Here is my entry for Operation Write Home Sketch Challenge # 103. I wanted to make some more cards for Operation Write Home with one of the stamp sets Hero Arts designed for them. I had actually won the stamps during the Veteran's Day blog hop but Hero Arts couldn't send them to me until they were released.  Now that I have them I hope to put them to good use.

When I saw the two stripes on the OWH sketch for this week, I knew I wanted to try the chevron border technique I had seen on Jennifer McGuire's blog a while back. She made a beautiful card with a chevron border running horizontally across the bottom of her card. She also has a video showing how she made it You can check it out here.

I really enjoy working from the sketches at OWH. They are simple and a great way to use your left over scrap paper. The paper you see here is from a KI Memories scrapbook value kit I have had for some time.  To check out the OWH challenge go here.

The Hero Arts Stamp set is CL582 Year Round Sentiments. Not only does it have "I thank my lucky stars for you" it has other great sentiments like "Hello Handsome" and "You're so Special to me" along with some classics such at "Happy Birthday", "I love you", "I miss you", "Thinking of you" and more along with hearts and of course Stars. It is a great set if you are looking for a good year round sentiment set. Guess that's where they got the title from.

In case you didn't know, Hero Arts has been having a blog hop each day this week. Yes, it started on Monday. If you want to see some beautiful card and leave comments for chances to win go here for the first day. Winners will be announced on the Hero Arts blog Monday January 16.