Scribbly Dibbly Do....

The theme of the CCC this week, well, for the past two weeks is Scribble Stain Distress.  Check out the deets HERE.
I decided I needed a few general cards, so that's what I went with. It's hard to see the tech on my finished cards, so I'll show you the "uncompleted" photo, which, amazingly enough, I remembered to take prior to completing.  Yep.  It's a fact.

I used the same stamps, just different inks, and on the two on the right, embossing powder on the stamped image.  The script stamp in the background is the trusty Stampin' Up French Script.  And I'm sure a lot of you recognize the dandelion stamp from Hero Arts.  The one on the left is just stamped with Black Archival.  I used Lettuce embossing powder on the middle one, and a mix of Queen's Gold and Copper on the right, hard to see because of the shiny ep.
And here's the completed cards, and as always, somewhat simple as I hate to give the postal service more money than necessary. lol.

I used Spellbinder's to cut the mat for the sentiment, which is a Tim stamp.
Overall, I like this technique, but after a few attempts, I discovered the trick is to not overdo, and what you put on your craft sheet is usually good for one swipe, after that it gets a little muddy.

I'm sitting here trying to think of something funny and clever, but I just can't seem to conjure anything up.  I feel a creative funk coming on, I was hard pressed to think of something for the CCC.  Must be holiday burn out...lol...
Have a good one!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

..to all my wonderful blog friends, a very Merry Christmas to you and your family from Lori, Dewbird and Rocky!
(and it seems this is not embedding properly, but you'll get the general idea...lol)

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Silver, Gold, Music and Tag Withdrawal....

Well, I started making a tag for Tag Tuesday, of which the theme is silver and/or gold, then I spied a tag that had Tim's Christmas Carol stamp stamped on it (yep, cruise item), which fits with Hels music theme, and Jennie is doing a Tag Withdrawal challenge, so.....I decided this tag would cover lots of territory this week.  I know, I know, I'm breaking one of my own rules, i.e. not entering the same piece for different challenges, but....ok, I was going to use the "it's three days before Christmas and I just don't have time" excuse, but everyone's using that right now...rofl.... I like to be different from the usual crowd. So really, I don't have an excuse, I guess, other than that everything just fit together. Enough about that.

I had stamped the lower 3/4 of the tag with the Christmas Carol stamp (yea, I was standing there, inked stamp ready, debating, should I stamp the upper or lower part of the tag? Oh, for crying out loud, just stamp it already!) so I decided to run the unstamped portion thru the snowflake texture fade, then lightly ran a silver paint dabber over the raised areas, so that acted as a resist for the inking.  The tree also has silver paint dabber on it.  The reindeer has a smidge of gold paint dabber round the edges, also acting as a resist.  I used Wendy's fly poop stamp with silver pigment ink to stamp over the whole tag, love that look.  Then some Sizzix snowflakes covered with silver and a little dab of Glitz stickles in the center.  A scrap from a piece cut from the on the edge die, covered with gold paint dabber, on the bottom of the tag with a strip of silver ribbon.  I used Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky, Broken China inks for the tag, and Brushed Corduroy, Walnut Stain for the reindeer.  I really do love the reindeer die. I think the shape of each of them is just superb, and not "cute" or funky looking.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season, make it a special one, I'll probably be "seeing" you before then...
Go Be Creative!

Simon Says Stamp and Show...

Something from yesteryear!  To find out the details, and see the wonderful entries by the other design team members, check out the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog.
Most of the time, these challenges are up to individual interpretation.  When I hear yesteryear, I of course think of something that looks vintage, antiqued, reminiscent of days gone by, etc.  I can always count on Graphic 45 paper to fill that bill, so that's the main focus of my project this week.  I used paper from Renaissance Fair to turn a plain paper mache round box into a vintage gift box. And it's no coincidence that the colors are red and green....lol...

 
Top view:

Some of the details:
A lot of it was cutting and gluing paper, which I think most of us know how to do! lol!  I fussy cut the design on the side, glued it, then shaded round it with a shader brush and Espresso paint.  I also used the Espresso to shade the box in various areas, mostly around the edges.

The inner circle on the top has a border of Maya Road pleated ribbon in between the paper and a thin chipboard circle. (Note the link goes to a cream color, but you could color it with colorwash or a reinker!)  A Curio knob adorns the inner most circle.(Yes, you can color these with alcohol inks!)

The gold edging around the lid, if you haven't noticed already, was a piece of thin chipboard cut with the Ornate On the Edge die, and pounced with the Gold paint dabber to get that textured feel.  I rubbed a little of the Espresso dabber paint over it with my finger to give it a more aged appearance.  And, I was quite happy to find I could cut a continuous strip of paper using the On the Edge dies.  Yes, it can be done. Very carefully.  It was actually thin chipboard like I mentioned before.  I cut the chip into 1" strips first, so they were all uniform. Ran it thru the machine, then took the chip off the die and matched the design as best  I could on the edge of the previous cut, similar to using one of those border paper punches. Then, ran it thru again. And again.  I was surprised I could get it to work so well.  I also lined up the edge of the chip with the edge of the foam on the die, which helped to keep it uniform.
Here's a list of the other design team members blogs, be sure to check out their wonderful creations!

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Terry

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

Don't forget, you need to create a NEW piece, and post it using the link tool to the Challenge blog, to be entered in the random draw for a fabulous prize!
Go Be Creative!

Your Vision Will Become Clear......

...once you have rubbed your eyes...
oh, that's not right...
A recent swap on the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! group was an altered tin swap.  Since the person I was supposed to mail to has received it (which happened to be Nancy), I can now share...

All the stamps are Wendy's, of course.  I used manila cardstock for the face, but grungeboard for the leaves and the bird is grungepaper.  I used Stream dye ink for the bird and the eye, and Cranberry dye ink for the lips.  The leaves are Peeled Paint distress ink.  Here's the inside:

Had to lighten the shadows on this shot, made it a little washed out, but you can see the face better, which is nestled in a flower made from Clearly for Art, the new moldable plastic that Wendy designed.  And, I thought since I was using a ticket that said "Princess", she needed a little crown (Maya Road, covered with gold paint dabber, some Platinum stickles and Dew Drops. Here's a side view, I used tissue tape round the edge:

Since I was on a tin roll, I decided to make another, this time using G45 paper, Le Romantique.

 

And there you have it!  Last swap under the belt before Christmas! lol!  I love making the altered tins, there are so many possibilities, and they're small, so they really don't take a lot of materials!
Thanks for stopping by, Go Be Creative!

Joy and Hope!

Ah, yes, the last two tags from Day 12!  And...I was a winning comment from the last day on Tim's blog!  As Tim says, How cool is that? lol  I recognized a lot of names from that last day, and quite a few from previous days! What a generous guy! Well, ok, I should say company, as Tim has a wonderful team working with him to make it all happen.  And should any of them happen to wander across this post, which has about the same chance as a snowball's chance in you know where, thank you Tim and Co.!
Ok, enough sniveling, and on to the tags...
My Tim version is pretty much a take on his, except I used Cranberry colorwash on the ornament.  I also chose to use a Sizzix holly die behind the calendar instead of a pine sprig.

And the Wendy version:

I used Wendy's gingham background stamp in Cranberry Adirondack dye ink, over the tag, which was cut using the new and fabulous tag die and the backside of a piece of paper from the Seasonal Paper stack. Inked the edges with Walnut Stain.  Stamped Wendy's flourishy stamp with clear embossing ink, then used the Verdigris E.P. by Ranger. Love that.  I used Gold paint dabber on a piece of scrap behind the word "hope", and covered it with Tarnished Brass distress stickles.  Again, used the holly out of grungeboard, and used the "berries" at the bottom along with a piece of gold German scrap.
I'm finding myself with all kinds of time now that the tags are done, rofl, guess that means back to Christmas prep, i.e. making cookies, wrapping presents, oh, wait, I need to buy those first...
ok, better put shopping on the list....lol....have a good one, and....wait for it....
Go Be Creative!

Simon Says Stamp and Show...A Tim Technique!

This week's theme at Simon Says Stamp and Show is...a Tim technique!

The technique I chose to concentrate on can be found in Tim's book..A Compendium of Curiosities..it's the Rusted Enamel technique. Actually, I didn't follow it exactly, but the premise is there.

I chose a 4” x 4” canvas, and used three different embossing powders, all by Ranger: copper, gold and verdigris. I then rubbed Espresso paint dabber around the edges. Here's a picture of the canvas prior to embellishing:

And here's the finished version:

I die cut the Carved Ornament with the “Love” Mover and Shaper from grungeboard, painted with Red Pepper paint dabber, sanded and distressed with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  There's also a layer of Rock Candy Distress Stickles on there!  I used a Gold paint dabber on the ornament top. I adhered the Seasonal Salvage stickers to grungeboard and grungepaper, sanded and distressed the edges. The holly leaves are grungeboard cut with a Sizzix die, then inked with Peeled Paint and Forest Moss Distress Ink.

I added some gold ribbon and berry sprays, and a metal pin that I had found on a garage sale (which was also treated to a coat of gold paint dabber) to complete it.

You can check out the awesome design team projects on their blogs:

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Terry

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

And don't forget, the prize had increased to $50 for December, so be sure to enter your project for a chance at the drawing for this fantastic prize!

Days 10 and 11...One More to Go!

Yepper doodle, only one more tag left!  I can't believe how the last 12 days have flown past.

Here's Day 10, and while you may think I have all of Tim's dies, I don't.  While on the cruise this year, he was generous enough to let us use some dies as well as the coveted Vagabond, so, in anticipation of the 12 tags, I cut a bunch of the Christmas dies while on the cruise.  And yes, this is an exact copy of Tim's. Well, almost. I'm sure his ended up with more embellishments, but I am hoarding mine for some reason, so...oh, and the breathe token was appropriate for this time of year, I thought.  lol.

And here's the Wendified version:

 I used the Cuttlebug folder that is grass and the bird, which I inked with alcohol ink so it would stand out a little more.  I used the leftover grungepaper/sticky back canvas combo from the poinsettia tag to cut out Wendy's flower, which I had stamped on the back (the grungepaper part).

And unbelievably, here's Day 11:

My memory failed me again, seems like there should be something more on this, I'll have to go back and look at Tim's.  Instead of using old text paper, I went with sheet music.  I didn't have the snowflake on the edge die either, so I just stamped with some of his snowflake stamps and clear embossed.

The Wendified version:

For the bookplate, I used Tim's tag/bookplate die, covered with gold paint dabber, and rubbed with Espresso paint dabber.  The red petals, once again, are leftovers from the Wendy version of the poinsettia tag.  The "create" sticker is from 7 Gypsies.

Beautimous, I'm all caught up for the moment, and one to go. Can't wait to see the last one!  It's been a great journey, I've really enjoyed seeing everyone's version, there are some great artists out there!   I have an idea of how I'm going to display the tags, and will post that if it actually happens, lol.
Go Be Creative!

Triple Play...

Well, I had Day 7 done, but just didn't get around to posting until now, which means I will be able to throw in Days 8 and 9.

Day 7's tag gave me fits. I was getting very frustrated by the time this was done, and so, I left off the embellishments because quite frankly, I had just had it, and a few choice expletives were flying... lol....

Once I had colorwashed the sticky back canvas, (which I only had in white, and I had to use Cranberry, Terra Cotta and Raisin colorwashes as those were the ones I had), the sticky wasn't so sticky and didn't adhere to the grungepaper very well at all. Out comes the multi medium. So, had to wait for that to dry.

Once I had the flowers cut to specifications, pinching the ends just didn't hold the shape well enough, so I ended up stapling them together with the tiny attacher. Had a heck of a time with the little petals, I didn't staple those, but I was having trouble adhering to the tag, so out comes the hot glue gun, which I should have used in the first place. You all know how messy those things are. Then I finally remembered Tim's tip about waving a heat gun over the glue strings, and yes, it does work, they do disappear, although the flower started to smoke a bit. lol...

On to the Wendy version. It looks the same, except I used one of her flower stamps, stamped on the grungepaper part, then cut out three layers. Used Maya Road chipboard letters in place of grungeboard.

Day 8 – the extreme masking technique

Well, I'm not real fond of this technique, but I tried it, and I was pretty happy with my results. I don't have the seasonal masks, so I made my own from the mask sheets and reindeer die. Yes, I know, a pretty intricate die for this. I was determined to make it work, though. It was fairly time consuming, and I must have been out of my mind at the end, because I was laughing hysterically and turned the tag into one of my sarcastic humor tags:

Pretty funny, eh? Notice he's an overachiever because according to the little salvage sticker calendar, it's only December 23rd. He he . I'm still laughing, although maybe it's the fumes from the mask sheets...lol...(no, they don't emit fumes, I'm just trying to be funny, work with me, people)

The snowflakes were embossed with white and Ranger's Blue Glass embossing powder, which I really like.

On to the Wendy version:

I really like my Wendy version, and here's what I did:

Cut a die cut from the mask sheets using the tag die

Stamp with Staz On using Wendy's three butterfly stamps on the tag piece

Cut out the butterflies using my cutter bee scissors

Then used the negative space and the masks accordingly on a manila tag. It was nice because the mask was the same exact size as the tag, so total coverage on the negative mask.

I was going to stamp over the butterflies with a music stamp, then, I actually thought about it a minute, and I'm like, duh, why don't you just use the actual butterfly stamp? Genius. It was a little difficult to line up the stamp with the parts that had already been inked, but it doesn't look bad. No embellishments on this one, I thought the stamping was enough.

Day 9 – Rosette

I REALLY liked this tag, and decided copying would be the choice of the day. So, pretty much the same as Tim's.

And, I didn't change much for Wendy's, although I used her scroll stamps, and Maya Road chipboard letters in place of the grungeboard again. That's gold paint dabber swiped on the letters to make them look a little shabby.

Can you believe only three days left?

Nope, I can't either. It's been fun trying all these techniques! Can't wait till the next one!

Go Be Creative!

CCC #24!

I was going to rhyme the first thing that popped in my head, which was..CCC #24 and I'm no w***e, but I didn't feel that was appropriate for the title...lol...yeah, so just put it in the body of the post..that's it...

We now interrupt the regularly scheduled 12 Tags of Christmas for this important post...lol..

On to number 24, out of I think 35 challenges, wasn't it?  Wow, the end is drawing near.  The theme this week is Rock Candy Distress Stickles.  I followed Linda's lead and used some paper from the Seasonal Paper stack collaged together, along with a few of the seasonal salvage stickers, and a whole lot of the "challenge theme" to make an easel card:

Here's an angle that hopefully shows the stickles better:

Yep, one of the infamous tissue tape pleated borders around the "25".  I also added some Platinum stickles around the border of the collaged pieces, and some Frosted Lace stickles on the "Joy" to mimic snow.

I did another one, this time I used Collage Pauge Sparkle to adhere the paper, and put a good coat on top, it's very...glittery. lol.  I used my finger to spread it around, and, needless to say, glue with glitter on fingers equals glitter on just about everything touched after that.  Yeah, I could have used a brush, but what's the fun in that?

Be sure to check out the link to Linda's blog above, to see all the other great entries! 
Go Be Creative!

I Don't Have the Tall Pines Texture Fade..oh no!

What is a girl to do?  Improvise, that's what.  That and remember how I said I just look at Tim's, then go out to the studio and do it from memory? Well, my memory fails me sometimes.  So, it's a tad bit different than Tim's, but the idea is there.
Ok, first of all, embossing and stamping all in one shot? Genius. Why can I never think of these million dollar ideas? Would it help if I drank Starbuck's?  (Actually, I can't stand that stuff, just regular coffee with milk for me, please. I know, this is not the American way, never said I wasn't a rebel)  Ok, in place of the pines texture fade, I used a couple of old Sizzix dies, then ran them thru some texture fades, and used the Rays texture fade for my stamping/embossed background, which I think came out pretty cool.  Here we go:

I thought I could get by not getting the branch tree die, but I do have the reindeer die, so....need the antlers.  hee hee  I knew as soon as I saw Tim's that he had used branches from that for the antlers, without even reading further. In looking at this now, I probably shouldn't have embossed the trees, looks a little busy with the embossed background, but, oh well.  Oh, and I don't have the Aqua paint dabber, so I used my favorite, Pool.  Alrighty, on to the Wendy version...

I used her Houndstooth background on Tim's Pumpkin Patch fade.  Came out pretty good, I thought.  Then, added all the rest of the stamping and little spidey makes his token appearance. :)  I put some tissue tape on an old manila folder, cut it out to look like a banner, and that's what's under the sentiment. Simples, but I like it.  And technically, it's still fall.  Although as I glance out the window at all the snow on the ground, you wouldn't know it. lol.
Ready for Day 7, oh no, over half done almost! Hope you all get a chance to make some tags! Go Be Creative!

More Configgy Pudding and Day 4 and 5 Tags!

As promised, here is my friend Debby's Configuration!  I love how she used the nutcracker in the spot on the right.  And the little toy truck.

 Isn't it awesome?  I just love how it turned out!

Now on to the 12 Tags of Christmas...Here's my version of Tim's Day 4, pretty much a replica with the exception of the bling, which I just put on free hand.  And my baubles are actually just some beads I had that I put caps and head pins on.

And here's my Wendy version, I used paper from Tim's Lost and Found stack, and a Maya Road velvet flower, the stamps, including the one on the facet, is Wendy's.

And here is Tim's Day 5, pretty much the same, but I didn't have the metal numbers, so I cut my own from a soda can using a Sizzix die, then embossed with the white UTEE.

And here is my Wendy version, I used the white paint over the flower, as you can see, and used Bronze UTEE over a die cut flower.

I'm working on Day 6 as we speak, so stay tuned!

ConFiggy Pudding....

Glad you could join us at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week!  The theme is...holiday greeting!
I decided to try my hand at one of the new Configurations, that my friend Debby, had so generously given me.  I'll feature her Configuration in another post!  She was also kind enough to share some holiday miniatures she had purchased, and I was able to scrounge up some of my own to add to it, along with some other goodies that my blog buddy Jana had sent me when I had won some blog candy from her.
I used paper from the Seasonal Paper Pack, some Seasonal Salvage Stickers, Tidings Tissue Tape, stamps from the Winter Sketchbook stamp set and Aged Mahogany Distress Embossing Powder to stamp the sentiment.

I took the picture without the "lid", as it photos better.

I added a wine cork, as we always crack a bottle open on Christmas!

The snow is my infamous mix of white acrylic paint and Snowtex by Delta? that I've had for YEARS.  The pine cones have some wonderful Gala Glitz glitter from Art Institute, trust me, they're really sparkly in real life. As are the snowflakes, which you can't see in the picture.  All of the boxes have paper from the Seasonal stack on the back and bottoms. The edges are covered with tissue tape, and then I applied some brown metallic paint with my finger around the edges.  Here's the top:

I cut little blocks of wood, painted, sanded and edged with brown acrylic paint, then wrapped them with ribbon. I thought they came out pretty cute!
Please visit the other design team blogs and check out their awesome creations!

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Terry

Linda E - the DIRECTOR
Be sure to make your own Holiday Greeting and enter for a chance to win an awesome prize!

12 Tags of Christmas, Day 2 AND 3!

Yep, we're in the thick of it now! lol!

I have to say, when I have all the supplies, it's so much easier just to copy Tim.  Especially since I've put the extra pressure on doing a Wendy style tag for each day.  lol.  That being said, Days 2 and 3 are pretty much a replica of Tim's tags. 

Here we go with Day 2:

And yes, I did make a custom ink pad, largely because I absolutely LOVE this pine cone stamp.

Ok, perhaps it's not an exact replica, as I realized afterwards I had the hole in the tag at the wrong end, and I didn't have the sentiment Tim used, so I substituted Merry Christmas, which actually came out too light.  In my defense, here's how I do the tags...look at it on Tim's blog, get a picture in my head, then go out to the studio and make it.  I never take the time to print pictures (too cheap to use expensive ink) or write things down (lazy, and usually no paper or pen handy), so I go with what's left in my memory, and take it from there. Scary, huh?
Here's the Wendy version:

The flower is stamped and embossed with clear ep, just like Tim did on his tag.  All of the stamps are Wendy's.  Pretty simple, but I do love that particular flower stamp, and I thought it looked kind of like a poinsettia.  Ok, on to Day 3...

Didn't have any moss to put under birdie's feet, so I just used a holiday floral pick thingy with berries.
Wendy version:

I decided to keep the branch stamp for the bird to sit on, lol.  The bird is Wendy's, stamped on chip, and I colored it with Cranberry colorwash, to get the intense color.
And, I always use leftover fabric strips for the "tag ribbon".  I like the look of the frayed edges on fabric, not to mention I have a LOT of it.  But I'm pretty sure I have mentioned that before...lol..  

Ok, anxiously awaiting the release of the 4th!  When I saw the video introduction to the tags, which was pretty awesome, I commented on Tim's blog, "hey, does that come in Blu Ray?"  Not that I know what Blu Ray is, other than another way for retail stores to take our money....but I thought I was being funny.  Whatever.  I'd really like to be a fly on the wall when Tim reads those comments...can you imagine reading over 2,000 comments? Yikes!  I think I may be digressing, so I'll just end with my usual..
Go Be Creative!

Rocky Says Merry Christmas!

I'm sure you know that the much anticipated 12 Tags of Christmas hosted by THE Mr. Holtz began December 1, unless you've had your head in the sand for the past week, lol.

Having none of the dies required, I had to substitute.  The branch tree die cuts were actually some my friend, Linda, had given me.  I had a Maya Road chipboard house, so I went with that.

My sense of humor got the best of me on this one....

As far as the house goes, I ran the chip thru the notebook texture fade, then slathered picket fence crackle paint on it, and inked over that with black soot.  The roof is made from paper from the lost and found stack, the solid side, ran thru the scallops on the edge die, and I curled the edges up with my fingers.  Liquid Pearls was used for the snow.  The fence is a Sizzix die, it's just not Tim's (egads, Shaggy!).  And in his usual manner, Rocky is sticking his head thru it....lol.  Other than that, I used the techniques that Tim did on this one. And I have to pass along a lightbulb idea, I have three of Tim's stamp sets that have snowflakes, in varying sizes, so I just put them together on an acrylic block to make a whole background stamp.

And over at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! group, some of us are using the same techniques and making a Wendy tag for each day, too.  Here's my "Wendy" version:

Tim's snowflake stamps were used for the background and the Merry Christmas ticket, but otherwise the rest of the stamps are Wendy's.  I embossed the Berry Tree stamp in white and silver, and added berries with red pepper dimensional pearls.  The wee houses are Maya Road mini chipboard. And I embossed Wendy's scallop stamp with white embossing powder and attached it to the bottom of the tag.
Well, then, on to day three of the 12 tags of Christmas already, eh? (Well, ok, in a few hours)
I sincerely hope I'm able to keep up! It sure will be a fun journey, though, I'm just sayin'.....