Last Tag is Finished

Happy, happy, joy, joy.....the last Tim tag is finished.  I am extremely pleased that I managed to do all 12 this year.

I ended up using a piece of Basic Grey tree chipboard instead of doing the angel with the house.  To keep with the white on blue, I accented the tree with pearls.

I think I need to take a little break from the cards.  It has been quite sometime since I have done a layout and I have some great new photos that are just calling out to be printed and scrapped.

Have a great Friday night.

Tag #11

Tim’s tag #11 is completed.  I love the retro feel of the Santa in this stamp set.  I ended up stamping it numerous times in different colours.  I, then, trimmed and layer it to give the Santa dimension.

The technique using the Utee and the shrink plastic was interesting to try.  I used Spellbinder snowflake dies to cut the shapes.  I did not have clear shrink plastic but since I was cutting snowflakes the white worked well.  I covered the snowflakes with Stickles to give them a bit of sparkle.

Only one tag left to go....

Finishing off the Tags

I decided that I would finish off the last three Tim's Tags.  Last year, I got to number 9 and then life got in the way.  I really wanted to finish them this year so bear with me since the next couple of post will continue on the Christmas theme.

I am still making the tags into cards and I will stock pile them for next Christmas.  Tag #9 used the facets and packing tape transfer to make ornaments.  I really liked this technique and I think the ornaments turned out cute.  I had some old Daisy D paper that had a fabulous vintage feel to it.

The holly leaves are from a Prima tin that has been hanging around in my craft closet for years and the holly berries are pearls from the Dollar Store.

It is crazy cold here today.  It was -31C with the wind chill this morning.  So strange after weeks of mild weather and no snow.

Off to attempt Tag #11.  Have a good Thursday.

New Card Sketch

It is Wednesday so that means it is once again that time over at the LCOM Sketch blog -- time for a new card sketch.  This week’s sketch is one of mine and was designed to make use of all the wonderful shaped label dies.  My large collection have been gathering dust lately so it was nice to dig them out again.

This card uses the new Miss Nelly collection by KaiserCraft.  It is a wonderful line for Valentine cards.  I picked up a 6.5” paper pack this week at The ScrapBox.  It was calling out to be used as soon as I got home.

The main image is a Just Right stamp that was designed to fit the Label 4 dies from Spellbinders.  I love that stamp companies are now designing stamps to fit the dies.

If you want to check out the sketch and play along with the Card Team, just head on over to the Sketch blog.  I would love to see how you interpret the sketch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas!  I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.

Christmas is a quieter holiday for us since most of our family lives elsewhere and we rarely travel far in the winter any more.  Our last trip for Christmas, we ended up being snowed in on the road, a frozen car that we couldn't get the doors open much less get the car started, and finally, the car died on us on the last leg of the trip.  We saw this as a sign.

So today, we are going to spend the day in our PJs, eat lots of sugary sweets, and play with all the new toys that Santa brought.  We will visit with family via Skype and just enjoy being together.

Since it is Christmas day, I can finally share the gift that I made for my mother.  She will have opened it so I will not be spoiling it.  I bought a shadow box frame from Ikea.  I made a number of flowers using McGill flower punches and Tim Holtz's new pine cone die.  The iron work gate is a Prima felt that I have been holding on to for just this purpose.

Materials used:  Ikea shadow box frame, Pink Paislee pattern paper, Bazzill cardstock, McGill punches, Tim Holtz Sizzix pine cone die, KaiserCraft adhesive pearls, and miscellaneous pearls.

I am thinking I need to make one for myself now.

Merry Christmas!

I have been a little negligent

I am afraid that life got in the way of the intention that I had to do a minimum of one blog post a week.  I am hoping that once the general craziness that is Christmas is over I will be able to post more and to get back to the last 3 Tim Holtz Tags that I put on hold. 

I have also been procrastinating on starting my mother's gift.  I know what I want to make but not quite sure how I want to go about it.  The scary thing is that I am suppose to ship all the Christmas gifts up North tomorrow (....and if you are reading this Mom....I might be shipping the box on Friday instead BUT I promise that it will go out no later than Friday).


Enough excuses....today's post is suppose to be about the LCOM Sketch Blog.  There just so happens to be a new sketch up this week done by Rusha.  I decided to take a break from the Christmas cards and focus on birthday cards.  I have a few birthdays that are coming up soon that I am trying to get the cards sent out on time for a change.

Materials used:  Echo Park pattern paper, Bazzill cardstock, Echo Park stickers, Peel-off Stickers, and Distress Ink.

I just realized that I haven't posted last weeks card.  It was based on one of my sketches.  I really liked the October Afternoon Holiday Style paper and sticker sheet -- especially the postage stamp stickers.  They were perfectly suited to last week's sketch.

Well, I am running out of things to say so I will just wish everyone a safe Wednesday night and if you are local, I am hope that the freezing rain hasn't caused any problems for you.

Good Morning

Sleep is over rated.  Once I started on the background of this card, I had to continue until it was completed.  So now Tim's Tag #9 is completed and I am looking forward to completing #10 today.  I can't believe I have managed to keep up so far.  Mind you, my house looks like a bomb was dropped in it but I have a few days to rectify that situation.

 
I did not have the candle die nor did I have any grunge board shapes that could have been suitably altered to fit so I decided that I would make this card look more like an old box or book cover instead.

I like the double embossing technique and I know that I will be using it again and again.

Busy day today.  My daughter has ballet.  I need to stop in at my cousin's for a bit to pick up my Epicure order.  I am almost out of Lemon Chiffon.  I love that stuff.  Plus, I have this bomb debris to deal with....and Tag #10.

Have a good Saturday.

One More Tag Finished

I was hoping to have two done but it looks like it might only be one again.  It is already 2:30 am and I am yawning up a storm.  I am tempted to stay up for the next half hour just to see the next tag.

The one that I finished tonight was Tag #8.  I figured that this one would be fairly easy.  I love Steampunk -- always have in some form or another.   But alas, this card ended up being one of the more difficult ones since I couldn't seem to find half of the stuff I was planning on using.  I still haven't found my film strip ribbon.  I know I have a container.  I know I have about half of it left but I have no clue what drawer, box or bin I ended up stashing it.

Now it is only 15 minutes to the next reveal....maybe I will attempted the background stamping technique of the next tag.

Tag #7

I took a little break yesterday from making cards based on Tim's Tags; so, I am now one tag behind.  I was hoping to get two cards done this evening but that doesn't look like it is going to happen since it is currently 12:30 am.  I think I will get caught up tomorrow night.

I must admit that I wasn't sure about the glassine papers.  Even after watching his video, I did not see myself using them that much.  It is amazing how you change your mind after you play with something for a bit.  I can see lots of potential for them now.

The other thing that I can see myself using a lot is the ghosting stamp technique.  I never even thought to leave the stamp off the mounting block and just fold and roll it across the surface.  Very cool technique.

I think I am going to head to bed very soon so good night, sleep tight....

New Card Sketch

Since it is Wednesday, there is a new card sketch up over at the LCOM Sketch Blog.  This week's sketch was done by Jerusha.  It is a great sketch to use with a large stamped image such as the Wise Men below.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts glitter cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Tombow makers, Ranger gold embossing powder and KaiserCraft bling.

I had a bit of a mishap on Monday night with this card.  I was working on it and another card for Tim's 12 Xmas Tags.  Let's just say, when your alcohol ink seems to be clogged, watch where you are pointing it when you're squeezing it to get it unclogged.   I ended up having to redo this card last night.  My hands and my table are still stained with alcohol ink.

If you want to check out the sketch and how the rest of the Design Team interpreted it, head on over to the Sketch Blog.  You can also play along with us as well.

Have a good Wednesday.

Yay...I Got It Done

Tag #6 is finished.  Yay....and I have another card to add to my stash.  Slight variation on Tim's technique, I used coloured metal from Ten Second Studios as my base and and then painted with white acrylic paint to define the embossing.  It is hard to see but I also sanded the metal to bring up some of the silver.  The poinsettia and the holly leaves are also cut from Ten Second Studio's metal.

 It is now after 2:30 am in the morning.  I have to drop the kiddos off at school for 7:45 am and I need to be at work for shortly after 8 so I am off to bed.

Good night.

A Little Behind....

As I expected, life has gotten in the way this week and Tim's Tags had to be postponed a bit.  Tag #5 is a technique that I have tried before and not too successfully.  I usually end up smudging the image or messing it up in some other way.  So I am a little surprised that I managed to come up with a reasonable background image this time.

Instead of using the reverse stamps, I used snowflakes.  I first tried to use a Santa stamp but you really couldn't tell it was Santa.

I am currently working on Tag #6.  I am hoping to get it finished tonight.  The background is finished and I am just trying to figure out what I want to put on it as the focal point.

Better get back to work.....

Another Tag Done

So far I am 4 for 4.  Not a bad start but it will be interesting to see if I can keep it up over this week.

I like the stamping with distress stains.  It was a technique that I haven't tried.  I have been using them to colour chipboard, inking distressed edges, colouring resist paper but I never thought to use it for stamping since I have the ink pads.  I like the less defined edges it creates.

Time to head to bed.  Monday morning comes fast when you don't want it to.

2 post in 1 day

I don't think 2 posts in 1 day has happened before but I managed to get Tag #3 done of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas.  Shocker.....I know but I have been in a creative mood this weekend.  I am so tempted to work on a layout tonight.  It has been over a month since I have made anything other than cards.

Speaking of cards, here is my interpretation of Tag #3.  I don't have any of matching stamp/embossing folder sets but I still wanted to try my hand at the technique.  So instead of making a stamp pad for a word stamp, I decided that I would follow his second example with the snow flakes. 

I made a stamp pad using random dots of faded jeans, dusty concord and peeled paint Distress ink.  I used Tim's snowflake stamps to create a pattern on white cardstock.  It was then embossed it with a Basic Grey snowflake embossing folder.  The embossing doesn't match up with the stamped images but it gives it an interesting pattern just the same.

I wonder what Tag #4 is going to be like?

Tag #2

Yay...I managed to get Tag #2 completed.  So far so good with my attempts to keep up.  I am only one tag behind in Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of Christmas.  I made my own kraft resist paper using a few of Tim's Christmas stamps and since I did not have his reindeer die, I used a Spellbinder's ornament die instead.

The ornament was a bit plain for my taste so I stamped it with Memento ink and then coloured in the design with a gold marker to match the gold of the ornamental edge along the top.

Now to tackle Tag #3.  I just need to figure out where I have hidden my package of cut n' dry felt.  It will probably take me longer to find it than it would take me to make the card.

Oh, if you are wondering, my daughter and I had wonderful time at the Nutcracker last night.  The production, the costumes and the dancing were fabulous.

Have a good Saturday.

T'is That Time of Year

Time once again for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas.  Last year I attempted to make all 12 tags as panel's for a wall hanging.  I managed to get 9 out of the 12 completed.  The panels are still sitting in my closet waiting to be finished.

This year, I decided that I would make the tags into cards so it doesn't matter how many days I manage to finish; and hopefully, with all the cards that I am making for the LCOM Sketch Blog, I might have enough for my Christmas card list.

My interpretation is fairly faithful although I ended up using Whitewashed Core-dination card stock for my background and some of the die cut elements.  The Noel is cut out of American Crafts glitter cardstock.  It is a nice heavyweight paper with very well adhered glitter.

I must admit I am loving the new pinecone die.  I can see myself using it quite a bit in the future.

Now, I am debating whether I should stay up to see Tag #2 or if I should head to bed.  It is going to be a long day tomorrow.  After work, my daughter and I are going to see the Nutcracker.  This will be her first professional ballet.  She is finally old enough that she should be able to sit through most of the show.  After spending $150 on the tickets, I really hope she enjoys it.

What to do?  What to do?  Who am I kidding?  At this point, I am going to be staying up. ;-)

Back to the Christmas Cards

There is a new sketch up over at the LCOM Sketch blog and this week's card returns to the Christmas theme.  Time is starting to run out and I am still debating on what I am going to make for this year's card.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey pattern paper, Echo Park pattern paper, Distress ink dauber, KaiserCraft bling, Spellbinder Fancy Tag die, Cherry Lynn Holly Flourish die and Marianne's Design Poinsettia dies.

I am addicted to dies and one of the nice things about using die cuts is that you can layer them to make a dramatic card very quickly.  This card only took 15 minutes to put together once I gathered up all the supplies.  It is definitely a candidate for the this years card.

If you want to check out the sketch at the LCOM Sketch Blog, it is one of mine.  It was designed to take advantage of all those dies that everyone has hanging around their craft rooms.  If you make a card or layout from the sketch, I would love to see it.

Have a good Wednesday.  Is anyone else just hanging out waiting for Tim's first tag to be posted?  Following Mario's twitter feed to see those behind the scene photos?

Taking a break from Christmas Cards

I just had to take a break from the Christmas cards this week.  I recently picked up a new Outlines stamp that was just begging to be used.  I love playing with the Outline stamps since they have so much potential for colouring and this particular one fit well with Rusha's sketch this week over at the LCOM Sketch blog.

Speaking of the LCOM Sketch blog, it has had a make over.  The look is clean and fresh.  Just another incentive for you to head on over and check it out.

The stamp that I used on this weeks card is the Woodlands stamp from Outline's new Serendipity line.  It is a fun whimsical series out of which I have already acquired 5 or 6 sets.

Materials used:  Prism Simply Smoth cardstock, Prism cardstock, Core-dinations cardstock, Basic Grey pattern paper, Copic makers, Memento ink, Stickles, KaiserCraft bling.

I coloured in the stamped image with Copic markers.  This is not the best picture but I highlighted some of the flowers, butterfly, leaves and toad stools with Stickles.  I stamped the image a second time to have elements that I could pop up and give dimension to the image.  Because the image is so busy, I decided to forgo the sentiment on the front.  I seem to have a thing against putting the sentiment on the front of cards.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and for everyone, have a good Thursday evening.

T'is that time again

Yes, that's right.  Time for another card sketch over at the LCOM Sketch Blog.  This week's sketch is one by yours truly.  It was designed to have either a large central stamped image or phrase on a square card base.  I decided that I wasn't going to follow this sketch so literally.  I also wanted to play with the many sets of dies that I have but haven't seem to be using lately.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey pattern paper, KaiserCraft bling, miscellaneous ribbon, and distress ink.

The bird, bird cage and leaves are Marianne's Designs dies and the filigree accents and background shapes are Spellbinders.

This is my second mock up for my Christmas cards.  Surprisingly, this card takes less time to put together than the one I came up with last week even though it looks more complicated.

Speaking of Christmas cards, if you are keen to work on your cards this weekend, the forum over at LCOM is having an on-line Christmas card crop.  There will be lots of card sketches to get your mojo flowing, games and even some prizes.  Come on over and join us -- the more the merrier.

Playing with Christmas Card Designs

As we are getting closer to Christmas, I have been thinking more about Christmas cards.  It is one of the few things that I start preparing before December 1.  So I took the opportunity to use Jerusha's card sketch on the LCOM Sketch Blog to see what I could come up with .  Her sketch is a great one for highlighting a stamped image.

Materials used:  Bazzill swiss dot cardstock, Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey pattern paper, Starform peel-offs, Tim Holtz Distress ink, Tombow markers, Basic Grey stickers, Ikea ribbon and miscellaneous brads.

When it comes to Christmas cards, I am usually looking for a design that is fairly easy and quick to mass produce but doesn't look like it was quick and easy.  I will often do two or three mock up before deciding which one I like better.

If you would like to see what the rest of the design team has made and check out the sketch, head on over to the Sketch Blog.  You can even play along with us if you like.  We would love to see your creations.

Have a good Wednesday.

Bright Colours

There is just something about the red and yellow leaves of fall that has gotten my mojo going this past week.  For this week’s LCOM card sketch, I was rocking the reds and yellows with the new Basic Grey Picadilly collection.  I am just loving the small floral prints and the bright vibrant colours of this collection.

There has been a change to the LCOM card team this week.  Instead of having a Team A and B, the teams have been combined and everyone will be making a card every week instead of alternating the teams each week.  What that means for Rusha and I, the two sketch designers, is that we will get the opportunity to create cards for the other one’s sketches.  I am looking forward to trying out my interpretations of Rusha’s designs….but that will have to wait until next week. 

This week’s sketch is one of mine and without further ado….here is my interpretation:

 Materials used:  Prism & Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey Picadilly pattern paper, KaiserCraft wood bird cage, Prima metal embellishment, Tim Holtz metal corners, Maya Road stick pins & kraft tickets, miscellaneous feathers, and Cheryl's crocheted blossoms.

If you want to check out the card sketch or participate along with the design team, please head on over to the LCOM Sketch Blog.  I would love to see what you do with the sketch.

Have a happy Friday.  I am certainly looking forward to the weekend.  Today is payday and I think I need to stop and pick up a scrappy treat on the way home.

A New Card Sketch and Art Journals

I am a little late posting this but there is a new card sketch up over at the LCOM Sketch Blog.  The format is for a square card and is a fairly basic format.  When I first made the sketch, I had quite a few ideas of what I wanted to do with the card.  I was looking to do a bit of layer stamping.

Once I actually got started I was tempted away from the stamping by a lovely package of Pink Paislee Mistable paper.  So out came the Distress ink re-inkers, the Perfect Pearls and my mini-misters.  The paper is quite heavy and held up to lots of spraying, inking and playing.  I am so use to paper warping when using wet media that I was surprised with this paper didn't.  Normally, I would be extremely happy by this fact but not this time.  I was hoping for a more distressed and warped background to fit with the sketch.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Pink Paislee Mistable paper, Prima metal flower, Pink Paislee butterfly, Graphic45 pattern paper, Distress ink and reinkers, Perfect Pearls, Making Memories metal rose and miscellaneous feather.

If you would like to check out the sketch, would like to play along with us or are just looking for some inspiration, please head on over to the LCOM Sketch Blog.

One other thing that I have been playing with the last couple of weeks is the idea of an art journal.  I am not one to be very verbose in my writing style.  I tend to avoid writing even the simplest forms of journalling on my layouts.  I thought if I started an art journal I might encourage myself to do more writing.

So....I have spent some time surfing the web looking for inspiration and instruction and after many hours of reading and surfing, I started my first background:

Naturally, I still have no clue what I want to write....

Tranquility

One of the things I miss living in a city is the tranquility of just sitting by the water enjoying the quiet, watching the clouds drift over the sky, and watching the water shimmering in the sun light.  Growing up in Northern Ontario allowed me to spend many of my summer days just sitting near the water, reading, drawing and just being.

This summer, on a visit home, we took the kids to where I grew up to show them a bit of where I came from.  We stopped in at my old elementary school.  We went to the swimming hole.  We even went and just sat by one of the lakes and enjoyed the view. All during this time I was promising myself that one of these days, I will live by a lake again.

Materials used:  Bazzill embossed cardstock, vellum, Liquid pearls, Prima flowers, Maya Road stick pins, miscellaneous feathers, American Craft Thickers, and KaiserCraft bling.

This is the last of the completed layouts from my retreat and it was done to express how I feel near water.  The challenge was to do a completely white layout (excluding the photo).  I really like how this photo just pops out from all the white.  The vellum was embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then coated with liquid pearls to give it a sheen.

Have a tranquil Saturday.

Just a quick post

I though I would just do up a quick post and show you the card that I completed at the retreat.  This was based on a PageMaps LO sketch from April 2010.

 
Converting a LO sketch to a card is always a challenge for me since the working space is so much smaller on a card.  I find that I always have to strip away many of the components that I love in a LO to make sure the card is not overwhelmed.

In this case, I kept the three photo panels and I used a large image stamp which I coloured with Copic makers.  Instead of doing the the bracket journalling tag and scalloped boarder, I converted it into a banner instead.  I also changed the proportions of the top and bottom sections to better suit the image I was using.

I find that I rarely do literal interpretations of sketches (well unless, I am making a card from my own sketch).  I like to use them as a starting point to get my mojo flowing and then just do what feels right from that point.

Speaking of my sketches, I just finished up the sketches for the LCOM Sketch Blog for November.  I am excited to see what the Card Team is going to do with this batch.

Have a good Thursday night.