Saturday, January 26, 2013

Jeepers It's the Old Jalopy!

Good Evening,

hope you are having a great weekend!  I'm getting some crafty time in tonight so I'm a happy girl.

This project, a card, has a little background story so bear with me.  Last week my husband helped our niece pick out and purchase her first car.  He found a wonderful car dealer about an hour an a half away but as it turned out the drive was worth it.  She was able to get a used, one owner car in great shape within her budget.  When my husband had initially called this dealer he had a good feeling about him and his instinct was right.  Ok, I'm getting close to the crafty part here.

My husband asked if I could make a thank you card for this dealer.  Oh sure I said.  Hmmmm, I don't really have any car stamps or dies so wonder what I could use.  Well, then my husband said these magic words:  do they make a die that is a car?  Really?  Yes, of course, there is this cool Tim Holtz Sizzix die.  More magic words:  is it something you can get locally?  Really?  This is my husband asking me to go buy craft supplies!  Well, I wasn't about to say no and pass up this opportunity so off to J's I went.  Lo and behold there was an Old Jalopy die, and it was . . . old sale!  Score!

I brought this baby home and just starting playing.  The Old Jalopy die is a blast.  So many possibilities.


After a few trial cuts I got the hang of it and I pulled out the paper, foil sheets, embossing folders, inks, and embossing powder.  I'm happy with how my first car card turned out.



I adhered some scrap pieces of foil tape to some cardstock ran it through my Big Shot with an embossing folder and then die cut the bumpers.  Those got colored with some alcohol ink.


I used a piece of plastic packaging for the windows and you can see if you look real close that there is some "dirt" on the windows I made with alcohol ink.  The dirt road is Distress embossing power.


I finished off the inside with some gears inked up with the metallic Distress stains and a thank you sentiment.



I'm looking forward to playing some more with the Old Jalopy.  Who knew a car die could be so much fun?

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at my latest project.  Hope you take some time to get creative.

Hugs,  Sharon


Supplies used:

  • Dies/Punches/Embossing Folders
    • Tim Holtz Sizzix Old Jalopy and Gadget Gears
    • EK Success Large Punch Real Estate Sign
    • W R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper Stub
    • Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Texture Fades Collage & Notebook Set
  • Inks/Embossing Powder by Ranger/Tim Holtz
    • Distress Inks - Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Vintage Photo
    • Archival Ink-Jet Black
    • Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Carmel
    • Distress Stains - brushed pewter, tarnished brass, antiqued bronze
    • Distress Embossing Powder - Vintage Photo
  • Stamps
    • Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Clear - Lost and Found
    • Hero Arts Clear Say It All










Monday, January 14, 2013

Tim Holtz Inspired Mixed Media Collage

Good Evening!

As promised here is my latest project.  It's a mixed media piece inspired by Tim Holtz.    One of the recent classes he has been teaching is the Patchwork Pandemonium.  You can see an example here of his Patchwork piece.  While I haven't had the opportunity to take a class from Tim when I saw this patchwork I knew that I wanted to try my own version.


 I challenged myself to use only pinks, a brown, and black.  This was so much fun!  I used a 9 x 12 Artists Canvas - a thin one and a mixed media 98 lb paper.  I dry embossed many of the pieces using my Sizzix Big Shot and Sizzix and Cuttlebug embossing folders.  All of the pieces were colored with Distress Inks using Tim's wrinkle free distress technique.


The pieces that were not embossed got some additional stamping staying with the pink/brown/black color scheme.





Some of the pieces were painted with Claudine Hellmuth Studio multi-medium matte and some with Distress crackle paint-clear rock candy.


I adhered the pieces onto the canvas using scor tape.  Extra embellishments were added including some flowers made from a Sizzix Tattered Flower Garland die, some grunge pieces, and an Idea-ology gear, spinner and an a trinket pin.





I added pink twill tape for a hanger and finished off the back with paper from Tim's paper stash-Crowded Attic.



Thank You Mr. Tim Holtz for the inspiration!

I really enjoyed this process and will definitely be making more of these.  The possibilities are endless.  I'm going to take photos as I work on these pieces so I can give you some step by step instructions.  In the meantime here is a list of what I used to create my Tim inspired patchwork:

  • 9 x 12 Artists Canvas from Aaron Brothers
  • Mix Media 9 x 12 98 lb paper from Canson
  • Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Flower Garland die
  • Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Texture Fades
    • Bricked and Woodgrain set
    • Pocket Watches & Steampunk set
    • Texture Trades Playing Games set
  • Sizzix Textured Impressions Damask set
  • Cuttlebug embossing folders
    • Forest Branches
    • Argyle
    • Stylized Flowers
    • Decorative Tile set
  • Distress Inks - Tattered Rose, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Walnut Stain
  • Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz stamps
    • Papillion CMS106
    • Stuff to Say CMS110
    • Slight Alterations CMS060
    • Visual Artistry (from Michaels) The Journey CSS30232
  • Sizzix Charms and Buckles die
  • Idea-ology gear, spinner and trinket pins
  • Grungeboard Elements
  • Doodlebug Doodle Twine in Beetle Black
  • Claudine Hellmuth Studio multi-medium in matte
  • Distress Crackle Paint in Clear Rock Candy
  • Idea-ology paper stash crowded attic


Thanks for stopping by.  I love to get your comments.  Take some time to get creative!

Hugs,  Sharon










Sunday, January 13, 2013

New Year Focus

Happy Sunday all!

Hope the new year is going well for you.  Generally I don't make new years resolutions.  Instead I set goals for myself throughout the year.   While I have always felt creative and done crafty things it has only been in the last year and a half that I have been spending more time crafting.  I want to learn new techniques whether they are new to the industry or just new to me.  My goal is to get as much practice as I can.  My focus this new year is to learn.  Learn as much as I can about techniques and products.  I want to learn from others by spending time at crops and classes.  I want to learn what I'm good at and where I want to improve.  I will focus on learning.  No doubt you will see learning as a recurrent theme in my posts.

I have several projects in the works that I will share with you soon.  I'm also continuing to slowly get my new craft space set up and will share more when things are a little more presentable, ha, ha.

On a side note, have you been keeping an eye on the new product releases and what's been going on at CHA?  All I can say is Wowie!  So much eye candy!  I'm going crazy over Tim Holtz new Sizzix Alterations and his stamps.  Can't wait to get my hands on those.  And don't get my started on the paper lines.  G45, Carta Bella, and Bo Bunny are just a few that I'm already thinking about projects for.  Love this time of year.  It's a new surge of inspiration and creativity.  Some day I will get to CHA to see it first hand!  It just looks like a blast!

Take care and have a great week ahead.  I will be back soon with some pics of the latest creations.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,  Sharon

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Compendium of Curiosities Finale-Tim Holtz Birthday Card

Happy New Year!  Wishing you a joyful, healthy, and creative 2013!

Linda at Studio L3 has ongoing challenges based on Tim Holtz book series, Compendium of Curiosities.  I have been following along but have yet to get Volume 2 so I have not participated in any of the challenges.  Until now.  The big finale is create a birthday card for Tim using any technique from Compendium Volume 1 or 2.

I chose wrinkle free distress as my main technique.  Love to smoosh my distress ink pads onto my craft sheet, spritz with water, lay my tag down and see what I get.  It's one of my go to techniques for backgrounds.  I also did some distress crackle and colored some grunge paper with distress markers.



My card is actually 3 tags connected together creating a tri-fold.  A grunge paper globe colored with distress markers adorns the front and a quote and birthday greeting are on the 2nd and 3rd tag.  Tiny tabs are used as handles to open the tri-fold.



Close ups of the globe.  This was a blast to make.  You can see all the yummy texture from the grunge paper.  Distress markers are perfect for coloring the globe.




Some closer shots of the quote and greeting.  Hard to see in this photos but the happy birthday has clear rock candy distress crackle.  This gives a good view of the wrinkle free distress background.





I finished off the back with some paper from the Crowded Attic paper stash.


Happy Birthday Tim.  Here's to hoping it magical and you get everything you wish for.  Thanks for the inspiration and including your fans in your creative journey.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,  Sharon