Paris, New York, London

I'm back! There has been a massive gap in my crafting and blogging recently because I have done some damage to the nerves and tendons in my wrists and hands making pretty much everything difficult so I have spent some quality time with the TV for the last couple months but things are looking up so I am hoping to get some more craft projects done! I have heaps in my head... now I just need to actually do them!

I made this tag way back when Tim Holtz first released these new stamps but typing is quite hard with my hands so I have been a bit slack posting it. I used the Haberdashery and Urban Tapestry for the background stamp which can also be found in the Shabby French set.

The main picture is stamped in Aged Mahogany ink with Walnut Stain dabbed over the edges before I stamped it. I then covered it in Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. There is also some hand stitching and muslin that I dyed with some Antique Linen reinker and finally, the Paris stamp from the Papillon set that I embossed in Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder so it looks aged!

Believe

I made this tag a few weeks ago but I have only just gotten around to posting it! I used a 2008 12 Tags of Christmas as inspiration but then messed around with the background a bit more. It is pretty basic and uses stamps from Mini Holidays, Rockstar and Mini Ornates.

Discover Yourself

Look what I found! A tag that I haven't shown anyone on my blog. A long time ago I had my very first attempt at a Tim Holtz tag turned out to be pretty plain so I tried harder with my second attempt using Tim's Perfect Distress video for help because I had no ideas myself. I came up with this and it is so grungy that I quite like it.

The background is a few layers of Distress Ink where you rub the tag through ink that has been spritzed with water on the non-stick craft sheet. I love the blotchy look.

The bird is from Urban Tapestry and I stamped him in black ink and then put Glossy Accents all over the black bits so he stood out against the background a bit better.
I stamped the red branches then brushed Perfect Pearls all over them then sprayed it with water just like Tim did to make the red ink bleed out from underneath.

The bold words on the Discover stamp (raised on mounting foam) are accentuated with Glossy Accents and then I finished it off with some Rock Candy Crackle Paint at the bottom and top with Walnut Distress Ink rubbed in the cracks.

The Journey

It has been a long time between posts, hey! Well, I had a nice break and caught up on things so I had a bit of an experiment today with my Tim Holtz stuff. I am a collector and I tend to think I should save things for a special project but I decided today that I am just going to use the stuff!

I will admit, gee it was fun just making a mess! I scrunched and ripped and just made things look tatty and it was great! I cut a piece of paper from Tim's paperstack without even thinking it though and.... I used scissors! The line is not even straight and I didn't even neaten it up... I just stuck it down just as I cut it... after some distressing of course! That is a big thing for me because I always think things over for at least a half hour before committing to cutting a piece of paper... and I ALWAYS use a guillotine so it is straight. I am way too particular and I can't be random with things that don't match properly. Ahhh.... it's great. I feel like I have been on a journey too!

Do you want to know what goodies I used? I used a piece from Lost & Found Paperstack, Mini Muse Stamp Set, a tag, Distress Ink, some Making Memories Postage Stamps, Long Fasteners and Washers (in random metal colours that don't match! Yay... but... eek!). I squished those with the Texture Hammer and I stapled ribbon on with the Tiny Attacher and put a Mini Pin in the top too.

Snow

This is another tag I made before Christmas. It is another Tim Holtz case from his 12 Tags of Christmas 2008 . I didn't have the Grungeboard Christmas shapes that Tim used so I drew a snowman on Grungeboard and cut it out with scissors. The white on the snowman looks great in real life... it is Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint and gives a really great effect once it dries... I really have to find more uses for it!

The little scarf on Snowy is another of Tim's ideas but it is from the 12 Tags of Christmas 2009. It is two strips of ribbon with double sided tape and some wire in the middle. That gives it the strength to sit in any shape you like! Genius hey!

The tag itself it sponged with an Ink Blending Tool in Dusty Concord, Broken China and Faded Jeans Distress Ink and then I dripped some water over it to create splotches. The 'SNOW' letters are inked chipboard and then covered in Glossy Accents to make them stand out. Then at the bottom there is some Polar White Flower Soft for snow!

PHEW! Well, that's the lot!

Believe

If I didn't go on holiday just before Christmas I might have actually remembered to post the pictures of the things I made in the last week. I dedicated a whole day on the last weekend I was home to make Tim Holtz tags. I went through his website and found some that I thought I would be able to make (gee it's hard to work out where to start when it's a whole new look... I just fall back on casing). I made the background of this tag using a pearlised spray of Vintage Photo ink and Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls in a mini mister. I used a mask to keep spray off some of the areas then I went over with Fired Brick and a Ink Blending Tool to add some red to the edges of the tag and the masked area.

The reindeer is stamped in Embossing Ink and embossed with black embossing powder on Grungeboard. If you haven't seen the Ranger Embossing Ink, it is extremely wet and stays that way for ages giving you heaps of time to put on your powders... I love it! I then cut him out and painted some Green Patina Perfect Pearls over top. 'Believe' is stamped in black ink and then emphasized with a bit of Glossy Accents on top.

MAN I had a great time making this tag and I am SO happy with how it turned out! Here is a link to Tim's Tag that I CASEd. Sadly we are just on mobile internet so I can't get you any closer that page of Tim's blog but waiting for the whole page to load will chew up the downloads!

Wrap It Up

Happy Sunday! I'm not overly impressed with today. I had a week off work last week and I enjoyed it so much that I don't want to go back to work tomorrow. I have sulked most of the day about it! Well, its High Hopes Challenge time and Inge would like us to Wrap It Up! That means andthing that isn't a card. I chose to do a tag today and I used Brayden's Backside and 'No ifs, ands or... well you know...' Brayden is mounted on foam tape so he sits up higher than the tag.

If you want to play along with Inge's challenge, make sure you pop by the HH blog and leave a link to your project. That way you will go into the draw to win some rubber from Tina!

My first tag!

This is my very first Tim Holtz inspired tag! I have been wanting to try some new techniques for ages and I finally did it. Don't worry, I haven't thrown away High Hopes... I'm just trying a few new things for a change!

So... this tag is rather plain when compared to Tim's work but it was still really quite a challenge! I worked on it for hours... just getting the rough inky background was hard but the truth is... it was FUN! Distress ink ROCKS! I love doing the background with the ink and water... just so happens I'm not that good at it. Everything takes practice though! The reason I find it hard is because I like everything to look perfect. I can't see a bit of paper with not enough ink and just leave it like it is... I have to fix it... that's when I usually wreck it!

I tried my best to do this all like Tim does but with some substitutions. I did the Distress Ink background (here's a link to Tim's video), used my new Ink Blending Tool to sponge on some colour around the place (that tool ROCKS too!). I used my Darkroom Door Christmas set from last year for the reindeer. Then stamped a few stars in VersaMark and put Perfect Pearls on them to make a pretty shimmer and rubbed a little bit of gold metallic rub-ons on the reindeer! It's funny how I just summed a few hours work up into just a few sentences... if it was that quick and easy in real life it would get boring.