Steampunk Debutant Print Tray

 

This is a Tim Holtz Print Tray that I made using Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutant paper. It turned out so grungy and just how I wanted it. I have considered whipping up another one but using a smaller configuration.

The inspiration for this came heavily from the Graphic 45 Blog. I had been holding on to this paper stack and print tray for the better part of years waiting for the right idea.

The last couple pictures below explain how I did the grungy black and green edges on the print tray before I started decorating it.

I filled each compartment with all manner of stuff. I used quite a few Vintage Findings like the wing key on the right, vials and oval frame in the center. I also used Tim Holtz Numerals, Game Pieces, Keyholes, Word Sticks, Sprocket Gears, Plaquettes (coloured with Alcohol Ink), Time Pieces, Game Spinners, Memo Pins, Foliage and made a few ribbon spools from left over chipboard. The chipboard gears are from Make It Crafty.

Don't count anything out when you are putting together a project of junk. With a bit of paint you can colour it to match your project and having odd things in it just makes it more interesting. I used a spring that my friend found on the ground, a large key I found in the homewares section of Overflow, a blown light bulb from my friends Hilux and a 1918 penny that my dad gave me. I gave it the patina look by rubbing a bit of the same green paint on it then wiped it off. The high heel in the bottom center was a keyring from the Post Office that I painted black and then rubbed green paint over the lace pattern.

Where I have used tags and elements cut from the paper stack, I have glued it to thick chipboard and mounted it on foam tape so they sit up inside the compartment rather than to the back wall.

Some of the compartments have been turned around so they are no longer holes which I thought was an excellent idea from the G45 blog. I covered the edges of all boxes with a layer of Tissue Tape so that the gaps were hidden then covered the whole thing with a lot of molding paste with my fingers to create texture.

I then painted it with black and green/teal paint and sanded it back roughly to expose some of the paste. Then I sponged on some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to colour the exposed bits brown.

How to make custom colour Metallic Distress Crackle

Here is a quick video on how you can make any colour metallic Distress Crackle Paint you like. All you need is Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Brushed Pewter, your choice of Alcohol Inks and an Alcohol Ink Applicator. It will be great for ornaments and Christmas decorations for one.

Watch the video on you-tube - http://youtu.be/JpNqzEHM15M

Supplies:
Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint - Brushed Pewter
Adirondack Alcohol Ink
Alcohol Ink Applicator
Chipboard Shape,
Cardstock or Tag
Non-Stick Craft Sheet (optional)

Life

I made this little journal (for lack of a better word) using my Bind-It-All and it was my grungy project that marked the re-entry into crafting after my hands decided they didn't want to work properly a number of months back. I didn't do any craft for a few months and it has just taken a few months in addition to get some photos! I made it as grungy and messy as I could because that was easier on the hands than attempting precise and deliberate.

I got the idea for the flowers from Donna Salazar's tutorial on puffy flowers. The cover is made from Corrugated Board and Steampunk Debutant pattern paper. The blue paint is gorgeous, shimmery Jacquard Lumiere paint and I put some Snow Cap paint over the top to make it a little bit more blotchy. The little leaves poking out under the flowers are Leaf and Swirls Doohickey Die from Magnolia.

The stamp inside is Tim Holtz Urban Tapestry and I was selective where I put the different colour Distress Inks to make the bold words stand out more. I then put some Glossy Accents over them for some dimension. Each page is stamped top and bottom with various stamps from Tim Holtz sets.
The stamp on the back inside cover is from Stuff to Say with 'Possibility' and 'Imagine' accented with Glossy Accents.

Possibility to Imagine...

I whipped this up today using the new Tim Holtz District Market Burlap Panel - Memoirs. They are a great starting point and are way more interesting to look at than plain canvas.

I used Tim Holtz Corners, some TH Lost & Found paper mounted on some chipboard, 7 Gypsies Tissue Paper, Filmstrip ribbon, Stamps - Curiosities and Stuff to Say, die cut flourish Grungeboard that has been sprayed with Distress Reinker and Perfect Pearls and a few bits and pieces I had lying around. The two coins are just a penny and a three-pence from the 40's that my dad gave me.

Vintage Suitcase

Check out this awesome project! I keep an eye on Follow The Paper Trail on you-tube and when Laura showed this vintage suitcase I had to make it straight away. You can buy the pattern at Laura's site and she shows how to make the suitcase and decorate inside on her u-stream channel. Also check out the Trunk Full of Memories project too... it looks excellent!

The straps are made from Grungepaper using D-Rings and Hitch Fasteners.

The top has a Grungepaper pocket and I have put some Pen Nibs, Vials, Film Strip Ribbon, Hinge Clips, a Pocket Watch with a Timepiece and Game Spinners.
Laura's pattern has a mini album in the bottom section but I made some postcards using Tim Holtz stamps sets, Postcards and Stuff to Say. There are also some pieces of 7 Gypsies Mini Ephemera.

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!

Live in the Moment

This is a Tim Holtz Configuration (the small one) and I have been holding on to it and playing around since they arrived with not many ideas on how to use one. My problem was I was having trouble working in such small boxes so I figured I would think outside the box and put them on the outside so I have more room to decorate!

The big section has a stick with wire and beads and a brass owl sitting on it. There is also a 7 Gypsies Mini Key there too.
Some of the compartments have little vials in them and I just stamped and inked some paper with some PaperArtsy Ephemera stamps and rolled it up. The corners have some beads stacked up and I just used some Multi Medium in Matte and you can't even see it when it dries. It is a great glue too... it is really quite thick so it holds really well and I have officially replaced my mod podge and Super Tack with it! The great thing is, you can remove the top of the little squeeze bottle and refill it with the big pot too!

The 'Live in the Moment' stamp is gorgeous and it is from the Tim Holtz set, Urban Chic.
The big flower is made from the Spellbinders Poinsettia die and I used all of the sizes and constructed them in much the same way as Tim Holtz makes the Grunge Flowers.

The swirl and leaves are Magnolia Doohickey dies and ended up being perfect sizes for the flower!

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.

The Journey Awakens the Soul

I got a Bind-It-All a few weeks ago so mini albums may just be my new obsession but this is my first go. It took a couple weeks and three seasons of Supernatural playing in the background but I finally finished it during the week.

I used a heap of Graphic 45 paper from a few different collections to cover some chipboard sheets. Then I went embellishment happy until it was full and the O'wires weren't big enough to close it! That problem was solved by taking out one page and although it was a really hard decision, it was able to close after that!

The closure on the front cover is called a Perfect Closure and it is from Zutter, the company that makes the Bind-It-All.
The pictures are quite small but if you click on them it will come up larger so you can actually see a bit better. I got the idea for the binding on both sides and the split pages from my friend, Bec who just so happens to have quite a lot of good ideas! She also convinced me I needed a Cricut so that is my Christmas pressie this year. I can't wait to play with my new toy!

The stamps used throughout are the Ephemera sets from PaperArtsy, Tim Holtz Mini Muse, Mini Classics and Shabby French. The rub-ons (or rubbings, as they like to call them) are from multiple packs and are all from 7 Gypsies.
I also used sprocket gears and a brass pair of scissors.
This page has a small keyhole on one small page and the hole goes right through to the other side where there is another chipboard key hole.
This is the back page where the book is bound twice. I used some brads and got the idea for a little corset look from FollowthePaperTrail on you-tube. She makes some AMAZING stuff so you should check her channel out.
The corset went really well because a few of the pattern papers are about fashion and have corsets on them.

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!