Tim's NEW Tags!

Tim Holtz made a big announcement this month ... he's discontinuing his Twelve Tags of Christmas.  At first, I was shocked and dismayed, only to read on and be delighted.  See, I love doing his tags in December, but I just don't have the time.  After getting all my customers set with their Christmas card making, I don't get to really start working on mine until December.  Guess when his tags begin?  Yup, Dec. 1st.  I always get so excited to make them, and after a couple of days, I just make myself crazy trying to decide if I should make another tag or start working on the 130 cards I have to make.  So, the two years I've done it, I've only completed four.

Another thing is that I love ALL his products, but I'd rather spend my money on the stamps, embossing folders, dies, etc, that I'll use throughout the year and not on stuff I'd only use at Christmas time.

Here's the great part ... he's still going to do his tags, but now they'll be the Twelve Tags of the Year!  He's going to post one at the beginning of each month, instructions, pics & videos, just like before, but we have a whole month to just get that one tag done!  Woo Hoo!  And, we can post it on his blog like we did this past Christmas!  And ... he's still going to give away prizes!  Isn't that great!  No more pressure in December!  Now, I'll only have to do the one tag in December, and I can still get my cards done!

So, without further ado ...

Since Tim made his announcement in February, he's going to make up for January sometime in March, so we'll just have a tiny bit of catching up to do.  So, of course, his February tag has a Valentine's Day theme.  Like I said earlier, I prefer to purchase supplies I can use all year, and I'm not a big fan of the pink & red of Valentine's Day, so I did my own thing.  I almost didn't get this tag posted on time ... thank goodness for Leap Year!  Here's my tag ...

The bottom is a little hard to see because of the lighting, but I used Stampin' Up!'s Scallop Trim Border and the Lace Ribbon Border punches with some Walnut Distress Co'ordinations paper.  I trimmed away the top part of the larger punch so I had flowers.

For the background, I used my new Sizzix Postage & Frame stamp/embossing folder set.  I then colored with 4-5 different Distress Inks. 

Instead of Cupid, I used the Wings from Tim's Heart Wings die and colored with Walnut Distress Ink and Stickles.  I had to create my own honeycomb paper since my friend, Eileen Bellomo, posted a link for a tutorial on how to make it on her blog post of Tim's tag (view her blog post here).  I used my Movers & Shapers Heart die in my Alterations Base Plate to cut a heart from grunge, Real Red SU cardstock and lots of red tissue paper.  Took alot of time & patience to make this heart, and I love how it came out, but I don't think I'd want to do it again. 

I'd probably buy the honeycomb paper Tim referenced in his blog post (complete with video!).  For the letters, I used the 6x6 version of Tim's Valentine's Scrabble page and cut out "BE MINE".  I sanded the edges and inked with Scattered Straw.  I adhered them directly to the tag and popped up "B"  & "N".  I finished off my tag by coloring some of Tim's white Crinkle Ribbon with Red Barn distress ink.  I wanted to hang a charm from the ribbon, and it's been sitting on my table for two weeks!  Since today's the deadline to post, and I've got to pick up my daughter at the airport in an hour, thought I'd better just post it as is and be done with it!  lol

Here's what Tim's tag look like:

Tomorrow's March 1st, so you know I'm going to hit Tim's blog as soon as I turn on my computer!  Can't wait to see what it looks like ... maybe something blue and windy looking?

Back to Tim's Tags

I can't believe it's the end of December already!  After getting all my Christmas cards done about a week before Christmas, I took a nice break only to realize that I still had 8 tags to make before the end of the month!  Why before the end of the month you ask?  Well, Tim gives away prizes if you get all 12 done!  I made a goal to get them all done this year, and well, it's not gonna happen.  lol

I did get my daughter, Kelly, to make the tag from Day 5 with me.  It was a tough technique for her (as a beginner), and she got a little frustrated.  She was happy with her final result, but it was after hours of work.

I do like the way my Day 5 tag came out--I think it's my favorite this year:

 

I usually don't like this particular technique because I haven't had much luck with it in the past, but I like the way this tag turned out.  Here's a look at Tim's tag:

 Since Kelly was working so long on her tag, I started working on the tag from Day 6.  I was really anxious to try this one cause I've been wanting to work with some metal.  I thought I'd paint in all the background colors, and be slick and just brayer black over the top to hit all the raised images.  Unfortunately, that didn't work so well.  Yeah, I covered all the high points, but I also got a LOT of the low points too, and I had to repaint some areas.  Needless to say, I'm not too crazy about this one, but it took me so long to paint it, I wasn't about to start from scratch again.  Here it is in all it's glory:

And, here's Tim's tag from Day 6:

As you can see, mine doesn't look anything like Tim's.  lol

And, finally, I finished Day 7's tag yesterday.  This one came out pretty good too:

And, here's a look at Tim's:

It's after midnight, so it's officially December 31st.  I'm going to post these to Tim's blog, and then get to bed.  We're having our family Christmas at my sister's tomorrow, and we have to leave around 11am since she lives in South Jersey.  I guess that means I'm not going to get all the tags done this year, but I did get farther this year than I did last year.

OK, so here's my vow for next year ... I'm going to have all my Christmas cards done before December 1st so when Tim starts his tags, I have nothing else hanging over my head, and I can keep up with him.  :)

Happy New Year!!!

Free Event!

I signed up for a new meetup group in our area, and I offered to teach rubber stamping or scrapbooking here in my home.  I chose tomorrow for the date, and not only did I get 2 new people to sign up, but Anabel is coming too!  I told Denise, who can't wait to come, and now Patricia & Joeffre from work are coming as well!  I'm so excited!  I've got 2 really cool holiday cards to make with everyone, and it's just going to be a fun time.  No fee, no orders, just fun stamping with some friends!

Back to Tim's Tags: Day 4

This tag was a lot of fun to make cause I was really in a zone.  I had a few problems, but I really like how the tag turned out.  Once again, I didn't have the die Tim was using (snowman die & the "25" movers & shapers die), so I decided to go with the umbrella man die and cut off his umbrella.  Then, I used the pine tree die and put that over his shoulder.  Since I couldn't cut out the 25, I used what I had that would fit, and it was a keyhole.  I know, it makes no sense, but I wanted to do all the techniques, and I had fun, so that's what counts.  I think the most fun I have in making these tags is trying to find something in my stash to substitute what I don't have.

I also didn't have his snowflake die, so I used a smaller snowflake die and just made 3 instead of one.  I also didn't have his snowflake On the Edge die, and here is where I had the most trouble.  On his tag, he used the Edge die to cut out the snowflakes from packaging plastic.  I've been saving tons of this stuff, so I was determined to use some.  I tried using several Sizzlit snowflakes I have, but none of them would cut entirely through the plastic, and they were too detailed to cut by hand.  I tried using my old Stampin' Up! snowflake punch, and got one cut, but then the plastic got caught up in the punch.  After fighting with it to get it all out, I stupidly tried to cut a 2nd one ... bad move.  Not only did it not punch all the way through, I almost broke my punch trying to get it back out!  When I finally got it all out, I decided to try sharpening the punch with some aluminum.  I tried a third time, with the same results.  After wasting over an hour playing with this, I decided to just use the one snowflake.

Since I couldn't put the snowflakes down the edge, I decided to just layer it on top of one of my 3 grungepaper snowflakes.  I also decided to add some of Stampin' Up!s mica flakes from the current Holiday Mini Catalog.  You can kind of make out the larger clear snowflake layered on top of the bluish one.

Here's a picture of his tummy with the keyhole and some sheet music (from SU's First Edition DSP).

 Finally, I used a couple of SU's buttons with the tulle tied through them.  I love this look!  Tim had a great tip on how to get the tulle through those tiny holes, and it worked like a charm!  I swear, that man's a genius!

Here's what Tim's tag looked like:

Oh!  I just noticed that he added a charm to his ribbon.  Oops!  Oh well, I think my tag has enough bling on it.

Techniques with Ranger Stuff

I'm sooo behind in posting the cards from last month's Techniques class, so I'm taking time out from working on my Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas (and before tonight's Techniques class) to post the pics and some info about them.

For this first card, I used some acetate (or any recycled plastic from packaging), and colored the backs with some Ranger Alcohol Inks.  They dry pretty quickly, so I then used some Ranger Paint Dabbers, and went over the Alcohol Ink until covered.  When dry, I die cut them into leaves, added some black Sharpie to draw leaf veins on the fronts, and hit them with the heat gun to melt and shape them a little.  I decided to pull out some River Rock card stock for the base, and stamped it with Versamark ink and the Canvas background (love this stamp); added some retired Autumn Spice DSP from 2010's Holiday mini catalog, a strip of Cajun Craze punched with the Scallop Trim Border, and a little hemp bow around the stems!  Added my sentiment with some Early Espresso ink and it's done!

This next card was done on Old Olive cardstock base with some First Edition DSP.  I sponged some Crumb Cake ink on the DSP before adhering to 'age' it a little, and then wrapped some purple hemp around a tied a knot.

I stamped the flower on some watercolor paper using Black StazOn, and colored it using our Watercolor Crayons and an Aqua Painter.  I painted the center of the flower weith Daffodil Delight, but it didn't 'pop' enough for me, so on my finished card, I added a So Saffron button with some Linen Thread tied through the holes.

To make the frame, since I don't have a scalloped square frame die, I just cut a scalloped square of Elegant Eggplant cardstock.  Then, using my paper cutter, I cut out the inside leaving a 1/2" border all around.  I inked the inside and outside edges of this as well to 'age', and to really make it look old, I covered the frame with some Ranger Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

This last card was one I made at Convention (I believe).  It's been displayed in my classroom for about a year now, and my students have been patiently waiting to make it. 

It's made using our new Letterpress Plates.  The trick to using these plates is to use watercolor paper, and our Craft Ink.  I squeeze a drop of ink onto some scrap plastic to use as a palette.  I then apply the ink using a Dauber directly to the areas I was colored on the letterpress plate.  I carefully laid the watercolor paper on top and ran it through the Big Shot.  You end up with a stamped, slightly embossed image ... just beautiful!  I added some Regal Rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, a Melon Mambo card base with a layer of Regal Rose cardstock in between.  One of our Basic Rhinestone Jewels finishes it off with the perfect elegent touch.

Day 3

Just finished my tag for Day 3, but I think I need to pick up some pine needles.  I don't have the holiday leaf die that Tim's been using, and without the holly and pine, it's just missing something.  I was able to do part of his technique of using the Cut 'n Dry felt to make my own stamp pad, but I didn't have his Christmas stamp with matching embossing folder.  I used this retired background stamp from Stampin' Up!, and it worked OK, but I couldn't follow up with embossing the stamped words.  I decided since I couldn't emboss the words, I'd 'highlight' a couple of holiday words by taking my AquaPainter and coloring over 'Joy' and 'merry' to make them stand out.

Here's a look at Tim's tag:

You can kind of see that the words "Seasons Greetings" are embossed.  I think these sets of stamps with embossing folders is a really cool idea, but they're just not in the budget now.  Maybe I'll win some or something.  lol

It's still kind of early, so I think I'm going to try & play catch up and get today's tag done as well.

Day 2

I finished yesterday's tag, but my sister just got here, so I'll have to catch up tomorrow.  I had alot of fun with this one.  I didn't have Tim's holiday embossed paper, so I made my own from my Stampin' Up! Designer Series paper, and embossed it with some of Tim's Christmas stamps.  You can't really tell from this picture, but the right side has some words up the edge, and the left side was embossed with a pine branch stamp.  Tim used the reindeer die to cut out the canvas/grungeboard focus point, but since I didn't have that, I decided to go with the tree.

Here's Tim's Tag: