Not Rushing It...

Hi everyone and welcome. Like many of you I have been immersed in Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 102 course for the past week and have taken the route of using the techniques for finished projects.

It has been fantastic to see the input from guest designers on this course as they all have their own unique spin on using the various media explored. One of my favourites is definitely the Tarnished Silver technique from Shelly Hickox. You can see her own superb example HERE.

To provide the perfect background for this frame I used a Stamping Resist technique, multiple stamping a Tim Holtz classic patterned stamp and blending over it with numerous Distress shades of blue, green and brown. There's always a quick spritz/flick involved too! You might notice I also die cut a little of this design into leaves for the autumnal bouquet.

This central panel combines two more of my absolute favourite technqiues, Monoprint and Faded Layers. Anyone who has followed me for a while will know alcohol inks have been a bit of a challenge in the past, but with a whole day focusing on them during this course I am an absolute convert. And Wendy Vecchi's Yikes Stripes stencil proved perfect for creating the illusion of corrugation on faux verdigris.

I mentioned my 'recipe' for creating these acorns HERE, and teamed them with lots of textures/media to create another autumnal bouquet. You can see more of that Tarnished Silver technique here too.

Using corrugated card in reverse is great for adding lift to an element, and this Distress Glitter Rock Candy butterfly added much needed balance to this composition.

You have no idea how pleased I am to have worked out an effective recipe for using Sizzix Alterations Strip Dies in my die cutting machine. The seasonal ones are now firm favourites, providing 'go to' embellishments from all sorts of card, paper and material. The final shot shows another of the filigree metal corners resplendent with its Faux Patina.

I may not have made it into the Gallery Spotlight at CC 102 but for me this is one of the cards that will forever represent the huge leap forward I've made in understanding and using these products over the past week. Thank you to Tim, Mario, and the myriad of other top designers who have made this course such a wonderful experience. If you haven't taken the plunge yet I would highly recommend it.

I'm entering this into;

Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Butterflies

Rhedd and Rosie's Challenge -  Shades of Autumn

Artful Times Challenge - Feeling Distressed

Pan Pastel UK Challenge - Falling Leaves

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. Take care of yourselves,

Jenny xxx