Tim's May Tag - Field Notes

Hi everyone. This is going to be a super-quick post with lots of photos as there are just 11 hours of Tim's May 2014 Tag challenge left and I'd be gutted to miss it. Truth is this 'project' has been ongoing throughout the month but other more pressing commitments have meant it has 'gone on the back burner' on more than one occasion. Better late than never!

It's not a tag!!! As my collection of items to include grew exponentially it turned into one of Tim's 'W' books with the spine extended and covered with 'faux suede/leather' (Compendium of Curiosities 2). The theme is held together with papers from the Wildflower collection. And so to the stars of the show, the field notes themselves, collected by an enthusiastic botanist a few years ago...

These pages include embossed/painted metal bees (January tag) and some 'old specimen slides', created using Glossy and Crackle Accents layered over some paper debossed with a honeycomb folder.

These pages use the birdcage stamp from last year's UK Workshop mini stamp collection, an embossed/stamped egg and a bird created in the same way as the butterfly on Tim's original tag.

These pages include a 'repurposed packaging' leaf (Compendium of Curiosities 2) a resist inked leaf and a 'glided kraft glassine' leaf (also Compendium of Curiosities 2) left over from my A Vintage Journey card.

Finally these pages show off a Distress Glitter butterfly, an embossed butterfly panel, some stamping and more Idea-Ology. You'll notice by now I've used Chit Chat Stickers and Remnant Rub-ons throughout and added shadows to many of the 3D elements with a Pumice Stone Distress Marker.

Right, better hit 'Publish' and get this linked up before time slips any further.

I'll be back again tomorrow for the start of another challenge over at Our Creative Corner and hope to see you then.

Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Saturday Step by Step at Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone. Welcome to the weekend! It's my turn to share a step by step tutorial with you over at the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog.

I took up Wendy Vecchi's recent challenge to think of ways to repurpose Idea-Ology packaging...

Have a great weekend and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Get Some Texture at A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone and welcome. It's my turn to host the next challenge at A Vintage Journey with a theme I hope will get your creative juices flowing. I want you to 'Get Some Texture' into your projects, but not just any texture; Tim Holtz has shown us so many techniques for getting texture into our projects over the years. Use one (or more) of these on your piece - just remember to tell us which one(s) you've chosen!

For this challenge you may want to refer to Tim's blog, online classes, Creative Chemistry 101 and Creative Chemistry 102, and/or his three Compendium of Curiosities books (available at Country View Crafts). Our sponsors, Country View Crafts are offering a £10 gift voucher to spend, to one winner chosen by the team.

At first glance this doesn't look like your typical 'Tim style' project, but the truth is there are seven of his techniques pressed into action to create this card. Yes, you heard me right, SEVEN!!! And the texture paste through a stencil isn't one of them. So now you're wondering what they are...

Confession time; the central panel was and experiment that went wrong and then got resurrected rather successfully. I started with a plain piece of card, covered it in Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint and then used a technique from Creative Chemistry 102 for using embossing powders through stencils. In this case it was Ranger Verdigris and in my head the combination with Bronze should have been wonderful - in practice it didn't work, but by covering the lot in Hydrangea Archival Ink and some purple Distress Paint drips the panel was transformed. I layered it onto some Kraft Coredinations card which, like some of the leaf stems, was sanded back to reveal the base colour - Tim did the same thing on his blog HERE.

Many of you will recognise the grungepaper trellis, altered in the same manner as Tim's April tag (ahhh, happy memories of that post... !) To turn this panel into a garden gate I added an Idea-Ology metal lock, ageing it with a technique from Tim's January tag involving Distress Paints.
With the garden gate in place I felt like this needed a secret garden.

That garden, inspired by the Chelsea Flower Show, began to take life as leaf fronds turned into hollyhocks; after cutting some of those fronds from the sanded Kraft Cordinations, more were cut from 'Glided Kraft Glassine' (page 39, Compendium of Curiosities 2). The hollyhock blooms were created from altered, double-sided Tissue Tape (page 36, Compendium of Curiosities 2) adorned by little pearl centres coloured with Gold Mixative Alcohol Ink. After die cutting Distress Stain dyed crinoline the whole garden was spattered with Iced Spruce Distress Paint (also seen on Tim's January tag). And the final texture technique? Reserved for the butterfly, I love the 'Shattered Stains' technique (page 48, Compendium of Curiosities 2).

So there you go, seven of Tim's techniques (and a bit more texture besides) crammed into one six inch square card! And you're going to love what the Creative Guides have come up with over at A Vintage Journey. Between my talented teamies and the genius that is Tim Holtz I'm sure you can all be inspired to create a little something full of texture - don't forget, you have to use TIM HOLTZ TECHNIQUES and tell us which ones you've used.

Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

All the products used here can be purchased from Country View Crafts

Vintage Seaside for Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome. It's week two of the current challenge over at the Frilly and Funkie blog. Nancy has chosen the theme 'Vintage Seaside' for this challenge - that means any vintage project that focuses on the sea and/or beach.

As ever the winner (picked by the Design Team) has the chance to be a Guest Designer for a future challenge at Frilly and Funkie, and one lucky entrant will win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Well worth entering then!

You may have seen the background to this card before... remember the mop up pieces from the Distress Paints tutorial? I die cut the smaller piece with the Honeycomb Frameworks die and layered it over the larger piece as a base.

How do you make two layers of the same card stand out against each other? Drawing around the hexagon shapes with a Pumice Stone Distress Marker and softening the edges with a fine nib water brush helps no end. Then I flicked some Picket Fence Distress Paint over the top.

As soon as I'd created this background it spoke to me of the beach so teaming it with the Nautical Blueprints stamps was obvious. Three of them were stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured with coordinating Distress Stains before being fussy cut and covered in Rock Candy Distress Glitter (having been inspired by Richele Christensen's ideas). Thankfully the sun put in an appearance to show you the sparkle it achieves.

With so much going on already I kept the finishing touches simple, layering the shells over muslin and adding Glossy Accents to the name tags. I know 'Simple Sayings' seem to go on most of my cards, but as they are genuinely used or sold it's a practical matter as well as a perfect way of balancing the design. One of these days I'll invest in the 'hashtags' set to mix it up a little!

Hopefully this has put you in the mood to create a little something for Nancy's brilliant challenge, but if you're still stuck for inspiration hop on over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog to see the super projects from our special Guest Designer and my fellow Funkie team mates.

Enjoy the rest of your week and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Wild Honey	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Wild Honey	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Mustard Seed	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Mustard Seed	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Salty Ocean	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Salty Ocean	NEW Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Scattered Straw	*Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Frameworks Die - Honeycomb	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Markers - Full Set - $129	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence
$17.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Nautical Blueprints	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Watering Can	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Antique Linen	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Scattered Straw	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Bundled Sage	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Mowed Lawn	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Weathered Wood	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Salty Ocean	Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Clear Rock Candy	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents
Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Orange Blossom	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Simple Sayings

Richly Floral

Hi everyone. I wasn't planning on posting today but then yesterday heard the news that I'd been given a Highly Desirable award by the team over at Vintage Stamping Challenges for my Flights of Fancy card! What an honour and a thrill, especially as it's not often I get the chance to enter challenges these days and this is such a wonderful one. Thank you so much to the VSC team.

Talking of challenges, Linda is still calling for you to 'Love Those Leftovers' over at Our Creative Corner, IndigoBlu are looking for 'Monochromatic' projects and Eileen Hull's Art with Heart challenge this month is 'May Flowers'. This card ties all three themes together (though bear in mind it's not a DT piece or my entry to Eileen's challenge - that's yet to come!!!);

This started as a 'mop up' exercise from something I can't share right now (sorry, so many things in the pipeline I'm dizzy!) but involved stencilling the central panel through a TCW stencil called Mini Flower Garden using altered Translucent Embossing Paste leftover from another project.

As well as spritzing it with various mists (including Biscotti Perfect Pearls spray) I used techniques demonstrated so clearly by Vivian Keh at Contadina K. She showed the different effects you can get by adding water at different stages of the inking process. Having stencilled 'borders' allows you to flood those areas with colour and the water helps to give a more 'organic' feel to the finished project.

I lined up the central panel on a piece of card from the Prima Cartographer collection and stencilled onto it with Distress Ink so there would be a continuous pattern across the card. The delicate embroidered lace strips created a frame for the panel - I love the little rosebuds on this lace!

Then it was down to finishing touches. Keeping with that monochromatic theme I went with metal leaves, a couple of layered May Arts white ribbon flowers layered and some burlap string. The sentiment was stamped onto a coordinating piece of card from the same Prima collection.

Once in a while things just fall into place when you least expect it, so grab some of those leftovers and throw some inks and sprays at them - you never know where it's going to lead you! As there just happens to be a 'Botanical' challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday (sponsored by Simon Says Stamp) it would be rude not to enter - have you seen the design team's samples this week? off the chart gorgeous!

Happy Thursday everyone and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - Translucent	Prima Designer Paper Cartographer- 6” x 6” Pad	Ranger Tim Holtz Seasonal Distress Ink Pad - Gathered Twigs	Ranger Perfect Pearls Mists - Biscotti	Embroidered Sheer Lace - 1/2 Inch Wide	May Arts White Frayed Flowers Ribbon	Burlap String - 12 Colors	6 Piece Bronze Leaf Embellishments	4 Piece Antiqued Bronze Round Filigree Pieces	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Simple Sayings
Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Watering Can	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black