Annette's Creative Journey

February Kit of the Month - "Stella"

2012-01-30T19:33:00.000-05:00

In just a few days, the Close To My Heart 2012 Spring/Summer Idea Book will go live. I'm busy creating with one of the the new paper lines called "Stella" for my February Kit of the Month and Stamp of the Month Blog Hop creation. Stay tuned Feb. 1st for the Blog Hop. For now I wanted to share my Kit of the Month.

My Kit of the Month consists of select papers and card stock from a Level 2 "Stella" paper pack plus the Stella Complements Canvas Shapes, which are essentially colored canvas stickers. That's all I work with when creating my kits of the month so as to keep the cost down and keep the kit simple yet beautiful. The only thing I add to really pump things up on my layouts is some ink-distressing and foam tape under certain elements for added dimension. (Be sure to click on the images to get a closer look at the details.)

Kits of the Month are available to everyone since this is not a club. You can opt in or out at any time, or you can join my monthly list and get them automatically until you wish to cancel.

Each kit contains large color images of the layouts, tip and hints for assembly, and easy-to-follow cutting directions of only four pieces of paper. So simple!

For orders in my 30-mile radius (Melbourne, Florida) there is no shipping cost. For out-of-towners, there is a $6 shipping charge (U.S.) You can buy one right here on my blog at the PayPal order button below.

DiAnn's Gift Box & Mini Album

2012-01-25T22:33:00.000-05:00

My friend DiAnn just celebrated her birthday and since she's always making beautiful things for everyone – (she just made me an adorable bird and birdhouse. See this post if you missed it.) – I asked her if she had any ideas for her birthday that she would like me to make. She told me what colors she liked and that she also liked the card box I altered a few weeks back.

I hit the nearest scrapbook store and had a great time coordinating products for my planned project.

Here is the finished box...

Oh my goodness, I am in the right business. I just love paper and flowers and buttons and rub-ons and ink and stamps, and.... well, like I said, I'm in the right business. This box comes from Close To My Heart. It's plain white chipboard with a double magnetic closure. I used various papers from DCWV, Glitz, Prima and October Afternoon, and Close To My Heart for the large flower on top. Tim Holtz buttons and bee stamp, Pink Paislee rub-ons, Prima embellishments all tied everything together nicely.

I have to mention this pretty embellishment because DiAnn gave it to me in a package of six different cameos from Webster's Pages. (See? She's always giving me stuff!) They are just beautiful.

I had such fun making the box, and I had so much supply left over I knew I had to make something else. Who gives someone an empty box for their birthday? Not me.

So I made this mini album that would fit inside the box. The idea behind this mini is to honor our friendship and to celebrate our creative connection to one another.

This charm cluster is an idea I got from Diann herself who makes beautiful mini albums.

The base of this album is long, side-loading kraft envelopes (The Paper Studio, Hobby Lobby). Several of the pages you'll see are the envelopes like the one above on the righthand side. (Remember to click on the photos for a closer look.)

Did I mentioned Crafty Secrets stickers and cut-outs? I love their products!

Here are the remaining pages of the album...

I had such fun making both projects. There's just something about creating a gift by hand for someone you love. It's even better than getting a gift, in my opinion. I'll be meeting DiAnn for coffee in the morning to give these to her. Can't wait!

Here's another look at both the box and the mini album. Thanks for stopping by today and taking a look.

A Trip to Sonoma

2012-01-23T08:17:00.000-05:00

Although I've never been to Sonoma, I'm sure I would love it. Just the fact that it's the birthplace of wine-making in America is reason enough. And if Sonoma is anywhere as beautiful as this paper line of the same name by Close To My Heart, then it's definitely a bucket list destination for me.

Today I thought I'd share with you all the different layouts and projects I've made with this gorgeous paper pack. First up is my Kit of the Month which is available through the end of January for $16. Just e-mail me if you'd like one. The kit of the month includes these beautiful stickers plus all the materials you need to assemble the four pages.

My monthly scrapbooking club (called Cherish Club) will be doing these four pages this month...

(You'll have to be sure to click on each photo to get a better look at all the details.)

This month's Cards & More Club made the following projects...

This card utilizes both "Key Moments" and "Sweet Moments" stamp sets.

This card features a brand new stamp available starting February called "Quick Cards - Butterfly."

I like how CTMH is offering large single stamps like this for just $6.95! To color the butterfly, I used watercolor pencils with the blending pen plus a little dab of Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel.

You may have noticed the stitching on this card. Here's a closer look. I love the new Close To My Heart ruler because it has holes for piercing which makes for perfectly spaced stitching!

Finally, our altered item this month started with this plain wooden box from the craft store...

I was thrilled to find these divided sections inside.

Again, using the Sonoma papers and coordinating stamp sets, with a little help from a Cuttlebug embossing folder, we created this lovely little display box. That pretty dangling charm below the cameo comes from CTMH's Heirloom Assortment.

For the purple colored box, we mixed several drops of Smokey Plum re-inker with Pearl Paint, then finished it off with a staining of a little more Smokey Plum re-inker and a sealer. (I like Glue & Seal). The stamps on the inside come from CTMH's promotion pack called "Rock the Block."

The Rock the Block promo is available for only $15 when you spend at least $25 or more on CTMH products before January 31. The stamp set plus the new Collage Cubes would normally retail for $44.90 so this is a fantastic deal. Get yours before they're gone! Start shopping here.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful Monday!

Shrink Plastic Embellishments

2012-01-18T08:40:00.000-05:00

In my recent birdhouse posts, I featured some shrink plastic flowers and leaves and promised to share how those were made. Seems as though this technique has been around for quite some time, but somehow has eluded me until now. (I've mentioned how I'm sort of a late bloomer, haven't I?) Anyway, Tim Holtz used a similar technique in his 12 Tags of Christmas this past season on his Tag 11. And after making my own tag, I fell in love with making these great little embellishments.

Then I saw Tammy Tutterow's blog and was even more inspired by her beautiful charms!

Here's a close-up of my Tag #11's shrinked holly leaves, just as a reminder...

And here's another close-up of my birdhouse embellishments...

Here's how I made mine...

I started with Clear Shrinky Dinks shrink film and cut out shapes from Tim's Alterations Dies. Tattered Leaves and Tattered Florals, (and then I added a butterfly that I stamped first and hand cut.) After cutting, I stamped a design with Black Staz-on.

Then I had some fun coloring the images with my Copic markers on the side that wasn't stamped with Staz-on.

With the colored side up, I placed the pieces onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and baked them for 3 minutes in a 325 degree oven, following the Shrinky Dinks instructions. The colors get deeper and more intense after baking, so remember that when coloring.

Now, just a note here. Tim used the Melting Pot filled with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) to both shrink and coat the pieces at the same time, and so did Tammy. While I do like that technique for certain applications, I found it harder to control and I also didn't care for the amount of yellowing the UTEE took on when heating. Although my method took a bit longer, it helped me achieve the results I was after.

After my pieces cooled from the oven, I then dabbed them into my Versamark pad, then coated them with UTEE and heated them with my heat gun one by one. I did this twice for a nice thick, bulbous look.

Another note here: When using word stamps, you'll want to be sure your "tops" of your pieces reflect the words in the correct direction. Otherwise they'll read backwards.

Once these were cooled, I adhered them to my birdhouse with clear glue (Liquid Glass by CTMH) or Glossy Accents by Ranger.

These were great fun to play with, and I warn you if you try it make sure you have a few hours because once you get started, you want to make a zillion of them! Have fun!!

Vintage Shabby Birdhouse, part 2

2012-01-15T09:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I posted a quick pic of my Vintage Shabby Birdhouse (my All Things Tim group's February project). For this group, my goal is to incorporate Tim Holtz's products and techniques into each project and to create a wide array of projects from month to month. If you're already a follower, you may have seen our projects over the past six months. It's been nothing short of great fun for me, and it appears that the group is pleased as well. And for the first time, I will have a few kits available on my Etsy site in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that announcement here on my blog.

Today I wanted to share with you how the birdhouse project came together. It all starts with a Crafty Secrets Sweet Chips Chipboard House. This little house kit comes with many pieces for making a sweet little house. Scalloped borders, windows with shutters, doors that swing open, birds, and lots more.

The main house piece looks like this. I used Tim Holtz's 12th tag technique (of his 2011 12 Tags of Christmas) for the house. I began by stamping a background with Archival black ink. This floral flourish comes from Tim's Artful Flight stamp set.

I knew I wanted the house to be pink in the end, so I did a color wash of Fired Brick Distress Stain over the stamped house.

Tim used his new tissue paper on a roll which I do not have, so I used many rows of tissue tape instead. I did not crinkle it, just taped it straight across. (I tried the wrinkle effect and ended up taking if off. Just didn't work with tape the same way as the tissue paper.)

Although I don't show a few steps here, I first spread a layer of Glue & Seal (matte finish) over the tissue tape to seal it. After that dried completely I put a wash of Picket Fence Distress Stain over the whole thing and let that dry. Finally, a smear of Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles with my finger over most of the surface. I put that aside to dry thoroughly.

For the rooftop, I pulled some Baby Pink card stock from my Close To My Heart paper stash and ran it through the Vagabond with this Texture Fade of Tim's. I don't save the packaging, so don't know what it's called exactly. I did it twice for each side of the roof.

I purposely chose Close To My Heart's card stock because it has a white core. I sanded the raised areas to expose the white. Perfect for my shabby pink and white birdhouse.

I glued each piece to the two roof sides and trimmed as necessary.

Hard to see here, but I spritzed the roof with Pearl Pearls mist to give it a bit of shimmer, and the illusion of a pink tin roof was just a bonus! Another bonus is finding that the rosette ribbon in Tim's trims fits perfectly onto the length of the five scallops on this roof. I didn't have to trim and adhere the rosettes individually. Just a string of five glued down.

The house was cute but I knew that I wanted it on a pedestal of some kind, so I went to my local Hobby Lobby and found just what I was looking for on the wood cuts aisle. I painted them white with spray paint and with my finger, added a touch of Salmon Paint Dabber here and there for a soft pink distressed look. Once all that was dry, I glued the pieces together and sprayed the whole thing with Perfect Pearls mist.

For some accents, I added a few of Tim's metal corners to the pitch of the roof after a rubbing a little Snow Cap White Paint Dabber over the decorative surface. Under that you'll notice a paper rosette. I used some of the blue card stock from Tim's Vintage Shabby paper pack and cut the smallest rosette from his Mini Paper Rosette Alteration die. I used half of the length for each side of the roof.

Although some cute little chipboard birds came in the Crafty Secrets kit, I opted for Tim's Caged Bird Alterations die and cut two from Grungeboard. Since I didn't have yellow paint, I cut two more birds out of Buttercup card stock and glued them over the Grungeboard bird pieces. I stamped the flourish on their bellies (Urban Grunge) and then did a quick swipe of Snow Cap white over everything and rubbed some of it off with damp paper towel. I gave the edges a soft distressing with Black Soot, then added a dot of silver glitz for the eyes.

The fence around the perimeter was cut from Grungepaper. It worked out nicely that each strip of Tim's On the Fence Alterations On the Edge die fit the length of each side of the base with just a slight trimming. I cut four fences, painted them with Snow Cap White, and then crackled them with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. After it was completely dry, I rubbed a bit of Tattered Rose distress ink on a blending tool into the cracks, then heat set it. Once I adhered the four fence pieces, I didn't like the exposed seams where each piece met, so I added this wonderful soft pink crushed velvet ribbon around the perimeter.

I was happy with the house at this point, but felt it needed just a bit more something. I had played around last month with shrink charms when making jewelry in our All Things Tim group, and after everyone left, I continued to experiment and play with the shrink plastic and thick embossing powder and made several flowers and leaves. (Tim had used a similar technique in his 11th Tag.)

So I think I will save the making of my shrink charms for another blog post. My fingers are tired and my coffee needs nuking. Have a wonderful Sunday and thank you for stopping in.

Here's one last look at the birdhouse...

Vintage Shabby Birdhouse, Tim Holtz-inspired

2012-01-14T10:39:00.000-05:00

This week's Grungy Monday Challenge #32 over at Studio L3 challenges us to use our favorite technique from Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. This was quite difficult for me since there were so many wonderful techniques I learned and loved. I knew I wanted to make a birdhouse. That much was already in my head. I loved Tim's 12th tag where he layered stamping and tissue paper and Rock Candy distress Stickles to create a soft, vintage shabby look. Perfect for my birdhouse!

I have step-by-step photos and all the details that went into this project, but due to time constraints today will have to post those tomorrow. For now, I wanted to get the project up and linked to the Grungy Monday challenge. This week's challenge is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp, one of my favorite sites to order all Tim Holtz products from. They carry everything I need!

Stay tuned for all the details on this project tomorrow. Enjoy your Saturday!

Altered Card Box & Mini Composition Book

2012-01-10T07:52:00.000-05:00

Have you visited Tim Holtz's blog today? He posted a photo there with all the birthday cards he received. I was thrilled to see mine in the lower right corner! How fun to be a part of his happy day! And, of course, he went to Disneyland. Such a kid. "Cindy" had asked me in the blog comments section where I got the vintage Mickey image for the inside of my card to Tim. I simply did a Google image search for "vintage Mickey Mouse" and found an image I liked at a good size, pulled it into PhotoShop Elements and screened it back to about 30% and printed it on Matte Photo Paper.

Now on to today's post. I wanted to share a few simple altered items we made in my Cards & More Club last month. The idea was to use Close To My Heart's Elemental Paper Pack, the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, and some additional Tim Holtz goodness.

First up is decorative box made from Close To My Heart's My Creations® Card Box; a plain white, sturdy chipboard box with a strong double-magnetic closure.

(Not a great photo, I know. Just click on it to get a better view.)

In addition to the Elemental Paper Pack (mostly on the top of the box) I incorporated some of the now-retired Notebook Paper Pack that I've had in my stash. It's definitely one of my all-time CTMH favorite paper lines with all the distressed grids, scripts, flourishes, coffee stains, and such. I covered the outer edges of the box and insides with this paper, adding a few more splatters from different stamp sets I have, and gave the whole thing a heavy dose of ink distressing with Chocolate ink on a dauber.

Those butterflies are from Tim Holtz's Alterations Movers & Shapers "Mini Butterflies" die. The tag stamp is from his Odds and Ends CMS100 set.

The dress form comes from Tim's "Mini Sewing Room" die and the leaf is from the Art Philosophy cartridge. Hard to see the detail underneath, but there is a layer of script stamping ("French Market" set/Tim Holtz) with another layer of clear embossing using the diamond pattern in that same stamp set. A final spritz of Blue Patina Perfect Pearls mist finished it off.

The inside of the box is lined with papers from the Notebook line. I left the bottom blank so I could insert a piece of wool felt as a liner.

One of my club girls requested we do an altered mini composition book and I was happy to oblige. These are fun and fast to make, therefore a great gift idea. I try to pick up a bunch of these at my local WalMart during back-to-school time since they don't always carry them the rest of the year. It's just a matter of covering them with papers (here I used Elemental) and embellishing them with ribbon and stamping. I don't add too much to the front since I figure these will likely go inside a purse or in the car. I used several Close To My Heart stamps for this one.

The fleur de lis is from the Art Philosophy cartridge. I cut it three times, layering each one. This little tip comes from my friend DiAnn. She often does several layers like this, making her pieces look as if they are chipboard instead of paper. Nice and sturdy.

Our final Cards & More project using the Elemental Paper Pack is this masculine valentine. You may recognize this card from a previous post since I used it in the December Stamp of the Month "Mad About You" Blog Hop. Those stamped tags and the hearts are cuts from the Art Philosophy cartridge as well.

Thanks for checking in today. I'm excitedly starting on a birdhouse project I've had in my brain for a while now. Stay tuned for that. Meanwhile have a great day!

Happy Birthday Tim Holtz!

2012-01-07T10:26:00.000-05:00

To my inspirational Grunge Hero, Tim Holtz, I wish you a very happy birthday today.

This week at Studio L3 is the Grungy Monday Challenge of making Tim a birthday card. Be sure you check out Linda Ledbetter's creation as well as all the artwork posted there for Tim.

The creations there are pretty awesome, especially Shelly Hickox. I love what that girl can do with Grungeboard.

When I saw that Tim's birthday was coming, I knew just what I wanted to do for his birthday card. I love this photo of Tim because not only is it just plain funny, it's the moment I first met him on the cruise in November and asked him to take a silly photo with me.

This is my "Oh my God, I am freaking out standing next to Tim Holtz!" photo.

And just so Tim doesn't freak out when he sees that photo of himself on the front, wondering where that shot came from, I made sure to remind him inside the card. (I had to sneak in a little Disney magic in there too.)

The card is going to be late, Tim, so I apologize for that. But I hope your birthday is supremely happy just the same!

Grungeboard Bracelet

2012-01-05T07:41:00.000-05:00

I've always entertained the idea of making jewelry from grungeboard just to see if it would work and hold up well. Grungeboard is such an interesting material being thick yet flexible, stampable, and heatable. So I gave it a shot and here is what I came up with.

It's more of a wide banded charm bracelet. I told my husband it's my artist warrior band.

I ran it through an endurance test yesterday to see how well it would hold up to daily wear and tear. I wore it with a thick sweater and it never snagged anything. I pulled my fleece jacket sleeve off and on several times during the day and it never tore it up or damaged anything. And I thought my skin might get irritated from the materials, but it never did. It was so comfortable, sometimes I didn't feel it while wearing it. I was thrilled!

Here's how I made it...

Using an Xacto blade and a straight-edge, I cut a piece of grungeboard 1-inch wide and used the full length which is about 8 inches and painted it with Espresso paint dabber. You'll see that I later used the Chomp tool (Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper) to round off two of the corners on one end. I should have done that step here.

Then I stamped several images from Tim's French Market stamp set with Versamark, then embossed with clear embossing powder.

I swiped some Pearl paint dabber over the embossing and rubbed away the paint on the embossed areas with a damp paper towel.

Then I used Gold Mixative on my finger and rubbed it here and there, mostly on the edges. I'm not sure why I used Mixative instead of paint. It just seemed like a good idea at the time.

I used the large end of the Crop-A-Dile hole puncher and made a hole for a hitch fastener to fit through. (Notice the rounded corners on the band now?) I also made a slit so that there was a little more "give". I tested this first without the slit and it made the grungeboard tear and fray a little bit when I pushed the hitch through it several times.

I pierced a smaller hole in the other end of the band from the under side and then inserted the hitch fastener screw.

Then from the top side I screwed the hitch to the screw nice and tight.

This becomes the closure for the bracelet.

I measured a center point on the bracelet, then pierced holes along the bottom edge for the charms. I measured out from the center point only, but didn't space the pierced holes evenly because each charm dictated how much space between each pierced hole. So I laid each charm in place, then pierced the holes. Make sense? I typed the word ART on my computer and punched it out with a 1/2 inch circle punch which fits perfectly inside one of Tim's type charms.

At first I thought the bracelet was fine as is, but then I felt it would be more comfortable and a little more feminine if I added some antique looking lace. I liked the idea of the hard mixed with the soft. I glued the lace to the back with E6000 glue. I love this glue because it's clear, stays flexible, and will hold just about anything. If I were a neat freak, I would have maybe added some ribbon or seam binding or thin wool felt to cover up the glue, but I didn't care so I left it this way.

I added some wings and a heart from Tim's Adornments with E6000. I made sure not to put the glue all the way to the edges of the wings so that the bracelet would bend and curve naturally when around my wrist. If I had glued them down, it would have created a flat spot and I didn't want that. You might also notice that I cut the ring off the top of the metal heart. I used Tim's Tonic scissors very carefully to snip it off.

Here's another look at my artist warrior band. I can't wait to wear it again today!

Handmade Treasures

2012-01-04T08:57:00.000-05:00

I recently celebrated my birthday, and let me just say that Facebook is the best. I got so many birthday wishes from friends all over the globe, it was fantastic! Thank you to my fellow Facebook friends and followers.

I had a wonderful day filled with simple joys like a free massage from the local spa, free coffee of my choice from Starbucks, some great gifts from my family, lunch with my hubby, and a couple surprises from some dear friends of mine.

My long-time pal Lisa Russell actually made this amazing bracelet for me for Christmas, but she also popped in on me yesterday with a fun cake pop maker as my birthday present. While the cake pops were super delicious (I had to test it out right away) the bracelet is one of my all-time favorite things ever hand made for me.

It's so unique and so ME. It has a very natural feel about it and I love the green beads with the deep dark leather binding. It's a wrap-around style bracelet so it crosses over itself.

Here's a view under my wrist. It looks so complicated to make. I've seen bracelets like this on Etsy.com and they go for beaucoup bucks. I'm so lucky to have a Lisa Russell original! Lisa is my favorite go-to gal for creative collaboration. She's a fellow junker and vintage-lover. She can see possibility in almost anything she finds in a thrift store or garage sale. Just yesterday she was telling me how she bought up a bunch of skinny belts from the local Goodwill for less than $2 and how she's going to make bracelets from them. Amazing. She has a blog, mostly about family and everyday life. You can find her here. I'll bet if you comment on her blog, she might start posting more stuff about her thrifty creations.

Another awesome woman in my life is my uber-creative friend DiAnn who is constantly crafting up something beautiful in between taking care of her adorable granddaughter Bella. This is a woman who creates, among other things, mini-album masterpieces and gives them away. I've urged her to start an Etsy site, but she simply loves creating everyday and giving those creations away as gifts to people she loves. She says it gives her more joy than trying to maintain an online shop and keep track of business expenses, etc. Well, all I can say is I'm lucky to know her. She has made me countless beautiful things that I save in a special box. Cards and tags and things that I could never throw away I love them so much. So yesterday, she surprised me with a beautiful box on my front porch.

Yes, she made the box from paper and card stock (I don't remember what line, but it's beautiful) and added some soft lace and these pretty tags that she embellished a bit further.

This is how she works. Details and layers galore, and although it appears to have taken her days to make, she can whip these creations up in an afternoon. So what was inside the box?

This gorgeous bird and birdhouse home decor piece. Not shown in the photo is a piece of pretty organdy ribbon at the top of the house so I can hang it up. I know just where it will go by my front door when people first walk in. The size is about 6 x 6 inches, like a large ornament. I just love the colors she used and all the details.

Her bird is made from wool felt, again handmade with love. She stitched a tiny blanket stitch around the the wing and the bird. So sweet. I love this tiny tag from Papertrey Ink attached to the beak.

Felt leaves behind the pretty paper flowers, pearls, glitter, beads. Just love the details.

If you'd like to visit DiAnn's blog, you can find her here. Her photos don't do her work justice, but I'm sure you'll be inspired just the same.

Off I go to make Tim Holtz a birthday card now.

What on earth can you make for a guy like Tim?

Stay tuned.

Bringing in the new year with a Blog Hop

2011-12-31T20:59:00.144-05:00

Hello and Happy New Year blogger friends! I wish you and yours a happy healthy year. I don't make resolutions but rather try to establish new & improved habits for an even happier healthier life. This year marks another year of fitness and eating well, with an enhanced focus on a leaner, trimmer me. I'll be including blog posts about my fitness inspiration and progress and welcome any helpful motivation YOU can provide too.

January marks a new year, a new month and therefore a new Stamp of the Month from Close To My Heart. The set is called "Little Reminder" and is pictured in the righthand column of my blog all month long. It features days of the week, numbers, phrases, and a circular month stamp that will be very versatile for many stamping projects. I like to use these types of date stamps on my scrapbook pages to mark events. Stamps of the Month are only $5 with your $50 CTMH purchase. A great deal if you're already stocking up on your scrapbooking/stamping supplies. You can shop here to get yours!

The Blog Hop features over 60 CTMH consultants and will surely provide plenty of inspiration and ideas using this date-style stamp. If you're already hopping, you've likely come here from Susan Brooks' blog. At the end of my post you'll see the link where to hop to next, so let's get to it and check out the card I made for my hubby for New Year's.

Using "Typeset" papers seemed perfect for a manly card and it's one of my favorites too. I utilized the "zip-strip" off the paper as a decorative element across the top of my card. (You & Me, Together, Best Friends). Perfect for my husband. I also took full advantage of the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge by cutting the scalloped card shape, the circles, and the banner pieces.

Here's a little sneak peak of a new product Close To My Heart will release in February: Baker's Twine! (although this one pictured isn't CTMH since I haven't been able to order it yet.)

One of the things I like to do for added interest is stamp on patterned paper. Here I did it with the numbers stamp in Black over the Juniper leaf pattern in the circle under the banner. It just adds that little something extra rather than using plain colored card stock.

Now if you'd rather not read about WHY my husband received a New Year's card from me this year, please continue on the Blog Hop by hopping over to Teresa Scrivens' blog and see what she's come up with this month.

I don't normally make my husband a New Year's card but this year was special. See, our teenage daughter went away with a friend and her family for a week right after Christmas, and Paul and I had the chance to spend a lot of time together since he's been off for the holidays.

Sure, we had our couple time, but what was even more special for us was just being together, enjoying the little things of everyday life with absolutely no stress or interruptions. Coffee and the newspaper, a few movies, lunch, naps, television, and time with friends. Even running errands together was enjoyable. We talk easily, we laugh, we truly enjoy each other's company. I call that true love.

We get so busy (all of us) and caught up in daily stresses, we don't realize that we might be neglecting one another, so when we get the opportunity to simply enjoy, it's an extremely pleasant surprise. It felt like we re-connected. And it's been one of the happiest weeks of my life. So that is why my husband received this card from me this year. Inside I wrote everything I just shared with you.

Our daughter comes home tonight and I am very much looking forward to seeing her again. She's my best friend and sometimes worst enemy at times, as most teenage daughters and mothers seem to be. But she's a pretty fantastic person and I have truly missed her.

Here's hoping you have a Happy New Year filled with life's simple joys, and opening your eyes and soul to them each and every day.

Cookies & Graphic 45 mini

2011-12-24T10:05:00.000-05:00

By now, ambitious and creative bloggers are already moving on to Valentine's ideas. I wish I were that ahead of the game, but I'm still in the Christmas spirit and enjoying a few relaxed days with my family. As promised yesterday, I wanted to share our gingerbread cookies my daughter and I made this year. It's a tradition for us, and Jamie is at the age where she is really helpful and very good at her own artwork with icing.

Along with gingerbread, we made some shortbread cookies and Jamie decided to decorate a few of those herself. In the teenage spirit of things, of course. Let's see how good you are at identifying these images...

If you haven't a clue - quick! go grab a teenager and see if they know. I'll reveal who they are at the end of this post.

Here are all the cookies we did this year. Minus a few that were sampled, of course.

These are about 4-inches tall. Good size for giving away as gifts, wrapped up pretty in a cello bag tied with holiday ribbon.

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I have quite the collection of cookie cutters and this house was one I found last year and was thrilled. It's so much fun to decorate.

My friend Lisa and I agreed to exchange a handmade gift this year, so I created a mini album from Graphic 45's Christmas Emporium paper line and chipboard. I added some Tim Holtz goodness and some other miscellaneous embellishments. So here are all the other views without explanation.

Enjoy and have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are!

And now for the answer to the names of those faces on those cookies above...

From left to right: The Troll Face, Me Gusta Face, and The Awesome Face.

(These are all popular internet images called "memes.")

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tags They'll Keep

2011-12-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

After a nice little break, I'm feeling ready for Christmas finally. You? I'm wrapping the last bit of gifts today. I've met with several friends over the past two weeks, sharing coffee and gifts, and truly relishing in the fact of having so many wonderful friends to share the holidays with. Friendships mean so much to me, like yourselves, and I can only hope my friends know how much I love and appreciate them.

I've been also having some fun making decorative Christmas tags. Tim Holtz's rosette die is such a great one to use for many quick projects. Just check out his mini Christmas trees he made with three of the rosettes. I just love them. Here is a quick tag idea using leftover strips of holiday paper, Tim's rosette die, and some vintage style chipboard letters.

I added a bit of Pearl paint dabber to the outside edges and then dipped the outer edge into some Martha Stewart Crystal coarse glitter. These were so addictive to make! I liked trying different pattern papers to get different effects. I could have made a hundred of these, they were so fun and easy.

I've had these chipboard letters a few years now. There are so many in the package! They're by K&Company and are printed on both sides. They were perfect as monograms on my little tags.

I punched a hole in the top of each and added some fluffy white string then tied them around these festive holiday tissue packages I got from my local craft store dollar section. A simple and pretty little thank you gift for my club girls. Perhaps they'll keep the rosette tag and hang it on their Christmas tree.

I am constantly inspired by Tammy Tutterow's blog and recently saw this idea for fabric gift tags. (She gives you a link to a tutorial there.) They are super easy to make and talk about addictive! I made a dozen of these in an afternoon. Each one is cut from Tim Holtz's Tag & Bookplate die which is substantial in size. Each measures about 3 x 6 inches.

Again it was fun to try different fabric prints, ribbons and embellishments. I didn't have to go to the store for a single thing! I have tons of fabric scraps from my quilting days, and of course lots of trims and buttons on hand. Like Tammy, I used Archival ink to stamp the names on plain muslin as well as for inking all the edges. Each tag has a thin layer of batting between the fabrics. These could easily be adapted to hang on the Christmas tree. (Or used as a bookmark, says my friend Ellen who was happy to receive one of these tag this year.)

Thanks for stopping by today. I'll be back tomorrow with our decorated gingerbread cookies my daughter and I made this year, plus a Graphic 45 Christmas mini album I gave to my friend Lisa.

Until then, happy shopping!

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 12

2011-12-13T19:13:00.000-05:00

It was certainly fun while it lasted. Today is the end of the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas. And although I am sad that it's over, I'm also happy to get busy getting ready for Christmas. These tags take a lot out of ya! I'm not sure how long it takes everyone else, but I spent at least 4 - 5 hours each day on mine, from start to finish including blogging about it.

So let's get right to Tim's final tag...

Very vintage shabby, right? I love it. There were a LOT of steps to make this one, so be sure to go to Tim's blog post here to check it all out.

Here is my ornament inspired by Tim...

Due to my smaller, shorter sized tag I had to leave out a few things like the greenery in the lower right corner and the sparkly Stickles around the border.

I didn't have any of Tim's new tissue wrap so I gave it a go with good old tissue tape instead, and it worked out fine. I couldn't do the wrinkling like Tim did, but I achieved a similar look and feel.

I didn't have a fractured doll and after three different craft stores, I finally gave up and used the Mini Sewing Room die of the dress form, cut it twice: once from thin white cardboard, then with glossy card stock and glued those together for a thicker look and the same glossy shine as the fractured doll. I used two foliage metal pieces for the chest, crimping each flowers petals up and inward slightly, then dusted them with Snow Cap White paint.

I love Tim's new Christmas charms. The snowflake is beautiful with a bit of Snow Cap White on it.

And here she is on the tree. I'm so happy I participated in the tags "real time" as best as I could this year. I loved looking forward to what Tim was going to come up with each morning. Now I have 12 beautiful new ornaments for our Christmas tree that we will cherish forever.

Thank you Tim!

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 11

2011-12-12T22:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm officially a day late but that's okay. I'll do tag #12 tomorrow and then mope around because it's over. I have loved this year's 12 Tags of Christmas by Tim Holtz. It's become a tradition in our household. My family follows each tag each day (whether they want to or not). And they oooh and ahhh (whether they like it or not) but I think they do.

Anywho, here's Tim's tag #11...

It's got that fun retro look about it. And you've just got to check out the Shrink Plastic/Melting Pot technique he used to make those cool looking holly leaves and the branch. He's got an excellent video to share with us. Go here to see it.

I have been waiting for Santa to make an appearance! But my all-time favorite Santa stamp is this guy...

It's a Stamper's Anonymous stamp on a wood block and is labeled U2-1106. I knew that I wanted to use this stamp from the beginning and was just waiting for the opportunity. I used the same techniques Tim did, only with a more vintage feel.

I have to admit, this was the first time I'd seen this technique with the shrink plastic melting in UTEE in a melting pot. I'm sort of the last to know things usually. But when I saw it, I knew I had to have that melting pot and try all kinds of things with it. So to Michaels I ran with my 50% off coupon and got it for only $20! It was quite addictive making little shapes and coloring them. I wanted to do all kinds of things! If only I had more hours in the day...

One big thing I learned is when you pour out the hot UTEE onto your non-stick craft mat, don't do it on a self healing cutting mat like mine. The heat totally warped it. I should have known this because I warped my other one using the heat gun in one place too long. Oh well, it's time for a new one.

I'm looking forward to all the artists' takes on Tag 11. If you go to Tim's blog, just scroll to the bottom on his post and you'll see tons of links to bloggers all over the world participating in the 12 Tags along with Tim.

Now I'm finally off to bed. Thanks for taking a look. Here's how my ornament looks on the Christmas tree.

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 10

2011-12-10T18:08:00.000-05:00

Tim Holtz has done it again! It's Day 10 of the 12 Tags of Christmas. I've taken all day to make this one, not because it was so involved. It wasn't at all. Just because it's Saturday and lots of stuff going on, so I had to work on it piecemeal. As a matter of fact, I'm heading out to a holiday party in a few minutes, so I won't be doing any explaining on today's creation. I guess if you have any questions, you'll let me know.

Here's Tim's tag #10...

Make sure you go to Tim's blog today and check out the steps to make this one. There's a great technique there on how to make the facets. So cool!

Now here's my ornament inspired by Tim...

And here are some close-ups and then how it looks on the Christmas tree. Thanks for stopping by! Now eat, drink and be merry!

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 9

2011-12-09T21:57:00.000-05:00

Wow, better late than never. It's almost 10:00 p.m. here on Day 9 of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas and I finally got a chance to complete my tag. (Or in my case, my ornament.)

You see, I was having fun all morning with 13 friends in my All Things Tim group. Here is what we made, in case you missed it last month when I posted it.

It's a holiday wall hanging made from a dollar store serving tray. See my post last month for more pictures and info. See the lamppost back there in the background? That got me thinking... So quickly before my class started, I took a peek at Tim's blog to check out Tag #9 and besides his great creation, he showed us tags made my Ted and Michelle Cutts (AKA Mr. & Mrs. Stampers Anonymous) and I really liked Ted's rendition using the Holiday Lamppost die. I was so inspired, I knew I had to use the lamppost today.

So let's back up and take a look at Tim's tag today...

Be sure to check out Tim's blog post today to see all the details and techniques that went into making this great tag. (sure do like that candle.)

Now, here's Ted's tag...

I just love the look of the lamppost, all frosty and festive.

Now here's what I came up with...

Remember, my "tags" are actually ornaments for my Christmas tree. I love how this turned out with all the glitter and hints of glitz.

I've discovered that my photography could use a little work. Can't ever seem to get rid of the shine from my light. I followed Tim's technique of clear embossing Distress Inks. Works like magic! Here I used the holly branch from the Holiday Wishes stamp set (CMS095) for my stamping and used Peeled Paint Distress Ink. For the background color I used Fired Brick. It's really hard to appreciate the effect in this photo, but it really turned out pretty cool, I must say.

Just as we did in my class today, I made some yellowed glass for the lamppost by applying alcohol ink to a piece of packaging plastic, cut out a small piece and glued it to the back of the lamppost.

The effect is subtle but adds that little something extra.

Instead of the word "peace" I opted to use the leftover 25 from the grungeboard we cut from the snowman's belly on Day 4. I dabbed it with gold paint and added some Rock Candy Distress Stickles with my finger. Just a touch.

There's actually a lot of shimmer on this tag. For instance, I flooded Glossy Accents over the entire surface of the lamppost and while it was nice and wet, I sprinkled some Martha Stewart Crystal Coarse Glitter so the sparkles were embedded. Then I added Rock Candy Distress Stickles over the leaves and sprinkled a bit of snow at the bottom of the ornament with Martha Stewart's Tinsel Glitter. Be sure to click on the photo to get a better look at the details.

Well, now that I'm good and tired, it's off to bed to dream of sugarplums and Tag #10 dancing in my head. See you tomorrow!

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 8

2011-12-08T13:22:00.000-05:00

Just when I think Tim can't possibly outdo his tag from the day before, he goes and does it! Today's tag is Tim Holtz all the way. Steampunk meets Christmas in this awesome creation by the master himself...

Holy cow, am I right? He's amazing. I love this!

Be sure to go to Tim's blog post today and check out all the steps and techniques to make this tag.

Here's how Tim's tag inspired me...

I knew there would be times when the shape of my ornament tags would come back to haunt me. Sometimes it's a bit tricky to adapt Tim's creation to the shorter and wider shape I'm using. Case in point: (and this is a nit-picky artist thing, I know) I didn't have the room to shift the gear on the right up a little higher. (see Tim's). At least I wasn't paying attention when I glued them; let's say that.

So when I took a final look, I realized that my ticket and my gears are straight across from each other. A graphic design no-no. But hey, those suckers were well-glued by the time I realized it, so I "kept calm and carried on" and did what I could. To try and offset things a little, I added a piece of green twine to the pointing finger on the left, as well as some punched green holly leaves (Thanks Lisa). This sort of tricks the eye a bit forcing it to see the green ribbon on the right and the greenery on the left as diagonally opposing items. It works a lot better when the photo is not taken on a dark green background.

(You're just gonna have to trust me on this.)

I didn't have the Weathered Clock die, so I used this giant Sizzix snowflake die. As for the Snow Cap White background image, even after a very long drying time, the inks did not resist when rubbed over the white. Sort of muddied up. But hey, it's grungy, so I'm fine with it. Here I used Grunge Cirque and School Desk stamps by Stamper's Anonymous.

Don't you love these sprockets and the spinner all piled up on the two grungeboard gears? Very cool.

I have used these great alpha parts before but never tried Glossy Accents over them. Wow is this ever a cool transformation!

The steampunk guys from the Curious Possibility stamp set are great, but just a bit long for my tag, so I snipped them apart and raised up the middle guy and scooted the other two behind him a bit. I love how this looks. Now I just need to add some holly and berries.

I didn't have any tiny holly leaves so I fudged it with some Christmas Red and Peeled Paint Stickles. (You'll have to click on the photo to see that detail.) Even though this tag has a lot going on and looks really busy on my tree, I absolutely loved making it and am pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks for checking me out. Have a great day!

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 7

2011-12-07T16:29:00.001-05:00

Confession of a Craftaholic: I have officially become obsessed with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. Making the tags has totally consumed my life. I literally go to bed wondering about the next day's tag, waking hours before the alarm clock thinking, "Maybe I should just get up and start today's tag now." I avoid household chores and barely comb through my hair. I'm sure I'm not alone. This Tim Holtz fella has got something magical going on. Or perhaps I'm just in need of a shrink....

Today is Day 7 and I absolutely adore today's tag. Probably one of my favorites so far. Here is Tim's creation...

This was one of those times when I saw that stamp set he used and felt instantly compelled to purchase it. You'll have to go to Tim's blog post today to see all the images in this set to appreciate what I'm saying. Plus, he takes us through all the steps to make this gorgeous piece of art there too.

Here is my ornament inspired by Tim's tag...

I added a few gilded mini pinecones to fill in the cluster a little more. Mine seemed to need it. The photo is a bit dark so be sure to click on it to get a better view. I resisted the urge to drive all the way to Orlando to try and find the Joyful Song stamp set Tim used. My friends over at the Scrappy Boutique would probably have it on the shelf. Instead I pulled out my "St. Nick" stamp set from Close To My Heart and used the Merry Christmas image embossed in black.

Since I didn't have the crackled-looking background stamp, I opted for flourishes. I love Tim's technique of ghost-stamping the music notes, although mine are more than a tiny bit crooked. I figure after I add all the embellishment, maybe no one will notice. Did you notice on my finished tag?

Also didn't have the Holly Branch Alteration die, so I borrowed the Branch Tree die from my friend Patty (thanks Patty!) and cut off some of the branches. For the holly leaves, I used my Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge, but it was a little tricky cutting kraft glassine on the Cricut. I was able to salvage 5 of the 6 leaves I cut so I think I got pretty lucky.

Here's another look at my ornament on the Christmas tree...

Thanks for stopping by today. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 6

2011-12-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

I got such a late start today on my tag, so this post will be super quick. (Biggest Loser is coming on!)

Here's Tim's Tag #6...

Be sure to check out Tim's blog to see how he put this fun tag together. Although it's hard to see in this photo, this tag has the feel of a vintage embossed metal Christmas tin.

I have to admit, this one was a challenge for me because I didn't have the same texture fade that Tim used. Usually I can make do, but his texture fade worked so well due to the rectangular divisions between images. The embossed and colored metal technique is beyond cool, so it was worth the effort of trying.

Here's what I came up with...

It sure was scary when I put that paint onto the metal. It made me think, "What the heck is this going to look like?" But Tim said to trust him and keep going, so I did.

I like how it looks on the tree with all the other ornaments.

Well, back to the TV. Thanks for stopping by and checking me out. See you tomorrow!

12 Tags of Christmas TAGS 4 & 5

2011-12-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

I had to take a day off from my beloved 12 Tags of Christmas by Tim Holtz yesterday due to my annual holiday workshop. The workshop was 6 hours long (and lots of fun!) and by the time I cleaned up it was almost 9:15 and I was beat. I have to admit I briefly entertained the idea of making Tag 4 after cleaning up but just couldn't summon the energy. It made me just a tiny bit sad.

So bright and early this morning I was ready to make Tags (in my case, ornaments) 4 and 5. Let's get right to it then. Here is Tim's Tag #4...

Wow, I really REALLY love this one. It almost looks as if a light is shining through the tag to the right of the snowman. There's such depth and dimension with the technique Tim uses to create the background, yet it's all completely flat on the tag. Check it out here to see all the details.

For my ornament, I didn't have to make too many adjustments this time....

I didn't have the snowflake on-the-edge die so I used a Martha Stewart punch for the large one (not easy to punch through clear plastic, so I used a transparency for that one) plus I cut two snowflakes from Tim's Winter Wonder Alterations die.

Everyday I learn something new and also learn you can't skip a step. If Tim says to spritz the tag with water before you drag it through the stains, you gotta do it. The one on the left was not spritzed with water and the result was flat dry-looking colors that sort of looked a little muddy. The one on the right WAS spritzed with water then dragged through stains and came out so cool! This is the depth and dimension I was talking about earlier.

I don't have a bird like Mario so I just used some of the same white wired tinsel on the snowman's hat that I used at the top. (I thought that was so funny!)

Today's Tag #5 by Tim looks like this...

Another cool technique went into making this one, so be sure to visit Tim's blog today to read all about it.

I have to say that I had a little difficulty with this one, but overall I am happy with my results...

My difficulty was removing the archival stamped words from the alcohol inked background with the cloth without removing too much of the stamped image. Maybe it was just me, but it took some serious elbow grease to remove that stuff! So, I have a bit of blurriness here and there, but as they say, "Embrace the Imperfection."

You may have noticed that I didn't have the Regal Crest Alterations die that Tim used for his wreath, so I improvised using the Elegant Flourishes die. I cut three of them from grungepaper and painted them with two shades of green, sort of sponging the light green over the dark green for a variegated look.

Once they dried, I popped them all out and started cutting them in pieces and playing around with them in a circle shape to form a wreath. I quickly found that I needed some sort of frame in which to build these pieces...

...so I cut a circle from some plastic packaging material then cut away the center. This didn't need to be perfect because I covered it entirely.

Then I started gluing the pieces this way and that until I was happy.

In the areas where there were some overlaps that I didn't like, I just covered them with the self-sticky pearls.

This ornament was pretty quick once I stopped fretting over the imperfections. And I'm pleased with the outcome overall. Now I'm headed over to Tim's blog to check out all the creations from other artists who are participating in the tags this year.

Thanks for stopping in. Enjoy your Monday!

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 3

2011-12-03T09:03:00.000-05:00

Today's tag by Tim Holtz features the Season's Silhouettes stamp set and how it coordinates with the Christmas Backgrounds Texture Fade. This one-two punch makes a project seem like you've taken hours because of the texture and the color you achieve.

Here's Tim's tag #3... Be sure to go to his blog post today and follow along all the steps to make it. And you'll enjoy a special treat while you're there because he's also included a video from 7 years ago when he was on the Carol Duvall Show. Brings back memories.

If you've been following along, you know that I've been creating ornaments for our Christmas tree inspired by all of Tim's tags this year. Here's what I came up with today...

Just a few adaptations today. I had borrowed the Festive Greenery die on day 1 of the tags from my neighbor and then returned it to her later that afternoon. This morning when I woke up extra early to make day 3's tag, I saw Tim used the die again. While Patty was probably awake, I didn't want to bother her at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday to borrow the die again. If I know her, she would have been happy to lend it to me and would probably give me a cup of coffee too.

This is where I had to make do with what I had rather than wake Patty. A few cuts on the Cricut, a Martha Stewart punch, and a QuicKutz die, plus some poinsettias from the craft store came together nicely. I added some Platinum Stickles and some red gems.

As convinced as I was that I had a silver jingle bell somewhere in this house, I was evidently mistaken. I had these tiny bells right here in my studio so I just used those. I liked Tim's trick with wrapping the twine around a pencil and heating it to keep the curl. Worked like a charm!

One thing I learned today is that Tim knows what he's talking about, so when he gives us a video link for tips on how to properly use the stamps with the Texture Fades, we need to pay attention. About mid-way through that video, he tells us to shift the stamped image about 1/8 inch lower than the texture fade image before running it through your machine. Above is an example if you don't do that.

It's always a learning experience.

Thank you for taking the time to visit me today. I hope you have an enjoyable Saturday.

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 2

2011-12-02T12:41:00.000-05:00

Another great tag-making day along with Tim Holtz and his 12 Tags of Christmas. Be sure to check out Tim's steps to create this awesome tag below.

If you stopped by yesterday for Tag #1 you already know that I have opted to make ornaments for our tree this year inspired by Tim's tags. Here's what I came up with...

The shape of my "tags" creates just a few challenges, but nothing that can't be figured out with a little adjusting. For example, the On The Edge die would not work on my design at the bottom of my tag, so I just moved it up a bit where it looked nice.

Another issue to contend with is that my ornament is wider than Tim's tags so there are larger areas of open space that need to be filled. This is why I put the Christmas muse token on a swivel clasp hanging to the left of my reindeer. It attaches at the top with a hitch fastener.

As a substitute to the wreath that Tim used, I used one of these miniatures from my local craft store. I snipped off the red bow and the gold thread...

...and trimmed the back of the wreath short and flat so it wasn't so bulky.

I didn't have the star that Tim used, but I did have some of his Foliage Idea-ology pieces, so I took the flower shaped one and pinched in the petals to create a star shape.

I started to put the star right onto a type charm, but it seemed to need a little color, so I punched a 1/2-inch circle of Cranberry cardstock and stuck it on the type charm first, then glued the star down. The hole in the center bothered me so I snipped off the prongs from the back of a brad and then glue the brad head in place.

I really like the burlap that Tim used on the top of his tag and was tempted to run to the craft store in search of some. But then I remembered that I had some old cross-stitch cloth stashed away from many moons ago and pulled that out in hopes of finding a natural looking piece, and I was thrilled to find exactly what I needed! I simply cut a length of it to use as a ribbon.

This cloth is so old, I can tell, because it has a Ben Franklin Crafts price sticker on it and it's been about 15 years or so since that store closed.

Here's the finished ornament once again, hanging on our tree.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by today. I am having tons of fun checking out everyone else's Tags inspired by Tim. And in case you didn't know it, you can go to Tim's blog each day of his 12 Tags and at the bottom of each day's post there are photos and links to tons of other artists' who have created tags too. Nothing will inspire you more!

12 Tags of Christmas TAG 1

2011-12-01T14:21:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. One of my favorite things about the holidays! It's Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. I love waking up each morning looking forward to what Tim has created and then spending a few hours creating something myself inspired by his.

Here's Tim's Tag #1...

Be sure to go to Tim's blog and follow through all the steps to make this tag. Today he has included a quick video with tips on how to create these mini pinecones from his Tattered Pinecone Alterations Die.

Last year I made a banner rather than tags so I had a festive wall-hanging to enjoy every Christmas. This year I opted for ornaments for our tree. They look a lot like tags, but I used a fancy shaped cut from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to make mine.

More on that in a bit. First, here's my ornament #1...

I wish the word "Noel" stood out a little more in this photo, but in person it appears much better.

This is the base image on the Cricut cartridge. It's Oval 5 on page 62 in the booklet. I cut the shape from thin cardboard using a deep cutting blade and going over it twice. I cut another from the same Kraft Kore cardstock Tim used. (Special thanks to Tim himself for giving out a FREE pack of this great cardstock on the Caribbean Cruise!) And I cut a third one from plain Kraft cardstock for the back. I wanted to be sure this felt like an ornament and not a tag. It's pretty sturdy now.

Okay, now I am not above admitting to failure and this is a good example. Check out this hot mess! I don't exactly know where things went awry, but they did. So I ditched this one and tried something else. This is one of the things I enjoy blogging about when making Tim's tags because it helps demonstrate that things don't always go as planned and there are ways around it. Also to share how to make do with what you've got if you don't got what Tim's got. (Grammar teachers cringing.)

Maybe it was because I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder rather than Tim's?

I didn't have the Snow Flurries Texture Fade that Tim used. But then I remembered the strip of snowflakes in the Christmas Backgrounds and Borders set and used it instead. I just turned it this way and that each time I ran it through the Vagabond.

I didn't want to chance wasting another piece of this yummy Kraft Kore cardstock, so I steered clear of the white embossing powder and used Glitter powder instead. Then I hit it with some Snow Cap White paint dabber. Hard to see it here, but the results were good.

Here's another look at the finished ornament. It's on my tree already.

Can't wait for tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by.

December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

2011-11-30T20:40:00.001-05:00

Mad About You is Close To My Heart's December stamp of the month and what a great set to get ready for those lovey cards for Valentine's Day (even if it's a bit early, it's never too early for love!)

This is a Blog Hop so that means over 50 different consultants are creating projects with this stamp set, so you should have plenty of inspiration. If you're already hopping, you came here from Traci Godbee's blog. Keep reading through my post to see where to hop to next.

With all that's going on during this holiday season, I opted for a few cards, and with this great stamp set it was fun and fast. And with the Art Philosophy cartridge, I didn't have to cut anything out. Piece of cake! Check out all the images in this set in the right-hand column of my blog. The outlines around images signify coordinating Cricut cuts. Awesome!

Here's one of my cards created with this set...

I decided that I would include this card as one project for my Cards & More Club next week, but as I got to thinking about it, all my members are women and this card is rather feminine, so it probably wasn't going to work as a Valentine. Well, unless... okay... no.

So I made the very same card with more masculine colors and I will just let them decide which one they want to make. Lucky me, I now have two cards for Valentine's Day and guess what I think I will do? My husband likes to buy me those silly Shoebox cards, no matter what occasion, so I will give him the feminine card above to give to me (he'll love not having to go buy one anyway) and I'll give him this one...

Both cards were constructed the same way. Here's a quick look at how easy they came together.

Stamp large heart image with Versamark and emboss with either Clear Detail or Pearl embossing powder. For the feminine card, I used Pearl. For the masculine, I used Clear Detail.

Fill a spritzer with mostly water, some re-inker (I used Smoothie) and a dollop of Pearl Paint, shake up, spray lightly, then wipe off the hearts with a damp paper towel to wipe away spritz to reveal the emboss.

The spritz looked a little bright, so I used a little Bamboo on a sponge dauber to tone it down a bit. I added some ribbon and pattern paper from the Elemental paper pack.

The ticket shape is cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge and this stamp image fits perfectly. I masked out two of the three so I could stamp different phrases, while keeping the double border. The mask is simply a piece of post-it-note.

Just stamp the image and peel up the post-it paper to reveal just the border.

Here is another look at the masculine card again so you can see the effect of the masked tickets.

Now continue on the Blog Hop and head over to Teresa Scrivens' blog to see what fantastic idea she's come up with. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the Blog Hop!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas is almost here!

2011-11-30T08:17:00.000-05:00

I'm not alone, I'm sure, in the excitement and frenzy that is about to begin tomorrow, Dec. 1st when Tim Holtz begins his famous 12 Tags of Christmas.

If you've never heard of this before, I ask you "Where have you been?" This is the time of year when Tim creates one fantastic Christmas tag per day and shares it with us on his blog. We learn new techniques, he shares some videos, we get nice close-up step-by-step photos of every lovely detail, and we can create our own easily at home with supplies we have. Just take a look at his blog, go the left hand column and you can view his tags back to 2007.

I have participated in his 12 tags two years now. Just for fun, let's take a look at my banner I did last year (I opted for this instead of tags).

Here's a quick video and if you want to see each tag's details a little closer you can always go back to my December posts in 2010. Thanks for stopping by and keep watch because I'll be posting my creations each day as I finish them.

12 Tags of Christmas Banner from Annette Green on Vimeo.

Holiday Wishes promo is almost over

2011-11-28T08:33:00.000-05:00

For those Close To My Heart fans, you have only a few more days to qualify to get your exclusive "Holiday Wishes" stamp set for only $5.

It's a pretty stamp set all on its own, but what makes it great is the coordinating cuts on the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. See the thin red outlines around the four main images? That means there's a cut sized exactly for those shapes.

Here's my favorite card made from this set...

I used Echo Park's Merry Christmas papers and Tim Holtz's Distressed Doily die along with some ink distressing to give these bright and festive papers a more aged look. The doily was cut from Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Natural Sticky-Back Canvas.

The dove is in the stamp image. I stamped it twice and cut out the second one to layer over the original. A bitty sparkle gem is the dove's eye.

Love that Distressed Doily!

Here's a quick and easy card I made with the tree image from this stamp set...

I added some Holiday Red Stickles to the berries and some Liquid Glass over the doves to give some dimension. This card came together in just a few minutes!

Don't forget, to get the Holiday Wishes stamp set for only $5 all you have to do is place an order with me by November 30th and make sure $25 of that order is in stamp sets. Just click here to start shopping and then be sure to also check out the "While Supplies Last" area of my website to grab some great deals!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a fun and happy Monday.

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #5

2011-11-21T09:07:00.000-05:00

5th Annual Holiday Workshop

Sunday, December 4th

12 noon - 6 p.m.

$45

The final set of items we'll be making at my 5th Annual Holiday Workshop in December are five cards. Each guest will make two of each.

This is a great mix of Close To My Heart, Tim Holtz, The Paper Studio and Echo Park.

Now let's take a look at all the projects everyone will be making in case you missed the sneak peaks along the way.

Here's what you see...

One altered wine/gift bag

10 Holiday Cards

4 Gift Card Holders

4 Large Tags

20 Small Gift Tags

I'm looking forward to another year of holiday fun with my friends. If you're in the area on Dec. 4th and would like to join us, I'd love to have you! I currently have three spots available.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoy your Monday.

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #4

2011-11-17T22:10:00.000-05:00

One more to go after this! I've been a busy bee over here working on my Holiday Workshop tags. Each guest will make 20 small gift tags (four each of five designs) in addition to a slew of other items I've been posting the past few weeks in my sneak peeks.

Next up will be ten different holiday cards so stay tuned on Monday.

Today it's all about gift tags.

These were so fun and fast to create using the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy cartridge along with a few punches and older QuicKutz dies and Close To My Heart stamps.

Here's a closer look at each. Thanks for stopping by to check them out. Have a great day!

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #3

2011-11-16T08:05:00.000-05:00

Four gift card holders are next for my Holiday Workshop preview. This annual workshop is December 4th, from noon to six p.m. So if you're in the Melbourne, Florida area and want to play with us, just let me know.

Here's a look at all four gift card holders inspired by Julee Tilman, a great designer I like to follow. Check out her blog here when you get a chance.

Look at all those Starbucks cards! I can't ever bring myself to throw them out. I love em!

Here's some close-ups of each one...

For all of these, I used Hobby Lobby's "Ornamental Christmas" pack from Paper Studio. I believe this is Hobby Lobby's exclusive line, but I would be wrong. Either way, I love the paper.

Stamps are from Close To My Heart as well as all the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge cuts you'll see. Buttons and waxy flax are from Close To My Heart and other trims and such are from my local craft store. These were very fun & easy to make, thanks to the Art Philosophy cartridge!

I've seen this great twine everywhere in magazines and other blogs, so I stocked up on some from The Twinery. I'm always a little late with trends.

I can't remember where I ever got these great paper clips, but I've had them over a year now. They look like candy canes and are a perfect embellishment for holiday cards and tags.

Gotta run for now. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

Dollar Store Tray Becomes Holiday Wall Hanging

2011-11-14T20:59:00.000-05:00

Like many of you, I'm sure, I like to roam the aisles of hardware stores, office supply stores, and dollar stores to find interesting and affordable items to alter or work into my art. I recently found these great decorative tin serving trays in my local Dollar Tree and grabbed up about a dozen for an idea yet to be born for my All Things Tim Group.

I decided on a wall hanging and things started to fall into place. Here's what I came up with.

It may not be the perfect artist's composition, but I am happy with it and can't wait to take down all my fall decorations and hang this baby up!

Like I said, it started with this rectangular serving tray. Add some holiday paper from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Paper Stash and it's starting to feel festive.

I scuffed up the back of the tray where I was adhering this plaid flannel ribbon just to make sure the surface wasn't too slick. This looks pretty nasty, so I cut a piece of felt and glued it over everything.

From the craft store, I snatched up some inexpensive mini ornaments. I liked these because I don't have any vintage ones of my own and these sort of have the look I was after. The pine and berry stem came from the craft store too. Is it a stem? A spray? A pick? I don't know.

I cut a snowman out of grungeboard from Tim's Sizzix Alteration's die "Winter Wonder." I painted the hat and the nose and the arms of a second snowman and layered them over the top, but not until I painted the base snowman white, inked the edges then applied Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint generously and let it dry. So cool!

I just got this new "Holiday Lamppost" die (Sizzix Alterations) and LOVE it! Here I cut it from grungeboard, painted it black then crackled it too. I wanted an icy look and I think it worked nicely. The "glass" in the lamp is a piece of clear plastic packaging cut to fit behind the die opening. I colored it with Sunshine Yellow alcohol ink with a felt blending tool and let it dry before adhering it behind the lamp.

After antiquing some lace with Antique Linen, I hot-glued it across the bottom of the tray, then adorned the lower corner with some Tim Holtz buttons and a glittery snowflake.

Also from Tim's Seasonal Paper Stash, I cut this sheet music page, crumpled it and inked it. The number 25 came from the stash as well. I glued it behind a Idea-ology fragment and hung it with a trinket pin.

In the upper left corner I attached this cluster. The paper is from the seasonal stash again and is mounted on a piece of Kraft Core (Nostalgic Collection) Core-dinations cardstock. Love this stuff! A swivel clasp attaches to a Christmas muse token (both Idea-ology goodness) and the whole thing is hung from a hinge clip at the top.

Here's another look at the whole thing put together. It makes me want to pull out all the Christmas decorations today!

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #2

2011-11-10T21:33:00.000-05:00

Another project in my upcoming Holiday Workshop December 4th is a decorated wine bag. As it's been pointed out to me, this bag doesn't necessarily have to be used to for wine but perhaps cookies, a gift or something else really tall. (Thanks, Lisa.)

I got a bunch of these wine bags online from StampOnThis.com which carries an array of items perfect for stamping and altering. The selection isn't huge, but the prices are good.

For this bag, I again used the Ornamental Christmas paper pack from Hobby Lobby, plus some fun trims and embellishments. That pretty green pom-pom ribbon is from Close To My Heart's Designer Ribbon Green Collection. The large ornament shape is from Tim Holtz's Alterations Carved Ornaments die and the word JOY is a Movers & Shapers Alterations Die too. Fun!

Personally, when I see the word JOY the first thing I think is wine (and vice versa). You?

So for me, this will be a wine bag for someone very special this holiday season.

Holiday Workshop Sneak Peek #1

2011-11-09T10:58:00.000-05:00

My annual holiday workshop is coming, and I am creating in my studio every moment for the big day. The workshop is set for Sunday, December 4th from noon to 6:00 p.m. and each guest will create a slew of goodies for their holidays.

Check it out: 4 Large Gift Tags, 1 Altered Wine/Gift Bag, 4 Gift Card Holders, 20 Small Gift Tags, and 10 Holiday Cards with envelopes. All for $45. Everything is pre-cut and ready to stamp and assemble.

So, if you're in the area and would like to join us, please do! RSVP by November 15th with payment and your seat if officially reserved.

I'll be sharing sneak peeks of all the projects over the next several days. Today is the large gift tags.

These are 5 inches tall and would be perfect attached a special package, bottle of wine, or tucked into a handmade item. Be sure to click on the photo to get a closer view.

I used The Paper Studio's Ornamental Christmas Paper Pack (Hobby Lobby) along with Kraft cardstock for the base tags. Here's how simple they came together. Using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, I was able to cut six 5-inch tall tags per 12 x 12 sheet of paper. First I cut out the Kraft tags to serve as the bases. Then each sheet of the four different pattern papers you see here.

To maximize the use the paper, I made the cuts you see above and used some of the leftovers from the 12 x 12 sheets to make the smaller border strips (see above photo).

I used several Close To My Heart stamp sets with coordinating cuts from the Art Philosophy cartridge, Tim Holtz's Alterations Movers & Shapers Die (reindeer and 25), a Martha Stewart border punch, a Sizzix strip die (holly leaves), some flowers and leaves, plus miscellaneous ribbons and gems. These came together rather quickly and easily.

Stayed tuned for more in the next couple of days as I share sneak peeks of all the other projects in this fun holiday workshop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dual purpose die-cuts

2011-11-06T19:40:00.000-05:00

Just a quick share today. A few weeks back, you may have seen this fall hurricane glass adorned with Clear Modeling Film leaves colored with alcohol inks. (see this post for all details in case you missed it.)

I put my Vagabond machine to work cutting lots of leaves for 12 class members...

and had these leftovers from the modeling film that I thought would make a perfect stencil. I cut a few extra leaves to keep for myself too.

I made this Fall card pretty quickly. Although I didn't photograph the steps, it was really easy.

First I laid down a few cut-out leaves and started spritzing a little alcohol ink in a mister over the card base which was a plain white piece of cardstock. I used a few different warm colors.

Then I dried that layer well.

I laid down the stencil and using a felt pad on the felt handle tool, I squeezed in some warm alcohol ink colors and started tapping the felt into the stencil areas.

Finally, I took a blending foam tool with Wild Honey ink and rubbed it over the whole card to add more warmth. A final spritz of Perfect Pearls Bronze over the whole card and I was happy.

Prima flowers, Tim Holtz die-cut leaves, Close To My Heart ribbon, and some lace pulled the whole thing together nicely.

I cleaned off the stencil with some Alcohol Blending Solution and stored it away for another day.

Cricut meets Cricket

2011-11-02T07:57:00.000-04:00

Only good things can come from combining two great products: Love You a Latte Cricut cartridge and Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird papers.

This tag is for a special friend who I wanted to thank today. (Special friend, you might want to look outside your front door this morning. I snuck out at 6:30 this morning in my jammies to make a covert delivery.)

On the Tim Holtz Caribbean cruise, we were given so many wonderful goodies to use on our projects. Way more than we could possibly use up, so I pulled some of those great embellishments in to this tag. The large polka-dot brad and red ribbon, for example, come from The Girls' Paperie. This great market tag is an older QuicKutz die I love. It's stamped with Close To My Heart's "Make My Day" stamp set.

Velvety Juniper-colored scalloped ribbon is from American Crafts' "Gracious" line.

I absolutely love this "Love You A Latte" cartridge. It's all coffee stuff!

Need I say more?

This is the back of the tag. I didn't need to write anything more. My special friend knows who she is and why she is receiving this today.

* warm fuzzies *

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - "Cherish The Day"

2011-10-31T21:00:00.102-04:00

About 60 consultants are participating in this month's Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month blog hop. If you're already hopping, you came here from Melissa Laverty's blog. After reading through my post, you'll see where to hop to next.

The November stamp set is called Cherish The Day and you can see all the images in this set in the righthand column of my blog. Cherish The Day is a great year-round stamp set with monthly ticket-style images and numbers to go with them.

I decided on a seasonal card set as my creation this month. Utilizing the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, this was a breeze! Here's a quick look.

Once I got started it was hard to stop! These were so quick because practically every cut-out shape you see here is from the cartridge, including the ticket for the stamp of the month. I wanted to make a card for every month of the year, but I had a plan for these cards and only four would fit. (More on that in a second.)

Here are a few close-ups. I love how the sans-serif numbers are separate on the stamp set so you can stamp in the circle of each ticket.

I used the Elemental Paper Pack and Kraft cardstock for each card. They measure 4 1/4 inches square. Then after stamping the ticket image from the stamp of the month, I did some more stamping with seasonal images. Don't have a bunch of seasonal stamps? That's okay. Just use colored cardstock and your Cricut. Then added some ribbon, buttons and bling to finish them off.

The plan I alluded to earlier was to make a gift box and matching envelopes to create a gift set. Four cards and envelopes fit nicely in this box. All made on the Cricut with the Art Philosophy cartridge.

This gift box appears on page 21 in the Art Philosophy booklet. I used Kraft cardstock and set the size to "Fit to Page." This made a box base of about 4 1/2 inches. Then I cut two circles from the Elemental paper at 4 1/4 inches, then sliced each one in half and adhered them to the half circles on the box.

Here's how it looks closed. Love this!

The envelopes are cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge (page 29 in the booklet) at 4 1/2 inches. After adhering the sides, I put a strip of Scor-Tape to make peel & stick flaps.

I placed all the envelopes in the bottom then the four cards on top. Perfect fit!

That's it for me. Now hop on over to Heather Schmuckal's blog to see what she's created. And don't worry, if you get lost along the hop or encounter any troubles, you can view the entire list of hoppers at Helen's blog.

Have a great day!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T10:33:00.001-04:00

I found this hilarious JibJab video today on PaperCraftersCorner.com and tried to re-post on my blog with no luck. Be sure to go to this link and watch it. These crafting rock stars (if you didn't already know) are: Tim Holtz, Theresa Collins, Ali Edwards, Jennifer McGuire and Donna Downey. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

"Go Big Money!"

2011-10-30T09:46:00.000-04:00

"I mean GO. It's your break, honey."

What fun we had last night at my friend (& neighbor) Patty's party.

What a weird mix of characters our little family was this year...

Chuck Norris, Flo from Progressive, and a zombie nurse.

Here's our grand hostess Patty who pulls together this fantastic Halloween party every year. So much delicious food and drink and everyone dresses up in costume. It's awesome! Thank you Patty for all the hard work and fantastic food and fun. You are truly still a kid at heart.

We initiated our new neighbors Michelle and Jeremy at this year's party. They were great as the Blues Brothers.

Ellen and Greg. Lady bug and Flamingo....?

Jen was so clever as sushi.

Tom and Dotty as the king and queen.

Joyce and Jeff came as a 1940's film star and director.

Thankfully not many people recognized my sweet, pretty Jamie in this get-up. She altered her store-bought costume and did her own make-up. Here she's eating a piece of ham with ketchup on it.

Sure doesn't look like the same kid to me.

Jamie and her new neighbor pals. Finally some friends her own age to hang with!

Flo's getting a little chest action with Chuck Norris.

"Unicorns and glitter!"

Hope your Halloween is fun! Thanks for stopping by.

Frightful Food

2011-10-29T09:23:00.000-04:00

Along with many of you bloggers out there, I absolutely LOVE Halloween. I can't wait for my friend Patty's Halloween party tonight and to share my costume with you tomorrow. I also love to cook and bake and especially to make decorative foods like cookies and cakes. With all my clubs and classes, I have a great opportunity to make fun treats to share.

I saw this idea in my recent issue of Cooking Light magazine. I love that these cookies start with a gingerbread man cookie cutter. So easy! They are actually chocolate cookies, but I have to admit I didn't use the recipe from Cooking Light. I have a favorite Martha Stewart recipe I like to use.

Last night my Cherish Club got to enjoy these little take-out treat boxes I made from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and Close To My Heart's Mischief paper. I added Tim Holtz's spider from his Candlelight Fright Alternations die.

But what's inside, you ask?

A bit of a tricky treat. These are white chocolate skeleton skulls made from a Martha Stewart candy mold.

How delicious do these look? Witches fingers made from Pillsbury refrigerated breadstick dough. I shaped them all knobby-like, then brushed them with an egg-wash and added a blanched almond with some red food coloring gel. I sprinkled a bit of rosemary and salt over them and then popped them in the oven. Yum!

I had plenty of chocolate cookie dough and royal icing made up so I made these fun ghosts.

Pretty easy to do and fun to eat.

Thanks for stopping in today. Hope you have some wicked fun this weekend!

Glass Hurricane with Modeling Film Leaves

2011-10-25T20:37:00.000-04:00

My All Things Tim Group meets next week and I've been having fun designing the project today. Using Clearly for Art Clear Modeling Film (Studio 490/Stampers Anonymous) and Tim Holtz's Adirondack alcohol inks (Ranger), this was indeed FUN!

First take a look at the glass hurricane we'll be making.

The glass hurricane measures 8 inches high and about 6 inches in diameter.

The leaves are made from the clear modeling film cut out with Tim Holtz's Alterations Dies: Tattered Leaves and the Mini Tattered Leaves Movers and Shapers set. I used alcohol inks in warm fall colors like Cranberry, Sunset Orange, Sunshine Yellow, Lettuce and Meadow.

Then I heated them up and shaped them how I liked. What fun this is! Then a little hot glue to get the leaves onto the glass. I tied some raffia around the middle of the vase which made an additional anchor point for the leaves.

With some natural twine, I affixed this metal charm (Making Memories) to the front raffia knot.

To finish it off, I placed a 6-inch pillar candle in the vase, then surrounded it with rocks. I think this will be a nice centerpiece for the Thanksgiving table this year.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. It always means a lot to me!

Grungy Monday 24 - Distress with Pearls

2011-10-24T15:03:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't blogged since last Wednesday. I'm not lazy. Really I'm not. I'm constantly busy with something. Anyone who knows me knows that. And while my datebook reflects other projects that I was supposed to do today, I couldn't help but put them off just a little while longer so I could play around with the Grungy Monday challenge this week from StudioL3. Challenge 24 features a fun technique by Tim Holtz which we will call "Perfect Distress" where Perfect Pearls powder meets Distress Inks to create a very cool, unique background effect.

Check out Tim's video here to watch the master at work. Then be sure to head over to the StudioL3 blog to check out all the creations those clever crafters submitted this week.

Meanwhile, here is my take on this technique...

Now let's take a quick look at how it came together.

I took the Wild Honey pad and rubbed it on the craft mat then spritzed the area with water, and patted my cardstock into the color, making sure it was sort of blotchy.

Using Tim Holtz's "Thankful Silhouettes" stamp set, I stamped several of the images in fall colors, then (as Tim did) I brushed on some Perfect Pearls powder. In this case I used Bronze. Then I spritzed all over with water and dried it with the craft dryer.

Ever since Tim posted this product technique on his blog a few weeks ago, I knew I had to have every single one of his seasonal Texture Fades and stamps that coordinate. Also on that same post, he includes a video to follow along so make sure you check it out. Here on my card, I used the "Thankful Background and Border" set of Texture Fades over my background piece.

Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain are my 1-2 punch for ink-distressing. I do it on everything. Here I rubbed Vintage Photo over the top of everything and then Walnut Stain around the outside edges.

Using some of Tim's newest Sizzix Alternations Movers & Shapers Dies "Mini Tattered Leaves" and "Mini Acorn and Pumpkin" I cut out two leaves and an acorn and repeated the color and pearl technique shown above. I stamped some splatters over them using a stamp from the "Artful Flight" set.

I love these flowers that I purchased on the ScrapMap cruise. Tim was selling them in the Marketplace. I was hoping to pass on the company who makes these, but they are packaged in clear cello bags with no label. I bought three packs I loved them so much. I inked two of them here with Wild Honey and Fired Brick distress inks. An old button and some frayed twine finish it off.

I think I'll go put this card in my Etsy shop now. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Enjoy your Grungy Monday!

"Roxie" - The Flavor of the Month

2011-10-19T20:26:00.000-04:00

This month is all about Close To My Heart's new Roxie paper line and coordinating embellishments.

First up are the projects for my upcoming Cards & More Club. This club meets monthly to make two cards and one altered project while learning new techniques and how to use new products. The Roxie papers are great for more feminine projects since the color scheme is mostly pink and black. Be sure to check out all the prints in this pack here.

This great stamp set is called "Love Life." I added some Bitty Sparkles and Flutter Paper Shapes (butterflies) along with some ribbon and a large button. Liquid Glass was poured over the entire surface of each butterfly and set to dry. I propped up the wings a bit while the Liquid Glass dried so they stayed in this position.

I hope this stamp set comes back as a regular item. It's one of our Stamps of the Month from last season called "Find Your Style" and it's one of my all-time favorites. It includes a dressform, a bird, a high-heel shoe and this butterfly along with phrases and words. Here I stamped the butterfly onto acetate using Black Staz-on ink then layered it over Smoothie cardstock. The four squares behind it are chipboard covered in paper and butted together. I got this inspiration from a card I saw in PaperCrafts magazine a few months back.

This red circular tin came from my local dollar store. Luckily it was plain with no holiday prints on it. This worked out perfectly with the colors in the Roxie papers. I made the paper flowers using Smoothie cardstock and the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. Each flower is a little different in size and then spritzed with a Spray Pen filled with a mixture of water and Smoothie re-inker plus a little bit of Pearl Paint added for shimmer. The background piece is one large circle cut from Vanilla Cream cardstock on the Cricut, then sprayed with the same spritz. The butterfly is Silver metallic cardstock punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

Next up are the four scrapbook pages for my Cherish Club which also meets monthly to focus on scrapbook pages, techniques and products. Along with the Roxie papers we will be using the new Rhinestone Designer Brads, Red Collection of Designer Ribbon and Irresistibles Eclectic Alphabet chipboard. I'll be adding a title to the second layout once I know what I'll use the pages for.

The two black butterflies come from the Art Philosophy cartridge as well. I love how clean this cut turned out.

These chipboard letters start off white and since they have a unique resist pattern on each, you can rub color over them and get this great look. Here I used Smoothie and Black.

I love using the new "zip strips" off the top of our papers as an added embellishment to the page. (See the scalloped border with the little sparkles?) The stamp for this journaling tag was last month's Stamp of the Month "Limited Edition." Another great set that has a coordinating Cricut cut-out on the Art Philosophy cartridge.

What an easy flower to make using our pleated & stitched ribbon from the Red Collection. I just glued it to itself in a circle and popped in the large Rhinestone Designer Brad.

And finally is my super easy Kit of the Month. Four more scrapbook pages for those who don't have a lot of time. I utilized some of the papers from the Roxie kit plus the Roxie stickers for these pages. Easy to follow cutting guides, photos and tips are included in each kit every month.

Well, I think I've maxed out my Roxie stash of papers. What fun they are to create with. Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic day!

The Pay-off

2011-10-17T09:47:00.001-04:00

I cannot even imagine how a guy like Tim Holtz does what he does. So much work, so much traveling, so much creating. It's simply mind-boggling.

I am fortunate to be able to host my own workshops right here in my home (for now) with groups of 10 - 15 at a time, and not have to travel, but even with a small group to prepare for, it's still quite a bit of work. Can't imagine how Tim handled 180 crafting cruisers, with four classes on a seven-day cruise!

I never complain about the amount of work because it doesn't feel like work to me. Who wouldn't love a job where you spend a few days in the comfort of your own home studio creating a project, then a few more days--while my TV or music is playing in the background--cutting out pieces and parts from fun Tim Holtz Halloween dies, make little organized stacks for everyone, then hosting the workshop and spending the day with friends who love the project, love creating as much as I do, and are so happy when they are done.

Faces like these keep me going and make me SO stinking happy I can't even tell you!

I won't lie, I like a good "stroking" as much as the next guy. And when I hear oohs and ahhs during a class, or "I love this!" well, let's just say it is worth more to me than just about anything. I love creating, I love to share, and I love teaching the techniques, and if I can make people happy and feel good for those few hours, then life is pretty darn good.

My customers are my friends and I hope they see me in that light as well. So I thank you, my friends, for all you do for me.

Now I'm off to do it all again. Have a wonderful day creating something fun!

Halloween Printer's Tray

2011-10-13T00:00:00.135-04:00

What do you get when you combine a black 7-Gypsies printer's tray and all kinds of Tim Holtz Halloween goodies? Two full days of creative fun for me and a Sunday afternoon workshop for twelve friends.

I pulled out every Halloween Alterations die I owned (plus a few from my pal Patty - thank you) then grabbed a pack of the new Idea-ology Halloween Adornments, the new Halloween Muse Tokens, some new Halloween Kraft Resist paper, some Seasonal Paper and a some Texture Fades, and some Kraft Core Resist cardstock and got rolling. Oh, and let's not forget a few Stamper's Anonymous Halloween stamp sets. (no wonder my credit card bill was outrageous last month.)

Here's a quick close-up of each of the six displays in the tray.

(Love these new Idea-ology Halloween Adornments!)

By the way, my 13-year-old thinks this isn't my best work and it looks childish.

It's amazing how her opinion affects me.

I got over it (not as quickly as I would have liked) but it got me thinking. As creatives, we truly expose ourselves when sharing our art. Unless of course we never show it to anyone. (That's just a shame.) But we've got to remember WHY we do what we do. Why we create the things we do and how it makes us feel.

Recently Linda Ledbetter at StudioL3 wrote quite an eloquent thank-you letter to Tim Holtz on her blog following the crafting cruise. I was so touched by her words and her feelings about being rejected by her art teacher as a young girl and after giving up out of embarrassment how she discovered a few years later that her artistic dream was not lost, only dormant. It was then she wandered into a craft store and discovered the magic of Tim Holtz.

Well, I can't even begin to express it like she can, so I encourage you to go to her blog at this link and read her letter. I don't want to re-post it here and take away from the honor she deserves. Just trust me when I say that it speaks volumes and will touch each and every one of you, no matter on what artistic level you believe you are. And you'll be glad you read it. I know I was.

Thank you Linda.

Grungy Monday 22 - Tim Holtz Halloween

2011-10-11T09:10:00.000-04:00

Back to the fun of Grungy Monday challenges! This week's challenge #22 from Studio L3 is sharing your Halloween art creations using Tim Holtz products. Right up my alley! So far this season I've made four Halloween projects with Tim Holtz stuff, so all I had to do is decide which to post. In this case, re-post because I thought I'd share again my ATC cards I swapped on the cruise recently.

With the help of Shrinky Dinks shrink plastic, I took several of Tim's newest Halloween Alterations Dies and shrunk them down for the small canvas of an artist trading card. Here are the six different ones I created and swapped.

If you click on the photo you can see more of the details. I combined metallic card stocks on some of these for a cool effect. I also utilized the new Halloween Kraft Resist card stock and Ranger Distress Stains. These were so much fun to make it was hard to stop once I got started.

Thanks for stopping by today. Enjoy the other Grungy Monday artwork over at Studio L3 when you get a chance.

October Stamp of the Month

2011-10-10T13:02:00.001-04:00

Hi bloggers! Happy Monday to you. I wish I could say it's happy here, but I'm working on getting through Day 2 of the flu right now. I am itching to create so badly, but I just don't have the strength to sit at the computer or my work table very long. Stinkin' flu... go away. You're getting in my way.

I was away last week on my Tim Holtz cruise during this month's Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop, so I thought I'd take today to catch up and show my creations with this wonderful "Holiday Magic" stamp set. You can view all the images in this great set in the righthand column of my blog.

For my creations I focused on the stocking and the tree. Here are two simple treat holders for the holidays.

Let's start with the stocking.

As I looked at the Stamp of the Month, I wondered if possibly the new Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge's stocking shape was compatible to the stocking stamp image and to my delight it was! So I cut from Colonial White card stock a bunch of stockings at 3 1/2 inches on the Cricut. Then I cut the same number out of Chocolate card stock at 4 inches. I stamped the Colonial White with Cranberry for the top part and Twilight blue for the stocking portion.

Of course, they don't nest perfectly this way, so I had to make some minor adjustments. (As I understand it, though, if you have the Design Studio software you can stretch and adjust so that it will work for you.) I don't have that software, so I made some minor cuts with scissors. First I cut off the top of the Chocolate stocking.

I glued the top of the stocking back on from the back side, moving it down a bit so that it showed an even border of Chocolate card stock around my Colonial White one.

This picture doesn't show the Chocolate topper piece, sorry, but it does show the final step and that is to round off the toe area of the Chocolate piece.

There we go. I didn't have to trim anything else and it worked out nicely.

Next I created a long skinny pocket-style box to sandwich between two stockings to hold the treats, which you'll see in the next photo. Above are the cutting and scoring measures. I used Colonial White for my demo, but I would suggest using Chocolate card stock so it matches everything.

When assembling this box, I like to put the treats inside first to make sure they fit well and the box isn't too tight. I put a Starbucks Via Coffee pack and a Merci chocolate treat inside. Perfect for this! I used Scor-Tape as my adhesive because it's super strong and sticky.

I stuck the box down to the first stocking piece then added Scor-Tape to the other side of the box to sandwich the other stocking.

I added a small piece of Cranberry ribbon to the inside left of the long box to serve as a hanger. Then I finished it off with some CTMH Glitz Red Glitter Gel on all the snowflakes.

Next I used one of the Christmas tree images from this stamp set and stamped it four times using New England Ivy ink on Sweet Leaf card stock.

You'll notice I turned the stamp set upside down for this. No big deal that the music notes are upside down. I'm fine with it. Make sure you stamp four and not three like in my picture. I cut out all four leaving side flaps on two of them.

I scored the two with the side flaps and folded them in. Then adhered all four together, alternating the ones with flaps and the ones without. Make sense? The side flaps serve as glueing points.

I added a tiny red jingle bell from my stash using some thick waxy flax with a knot to hold it from the inside, and glued some ric-rac around the top and sheer Cranberry ribbon at the top and bottom. These would look cute on a small Christmas tree filled with goodies.

Thanks for stopping by today. Now I'll go back to bed with my iPad and look back to the Blog Hop from last week and check out what everyone else did with this stamp set. If you haven't done so yourself, start here at Helen's blog and hop through.

Have a great day. I hope to be feeling a little better tomorrow. Much to do this week!

Cruise Recap #3 - Thanks Tim!

2011-10-06T10:21:00.000-04:00

This video was posted on Tim's blog today and I just had to share. If you look closely, you'll see Charmin in one of the videos walking away from Tim and into the crowd about mid-day through. (one of my cruise pals). I have to admit I got a little choked up at the end with the music because they played that song often during our classes and it will always remind me of this amazing adventure. Thanks Tim!

Cruise Recap #2

2011-10-05T08:53:00.000-04:00

While waiting for other photos from my fellow cruisers to be shared, I thought I'd post a few more I took from my recent Tim Holtz Crafting in the Caribbean Cruise last week.

If you follow regularly, you saw my ATCs I made to trade on board. Here they are again...

Mine were all Halloween themed.

These are the great swaps I received from other cruisers. Most of them were Caribbean/beach themed, which was appropriate. I'll be adding these to my book with other memorabilia.

Kick-off toast the first night at dinner.

Me taking a dull moment of waiting for the Skyride to act like a geek. At first I thought the sign was a warning that you could fall out of the Skyride car and plunge to the ground. Now I see that it was just a warning that the platform might be slippery.

Skyriders unite! (This was in St. Thomas, as you can see.)

This excursion was worth it just to get this great shot of the beautiful view from the top. There's our Royal Caribbean ship wedged between Disney and Carnival. The captain went in sideways, sort of a parallel parking type of thing. Amazing.

St. Maarten was beautiful. This is the beach where I collected shells for our printer's tray project.

We did some shopping around St. Maarten and then came across this colorful restaurant. We didn't eat there, but I loved the way it looked so I snapped a photo.

We came upon this tree with this (unknown to me) fruit growing on it. They looked like balloons attached to the trunk and branches.

Back on the ship it was time for Bahama Mamas. Two for one!

Stay tuned the next couple days. I'll be sharing photos of those mini album pages I mentioned in my last post, plus jet-skiing, parasailing and zip-lining!

Have a great day!

Cruise Recap #1

2011-10-03T11:44:00.000-04:00

This photo pretty much says it all, doesn't it? This is the first moment I met Tim on the ship. (I was dying!) He was such a good sport to take this silly shot with me. Of course, I got a serious shot too, but this was just how I was feeling. The first night of the cruise we attended a Meet & Greet party where we all got to meet Tim and Mario, plus Jim West from ScrapMap and the members of both Tim's and Jim's teams. This was also the perfect time to trade ATC swaps with other cruisers. I got so many cool things! I'll be sharing more this week.

And then there's Mario who was there at the door when we came in, trading his swaps, which were little popsicle sticks with "Tim Holtz Cruise" printed on one side and "Pallet 2011" on the other. He (& Tim) seemed to like my Starbucks pocket watches I made for them. Mario was so enjoyable to chat with. Always so accessible and easy to talk to. We bumped into him several times on the ship.

This is the first thing we would see when we'd enter the classroom each day. A large screen with a hint of the project we were about to do. This was our first class so it was an easy warm-up project: an altered travel coffee mug. Tim had two large screens, one at each end of the room, and there is his laptop in the lower right of the photo where he would run his slide-show from. Everything was very organized during class. It was quite clear that a lot of time and effort went into this whole event.

At one point during the class, Tim ducked under the overhead screen and I noticed the cool pocket on the butt of his jeans and just had to snap a quick photo.

Here are two views of my altered coffee cup.

The "Crafting in the Caribbean" stamp was a custom woodblock stamp for each of us. Loved this!

Tim on the mic. He was charming and funny and a very casual teacher. I never felt rushed on the projects and was pleased with the organization of the class. His team of gals (Rachelle, Joy and Monica) were awesome, always making sure we had everything we needed and helped us out if we had questions. It was clear they were working hard to make sure we were all happy. And indeed we were!

Day 2's project was this gatefold mini album which I absolutely love. The covers were custom printed with a large image of Tim's compass stamp so that when you closed the two covers, the image met up perfectly in the center. In this photo above, you're looking at the back side of the album. The covers and side spines were all from Wendy Vecchi's Art Parts. The pages are from the Kraft Resist paper pack and each one was a side-loading pocket page. We tissue-taped the tops and bottoms, then spread Distress Stain colors over the entire page. (see next few photos)

Here's how the front came together. It opens out from the center and stays closed by using a stretchy elastic band on the right panel and stretching it over the curio knob on the left side. A tassle and key dangle from the elastic too for a fun embellishment.

I'll be posting more photos of the inside pages this week, but for now I thought I'd share just a few. (click on the photo for a larger view) This is the view you get when you open this awesome book. We worked on these pages on our own in the Art Studio after hours. It was so much fun to use all the goodies Tim gave away to create these embellished pages.

Speaking of give-aways, these were just SOME of the goodies on Day 2 alone. I went home with a full extra suitcase of give-aways!

People traveled from all over the world to come on this creative cruise. Naomi and Kyoko came over from Japan! It was great meeting them and all the other crafters on board. Everyone was so friendly and kind. And we all love Tim of course.

When we weren't in class, we were having fun on the ship or on our excursions. This particular night was extremely fun, as you can see. It all started off in the piano bar with lots of sing-alongs and drinks...

...then proceeded to "The Crypt" for dancing at a super high-energy pace. (Who's that crazy lady in pink with her arms in the air you ask? That would be me.)

Being the proper married lady that I am, I opted to dance with this sweet fella named Paul who was 83 years old. That man never sat one out. He was gettin' it!

After a day and a half's break for excursions, we headed back to the classroom a short workshop in the evening to make a pocket watch. Loved this! Tim handed out full packs of Graphic 45 papers and a kit of Idea-Ology stuff along with some small words so we could create anything we wanted in our watch. It was fun to check out everyone's creations the next day, because of course we all were wearing them proudly.

We were instructed in our first class to spend the next couple of days collecting some souvenirs on our travels to St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Tim wouldn't tell us exactly what these would be for, but we had an idea.

Our final project was a two-parter. It was this Printer's Configurations Tray and this is Tim's display you see above. It was beyond cool, especially with that old pirate ship. Be sure to click on it so you can take in all the details.

This is my drawer in progress. I will be adding more embellishments and then photos once I get time.

Some of the cool details on this tray project was this flip-up interactive photo area. Using Tim's binder clip, we added fun colorful pages that can hold additional photos and/or journaling.

Another cool idea for this printer's tray is to add a piece of cork to one of the spaces and then you can poke things into it like these fun little party picks, my button from St. Thomas and one of Tim's word sticks.

Tim taught us how to create the grunge block letters you see above, and he gave us a ton of stuff to help fill up our trays. Lots of Idea-Ology and then some findings from the islands too.

I collected tiny shells and filled up one of Tim's little vials with them. This great turtle was a purchase from the outdoor marketplace in St. Maarten. Tim gave us all the fish netting and the pretty sand dollars.

So many faces that I can now put with names I've seen on the All Things Tim Group and also from StudioL3. Here is the sweet Linda Ledbetter who is Miss StudioL3 herself, hosting those great Grungy Monday challenges on her blog each week. It was great to meet her in person. And, lucky her, she was the winner of a FREE cruise for two!

Here we are trying to catch up a little on our printer's trays on the top floor of the ship in this nice quiet room we found. The view was fantastic up there!

Here is where my day began every morning: the coffee house. I would sometimes see Mario here bright and early getting fueled up for the day. I asked him what his favorite drink was from Starbucks and he said, "Four shots over ice." Whoa!

I have so many more photos and stories to share, but this post has already taken half of my day today, so stay tuned for more. I'll be back in a couple of days. Thanks for stopping by.

Finally Time to Set Sail

2011-09-24T20:49:00.000-04:00

After about a little less than a year since we booked, the wait is finally over and I'll be hopping on the cruise ship tomorrow with five of my gal pals for a week of creative fun with Tim Holtz!

I had high hopes of pre-posting some blog entries, but simply ran out of time. I'll be back October 2nd and will be posting all kinds of photos from the cruise, so be sure to come back and check it out.

Meanwhile, here is a photo of the ATC's I finally finished, but still need to bag up.

And here is our magnetic sign for our cabin door.

Well, it's getting late and I still need to polish my toes pretty for Tim.

Goodnight, and I'll see you upon my return!