O' Christmas Tree ATCoin

I was looking for an idea to make 11 ATCoins for our NEPA Stamp & Swap.  I'm not sure where I first saw the idea, probably Pinterest, but there is a video on the Sizzix site that I watched. 

I used the Sizzix Bigz Die w/Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Tree Rings, Mini by Tim Holtz.  ATCoins are 2 1/2" & the smaller die is about 1/8" smaller.  For each coin I cut 3 layers - 2 from SU Brown Sugar CS for the front & back of the coin & 1 from a coaster which made it sturdy without a lot of thickness.  

Once die cut, I paint the edges of the coaster brown.

I went around the edges of the cardstock with a brown Sharpie.

 

  

Next I stamped the 'O Christmas Tree sentiment from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Scribbly Christmas in Ranger Coffee Archival Ink,  I wanted the sentiment to curve so I used a little adhesive to stick it to the block.  It worked OK but I did have to occasionally adjust the stamp on the block. 

I also stamp one of the trees from the same stamp set in Ranger Olive Archival Ink.

All the pieces of cardstock were then embossed.

The embossing was quite deep & some of the stamped image seemed lost.  I decided to flatten them out a little.  My thought was if I ran them back through the Big Shot it would lose all the embossing.  I tried a brayer but I couldn't apply enough pressure.  I used a rolling pin & that was just enough to achieve the look I wanted

To adhere the front to the coaster, I used a small paint brush to apply Tombow Liquid Glue to the coaster so I would save full coverage without it oozing out the side.

I printed all the backs on a sheet of cardstock & cut them out in squares with scissors.  I carefully centered the printing on the bigz die to cut them out.  They were adhered to the back of the ATCoin (& I didn't get this one on very straight...LOL).

I did touch them up a little with the brown Sharpie then added a mirrored star to the front.

TFL!

Open If You Dare!

This is not only a Halloween card but a birthday card too.  My friend, Mary Ann has an October birthday & she loves everything Halloween.  I  recently saw a similar card but unfortunately I can't find it again to give credit for my inspiration.

The white card front was cut 5 1/4 X 4 from SU Thick Whisper White then inked with Tim Holtz's Crackling Campfire, Spiced Marmalade & Fossilized Amber Distress Ink.

Using Tim Holtz's Stamp Platform, the spooky house from his Haunted House stamp set was stamped in his Archival Black Soot Ink.  It was also distressed with a little Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

Tim's Tangled Twigs was cut from his Kraft-Core Nostalgic Brown Cardstock. Once cut, it was gently sanded.

The ghost is vellum, cut with Tim Holtz Village Graveyard Die.

The ghost was then inked on the back with Tim's Pumice Stone Distress Ink. 

The card front & Tangled Twigs die cut were sprayed with Tim's Brushed Pewter Mica Spray. 

To complete the project the ghost was woven into & adhered to the Tangled Twigs die cut.  It was then adhered to the card front leaving a narrow reveal & added to the SU Basic Black card base.

The final detail was "open if you dare" from Tim's Regions Beyond Stamp Set.  It was stamped on white cardstock, hand cut, inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink & popped up.  

Hope you like my creation & thanks for looking! 

Watch Out For Spiders

Judy, Lisa & I had a good time designing this recipe card for a class at The Craft Shack.  Judy had the recipe & it was perfect for our October class & I made them as a treat for the class.

Starting with SU Pumpkin Pie CS cut to 5 3/4" X 5 3/4, the spider web was stamped with embossing ink then heat embossed with silver sparkle enbossing powder.  The edges of the CS were distressed with black soot ink.  It was then adhered to black CS cut 6 X 6.

Using a stamping platform tool, the trick or treaters were stamped with jet black archival ink.  Using a stamping platform is the only way to go because you can re-stamp it if you don't get a good image.

The tree & ghost house were die cut from black CS.  Lisa added several elements to the back of the ghost house including cheesecloth & yellow CS in the windows plus purple CS for the front door with a black dot for the door knob!  The smoke coming from the chimney was cut from vellum then inked with hickory smoke & adhered with a glue dot.  The ghost house was popped with dimensionals.  Two trees were stacked together & adhered using a fine point glue pen.

The recipe was torn then sponged around the edges with black soot & adhered to the pumpkin pie layer.  The spider was stamped in black soot over the spider web & recipe.  It needed a little sparkle so a red dot was added to the spider.

Below is a photo of the cupcakes & not only were they delicious but fun to make too!

Susan's Technique Birthday Tag #2

Each month a group of my stamping friends get together to celebrate birthdays & September is Susan's birthday month. She was not able to attend our Technique Tags Tim Holtz Style get together at The Craft Shack in September so instead of a traditional birthday card I decided to make her technique cards in the form of a birthday tag. I'm so glad she was thrilled to be able to add them to her idea-ology worn binder notebook!

In September we revisited Tim's 12 tags of 2016 from February when he had done the monoprint technique from June 2014 & the embossed texture paste technique from March 2015.

The embossed texture paste technique is just a little more involved & I have to say this is one of my favorites! I'll tell you what I did but I suggest you follow the link above to Tim's instructions.

I randomly placed a few small pieces of symphony tissue tape on a #8 manilla tag to create a little more interest. To create the background, I put abandoned coral, seedless preserves & twisted citron paint on a craft sheet, spritzed it with water then swiped & tapped the tag into the paint. I spritzed the tag again before drying between layers & dabbed off any excess ink until I achieved the look I wanted. The tissue tape will resist the paint & show through the paint. Remember once the paint is dry its pernment so clean it up right away.

Once the paint was completely dry, I stamped "happy birthday" from Handwritten Sentiments then masked it before stamping images from Classics 1, Classics 3, & Classics 4 in jet black archival ink.

The images were stamped again on masking paper & cut out to cover anything I didn't want to be covered with embossing texture paste.

I sprayed the back of the Gradient Dot Stencil with Pixie Spray to hold the stencil in place & placed if over the masked tag. This has a very light tack & clean off nicely.

The embossing paste was spread evenly over the stencil & then the stencil was carefully lifted off. The stencil & palette knife need to be cleaned right way.

The embossing paste was immediately covered with gold embossing powder with the excess removed & put back in the jar. The project was set aside while the embossing paste dried. Once it was dry, it was heated to melt the embossing powder. If the embossing paste isn't dry it will crack & the white embossing paste will show through the gold.

That's pretty must it.

Check out her other "birthday card"!

Susan's Technique Birthday Tag #1

Each month a group of my stamping friends get together to celebrate birthdays & September is Susan's birthday month.  She was not able to attend our Technique Tags Tim Holtz Style get together at The Craft Shack in September so instead of a traditional birthday card I decided to make her technique cards in the form of a birthday tag.  I'm so glad she was thrilled to be able to add them to her idea-ology worn binder notebook!

In September we revisited Tim's 12 tags of 2016 from February when he had done the monoprint technique from June 2014 & the embossed texture paste technique from March 2015.

The monoprint technique is a very easy technique using distress inks, water & a stencil on watercolor paper.  I'll tell you what I did but I suggest you follow the link above to Tim's instructions.

The mini ink cubes work best for this technique.  I used peacock feathers, squeezed lemonade & ripe persimmon to ink the back of gradient square stencil.  Tim suggests inking the back of the stencil in the event words, etc. are used that need to face a certain way.

Generously mist the inked stencil with water then lay it on the smooth side of the distress watercolor-paper.  Cover with a paper towel & press down on the surface so the ink absorbs into the watercolor paper.  Lift the stencil & dry with a heat tool.

To finish it off, I stamped "happy birthday" from Handwritten Sentiments then masked it before I stamped an images from Classics 1, Classics 3, & Classics 4  in jet black archival ink.  It was then added to a #8 kraft tag.

That's it!!  Easy peasy!

Check out her other "birthday card"!

Noel

This is my last Technique Tag Tim Holtz Style Class for 2018 & actually I won't be doing one for a few months since I'm now a snowbird!  It was funny that I chose to do Tim's custom colored rock candy glitter from his 12 tags of 2012 October then he does a re-make & introduces his new & oh so awesome Glitter Duster!

Following Tim's directions in the link above, I made 2 custom glitters by adding Crimson & Aquamarine Alcohol Inks to Ranger Rock Candy Dry Glitter.  It's so easy & you can make as little or as much as you need.

The technique tag is a #8 inked with tumbled glass, peeled paint & dusty concord distress ink then spritzed with water to blend the colors & add water droplet marks.  Once dry, it was stamped using Classics #1, Classics #2 & Classics #4.  The Aquamarine custom glitter was added to the dragon fly's wings by brushing it with collage matte medium.  I didn't quite get it covered so I went back & added a little more matte medium & as you can see it did clump a little bit.  So when brushing a medium on, make sure you have good coverage.  If done correctly you can still see the veins of the wings through the glitter!  Very beautiful!

The decorated tag is a #10 which was covered with forest collage paper using collage matte medium.  It's not shown here but before it dried the paper was "crinkled" up to make ridges. 

The collage paper was then inked with tumbled glass, peeled paint & gathered twigs then spritzed, 










Now the fun!  Using Tim's new splat box, the tag was sprayed with resist spray then generously sprayed with rock candy glitter using the glitter duster.  Unfortunately the photo doesn't do it justice but the spray of glitter is very fine & evenly distributed,  This is such a genius way to dust your project with glitter!





The bigz vintage noel die was cut from grunge board & inked with candied apple. The crimson glitter was adhered to the noel die cut by spreading glossy accents over the inked grunge board & spreading around with my finger.  After sprinkling the glitter on, it was gently patted into the glossy accents. The excess was shaken off & put back into the jar. The glossy accents did absorb into the grunge board so the glitter didn't cover the entire die cut but it gives it a distressed vintage look.

Several different mini holiday greens were cut from coredinations kraft core paper then sanded.  There are also beaded berries which were dipped in candied apple spray stain,   Everything was adhered behind the noel die cut using glossy accents.  It was then popped up on the tag using dimensionals.

To finish up, a couple of piece of Christmas ephemera were inked & crinkled up before adding.  The crinkle ribbon was inked with peeled paint & tied with cream & red jute.  The pine cone was rubbed with matte medium & sprayed with glitter then hung from the ribbon with a loop pin.  The pine cone just glistens & looks so pretty!



Well that's it!  Thanks for looking & hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Sleet & Snow ATCoin

My first attempt at making ATCoins for a swap!  Lots of fun!

The coins were cut from coaster board using a 2 1/2" BigZ die & pieces of various  tissue wraps were cut big enough to cover the circles. Matte medium was brushed onto the coaster & tissue wrap then they were adhered together making sure the edges were well covered.

After they dried, the tissue wrap was trimmed & the edges were sanded to remove any rough edges.

They were inked using distress chipped sapphire & a little dusty concord.

Then Umbrella Man was stamped using black soot archival ink.  This is a DIY ink pad & is also the best to stamp on acetate with.  It's definitely black without that hint of blue.

Various stickers were placed a little off the edge then trimmed.

I recently saw a technique to make rain but I'm sorry now I can't find who to give credit to.  She used a chalk marker but I didn't have good luck with it so I used the small end of a stylus dipped in picket fence paint & swiped it across the surface at an angle.  To seal the coins & give them a wet look, they were sprayed with resist spray.

Hope you enjoyed my ATCoins.

TFL!!

Flowers for Your Birthday

I made these birthday cards using Tim Holtz Alcohol Lift-Ink Technique for the Giggler's August birthday girls, Judy & Robin.  Lots of fun & its like a BOGO sale!!

How I did it:

Following Tim's instructions, I started by creating a background on Ranger White Alcohol Ink Yupo Cardstock with Aquamarine, Dandelion & Bottle alcohol inks.  Using my Tim Holtz Stamp Platform, I stamped Hero Arts Everything Flower stamp using the alcohol lift-ink onto the background.  To transfer the ink, I immediately stamped the  image onto a  piece of Neenah Premium 110 lb extra heavy cardstock.  I then went back to the original background to blot & dab the image off.  The "happy birthday" was cut from thin foam from the Dollar Tree using Tim Holtz Alterations Celebration Word Script then run through my Xyron sticker maker.  I liked being able to bend the "birthday" into an arch.  I thought the green sentiment needed something to stand out so I brushed it with Clear Zig Wink of Stella.  To finish them off, I added a few pieces of Neat & Tangled Sequin with Ranger Glossy Accents.  It was then mounted on another piece of white cardstock and SU! Tempting Turquoise. 

What worked best for me:

I've practiced this technique several times & since you need to work quickly having a design plan helps.  I like using medium to dark colors because the lighter colors looked washed out on the white Yupo.  I was also impatient so I ended up with a few smears & rubbed to much ink off because I didn't listen to Tim...make sure the alcohol ink is dry before stamping; most important is to blot the ink off until it's no longer shiny before you start to dab or rub & always have a clean spot on your paper towel.

I can see this being a technique I'll use over & over again!  TFL!

Rusted Watering Can

Time for another technique tag Tim Holtz style at The Craft Shack!  This month I used his "Rusted Grunge" technique which is so realistic & easy!

TECHNIQUE TAG:
The background of the #8 manila tag was inked with old paper distress ink using a blending tool & flicked with water.  It was then stamped using Tim's Classics #1, Classics #3 & Classics #4 in black Archival ink.

Now for the technique...the Movers & Shapers jalopy & arrow were cut from grungeboard then pressed into distress embossing ink, covering the entire surface.  I did miss a few tiny spots but that'll be OK.  Next the die cuts were covered with vintage photo embossing powder & embossed with a heat tool.  After the EP & grungeboard were totally cool, I scratch the surface with my fingernail to remove some of the granules of the EP.  This gave it a little dimension.  Using a blending tool, I went over it with vintage photo ink, pushing the ink into the EP.  Voila!  There you have it...rust!  It's hard to see but I added a little patina.  With a paint brush, I randomly dabbed the arrow with cracked pistachio paint.  I also used the rust technique on a gold 4mm brad which is used to hold the arrow on the tag.  I placed the tag in a page pocket & will keep it in my Tim Holtz Worn Binder Notebook for future reference.

DECORATED TAG:
The #10 manila tag was covered with the wood grain paper from Tim's Christmas Paper Stash.  It wasn't quite long enough but I added a strip of Yuletide Design Tape at the bottom which was a great place to set the watering can.

The watering can was rusted using the technique described above, I die cut Tim's BigZ Watering Can & added the patina. It looks just like one I have in my flower garden!  After the watering can was decorated I used black foam squares to pop it up.

The pine & holly are several dies from Tim's Mini Holiday Greens set & were die cut from various colors of his Core-dinations Shattered Collection, sanded & adhered behind the watering can using glossy accents.

The beaded berries (which I love!) were colored using fired brick stain & a peeled paint marker on the stems.

The poinsettias were done by covering a small piece of white CS with melange tissue wrap using matte collage medium then I die cut 6 small poinsettias using Tim's BigZ Tattered Poinsettia Die.  They were inked with festive berries & adhered together using glossy accents & a mini gold brad then attached with a glue dot.  Oops..I messed up the one at the top so I cut & inked plain white.

In the middle, I tucked a "Holiday Party Invitation" from a pack of festive ephemera.

At the top, 2 pieces of Christmas Jute were intertwined into the SU ribbon (I was out of crinkle ribbon) with 4 of Tim's tiny bells tied to the ends.

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting my blog!!