Distressed Love

Inspired by Tim Holtz's video for his new releases I decided I needed to use some of his products for a Valentine's card. I basically used the picket fence paint and a few of the inks (Pickled Raspberry, Candied Apple and Festive Berries) to get the background color on a watercolor panel then stamped the various images on top and spritzed it with some Perfect Pearls and then added a die cut and a few stickers.

Not sure who I will give this card to as most people I know aren't into the distressed card panels which is kind of a shame because the I like making them.

Since Feb 14th is so close I am also showcasing another cards.

This one I decided to create a card using a bunch of leftover supplies. The embossing panel was leftover from a panel that I first tried using this background for the HVD card but didn't like it so I used the swiss dot on that card. I also diecut a heart too large so diecut it again and am using the remnants of that and a leftover diecut love word that I did in both silver and red but ended up using the red so the silver was leftover. Then I embossed the word sentiment and added some epoxy hearts to complete this card.

Watercolor- Thank You card number 3

Another watercolored card, I was trying to go for red but again the distressed inks don't quite give it the brilliance I had hoped for so mixed in a little festive berries with the fired bricks.

I loved my polka dot pp so much on my previous card I decided to repeat it but using a smaller dot pattern,

Watercolor - Thank You Friend

Well I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. I for one am done, done, done. After hosting 3 straight days of parties I can honestly say I was happy to put my house back in order.

Afterwards I cleaned my craft room which was in need of some desperate cleaning but a bit of organization as well. I have determined my room is just too small for all my needs but alas it's what I have so I pack it full and trust me it doesn't take much to get it out of organization.

Once it was clean I actually had to wait a day just to admire the fact that you could once again not only see my desk but the floor. 

Then it was time for some water coloring and making my Thank you cards.
I stamped my flowers from Simon Says Stamps Beautiful In Flowers stamps set and colored them in with Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I like to use the Pickled Raspberry and Abandon Coral together.

After my coloring was done I opted to use my new MFTS pp which is nothing but black and white polka dot pp. I love the pop it gives my watercolor panel.

I hope all of you have a healthy and happy New Year!

Happy Bird-Day!

As usual I found myself behind on my tasks and lo and behold I had a birthday lunch to go to and found myself completely unprepared. First thing to do was make a birthday card.

I had this flamingo set untouched for a few months and needed some inspiration quick to whip out a card and these stamps and dies did just that.

First I attempted to do a watercolor background with the distress crayons but eh not at all what I wanted, so plan b - use the distress inks, mush them on an acrylic block, mist with water lay a water color card on top and voila` instant background. Nice and vibrant just what I was going for.

I then cut the watercolor card using a MFT stitch rectangle die, stamped and colored my flamingos, popped them up using some foam tape, then mounted the layers on my base card. Lastly I added the  die cut grass also from MFT, the matte enamel dots and stamped my sentiment on a speech bubble which I also popped up.

Ok card done check, now all I need is a quick gift. Hopefully a pound of see's candy will do the trick.

Happy Halloween

Continuing with more of my Tim Holtz class byproducts I created the background using his paints as a stamp resist. Much like using any other ink or embossing technique this one simply uses paints to stamp an image with, then you ink up the card and wipe off with a wet paper towel to reveal the resist stamped image. I have to say I prefer these types of techniques by far than anything else I've tried.

Then using a plethora of die cuts I created my little scene. The pumpkins and broom are from Poppystamps, the tree from Quickutz or whoever they are these days. The Happy from My Favorite Things, a circle punch for the vellum then I used part of a Memory Box stamp to stamp just the Halloween sentiment. The plaid paper was part of that Authentique 6x6 Halloween pad I picked up at the expo.

BTW for a little tip, I use a piece of paper tape to cover up the sentiment part I don't want to stamp, ink up the stamp then pull off the tape. It's a pretty easy way to just use part of a mounted rubber stamp or any stamp where you don't want the entire sentiment or image for that matter.

Watercolor Halloween

So technically the background on this card is the water coloring, no image per se. This was another Tim Holtz technique. Using his reinkers on a pre wet water color piece of cardstock.

After you get your initial colors on the water color card you go back (once it's dry of course) and use his distress inks to layer on more color adding or intensifying some areas and adding in a color in other areas. I did have Halloween in mind when I made this background. I do like the vibrant colors his inkers lend.

The dies are from Impression Obsession and normally I would add a sentiment but somehow it just doesn't work here, it's just too distracting from the die cut image and watercolor contrast.

Vintage - Halloween

Well I finally got a few minutes in my craft room and after unpacking and cleaning my room I did manage to come across a tag I had forgotten about. This was created during my Chemistry 101-103 classes.

I used a kraft tag and then used distressed inks to create the base. I then stamped in black a few details and the technique I was most excited about was using Perfect Pearls. I had some sudo ones that I really love and when I saw Tim use Perfect Medium to adhere perfect pearls I was hooked.

Of course that meant buying some perfect medium but I think it was an investment well spent. All you need to do is stamp the image in perfect medium then dump some perfect pearls on it and use a fan paint brush to brush off the excess.

The numbers 3 and 1 were from a stamp set I bought many years ago and in fact I just recently got rid of the alphas but forgot about the numbers because I kept them separately I am so glad I did because they really work great on this tag.

I also am a huge fan of black/orange plaid ribbon but its so hard to find in less than 1 inch but I just folded over my wide ribbon and adhered it to the tag with some hot glue.

A few punches from QK, vintage HW paper pad I picked up the expo from Authenique and then I experimented with this fun black sparkling glitter from Judikins. I wondered how embossing would work on vellum, a risk I decided to take and am pretty happy on how it came out although it's hard to capture the sparkle with a camera.

Vitnage - Merry and Bright

 

For this card I bought some of Tim Holtz resist cardstock. I admit it's kind of fun to alter. I never would have given this a second thought having seen it, but I guess if I was into the grunge antique look then I would know more about those products.

 

On this card, I just used the antique linen paint to white wash it then added in the distressed inks and then same thing swiped it with a wet towel.

 

The deer die was given some glitter from Martha Stewart then I die cut the holy leaves from Penny Black, punched out some berries and finished it with a metal heat embossed die cut. 

 

 

 

Vintage - Joy

On to my second technique, this one I really like. Basically you use his paint as a resist. I used the antique linen paint to stamp some script onto a card then you add in the distress ink. Then to bring the stamped antique linen color out you wet a towel and rub it over the stamped image and like a heat emboss resist the images or in this case the script text pops out.

I tried some other techniques but didn't care for them and as I mentioned before it just wasn't my style.

Most of what I do seems to be creating backgrounds but I do like the look of this for another vintage card. Keeping my theme of Christmas I added in some snowflakes, a stamped banner and bits of flowers and leaves. I also added in a trio of stick pins and the Joy die cut from Papertrey Ink which I used glitter cardstock as the back layer of the sentiment.

Vintage - Merry Christmas

Well I know it's insanely early to be thinking about Christmas cards and normally I wouldn't even be giving it more than a thought, but alas my bff gifted me 3 Tim Holtz classes on onlinecardclasses.com

I have taken the first two and the third starts this week which is a live class. The other two were self study. I have to say the first one really goes into depth about all the distress products and the difference between them and demonstrates which ones do what. Very informative and of course very enabling. I did go buy some more inks and a few stains.

Then I took the second class which IMO is just a more casual repeat of the first. You do get to see Tim create more tags with the products which gives you ideas on creating with them, more enabling and I went and bought some paint. Now I will confess to you that almost everything else he used which was a lot I already owned. Nice to see alcohol inks being used because years ago I bought that and then realized I didn't really care that much for them, until these classes. Now I am trying to debate do I really need more of them.

I finally got all my supplies and proceeded to start playing with them. As I started to get through some techniques it was apparent to me why I stopped buying and creating the whole distress/grunge look. It's just not my style. Now I feel like a sucker having bought more of the distress products and am committed that I will use them. So doing what I know I love I decided to go vintage with some of my Halloween and Christmas cards because I love love love the vintage look of these two seasons.

So my first attempt was to go and create tags but then I realized why am I making tags, I don't normally use them, so I quickly changed from tags to cardstock in the size of cards rather than the tags. But I started a tag so I didn't want to waste it.

This is just the basic distress ink type of technique. I did use the Picket Fence stain to white wash the tag then added in his distress inks, then stamped it. Then thinking hey I can mist some water on it, I realized what it did was pull that white picket fence stain to the forefront which gave me a washed look. I then used some metallic embossing ink for the sentiment and added all the other bits of pieces to create the card.

Zappy Birthday

Continuing on with my February birthdays, I made this card for the 5 yr old grandbaby. Not too much superheroish but maybe just enough. I used some Tim Holtz distress inks to create the background mimicking a bit of a sunset. Cut the city from a Taylored Expressions die and then used my Papertrey Ink superhero stamps and dies for the rest.

HW - Scene It

I have been noticing a lot of cards lately that are pretty much a mini scene and really like they way they look. I decided it was my time to attempt one, not as good as what I have seen but hey it's my first time.

I used Tim Holtz Distressed Inks to create a setting sun look, die cut the grave yard from Memory Box, then stamped my Kraftin Kimmie witch, colored it with copics and yes ladies I fuss cut it..I decision I kind of having second thoughts about as I was doing it. The moon and clouds are from Papertrey Ink as well as the sentiment . 

And there you have it my first attempt at creating a scene.