Sunday, August 29, 2010

Almost a Holiday Too Late!

I started this project on Tuesday and just finished it today and now I am uploading less than 2 hours before the deadline... Cutting it short but this project with 12 sides took me AWHILE to make!

This project is for the Lord of Tim Holtz challenge on Simon Says Stamps and Show. Seriously, how could I not do a Tim Holtz inspired challenge!?!?!? I'll warn you up front this is a long post - I used lots and lots of Tim on this project from techniques, to grunge, to dabbers, to distress embossing powders, to idea-ology, to lost and found, to distress inks and on and on and on....

I made a 3 block Holiday Piece with each side featuring either Christmas, Halloween, Valentines or Easter. All the blocks were covered with vintage book text and then wrinkle free distress technique in corresponding holiday colors.

Christmas:
Top (the tag moves up and down so that you will not see it on the next holiday side):

Middle (I used masking tape to remove the wrinkle free distress ink where the Santa was to be stamped) :

Bottom (based one of my favorite Tim Christmas Tags 2009):

Halloween :

Top:

Middle (faux metal technique on the hinge and skull):

Bottom (look at how the skull from the poison image fits perfectly into the film strip ribbon - did Tim do that on purpose?):

Valentine's:

Top:

Middle:

Bottom:

The rose was made using Lynn's tutorial for a grunge ribbon rose. Below are some samples that I made using larger strips of grunge paper - this rose is the largest one - I glued two pieces of 12 inch GP together:

Easter:

Top (that cute bunny image is from Lost and Found - not sure why this one is light?):

Middle (love putting distress embossing powder on the metal foliage):

Bottom (look at that cute little bunny butt and you gotta love all the grunge and distress stickles):

So that is the end of my big TaDa.... There were times this week when I did not think I would get this finished in time - we'll call this one a Tim-may Labor of Love!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend and Happy Creating!

KAT

The Stuff - well all things Tim Holtz of course! And some vintage book pages and wooden drawer pulls (the feet), dymo label maker

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Dreaded Red

Why the title? Today is Just For Fun color challenge day and one of the colors is RED - I keep telling myself to just embrace the red... embrace the red... embrace the red... (I did peak ahead at the next few color challenges and there is not red in sight - Yippee)

Today's colors are:So red - I looked at my Just for Fun stamps and went for the obvious - Cardinals are red:


I blended the bird with different colors of red distress ink, the flower and leaves are blended with DI also. The background is antique linen ink direct to paper and then corduroy DI on Tim's wood grain texture folder.

I am sure the rest of the design team was much more successful with the red than me - so give them a visit! REMEMBER - play along and you could win a $50 Just For Fun gift certificate, see the blog for more details.


Happy Creating!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - All Just for Fun - Large Cardinal, Brushed Floral, Background Block, Thank You
Other - Tim Holt Sizzix Texture Folder, Ranger Distress and Archival Inks

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Daisy vs. the Rose

Happy Thursday and the last day of Innovative Stamp Creations August release! I have two for you today:

Monochromatic Dream:

I just can't help myself - I LOVE black and cream cards! The background image is a large shipping tag that I embossed one side with one of Tim's texture folder and rubbed black ink over. The Daisy from the Nature Silhouette III was stamped in black and I think this really makes the detail pop on the image! The hinge is from one of Tim's Sizzix dies. If you look at the next pic you can see the "Dream" stamp that I am so in love with!!!


Vintage Rose:

The background was created using the large image in the Sketch of Roses II stamp sheet - I inked with Antique Linen ink and then used markers to color some of the background. Since I used the AL distress ink I was able to add some gold embossing powder at the top. The hinge is the faux metal technique.

The Rose is a FABULOUS grunge paper ribbon Rose - can I say easy - here's a link to the tutorial on Lynn's blog - give it a try you'll be surprised how fast you can make these!!! The only thing that I did not like was the added liquid pearls on the rose - I'll skip that step next time!

Take a little to time see the the other designers created:


Happy Creating!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - all Innovative Stamp Creations - Nature Silhouette III, Sketch of Roses III

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Mini Ledger

Day 3 of Innovative Stamp Creations August Release


Mini Ledger

The new Mini Ledger stamp line is ideal for Artist Trading Cards or when you need a quick Mini-Card! Even accents the pages on a small Mini Book too! The tab image is super easy to use as you’ll see in the sample below you can use almost any of the phrases on the inside of the tab to accent your card!

Mini Ledger Trio:

Close Up:

These were all super simple and I love the look of the Ledger "tag" on each of the 3x3 cards!

Go click around to see more fabulous designs (come on you know you want too! :0)


Happy Creating!
KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - all Innovative Stamp Creations- Mini Ledger, Nature Silhouette III

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Silhouette and Ledger - ISC

Release Day 2 - Innovative Stamp Creations:

Lately have you noticed all the awesome Ledger design paper at your local stamp store? Well, now you can create a ton of backgrounds on your cards and even in a mini book with this lovely Ledger image!

The ISC Creative Architects were challenged to incorporate some of the images from both of these lines on our card. Moreover, Nature Silhouette III bodes well with Nature Silhouette I/II.

A little tip from Betsy: Use caution, but you can cut apart each of the images on the Hollyhock Shadow stamp and place them on your acrylic mount and arrange to your liking, then stamp away!

I used the Hollyhock on this card:

The focal image was clear embossed then over stamped with the small script and finally blended with distress inks. The Ledger was stamped on the pink Basic Grey paper tucked behind the main image. The Hollyhocks were also stamped on the pattern paper in brown.

The DREAM word is one of the stamps on the Nature Silhouette III sheet. I just LOVE this - it looks just like a Dymo Label but you can make it any color that you want!!!! Score!

Make a few clicks and see how the other Creative Architects interpreted this challenge:


Happy Creating!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - all Innovated Stamp Creations - Background Series: Ledger/Nature Silhouette III
Paper - Basic Grey

Monday, August 23, 2010

Sketch of Roses

Roses - sweet smelling, delicate... Aren’t Roses utterly breathtaking?

Today starts the release of Innovative Stamp Creations August Stamp sets. The Sketch of Roses III has a lovely background image approximate size 4 ½ x 5 which lends itself to some many different techniques. You’ll find this line quite versatile! The delicate Roses are so easy to color-in with your favorite medium of choice!

Feminine Rose:

Rose Close Up:

To create the Rose I stamped with Archival ink 5 times and colored with colored pencils and Goo Gone (works like butter to move the colored pencils around - I believe better than Gamsol). The background stamp from the Sketch of Roses III was used on the bottom half of the card with the embossed piece using Texture Folders and Tim's Die cuts. To make Tim's swirls look old I used the small text image from the Mini Ledger set.

The large ledger background was used to create the "tag" and then I added some pink paint on the ornate plate to make it look nice and feminine:

How about a few more clicks to see what the other Creative Architect made with this terrific stamp set!

Hope you are finding time to be creative today!

KAT

The Stuff:

Stamps - all Innovative Stamp Creations - Sketch of Roses III, Mini Ledger, Ledger
Other - Tim Holtz (Sizzix) Texture Fades and Die cuts, Ornate plate


Friday, August 20, 2010

Therapy

Friday's Just for Fun color Challenge:
I really like these colors they are right in my "go to" palette.

I think coloring and cutting is good therapy (and free) when you just want to get away and unwind! This card has lots of cutting!


Each corn stalk was individually cut along with the pumpkins. I blended on most of the color and added some water coloring for depth.

Spend a little time today checking out what the other designers created:

So get out your rust, orange and olive and enter to win a chance at a $50 Just for Fun Shopping Spree - check out the Just For Fun blog for more details!

Happy Creating!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Just for Fun - Corn Field, Mini Squat Pumpkin, Mini Tall Pumpkin, Pumpkin Patch, Sentiments 1

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Inspiration

You can find it almost anywhere depending on what you see.... When I was looking for inspiration I was in the mood for something would smack me right between the eyes!

A couple of weeks ago I was trying to get back in the stamping mode after a 2 week vacation with my Hubby. I received a new Paper Craft magazine and what was in the mag at the very end - how about some awesome Halloween tags by Tim Holtz! So I pulled out my virgin Tim set (we all have stamps that have not seen ink right- it' can't just be me - but if it is don't tell my hubby) and started to play.

Raven Meets Skeleton

Close up of Skeleton

I wanted the Raven to look like he's carrying off the Skeleton but I think it looks more like the Skeleton is petting the Raven's beak(so okay it's a kinder, gentler Halloween card) ...

The Rave and Skeleton were stamped on Grunge Board. Cuttlebug embossing folder was used for the harlequin design and some Stazon was used to add more detail to the bat charm.

Thanks for the inspiration Tim!

KAT

The Stuff - Mostly Tim Holtz, old book page text, sentiment SU

Friday, August 13, 2010

It's Friday

and that means it's Just for Fun color challenge time!

This weeks colors:

It's odd but I do like burgundy even thought I shy away from red - go figure! I thought these were beautiful colors to make a Christmas Card:




Here's another shot so that you can see the snowflake glitter:

I stamped the large and small Snow Pine with Sepia Archival ink and water colored using my distress inks. The yellow was blended on using distressed inks.

Wanna play along? You could win a $50 shopping spree - see the Just for Fun blog for more details!

Take a little time to see what the other designers created this week:


Happy Creating!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Just for Fun - Large and Small Snow Pine, Sentiments 1

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Wings Challenge

Simon Says Stamps has a new challenge blog that is vintage inspired and that to me means , of course, my favorite products from Tim Holtz! This week was the first one and the theme is "Things with Wings" - any which way you want! And they have a fabulous prize here's a link for more info.

So I dug around in my Tim goodness and made an ATC Chunky (an old 2x4 cut 2.5 x 3.5 - finished on all sides).

Side One - Hears Soar:



Close Up of Heart:

I molded the heart using Mold N Pour and Black UTEE and then put on just a little Copper Dabber and added the Soar definition from an old dictionary (hint - I color copy these so that I can keep the original to reuse again since I only have one old dictionary). The birdcage background is emboss/resist.

Side Two - Time Flies:

The Sides:

Used Sizzix die and sparingly painted with Copper Dabber and then blended over the top with Black Soot Distressed ink - this gives it a old metal finish.

The Top:

Candle cup, copper bead, memo pin and grunge board.

The feet and knob on top:

This is a wooden candle cup - same copper paint treatment as above and then I added some copper wire.

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of "Things with Wings" and take some time to visit the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog to see everyone's creations!

Happy Creating!

KAT

The Stuff:
Everything is Tim Holtz except for the wooden candle cups, wire and copper bead!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Just For Fun - Friday Color Challenge

Well I am finally back but more on that in another post!

Today is Just For Fun's Color Challenge - the colors are:
All I can say is EAKKKK red - not a color that I use much - but a red marker, ribbons, pin heads and buttons and I am all set!


The background for this card is a piece from an old sewing pattern - I really liked the words "Custom Fit" with the Ornamental Dress Form.

So get out your red, kraft and white and play along - you could be the winner of a $50 Just for Fun Gift Certificate ! More info on the Just for Fun blog.

Grab something cool to drink and visit the rest of the design team to see what they've created:


Hope you are staying cool wherever you are!

Happy Creating!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Just for Fun - Fancy Form, Sewing Notions
Inks- Versa Mark, White Pigment, Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger)
Other - old sewing pattern, red marker (tombow), Black and White embossing Powder (Ranger)