Tim Holtz August 2014 Tag - Blind Bird Justice

Here I am finally getting around to making my tag for the monthly Tim Holtz challenge of the 12 tags of 2014.  This summer has been super busy with both fun and crazy things (like a flood!). I was glad to spend some time creating and getting my fingers inky today.

This tag incorporated so many various mediums (Distress Inks, Distress Stains, Distress Paint and Embossing Paste), lots of stencils and techniques and fun products, too.  I used a piece of filmstrip ribbon over the bird's eyes, so now you know why I named it as I did.

I will be giving this to my friend Ruth who enjoys my tags and as a thank you as I have been so behind in my crafting.  Hoping this autumn my fingers will be plenty inky again!

Have you tried making a tag?  It is so much fun, and it is a way of learning new techniques and having some creative time.  Visit Tim's blog and enjoy the fun along with us!

Until next time!

Dear Ol' Dad

I thought I would share the cards I made for my father and father-in-law for Father's Day.  I didn't post them beforehand as I wanted to make sure they had them before others saw them.

The first card up is the one I made for my father.  I decided to go with a vintage feel and use the fun Found Relative cards and other goodies that I have been enjoying lately.  I used Tim Holtz rub-ons directly on the cards for added accents.

For my father in-law I went with a vintage feel as well, but something softer and more distressed.  I know that he loves to watch birds, and one of my pen pals (and friend) sent me a beautiful stamp by Magenta and I knew it would be perfect for this card. The patterned paper and label sticker I used are both by Tim Holtz as well. Gathered Twigs Distressed ink was used to add the vintage and worn look.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these cards as much as I enjoyed making them.

Have a fabulous day!  Until next time!

WOYWW #258 - Bookmark Making Under Way

Happy Wednesday!  Today I am sharing what is on my work desk with you.  You may remember when I shared my desk last week my pen pal letters were under way.  Well, this week I decided to start working on bookmarks for my fountain pen pen pals. I thought they would be fun to tuck into letters as a surprise.

Stampers Anonymous has a great stamp set with fountain pen related images and old cursive handwriting images, etc.  I thought they would be perfect for this gang of letter writers.  I used my archival black ink and plenty of Distress Inks.  Only one is done so far, but it was a lot of fun to make.

Close up of stamping:

Finished bookmark:

The metal nib is from Tim Holtz and I think it was a fun embellishment.  The seam binding was stamped with a fun swirl image from the set as well.

Thank you, Julia, for the desk hopping fun!  If you haven't joined in,  you might give it a go as the sharing of desks is fun, you learn a lot and the friendships made are priceless.

I am looking forward to visiting with you today!

Until next time!

March 2014 - Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 - Spring Has Sprung

Today I am sharing with you my long overdue March Tim Holtz Tag of 2014! As I mentioned in an earlier post, March seemed to fly by and I never got to my monthly tag challenge.  Well, I was finally able to get to it and had fun!  I was very happy to see Tim used a stamp set this month that I owned so I inked it up and here is my finished product:

On this tag I used Distress Inks, and Distress Markers.  The Distress Markers were used with a Spritzer tool to add color to the background using one of Tim's stencils.  It is a fun way to lay down color!

I am very excited today, as I was able to register to be in a class given by Tim Holtz at our local scrapbooking shop Scrapper's Playground here on Long Island!  My husband was a trouper, as we both got up very early on a Sunday to start calling, and after an hour I got through.  My sister and I will be taking the class in June.  This is a big deal to me, as I have always wanted to take a class of Tim's and now I will be taking classes with him in Ohio, and here on LI.  I look forward to sharing the experience with you!

Until next time!

Elvis - In the Jungle Room?

My friend Irvina is the BIGGEST Elvis fan I know.  Her birthday was approaching and I wanted to make her a birthday card using - you guessed it - Elvis.   As I have been making her Elvis cards for awhile, I am very lucky to have such a large amount of them.   For this year I went with this sweet image by The Stampsmith.  I wanted to give it a different look, so I found a fun "wild" print for the background that I thought would be fun when you recall Elvis and his "Jungle Room."

Supplies:
Stamps: The Stampsmith, A Muse Artstamps
Paper: Desert Storm, Scrap Pack
Ink: Archival Black, Distress Ink (Gathered Twigs)

Since this is a "young" Elvis image from quite some time ago, I decided to give it a distressed look as if this picture was hanging around for some time.

Irvina was very happy to receive it and so her collection of Elvis cards is growing!

Until next time!

Tea Time Tuesday - Peter Rabbit/Beatrix Potter & Friendship Spring Card

Happy Tuesday! For today, I thought I would share a charming Tea for One set I have called "The World of Beatrix Potter - Peter Rabbit."   I fell in love with this one years ago and remembered loving the stories of Peter Rabbit as a little girl.  This set has such adorable images all over it, and it never ceases to make me smile.  When I have my nieces over for tea,  this tea set always gets chosen for the table!

I can't help but wish for Spring to arrive soon and this tea pot  really made me long for the return of the bunnies in my garden.  Now, I am always having to shoo them from my garden like farmer McGregor did in the stories, but this year I can't wait for them to come and I will have to treat them to some tasty plants!


Today's card I made using a lot of Spring Distress Ink colors on watercolor paper. I heat embossed a great friendship background stamp in black first.

Do you have Spring Fever like I do?

WOYWW#224 - A Distressed Mess

Hi, guys! Today is Wednesday, so I am sharing what is on my work desk with you!  Thank you to Julia for the desk hopping fun!  Today you will see I had a lot of Distress Inks on my desk as I was busy making Thanksgiving cards for a co-worker to give.

This is one messy desk!  After using Distress Inks, Distress Markers and embossing powders, my hands looked extremely INKY!

I look forward to visiting with a bunch of you today and seeing what you are up to!  If you haven't taken part in WOYWW, I would suggest you give it a try.  Lots of crafty fun and so many nice people to get to know!

Until next time!

Valentine For Felix (Hero Arts Hearts)

Hi, guys! Hope you had a great weekend!  We sure did!  Saturday my hubby was in his monthly show in Manhattan.  They performed episodes of "The Shadow" and "Richard Diamond, Private Detective."  It was a great time shared with friends as well.  I really love when they do the old-time commercials. Truly hysterical. I think it is wonderful that both my husband and I have creative outlets that we can enjoy and share with others.

For today, I thought I would share a Valentine card I made for my friend to give to her husband.  She likes large size cards, so this was an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of card stock scored in half.  I had a hard time photographing this card due to the shape and size of it.   I heat embossed hearts and inked them with various shades of distress inks.  I used Tim Holtz Alphas to personalize the card.

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts
Inks: Distress Inks, Versamark
Paper: Gina K (Black & White)
Misc.: White Embossing Powder, Tim Holtz Letters


Tomorrow I will be on a vacation day and I will be working on a bunch of Valentines and other cards that have been requested.  I am looking forward to having a fun day of inky fingers!

Until next time!

Happy "Owl"idays!

Hi, guys! Sorry for the lack of posting, but with the holidays comes lots of obligations, and also lots of fun times as well.  Today I am sharing a Christmas card I made for my friend Erich's nephew, Alex.  I thought I would use this adorable set from Hero Arts which features various owls.

Suppplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts
Paper: Gina K Designs
Ink: Black Memento, Distress, Stampin' Up
Misc.: Copic Markers, Glitter, Red Gel Pen, Typewriter Dies (Memory Box)

Distress ink was used to make the sky blue (very light application of Tumbled Glass color). To personalize the card I used the Typewriter Dies by Memory Box.  I decided to use more untraditional colors for this card and used a lot of browns.

Wishing Alex and his family a very happy holiday season!

Until next time!

Welcome Baby Jackson Liam

Hi, guys! Today I made a card to welcome my friend Alysia's new baby boy.  For this card I used a House Mouse image that I love.

Supplies:
Stamps: House Mouse
Ink: Memento Black, Distress Ink
Paper: Gina K Designs, DCWV
Misc.: Copic Markers, Papertrey Ink Buttons, Ribbon

The tiny mice in the baby shoes always make me smile, and I hope this card makes Alysia smile.

Making cards for new babies is a favorite occasion for me.  It is such a happy time and you can use such sweet colors and adorable images and sentiments.

Have a great day!  Until the next time I get my fingers inky!

November Tag for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2012

Hi, guys!  As many of you know, I am participating in the 12 Tags of 2012 by Tim Holtz.  Each month Tim demonstrates a new tag using various techniques and products meant to inspire you to create your own.  I can't believe it is November already!  Here is my submission:

I love that I get to use so many of my supplies when I make a tag.  For this tag, distress stains were used in various colors as well as distress inks.  The image was heat embossed onto the tag.  One of my favorite parts of this tag was making the leaves by using Core-dinations kraft paper, then sanding and inking them.  Love how they came out.  I never thought to pull apart my twine before, and then inked it as Tim showed.  It was a fun touch and am so glad he shared that idea.

I hope you like this tag, and if you are interested in making one for yourself, I would suggest you check out Tim's blog at www.timholtz.com and I am sure he will inspire you.

Have a great day!  Until next time!

Happy 40th Birthday, Sis!

Hi, guys!  This weekend was a lot of fun.  My kid sister turned 40 today, so we went out and saw a comedy show and had dinner with my other sister and some really good friends.  I can't believe my little sister is 40, but at least she is in the same decade as me now.  I thought I would share the birthday card I made for her.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up, Cornish Heritage Farms, Crafty Secrets
Paper: Recollections Note Card, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Archival Black, Distress Ink, Distress Stains
Misc.: Ribbon, Embossing Powder, Distress Markers, Perfect Pearls Mist

The sentiment inside the card reads "You're no spring chicken ... Happy Birthday!"  She got a great chuckle out of it.  I love funny cards, and can give them to my sister.  You know who you can or cannot joke with about their age.  Since I am the eldest of the six siblings, I have been on the receiving end of many funny age-related cards.

This was a lot of fun to make.  I love the use of Distress Stains on watercolor paper.  I spray them with Perfect Pearl Mists and they blend so nicely and give it a nice shine.

Hope you have a great day!  Until next time!

So Thankful For You, Babci

Hi, guys! Hope all is well.  Today I am sharing a card I was asked to make for my friend to send to her husband's grandma. They call her Babci, which means grandma in Polish.  I understand she is a very special woman who lives far away and loves nature.  I thought I would make leaves using my Tim Holtz Alteration dies and Distress Inks.  I embossed the sentiment to add some shine.  I colored the leaves by using an ink pad I made last Christmas.  Tim Holtz had showed the technique on one of his 12 Tags of Christmas.  My ink pad was rather dry, so I used ink refresher spray on it, and just applied the pad to paper and got this great patchy look.  I then cut the leaves out.

Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Paper: Gina K Designs (Brown)
Ink: Distress Inks, Adirondack Espresso
Misc.: Scalloped Rectangle Punch,  Computer Generated Name, Tattered Leaves Alteration Die

What a fun card to make and hopefully it will make Babci happy.

I hope you know that I am very thankful for each one of you who visits.  I love this community and the sharing that takes place. What blessings you all are to me!  Enjoy your day, my friends!

The Itsy, Bitsy Spider

Hi, guys! Today I am sharing two Halloween cards I made.  The first one up I made for my friend Erich's nephew,  Alex.  I decided to go with spiders as he is a little boy and lots of little boys like creepy crawly things.

Supplies:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Impression Obsession
Paper: Gina K Designs
Ink: Distress (Black Soot), Distress Seedless Preserves, Versafine Black
Misc.: Clear Embossing Powder, Brad, Alpha Stickers

For this next one, I used other creepy crawlers and some funny (dare I say cute?) spiders.  I used a white gel pen to accent the eyes of the dangling spiders and the BOO sentiment, and added some googlie eyes for some fun.

Supplies:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up, Vap! Scraps
Paper: Gina K Designs (White), Recollections (Bright Orange)
Ink: Distress (Black Soot), Versafine Black
Misc.: White Gel Pen, Googlie Eyes

These were fun to make.  I am not sure if I ever told you, but Halloween cards are among my favorite to make.  I can make some cute, or funny, or some rather gross and it is all good.  Something for everyone.  Hope to find time to make more this week.

Hope you have a great day!

Drac is Back!

Hi, guys!  Yes, you read right!  Drac is back!  I decided to do a Halloween tag last night.  I am participating in the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012.  In July, Tim demonstrated the alcohol ink splatter technique using a can of air.  I made a tag in the beginning of the month for the Fourth of July.  It dawned on me that this splatter technique would be fun to use for blood splatter.  Yes, I know, I am a bit gross.  I guess it is from years of mystery reading. 

Supplies:
Stamp: Craft Smart, Stampers Anonymous
Ink: Archival Black, Adirondack Alcohol Ink, Distress Stain, Distress Inks
Misc.: Tissue Tape (Tim Holtz), Tim Holtz Ribbon 


I had a blast doing this card.  My workspace ended up looking a bit like a crime scene when I was done, and my hands resembled those of Lady Macbeth.

Hope you have a great day, and hope you find a few moments in the day to do something you love.  Maybe get inky?