Tiger Lilly!

Tiger Lilly

Sometimes I just experiment, I get “I wonder…” and “What if…” thoughts in my head and I have to try them out! Sometimes I experiment because I have a shiny new product to try out! In the case of this tag, it was a little of both!

I had cut out tags the other day using my Cameo, and I decided I wanted to coat them in dark colors. One was done with black acrylic paint, and the other (the top one) was done with some Tattered Angels – Plain Jane Collection – Stained Glass – Semi Matte Glaze – Green. I’ve had the bottle for about three years now, I forgot I owned it!

Well, I live in a dry climate, and I basically had some goo in a bottle at this point, but I decided to see if I could rehydrate enough to use one last time. After adding some water & rubbing alcohol I managed to get some lumpy green liquid in a bottle! LOL! It was just enough to coat a tag.

At this point I wasn’t sure what to do with my newly coated tags, so I went browsing through my stamps and when I came across my Penny Black Tiger Lilly I decided to practice using my Distress Oxides on a dark background!

Love the “Water Droplets” created by Ryn at Designs by Ryn!

When I get to experimenting I have a tendency to do things rather backwards. I stamped and colored my Tiger Lilly, then decided I needed to add more to the tag! I used some scrap plastic to make a quick mask for the Tiger Lilly so I could add some plaid to the background with more Distress Oxides and Tim Holtz’s “Stripes” ATC stamp for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge! Then I decided to use my “Water Droplets” stamp by Ryn at Designs by Ryn to see how those droplets would look on a dark background as well! I like it personally, and I’ll be sharing/entering this tag in Ryn’s monthly challenge!

You can really see those water droplets here across the flower!

I still wanted more on the tag, I thought there was too much empty space! I decided to at some stenciling!! Now, because Distress Oxides are a pigment and dye ink hybrid, the Snowflake Paste by Prima activated the dye ink and absorbed it! (I planned on this happening!!) Now I had some shiny, greenish honeycomb on my tag! And to keep the paste off my water droplets? Artist’s tape. As the final touch I added the little bee and embossed it in Ranger’s Gold Embossing Powder!

That Snowflake Paste absorbed some of the colors from the Distress Oxides underneath!

Product List:

  • Water Droplets” stamp created by Ryn at Designs by Ryn!
  • Tattered Angels – Plain Jane Collection – Stained Glass – Semi Matte Glaze – 1.35 Ounce Bottle – Green
  • Silhouette Cameo
  • Prima Snowflake Paste
  • Ranger Water Brush (nib), White Embossing Powder, Gold Embossing Powder, and Jet Black Archival Ink.
  • Tim Holtz “Stripes” ATC Stamp, Honeycomb Stencil, Paper Distresser, Distress Embossing Ink, Distress Ink – Picket Fence, and Distress Oxides – Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint, Iced Spruce, Cracked Pistachio, and Broken China.
  • A PrismaColor White Colored Pencil
  • Unknown on that little bee stamp
  • Penny Black Tiger Lilly Stamp
  • I used one of the black eyelets that came with my Pink Crop-A-Dile & Case!!

imagine {tag}

imagine tag!

Ok, I have this ‘thing’ where I have decided to go back to 2007 and complete all of Tim Holtz’s “12 Tags of …” series’. I started doing the “12 Tags of 2015” with January 2015 and finish all of the tags for 2015 & 2016! I was heart-broken when it was announced that there would not be a 12 Tags of 2017! I mean really, after 10 years of tags?!?! Ok, I get it, 10. Years. Of. Tags! At the rate I’m going it may be 2027 before I am “caught-up”! Anyhow, this is my tag inspired by #5 of “12 Tags of 2007”. Basically, it was “use alcohol ink,” somehow I turned it into “use alcohol ink on Yupo, and to keep things interesting toss in some Distress Oxides & pastes!” And wait, and wait, and wait for everything to dry (can’t heat Yupo, it makes it expand … or so I read, didn’t really want to test it!). Then proced to NEVER touch the surface of the tag, because it’s Yupo, and everything “floats” on the surface. (Maybe I’ll add some sealer today…)

Black Soot Distress Oxide for “imagine,” Shimmerz Paste-eez Hold the Mustard & Raspberry Sherbet with Tim Holtz’s “Harlequin” stencil.

The clouds are stamps from Simon Says Stamp’s “Sea You Soon” set.

My Garden Friends butterfly!

 Product List:

  • Legion Paper Yupo
  • Ranger Glossy Accents, Blending Tool, Replacement Felt, Alcohol Blending Solution, and Alcohol Inks: Cranberry, Eggplant, Silver, Gold, and Pearl.
  • Tim Holtz Distress Oxide: Cracked Pistachio, Worn Lipstick, Seedless Preserves, and Black Soot. 
  • Tim Holtz “Harlequin” Stencil
  • Simon Says Stamp “Sea You Soon” set
  • Heidi Swapp “imagine” stamp
  • Shimmerz Paste-eez: Hold the Mustard & Raspberry Sherbet
  • Some homemade alcohol inks: black & blue-ish ones
  • My Garden Friends Butterfly
  • Bo Bunny Chunky Charms: Clear Arrows & Circles

enjoy the journey

I did this set of ATCs for MarciLB’s ATC swap over at scrapbook.com! The category for this set was travel, and while going through my supplies looking for inspiration I came across Tim Holtz’s “Blueprint Compass” stamp & die set and I had my idea! I’m also entering them into Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge “Distress It.”

The background of everything is a pattern from the Silhouette store. In it’s original form it is a much lighter shade of tan/brown … parchment-y … whatever! LOL! But I used the built-in Image Effects tools of Silhouette Studio (I have the Designer Edition) to change it more to my liking! And, actually I did it two different shades and then printed it out on some self-adhesive paper. After I printed it, I put *some* Mod-Podge Acrylic sealer on so the printer ink wouldn’t run (as bad) when I spritzed the images with water after using Distress Oxides! Other than all that, it’s a rather straight forward cut & glue project!

Close-up of one of the ATCs
Layering and edge distressing!

 Product List:

  • Tim Holtz  Sizzix Blueprint Compass Framelit & Stamp set, idea-ology Game Spinners and sanding block, Tonic paper distresser, and Ranger Distress Oxides Salty Ocean, Frayed Burlap, & Antique Linen.
  • Sizzix Big Shot & precision baseplate
  • We-R-Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile
  • Mod-Podge Acrylic Sealer
  • self-adhesive paper
  • chipboard (it’s what I stuck the paper to before stamping & cutting)

Peacock ATCs!

This was one of those projects that started with a vague idea and I just followed where all the trials and mishaps took me! The ATCs aren’t exactly what I had in mind, but I’m still content with what came out of the process!

Peacock ATC set!

I made this ATC set for MarciLB’s ATC Swap over at scrapbook.com! I’m also going to be entering them in to Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge “Distress It.”

These are a rather straight forward process, a lot of Cameo sketch pen work and cutting, followed by a lot of coloring!

For the ‘green’ of the peacock’s tail I mixed Peeled Paint & Lucky Clover Distress Oxides on my work surface with some water & used my water brush to paint!

For the ‘stone’ I used Weathered Wood & Pumice Stone Distress Crayons and blended them.

After the Crazing Distress Collage Medium was dry, I used a blending tool to add the Frayed Burlap Distress Ink to the surface.

Cut Files:

  • All cut files came from the Silhouette Store.

Product List:

  • Silhouette Cameo & Pen holder with uni-ball gel pen, micro line, with “uni Super Ink.” I seriously love this pen, it makes nice, fine lines, and it holds up to water!
  • Watercolor paper
  • the green background paper is from an OLD K & Company stack from their “Designer Paper” series. And I mean OLD, like probably 2009, and in scrapbook years, that’s ANCIENT!! LOL!!
  • McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit – Ball Tools
  • Ranger Glossy Accents, water pen (nib)
  • Tim Holtz – round blending tool, Distress Collage Medium: Crazing, Distress Collage Brush, Distress Crayons: Weathered Wood & Pumice Stone, Distress Oxides: Peacock Feathers, and Peeled Paint & Lucky Clover mixed together, Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap, and Distress Marker: Wild Honey
  • Vicki Boutin Acrylic Paint Set 2: “Saltwater Taffy” used
  • PrismaColor Markers (on the flowers)

be your own sunshine

I saw a piece of paper (I’ll show that later) that inspired the coloring of this tag. Plus, Simon Says Scrap’s current Wednesday challenge is “Summer Sunshine.” Add to the mix a quote I saw that said, “Sometimes you have to be your own sunshine,” and a tag was born.

The flowers didn’t come out exactly how I had hoped, but sometimes that just happens!

I started out with a piece of cardboard cut to a size 12 tag (10 1/2″ x 5 1/4 I think…I have a template so I don’t always have to measure or remember!) and I coated it thickly with white acrylic paint.

My tag base

After that I started gathering supplies I thought I might use and picked out colors I thought could be used to try and recreate the color and design of this piece of Echo Park paper! (I received mine in the July Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp, now to make a card with it!)

The paper that inspired it all!
Smooshing paint into all the crevices!

The honeycomb and riveted metal are from using Amazing Casting Resin in Tim Holtz’s embossing folders (Watch a technique video here!). The flourish’s are from a flourish circle I had cut out a few years ago with my Cameo. It was multiple layers of cardstock that didn’t get glued together quite right, and was painted a light pink. I finally decided it was time to either use it or toss it! And, all of the gears on this project came from the Silhouette store.

Lots of ink & paint & Metallique Wax & Perfect Pearls on here!

After I painted everything, added some “Old Silver” Prima Metallique Wax randomly then I went back over with matching/coordinating Distress Oxides. After all that was dried I used a Crafter’s Workshop 12 x 12 Template (“Sunburst”) for the rays, and a circle stencil I made a while back for the…umm, circles.

All the shine on the gears for the “sun” is from Perfect Pearls “Perfect Pearl.” The sun rays are Delicata “White Shimmer” Pigment Ink.
More Perfect Pearls for the circles!

Lots of “mulberry” type flowers sprayed with a variety of colors! For the oranges I mixed “Carved Pumpkin” Distress Stain with some Perfect Pearls “Perfect Pearl” and “Pewter.” The different shades of yellows and oranges is due to the original colors of the flowers. The pink flowers are from Shimmerz Coloringz “Pink Stilettos,” and the mint is from Heidi Swapp’s Color Shine “Sweet Mint.”

Product List:

  • Silhouette Cameo
  • Amazing Cast Resin
  • Pink Paislee: Take Me Away Collection: Thickers with Foil Accents: Phrases: “Dream”
  • Hip Kit Club Exclusive Alpha (May 2017 Main Kit)
  • Shimmerz: AcriTonez – Pinkadelic; Coloringz – Pink Stilettos
  • Perfect Pearls: Perfect Pearl & Pewter
  • Tsukineko Delicata: White Shimmer
  • White acrylic paint
  • Heidi Swapp Color Shine: Sweet Mint
  • Tim Holtz Distress Paint – Carved Pumpkin & Cracked Pistachio; Distress Spray Stain – Carved Pumpkin; Distress Oxide – Wild Honey, Cracked Pistachio, & Picked Raspberry; Embossing Folders – Riveted Metal & Honeycomb
  • Ranger Mini Mister
  • Prima Art Alchemy Metallique Wax: Old Silver
  • “Mulberry” type flowers

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland

I was inspired by the “Sizzix Christmas In July” Challenge over at scrapbook.com to start some Christmas projects early! There was a lot of fussy cutting involved, but it was worth it in my opinion! Those birds and houses (Crate Paper “Snow and Cocoa” line) are just too darn cute!

I don’t know if I should classify this as a card or as decoration, so I’m going to call it #Card_Deco! It put me in mind of my childhood. My parents had a string that hung across the beam in our living room, and every year they would hang the Christmas cards we received on it. Friends and family became part of our Christmas decor!

The very front of the card is rather straight forward! The “Wonderland” piece is from Crate Paper, the card stock is American Crafts, everything else are Hip Kit Club Exclusives!
Lots of fussy cutting found here (well not necessarily “lots,” but for me it is!) And if I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now, I am IN LOVE with the Distress Oxides! I’ve had all these papers since November/December (2016), but I hadn’t figured out exactly how to use them. Apparently they were waiting for Tim Holtz’s Distress Oxides!

That little fawn was cut from some scrap white card stock I had using the “Retro Deer” die from Simon Says Stamp. I just trimmed off the antlers and added some spots so he could match his Mama! (Hip Kit Club Exclusive Die Cuts – the doe & the mushrooms)
Winter Wonderland CarDeco closed and ready for an envelope!

Product List:

  • The card base/design I created myself in Silhouette Design Studio & used my Cameo to cut the pieces out.
  • American Crafts “Lollipop” card stock
  • Hip Kit Club Exclusive Papers & Die Cut Pack
  • Crate Paper “Snow and Cocoa” Collection (“Wonderland” and all the fussy cutting!)
  • Simon Says Stamp “Retro Deer” die for the fawn (I just trimmed off the antlers & added some spots!)
  • Tim Holtz Mini Snips, Mini “Woodland” Stencil (Mini Stencil Set #21), Distress Grit Paste, Distress Glitter “Clear Rock Candy,” Distress Marker “Tumbled Glass,” and Distress Oxides “Iced Spruce,” “Worn Lipstick,” “Fossilized Amber,” and “Cracked Pistachio.
  • Ranger “Opaque Matte” Texture Paste, Water Pen (Nib), & Blending Tools.

Christmas Cards Set!

Getting a head start with my Christmas Cards!

Just because it’s 110 degrees outside doesn’t mean I can’t do Christmas! After all, in the Southern Hemisphere of this big blue marble we call home, Christmas is a summer holiday!

Used my Silhouette Curio to write & fill in the greeting!

That gold bow came in the Fuse (Gold? I think) Kit!

Cute little deer, glitter paper, and twine!

Love the retro Santa paper and “Swell Christmas” stamp set from Simon Says Stamp! (I fussy cut Santa out of watercolor paper after stamping & embossing!)

Product List:

  • All of the card stock, printed papers (except the paper for the red & white deer), and glitter paper came from the Simon Says Stamp Limited Edition 2016 Holiday Card Kit, as did the deer die (“Retro Deer”) and the stamp set (“Swell Christmas”).
  • The paper for the red & white deer is from Me & My Big Ideas, and it’s so old I couldn’t even find it using the UPC code!!
  • Ranger Enchanted Gold Embossing Powder
  • Tim Holtz Mini Snips, Distress Embossing Ink, Distress Ink: Festive Berries, Antique Linen, and Tattered Rose, Distress Oxide: Fired Brick, and Vintage Photo
  • We R Memory Keepers: Fuse Tool & Gold Kit (I think!)
  • Martha Stewart Twine
  • Green & Gold Ribbon: Unknown
  • Sizzix Big Shot (Blue & Teal Starter Kit – for the label dies)
  • My Minds Eye: Christmas on Market Street Puffy Stickers
  • Silhouette Curio

Christmas Gift Tags Set #2

Set #2 of my Christmas Gift Tags

My second set of Christmas Gift Tags, which, like the first set, was set in motion by AZAmy’s & Sizzix’s “Christmas In July Challenge” over at scrapbook.com. Like the first set, the tags, and most of the patterened paper came from the Simon Says Stamp Limited Edition 2016 Holiday Card kit.

The stamp set used, “Swell Christmas,” is from Simon Says Stamp, and came in the Limited Edition 2016 Holiday Card Kit. The gold embossing powder is also from Simon Says Stamp, and I think it also came in the kit.

I just started laying bits and pieces on for this tag! The ornament stamps are also in the “Swell Christmas” set.
I like the idea of making a vintage-ish tag, and decided to use my trusty Tim Holtz tree from my “Happy Everything Blueprints” set! To color in the tree, I used a water brush and Distress Oxides, then to top it off I used the “Christmas Day” stamp from American Crafts! (To splatter the background I used a paint brush and the Distress Oxides)
Once again, I used stamps from the “Swell Christmas” set! Simon Says Stamp gold embossing powder, some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Bronze, some Distress Oxides, and some Prima Watercolors!

Products Used:

  • Simon Says Stamp “Swell Christmas” Stamp Set, gold embossing powder, tags, papers from “Limited Edition 2016 Holiday Card Kit,
  • Tim Holtz “Blueprint Tree” from Happy Everything Blueprints Set & Tiny Attacher
  • American Crafts “Christmas Day” Stamp
  • Simple Stories “December Documented” 6 x 6 paper pad.
  • Ranger Water Brush & Black Archival Ink
  • Distress Marker: Candied Apple
  • Distress Oxides: Fossilized Amber, Iced Spruce, Broken China, Walnut Stain, & Fired Brick
  • Distress Ink: Festive Berries & Tattered Rose
  • Distress Embossing Ink Pad
  • a la mode clear embossing powder
  • Prima Watercolor Confections: Decadent Pies
  • My Minds Eye “Christmas On Market Street” Puffy Stickers
  • Martha Stewart “Scallop Dot” edge punch & red twine
  • Heidi Swapp Color Shine: Bronze
  • Stickles “Joyful”
  • Basic Grey Juniper Berry Embellishment Pack
  • We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile

Red, White, & Blue ATCs!

Red, White, & Blue ATCs

Putting these ATCs together was something else! I had an original idea in mind inspired by the July Challenge over at Creative Embellishments. I really loved the way the elements in the inspiration photo overlapped each other, and I really love how “shiny” the image seemed. Creative Embellishments July Challenge fit quite nicely with Simon Says Stamp’s Monday Challenge of “Red, White, & Blue”, and I thought it would be a good idea to try and create a shiny, red, white & blue, element overlapping ATC for the challenges, and for MarciLB’s ATC Swap over at scrapbook.com. Things didn’t go quite according to plan.

My initial background was too embossed! I didn’t want it to be quite like that! But, if nothing else, I’m persistent, so I decided to see what I could do with it!

Initial Background. Thick watercolor paper, coated with white acrylic paint, embossed using Tim Holtz’s “Cracked,” striped with Tim Holtz’s “Stripes” stencil & Distress Oxide Fired Brick, and colored with Distress Oxide Faded Jeans for the blue.

I decided to get Mixed Media crazy! I added Candied Apple Distress Paint stripes, I threw down a layer of Mod Podge, which “intensified” the Distress Oxides underneath, I added some Prima Snowflake Paste for those rays using Tim Holtz’s “Ray” stencil, and colored them with Shimmerz Vibez “Glorious Day.” If that wasn’t enough, for the “stars” I used Shimmerz Dazzlerz “Spun Sugar” and Echo Park’s “Beach Towel” stencil. About now I was thinking I should give up and start over! But, as I said, I’m persistent (some may say overly stubborn, but they’re wrong! LOL). Anyhow, I decided that I should cover some of my “flag” with a firework (as so originally inspired by the July Challenge at Creative Embellishments) and I dug out my glitter. (I have a great dislike for glitter, but I was getting desperate!)

What better way to adhere that glitter than with some Transparent Gloss Texture Paste from Ranger “squished” through a temporary stencil I made with some scrap card stock and a “starburst” cut file from Silhouette? In hindsight, there probably are better ways! Oh. My. Gosh. Now I just have too much everything!

Well, that’s just too much … EVERYTHING!

I actually threw the ATCs in the trash at this point, I just didn’t know what else to do! But, as I was sitting there thinking about what items to keep out for the next try I saw an old Tim Holtz Mask “Flourish” just hanging around collecting dust, and I had an idea! At first I was going to use the mask, but I hadn’t worked out what I would use to cover the undesirable areas. Then, as I sat there staring at the mask over the ATC next to my pile of scrap pieces of Simple Stories “Stars & Stripes” a firework went off in my mind! And the following picture is what that firework sparked!

Using my hot glue gun I stuck the cuts to the ATCs, used the sanding block to distress the edges, and inked them up with some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink! There was still a little too much “stuff” showing, and that’s when I decided to enlist the help of a little birdie!

Flourish cut file from the Silhouette Store!

Little Birdie (Tim Holtz’s Mini Bird Crazy & Things) to the rescue!
Persistence paid off!

Product List:

  • Silhouette Cameo: Used to cut the flourish which is from the Silhouette Store.
  • Sizzix Big Shot
  • Simple Stories: Stars & Stripes “Independence Day”
  • Tim Holtz: Mini Bird Crazy & Things Stamps & Dies
  • Tim Holtz Sanding Grip
  • Tim Holtz Distress Oxides: Faded Jeans, Broken China, Fired Brick
  • Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap
  • Tim Holtz Distress Markers: Picket Fence, Ground Espresso, Candied Apple, & Carved Pumpkin
  • Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Candied Apple
  • Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium: Crazing
  • Tim Holtz Stencils: Rays & Stripes
  • Echo Park Stencil: “Beach Towel”
  • White Acrylic Paint
  • Shimmerz Dazzlerz: Spun Sugar
  • Shimmerz Vibez: Glorious Day
  • Mod Podge Paper: Gloss
  • Prima Snowflake Paste
  • Ranger Texture Paste: Transparent Gloss; Black Archival Ink, Water Pen, & Glossy Accents
  • Martha Stewart Glitter: Crystal, Lapis Lazuli, & Tourmaline