Tim Holtz December 2012 Tag

Wow, I can't believe I actually did all 12 tags (even if I was late on a few).  This last one was a bit of a struggle.  My Cuttlebug had a difficult time cutting through the adhesive backed mirror.  This could have been a combination of factors.  The Cuttlebug not being sufficient to cut the mirror.  The dies I was using not being "sharp" enough or the need for more shims.  After running the dies through, I ended up cutting the letters out by hand.  It might be time to consider upgrading my Cuttlebug.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Bead Landing gears, Tim Holtz tissue tape and mirror, Distress ink and stains, Archival ink, Pier One gift tag.

I went with the snowman theme for this card -- mostly due to all the snow that we have been getting.  It seemed appropriate.  We have had a number of snow storms during the month of December.  Nothing like Montreal had but still enough that I am ready for a break from shovelling.

 

December turned out to be a month where there was not much in the line of crafting being done.  I even ended up buying my Christmas cards this year.  My New Year's resolution for 2013 is to carve out more time to play with my pretty paper.  Mojo was hard to come by in 2012 and I need time to rejuvenate and play.  I have decided that I am going to take a break from LCOM Design Team for the next little while.  Although I have thoroughly enjoyed my time there, I am a bit burned out.  I have volunteered to provide sketches if they find that they need them; but otherwise, I am going to craft for myself to see if I can jump start that Mojo again.

Have a crafty Sunday.

A Thank-you and a New Card Sketch

Firstly, I must extend my gratitude to Tim Holtz and Mario for selecting my tag for November.  That is just so cool especially since I had taken a 3 month break on the tags.  My husband must think I was a little nuts doing a happy dance in the dining room yesterday.  The prize is a $25 voucher to Simon Says Stamps so I want to expend my gratitude to Heidi as well.  I must admit that I haven't ordered from her store before but I am looking forward to checking it out.  Just looking at the shipping rates for Canada has me asking myself why I haven't ordered from them before.

Secondly, I want to mention that there is a new sketch up over at the LCOM Sketch blog.  It is the last of our November sketches with a Twist. 

The twist for this week is to use polka dots.  When I saw the sketch, pendants were the first thing that popped into my mind.  The second thing was that I wanted to do some kind of take on Santa's suit.  I liked the idea of using the red for the pendants with the black across to give a feeling of his belt.  Instead of doing a gold belt buckle, I decided that I wanted to use holly leaves.  The new Dee's Distinctively Wreath Builder dies have two different sizes of holly leaves that were perfect for what I wanted to do.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, BoBunny pattern paper, Dee's Distinctively dies, and Kaiser Craft bling.

This card only took 10 minutes from start to finish and it still has pop.  With Christmas so close, quick and easy Christmas cards have a certain appeal.

Have a happy Sunday.  I am off to help my son with his school project which is due tomorrow.  He almost has it completed.  He just needs to dig into my craft supplies to finish off his poster and to get his rough draft on to cue cards.  If I don't tear him away from Mindcraft, nothing will get done.

A Long Week

Last week was a long week.  A nasty stomach bug roared through our house and managed to bring everyone down.  I had forgotten what it was like to deal with a stomach bug since we have been very lucky the last few years.  I don't think I want to go through that again for a long, long while.  Thankfully, the bug was pretty much over and done with in 24 to 48 hours.  Everyone is once again healthy...fingers crossed.

I am afraid to say that due to this bug, I am late posting last weeks card for the LCOM Sketch blog and it was even one of mine.  Shame on me.  Even though it is late, I hope that you will head on over and check it out.  The Design Team made some lovely cards with the sketch and you still have time to play along.

The twist for last week's sketch was to use something with "wings".  My little wooden butterfly is my wings.  I made a nice simple every day card.

Have a happy Tuesday.

Getting Caught Up

When I started the Tim Tags, I had every intention of keeping up and playing along.  How hard could it be to do a tag a month.  Little did I realize how easy it was to fall behind.  When the end of August came about and I still had not completed my August tag, I thought "Oh well, I will just get caught up next month".   Low and behold, it is now November and I just finished the last 4 tags.

Tim's tag for November featured a "Thankful" theme that was fitting for the US Thanksgiving.  Since our Thanksgiving was last month, I decided to apply the technique to a snow theme to celebrate the first snowfall.

One thing to note, when ironing out the embossing powder make sure to lift the paper up when it was hot.  This was my second attempt.  My first attempt I ended up pulling up a good portion of the surface of the paper when I removed it after ironing.

With the October tag, I decided to go with a more vintage girly style instead of doing a Halloween theme.  I loved colouring the glass glitter with alcohol ink.  I mixed several blues, yellows and greens to get the colour I was looking for.  I just kept adding a drop or two until I finally achieved the right colour.

September's tag is my favourite.  I loved the faux metal work.  I did not have any steel wool to burnish the metal after applying the alcohol ink.  Desperation is the mother of invention - especially at 2 am.  Mr. Clean Magic Erasers worked beautifully -- taking off just enough but leaving behind enough of the colour.

Last but not least is my version of the August tag.  The paper roses are fun and easy to make.  They give such a dramatic statement to the card.  I love making them out of the whitewashed Core-dinations cardstock.  They have a nice feminine feel.

Here is a detail of the roses:

The gold accent was created by spraying the card with the New Heidi Swap glimmer sprays.

Now that I am caught up, I am looking forward to seeing what is in store for December.

Have a good Sunday.

LCOM Card Sketch #38

Oh dear...I have been a bit negligent lately.  I haven't been posting my cards for the card sketches for the LCOM Sketch blog here.  Time has gotten away from me this last month.  I blinked and it is now November.  It is scary how quickly time speeds up as you get older.

Enough depressing thoughts...on to more interesting, creative and fun things.  This month on the LCOM Sketch blog, the card team is providing a bit of a twist with each of our card sketches.  We have added in a "challenge" that must be used with the sketch.

This weeks sketch has been posted and it is one of mine.  I really liked this sketch since it was a shaped card.  I like the look of shaped cards.  The twist is that you had to use "SNOW" in some way on your card.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, misc. ribbon and Micheal's bling.

I used a Spellbinder's die to cut out the background shapes of the card.  The snowflake trim is cut with a Memory Box die and the blue snowflake is a Cherry Lynn die.  I love these intricate dies.  They are so pretty.

Please head on over to the LCOM Sketch blog to check out the sketch.  I hope that you will play along as well.  There is a linky tool provided so that you can link your creations.  There is also a prize for the month of November.

Here are the other cards that I have created for the month of October:

Card sketch #37:

Card sketch #36:

Card sketch #34:

If you are wondering about the cards for the Tim Holtz 2012 Tags, the last one that I completed and posted was in July.  I have finished August and most of the September card which I will be complete tonight.  I am hoping to have October and November completed by this weekend.  I will post all 4 together when they are done.

Have a good Wednesday.

Time for a New Card Sketch

T'is that time again.  There is a new card sketch up over at the LCOM Sketch blog.  Allison Cope is providing this week's fabulous sketch.  It is a cool sketch.  I had lots of fun working with this one.

Materials used:  Jillibean pattern paper and sticker, Maya road embellishments and pop dots.

Believe it or not but I quickly put together this card on my lunch at work the other day.  This sketch was excellent for a quick card that came together effortlessly.

Make sure to check out the rest of the creations of the Card Team over at the Sketch blog.  There are some fabulous cards this week.

If you are looking for something to do with your Saturday this weekend, we will be hosting challenges on the Sketch blog for World Card Making day.  Hope that you can join us.

Crop and Create

This past weekend,  I was lucky enough to attend Scrapbook & Cards Today's Crop and Create retreat.  Man, it was an absolute blast.  There were times that I thought I was going to end up with pulled muscles in my sides from laughing so much.  It was great to reconnect with friends that I don't see often, to meet new people and just to spend sometime with friends I see every week.

I also took one of the classes that were offered as well -- Technique Savvy class with Vicky Boutin.  I am not big on classes; since for the most part, I can easily replicate what they are making in class.  Technique classes, they are a different story.  They are the ones that give you the little tricks and give you a chance to play.  Although, I really enjoyed the class and I did learn a few new tricks, I wished that there had been more of a chance to play with the techniques.  There were various stations set up around the room but with the amount of people and the drying time required for some of the technique, we got behind very quickly.  We were not able to finish all the technique tags so I am hoping to finish them off at home this week.

The weekend did prove to be productive.  I completed three layouts...yep...that's right....THREE.  I am amazed.  Two were done for layout challenges and one of them even won a prize.  Very cool.

I am afraid that I did not keep track of the materials used in these layouts this time around.  "A Good Read" was completed for the Journalling challenge.  We were suppose to use one of the prompts to come up with a layout about ourselves.

"Time for A Freezie Break" was completed for the colour challenge.  This was the one that won a prize.  I was a little stunned to find that out.  I wasn't expecting to win anything so Carmen, Sharon and I went out to the Royal Oak for beer and burgers only to find out when we got back that I had  won the colour challenge.

I want to thank Core-dinations and BoBunny for donating the prize.  I won a fabulous pack of Core-dinations cardstock, a 6x6 pad of BoBunny double dot cardstock and a stack of BoBunny glitter polka dot paper.

This last layout was something that I had started about a month ago but had never finished.  I had not gotten very far on it before I had to put it away so it is nice to be able to get it finished.  I still need to add in the date and a little bit of journalling but for the most part it is done.

If you are wondering about attending a Crop and Create retreat, I would highly recommend it.  Catherine and her crew are fabulous.  They go out of their way to make sure you feel welcome and have a great time.

Have a fabulous Tuesday and check back in tomorrow, the LCOM Card sketch will be up and I will be posting my card.

A New Sketch is Posted

It is once again Wednesday and a new card sketch is posted up over at the LCOM blog.  This week's sketch is a more streamlined and less layered sketch; so of course, I decided to layer it up a bit with my interpretation.

Materials used:  Bazzil cardstock, Graphic45 Bird Song pattern paper, pop dots, Distress ink and miscellaneous metal embellishment.

Each of the lanterns were cut out and pop dotted to give the card dimension.  I can't seem to do flat cards any more.  I think that I might have to challenge myself to create a card that gives the illusion of dimension but not have any depth.  Hmmm......

Sorry I haven't had much to share lately.  Mojo has taken a long vacation this time.  I am hoping to kick start it this weekend at Scrapbook & Cards Crop and Create event.  I am so looking forward to meeting up with friends, having some good food and dedicated creative time.

Have a good Wednesday and head on over to the LCOM Sketch blog to check out the sketch and the cards from the rest of the Card Team.

A New Card Sketch

Firstly, there is a new card sketch up over at the LCOM Sketch Blog and it is one of mine.  You should head on over there to see what the card team has come up with.  There are some beautiful cards.  I was going for more of an Asian feel for myself.  Graphic45 has these great new stamps as part of their Bird Song collection that I had to use.  I love the fans and I just couldn't see using anything else on this card.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey doily, Best Creations pattern paper, Graphic45 stamps, Tim Holtz dies, miscellaneous black embossing powder, Copic markers, Archival ink and Sharpie marker.

I haven't been doing much creatively lately so it is nice to get back into the groove.  August proved to be quite a busy month with traveling, my daughter's birthday, and getting the kiddos ready for school.  I had every intention on completing Tim Holtz's August tag but I am afraid that it fell by the wayside.  I am hoping to get back to them this month, maybe even today.

I am taking a "me" day from work today.  I have been working on some layout sketches and enjoying the quiet in my house. Tonight the kiddos and my husband are taking me out to celebrate my 45 years.  Crazy to think that 45 years have already gone by.  I still think and feel like I am only 18.  It is so true that you are only as old as you feel.

Have a fabulous Wednesday.

Getting back into a schedule....

I can't believe that it is the middle of August already and we have to start thinking of getting back into our regular schedule soon.  I must admit I love when school is out and we can just go with the flow.  No lunches to pack, no homework to make sure gets done, not having to be anywhere at a particular time....bliss.

This morning, my daughter and I were up earlier than everyone else so we decided to run out to the farmer's market to pick up some fresh pastries and veggies.  Although our area has been suffering from a drought, there was still some really nice veggies to be had.  Pumpkin was excited to get some sweet cherry jam, churros, and a purple pepper but wasn't thrilled about the onions and garlic.  I was happy to pick up some Pad Thai, mango salad and beef curry for lunch.  Yum.

On to crafting which is what this blog is suppose to be about....there is a new card sketch up on the LCOM Sketch blog.  It is a great sketch by Rusha.  As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Cuttlebug embossing folder, KaiserCraft pattern paper, BoBunny Pattern paper, Dollarstore button and bling, Windsor & Newton watercolours, Versamark, Ranger Clear embossing powder, Memory Box dies, and miscellaneous ribbon & pearl cotton.

I dry embossed the cardstock with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then I went embossed the raised sections of the design to provide a "resist" for the watercolours.  I also dug out my sewing needle to do a bit of hand sewing around the edges.  I like the stitched look but it is time consuming -- which basically means, that I don't do it very often.

If you want to check out the sketch that this card is based on, just head on over to the Sketch blog.  The design team has come up with some great cards using this sketch.

Happy Saturday!

A Card, A Thank-you and Last Day of Vacation

Firstly, I need to get my design team duties out of the way.  I am very late posting this.  I should have schedule the post before I went on vacation but I am afraid that with all the last minute packing and prepping, it was one of the items on my to-do list that never got finished.

A new card sketch was posted last Wednesday on the LCOM Sketch Blog and it is one of mine.  I am happy to be making sketches again.  I must admit that I have fun trying to come up with new sketches.  I just hope that they are not all starting to look a like at this point.  If you want to check out the sketch that the following card is based on just hope on over to the LCOM Sketch Blog.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Gelatos, Prima flower & leaf, Spellbinder dies, Marianne's Design dies, Cuttlebug embossing folders and miscellaneous ribbon.

This card is very simple and quick.  It is also made from only 1 sheet of cardstock, a piece of ribbon, 1 Prima flower and leaf.  I embossed the white cardstock background and then rubbed different colours of Gelatos on the raised areas.  I sprayed the cardstock with water and used a small paint brush to blend the Gelatos.  The medallion was cut out with a Spellbinder accent die and the white leaves were cut out with a Marianne Design's die.  The card took about 20 minutes to complete from start to finish.

Secondly, I want to thank Tim Holtz and Mario.  I was stunned to realize that I won a prize for participating in the July Tag of Tim's 12 Tags of 2012.  I must say that I am really enjoying the new format this year and I have been avidly waiting for the first of the month to find out what the next tag will be.  Even if Tim's style is not your style, I would highly recommend playing along, half the fun that I have been having is fitting his techniques into my style and see what I can come up with.  Once again, thank you Tim for the inspiration.

Today is the last day of my summer vacation.  I just spent the last week at my inlaws' farm with my husband and kiddos.  It was a nice visit.  We managed to do lots of visiting, swimming and relaxing but I am glad to be back home. 

 

Trying to find our way through a corn maze.

Sunset on the farm.

The kiddos and I are trying to get everything ready for the rest of the week but we are also just taking it easy today.  Enjoying the fact that we don't have to rush that we can just take everything at our own speed.  We are also laughing at the fact that my husband is at work slaving away while we slept in this morning.  We will be sure to rub it in tonight when he gets home.

I also have a couple of cards I would like to finish today -- one for the LCOM Sketch blog and one for Tim's August Tag.  Tim's August Tag has lots of hand made flowers on it so I am really looking forward to playing with that one.

Happy Monday.

Beautful Saturday Morning

It is an absolutely beautiful morning.  I was up before the sun came up and it was wonderful to spend the morning with a cup of coffee, fiddling with something creative before the house gets moving.  I use to be a night owl but I have been finding that I am enjoying the early morning more the last few years.

I hate to admit this but taking a bit of a break from the cards has been nice.  I have found that my creativity has been jump started and I have more ideas.  In the past two weeks, I have managed finished two layouts...one of which I had started back in September at my retreat.  It was nice to finally get it done and out of my pizza box of unfinished projects.

Materials used:  MME Lost and Found pattern paper, Core-dinations paper, Graphic45 pattern paper, Prima flowers & trim, and American Craft Thickers

This layout is of my daughter loosing her first tooth last summer.  It happened one day before her brother, who is 2 years older, lost his first tooth.  I actually journalled on this layout but I wrote it on a tag which I hid in a pocket behind the glitter plaid paper.  I wanted to tell the story of the her loosing her tooth first and how her brother felt about it but the journalling didn't fit with what I wanted to do.  I find that if I am journalling, I prefer to hide it if it is more than a couple of lines.

Materials used:  Basic Grey pattern paper, Prima adhesive felt, dollar store flowers, leaves and buttons, Martha Stewart flowers, washi tape, Doodlebug letters, October afternoon letters and Basic Grey letters and lots of pop dots.

My husband came up with the title for this layout.  Pumpkin was playing with the dog when he suddenly stopped and laid down.  She wasn't sure what to do with him or how to make him go again.

I used the Basic Grey PB&J line for the layout.  I love that their paper is double sided but I  hate it when the two patterns I want to use are on the same piece of paper.  The background pattern and the green with teal dots were on the same sheet.  Sometimes cutting the paper works and sometimes I am running out to my local scrapbooking store for another sheet.  Sadly, no excuse to visit today.

I have another layout on the go and this lovely Saturday is calling me back.

Happy Saturday.

July's Tag for Tim's 12 Tags of 2012

I knew that the July tag would be something patriotic.  Since I am not American and with Canada Day already past, I thought I would go a completely different route.  Something summery, something using my favourite colours....play a little with alternate supplies.

One thing I tend to collect are DCWV stacks.  Most of the time they don't fit my style but they are pretty paper and I like pretty paper.  In this case, I had picked up the Royal Garden stack on one of my trips into the States.  I love peacocks and this paper is vibrant with gold foil accents.  It is also a glossy coated paper.  Instead of using the Ranger clay coated glossy paper, I wondered if alcohol ink technique would work on the DCWV paper.  I selected a piece of white peacock feather paper from the stack and began to play.  It worked fairly well.

Materials used:  DCWV pattern paper, Ranger Alcohol ink, Archival ink, and miscellaneous metal elements.

One thing I need to remember when using glossy paper, ink takes much longer to dry on it but thankfully, you can't see where I smudge the image ;-)

Have a good Monday.

I actually did a layout

It has been a while but I actually made myself complete a layout today.  It seems like such a shame to have all this stuff and not use it.  I must admit it was nice to do something creative -- to just play until I was happy.

One part of my process is to lay out my layout before I glue things down.  I move elements around and just play with the arrangement until it fits.  One problem with this process is "forgetting" what you liked an hour ago and not being able to reproduce it.  It did not take me long before I realized that taking digital photos of my layout in process was a very good way to remember what was working and what wasn't.

A layout may stay in this state for a day or two before I start gluing things down.  Every time I am in the dining room, I will shift something and try to take a fresh look.  Not today though, I was determined to finish the layout before the end of the day.

Et voilà.....

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, October Afternoon pattern paper, Creative Imaginations Corrugated paper, KI rubons, Maya Road Die cuts and star pins, Tim Holtz Chit Chat and metal elements, Distress Ink, Recollections bling, foof-a-la rubons, misc. washi tape, pop dots and Dollar store sequins.

Next I think I am going to tackle Tim's Tag for July.  Since I am not American and our Canada Day has already pasted, I am thinking I might do something a bit different.  I have a few ideas but whether they will work or not is another question.....

Happy Monday.

Just wanted to say.....

Happy

Canada

Day!

and for everyone else...hope you are having a fabulous Sunday.

Lots of Cards

Oh wow....I just realized that is has been some time since I have posted any cards for the LCOM Sketch blog.  My bad.  Life, I am afraid to say has gotten in the way again.  With work being insanely busy, the last of the kiddos' school work and my husband passing his very first kidney stone, I haven't really given the blog much thought.

So today, I have three cards to share with you.  All three are based on card sketches on the LCOM blog over the last three weeks.  This week's sketch is one of mine and I will start with the card for it.  The design called for an embellishment that would dominate the card and nothing is better for capturing your interest than a large handmade flower.  This one was made with Outline stamps.  I was sorry to hear that Outline is no longer in business.  It is a shame.  I really liked their stamps.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, KaiserCraft pattern paper, Vellum, Stickles, Arcival Ink, and DCWV pattern paper.

For last week's sketch, I used the new Graphic45 A Ladies Diary paper.  It is a fun collection.

Materials used:  Prima pattern paper, Graphic45 pattern paper, stickers & chipboard elements, Distress Ink dauber and Dollarstore ribbon.

The card from the sketch from the week of June 11 is probably my favourite.  I love making these Cuttlebug quilled flowers.  They are so easy and so dramatic on a card.

Materials used:  Teresa Collins pattern paper, Bazzill cardstock and Maya Road Month diecut.

This weekend is a long weekend here in Canada and I am looking forward to having the extra time off.  I am going to put aside the cards and focus on a layout or two.  I know I have said that before but I am going to make the extra effort this time.

Have a good Friday.





June Tag for Tim's 12 Tags of 2012

Another month and another Tim Tag....this month's uses an interesting tinting technique for old photos.  I wasn't sure how this was going to work on modern ink jet photo paper.  It is a technique that I am familiar with from when I was developing my own black and white photos but hadn't revisited since I went digital. 

Instead of using the new Ranger tool, I used paper blending stumps with the Distress inks.  They worked reasonably well although the "fine" tip on the end tended to mash down as it got more ink soaked.  As long as all the fine detail work was done first, it was a nice compromise; although, I am curious now to see how well the Ranger nib system works.

Once again, I made a card instead of a tag.  I went on a Google search to find some vintage images and this one called out to be used.  I had originally planned on using a vintage ballet image to make a birthday card for my daughter but I really like the pastoral feel of this image instead.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Prima patterned paper, Tim Holtz findings and ribbon, miscellaneous dollar store trinket, 7Gypsies tag, K&Company paperclip, Pink Paislee pattern paper and die cut, Distress ink, Perfect Pearls and Archival ink.

I coloured the green trees in the background, the edges of the blue sky, the flowers in her hat and on her dress.  I just wanted a few touches of colour.  I was tempted to colour the dress as well but after a test run realized that it was too much.

One other item of note is that LCOM is have a Card Team and Sketch Artist call for the the new term starting in July, if you are a card maker or love to make sketches, you should check it out.

Have a good Tuesday.

Lots to Share

I have lots to share today.

Firstly, today is my son's 10th birthday.  I can't believe he is now in the double digits.  Where did the time go?  He has grown in to an adorable, loving, silly, funny young man.  We had a special day planned for him -- a pancake breakfast, presents, lunch at his favourite fast food place, dinner of his choice, and whatever he wanted to do.  So far that has consisted of putting together several Lego sets.  Tomorrow we are going to hit the wave pool.

Secondly, there is a new card sketch posted up over at the LCOM Sketch blog which is one of mine.  With banners and pendants being all the rage, this card sketch incorporates them as its main design element.  This is the first time since I have been on the Card Team that all of us used most of the same design elements on our cards.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Lily Bee Design pattern paper, miscellaneous buttons & pearls, Distress ink dauber, and Basic Grey alphabets.

To check out what the rest of the Design Team did and the sketch, just head on over to the LCOM Sketch blog.

And lastly, I was very excited to find out this morning that I won one of Tim Holtz's 2012 Tags prizes for May.  I have been enjoying following along with the tags and the techniques and this is just icing on the cake.  I want to thank both Tim and Mario.

I have some cupcakes to decorate so I better sign off here.

Have a happy Saturday.

New LCOM Card Sketch

Ah....Friday.  The weekend is almost upon us and it is a free and clear weekend with absolutely no plans.  All the kiddos activities are done until September and it is suppose to be, for the most part, a gorgeous weekend.  I think I am going to putter and play all weekend long. 

On that note, if you are looking for inspiration during your weekend puttering, the LCOM Sketch blog has a new card sketch up.  This week's sketch was made by Rusha and is just perfect for those summer themed cards.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Maya road ribbon, Micheal's ribbon, Spellbinder's dies, Lily Bee Designs pattern paper, KaiserCraft bling, Martha Stewart punch and pop dots.

Even though this card looks a bit complicated, it was actually quite quick.  The only time consuming part was backing the die cuts with the light pink cardstock.  I basically just glued the die cut down to the cardstock and took a pair of scissors and quickly trimmed it.  If you look at the underside, you will see that it is just a quick and rough cut; but, since you don't see the underside when the card is put together, it doesn't matter.

If you want to check out the sketch and what the rest of the Card Team has made, please head on over to the Sketch blog.  You can play along with us as well and link your interpretation of the card sketch.

Happy Friday.

May Tag for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags

May always seems to be a busy time.  Pumpkin has a big ballet show so there are more rehearsals and classes than normal.  My parents usually visit in this month and the last of the major school projects are assigned.  It is nice when the end of May is in sight and I know that the summer break is only a month away.  My crafting always suffers during this time and this May has been no different.

But....My parents left this morning, the ballet was last night and there are no projects due this week.  Today is a "me" day.  I have spent the whole day just playing with my crafting supplies and I managed to finish the next Tim Tag.

Materials used:  Prima pattern paper, Bazzill cardstock, Prima flowers, McCall's pattern, Distress ink, Archival ink, 7Gypsies tape, Utee, Prima metal, Maya Road paper clip and miscellaneous ribbon.

Dipping the flowers in Utee was an interesting technique.  It gave the flowers a faux porcelain look.  Instead of making a "pot" out of a wooden spool, I just layer the flowers instead.  I also dipped leaves in the Utee as well to give a bit more interest to my flowers.

Hopefully the kiddos do not have to much homework tonight.  Working on this card has jump started my mojo and I would love to play some more.

Have a good Tuesday.

A Shaped Card

This week's card sketch over at the LCOM blog is for a shaped card.  I like doing shaped cards and they are considerably easier when you are using a die.  By lining up the die so that fold of the card is left behind, you can produce a quick and easy shaped card.

For this card, I used the classic scallop Spellbinder dies.  You will notice that two of the scallops at the top are "flatter" than the rest.  I lined up the dies so that these two scallops were not cut and the fold remained.  I also used the large circle die to cut the background colour as well as the new Persian Motifs for the ornate circle.

The tulips are done with the new Memory Box tulip die.  I cut out four different tulips -- two in green and two in white.  The die cuts were dry embossed to give them dimension.

The banner is the Tim Holtz tattered banners.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Pink Paislee pattern paper, Basic Grey pattern paper.  Miscellaneous pearl bling and pop dots.

Be sure to head on over to the LCOM Sketch Blog to check out the sketch and to see what the rest of the Card Team has come up with.  I think that they have out done themselves this time.

Also, Saturday, May 5th is National Scrapbooking Day.  LCOM is having an on-line crop if you want to join in.  There will be lots of challenges and games to participate in.

Have a good Thursday.

A New Card Sketch

Today is Wednesday which means it is time for a new card sketch over at the LCOM Sketch blog.  This week's sketch is another one of mine.  The sketch was designed to have a central image or element with a dominate sentiment.  I am not much for putting sentiments on the outside of my cards so I removed that element on my interpretation.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Graphic45 pattern paper, Glossy Accents, and pop dots.

Luce, from The Scrapbox, made some fabulous cards using Graphic45's Curiosity Shoppe.  I loved what she did with the butterflies.  She folded them and applied Glossy Accents to them.  When the Glossy Accents dried, it created these great dimensional butterflies.  When I saw what she had done, I knew I had to "borrow" the idea for this card.  I love how the butterflies turned out and the fact that the butterflies will survive mailing better because they are 'stiff'.

If you would like to see the sketch that this card is based on, head on over to the LCOM Sketch blog.  You should also check out how the rest of the Card Team interpreted the sketch.

Have a good Wednesday.

Tim's 2012 Tag for April

A perfect way to start a Saturday morning is to have done something creative, to have dirty fingers when you wake up and knowing that the 3 hours of sleep you got last night was worth it.  I might be chugging coffee all day today but I am more relaxed when I have had a chance to play.  It helps set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

Last night I took a stab at Tim Holtz's April tag.  The techniques demonstrated with this tag, the stamping on an embossing folder to transfer to the debossed areas and using distress embossing powders are two that I am quite familiar with but it is nice to revisit them.  Sometimes, the older techniques get left by the wayside when something new and flashy comes along.

Instead of using distress ink to colour the background of my cardstock, I used the dylusions ink sprays that I recently picked up from the ScrapBox.   Oh my, I think I have fallen in love with these sprays.  Wow, the colour intensity is just amazing.  I have only used them on one card so far and I am already thinking that they are going to be come a staple in my repertoire.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, dylusions ink spray, Distress ink, Distress embossing powder, Prima leaves, Tim Holtz Philosophy tag, Tim Holtz jump rings, Micheal's pearls, DecoArt acrylic paint, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Archival ink, Copic marker, Ranger alcohol ink, Tim Holtz pine cone die, Grunge Paper, and miscellaneous pearl centers and ribbon.

I used Tim's pine cone die to make a flower.  I cut it out of Grunge Paper, inked it with Distress ink, embossed it with Distress embossing powder and inked it again after it was cooled.  Instead of rolling it on a tooth pick to make a pine cone, I loosely rolled it by hand to make a flower.

The embossed areas of the card, I inked with Barn Door Distress ink so they stood out from the green and yellow background.  With such intense colours, the embossing was looking a little lost even with the stamped transfer lettering.  The red provide the pop that was needed.

Unlike my kiddos and husband who have a 4 day weekend, I have to work on Monday so I better get my buns in gear if I am going to get anything accomplished today.  The Easter Bunny is not quite ready to visit tonight and I need to pick up salad fixings for Easter dinner at my cousins.

Happy Saturday and Happy Easter.

Time for a New Card

It is that time of the week again...Time for a new card sketch on the LCOM Sketch blog and for a new card.  The card team took a bit of a break last week but we are back this week with a new sketch by Rusha.  As soon as I saw the sketch, I was thinking of pockets with bits and pieces tucked in.  The new Graphic45 Old Curiosity Shoppe was perfect for what I had in mind.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Graphic45 pattern paper, Dollarstore pearl bling, Ranger Glossy Accents, and miscellaneous peacock feather.

The rest of the card team has done some great cards with this sketch.  Make sure to hop on over to the Sketch blog and check them out.

Happy Wednesday.

A New Layout

I finally have a new layout to share.  I haven't been scrapping layouts much lately and it took a challenge from one of the LCOM forum members - Sophia - to actually get my butt moving.  She challenged me to create a layout using pastel colours in honour of Spring and I had to use twine and decorative pins as well.  The decorative pin part was certainly easy.  I have a huge tin full of all kinds of different pins -- ones with leaves, with pearls, with gems, with flags...etc., etc., etc.

Since the colours were softer, I decided to scrap a picture of my daughter and love this one from last summer.  I also figured that the bright colours of the picture would pop against the softer pastels of the layout -- especially since I planned on making a very busy arrangement of flower clusters.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock and buttons, Prima pattern paper, flowers, resin elements and metal elements, Maya Road decorative pins, MME twine, Ranger paint daubers, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Making Memories metal flowers, Tim Holtz Grungeboard, Stickles, Dollarstore pearls, Glossy Accents, American Craft thickers, pop dots and Recollections pearls.

I prefer the photograph to have more visual weight on the page than the embellishments and I think the contrast in the colours of the photo and the layout accomplished that.

Off to do another project while creative energy is flowing.  Have a happy Saturday.

Crazy Weather

It has been absolutely gorgeous here....insanely gorgeous.  We have broke temperature records all week.  Normal March temperatures for our area are just above freezing -- about 4C.  This week, we have been in the mid 20's.  It has been an warm winter but to have June temperatures in March is just too freaky.  I am actually contemplating getting my snow tires off early.

Needless to say, we are trying to enjoy this warm weather before it disappears but I did manage to finish my card for the LCOM card sketch blog this week.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Distress ink pens, Dollarstore sequins, KaiserCraft bling, miscellaneous ribbon and feathers.

I have some wonderful art nouveau stamps that I picked up years ago but have never used.  Rusha's sketch provided the perfect showcase for them.  I coloured the stamp with Tim Holtz's new Distress ink pens, huffed and puffed and then stamped.  The background was embossed with a brass embossing plate that has also being hanging around in my stash for quite some time.  It was then inked with Distress ink to provide a stronger contrast to the embossing.

To check out the sketch and to see what the rest of the Design Team has come up with, head on over the the LCOM Sketch blog.  You can also play along if you wish and link your creations.  I am always amazed to see how others interpret the sketches.

Have a good Friday....tonight is fun food and movie night....maybe even a little crafting as well.  I have a partial finished layout sitting on my dining room table that is refusing to be quiet.

It's Friday...It's Friday....

And I am just a little excited.  I have a completely free and clear weekend.  I have no commitments, no child activities, no plans....Happy, happy, joy, joy.  I am so looking forward to just puttering and doing whatever happens to pop in my mind at the time.  This is probably the best way to spend the last weekend of March break.

Whenever I have a block of free time, I find that my mojo starts to bubble to the surface.  I have already been sketching out a couple of layouts and a few cards.  I also managed to find some of the honeycomb paper that Tim Holtz used on his February tag so I am excited to try out a few ideas with it.

Speaking of jump starting one's mojo, this week's card sketch is up over at the LCOM Sketch blog and it is one of mine.  I wasn't sure how this particular sketch was going to be interpreted by the design team and I was amazed at what they came up with.  I went with a fairly literal interpretation with a slight tweak to the bottom elements.  I really wanted to use a new Marianne's Design die that I had  picked up a few months ago that I haven't played with yet.  I love how it turned out so I think this die is definitely a keeper.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Pink Paislee London Market pattern paper and die cuts, Prima flower, Recollections pearl florishes, Ranger Distress ink, and Dollarstore pearls.

The new Pink Paislee London Market collection is a fabulous collection.  That soft Victorian feel is right up my alley.  I can see myself going back to get more of it.

Have a great Friday!

New card

Just a quick post to remind everyone that the new card sketch is up over at the LCOM sketch blog.  Rusha has provided a great sketch that is very versatile.

I ended up doing a quick card.  I had hoped to do some stamping and colouring with Copics but life has thrown some road blocks into my plans this week.  One nice thing is that a good set of dies can really help make a great looking card with minimal effort.  In this case the PaperTrey Ink doily die is the focal point of my card:

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, Prima flowers, miscellaneous ribbon, Recollections bling, and KaiserCraft pattern paper.

I hope that everyone gets a chance to try out the sketch.  We love seeing how others interpret the sketches.

Happy Friday.

Tim's 2012 Tag for March

When I saw this month's technique for Tim's tag, I was intrigued -- paper mosaics and embossing with double sided adhesives.  Although I was unable to locate any Wonder Tape, I still wanted to try for the effect.  Of course, the double sided tape I have is not heat embossable but I figured that I could simulate the effect using powders, double sided tape and Krylon Matt Finish to provide a good seal. Surprisingly it turned out quite well.

Materials used:  Bazzil cardstock, Prism simply smooth cardstock, miscellaneous paper scraps, Tim Holtz Foliage findings, miscellaneous metal embellishment, Tim Holtz Stamps, IO Cover-a-Card Distressed Brick & Wood Grain stamp, Scraptivity sky blue embossing powder, Scraptivity sonic orange embossing powder, KaiserCraft bling, Perfect Pearls, Spellbinder's foliage die, Tim Holtz tattered flower die, Distress ink, Archival ink and Glossy Accents.

Everything for this card came out of my stash and most of it came out of my scrap paper box.

I must admit there is one draw back with doing monthly tags instead of the 12 days of tags....that is having to wait a whole month for a new one. Oh well, suspense and anticipation are suppose to spice up life.

Happy Saturday night....off to see if I can come up with an idea for this upcoming week's LCOM card sketch.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy....It's Friday

I have plans this weekend to be creative.  Tim Holtz has posted his March tag.  I started gathering up all the stuff I wanted to use last night; so after the kiddos hit the hay this evening, I am going to play.

This week's card sketch is up over at the LCOM Sketch blog and it is one of my creations.  I love what the design team came up with this time around -- especially Anita with her ice cream cones.  You have to head on over and check out it out.

My own card, based on the sketch, has a bit more nautical in feel.  I stayed literal to the sketch and kept the layers simple.  The only part that is pop dotted is the sentiment.

Materials used:  Bazzill cardstock, MME pattern paper, Ranger Distress ink, and miscellaneous twine.

I loved the teal colour of this line of My Mind's Eye paper.  I think I might have to pick up some more of it.  I have almost used up all that I have.  Another excuse to spend money....as if I needed one. ;-)

Happy Friday.