Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Hello Bloggers,
Today I was inspired by Archiver's rosette tree and a wreath of paper rings I saw while visiting the VA hospital this week. Their's was made of loops for holiday papers pinned to a form. you could do this in any shape. I thought about trying a tree shape too.
 I made various sizes of the rosettes thinking I would make a tree, but these rosettes evolved and morphed into a wreath instead. I am lucky enough to own Tim Holtz's new snowflake die from Sizzix. I got a new Martha scoreboard with a discount coupon this week so I just had to break it in. I am so please with my purchase. Check out Martha's site for other crafty ideas.

There are a number of challenges this week for holiday themed projects. 

I will be entering this  in a few.

Below is a close up view of the snowflake.

I spritzed the entire wreath with Perfect Pearls.

Showing stages of assembly

I added Holly Berry and Graphic 45 elements.

I will be playing some more with these ideas.

I hope you enjoyed my crafting today.

ttfn 

12 Tags of 2012 Challenge

I am so thankful for many things in my life. I have great friends and family and a wonderful crafting community to share ideas and inspiration with each and every day. Tim has created another beautiful tag this month. I hope you hop over to his blog and check it out. So here is what Tim's art has inspired me to make. I was able to incorporate a Vintaj leaf I embossed and colored with Patina.  Well, must keep moving. Monday comes too soon.

Fall is in the Air

We have been having unseasonable warm weather, but the days are getting shorter. My drive to work in the mornings has been colorful. That is about all I have been seeing of these beautiful fall days.

Yesterday it was still dark at 7:00 am.

Well, October is drawing to an end and I haven't had much playtime. Tim Holtz has a wonderful tag this month for inspiration, so I had to get out my stamps, dies, inks, paints  glitter, and findings to follow along. Below is what I did.

Love the sparkle on the cat and letters.

and the tissue paper background is an interesting touch.

 I used some crackle paint on the fence and frames.

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I hope I can see some more of fall's beauty before the snow flies.

Celebrate freedom!

Happy 4th of July, Independence Day. Today I headed to the studio to create a special tag book for a dear friend who happens to be born on the 4th. Additionally, Tim Holtz's 12 tag challenge is all about Alcohol Ink Splatter this month. I played with the technique to to see how the inks would move and layer. I also came up with my own take on how to get the most from your inks. I hate to waste all that lovely color on my craft sheet, so I devised a way to do just that.

The figure on the right demonstrates the splatter technique. Be sure and watch Tim's video to show you how this works.

This is the cover of the book. I used my own technique to do this. (more to come on that)

After you get done with the splattering, you have a good deal of ink left on your craft sheet. I spritzed the leftover ink with alcohol and picked it up with a tag the way you would do winkle-free distress. I stamped a few images and wanted some pizzazz. I then stamped the star and embossed with a sparkle powder, die-cut the star for layering and added the letter box 4.

I completed both sides of the tags to make the book come together better.

a different view

and another

close up of splatters

the tags before binding

I used a Roll A Binder to punch and fasten the tags together.

I really love it when the splatters kind of do what you want.

This is the gloss cardstock after making the backgrounds.

These are the backgrounds I made with the leftover inks on my craft sheet.

I found out the white ink did not work well on this. I tried again with silver pigment.

I really liked the subtle color backgrounds I got from the leftover ink.

So I hope you all have a clear night to enjoy the fireworks. Have a great holiday!

12 Tags of 2012 June

Yikes! June is almost at an end and I am way behind on my challenges. This one is from Lord Tim himself once a month. You know I can't miss out so I did a bit of quick art this morning. Tim did a great tag with a photo coloring technique. I found this shot of my mum when she was a school girl with her friend. I hope you like it.

I used the new Ranger Patina to color the pearl brad

The trims are from my mother's stash. The packages read J C Penneys 13 cents.

12 Tags of 2012 - May

Tim Holtz has a fab tag this month and I have had a great time playing with UTEE for this challenge. I love all the pieces that went into this collage. The hangers are part of Tim's newest releases. The scissors are from Studio 490 by Wendy Vecchi and Stampers Anonymous.

The background paper  is craft resist. The tag is coated with tissue paper.

Here is a close up of the detail.

The acrylic tag has craft resist paper behind it.

Glimmer mist and a bit of antique gold embossing.

UTEE coated flowers. 

And guess what. Inspiration Emporium is also offering a May Flower challenge so this will be my submission. This was sew much fun! Thanks for stamping by.