Tim's tag for March

Hi again!

I was totally amazed & shocked (and speechless!) when Tim released his tag for March!!!  Why???  Every month, all the entries go into a prize draw - imagine my shock when I saw my name in the post as one of the prize winners!!!!!  (& thanks to everyone who commented on my post!)  So at the moment I'm looking forward to the arrival of my prize!!!

So, onward & upward!

This month, Tim used his 'smudge stamping' technique to create two tags.  I did try this before when I took Tim's Creative Chemistry 102 online class although I kept muddling the two tags up!) so I had another go!  (I didn't get them muddled this time!)

 

 

As you can see, the one on the right is paler, more subtle, as it uses second-impression stamping, having already stamped the tag on the left, & using just the ink remaining on the stamp for the second tag, then a little bit of smudging to slightly blur the outlines.   I think with a little more practice, I shall really get to enjoy this technique, and 'two for the price of one'!!!

 

I used vintage photo, seedless preserves, peacock feathers & peeled paint ink pads, with a little spiced marmalade through the stencil for the background.  I used the same colours on the tag ribbons, but added more water to create a paler ribbon for the second tag.  For the little flowers, I used seedless preserves paint, with an addition of a pale grey/blue on the right. 

 

Back soon!     Kay

A vintage journey... challenge 1

A couple of week's ago, I found a new challenge blog, A Vintage Journey; vintage, shabby chic, & Tim Holtz -  definitely me, I thought!  It's run by Brenda Brown, & she's got a great Design Team working on the blog.  Challenges are going to be every 2 weeks, and are sponsored by Countryview Crafts (a great online shop with great prices & quick delivery, and free postage in the UK).

So here's my first entry.  

The theme for this first challenge is 'Anything Tim'!  So a vast selection of inspiration to inspire me!  What would I do?  Being a 'vintage journey', I thought I'd 'travel' back in time, and revisit (loosely!) the first of Tim's tag for Christmas 2011, which was the first tag I ever completed & blogged; although I 'd seen his previous years' tags, I 'd never got around to doing any!

Tim's tag Christmas 2011 Day 1

My 2011 tag (I didn't have the pine cone die at the time)

So I revisited the tag & thought about how I could adapt it from Christmas...

As Tim said in his blog post, he was focusing on the pine cone die.  In the video, he shows how to use the die to create roses, as well as pine cones, so I decided to do these.  & I used the new foliage strip die for the greenery.  I did the background using Tim's techniques (except I didn't rub the embossing powder off the raised areas!). I covered the die cut flourish with distress glitter (not available in 2011!).  Finally, I added a few embellishments, & punched & distressed borders.  I was going to use the word 'Spring', but although I have seen a (very) few roses already with the odd flower (this early!!!) the roses didn't really fit with spring, so I used some chit-chat stickers instead.

New beginnings #2

I joined Christy Tomlinson's online Art Society Video Club back in January ... monthly inspiration for mixed media canvases. Very different, but I'm loving it! Videos come mid-month, so here's my January canvas ...




 

I added a layer of tissue wrap to the canvas, then painted over; added die cut patterned paper leaves which I painted over, and a couple of die cut embossed butterflies I'd done a while back & added the text.  It looked quite disjointed, so I finally sprayed over the whole canvas!

 

For the second one for January, I went 'off track' a bit!  A dark background, & for Christmas I'd got the Steeleye Span album "Wintersmith" (inspired by Terry Pratchett's tales of Tiffany Aching).  One of the songs on the album was called 'I shall wear Midnight'. I'd already done the black/grey background for my canvas.  I also had some tiny patterned leaves left over.  So I decided to create my canvas around these ...

 

 

And here's a couple for February ...

The patchwork is made of rectangles of the top layer of paper napkins (I've gathered quite a collection over the years!); faux 'stitching' added with pen.

 

For this one, I used Tim Holtz fabric for the patchwork.  As the edges of the material were already 'pinked', I cut the rectangles with pinking shears & I added a little stamping using various border stamps, with a little distress ink on the edges (back to my favourite 'muted' colours!!).

 

Back soon!     Kay