CC101 FB December Challenge

Yikes! I thought I had posted this a while ago! Thank heavens I had time to jump over and browse! The Creative Chemistry 101 FB Challenge for December was for showing either Vintage or Christmas.  Once all my Christmas Cards were done, and I hadn't found a good way to use one of the new Magenta stamps I had gotten in the summer, I made this my subject.  And, it sorta fits both themes. 

I used Tim Holtz's Crumpled Kraft Suede technique for the background. Colored the stamp with the Distress Markers,  some tan lace trimmings, and viola! So much better than the card I had been struggling with earlier. 

So, squeeking under the wire...I hope you all have a very Happy, Crafty New Year!

CC2C #34: Glazed Mosaics

/Sob!! The Last challenge from Tim Holtz's Compenidum of Curiosities Vol. 2.  Linda at Studio L3 has saved Glazed Mosaics, found on page 60 for last. And as I'm typing this, Thursday morning, I'm hoping she extends it one more week.  Because I'd hate to fail at the last challenge..and I so am!

What with Christmas, Mom being hospitalized, and me having a cold, my weekend sorta ran out. "No problems, I have everything" I think, plenty of time to do it Wed. night.  Again, a sign I have too much stash, as while I do have an extensive supply of shrink plastic, none of it is clear.  'Coulda swore I had clear... No problem, I'll improvise with the white.  Oh, yeah, can't see through it, well, I'll just do the new version of shrinking.  Oh, melting pot is almost empty, guess what, that was the last of my clear UTEE...and of course its become yellow as I've heated it a few times already.
 Huh.  well, I'll try using Tim's Pointasettia die, and attach that to the new pillow box for gift cards. So I cut out the pointasettia out of the shrink stuff; hmm, very brittle.  One of the petals broke off.  I did remember to punch a hole for the brad before I shrunk. Yay me.  I also realized, as I wasn't heating with the heat tool, that the color would come off in the UTEE, so another Yay me.  I stick my pieces into the melting pot; they shrink beautifully, so that too is a plus for the technique.  I figure alcohol inks will color them. but there will be no good way of stamping on them, so the "Mosaic" portion is sorta lost.  Then I realize, the hole I punched is now filled with the UTEE. So I try to drill it out, and they all crack.  Every piece has lost a petal or two.   So, there is the pillow box, and the broken pointasettia pieces, which would have been too small I realize now anyway.  But I did give it the old college try.  And I will be running out to replenish my UTEE and obtain clear shrinky stuff with one of my gift cards from Christmas, and trying this again. 

So Thank You Linda, for leading us through this second amazing book of Tim's.   We all have another 33 wonderful tools in our technique toolbox.  And I, for one, can't wait to see if another book will be soon following.   Have a happy New Year Everyone!

WOYWW #186

Well, for me it's a snowy Thursday morning.  While Albany received 7 inches of snow, up on the hill we had over 15.  And work said we'd open on time?? So I made it in, and have time to do this What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday Post, hosted by our lovely Julia at The Stamping Ground.
My desk: last nights very disappointing attempt at the last Compendium Challenge of Vol. 2.  See the broken shrinky plastic pieces of Tim's Pointasettia die?  Yup, apparently I didn't have clear shrink plastic, so I thought I'd improvise...and in this technique, you shrink the stuff in melted UTEE. So even though I had punched holes to place a brad, they filled up with the UTEE, and then all cracked when I tried to drill out the whole.  At least I remembered not to color them first, as the ink would have contaminated the clear (well, more yellow now as its been heated a few times) UTEE.  The pillow box in the left was to hold the shrunk pointesttia, as well as some last minute gift cards. Time to draw back and punt, as they say.  And last, the two black bars are my husbands work name pins, that keep loosing the backs. So, glossy accents to the rescue..until the next time he forgets to take the pins off his shirts before I wash them.

So, if the day stays slow, I'll get to hop around the world to peek at other crafty spaces.  And until me meet again, a very Happy, Proserous and Crafty New Year's to you All!

CC2C #33: Tissue Tape

A real quick post, (hopefully without the issues of my WOYWW multi-posting issues! LOL!).

Linda at Studio L3 has posted the Tissue Tape Technique for our Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 2 Challenge for this week.  Tim Holtz has shown a few different uses for this really cool tape.I went with the second one: NO Comments from the Peanut Gallery...I know it did not end up round.  I'm sure pleating is like fluting a pie; one needs to practice.  THis card is for my Mother's birthday, who is 89 today.  Its the first time I used Dyan's ink sprays and masks, and boy did I make a mess, But I had fun with that, and I know she'll love it (or at least say she does! LOL!)

So I'm now off to finish (well, sorta start, kinda) my Christmas shopping. I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas, and a very Happy, Crafty New Year!

-K

WOYWW #185

Wednesday night...trying to do this from home (23 minutes to get to the post screen)...and I had to make my Mother's 89th Birthday Card first. While I was at it I thought I better try to do the Compendium Challenge, which was using Tim's Tissue Tape...as if I didn't do it tonight, it wouldn't get done. So here is the mess, not helped by the out of focus photo, I assure you.

So, what we have on the left side and around the matt are some of the goodies I just bought, thinking I could make pillow boxes for all the gift cards I'd be giving. So there is Tim Holtz's pillowbox die. And then I acquired a couple of Dyan's spray inks and stencils.  I had watched a video of her, you see; and it looked so simple.  Hah! (Of course now I know why she uses the paper towel roll the way she does...notice the few sheets I used on the right?) So, while the card is an experamental mess, I know she'll love it, as she's loved all of my art for 50 years! LOL! I'll try to get that to post tomorrow: as it's taken 48 minutes to load the photo....(for Christmas, I want the bloody cable company to get off their asses and lay some cable up the hill!!)

As far as the pillow boxes???  THey would work great, if all the gift cards I bought didn't come on these full-sized cards that have the activation bar code thingies on them.  OK, maybe I should go to the actuall stores to get the regular sized ones, but then I'd be even further behind, as this was a one stop while doing groceries "get er done" kinda mode. but don't fret; I will be making them to have ready. And as for the stencils and sprays; they kinda facinate me, so I'll work on perfecting them too!
Oh, and I found a great use for the TH little binder clips: they are holding closed the package of the most wonderful cookie ever!! A Moravian Ginger Spice cookie that I found at Fresh Market!!  Some bakery in North Carolina makes them...best I've ever found! Bad news, while they say the serving size is 9 cookies (yay!) I ate probably 30 of them while doing the card...bad naughty Kim...Oh, washed down with Mt. Dew, which is why I can still type at 10:15 pm...

SO, the hour, the sugar, the time waiting, have all contributed to a very bizarre post; which I will end now.  Go see Julia at the Stamping Ground to see what the Wednesday Workdesk thingy is all about, then go hop the world of workdesks! And also, I want to wish all my blogger friends a very Merry Christmas and a very Healthy, Happy, Crafty New Year!!
-K

WOYWW #184

It’s Wednesday!! The day our hostess Julia opens up the magical portal at The Stamping Ground that allows us to share our wacky work desks.

Last night, once I realized what day it was, I quickly ran upstairs to grab a shot of the desk, expecting to find my last set of cards, which I just need to stamp envelopes for.  Yup, not that! I completely forgot that somewhere in the midst of last weekend I “absolutely had to, at that very minute” sort my CD’s to transfer to the IPad.  You see, we were going to my step-sons to access the broadband internet to, because this is very critical you see…update the latest patch on World of Warcraft.  (My other hobby addiction) And while at it, update all the security sites, and I figured, back-up and update the IPad.  First, I’m amazed at how long that takes, even on highspeed.  And, how is it possible that one’s taste in music can change.  I mean, I still love my celtic music, and Jethro Tull (specifically Ian Anderson) will always be my flute hero, but Agnatha Faltskog??? Yes, I used to wail away to her solo albums while painting the house, etc., (never a huge fan of ABBA) but now; gack! Does nothing for me.  And Pat Benetar, while still enjoyable, is just not what I want in the background while crafting.  When did I figure this out?? While listening to my music mixes at work…would have been nice to realize this before I spent 6 hours copying and transferring 22 CD’s!

Stamp Camp Dove

So, back on track, as a few have asked about the Stamp Camp Dove that I had been fiddling with, here it is.  I’m sure I’ll come up with a better treatment of it, but the crystals in the stars worked to jazz it up a bit.  This weekend I’ll take a shot of the whole 2012 collection.

More sparkel on the crystals

Oh, I also took this great connection to update the blog page, as I notices so many of you have already done…I hope you all like it, as it will probably be up for a while!! LOL! (still couldn’t find how to get the photo pages working, another time perhaps…

So, I’ve shown mine.  Now go jump to Julia’s and go see everyone else’s. And don’t forget to open your doors as well! Have a great week everyone!

CC2C #32: Rosettes!

Getting near the end! This week over at Studio L3, Linda has assigned us page 63 of Tim Holtz' Compendium of Curiosities Vol.2.  I have to say; I love these rosettes! I have both dies, and am looking forward to the snowflake ones.  These I tried embossing first; using my Aegean Silver EP (silver and blue glitter ep--and again...I hate glitter...why don't I remember this? I have glitter EVERYWHERE!!!),  Except that my Top Boss pad seems to be drying up, it worked better than expected. And the folding only released a little bit more glitter.




So, what is my issue?  I just don't seem to know how to use them...I was actually toying with making a snowman, except it would have been too big, and clunky, and just didn't look right.  I also couldn't seem to get any more than one to look right in any way shape or form.  So, here is what I came up with.  Ehh.  So, now that I've posted, I can't wait to jump over to Linda's and see what everyone else has done. I loved Linda's fab idea of using as a wreath.
So, as the week is early, you still have plenty of time to grab the die and give it a go.  And then I can see what you did too!  Have a great week everyone.

WOYWW #183

Wednesday! Glorious Wednesday. (And it is too…mid 40’s, sunny, the snow is all gone…/sigh.  If only I wasn’t at work) It is also our day to open the virtual doors of our craftrooms and share our work desks, all via Julia at the Stamping Ground.

My desk is as it was Sunday evening.  What you see (oh my…LOL! the dark block on the top right: a piece of Lindt Chili Chocolate…I can’t believe I didn’t finish it!!! I guess I was really wrapped up in getting them done so I could get to bed! LOL!)
Anyway, what you see are my card fronts that are left to dry the Distress Stickles that I used on the berries.  This is a card I had fun working on for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge over at Studio L3, which you can seehere.  I liked it so much; I decided to make a few to send out.  The envelopes are all stamped, and the card bases have their greetings all done; hopefully tonight I can put them together, and then work on my final 8 cards. The pile in the top left are the stamps I wanted to use this year…hmm, maybe I should leave them out all year long, and I won’t be in this bind next Christmas! (And I can't believe I havent even inked the TH toy Soldier blueprint die

So there it is…my work desk that is not in a frantic state.  Now go jump to Julia’s and enter the portal of other workdesks world-wide, and don’t forget to open your doors as well. Have a great week everyone!

CC2C #31: A Distressed Palette

Wow…we are getting near the end of the Compendium OfCuriosities Vol. 2 challenges over at Linda’s Studio L3.  This week is the third using the Ink Palette, this time with Distress Inks. Tim Holtz shows two different options for this one, and as I have done the first, I decided to try the second one. And let me say: “Halleluiah!”  (so looks spelled wrong).  This is my new fave coloring technique.  I found I liked using the Distress Markers when scribbled on the craft sheet, then had the colors picked up with a water pen, but was worried about using up the markers too fast.  This gives the same wonderful transparent effect using the stains-which will probably last a lot longer (and are cheaper to replace!) I will admit I had to tweak the photo a bit though to show the colors, my original photo was so pale.

This stamp by Stampedous! I first saw as a class sample at Absolutely Everything’s blog. Love at first sight I tell you; but I wasn’t going to get it, as I have so many holiday stamps I just haven’t inked yet. Imagine my surprise to see it at Michael’s, 40% off. Bam! In my cart it went. I thought this might lend to this technique well, and I like it so much I’m going to use it as one of my designs. I ended up using watercolor paper which blended better and buckled less than my first 3 attempts.  I added Distress Stickles to the holly berries, but as these all get mailed, I try to keep them light and flat, so that was all I added.

Now, as I’m actually early, you still have time to jump in: Grab a copy of Tim’s wonderful book, turn to page 51 and give this amazing tool a try. Have a great week everyone.