Traveling with Tim ... Holtz's August 2013 Tag

I'm back with my take on Tim Holtz's August 2013 Tag.  I've actually come up with two tags for this month.  I have to admit this has been a lot of fun.  I love traveling, stamping and coloring, so Tim's tag was right down my alley.

My first tag is sheer indulgence on my part.  I finally got my hands on Tim's Time Travelers stamp set and I just wanted to play with it.  Since Tim's theme this month was travel, I made a Time Traveling tag. Check out the link above to see Tim's tutorial for this month's techniques.

I used Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink for the background on both tags.  I really like the combination.  I also colored both with Distress Markers and a water brush.  For this tag, I toned down the black archival ink of the balloon stamped image by going over the lines with a Vintage Photo Distress Marker.  I like the effect.  The tag tie is made out of Grungeboard.  The slide was colored with black, brown and gold alcohol inks for a rusty feel.  I edged the tag with Walnut Stain.  Here are some pictures of my Time Traveler Tag:

 

 My second tag is a more traditional train travel tag.  I did some shadowing on here to go along with the train engine's smoke (with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and a water brush).  I couldn't help but put a clock at the top of the tag.  Train travel for me has always been about watching a clock.  I also did a little something different with the Railroad Crossing sign.  I didn't mask the train tracks underneath.  I actually liked giving the sign the feel of being somewhat translucent and floating above the tracks.  I also stamped it with Distress Embossing ink and used a chunky embossing powder in antique black.  Take a look at some of the details of my second tag:

 

 

Thanks for "traveling" with me and my Tim Holtz 2013 tags this month.  Hope you enjoyed your trip :)  -- Mary Elizabeth

A Night at the Fair

The theme this week at Simon Says Stamp & Show Monday Challenge is Carnival.  As I thought about possible projects to enter, I immediately thought about nights at the County Fair when I was in college.  We would buy tickets, go on rides, eat lots of food, play games, and look at the festive flashing carnival lights.  This tag attempts to encapsulate the fun of those nights at the fair.

To create the night background, I chose a black corrugated specialty paper that I cut with Tim Holtz's Sizzix Tag and Bookplates die.  I sanded the edges and some places on the surface of the tag to give it more a grunged vintage feel.  

Now for the big challenge ... how do I create a Ferris Wheel (my favorite ride) as the focal point for my tag?  I thought about the various patterns that one can find on the "spokes" of the wheel when it is lit up with lights at night.  Many times, it would have a star shape.  I went immediately to the Americana Star Blueprint stamp from Tim Holtz.  I stamped it twice on black cardstock, once in Picket Fence Distress Paint and once in Wild Honey Distress Paint.  I cut out the stars and attached them through the center with a small brad.  I used a small piece of grungeboard between the two stars as a "separator" to leave some space between the stars to insert the Ferris Wheel base framework pieces.  I then offset the back star (white) a little by rotating it to the left around the brad.

The cars on the Ferris Wheel are made with pink and blue brads that I places at the tips of the stars.  The metal frame and base were created from recycled cardboard packaging that I cut into strips, painted with Silver Adirondack Acrylic paint, "tarnished" with a Black Soot Distress Marker, and sealed with a thick coat of Glossy Accents.  I cut the strips into appropriate lengths to create the base (using Ranger's Inkssentials Black Enamel Accents to create "rivets" to bolt the base together.  I also adhered appropriate lengths of the strips between my "car" brads to create the wheel frame.

Next I attacked the food for my Night at the Fair.  I found the 1937 technical drawing of the original Coca Cola bottle online.  I loved this sketch!  So I cropped part of it on my computer and printed it on shrink plastic.  I cut out the bottle, painted it with an alcohol ink marker, and then stuck it in the toaster oven.  Voila ... vintage cola bottle embellishment for my tag. 

Now for the popcorn.  Here is where I went a little overboard with the whole "scrap" stash idea.  We all keep things that "normal" people throw away to use in our projects.  Many of you know about my chipmunk visitor on July 4th.  Well, I decided I would rather he limit his visits to the exterior of my home.  So I purchased some Great Stuff sealant at the hardware store that creates a foam to fill up the cracks between my wonky floor and walls (so that rodents can't crawl in).  I had some of left over and thought it might come in useful for some project.  I used it here for the popcorn in my box of popcorn :)  I found a printable template for the popcorn box online that I printed on matte photo paper.  I colored it with a Tumbled Glass Distress Marker and grunged it with Old Paper, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I took a craft knife and made a slit in the box's side and bottom, then I inserted the bottom right corner of my tag into this slit.  I filled the box with my Great Stuff "popcorn".

I wanted my FAIR sign to look like it was lighted with light bulbs.  I die cut the letters with Tim Holtz Vintage Market Sizzlet die out of black cardstock.  I then edged the letters with a Gerber Daisy paint pen from Martha Stewart.  I dotted them with Petal Pink Liquid Pearls to create the "lights" around the outside of the letters.

 

I added a couple of baubles as balloons.  I used silver jewelry beading wire for the balloon strings (including cute little bows that I made from the wire). I added a Tim Holtz "Play" tag to the string on one of the balloons to give it a little more presence

I topped the tag off with a stamped Fair ticket and a carnival FUN sign that I colored with Old Paper and Vintage Photo Distress Inks as well as Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar and Broken China Distress Markers.  Finally I added the "Night at the" words and a length of black beading wire as a tag tie.

 Thanks for letting me relive some of my college day memories with you through this tag.  I almost forgot how fun the Fair can be.  Maybe it is time for another visit this fall :)  -- Mary Elizabeth

Found Objects

I have just returned this evening from some quality time with my family.  I have, for the most part, managed to stay away from lovely crafty blogland.  I did manage to post one my tags using my Blogger phone app.  I must say, that was quite a feat ... one that I do not wish to replicate any time soon.

I have about an hour before the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge:  Make the Cut deadline, so this blog entry will be relatively short.  My tag is a reflection on my time of rest with my family.  I managed to collect some "found objects" during this time ... shells, some coins, a key, some shark teeth fossils, and my most-prized find -- hope.  I have a great deal of hope that I can face the upcoming challenges at work, with my health, with my family and ones I don't even know about yet. 

I began my tag by stamping a "swirly" floral stamp in Moonlight archival ink randomly around the tag.  After that dried, I used an ink blending tool to ink the tag with Scattered Straw and Antique Linen Distress Ink.  I added some shadows to the stamped images with an Old Paper Distress Marker and blending the shadows with a tiny brush dipped lightly in some water.  I distressed the edges of the tag with sand paper and then grunged it a little with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Recently, I bought a Mason jar stamp and I've been dying to use it.  I have been wanting to try this idea of stamping the image with black archival ink onto shrink plastic film and then cutting it out to make the image actually look like a glass Mason jar.  I then wanted to "fill" the jar by adding some three-dimensional objects underneath the shrink plastic jar overlay.  This challenge gave me a perfect opportunity to use the "jar" to contain my found objects.  It took me forever to configure the objects on the tag and then glue them down with Glossy Accents. 

Before I put the jar on the tag, I  used a craft knife to cut a small slit in the "mouth" of the jar and inserted a branch that I cut out of corrugated cardboard (with a Tim Holtz die).  The leaves were painted with Peeled Paint Distress Paint and the branch was inked with Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I used Tim's Tattered Flower Garland Decorative Strip die to create the flowers.  The flowers were put together with a vintage copper brad.  The branch and flower were glued to the tag with Glossy Accents.  I glued the "jar" onto a few of the found objects with Glossy Accents.  I wish I could have been a little cleaner (and in less of a hurry) with my gluing!  (I'm still waiting for it to dry as I type this.)

I made a label for my tag with a Tim Holtz grungeboard die cut.  It was painted with Broken China Distress Paint.  I then sanded the label added some Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I distressed some letter stickers that spelled out "found objects" and added the letters to the label. 

Well, it's back to work for me tomorrow.  I hope to catch up with everyone's blogs over the next few days.   Have a wonderful (and creative) week!!  -- Mary Elizabeth 

                                                               

Back with Some Color

I have taken a few days off with my family. Of course, I took some of my craft supplies along. Here is a tag I've been working on. It's just a product of playing with ink, paint and stamps.  I love the colors. 

I stamped the designs at the bottom and top of the tag with black Versa Fine ink. I colored the designs with Barn Door, Crushed Olive, Wild Honey, Tumbled Glass, and Mustard Seed Distress Markers.  I painted around the top design with Wild Honey Distress Paint and a water brush. I used Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, Distress Marker and a water brush to cover the remaining space on the tag.   I distressed the tag with sand paper. I then applied Walnut Stain Distress Ink to those edges. 

The sentiment was stamped on white card stock. I used a metal slide to attach the fiber cord to the tag. 

I intend to live life by this sentiment.  This tag is a pretty good start :).  Hope  you are having a colorful week as well. -- Mary Elizabeth