Do You See What I See? Another November Tag for Tim's 12 Tags of 2013

Most months, I barely have enough time to get one tag completed for Tim's 12 Tags of 2013.  However, this month's technique is pretty quick to do. So here I am to share another tag using Tim's chalkboard technique.  For  those of you who are new to my blog or new to Tim's 12 Tags of 2013, go check out Tim Holtz's step-by-step tutorial (and gorgeous fall tag) for his November Tag of 2013. 

I started this tag with a black cardstock background.  I used Distress Embossing Ink to stamp the three Wise Men (from Tim Holtz's Joyful Song stamps set) and a partial miniature blueprint star (from Tim's Mini Blueprints 2 stamp set) on the background.  I then used a Perfect Medium pen to create some "rays" shining out from the blueprint star image.  I could do this all at one time because the Distress Embossing Ink doesn't dry as fast as other inks.  I then added Ranger's Antiquities embossing powder (per Tim's tutorial) to all the images.  I then grabbed my chalk and went to town!!  So much fun :)  I took a small damp paint brush and went around some of the edges of the Wise Men image to emphasize some of the amazing details you can still get with this technique.  I also used some extra chalk to shade in some sand dunes in the background.  

I took another small piece of black cardstock and stamped the mini blueprint star with Distress Embossing Ink.  I repeated the chalk process and then cut out the star.  I adhered it to the tag (on top of the partial star already on the tag, offsetting the image just a little) with adhesive foam squares.

Next I used some of Tim's Chitchat Stickers to say "do you see what I see", which refers to the Christmas carol of the same title.  Since this is a question, I decided to add a stamped question mark at the end with black archival ink.  I was surprised how well it turned out considering I stamped on chalk.  Just a note, the chalk does make it a little difficult to add stickers to a tag, so I used a little extra glue to put on the chitchat stickers.  You can see that some of them are lifting up a little around the edges.





 I wanted to add a gauzy tag tie, but didn't have exactly what I wanted in my stash.  Then I remembered a few fellow crafters used dryer sheets for various projects.  I found one up in my laundry room, cut it in short strips, and added these strips to my tag through a Joy ring charm.  I attached a crown charm (in honor of the King that the Wise Men were seeking) to the tag tie with a brad.

Here is one more shot of the tag.  I'm sorry the tag is a little curled at the end.  I was trying to take advantage of the sun today for this photo; however, it was very cold this morning (14 degrees F when I looked at 8:30 a.m.).  I'm afraid I gripped the tag a little hard as I came out the door.  It was too cold to take the time to straighten out the tag any more.  BRRRRR!!! 

Hope you hope you have a warm and restful Sunday.  Thanks for  dropping by!  -- Mary Elizabeth

Merry Christmas to All ..

Another Christmas tag to share with you all.   For this tag, I tried a technique shared by Anna-Karin a few weeks ago.  Take a look at the  Wax Paper Resist Tutorial she did on her Layers of Ink blog.

I started by die-cutting a tag out of some vintage newsprint cardstock (using Tim Holtz's Tag and Bookplates die).  I then die cut some wax paper using Tim's Townscape On the Edge die.  I followed Anna-Karin's directions and ironed the wax paper die cut onto my tag (thus transfering wax on to the tag in the shape of the townscape).

Instead of going over the tag with Distress Ink, I used some watered down Black Soot Distress Paint.  I wanted a night scene and used the paint to get a little more opacity.   I then misted water of the wet paint and used a soft paint brush to brush the paint off of the waxed townscape image.  I dried the paint with a heat tool and outlined the townscape image with an archival ink pen.  I painted the windows with a paint pen and then went back over them with a Martha Stewart gold glitter pen.

In the sky above my not-so-sleepy little town, I used Distress Embossing Ink to stamp Santa and his sleigh.  I embossed the image with American Crafts ZING embossing powder in Brown Sugar.  This really looked boring, so I grabbed all my glitter, paint, alcohol ink, and gel pens and went to work coloring over some of the embossed image.  I think it turned out pretty great.  I added some tiny paint dots and tiny star embellishments to create a starry sky for Santa.

On another piece of vintage script pattern paper, I stamped a small Christmas tree with Pine Needles Distress Ink.  I then clear embossed the tree.  I fussy cut the tree and edged it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I added some gem embellishments for lights and another star gem on top.   The tree was adhered with to the tag with a foam adhesive square.

Finally I cut out a banner from the left over vintage newsprint pattern paper and gave it a paint wash using Antique Linen Distress Paint.  I stamped it with Santa's "Merry Christmas to All" salutation.  This was edged with Barn Door Distress Paint and added to the tag using more adhesive foam squares.  The tag was topped with a candy cane ribbon bow and voila ... I have another Christmas tag!! I'm leaving you with another shot of the completed tag (this one without all the glitter glare :)). One more Christmas tag completed ... and now "to all a Good Night!"  -- Mary Elizabeth

A Christmas Card

Here is a short post to share a Christmas card with you all.  I'm normally not a card person.   But I wanted to make some for my family this year.   Here is my first attempt:

I used a cream cardstock for the card itself.  Then a I took a piece of green patterned paper that had white flourishes and floral designs and used Antique Linen Distress Ink to make the white elements match the cream color of my cardstock card.  I then used Walnut Stain DI to age the edges.  The next layer is made from Tim Holtz (and Ranger) Watercolor cardstock.  I used favorite wood block stamps of a post card and winter scene collage to create this gorgeous focal image for the card.  It was colored with Distress Markers and a Water Brush.  I added a strip of pattern paper to look like it binding all the paper elements together.

I think took some vintage newsprint paper and glued it to a piece of cardstock and die cut some holly accents for my card (using Sizzix Sizzlits Die - Holly w/Berries #5).  This die cut comes out in one piece.  I cut the holly leaves off the berries so that I cut reposition them later.  I colored them berries and leaves with Distress Markers and a water brush.  I then added some outlines with some alcohol ink markers.  Next I inked the surface of berries and holly leaves with Distress Embossing Ink and dipped the pieces in some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE).  I melted the UTEE with heat tool.  When the pieces cooled, I glued them on the paper strip with Glossy Accents (which you will see got a little out of hand if you look close enough :) ).

And that is my very first blog Christmas card.  I am proud of myself.  I think I'll make another one ;)  -- Mary Elizabeth

Chalk One up for Tim ... Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 -- November

It's time to a new tag, or in this case tags, inspired by Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013.  For the month of November, Tim is showcasing his technique for reproducing the feel a schoolroom chalkboard on paper.  I was blown away by this technique in Creative Chemistry 102 and I am so excited Tim included it in one of 2013 tags.  Please take a moment to check out Tim's step by step tutorial for his November 2013 Tag.

 My first tag is my nod to the schoolroom slate boards, all dressed up for Christmas.  I used Tim's chalkboard technique on a tag of black cardstock.  I then covered some chipboard with a specialty paper that I found at Michaels craft store.  It's a paper covered with a thin cherry wood veneer.  I cut strips to make my slate board frame.  I used Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Ink to give the wood a deeper color.

I used some wire cutters to cut a piece of a paper clip to make the hook for my chalked Christmas tree ornament.  Some holly leaves were die cut with Tim Holtz's Holiday Garland Sizzlits out of Core'Dinations cardstock.  The leaves were distressed with sandpaper, inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and adhered with foam squares.  Some pearls were colored with alcohol ink and glued on to the tag with Glossy Accents.  To go along with the vintage school look, I added some simple twine for the tag tie. 

I created second tag out of Tim Holtz Core 'Dination cardstock that painted black (I had already used the black in the pack -- sigh).  I wanted a heavier cardstock because I wanted to dry emboss it with an embossing folder, in this case, Tim's Alterations Texture Fade Snowman. I used a small paintbrush to "paint on" the Distress Embossing Ink on the embossed snowman to apply the Antiquities embossing powder.  I stamped the other images as per Tim's original instructions.  After applying the chalk, I added some Crackle Accent in the debossed snowflakes.

The tag was topped with some silver cord and white ribbon.  I embellished this with a lovely silver Merry Christmas charm.

I'm going to leave you with a couple pics of the two tags together.  I hope you get a chance to try this for yourself before the month is over.  It's so much fun to play with chalk :)  -- Mary Elizabeth

Winter Greetings Tag

Here is my second take on Tammy Tutterow's Satin Damask Background technique. 

It's still a little different from her technique.  I did the same process as in my last blog, only instead of Distress Stain as the base layer, I used Peacock Feather Distress Ink spritzed with water on my craft mat.  Also, I only used Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges of the tag (instead of over the entire tag) and this time I outlined my clear embossed snowflakes with a Gathered Twigs Distress Marker.

Here are some close ups of the new tag:

Alcohol ink used to give a snowflake charm a little bit of a rusty feel.  I added some velvet and thin width ribbon for the tag tie.

 Some Tim Holtz trim and Recollections bling ribbon began the embellishment process in the middle of the tag.  A Sizzix snowflake die was used to die cut some manila cardstock and vintage paper.  I when I tried gluing the two pieces together, I ended up having the two die cut snowflakes a little off center.  I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink to color the snowflake.  I added another precut snowflake and gem to complete the main embellishment for the tag.  The sentiment banner was made out of patterned paper and stamped with Moonlight archival ink.  I went around the word "winter" with an dark brown alcohol ink marker that matched the background of the paper.  I thought about going around the word "Greetings", but by that time I was afraid I would mess up the thin letters. 

 

 

 One last picture of the complete tag.  Two tags down and this technique has been a lot of fun to play with :)   Hop over over to Tammy's blog.  She is an incredibly creative crafter!  -- Mary Elizabeth

Let it Snow

I'm starting to get ready for Christmas and here is the first of many tags that I need to make.   This is my variation on the Satin Damask Background tag that Tammy Tutterow had on her blog this week. 

I started by putting some Broken China stain on my craft mat and dragging my manila tag through it.  I covered the entire surface of the tag with the stain and then dried it with a heat tool.  I took some of my snowflake stamps (I have several) and stamped on the the stained tag with Distress Embossing Ink.  I this with clear embossing powder.  Next, I put some white acrylic paint on the craft mat and misted it with water to make a white wash.  I applied this mixture to my tag with a sponge.  I quickly dried this with a heat tool.  I grabbed some Perfect Pearl mist and sprayed it over the entire tag.  I let it sit for a few seconds and then I blotted some areas with a paper towel.  I then heat set the tag.  Now I have the base for my tag's background.  Here is where I somewhat diverged from Tammy's tutorial.  I not only inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, but I basically covered the entire background (this gave some of my snowflakes more definition and gave the tag a more vintage feel).   Since this tag went into a vintage direction, I am entering it into the Vintage Stamping Challenge #14: Traditional Christmas Time. I concentrated the ink in some spots (like around the snowflake at the bottom of the tag). Next I spritzed and flicked water on the background, waited a few seconds, and then dabbed blotted with a paper towel.  The white wash comes through and really made it look like snow flying in the background.   The perfect pearl still gives a sheen to the overall background.  It's really pretty.

Next I used a Sizzix snowflake die and die cut a snowflake out of some Nostalgic Collection Core'dinations paper.  I used coffee archival ink to stamp some script on to the snowflake.  The edges were barely hit with Cracked Sapphire Distress Ink.  I adhered it to my tag with adhesive foam squares to give the tag some dimension.

Next I grabbed my Tim Holtz Christmas paper stash and found a piece that had some distressed triangles in white, Broken China and a purple.  The white triangles reminded me of icicles.  So I covered them with Crackle Accents.  When that had dried, I inked the top of the crackles with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  This was glued to the tag with Glossy Accents.  I then added some Tim Holtz tinsel that I colored with Caramel alcohol ink and "shriveled" with a heat tool to give it a very vintage look.  I glued the tinsel at the top of my "icicles' with some quick drying glue. 




Finally I used Cobalt archival ink to stamp "Let It Snow", a couple of snowflakes, and some "stitching" onto a piece light green cardstock.  I inked over this with some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.  I used a Martha Stewart punch to give a lacy edging to my sentiment.  I distressed the paper with some sandpaper and then hit the edges lightly with Walnut Stain.   This was also glued on with Glossy Accents. 

I stamped some light blue ribbon with snowflakes (Coffee archival ink) and grunged the ribbon with Walnut Stain Distress Stain and Black Soot Distress Ink.  Finally -- a finished tag.  One down and ... a bunch to go :)  -- Mary Elizabeth