Looking Ahead with Tim ... Holtz January 2014 Tag

I am going to just make it under the wire for Tim's January 2014 Tag.  If you haven't taken part in any of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags Challenges, you really should give it a shot.   I've learned so much and have been so inspired by his creativity.  This month's tag was no exception.  In fact, it has to be my favorite tag to date.  Tim started off the year with a "time" theme.  He reminded us to "remember the now".  Thanks Tim!!!  What a fabulous theme and amazing vintage-techniques tutorial.  I'm not going to go into all the steps.  You can see it all here on his January 2014 Tag Tutorial.

As you can see, my tag has some bonus features :)  My take on Tim's January tag took a detour to the future.  After extended illness and a trip to the Chiari Institute right before Christmas ended with another surgery on my agenda, I thought about taking another look at 2014 through a different lens.  Instead of bemoaning the trials, I wanted to bask in the treasures that 2014 can bring to me.  So here is my very own Steampunk "Pre-ViewMaster" and the tag containing my personal 2014 futureview disc. 

As you can see from January tag, I see hope (a brand new surgical procedure that can help my symptoms), courage (for the hard months of work before my surgery and the hard months of healing after), laughter ( life always has its silly moments), and inspiration (because I know I can always count on this community's creativity to inspire me).  This year looks pretty good to me.

Here are a few closeups:

 I wish this post could be a little longer, but I am pretty tired tonight.  So I will leave you with this thought .... "what will you see" in your own 2014 futuredisc?  -- Mary Elizabeth

A is for ... At Last ...

Things at work have settled down and I am finally getting around to completing some projects that I started ... and stopped ... and started again.  And that explains the "At Last" part of the title of this post.  At last, I'm finally finishing one of my unfinished projects.  It's about time!  You see ... this is a birthday card for my sister-in-law.  Her birthday was in mid-December.  Sigh!  Better late than never.

 

Once again, I've been playing with my Distress Markers, a detail water brush, and some watercolor paper.  I love Tim's blueprint stamps.  I used some glitter paint pens to add some hand painted borders around each stamped image.  I then used a square Die from Sizzix to cut out the images (ok ... the "present" image is a little off-center, but at least I didn't have to cut the squares by hand).  The fun part came when I started searching for some coordinating paper from my stash to put in the background of my card.  I found paper that I don't remember buying (sigh ... confessions of a hoarder!)  After that, I went through my stash and found some ribbon, gems and other embellishments.  I completed the card with some punched stars from extra paper (outlined with Distress Markers and adhered with foam dots and squares to add more dimension to the card) and a fussy cut stamped "party" that I colored with Distress Markers.  Voila!  A birthday card.

So, to celebrate the completion of this project, I am entering it in the "A is for ..." Challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (since 'At Last' I finished this card) and Claudia's "No More Shopping Sins" Challenge at Our Creative Corner (since I managed to finish the card using forgotten paper along with many other items from my stash and without committing another shopping sin).  Thanks to all the wonderful challenges and their Design Team members who continue to inspire us to create :)

And now if I can just finish my sister-in-law's birthday gift.  Alas, that must be the topic of a later post.  Happy creating to you all and thanks for stopping by.  --  Mary Elizabeth

Let the Snowflakes Fly!!!

Ok ... so I took the idea of "flying snowflakes" rather literally this week when I added some wings to my focal snowflake for this piece.  We have seen quite a few snowflakes lately in the NC mountains.  It feels like the wind has added extra sets of wings to them these days.  So, here is my attempt to celebrate (rather that complain about) the beauty of the flying frozen flakes.

Here is the completed project.  I think the swirls look a little too much like horns (even though I really meant them to be eddies of air currents behind the fast moving snowflake). 

I've just finished our first week of classes at the university and I'm pretty tired.  I really didn't feel up to spending time in my craft room, so I packed up my Distress Markers and waterbrushes and left them beside my bed.  I love snow and I have several snowflake stamps. One evening, I stamped some watercolor paper with these snowflakes and added some Prima swirl and wing stamps.  I spent some time before I crashed each night to add some color with  Distress Markers (just love these!!!) along with a few  glitter, archival and gel pens (the focal snowflake was outlined with a metallic silver gel pen.) I'm finding ways to create that don't require hours in my craft room.  Ah ... joy!

 Here are a few more close ups:

 

 

I have the day off from work tomorrow.  Hopefully I will have some energy to expend in my craft room and make the rounds to your blogs.  Wishing you all the best!  -- Mary Elizabeth

Ringing out the Old Year with Tim ... Holtz December 2013 Tag

Hi everyone!!  It has been some time since my last post.  I have had a few substantial health issues that have made it necessary to pare down my activities to the essentials:  work and sleep (even housekeeping was marked off the to-do list.)  I am a faculty member at a local university and I just barely made it to the end of the semester.  I really have to thank my students and colleagues for their understanding and support. They were awesome!!  Also, I never would have survived without my Mom.  She came and took care of me while I finished things up.  Then we packed things up and flew to NY for a week so I could have some tests run and see the fabulous nurses and doctors at The Chiari Institute.  I literally posted grades at 30000 feet while on the plane!  Anyway, it seems my new year will contain another surgery.  More on that in a later post.  Right now ... I need to use my energy for more important things ... getting my December 2013 Tag posted before the end of the year!

I have returned to Craftyblogland just in time ring out the year with my take on Tim Holtz's December Tag for 2013. This month, Tim has highlighted a way to use his Frosted Film over Wendy Vecchi's Clearly for Art. His December tag is soooooo gorgeous!! Check out all the step-by-step details on Tim's Blog here! 

I absolutely adore the luminescence of Tim's frosted film.  The detail photos are taken on my craft table.  I hope these photos capture some of the subtle sparkle.

 

I did a few things different from Tim's tutorial.  First, I didn't have Clearly for Art.  I tried several different types of clear plastic (shrink plastic, overhead transparencies for presentations, etc).  I finally opted for a recycled page protector insert from one of my many notebooks.  It worked pretty well when I applied heat and curled the leaves of the poinsettia.  Another difference is that I didn't do the white paint splatter at the end.  Honestly, I forgot to do this.  I really like the end result as it is.  And finally, I did a different treatment on the poinsettia leaves. 


Check this out ... I did a little stamping!

 

 

I used some of Tim Holtz's Classic Favorites stamps (Classic #3) along with vintage text stamps on my Frosted Film covered die cuts.  Like Tim, I used archival ink.  I was really surprised how well the Frosted Film took the stamped images.  After I completed my stamping on the leaves and petals.  I used a ink blending tool and edged each die cut with archival ink (I used one of the colors of the stamped images for the blended edging).  Then I added heat to bend the petals or leaves.

Here is a shot of my completed tattered poinsettia.  The poinsettia is backed by a wooded ornament that I painted with silver acrylic paint.  When the paint dried, I used a ink blending tool and added some Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  This was then covered with Rock Candy Crackle Paint. 

I used Distress Markers (Evergreen Bough and Festive Berries) to outline my embossed stamping at the bottom of the tag.  (The vintage text tape was added to cover up a blood stain from a paper cut that I didn't realize I had until it was too late.)

Finally I added a "25" charm from Industrial Chic and a tiny tag with a sentiment for you all ... good cheer throughout the new year!

I wish you all a very blessed and happy New Year.  My 2013 has truly been blessed and enriched by the new friends I have made through this crafting community.  Thanks so very much for your visits, comments, and support.  Most of all, thanks for adding color and beauty to this world through your art.  I am so looking forward to seeing where your creativity takes you in 2014.  -- Mary Elizabeth

Count Down to Christmas with 25 Ornaments

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is Countdown to the Holidays.  What a great theme!  I decided to play along with the 25 paper ornament gift tags (which will be bundled and given to friends as a part of early Christmas gifts) that I've made over the last few weeks.  Here is a picture of all the ornaments together.  I didn't put numbers on them, but you can count them for yourself ... there are 25 :) 

Forgive the photo intensive post and the terrible photography.    I am including individual shots of the 25 different ornaments.  Each of the ornaments started out as die cuts from Tim Holtz's Sizzix Movers and Shapers Carved Ornaments #1 or Carved Ornaments #2.   Most of them have a base that was cut out of pattern paper.  I used Distress Ink, Distress Paint, Distress Markers, Stickles, Multi-Medium, paint pens, alcohol ink markers, embossing folders, embellishment stickers, other die cuts, etc to decorate them.  If you have any questions about how one was made, drop me a line or leave me a question in the Comments section. 

 Well, it looks my Christmas season has started off Merry and Bright.   I hope you are enjoying the creativity of the season as well :)  -- Mary Elizabeth