Valentines Day with Tim ... Holtz February 2014 Tag

Happy Valentines Day to you all.  I hope the day is filled with people that you love.  My take on Tim's February 2014 tag is also filled with love, along with hugs and kisses, hearts, lots of red and even Cupid and his arrow.  If you haven't done so already, go take a look at Tim's blog and his February tag tutorial for all the details.  Gorgeous!  This month's tag has stenciling, embossing, and that amazing chalkboard effect ...  just loads of inspiration to get your hands inky.

I'm including a few closeups of my February tag.  At the top, I've included my "x" and "o" kisses and hugs from some of Tim's Idea-ology cirque alphabet stickers (part of my January win prize pack -- thanks Tim!!).  I also had a red gem brad that I absolutely had to include with this tag tie.  I thought it really went well with the sheen given off by the clear embossing over the stenciled harlequin pattern.

 I love the stamp that Tim used for his sentiment.  While waiting to purchase that stamp, I decided just to go with the simplicity of "love" for my chalkboard sentiment.  I added some flourishes for detail.

 However, I just couldn't leave well enough alone.  I wanted to add something to the chalkboard.  I went for some hearts cut out of dictionary pages and then drew some hearts on them with my Distress Markers.  After adhering them to my "chalkboard", I outlined them with a black archival pen.

 

 At the bottom of the page, Cupid is (die cut out of some romantic music score) is pointing to love.  His silver arrow charm has pierced through my Distress glittered grungeboard heart.

I need to get back to work.  Hugs to you all on this wonderful day.  Mary Elizabeth

Remembering a Paris Romance

Instead of your traditional Valentine's Day card, I'm opting for something a little different to celebrate all things heart and love.   I started to think about how interesting it might be to buy an old book at a flea market and find someone's pressed memories of a long-ago romance.  That's the inspiration for this piece.

I started the project by taking a piece of Tim Holtz Distress Core'Dinations CardStock in pink and embossed it with Tim Holtz's Eiffel Tower Texture Fade by Sizzix.  I used a Seedless Preserves Distress Marker and a water brush to add a darker "purple" color in the recesses.  Then I took a thin black pen and added some shading.  It didn't give me deep enough "shadows", so I went back and added some thicker shading with the Seedless Preserves Distress Marker.  I lightly sanded the raised surfaces and distressed the edges.  I went over those edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool. The embossed cardstock was adhered to a piece of printed paper with music on it. 

Now to add all of the fun memories.  There's a necklace charm, hung lovingly on an open heart (that has been distressed with sandpaper and Vintage Photo Distress Ink).

We have a vintage description of the Eiffel Tower (also distressed with sandpaper and Vintage Photo Distress Ink) paper clipped with an old paper clip.

A piece of rosette trim from a very special dress (from Tim Holtz trim colored with Victorian Velvet and Old Paper Distress ink) was added to the top of the cardstock.  The top and bottom of the music printed paper was trimmed with some velvet ribbon that I distressed with sandpaper to make it look like it has been taken out and handled several times.  At the top, a metal medallion was added to the velvet ribbon. 

 At the bottom of the music printed paper, we have more velvet ribbon.  It's topped with a chipboard embellishment that I painted with Antique Linen Distress Paint and spritzed with water to give the element a sort of white-washed look.  I sanded the raised elements and edges.  Then I stamped center with "amour" in Coffee archival ink.  I gave the entire thing a light coat of Walnut Stain Distress Ink using a blending tool.

I stamped Paris with the same coffee ink on some printed paper that I distressed and some tassels that I distressed by pulling some strings (as if the tassels had been caught on something during the many times the piece was handled).

Then there is the letter that has been folded and unfolded and some pressed pansies from underneath the Eiffel Tower.  All of these pieces are backed by floral vintage paper to showcase all of the memories.  With all of this distressing, I'm entering this into the Artistic Stamper "use Distress" Challenge.

And that is how I saw this very special Paris romance remembered.  I hope you have some special Valentine memories this week to chronicle and save for years to come!  -- Mary Elizabeth

A Small Slice of Home

Welcome to my newest followers and thanks to all my friends for your kind comments.  It's so good to be back in the creative loop.  I have found some time to play in my craftroom and loving every minute of it! 

This latest piece comes with a story.  For some time now, I've been interested in the genre of "primitive crafts".  They harken back to days when people made crafts to bring beauty and enjoyment to a home of meager beginnings.  When you don't have much, things that we typically discard today were kept, reused, re-purposed, and rarely thrown away until there wasn't anything left to throw away. These craft pieces have an organic feel to them simply because they are made with found objects, pieces of someone's life (that could no longer be used for its intended purpose, like a burlap bag that ended up with too many holes), scraps of this and that leftover from a sewing project (a handmade dress created from fabric purchased with nickels saved over months and months), and free objects found in nature.

The reason I resonate so much primitive crafts and the history behind them is because my father grew up in this sort of environment.  My Dad's family were caretakers of a mountain in hills of North Carolina.  They were given a small cabin on the top of the mountain where they took care of live stock and made sure that no one else trespassed on the mountain.  My grandparents, great-grandmother, and three children (my Dad and his older brother and sister) lived in a house with no electricity and no running water.  They lived hand-to-mouth and appreciated the gifts that nature provided them.

My grandmother, a Godly woman who loved providing for her family, worked hard to make this cabin a home.  I thought of her a great deal as I worked on this project.  My family still has the teddy bear that she made out of scraps for my Dad when he was a child.  She tried to teach me to sew and always had some sort of hand-crafted "play pretties" (or toys) for me to play with as I grew up.  She made me one of my first dolls (which I still have), a stuffed clown named "Sammy".

Anyway, here is my first attempt at some sort of primitive craft.  I thought about some of the things that my grandmother may have had for such a craft as I chose things from my stash.  I started with some burlap (from a small gift bag that I had) and some paint.  Now I confess, I used some of Tim Holtz's paint (Granny never had anything that good to work with!) and some of Tim's stamps to create my design.  But she would have had several buttons, threads and pins hanging around to embellish such a project.  I added some lace around the edges to soften the burlap.  This could have come from an old slip that was too worn to wear anymore or left over from a dress that she made for someone else.

I thought about the format of this project and decided to do a framed wall-hanging. To give a more rustic feel, I used the back side of the frame. Then I was left with the question of what to put in the background.  I remember my Dad talking to me about using newspaper to stuff in the holes of the cabin walls to keep the wind from blowing in on cold winter days.  So, I took some vintage newsprint, covered it with paper circle masks (a primitive shape), and roughly painted it with Walnut Stain Distress Paint.  After I took the circle masks off the newsprint,  I used some Antique Linen Distress paint to wash over and soften the newsprint circles.

To continue the circle theme, I grabbed more buttons, the top of a spool, and a pop bottle cap (topped with some of Tim's vintage paper) for embellishments.  I used some threads that I pulled from the burlap, brown rope, some muslin fabric (from an old laundry bag) that I stamped with a TH checkerboard stamp and  Walnut Stain Distress Paint, and a vintage safety pin that used to finish off the above corner embellishment. 

Simple house shapes and stars are also popular in primitive crafts.  A hand-cut star adorns this Sizzix Tim Holtz Artful Dwelling house that I die-cut out of Core'Dinations card stock and then backed with cardboard.  Each of my houses were painted with Distress Paint (Walnut Stain above, Broken China and Seedless Preserves), sanded, and then edged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  You may notice some vines connecting my button embellishment down to the houses in piece.  The mountain that my Dad grew up on had several wild grape vines that they would swing and play on.  I didn't have any wild grape vines handy, so I went out and grabbed some cuttings off my Wisteria vine.  I love the movement it gives.

I decorated the vine cuttings on the right side of my hanging with more scraps of stamped muslin.  I really love this look.

I used some Tim Holtz Idea-ology grungeboard elements to spell out the word "Home".  I actually cut the letters a little to make them a bit more stream-lined and rustic.

 My granny made that cabin a home for her family.  I hope I can contribute to a sense of home for my family with my crafts as well.  I have to thank Jenny (Buttons) for her "Just Three Colors" challenge over at Our Creative Corner.  The color choice blue, brown and purple really gave me the impetus for my primitive crafts project.  This has been such a great stroll down memory lane and a time to be thankful for my family and what they've taught me.  -- Mary Elizabeth

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