Seasons Greetings

I hope you all had a happy and safe Christmas and I wish everyone all the very best for 2013. Cherish the times spent with family and friends as it truly is precious. I haven't had much time to be creative this year, but I have made the odd card here and there. If you ask me, it doesn't get much better than a project that has a vintage theme that uses Tim Holtz products and techniques. There is much fun to be had :) And it just so happens that this months CC101 challenge theme is Vintage/Christmas or both. So here is a card I made using a La Blanche stamp (I love La Blanche stamps) and coloured with Distress inks. Glossy Accents used as a resist  ....

 

But Wait! There's more ....

Here is another one of Tim's creations. I also have an ideology trinket on which he showed us how to do the patina effect.

Embossed Foil Paper treated with Alcohol Inks. He swiped some archival black ink over the top to grunge it up a bit!

Busy teaching.

A hive of activity.

I met Tim Holtz!

2012 Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention - Brisbane

What an awesome experience. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to attend some of Tim's demonstrations. And I was so lucky to be able to take home some of  his artwork! Nothing is too much trouble. Tim is so generous with his time and he shares as much information as he can.  He autographed one of his tags and my Compendium books! And to my surprise I am in one of the photos he posted on his blog!

An awesome experience!

Tim's Creations that I was lucky enough to take home!

Having a joke with the crowd.

Happy Mothers Day!

Here are a couple of cards I made using the "Brushless Watercolour technique" with "Distress" inks.  I am entering these in the Inspiration Emporium May Challenge - "Flowers". Here is the link to check it out:-   http://blog.inspirationemporium.com/?p=973

I am very excited as this is the first online challenge I have entered!

Close up

Hand made pin & embellishment :)

Mothers Day - Card 2

Close up of Hand made pin & embellishment :)

Close up

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take".


As this Sunday is Mothers Day,  I'd like to wish all the Mothers out there a very happy day, surrounded by those you love.  Happy Mothers Day Mum. Thank you for everything :)

Distress & Bling Engagement Card

Congratulations to my beautiful niece Laurette and her fiance Brenton on their engagement.  

A great time was had by all at their engagement party on Saturday night. Their Engagement Card  is a mix of "distress" and "bling".  I love the Tinted Vision Fragment technique with Alcohol inks (Page 55 COC 1). Instead of using a fragment, I applied the inks to a piece of acetate. The photo I used was on the engagement party invitation. I scanned, cropped and printed it in black & white. I also love my new Distress Stains. I embossed the cupid and flourish on watercolour paper, then applied Picket Fence and Broken China Distress Stain over the top. I then stamped the text and engagement ring images and blended some some Distress Inks around the edge. The embellishment was made by hand embossing  foil paper. I then added a hand made beaded pin, a bought beaded embellishment, ribbon and a heart shaped charm which I coloured with alcohol inks and added some kindy glitz for shine.  The card evolved as I was creating. The only thing that turned out as planned was the colour scheme. LOL  As the wedding will be held in the beautiful "Whitsundays Islands", the colours are a reflection of the amazing colours of the Pacific Ocean around the Great Barrier Reef.  So, before I show you my creation, here is a couple of pics from the party.

The happy couple

Laurette, Brenton, Me & Don

 

I love Picket Fence and Broken China Distress Stains and alcohol inks

Close up of Tinted Vision Fragment technique, embossed foil and beaded pin

The inside cover of the card has stamping and blending using Distress Inks. It has a pocket for a Gift Card. The feature on the pocket was cut from a piece of scrapbook paper and distress inks were blended over it.

Stamping and blending with Distress Inks

Creative Chemistry 101 – Day 3 Techniques

Alcohol Inks Agates and Archival Resist Techniques

These are my tags from the Day 3 Techniques. Tag 1 is the Alcohol Ink Agates technique . I love this technique as so many different effects and colour combinations can be achieved. Tags 2 and 3 are the Archival Resist technique. I only had three Archival Ink colours - Plum, Maroon and Cobalt Blue, so I opted for a lighter distress ink over the top. I stamped over the top with StazOn Jet Black ink. This tag is a little "busy" but it is different to anything I have done before:) Stamping on gloss paper is a little tricky. My third tag was the same technique as Tag 2 expect I experimented using VersaMagic Archival Chalk inks for the background images. The colours I used were Tea Leaves, Purple Hydrangea and Jumbo Java. Again I used StazOn Jet Black for the main image. I am pleased with the results, however my stamping techniques can definitely be improved upon. LOL. Unfortunately I couldn't do the third technique (Stamping with Reflections) as I don't have an embossing machine, texture fades folders or reflections stamps :(

Alcohol Ink Agates Technique

Archival Resist Technique using Archival Inks

Archival Resist Technique using Archival Chalk Inks

Creative Chemistry 101 – Day 2 Techniques

Blended Distress Spritz/Flick, Brushless Watercolour & Wrinkle-free Distress Techniques

Well I finally got off the starting blocks! Over the Easter break I found my inks and stamps in the packing boxes and got inky! My favourite for the Day 2 techniques is Tag 2, the Brushless Watercolour Technique. The first and third tags required some practice and repeats. I am quite pleased with the end results, however I’m sure some more practice is required to master these techniques.  What I learnt :- 1.To achieve the best results you need the right products (I don’t have any Manila tags as yet, so I had to make do with cutting up a manila folder. The quality and weight of this paper seems to have an effect on the end result). 2. For the third tag, I didn’t have a mini mister so my first attempt had ugly blobs of  water instead of flicks.  3.  As Tim said, using Mustard Seed and Wild Honey Distress Inks to finish, really does give the tags some warmth.

Well here they are:-

Blended Distress/Spritz & Flick

Brushless Watercolour

Wrinkle-free Distress