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Monday Challenge-Feb 29 2016
The Monday Challenge this week is to leap into the unknown. Since I just got Tim Holtz Distress Crayons in the mail, it seemed like an invitation to try them.
The crayons are super creamy which I loved, but they weren’t well suited to my small detail stamp set because of their snub nose. Now they worked perfectly when I just put the pigment on the craft sheet and then used the colour with a water brush, but goodness knows I already have several watercolour mediums that do that well.
I liked the brillant colours that resulted on the card but do feel that the crayons full potential would be better utilized on a different type of project. I am thinking that I would like to test out the crayons on the background to a scrapbook layout. I am not enamoured with mixed media that much, so I need to find an alternative for which the crayons can become my “go to” product. I didn’t bring any stencils to Arizona so I think I will make a couple using my cutter and try the crayons with that.
Here is the fun Easter card I made.
Supplies: Tim Holtz Distress Crayons, Bo Bunny Eggcellent Stamp, Carta Bella Spring patterned paper, Papertrey Ink Wet Paint die, Ranger black and white enamel accents, Taylored Expressions If Dogs Could Talk stamp set (to add faces to the eggs)Stickles, Crackerjack Palace eyes, Simon Says stamp card base, Scor tape, Xyron adhesive
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
Ok it is official………………I am crazy……………………..I like Mondays! Never used to like them when I worked, but I like them now. In particular I like today’s Monday. Why……………because both Sandra and I were runners up in the Avery Elle Monthly Challenge. The theme was “Tags” and we both got picked for our entries. This is a good thing for many reasons. One reason is that if she had been recognized and not me, all of you would have been subjected to more of my )(*&^% and moaning about it. If I had been recognized and not her, she would probably renew her efforts to drown me in a river like she tried last summer. The third reason is that it is nice to be recognized for something that you like to do and would do, even if no one else ever saw it.
I also like Mondays because several of my favourite challenges are revealed on Mondays. Simon Says Stamp new Monday Challenge is “gentlemen”. Well, it seems like Tim Holtz comes to mind immediately with a theme such as this, as many of the examples use Tim Holtz stamps. One of the great things about Tim’s stamps are that they are timeless. Vintage is ………..well………….vintage so it can’t look “out of style” and nothing says “gentlemen” more than top hats, canes and umbrellas, so Tim it is.
I decided to make my card vintage and timely at the same time.
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/
Supplies: Tim Holtz Paris Memoir stamp set, Disress watercolour ink, Technique Tuesday Life Circles stamp set, Distress watercolour paper, Simon Says Stamp card base and Scor tape
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge is “Thankful”. Usually the challenge is only for one week but this week was extended to two.
Someone said the only reason a craft room gets cleaned is so that one can rediscover all the great stuff that you forgot that you had. This is very true for me. Yesterday I rearranged how I stored some basic paper. During this rearrangement, I found some Tim Holtz Glassine paper. I hadn’t used this paper for quite some time, but remembered that if you crunched it up, it cracked in lines and accepted Distress Inks very well. This looked particularly nice on diecut fall leaves. With the “Thankful” theme of the challenge, I thought today would be a good time to use it again. I like when old things become new again though, so I decided to use Distress Paint instead and give them a shimmery coat of Pico Irresistable Embellisher to the painted leaves.
I think the resulting card looks great!
Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp Apple of My Pie Stamp Set, Pebbles 6X6 patterned paper and apple sticker, Tim Holtz Glassine Paper and Distress Paint, Hero Arts dye ink, Co-ordinations kraft card base and Tombow tape runner.
Online Card Class Day 7- Bring on the Glitz
Today’s online class lesson is to add shimmer and shine. When I saw Yana’s video, I knew I had the perfect papers to make a sample card. It was truly a ten minute card………….so ok 10 minutes to make and 10 minutes to arm wrestle the little bow into an acceptable shape.
Supplies: Craft Smith Gold Foil 12 X 12 paper pad, Simon Says stamp die, DCWV Foil 6 X 6 paper pad, unknown stubborn glittery string, MME card base and Scor tape.
Next up is an embossing paste example but they take longer as you have to allow the paste to dry. Well you don’t HAVE to but your clothes and craft room desktop prefer that you do!
Supplies: Viva Glitter Paste, Tim Holtz Holly Bough Stencil, Papertrey Ink Spruce and Sprigs Stamp and Die sets, Imagine Crafts Shimmer Spritz, Mowed Lawn and Barn Door Distress Ink refills, American Crafts ribbon, Simon Says Stamp woodgrain cardstock, Neenah 110 lb Solar White cardstock, Simon Says Stamp card base, Scotch 3M foam tape, and Scor tape.
I made another card using the foil paper as in Yana’a example but with the “frosting” as done by Carissa.
I have gone Crazy
Most of you are probably thinking, tell us something we didn’t already know.
This time though I am talking about the Crazy Birds from Tim Holtz. Now I am beginning to think that there isn’t a serious crafter left in the world who doesn’t have at least the main set of these birds. Diehards have the Accessory Set, two sets of dies and the sentiment set as well. Luckily these birds have Mona Lisa like expressions on their faces which allows a crafter to have them thinking or doing a myriad of things and no two need be identical.
I have used the Crazy Birds before but I recently acquired the accessory set, so I wanted to take that for a test drive. For some reason, as night follows day, it seems logical to have a “techniquey” background for the Crazy Birds. I decided to create one dark background and one lighter background using the Color Burst watercolour powders. As the results are unpredictable, it is easier to make the background and then decide what the background looks like and go from there. If you are TRYING to make the background look like something specific, it is almost always doomed to failure.
When I finished the backgrounds, one looked like a night sky and the other looked like fireworks, so I decided to make one card with a night sky and the other with fireworks…….Go figure. As my brother Perry would say……………the “plan” was all coming together nicely.
I will post the Halloween one here and the Happy New Year card in a second post so that I can link them both to Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.
My Camera is embarrassed!
I had no intention of making a Halloween card today………………nope…………but some things just happen.
Two days ago I was playing with the Color Burst Watercolors. All of the colors explode on the page when you add water which is fun, but the violet even more so. So I ended up with this wild background that was a bit too wild for what I had in mind at the time. But the purple colour got me to thinking about Halloween, and when I think about Halloween I always think of Tim Holtz………….thinking about Tim Holtz got me to thinking about a Headstone die that I got super cheap on a close out sale but had never used. Not using something always makes me feel guilty for a nano second or so about all the stuff I have. So it was a perfect solution. Use that die with your purple background. No waste ……..no guilt. But wait……..there is more………….why not use that WOW Glow in the Dark embossing powder you bought and feel even less guilty. Perfect.
So here is the card followed by THE PROBLEM:
Now THE PROBLEM:
I wanted to show you how the skeleton really does GLOW IN THE DARK but my camera did not. I tried every setting both in the camera and in my house and the answer by the camera was always……..”NO this is a stupid picture and I am not going to take it….no no no. I need to save you from the embarrassment of publishing a lousy picture…so no”
So finally on a manual setting and a shutter speed of about 5 minutes I got this beauty:
My camera is still hanging his head in shame…………but at least you can see that the skeleton does indeed GLOW IN THE DARK.
Supplies: Ken Oliver Color Burst, Tim Holtz Graveyard and Mini Bat and Skull Die, Wow Glow in the Dark Embossing powder, Kuretake Gansai Tambi black watercolor, Ranger Crackle Glossy accents, MME card base, Scotch foam tape, Creatology Fun Foam and Scor tape.
Photo Inspiration Challenge Altenew
When I first looked at the photo given for this Inspiration challenge, I was a bit stumped. Usually, I try to incorporate all that I see in some way. This was impossible with the multiple elements in the photo. It was a good challenge as I had to pick out the pieces that spoke to me and create something from that. I decided that wedding (even though I understand it is a bakery window), ivory, gold and lace were the elements that stood out for me and could serve as the inspiration. Here is the inspiration photo, followed by my entry into the challenge.
http://altenewblog.com/2015/08/10/august-challenge-from-places-abroad-united-kingdom/
Supplies: Altenew Layered Lily, Sketchy Cities America and Fresh Freesia stamp sets, Delicata gold Golden Glitz ink, Tim Holtz Doilky stencil, Hero Arts Soft Sand, Soft Yellow and Sparrow inks, Neenah 80 lb natural white and ivory card stock. Recollections ivory card base, Spellbinders Fanciful Lattice die, DCWV foiled cardstock, Recollections Gold embossing powder and Scor tape.
Simon Says Stamp with a Twist of Lime
The Monday Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp is use lemon, lime or otherwise bright fresh neon. I recently acquired most of the Twisted Citron family of inks, so I decided to try them out. I like the look of the ink smoosh technique using a piece of plastic. At least I like it when other people use this technique………… I intend to keep on practicing until I get it right.
Sandra uses Tim for her Timmies
Canadians love their coffee…………specifically…………….they love their Timmies, being coffee from Tim Horton’s. I think it is fitting that Sandra made her Timmies’ coffee card using stamps from the Starbucks fanatic Tim Holtz (there is nothing really indicating that this is meant to be Timmies’ coffee, but hey, I am holding the pen or the keyboard as it were). This is her entry for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-Coffee or Tea theme.
Supplies: Bo Bunny patterned paper, X-pressit and Stampin’ Up cardstock, Tim Holtz and Little Yellow Bicycle stamps, Michaels gems.