My sister's Christmas present

I'm lucky because my sister, Marlena, loves the jewelry I make. This is a copy from something she saw when I was showing her the Vintaj website. I didn't say I could make it because I right away - yay - Christmas present. It took a bit longer than I anticipated. Mostly, just getting everything laid out right. Luckily, my jewelry making cohort girlfriend, Kristen, came by and gave me a few tips. I'll let you know how she likes it!

Quick Christmas Card

As I said, I was not making Christmas cards this year but since a good friend asked for MORE ornaments I put together a very quick card to hold her ornaments. I know this is a technique I read about on the ATT group although I can't remember who posted it (sorry). It is a piece of Tim's metal foil - embossed - alcohol ink and then grunged up a bit. I really liked the way it turned out and didn't want to complete cover it up so I just took one of the ornaments and used a Christmas tree brad to adhere to the card. So now she has an ornament on the cover and there are a couple more inside too.

OH MY it is Christmas already

I can't believe it is December already. Last year's card was such a production that I took this year off. I am making a few ornaments (requested by a very good friend) and thought I would post a picture of what I have so far. Of course, the dies are Tim Holtz. The reindeers are colored with Twinkling H20's. Snowman has Viva Decor Modeling Cream topped with Diamond Dust. His scarf is TH Crinkle Ribbon (love that stuff) colored with Radiant Rain Hot Cinnamon dauber. The Old Jalopy is painted with Metal Effects Paint and then Rusted along with some Viva Decor Ferro Paint.

Happy Birthday!

 A pair of earrings I made for my sister's birthday. It is next week but she doesn't know to check my blog so she won't see them! Now to get busy and make a card. We're off in a couple weeks to celebrate her birthday, her son in law's and my lovely eldest daughter. We all spending a weekend in Big Bear. I can't wait.

Quick Thank You Card

Of course I waited until the last minute....literally the night before to make a thank you card for my brother in law. It is always hard for me to come up with "masculine" cards. Not sure this is but I know I could have made it a lot more "girly" and didn't.

I used Tim Holtz's Birdcage die and colored it with Viva Decor's Ferro. Love the texture of this stuff. The bird and crown are painted with Viva Decor's Precious Metal paint. Another great Viva product. The background was one of Tim's techniques. Using an embossing folder on his sticky back foil and then coloring with alcohol inks and grunging it up with sand paper.

The WEDDING

Life is starting to get back to normal - little by little. All the hard work that led up to the wedding was so well worth it. Brittany said she would not have changed a thing. It truly was a magical evening filled with so much love and laughter and of course a few (happy) tears.

Dabbing in a little jewelry making

I sell a lot of jewelry findings from Nunn Design and Vintaj. Thanks to my girlfriend, Kristen, I am learning to put some pieces together. It has been a lot of fun. Here are some recent pieces.

Acrylic Paint Dabber Resist

This was a new technique for me and I absolutely loved it. I will be using it a lot on more tags and journal pages. I love the resist techniques and this was so easy to do. I have a lot of different acrylic paint colors so I'm anxious to see how other colors turn out.

Rock candy butterflies

Today's class was about paints - acrylic and crackle paint. I have completed the other 2 lessons but did play with rock candy crackle paint. It is a bit hard waiting for them to dry. I want instant gratification! It definitely looks better when you let them air dry as opposed to using a heat gun. I colored them with a couple of Dyan Reaveley sprays (I am hooked on those brilliant colors).

Creative Chemistry

Tim Holtz has put together an online class (2 weeks) that so far has been amazing. I've been stamping for almost 20 years and didn't know half of what he is explaining. Whoever knew the reasons why pigment ink did this or dye ink did that. He takes a subject and usually demonstrates 3 different techniques. I've been following along each day and try to duplicate. Boy, does he make it look easy. But getting the same results are NOT. A lot of folks have put their creations on their blog. I'll have to think about that for a bit - maybe a do over or TWO.

March Tag for 12 Tags of 2012

Tim's 12 Tags of 2012

This is for March (didn't do February). I had a couple of the items and had to improvise with the others. I didn't have the wood background stamp so I ran the tag through a wood looking embossing folder. I inked it with Vintage Photo. I did the butterflies like Tim's but used a platinum embossing powder. I think it came out ok. I've done this technique before and have used small, silver glass beads for the grout. The butterflies had pretty small "grout lines" so I didn't think the beads would work.

Since the tag was embossed, I stamped the saying on a piece of foil that I inked with alcohol inks. The flower is out of my jewelry making stash.

Thanks for looking.

UTEE Challenge over at Rangerinklink Yahoo group. I've never done a challenge and I'm really stepping out of my comfort box. I had already made this piece (trying a design that Linda posted that was amazing). I was not getting the same feel so I ended up doing a few layer of UTEE to finish it. I actually like the way it turned out (now).

CHA Winter 2012 and TIM HOLTZ

I had so much fun at CHA Winter - a bit tiring but exhilarating for sure. So many new products and techniques. I can't wait to try them all out.

Tim's birthday

Tim's birthday

I wasn't going to do a card to show because I am pretty intimidated by a lot of the work I've seen by members of ATT. WOW is all I can say.

I was in my mom's room (she passed away last July) and since she lived with us there have been no time restrictions on cleaning out her room. I was in there today doing a few things and came across some of her old astrology calendars. She was into astrology big time. So I tore out the picture for January/Capricorn and thought I would use that for my card. I guess you can call that "altered art".

I colored a piece of glossy cardstock with his alcohol inks and then stamped some words/phrases. I colored the ram a little with copic markers (it was and OLD calendar). I used the tattered florals die and cut some shrink plastic and did it in the melting pot. WOW he makes things look easy.

Snowman Card for Bella

I have to admit that I "lifted" this design off the TwoPeas gallery. It was too adorable not to! I made it for my 3 year old niece who just loves getting her OWN mail. I used my spellbinders circle dies to cut out the snowman and then covered with Diamond Dust (love how that stuff sparkles). I used Viva Decor Pearl Pens for the eyes and stickles (orange out of the Halloween pack) for the nose. Put it together with dimensional dots and the head with one of the jiggling things - can't think of the name right now but makes it spin when you twist it. Bella absolutely loved it and keeps playing with it like it is a toy!

Christmas Card

The reindeers are from Tim Holtz Reindeer in Flight die. They were colored with Twinkling H20's. The wreath was cut with my cricut and colored with Copic Markers. The background was cut from DCWV Christmas stack using the Elegant Edges cartridge.

Ornaments

I used Tim's Carved Ornaments Die (old and new) and the movers and shapers words Love, Noel, Joy and Peace. I cut them out using heavy chipboard and some using grungeboard. I colored them with Twinkling H20's, Viva Decor Inka Gold and Distress Stains. Some I glittered and some I wiped with a thick layer of Judi Kins Diamond Glaze. I experimented on a couple running them through the cuttlebug and then using Tim's sanding block to distress and then wiping with distress ink. That gave those a very aged looked. I think I liked those the best.

Happy New Year

Do you think my #1 New Year's resolution should be to blog more??? Probably....I'll try....at least I can keep posting some pics of cards I've been making.