12 Tags of 2013- October

Well I'm obviously still inspired from my Creative Chemistry 102 experience.  I'm still waiting some of my products- but today my sticky embossing powder arrived and a wonderful assortment of Tim Holtz Stencils.  So, I thought I'd try to tackle the Tags of 2013- October tag challenge.  The goal was to create and use Tim Holtz line of glitter products.
The tag on the left- uses distress ink with embossing sticky powder, followed by distress clear rock candy glitter on the focal stamped image.  In person it gives a sparkly frosted effect to the crow and dark outlines of the pumpkin.
The tag on the right, uses spiced marmalade in distress stickles for the pumpkin, and again the sticky embossing powder with seedless preserves ink for the rays stamp.  I think I just need more practice applying the product to get more of the glitter to stick.  If my glossy accents had arrived, I would have tried coloring glitter and applying directly to a tag through a stencil-- but that will have to be saved for another day.  I'm really excited about the new stencils and I think the glitter has tons of fun options to explore.

Halloween 2013 Cards

I'm so in love with the look and texture of the distress rust technique I decided to incorporate it into my Halloween cards.  My first favorite uses the Toybox 2002 crackle stamp with Distress Embossing Ink and Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder.  The second example repeats the process using Toybox Marble/Granite stamp with Distress Embossing Ink and Aged Mahogany Distress Embossing Powder.  For my inks, I used combinations of walnut stain, vintage photo, black soot, stormy sky, and rusty hinge, or aged mahogany.  The central image uses a PSX G-1887 Pumpkin & Crow/Raven stamp on a Spellbinders Floral Oval die cutout.  Th image was Embossed in Super Fine Detail Black Embossing Powder and colored with distress markers.  The edges were colorized using a blending foam and distress inks listed above.  Each tag was then scored just below the tag circle and then using PermaTac adhesive mounted on a second #8 black tag.  

Distress Rust Technique

For the inside, I was thrilled to rediscover my Gelly Roll Clear Star Pen--- it give a muted glitter writing effect---like dew filled spider webs.

Each card as topped with Paperbilities Paper Raffia in a complimentary color.

Viola- Halloween 2013 cards

I continued my exploration of Tim Holtz's tag card framework using Acey Deucy's J4-834 Ever Your stamp, All Nite Media Swirl Alphabet 2954Q, and Stamp Happy Rubber Stamps Grateful Dead Skeleton & Roses.  Again I embossed with super fine detail embossing powder in black and colorized with distress inks.  For the skeleton and roses, I colored the image with Twinkling H2Os in Luminarte Iridescent Gold and Yellow Rose (which looks more orange). The tag was finished off with EK Success Adornments- Fun Fibers for Fabulous Effects and Tim Holtz-Ideaology Linen Ribbon.

Tag Card Front

Tag Card Inside

Happy Almost Halloween!

Practice & Explore

I'm still waiting for my supply order to try additional techniques from class. It is so hard to wait. Today I was thinking about Halloween.  I was curious to try the distress paint resist technique with a focal image rather than fine detailed background.  Below are two techniques- the distress ink/spritz & flick on archival black ink; the second is the distress paint resist technique with antique linen and colored again with distress inks and spritz & flick.  I like how the distress paint resist give a ghostly feel to this stamp design.  Remember to clean the distress paint off your stamp right away because once it is dry its permanent.  

Top: Distress Ink Spritz & Flick; Bottom: Distress Paint Resist Technique with Spritz & Flick

Online Card Classes
If you've been inspired by any of the creations seen here so far, you can experience Tim Holtz and Creative Chemistry 101 and 102 for yourself.  For more information and to sign up check out the following links. The classes are amazing.  You will have lifetime access to the video lessons and handouts as well as be inspired by fellow classmates.

http://www.onlinecardclasses.com/timholtz/class-info/  and http://onlinecardclasses.com/thcc102/class-info/

Tim Holtz- Creative Chemistry 102- Day 5 Embossing Effects

Get ready to have your mind blown.  The Rusting with Distress Powder Technique is amazing!  I wish the internet had feel-a-vision.

Left: Rusting with Distress Powder Technique  Right: Shabby Chic Technique

Tim Holtz-Creative Chemistry 102- Day 4 Alcohol Inks

This class made me fall in love with alcohol inks all over again.

Top: Ombre Technique; Bottom: Mono-Print Technique, and Faded Layers Technique

I was thrilled with the faded layers technique but was also so worried I'd "ruin it" with stamping that I made a discovery to help my creative process I'd like to share.  Many of my stamps are wood mount so it is difficult to see where the details of the stamp will be.  So, I stamped some images onto transparency paper with archival ink and dried them with a heat tool.  I cut around the images and then I was able to sample a few layouts to try to achieve effect I wanted.  It was so fun trying different ones.  

Tim Holtz- Creative Chemistry- Day 3 Distress Differently

Smudge Stamping provides a softer image to your final project.  It feels more vintage and has a romantic feel to the final presentation.

Left: 1st generation stamped images   Right: 2nd generation Smudge Stamping Technique

Tim Holtz- Creative Chemistry 102- Day 2 Layering Stencils

6 of 7 techniques covered in day 2

Layering Stencils, Embossing with Stencils, & Embossing Through Stencils ( my favorite)

Re-stenciling with dark distress ink over the embossed image provides such great texture.

Stencil Sketching Technique, Ink Monoprint Technique (my favorite), and Paint Monoprint Technique

Tim Holtz-Creative Chemistry 102

The past two weeks I started the creative journey with Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 101 and 102.  By the end of the second course I was so inspired I decided to try and create a blog spot to share my creations.  Blogging has its own learning curve- I hope this works.  This posting highlights lessons completed so far. 

Day 1 Distress Paint- I'm loving these new paints.  I can't wait until all my colors arrive.  Distress paints react with water when wet and retain their vibrancy.  Once dry they are permanent and will no longer react with water.  They can be used on porous and nonporous surfaces.  Its a whole new world of creating with Tim Holtz's line of distress paints.

Marbling, Altered Surface, and Stamping Resist Techniques