Compendium of Curiosities Challenge #3

The Studio L3's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge #3 is already up and I'm on a roll!  Another one completed!  This one is all about Tim's Faux Tea Rose Technique from his book, Compendium Of Curiosities Volume #3.  I have used this die for these flowers on so many projects, but this time I created them with a different type of medium.

Can't guess what I used?  Plain vellum!  Urban Scrapbook just received the new colours in Dyan Reaveley's Dylusion Ink sprays and I had to try them.  Love, love these new colours!  I used Tangerine Dream, Pomegranate, and Squeezed Orange on my flowers. The die-cut leaves (Sizzix Spring Greenery 659573) were sprayed with Chopped Pesto.
I started off with my die-cut tag, some Wendy Vecchi Translucent Embossing paste, and the Doily stencil from Tim Holtz.  I taped down the stencil with painters tape, and applied my embossing paste.  Before removing the stencil, I sprayed immediately with Dylusion's new colours Chopped Pesto and Ground Coffee.  It gave it a the stencilled image a different look, some areas soaking it in more. Have to play with this technique some more!  Once my tag was dry, I added a few swipes of Distress Picked Raspberry stain and Tangerine Dream spray to the tag.  I die-cut a doily from Sizzix Tim Holtz On the Edge Doily, and folded about 1/4" of the edge behind my tag.  I usually glue another tag backing onto my tags to finish them off as I seem to make such a mess on the back.  This time, I left the bottom corner free of adhesive and curled back the top bottom corner.

I adhered my colourful vellum tea roses and leaves onto my tag.  I love that middle rose pomegranate colour!  I added in a Picked Raspberry painted Tim Holtz Framed Alpha Part(TH93117) and stained Seam Binding ribbon to complete my tag.

If you haven't joined in on the challenges yet, check out Linda's blog.  There is lots of inspiration from people participating.  I know Urban Scrapbook still has a few of the Compendium of Curiosities Volume Three books in stock too, if you haven't got one to join in the fun.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

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Hydrangea Card

Happy Friday everyone!  Just sharing a card today using Sizzix's Susan Tierney-Cockburn Hydrangea die.  I love Hydrangeas and this die makes such realistic ones.

I started off cutting out my card base and mats.  I used patterned papers from the new line, Mirabelle (from Santoro London) that Urban Scrapbook carries.  The shaped die-cut is cut from Sizzix's Funky Label framelit die.  I machine stitched around the edges of the floral paper and the small label before adhering my layers.

With all of Susan's Garden dies, there is a PDF printable instruction sheet with photos, that is available on the Sizzix site.  There are also videos for some of her older dies.  After cutting out my petals, I inked and assembled following the instructions.  With the hydrangea flower, you can use an end of a small styrofoam ball to give it a rounded shape.  Sometimes I like using patterned paper that has a very subtle pattern or variation of colours instead of cardstock.  It gives the petals a little more realistic look. The centres of the petals were just dots of Liquid Pearls.

The leaves are die-cut from the same paper that I used for my card base. I then inked with Forest Moss

Distress Ink after I scored the leaves with my Susan Garden leaf tool.  As you can see in this photo, I like to finish off the inside of my card too.  It also helps weigh the card down in the back so it doesn't topple over.  A customer gave me this tip; apply a few dots to the bottom front and back of your card edges with a liquid glue pen and let dry.  It leaves a fine dot of rubber texture to the edge and stops it from slipping.

After I said that, I thought I'd better show you what it looks like, in case some of you are wondering what I am talking about.  It's the tool next to the tweezers.  The pointy end is curved, and when you score using the light green mat, it makes great lines on your leaves without poking holes in them.  I use this set all the time when making flowers and leaves.

I added in a few Mirabelle stickers (butterflies, label & flower).  The paper with the stamp mark and butterfly are also from the Mirabelle Collection.  My "thanks" is die cut from Sizzix's 659210 Elegant Stand-up Card set.  

If you love hydrangeas as much as I do, you will love using this die!

That's it for me today!  

Have a great weekend,

Jan

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Sizzix Layout Tutorial

Today I have a layout tutorial featured on the Sizzix blog, hope you visit me there!

Thanks so much for  all your kind comments, they are much appreciated!
Have a great weekend,

Jan

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Compendium Of Curiosities Challenge #2

The Linda Ledbetter Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge #2 went up on Saturday.  I'm actually surprised that I completed this one too! This challenge is taken from page 56 of Tim Holtz's book, Distress Glitter Techniques.

Instead of doing a tag, I decided to use a Tim Holtz Folio for this challenge.     

                                                              This is the smaller one (7 x 9).

         Here's my project:                                                         

 

I decided I'm going to use the folio for all the Compendium Challenges so they are all in one place.  I'm committed now, I have to do them all!  

I've just decorated the front cover with this challenge and the inside will be done using another technique, then filled with my challenges.

Here's a closeup of my bird.  I used Tim's Wallflower collection for all the embellishments and cover.  I never get tired of using these papers!  The bird was cut out from one of the papers, adhered to thin chipboard, and glittered.  The leaves were die-cut from Sizzix's 659436 Tim Holtz Garden Greens die.  I used Rock Candy Glitter for the bird and Vintage Photo and Antique Linen Distress glitter for the leaves.

  

The flowers were die-cut from Sizzix's 656640 Tim Holtz Tattered Flower die.  The small flower buds were the smallest flower in this set.  I just used a stylus and curved them inward.  It's hard to tell in the photos, but the edges are glittered with Rock Candy glitter.  

One good thing about doing these challenges, it gets you using all those products in your stash!  Check out Linda's blog for some great inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

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Sizzix Card Tutorial

Hope you visit me today on the Sizzix blog.  I'm sharing this standup card!

Thanks for stopping by,

Happy Monday!

Jan

2

A Mother's Day Card

I'm sharing a Mother's Day card today, for those of you who are still thinking about making one.  If any of you are like me; I usually leave it to the last minute and end up frantically making the envelope (realizing I don't have one to fit my card) while everyone is waiting in the car ready to leave for mom's or grandma's house.  But look, I am getting better!  I even have it done the day before, I might even make the envelope today too!

I had bought a package of glitter tags from Papaya Art and decided to use one on my card.  Love these tags!  I wish they did scrapbook papers!  The other patterned papers are from Trimcraft's Mirabelle collection and Prima's Princess collection.  

I am crazy about Hydrangeas, so I could hardly wait to use this Hydrangea die from Sizzix's Susan Garden.  I want to make more!  The Mother's Day was cut out from a Cottage Cutz die and the Garden Butterfly Vine filigree die-cut (behind the Hydrangea) was also from Cottage Cutz.  The little grey flowers are from Prima.  We have this really cool raffia wired ribbon at the store (Urban Scrapbook) in different colours but I took my cream one and coloured it purple and pink with Lindy's Sprays to match my card.  

Here's a bit of Motherhood humour!

Pinterest

Hope all of you have a great day tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

1

Remembering Mom

It's already May, and that means it's time for Urban Scrapbook's monthly challenge.  This month our layouts were about celebrating Mothers.  I chose to celebrate my mother-in-law, Gwyneth, who unfortunately passed away last October from pancreatic cancer.  Here's mine:

The monthly kits are filled with Basic Grey's Mon Ami  collection papers, Basic Grey chipboard Scrabble letters, ribbons, and Prima wood and resin embellishments.  To see the other Urban Design Team layouts, visit Urban's blog here.

Now for a bit of news; me being a proud mom, I have to share.  My daughter Cassandra is going to be on the Canadian Home Shopping Network on Thursday, May 8th.  For those of you who followed her on Fashion Star last year, she's back with a new collection of clothes and will be selling them on Thursday.  On May 13th, she will be on the American shopping channel, ShopHQ.  I know she's on three times on Thursday, but I'm not sure how many on May 13th.  Should be fun to watch!

That's all I have to share today, thanks for stopping by!

Jan

2

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge

I used to take part in different scrapbooking challenges, but lately it seems like I have good intentions to join in but never find the time to actually do them.  One challenge I have always wanted to do was, Linda Ledbetter's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge.  For those of you who haven't heard of it, Linda and her creative team do bi-weekly challenges based on the Tim Holtz technique books, Compendium of Curiosities.  She will randomly pick one technique from his current book and challenge everyone to create something using this technique.  It's a great way to try new techniques using Tim's books.

Last week she started a new challenge based on Volume III, which was released this year.  I decided to try the first one, and hopefully I will do all of them!  This first one is based on his technique, Paint Marbling.  All participants are asked not to reveal the technique out of respect for all the time and hard work that goes into producing these books (which I totally support!).  So, if you plan on participating, make sure you pick up a copy.

So here's, my tag project (and hopefully not the only one):

Love this technique and I can see it being a bit addicting!  I used plain stamping cardstock, Tim's new Motif resist paper for the leaves and birds, Tim Holtz Nature Walk stamp, Ornate Plate, Industrious sticker, rub-on, and my flowers were from Petaloo and Prima.  I can't forget the die used for my birds is from Sizzix, Tim Holtz Birds in Flight Decorative Strip.

I like challenges, they help you to try something new.  Sometimes we all need that push!  So if you are curious or need a creative boost, head on over to Linda's blog and join in.  There are also prizes to be won!

Have a great weekend,  don't forget it's National Scrapbook Day tomorrow!

Jan

14

Mother's Day Gift

With Mother's Day fast approaching, I thought I'd get my card made early, instead of leaving it to the last minute.  But when I got these new Susan's Garden dies, I decided to do something a little different. My mother loves flowers, but then don't we all?  With the Sizzix Gerbera  and Zinnia Susan's Garden dies I decided to make a small bouquet to fill a jar, made with Sizzix's Eileen Hull 3-D Canning jar die.

With the Sizzix Gerbera, Branches and Zinnia Susan's Garden dies I decided to make a small bouquet to fill a jar, made with Sizzix's Eileen Hull 3-D Canning jar die.

I made my canning jar first.  I cut out four jars, two of patterned paper and two of white chipboard. For the inside, I cut out one chipboard and one patterned paper.  The lid piece was a piece of cardstock, layered with adhesive backed foil paper and then die cut out.  I scored lines across to give it some interest.  I then painted the foil with black paint, then rubbed off the excess, leaving it just in the embossed areas. The paper was adhered to the cardstock on all the pieces, then I lightly inked the edges.

Once I finished all the pieces, I adhered the inside piece to both sides and then finished it off with the lid.

This is what the inside looks like. 

To finish off my jar, I die-cut a small label from Sizzix's Fancy Flip-it Framelit card set and adhered my "Mom" letters, die-cut from Sizzix's Tim Holtz Typeset die in the middle.

 Now onto my flowers!

I followed the directions on the flower die packages and there is also a pdf that can be printed on the Sizzix site for the flowers.

Once these flowers were assembled, I cut strips of wire for the stems.  With a hot glue gun, I adhered the wire to the backs of my flowers and then glued the leaves over top.

Once my flowers were finished, I hot glued a small piece of styrofoam to the bottom of my inside jar.  I filled halfway a small amount of dried moss, and then stuck my wired flowers into the foam.  To cover up the wires, I added more moss.

Your small Mother's Day bouquet is finished.  This would also be a great little gift to give someone who has allergies or is sensitive to scents.  

Hope I have given you some inspiration for your own Mother's Day gift!

Have a great day,

Jan

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