A Tag Full of Gears

 I haven't had a chance to use these new Sizzix Gear dies by Prima, so what better way to try out new dies than making a tag.


For my tag, I used papers from We R Memory Keeper's collection, Indian Summer.  Love this leather looking paper!


The four gear Prima die set is a Sizzix Bigz Die called Love Gears which can cut out heavier materials such as chipboard, plastic and felt.  The other Prima gear collection is a thinlit die set called Rondeaux which cuts out paper, cardstock and thin acrylic. I also used this Sizzix Zippy Zipper Die on my tag.

The zipper was cut out in copper adhesive sheets from Vintaj and also brown paper.  The metal die-cut was used for the zipper teeth and head.  After I had assembled the zipper, I glued it to my brown leather paper which had been cut out in the middle, where the zipper opens.  I  machine stitched down the two sides of the zipper and also around the edge of the tag.  Next I embossed the two sides with an embossing folder from Sizzix called, Floral &Vines.  This folder has embossing just in the corner, which I really like sometimes, as you can add just a small touch of embossing to a tag, or label.  I lightly sanded the embossed areas and edges, then applied adhesive all around the outer edge.  I then adhered this to my turquoise tag base.


I cut out some of the gears(from the bigz die) in chipboard, then embossed with Ranger's Verdigris embossing powder and then embossed again in a few areas, with Ranger's Antiquities Rust powder.  The other gears were die-cut from the Prima thinlit dies using patterned paper from the Indian Summer collection.  I cut out two for each gear and glued them together, so they were sturdier.  I adhered them to my tag as in the photo, added my ribbon, and pin with small gears.  My tag was complete!

I love gears, and these ones are a little different with the heart cut-outs.  I've also saved all those cute little hearts, they will be good for future projects.

Hope you are having a great weekend,
thanks for stopping by!

Jan


1

Tim Holtz Media Team Layout Tutorial

Hi everyone!  Today I have my first Tim Holtz Media Team tutorial on Tim's blog!



In this tutorial I have focused mainly about Tim's Sizzix Decorative Strip dies, and his new Wallflower Vellum collection.  For my step by step instructions, head on over to Tim's blog.

Thanks for stopping by and a big thank-you for all the lovely comments on my previous Tim Holtz post!

Have a great day,

Jan
1

Sizzix Strawberry Basket Tutorial

Today I have a tutorial on the Sizzix blog showing you how to make this cute basket full of strawberry treat holders using new Lori Whitlock dies:


Hope you visit me there!


Have a great day,

Jan
0

Waves & Bubbles Mini Configuration's Book

Hi Everyone!  Today I am thrilled to share my first post as a member of the Tim Holtz Media Team.  This project started with one Texture Fade Embossing folder, the Waves & Bubbles Set and a technique from Wendy Vecchi that I wanted to use.  It became a completely different project than what I had intended, which is what I love about crafting!


We just got back from holidays, so I think I was inspired by the beautiful turquoise mountain lakes of Jasper Provincial Park, the white sandy beaches on the Sunshine Coast in B.C., and of course all the ocean life.



Every summer we visit an International Sand Castle competition in Parksville, and the entries are amazing.  I decided to create this book for my photos of these amazing sculptures and a few of the shells we have collected.


Using the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Configurations Book (9 x 6in) and Ranger's Dina Wakley White Gesso, I painted my book and the boxes inside.  Gesso primes your surface, making it ready to accept different mediums.


After everything was dry, I applied a coat of Evergreen Bough Distress Paint.  I did not paint the backs of the boxes(these will be covered) and the front of my book (just around the edges).  I enjoy using this type of finish on boxes, it creates a neat texture and just by changing the colour combinations, can look so different.  I used it on this Halloween box on a previous post.  Your darkest colour goes on first.


I used Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Evergreen Bough, and Bundled Sage Distress Paint to dry brush onto my book.  For those of you not familiar with dry brushing, it is applying a very small amount of paint on your brush, and removing or brushing some off before applying it to your surface.  You can see on my small white paper, what your brush strokes should look like. Your paint is applied very lightly so it dries quite fast, therefore you can work quickly.  Not all your surface is covered with each colour, and that is how you get this textured look. 


 You can go back and reapply some or all of the colours, achieving whatever look you want.


After your painted boxes have dried, apply adhesive to the backs and insert into your box.



Now for the front cover of your book.  Using Wendy Vecchi's archival ink and rubbing alcohol technique, you will need archival re-inkers, speciality stamping paper, a spatula and a craft mat. I used 
Ranger's Aquamarine,Viridian and one drop of Hydrangea.  Pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol to your mat and add a drop of each colour.  Mix the ink slightly into your rubbing alcohol.  I mixed mine too much as you can see in my photo, but I took my paper (cut to 9 x 6in) and swiped it through the ink.

Because you are not using water, the rubbing alcohol doesn't seep through your paper and when heated, the speciality paper does't warp.  I did mine a second time after I dried it, as I wanted it a bit more of the green tone and not as blended this time.


That's better, I like the darker contrast!  Once it dried, I was ready to emboss.


My paper was too large for the embossing folder to fit completely, but I just inserted it across the bottom first.  After that was embossed, I embossed the top left corner of my paper.  I was ok with the parts that weren't embossed, they were going to be covered up anyways.


I wanted my paper to have a somewhat aged or distressed look, so I sanded the raised areas and the edges of my embossed paper.  With my Antique Linen Distress Ink Pad (normally I use my Ranger Blending Tool, but I wanted the raised areas really dark) I swiped across the sanded areas to give them definition.  My next step was to paint on top of everything with a combination of Antique Linen, Old Paper, and Frayed Burlap Distress paint.  I dabbed on a bit of Antique Linen in different areas, then with a damp paper towel, rubbed the paint using a circular motion.  This removes most of it but leaves a light layer of paint.  I alternate the different colours and apply the same technique. 


It gives the embossed paper a little bit of an aged look and a kind of pearly finish.  The trick is, not to apply the paint too heavy and just do a small area at a time.  You can always add more paint, but you can't remove it if you have too much!


Once everything is dry, apply your embossed paper with Ranger's Gel Medium to the front of your book.  Now you are ready to embellish.  Don't you hate it when sometimes you do a background that turns out really good, and find it so hard to cover it!  I try and pick my least favourite part and use that place to cover, but sometimes you just like all of it!


Using the Tim Holtz Movers & Shapers Mini Sand & Sea (small seahorse & starfish), and Sand & Sea Bigz (large sand dollar, seahorse, starfish)  dies, I die-cut several pieces with chipboard.  I'm never sure how many I will use, so I just cut out more than enough and save the extras.  The first thing I do, is gesso all the pieces.  I like to have a nice white base to work with, especially when using light colours.  I find that when you paint directly on top of chipboard, sometimees the light colours aren't as vibrant or you have to apply more layers of paint.  Once the gesso was dry, I applied Ranger's Texture Paste to some of the pieces.  I just noticed on my photos, I didn't end up using the small seahorses, wonder where they disappeared to?


The larger sand dollar with the starfish glued to the top, had texture paste applied with my finger.  When I'm working with small pieces, I tend to use my finger when applying mediums, it's just faster and I have more control.  I applied the paste heavier around the starfish, so it just looks like it is part of the sand dollar.  Once that was dry, I painted with Antique Linen paint, and inked the edges with Frayed Burlap and Pumice Stone Distress ink.  I applied Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint and set aside to dry.  Once it was dry, I applied Frayed Burlap Distress Paint on top and wiped off the excess, so the paint just stayed in the cracks.  The other large sand dollar and texture paste applied with a small spatula to give it more texture. After I painted it with Antique Linen Paint, I shaded the edges lightly with Distress inks.  The Distress Ink colours I used for all the pieces, were a combination of Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Scattered Straw, Pumice Stone, Evergreen Bough, and Bundled Sage.




One seahorse had texture paste applied with a Tim Holtz stencil called Dot Fade, then painted with Antique Linen Paint.  The other seahorse was painted with Antiqued Bronze Distress paint.  After the paint was dry, I added a drop of Antique Linen paint to a small amount of Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint on my craft sheet.  I applied this to my bronze painted seahorse and let dry.  Because I added in some paint, it didn't crack very much, but the colour still showed slightly through from underneath.  I added a bit of Evergreen Bough paint to the edges.  The other seahorse, I didn't add as much paint, just a small dot, and it ended up cracking more.  I also painted the edges, after the crackle dried, with Evergreen Bough.  The small sand dollar was painted with texture paint, then painted with Antique Linen, and edges inked.  The small starfish was painted with Antique Linen, when embossed with Ranger's Weathered White Embossing Powder.  I put small amounts of paint on my craft sheet and then dab lightly with my finger, bits of colour on top of the embossed pieces.  It gives it a grainy finish.

A couple of small pieces of gauze were stained, the ends frayed and then adhered to my book front.

I die-cut some "ocean greenery" with my Tim Holtz Spring Greenery Decorative Strip die and his new Wallflower Vellum paper.  I just chose a few different smaller patterns of the vellum to die-cut.  With these, my gauze, some frayed Tim Holtz Linen Ribbon, Natural Twine, Alpha Chips Elementary Chipboard letters, sea shells, and my die-cuts, I was ready to adhere these to the front of my book.  I used glue dots and pop-dots for almost everything, I found they stuck better.


For the inside, I added in my photos, some sea shells we have gathered over the years, some sand saved in a Tim Holtz Corked Dome, Tim Holtz Compass Coin, Word Band, Mirrored Stars, Linen Ribbon and starfish and greenery die-cuts.
I haven't decided how I want to place my photos in the box yet, I just have them sitting in there.  I can't make my mind up, whether to do an accordion type mini album or a book album, or just leave them like they are.


This little book is going on my coffee table, so we can all enjoy the sandcastle photos.  It's the perfect way to display and save those tiny treasures that seem to get lost or put away in a drawer too.  I've had the sea urchin shell for a long time, but was always worried it would break when handled.  Now it's safe in its own little box!

Thanks for stopping by and having a look at my tutorial, and I hope I've inspired you to try different techniques or make your own coffee table book!

Have a great day,

Jan

43

Sizzix Prima Card Inspiration

Time for some Sizzix inspiration!  Hope you join me on the Sizzix blog where I will be sharing this card:


Thanks for stopping by,

Jan
2

Some Exciting News!

I have been keeping a little secret and it's been killing me not to share!  Well, today is the day I finally get to tell everyone!
I have been asked to be a member of the new Tim Holtz Media Team!  I am beyond excited to be a part of this design team!

         
Those of you who have followed my blog know; I love anything Tim Holtz and love creating with his products.  I have had the honour of creating sample projects for his CHA booth in the past, which was super exciting!  But this is beyond amazing, I can't believe I am a part of this team!!

I can't wait to share my projects using his products and I hope to inspire all of you.  I'm still pinching myself, I don't think it has sunk in yet!
Make sure you stop by Tim's blog and see his announcement of his new team!  Sorry, I would have had links here to the rest of the team, but I'm on holidays in the mountains and the internet is not cooperating!
 
   
Thanks for stopping by,

Jan
20

Urban Scrapbook Monthly Challenge

Can you believe it's August 1st. already?!  I must say though, this was probably the hottest July I think we've had for a long time.  When I left my air-conditioned work (Urban Scrapbook) the other day, my car registered the temperature outside at 36C!  Yikes!
And speaking of Urban Scrapbook, here is my monthly Design Team Challenge layout:


In our kits, we had papers, stickers and brads from the BoBunny collection, Lemonade Stand, Prima covered wire, Chalk Ink, Ranger Glossy Paper, and cardstock.  I used Sizzix's Tim Holtz Butterfly Frenzy Decorative Strip,  Layered Butterfly, and an oldie but goodie, Paper Rosettes.  With the wire, I made flowers and two words.  A helpful hint when shaping your wire words; is write on a piece of paper your word that you want to create.  Use that as a guideline for shaping the wire.   I printed my photo on the glossy paper twice, and then die-cut.  I also die-cut the butterfly out of patterned paper, and then adhered the three layers together in the middle.  Love the papers in this collection!  Hope you check out what the other designers came up with at Urban, they all are amazing!

To all the Canadians out there, have a  great long weekend and enjoy this beautiful summer weather!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jan
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