TIM HOLTZ CHA LAYOUTS

It's hard to believe this month is over in less than two weeks! I haven't been very productive, hope to change that soon. This bad cold that I have been suffering with since the end of December, is finally going away. This week I actually have been able to get a decent night's sleep.

I haven't shared my Tim Holtz CHA projects yet.  I was in such a scramble to get something done, I really didn't take great photos.  I can't imagine how these companies get everything prepared for the show when it gets earlier and earlier.  It used to be at the end of January, beginning of February, so the holiday season was over and people had time to create, get their samples in, etc.  Just mailing in the samples is a challenge, with all the holidays.  I'm sure most of you have seen a lot of the videos and photos, and can agree… Tim Holtz has the most amazing booth!  He has a link to a lot of the videos on his blog here.

I feel so honoured when asked to make samples. There are some amazing artists who contribute, which are featured on Tim's blog and also Paula's.   I'm usually their layout girl, and anything else I have time for.  This year, I didn't quite do as much as I would have liked, it came at a time when a lot was going on with family, but hopefully I have inspired a few people!

Love the new Correspondence paper collection, so easy to work with.  I think when I did this layout, I was hooked on Tim's, make your own sand technique, from his July tag.  I used the same type of technique, but with different colours on that one torn edge, just for a different texture.  The stamped images were stamped with, I think, metallic distress paint.  Without the layout here, I'm not sure, or I could have used Distress stain spray (I'm slightly addicted to that stuff).  I used Ranger's texture paste, mixed with a bit of Brass Distress stain and Tim's TH025 Arrow stencil.  Once dried, I then painted some of the arrows with the Fired Brick Distress pen and my Ranger Waterbrush.  I used some of the new Idea-ology flashcards, charms, ephemera, paper string, and one of my absolute favourite new release dies, the handwritten thinlit series(the word, Adventure).  I can't wait to get these dies, they are so beautiful!
This photo is of my dad (the person in the front) travelling by train, across Canada.  He had signed up for the Australia Airforce just before he turned 18, and they were sent to Canada for flight training. It was his first time, and probably most of them, travelling outside of Australia.  It was quite the adventure for them in the beginning.  I think he said they had a total of about two weeks flight training and then were sent off to war, stationed in Burma.When I look at his photos, I can't stop thinking how young they all were.  Canada must have given him a good welcome, as he immigrated here after the war, and stayed!

As soon as I saw the postal themed papers of the Correspondence collection, I thought about my husband's grandmother's treasured letters.  She was originally from Wales, and came here with her new husband to start a new life.  She saved every letter from home, and some go back to the 1930's.  My mother-in-law passed them on to me and I really want to scan them, so everyone in the family has a copy.  There's so much history written in those pages.  It's a big project, one I have yet to start, but I really want to do this one day.  We became quite close, his grandmother and I, and I can remember when she received a letter, she was so excited to share her family's news.  We would all sit down with a cup of tea, and she would read the letter out loud.  When I finally met this side of the family, I really felt like I knew them all already.

I used a bit of Distress spray on the background, added in some of the new Special Delivery Remnant Rub-ons, and Design tape.  Tim also released a new rubs metal stylus tool, which I got to use.  Love this, the rubs just lift off so easy!

When I saw these small metal Foundry Frames, I gasped!  So beautiful!  I want more!  The Tea Cup and Doily are from his new Sizzix collection.  There are two cups and a saucer in this die, and the cup has a slit in it, so you can add embellishments or the other cup.  The doily is one of two in his Textured Impression embossing set.  The other is a smaller doily version.  I sprayed this one with a combination of Distress Stains. I think it was Stormy Sky, Picket Fence, Brushed Pewter and maybe Broken China. I am addicted to combining different colours with Brushed Pewter, love the metallic look.  I just finished a Valentine heart using different colours with Tarnished Brass, yummy!  That's another day, though, sorry.  I added in some ephemera, metal arrows, and my journaling in an Industrious Sticker frame, along with some borders of the same.  The "love" is also a Sizzix Handwritten thinlit die.

Well, that's a brief description of my two layouts, I have also some cards that I did, but I will save that for another day.  Yikes,  I did not realize the time and I need to leave for work!

Have a great day, and make sure you check out Tim and Paula's blog to see the gorgeous samples that the other designers created!

Jan