SKELLY FRAME - TIM HOLTZ SIZZIX CHAPTER 3 RELEASE

Hello everyone!  It's been a little while since I've posted, and I still have a few Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 3 projects to share.  I've been spending quite a bit of time in the craft room creating for Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas, which was just released on his Facebook Live last weekend.  If you missed that, there's a link to the video replay on his blog here. But, for now, back to Halloween!

I'm such a big fan of the Colorize Dies and this Skelly is a great addition to this line.

Colorize dies have lots of different layers, creating more dimension in your makes.  There's a very helpful instructional video for each Colorize die on the Sizzix website, explaining all the steps.

I've also used this Foundry 3-D Texture Fade and this Curio box Bigz XL on this project.

The Curio Box is a Bigz XL die, so you can die-cut chipboard and heavier materials.  I had some white chipboard, which I used to cut out the bottom piece of the box.  I didn't want the box to be very deep, so I cut down the sides about 1/2 inch.  

Glue your corners together and cover the box with patterned paper.  I used a piece from the Tim Holtz Abandoned paper stash.  This will go behind a large Halloween Baseboard Frame (TH93986).

Adhere this to the back of your Baseboard Frame.  Distress the edges of the frame before or after the box is adhered.

This is the Foundry 3D Embossing Texture Fade, die-cut from Tim Holtz Mixed Media Heavystock and painted to created an aged look.  I have a tutorial on how I paint these pieces here.  I used Ripe Persimmon, Carved Pumpkin, Fossilized Amber, Fired Brick and Ground Espresso paint.  I also add a bit of Glazing Medium to my paint in the end layers, which gives it a bit of a polished look.

Die-cut all your Skelly pieces from this embossed paper.  I managed to cut out all of them from this one piece.  I cut them out one at a time, just so I wouldn't waste any of my paper.  Takes a bit longer, but at least I didn't have to emboss and paint another sheet.

Adhere all your pieces together, if you have any problems with the sequence, the video really helps!  I also inked the edges of the pieces.  The grey parts are from paper coloured with Distress Oxide Sprays and inks, the back of the eyes and the zigzag highlights are black kraftstock.

Skelly is adhered to the edges of the box, slightly coming out on the one side.  For embellishing my frame, I used moss from the craft store, Boneyard bones(TH93964), Beware Story Stick(TH94063), black heavy thread, and Type Chips (TH94031).  I also used Mini Fasteners Screw Brads Hardware (TH92790) on the Type Chips to fasten them to the frame.

Here's another look at my finished Skelly Frame!  Hope I've inspired you to create your own Skelly with something a little different than the usual colours.

Hope you come back to visit, I've a few more Sizzix Chapter 3 projects to share, plus some from the new Christmas Idea-ology release and in October there's another Chapter from Sizzix coming.  Lots of inspiration!

With this crazy year we are all experiencing, it is so nice to have creative hobbies, isn't it?  Now if I could just persuade my husband to learn how to cook, I'd have more time for it all!

Until next time,

Jan

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Sanctuary Layout with 3-D Embossing

Hello there crafty friends!  I have a layout on my blog today, featuring one of Sizzix's new 3-d Textured Impressions embossing folders:

I've used the Leaves folder for this layout, along with a few Sizzix Thinlits dies.

These embossing folders have a deeper and bolder texture to them.  Love this leaf one, and there are other fabulous ones here.

These folders are thicker than your regular ones, so the Sizzix Sandwich for these is a little different.   Open your Sizzix Platform to Tab 1, place your folder, with your paper inside,  and then adding a standard cutting pad on top.  You are only using one cutting pad, two will make it too thick to go through your machine.

Love the extra dimension on these folders.

I decided to paint and distress my embossed paper.  I used a mixed media cardstock, which I lightly gessoed after embossing.  I used various colours of Distress paint until I got this end result.  Just a note here; I probably would test what colour combination I wanted to use, on a test sheet first.  I ended up adding a few too many layers of paint, trying to get the right colour combo I wanted on here, and the raised areas weren't as pronounced.  After the paint dried I lightly sanded the top, highlighting the embossed pattern.

My leaves were die-cut with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Garden Greens Thinlits die and patterned paper.  

After they were die-cut out, I lightly sprayed them with Tim Holtz Distress Stain Spray.

On my layout, I added a few hand cut leaves from my paper (49 & Market, Vintage Artistry) and my die-cut leaves.  The butterfly is also hand-cut out. 

My larger butterfly was die-cut from the Sizzix Tim Holtz Detailed Butterflies Thinlits set. The top layer was die-cut from patterned paper and the bottom was a solid colour cardstock.  Both were spritzed with Distress Spray and a Distress Brass Mica Spray.

Once I had all my pieces cut out, distressed, and inked, I adhered them to my paper.  The background paper has some paint and stain splattered randomly.  

My photos were taken at an amazing park, The William Rickets Sanctuary, in the Dandenongs, Victoria, Australia.  When we were visiting our son, we spent the day up in the Dandenongs and this was our last stop. It was just before closing, so we didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked. As soon as you enter the park, you feel the peacefulness and tranquility amongst the ferns and trees.  William Ricketts bought this property in the 1930s and began these amazing mystical pottery sculptures representing the Aboriginal people and their culture.  He created these pieces and embedded them into the  rocks and trees so they look like they are part of the landscape.  I think there's close to a 100 pieces, some hidden or almost completely covered with moss, you almost miss them.  It was such an inspiring place to visit, I hope to visit again one day.

I also want to thank all of you for the wonderful comments I received on my Tim Holtz CHA projects.  Thank you so much, it means a lot to me.  I will be posting the rest of them later this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

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Rust, Rust, and more Rust!

I don't know why, but I love rust!  The colours, patterns, something about it just speaks to me.  So when, Finnabair came out with her new Rust Effect Paste set, I was anxious to try it out. 

I've had this Blue Fern Studios Grunge Frame Chipboard piece (it measures 11" sq) for a long time, and I've been meaning to use it. I'm so glad I saved it, because it is perfect for this paste set.  Since it's raw chipboard, I first applied black gesso on the surface to prepare it.  This gives it a nice base when applying any kind of media.  I wanted the black, in case I left any spots open when applying my paste.   

Rust Effects Paste set is three different colours of paste; brown, orange and yellow.  I applied the brown first, let dry and then applied lightly, the orange.  I didn't want to completely cover the brown, just highlight areas.  After this dried, I did the same for the yellow.  I went back and applied some brown and orange over certain areas to tone down the yellow.  It's as easy as that!  

I had adhered a piece of Prima Vintage Emporium paper to a piece of chipboard, as I wasn't sure how heavy this large frame would be once attached.  Before attaching anything, I used the new Tim Holtz Gears Stencil with texture paste in the top right corner.  After this had dried, I applied Tim Holtz Vintage Collage Medium (that's what gave it that brown vintage look) and the Tim Holtz Crazing Medium (gives it a subtle crackle/crazing finish).

Once my frame had dried, I attached some Finnabair Rusty Gears and Tin Heart Mechanicals.  The brads (Hex Paper Fasteners) are from Tim Holtz.  

These mixed media bits actually were done before attaching to my layout.  I used my non-stick craft mat and directly applied gel medium, spreading it like the photo above. These are called skins, and can be removed from the craft sheet, once they have dried.  The thinner they are, the more difficult to remove in one piece, and the thicker they are, the longer they take to dry. I had been playing around with this a 4 or 5 days before and had just left to dry, so I'm not sure how long they actually took.  While wet,  I added in my different mediums to colour (paints, sprays) and also Finnabair's new Art Stones.  These are light white small stones that can take any medium and are perfect for adding in texture. Don't they look cool when altered? The gold is Ranger's new Wendy Vecchi Buttercup Mica Spray.  I was really surprised at how beautiful and vibrant this colour was, could be a new favourite!  These mica sprays come in sets of three and there's a set from each Ranger Signature Designer (Tim Holtz, Dina Wakley, Dylusions, and Wendi Vecchi). I can't wait to try the others.

It's so fun and versatile, playing around with these skins on a craft sheet, instead of directly on your paper.  If you don't like what you've done or want to change them, you haven't ruined your paper!  It's fun just to experiment with different mediums, they can even be saved on plastic for future projects. They can be cut out, or even stamped on, once they have dried.  Once they were adhered, I added a bit of sprays, rust texture to make them look like they were applied directly on the paper.  The honeycomb die-cut paper was from Sizzix's Tim Holtz Mixed Media Thinlits die.

I can't wait to apply this Rust Effects on other embellishments!  Thanks for stopping by,

Jan

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CHA Tim Holtz Projects

I've been very fortunate for the past couple of years, to be asked to create for the Tim Holtz booth at CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) Mega Show.  I'm always amazed  that I get to be a part of this with an amazing group of talented people.  It is so exciting when that box arrives!  My husband can't quite get what all the excitement is about, over this box of paper, metal pieces and such.  That's the worst part, you can't share it with anyone, it's top secret!  Here are the samples I created this year:

Who can resist doilies!  I know I can't, so loved using this Thinlits Doily(Sizzix 661497) die on this card.  After die-cutting it with cardstock, I inked with Distress Ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder.  I sprayed Distress Spray Stain (I think Stormy Skies) all over the embossed doily and then heated it again with my heat gun.  The heat kind of melted the colour into the clear melted powder, giving it a mottled blue glassy look.  The papers are from the new Dapper collection, the metal charm is the TH93270 Antique Cameo frame, with a rub-on 6  from TH93287 Gilded Accents, and my other dies were Tiny Tattered Florals 660227, Scribbles & Splat 660222, and Debossing Months Set 660046.

I was also asked to use this Typo Upper Alphabet Die.  This is a Bigz XL Steel Rule die, so the letters are 1 1/4" tall and can be cut out with thicker materials. This die is released in April.  I used the new adhesive backed Textile TH93294 paper on top of chipboard for the letters and coloured them black.  These extra large gadget gears TH93297 made great flowers!  The stems are patterned paper (Dapper collection) cut in strips and the leaves were die-cut from the Textile paper.

This Dapper guy is another new Bigz die 661192, also releasing in April.  I die-cut this from a piece of Substrate paper (TH93291) that was embossed with the Herringbone embossing folder (661201).  This paper comes in three different colours, is resilient, flexible and can be stitched, painted, punched, however you want to alter it.  I adhered adhesive backed linen from the Textile Surfaces pkg behind the die-cut.  There's new design tape in gold or silver and two different widths.  This is what I used around the edge of my mat.

This Dapper Paper Collection has a masculine theme but it can be used in other ways too, like this vacation 8 x 8 layout.  These are older dies used in this layout, the Globe(660214), Handwritten Journey(660217), Mixed Media (660220), Courtyard Frameworks (659429), Labels Set (660060).  The courtyard frameworks were die-cut from chipboard, then painted with a mixture of black gesso and texture paste.  This gave the rough texture that I highlighted with Distress Paints.  The metal embellishments are new also; the Watch Cameos (TH93264) and Nailheads (TH93277).  These Display Hangers (TH93271) are perfect for hanging those special projects.

This 8 x 10 layout features the Dapper Bigz die again, this time the die-cut pieces, not the negative piece.  There's also the Black & Gold Mini Cabinet Card, Nailheads, Watch Cameo, Dapper Design Tape, Gilded Accents and Alphabet rub-ons from the new release.  The Typo Bigz XL die was used again, with fabric covered chipboard.  The Mixed Media Thinlit die was used with Dapper paper and metallic Tim Holtz Core-dinations paper.

My last project is a 12 x 12 vacation layout, again featuring the Typo Alphabet die.  This is used with paper covered chipboard.  The "explore" is from Adventure Block Words 660212 and the negative die-cut is used.  I die cut the patterned paper and then die-cut the "ex" on my photo, the brown cardstock mat shows through.  The metal gears have the Dapper epoxy brad and pearl in the center.  A mini Plaquette (th93296) is hanging from twine with a globe charm.  The small leaves are punched out from the Tim Holtz Large Laurel Punch (660172).  The Tim Holtz Labels Thinlits dies are used here also, along with the mini Filmstrip (658551) die-cut from the Substrate paper.  Can't forget the Dapper Design tape, love this stuff!

Well, that's all my CHA projects!  Don't you love this release?  I'm always crazy for all the different metal embellishments, they can be used on everything.  

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to design for this show.  Thank you, Tim!

Until next time,

Jan

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Sizzix Tutorial - Love Layout

Hi everyone!  February is almost here, and I know some of you are already thinking about Valentine's Day.  Today I have a tutorial on the Sizzix blog showing you how to create this layout:

Hope you visit me there!

Jan

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Leave a Little Sparkle Layout Tutorial

Hi everyone!  Today I have a tutorial on the Sizzix blog featuring this layout:

Hope you visit me there!

Jan

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Wishing you all a happy halloween and hope you have a spooktacular evening. Here's a few projects to share with you!  

This frightful tag is made with Tim Holtz Metallic Kraft Core cardstock and his new Halloween thinlits dies.

I die cut 2 tags from the Tim Holtz Tag (656938) Sizzix die and his silver Metallic cardstock.  With one of the tags, I die-cut different words from the Tim Holtz Halloween Block Words, trying to cover the entire tag.  The Monster Thinlits die was used for my 3-D monster.  It was also die-cut using the Metallic cardstock.  I sanded the edges and inked with Ground Espresso Distress Ink, then assembled.

I glued the tag with the words cut out on top of the plain tag with Ranger's Matte Medium. The tag then was lightly sanded after the glue had dried.  I applied Ground Espresso Distress paint, waited for a bit, then wiped off the excess, leaving some in the recessed areas.  Matte this on black cardstock and trim slightly larger than the tag.

Pop dot the Monster to the tag and add in ribbon, charms.

This wreath was made using the Tim Holtz Coffins Bigz Die, Fall Foliage Thinlits Die Set, Bird Branch Bigz Die (I just cut off the bird and used the branch) and the Tattered Leaves Bigz die.  I cut out a round ring from a sheet of foam core by tracing a a circle and a smaller circle on the inside.  This was my base.  Next I used a hot glue gun and adhered the branches and leaves.  The coffins were assembled and adhered next.  I just added a wire for a hanger, a bow, charms, and a chipboard Happy Halloween.  My papers that I used for the coffins were from Authentique's collection, "Moonlit" and the chipboard piece was from the My Mind's Eye collection, "Something Wicked". The paper for the leaves were from various paper collections.

I can't foget my layout for Urban Scrapbook's monthly challenge:

Our kits this month included papers from Carta Bella, Tim Holtz Gothic Industrious Stickers, Wicked Alpha Parts, cardstock and a few other embellishments.

I die-cut my pumpkins out with the Tim Holtz Jack-O-Lantern Bigz die and the included burlap piece.    I used the Tim Holtz Undertaker stamp set and distress paint on my black background paper.  The little halloween cutouts were hand cut from my patterned paper and used on my garland.

Well, that's the last of my halloween projects for this year.  I loved all the different collections this year and enjoyed creating with them!  How about you?  It's on to Christmas and Winter themes now!

Have a great evening,

Jan

2

LAYOUTS, LAYOUTS, AND MORE LAYOUTS!

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since I've shared some layouts here. This is a rather long post, I have more to share than I thought!  I am loving the collections from Blue Fern Studios.  The quality of their paper is amazing and the colours are so nice.  The papers used with this layout are from their Deja' Vu collection.

The Floral Medley chipboard frame is also from Blue Fern and I just used Stampendous Chunky White and Shabby White embossing enamel to cover it.  To get a thicker coat, I apply it a couple of times.  The teacup is a Sizzix Tim Holtz die (660234) and the Wave (lattice looking) die is 660027.  I used the Tattered Lace Sun Gem bird die(d741) which I also embossed, this time with Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powders.  This bird die is beautiful, it comes in three parts so you can choose if you want the long tail feathers and extra wing part.  My flowers are from Petaloo, their velvet collection.  As I'm looking at this layout, I forgot that I tried something different with my Tim Holtz block Friendship Word die (660213), the word "moments".  I hopefully can remember what it was!  I used one of his Embossing Diffusers and placed it so the top half of my word wouldn't cut out on the patterned paper.  I then cut out the word on the dark purple shimmer cardstock and used the piece with the negative space.  I then placed the light purple die-cut piece into the negative space and trimmed the edges.  Hopefully that made sense to you!  A few hand cut paper pieces finished off my layout.
This photo is of my grandmother when she was a young mother, not sure who took it, my grandfather maybe?  I love this photo, I wonder what she was thinking or if she was aware her photo was being taken.

Want to see more layouts?  I haven't shared my Urban Scrapbook Monthly Challenge layouts for awhile, longer than I thought!

This one was from my March kit, featuring Authentique's collection, Classique Beauty.  Loved this yellow and dark grey combination.  There was a Sizzix Tim Holtz bee die-cut in the kit which I embossed with Wendy Vecchi's Buttercup embossing powder.  I put some Prima Micro Beads on it while still hot and then reheat it again.  I also used Tim Holtz Scribbles & Splats (660222) Thinlits die (also embossed and micro beads), Handwritten Thinlits die (the word, Beautiful) and the Limitations Framelits die w/stamp (660189) butterfly set.  I stamped the butterfly with Ranger's Glacier White Pigment ink on vellum, embossed it with clear embossing powder, then coloured with Tim Holtz Distress Markers.  My cup rings and splatters (THS009 Splatters stencil) was also embossed with the Wendy Vecchi Buttercup powder.  The rhinestone flourish was painted with yellow paint.

This layout is of my daughter; loved this instagram selfie she took.

This is my future daughter-in-law.  Hint, hint, son of mine!!  This was my April kit, featuring Kaisercraft's "All That Glitters" collection.  I machine stitched different shapes on my background paper, before I applied gesso, then different mediums.  I think I used gelatos and Distress sprays here.
The doily is a Tim Holtz (660244) embossing folder which, after embossing I cut out and applied IndigoBlu Megaflakes (gilding flakes), sorry not sure which colour. I also used the Tim Holtz (659573) Spring Greenery Decorative Strip die with my Prima and hand cut flowers.

Here's my other daughter, my sweet little Roxy.  No, I did not torture the poor thing, dressing her up.  I haven't done it in awhile, but she loves dressing up.  One time she went into the closet and found her Halloween spider costume that was in a box, and brought it to me.  She whined until I put it on her and she pranced around the house for the longest time.  Did I mention, she doesn't think she's a dog.  This was her in a fairy costume, perfect for May's kit, which was full of Prima's Butterfly collection.
I used Prima's Clear Texture Paste that was lightly tinted with mica powder and a coffee ring stencil (THS009 Splatters).  While the paste was still wet, I applied Prima sequins, Prills, and Prima Mica flakes.   Embossing powder (Lindy's Stamp Gang) and sequins were applied to the ends of the feathers (part of the Prima embellishment Pack).  My flowers were die-cut from the Tim Holtz Decorative Tattered Flower Garland die(657824) and patterned paper.  My "fairy time" word was die-cut using Tim Holtz Handwritten Thinlits dies (Journey 660217 and Love 660218).  These words were created by cutting apart word dies that had those letters, and making my own words.

My last layout I'm sharing is from Urban's June kit:

This one was the chosen layout for the June kit and sold with full instructions.  Sorry, you had to buy the kit to get them!!  Marion Smith had some amazing collections this spring, and this "Timekeeper" one was one of my favourites.  The lightbulbs and rings are chipboard pieces from Blue Fern Studios which were embossed with Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powders.  I used Tim Holtz's Mixed Media  Thinlits die 660220 for the pieces with holes and his Core'dinations Metallic Kraft Cardstock.  I also embossed some metallic papers with his Globes (660241) texture fade folder and embossed the edge.

If you have a chance, check out the rest of Urban Scrapbook's Design team monthly layouts, they are a very talented group of ladies!  All of our layouts are also on Urban's Pinterest board too.

I really was behind in sharing, wasn't I? It's that two week holiday I took, that put me so far behind.  It's always great to get away, but then there always seems to be so much to do when you get back. Lots of things going on at the end of the month and next month for me, so I better catch up!

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting!

Jan

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