She Who Stamps & Scraps

ATC Dreaming

Tick, tock... May is nearly gone and I've yet to enter something for Inspiration Emporium's May challenge. Their theme is flowers, which I've combined with Hels' Sunday Stamper theme of words.   

I started out covering my ATC with tissue tape and coloring with distress inks, which until now hasn't yielded much ooomph. Thanks to a tip from Tim in class a few weeks ago, I knew if I added Glue 'n Seal the colors would pop.  It's given me a whole new interest in my tissue tapes.

I added lots of stamping in the background with distress and archival inks, then stamped and heat embossed my sentiment with clear embossing powder.

I cut a few flowers from a scrap of manila (that I'd also treated with the same technique) using the Sizzix Tattered Flower Garland die.  One of the best things about that die is each flower and leaf has a tiny hole in the center... makes it so easy to line them up when stacking.

Thanks so much for the visit!

Marjie 

Wendy Vecchi Challenge - Where Love Resides

This week's challenge at the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group calls for a house on a tag.  I cut up one of Wendy's stamps so I could use it in parts. The house stamp comes with the words "Home, Where Love Resides" under it as well as an image of a measurement beside it.  I used the words repeatedly for my background.

I ran the stamped tag through a Sizzix dots embossing folder, inked the raised areas and edged everything with distress inks.

I stamped the house twice, colored it with distress stains and markers, and popped up the door panel. My pen slipped on the roof but I was able to hide my mistake with a pretty old brad. I added a stamped scalloped Art Part as a ledge for the house.  

A little Dymo 'congrats' message is tacked on with two small punched hearts and some brads.  The ruler is an embossing border strip.  I hope the lines on it will count as stripes for the Spots & Stripes challenge over at The Artistic Stamper. I'm really thrilled to share that I've been asked to be Guest Artist over there for the entire month of August!  

Thanks so much for the visit.... wishing you a wonderful week.

Marjie

Tim Holtz Class Project Pictures

 

This is perhaps my favorite of all Tim classes ever... it's a 12X12 wall patchwork hanging.  The kitting alone must've been an absolute nightmare... every piece was pre-cut and pre-adhesived for us!  I learned some new techniques and was reminded of some I'd forgotten... we used almost every coloring product available and mixed and matched in really cool ways. Double click to see all the texture.

              

This tag booklet was fun to make and I loved walking around and seeing how differently everyone's came out. We had lots of hardware in our kits.  The stencil #s die was one I thought I could live without, but I changed my mind after making this and it came home with me.  The numbers are actually Movers & Shapers, so they can be positioned anywhere you like.  


The foil tape has always been something I've avoided because I'm not into very 'shiny' stuff.  I should've known Tim would have a way for us to distress it to something I'd love.  This project reminds me of Tim Burton, too.  I fell in love with the corner brackets and Tim's stitching technique. The # that came in my kit happens to be my anniversary date so I added the year with a Dymo labeler and made this a fiarly romantic heart for us, to be placed somewhere in our home.

Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you have a wonderful long weekend and offer my thanks to all the Veterans out there, and their families, for their service.

Marjie

Eclectic Paperie Guest Blogger

I was so excited to be chosen by Eclectic Paperie as a guest blogger for their new art journaling challenge, along with fellow blogger Melody Schwartz. Here's the theme:

                               
So many ways to go with that one!  I knew I wanted to show a woman and that I wanted her to fill the page (and this is a small book... only 5.5" X 8.5"). I went with a technique Julie Fei-Fan Balzer taught in a class years ago, where we made our own masks by clipping models from magazines.  I like this chick's pose with her hand on her hip and the attitude her body language conveys. I used lots of stamps, Ranger archival inks, paint, Dylusions ink sprays, stencils, and paint pen.

One of the things women are known for is keeping calm and carrying on.  One of my favorite teas has "Calm" printed on the tags so I used that in a few places, and added some eyes as we must also be watchful for ourselves, our families, and friends.

Back to the hop:

• Visit each E-Team blog participant and the guest bloggers to leave a comment to win a $25 eP GC. Comments can be left from May 23-May 28th. Two random winners from the blog hop will be chosen. GC winners posted May 29th.

• Join the E-Team journal adventure and post your journal page on the eP blog. Two people will be picked to join the team next month. They have until Sunday June 3rd to upload their journal page inspired by the monthly quote. The next E-Team guest blogger will be announced on Friday, Jun 8th.

Here are the E-Team links for visiting:  

Daisy Sparks

Micki Harper

Sherry Cheever

Starla Nelson

Broni Holcombe

Plus guest blogger:

Melody Schwartz

Hope to see your entry to the E-Team art journaling challenge very soon!

Marjie

Stencils & Masks for F&F Challenge Blog

It's my turn to host over at Frilly and Funkie, and I say let's play with stencils and masks. C'mon... you know you have 'em! (If you don't have them, they're incredibly easy to make on your own.) One player will win a merchandise gift certificate at The Funkie Junkie Boutique, where Linda stocks tons of products (including lots of Tim Holtz and Ranger goodies) at really great prices.

I used a combo of store-bought and home-made stencils and masks.  The diamonds are a Crafter's Workshop stencil, and I cut the clock and flourishes from Tim's Idea-ology Mask Sheets.  You can also make your own with punches, diecuts, or negatives from store-bought chipboard or border strips.

I started by spritzing the page with Dylusions Ink Sprays. Then I masked with the clock and flourishes and stamped some more.  I added gesso through some of the diamond stencil openings and after it dried, rubbed wild honey distress ink on them to tone the gesso down.  I added a heart cut from corruguated cardboard that I painted...  I peeled back the bottom layer so it sits pretty flat in the book, but still has that added texture of the raised edge.  Added a little "Hey!" tag to remind myself to really pay attention to my words.  

The words, by the way, bring me over to the brand new challenge blog: Art Journal Cafe, where their very first challenge is to use a phrase that motivates you to stay positive, move forward, and grow.

Hope you'll join us this week at Frilly and Funkie... we'd love to see you.  

Thanks for the visit!

Marjie 

Products used:

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mask Sheets Sizzix Alterations Weathered Clock Die Sizzix - Elegant Flourishes Die Corrugated Cardboard Dylusions Ink Sprays - Pure Sunshine Dylusions Ink Spray - Lemon Zest Dylusions Ink Spray - Vibrant Turquoise Dylusions Ink Spray - Squeezed Orange Dylusions Ink Spray - Fresh Lime Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabber - Pitch Black Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black Ranger Ink Blending Tool with 2 Blending Foams

InLinkz.com

Compendium Challenge & AE Recap

This week's challenge at Studio L3 is based on the Tissue Wrap Collage technique found in Tim Holtz's book, The Compendium of Curiosities, Vol 2. It's sponsored this week by The Funkie Junkie Boutique, with a $25 prize up for grabs. I'm proud to say I'm a design team member for the owner, Linda Coughlin. Linda hosts challenges every other Wednesday at her blog featuring frilly and funkie art.  All are welcome!

For the challenge I used some favorite stamps and paints, followed Tim's technique, and finished with a few spritzes of Forever Blue Perfect Pearls Mist. The sentiment is a Dyan Reaveley stamp.

I went with Umbrella Man for this technique since I had the pleasure of taking classes with Tim himself all weekend! I was able to meet nearly all of the 25 All Things Tim yahoo group members who walked, drove, or flew to Massachusetts for the sold-out classes.  Here's a group shot:

Now I know the names of lots of these peeps. There were about 90 people in each class, so our ATT group was kind of noticeable. And that evening we had a group dinner at a local restaurant (thanks, Patti, for organizing!)  Here are some more pics: 

                    
                   Jocelyne and Ivette               Mario and Rene           Me, Tim and Rene

It was a wonderful weekend. I think my first class with Tim was back in 2004, when the paper crafts industry was far from grungy and much more 'clean and simple.' I've been very fortunate to take his classes at many places across the country over the years, and every time I am totally charged up and inspired be more creative. He is so engaging and just totally enjoys what he does... it shines through over the course of each class. And one of these classes was 5-hours of intensive stuff!  

I need to finish up my projects and will share them later in the week.  Major thanks to Tim, Mario, Kate, the Other Kate, and Patti at Absolutely Everything for a really fabulous time!

Marjie 

    

Road Trip... Tim's Classes this Weekend

Today I'm hitting the road for Massachusetts and 3 classes with none other than Tim Holtz! He's teaching all weekend at Absolutely Everything.

I belong to an active yahoo group of like-minded fanatics, and there's been a lot of discussion lately about who's going to see Tim when/where/etc. I asked those who are going to MA to let me know, and believe it or not there will be 25 of us there!

Before I realized how many there were, I thought it would be great if we were able to recognize one another easily with some common marker (not sharpie ATT on our forheads!)  As can happen, my fingers started emailing before common sense kicked in... I contacted Patti at the store and asked if I could make a little something for group members to wear.  

Hence, these little ticket pins I made with Tim's ticket dies (the strip and the steel rule), a few stamps, some beeswax, and the melting pot. I like the second batch the most (two right hand columns) where I did the tiny attacher staples vertically.

I've so far only met one of these 25 people (besides Tim and Mario), so this should be pretty amazing.  We even have a big group dinner planned for Saturday night.  

Hope you have a great weekend.  I'm pretty sure I will!

Marjie 

Layout: Thanksgivings Past

           
I entered this in a sketch challenge that called for eleven photos.  Then I snuck in a twelfth one with a circle punch to call attention to the hostess.  I give thanks for my sister Cathy who hosts all of us each year on Turkey Day... she is patient and kind and embraces the belief that there's always room for one more.   Whether you are family, friend, or acquaintance, you always feel truly welcome at her table.

Double-click on the pics to enlarge. I used Basic Grey papers, Tim's alpha charms, lots of my favorite inks and stamps, the new Sizzix Wordplay die and the new chickenwire embossing folder.

Only two more days till I head off to see Tim Holtz @ Absolutely Everything in Massachusetts...  SIGH... smile...

Thanks for the visit!

Marjie 

Compendium Challenge #5 ~ Shattered Stains

The new challenge at Studio L3 (sponsored by Simon Says Stamp) is based on Tim Holtz's Shattered Stains technique, found in his new book The Compendium of Curiosities, Volume 2.

It's "Anything Goes" week at Simon Says Stamp and Show, so I'm playing along there too. I started with a black tag that I'd added an old dictionary page to, then inked it with Peacock Feathers and Scattered Straw distress inks.  

My new distress inks arrived last Friday and I was inky all weekend.... the new blue, especially, is scrumptious. I stamped over that with archival inks, a few flourishes, and some stamps from Tim's Mixed Media background set.  

I stamped the journey stamp in black archival ink.  Cut the Sizzix gears out of grunge with my Vagabond, did the Shattered Stains technique, and attached with gel medium. Colored and stamped the ticket,  added a little word charm, then attached with the Tiny Attacher.  

I'll also enter this in the tag challenge at The Cheerful Stamp Pad. That's it for me. Hope you have a great week!

Marjie 

 

Wendy Vecchi Challenge ATCs

                   

Happy Friday to you! This week's challenge at the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group is to make an ATC using at least one of Wendy's Studio 490 stamps.  As it turns out, I had done an ATC for last week's challenge too and didn't get around to  posting, so here they both are...

For the one on the left, I used Tim's Sizzix die to cut the ATC from both black and manila cardstock, then colored the manila one with lots of distress and archival inks.

I used Studio 490 stamps from 5 different sets: Label it Art, It's Face Art, Love to Make Art, Dimensional Rose Art, and Celestial Art.  Love how they all mix and match together. I also used a couple of punches (notebook edge and rick rack), Ranger's black Enamel Accents, a wood circle, pop dots, and some black wire.

The one on the right is from last week's challenge to use a cracked glass technique. My ATC base is an extra I had on hand from a recent swap made with layers of ink, paint, book paper, stamping, and embossing. I stamped Wendy's Art Chick from the Art Rules set onto manila card stock, colored her with Distress Markers and coated with Rocky Candy crackle paint.  One of Tim's word sticks and some paint finished it off.

Fun with ATCs has a hat challenge going right now, so I'll add the second one into that.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Marjie