12 Tags of 2013 with Tim Holtz-December

I hope You all had a wonderful Christmas!   Our's was very quiet, this year we didn't have any of our Kids or Grands here and I almost didn't even decorate. Tim's December Tag actually got me into the mood to put a tree up and decorate a bit...I'd say his tag was a double inspiration for me this month!

I was anxious to use Tim's "Shatter" Layering Stencil and I love it! I need more practice with the Clearly For Art from Wendy Vecchi..my Poinsettia didn't turn out quite the way I was wanting it to.

I stained my Tag with Iced Spruce Distress Stain, then laid the stencil on top and pounced Picket Fence Distress Paint all over (I just can't stress how much I LOVE these Distress Paints!). Once dry I stamped some of Tim's small snowflake stamps with Salty Ocean and Broken China Distress inks, while the inks were still wet I sprinkled some Sticky Powder on the stamped area, dried it then added some gorgeous Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter.  I stamped the phrase "A Joyful Christmas" using Tim's stamp and Black Archival Ink. I used the movers and shapers Poinsettia and Holly Leaf Dies to cut the white Clearly For Art (I must invest in some of the clear!), I painted the cut shapes with Distress Paints in Bundled Sage and Victorian Velvet. I used Glossy Accents to adhere the poinsettia and holly leaves and finished the tag off with some of Tim's lovely seam binding.  I'm thinking this would have made a lovely gift Tag so I hope I remember to make a bunch of them up next year for the gifts. 

I absolutely love Tim's Tag but I'll need to order some of the Clear CFA , the Frosted Film and the larger Poinsettia Die first. Be sure to check Tim's Blog to see his masterpiece!!!

Thank you for looking :-)

12 Tags of 2013 with Tim Holtz-April

I can't believe that April is almost over! Spring is here in Southeast Arkansas, the Tulip Magnolia, Roses and Blackberry bushes in the yard are all in bloom and my Plum Trees have itty bitty plums all over them!  I love this time of year :-)  I also love Tim's April Tag...if you haven't seen it, check it out HERE

Aren't his Blueprint stamps awesome?!!  I don't own any of them yet so I chose to go with his Butterflies from the Papillon set. This is still one of my all time favorite Tim Holtz stamp sets. This was my first time using Tim's Distress Paints and I am hooked big time! The colors are amazing, they blend beautifully and they don't leave your surface feeling chalky or rough...Tim nailed it with these paints!

As soon as my set of Distress Paints came in I had to take a photo of them...love Instagram!  I still need to get the 3 Metallic Distress Paints and my collection will be complete.

I laid some distress paint down on my craft mat, spritzed some water onto the pain then pulled my Tag through the paint. I used my heat gun to dry the tag then laid some metallic distress stain on my mat and pulled the tag through it.  Once it was all dry I used a blending tool and applied some distress ink over the tag in blues, greens and browns, spritzed with water, let the water drips flow down the tag and applied the heat gun again.  I stamped the tag with Tim's Grid stamp from the Mixed Media stamp set then stamped the Butterflies from his Papillon set.  I stamped the Butterflies again onto some Wendy Vecchi Clearly For Art Whiteout (I don't have the Clear one yet), cut the Butterflies out and colored the Butterfly in with Aged Mahogany Distress Marker. I applied the heat gun to the Butterfly to help dry the ink and marker, as well as to help bend the wings. I then glued the body portion of the butterfly to the tag using glossy accents.  I took some of Tim's trim, applied distress paint and distress stain to it and looped it through the tag. 

I was going to add a bunch of embellishments but changed my mind, I love the colorful simplicity of this Tag.

Thank you for looking!