WOW! Check out the Graphic 45 Blog Hop!

You must check out the Handmade Holidays BlogHop 2011 over at Graphic45! There is so much gorgeous art to drool over, so much inspiration. If you are having troubles with your creative Mojo this BlogHop should fix you right up!

Special Memory Board for my Mother

This past month has been so hard. I miss my Dad terribly and my heart aches so damn bad.  We are having a "Celebration of Life" gathering for Dad in a week and I wanted to give my Mother something special that day. The night Daddy passed away Mom told me how the photo of them on a sailboat was one of her most favorites, my printer is running out of ink so the photo didn't print up well but I'm heading to Walmart to get a good copy printed up.  I also made a photo collage consisting of photos of Mom and Dad over the years, it will nest inside the photo section behind the sailboat photo. 
My very very dear friend Gloria sent me a pile of the Tattered Time papers which I used on this project.  I'm also making a Guestbook and Memory books for my Siblings and I with the rest of the TT papers.  I used Tim Holtz metal Corners, and Metal Bookplate. Inside the bookplate is the word "Cherish".  I made some Tim Holtz style roses using his Tattered Florals Die and cut some extra gears using his mini gears die.
The Club Scrap Clear Sticker phrase says "Life is measured not by minutes, but by Moments"

I wanted to use a Timepiece/Gear theme because my Dad and I are both crazy about old watches and watch parts. I wanted to add roses to represent Mom.  I'm tempted to make some smaller flowers in the brown tones but don't want this piece overpowered with elements...still debating. 
Thank you Gloria for helping me create what was in my mind and heart!!

Feeling broken and lost

On July 6th my Father passed away after a brief 3 day stay in the hospital.  I feel so lost without his daily phone calls and our fun chats on Facebook together. I'm trying to find my mojo and get back into my crafting because it's been such great therapy over the years. 

I love you Daddy and I miss you so much!

Steampunk ATB

I recently started seeing ATB's {Altered Trading Blocks} online and decided I wanted to give it a try myself.  I knew I wanted my first one to have a "steampunk" theme and had so much fun making this! It was fun combining my wood working tools with my paper crafting tools and I think I'm hooked!  I cut a 2x4 down into chunks, sanded and sanded all of the edges.  I adhered my Tim Holtz Papers using Claudine Helmuth Studio Multi-Medium and covered all of the edges with Tim Holtz Tissue Tape. I printed some Digital Steampunk Images on heavy cardstock and cut them out, and cut the Lady and Little Girl from a sheet of images I bought years ago.  I cut out my gears and Lock using Grungeboard and Tim's Dies, then inked them up to look like rusty metal. I cut the butterfly from a sheet of metal, painted it black and colored it up with Perfect Pearls Copper. The metal key is from my stash and the Word Token is from Tim Holtz line. The clock face is another image I printed up, then I coated it with Tim's Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. The metal corner is from my stash.  The bottom of the block is only covered with paper so I didn't include it in the photo.


I'm entering this Steampunk ATB in the Simonsaysstampandshow  Metal Challenge.

Thanks for looking!

Love me some T!m Time!

I started out wanting to make an altered canvas...however my brain tends to wander off on it's own little journey and I ended up creating an Album to hold my 3 beloved sheets of T!m Stamp Sets :-)  I took an 11x14 flat canvas and cut it in half with my bandsaw (power tools arrr arrr arrrrr..yup I love Tim the toolman Taylor too).  I adhered Papers from Tim's Crowded Attic Paper Stash to the Canvas covers, then had a good ole time inking, distress staining, stamping and embossing.  My fingertips and shirt are covered in many pretty shades of Aged Mahogany, Dusty Concord, Bundled Sage and Brushed Corduroy right now LOL    I embossed a Tag with Tim's Notepaper Texture Fade, then cut it out to resemble a Library Card and wrote the names of my 3 Stamp Sheets on it.  Then I cut a piece of Co-oridinate paper to make the pocket and embossed it with Tim's Gear Texture Trade folder.  The Clock face inside the front cover is from his Lost and Found Cardstock Sticker Stash, the gears in the middle of the clock face were cut with Tim's Mini Gear Movers and Shapers Die. I edged the front cover with Tim's Tissue Tape..ohhhh how I love his Tissue Tape!  I then used my Drill Press to drill the holes in the covers and added huge binder rings..let's face it, I do plan to own many more of Tim's Stamp Sets so I need to use huge binder rings...I dream BIG!   I really need to save up for a Binding Machine because the Drill Press is NOT the best tool for these books. 

I'm entering this Altered Canvas Album into the Simon Says Stamp and Show "Show a Lord of Tim Holtz Technique" Challenge and to Linda's StudioL3 Grungy Monday Challenge.

Thank you for looking :-)

Distress It!

I love distressin' stuff!  Especially with Tim's fabulous products :-)  I created this Tag for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge ...this week's theme is Distressing.  I used Distress Inks in Aged Mahogany and Black Soot,  Distress stain in Faded Jeans, Ranger's Black Embossing Powder, Distress Embossing Ink, Tim's Mini Butterfly Die and the Gear and Old Jalopy Texture Trades, Tim's Papillon Stamp Set and a Dream Journal Ticket.  The Butterflies and Jalopy were cut out of paper from Tim's Lost and Found Paper Stash.

Thank you for looking!

Journey Mini Book

I love love love making these itty bitty Mini Books that Tim taught us to do on his blog!  I made this one for my Best Friend, it's full of heartfelt special messages with lots of inking, stamping, embossing and luscious Timness :-)  I am entering this mini album to the Anything but a Card Challenge on Simon Says Stamp and Show

The Products I used for this Mini Album are:
Tim's Lost and Found Paperstack
Tim's Nostalgic Tissue Tape
Distress Inks in Faded Jeans, Weathered Wood, Black Soot and Aged Mahogany
Tim's Idea-Ology Lost and Found Cardstock Stickers
Tim's Grungeboard (Harlequin)
Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents Dimensional Glue
Tim's Notebook and Collage Texture Fade Embossing Folder
Tim's Tag and Book Label Die
Tim's File Tab on the Edge Die
Tim's Heart Wings Bigz Die
and
Tim's Mini Butterfly Die , Tim's Life's Possibilities Clear Stamp Set, Tim's The Journey Clear Stamp Set

Thank you so much for looking!