12 Tags of 2014 with Tim Holtz-February

I absolutely squeeled when I saw Tim's Tag this month.  Is anyone else drooling over that gorgeous stamp?!!  It's at the very top of my wish list!  I had to improvise again, and I'm really loving my tag :-)  

Tim  used one of my favorite techniques from his CC102 Class,  you can see his Tag on his BLOG.
Thank you for looking :-)

12 Tags of 2014 with Tim Holtz-January

And we're off to another fun year of Tags! I believe this is one of my most favorite things to do in my craft room...I enjoy the challenge and love the inspiration I get from Tim's Tags. As usual for me I had to do some improvising, but that's part of the fun!  Check out Tim's January Tag on his Blog , it's a real beauty!!

I've wanted his Pocket Watch die since he gave us a sneak peek of it, luckily I was able to get it on sale a few weeks ago, and boy was I excited to see he used it for the first Tag of the year!  I was happily working on my tag when I killed my Vagabond (see previous post here on my blog), so finishing her up was a bit more of a challenge but I did get her done. 

I love working with Pumice Stone Distress Ink, it's one of my top favorites.  I also inked my ribbon up with Pumice Stone after stamping it with a Club Scrap Gear stamp.

 I only have Tim's Seasonal Chit Chat stickers at the moment so chose to use the one that says "Dedication".  Have you tried Tim's Stencils out yet? I've got 3 of them so far and LOVE 'EM!! 

List of Products I used:
Pumice Stone Distress Ink by Ranger
Black Archival Ink by Ranger
Manilla #8 Tag by Ranger
Black Soot Distress Paint by Ranger
Seasonal Chit Chat Stickers by Tim Holtz
Clockworks Stencil by Tim Holtz
Pocket Watch Frame Die by Tim Holtz
Foil Tape (from my Husband's tool box in the Garage )
Cog Embossing Folder by Spellbinders (My Tim Holtz Clockworks embossing folder is stuck in my dead Vagabond)
Misc. Gears from my stash

Thank  you for looking!

Vagabond Owners...DON'T do what I did!!!

I love , love , LOVE my Vagabond! It is my absolute most favorite tool in my craftroom.  If you have one, I'm sure you understand, right? This baby is worth it's weight in gold!  Now I thought I was a good Vagabond owner, I use it faithfully, talk sweetly to it, keep it from getting dusty, use wonderful Dies and Embossing Folders in it..yup, yup, thought I was good to my Vagabond.   Well I wasn't!

Today I was working on my Tag and ready to emboss some Grungepaper...put my sandwich into the Vagabond, turned it on and heard a funny noise then it stopped.  I tried to reverse it and it made a horrible grinding noise. I unplugged it and had a cry..then I got very angry with myself.  I foolishly used Cuttlebug cutting plates/mats instead of my Sizzix cutting plates!

How often have I heard Tim tell us in a video to only use Sizzix Accessories? MANY times, did I follow his advice? NO   I am madder than a wet Hen...at myself! 

Please don't use "other" brand accessories with your Vagabond...use the tried and true SIZZIX accessories!!  Don't kill your Vagabond!!  You can see my sandwich stuck in the machine in the photos above. 

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Good Luck Everyone!

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-November

I was so thrilled to see Tim's tag this month. I took his CC102 class and this was one of my favorite techniques.  Now I don't own the stamp and die set so I had to stamp twice and do some fussy cutting. I still love this technique to bits!  You can see Tim's Tag on his blog .  Here is my version:

The products I used are:
Tim's Tag and Bookplate Die
Tim's Oak Leaf Rubber Stamp
Ranger's Antiquities Frosted Crystal Embossing Powder
Distress Embossing Ink
White Chalk

Thank you for looking!

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge-Keep it Simple

I still struggle with Cards but enjoy making them. This week's challenge on the SSS Challenge Blog is "Keep it Simple" ... I'm not sure if I managed to do that or not LOL  I worked with 4 ingredients, which are:
 1.Paper
2. Distress Inks
3. Tim's Snowman Blueprint Stamp
4. water
I stamped the snowman blueprint image on White Cardstock then lightly colored him in using Distress Inks and Water with Tim's fine detail waterbrush. I then laid a piece of cardstock over the image and inked the edges of the card front with Distress Ink. I admit I wanted to go in and add more color and some embellishments but held myself back ;-)  My Best Friend is crazy about Tim (who isn't, right?) and crazy about Snowmen so this card will be going to her.

Go check out the SimonSaysStamp Challenge Blog and join in on the fun!