Reflections!!

How are you all doing?  I have been a little MIA as my DH took some time off last week and being Thanksgiving, we did some much needed things around the house!  Well anyway, I can now get back to playing a bit!  That lovely Linda from Studio L-3 has us opening our "Tim" books to page 55, for lesson #30 of the CC2 - Reflective Imagery!  This is not a favorite of mine as I think I pretty much stink at this!  I don't know if it is the images I chose or that I do something wrong, but this is the best I have ever come up with!  Now it is very hard to capture the picture with all the shimmery effects, but it is there.  The lighting was not so great as it was overcast and I also took this much later in the day!  I am also linking this up to Lisa's Bloggers Challenge, "Countdown to Christmas."

We can't tell you about the technique, but I can tell you that I edged the fragment with gold embossing powder.  The background was embossed with Tim's Damask EF and highlighted in Gold EP, as was the ticket!  The lace trim was dyed with the Bronze Metallic stain.  All paper edges were highlighted with the Metallic stain - so cool those are! 

Hope you all are having a great week and getting ready for Christmas.  The plan is to pull out more decorations compared to the last few years, so I need to get cracking!  Thank you so much for stopping by today! 

Special K

One week left to join in the "Chipboard and Metal" challenge at Frilly and Funkie!  Marjie chose the challenge theme and she says anything goes as long as your project includes both chipboard and metal.  So are you ready for this???  My chipboard deer is from a recycled box of Special K.  In the spirit of Christmas and CC2C #29, Linda has us at page 64, of Tim's book, "Texture Fades" techniques.

After I cut out my sweet little deer from the Special K cereal box, I cut out a couple more shapes in black to use as a highlight.  I ran a  pen line of Spica Black Glitter along all white areas for a little pop.  His eye is Black Stickles and I covered the black brads as well.  The tree was silver and I covered that in a green glitter embossing mix.  The white snowflake was covered in embossing ink and white embossing powder.  The embossed background, I followed (mostly) the steps on page, 64. For my inking, I wanted a more candy cane kind of thing.  After I was done, I wanted a bit more white on my raised areas and inked over that with clear embossing ink and then white embossed.  This is one time that I like when embossing powder lands where you don't want it, kind of gives a little snowy feel! 

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is currently having a 10% off "moving sale" through the 23rd, should you want to pick up some nice deals! 

Ranger Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities Vol. II	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Christmas Background and Borders Set	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Reindeer Flight BIGz Die	Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Snow Cap White
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Ranger Embossing Powder - Weathered White Antiquities	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Muse Tokens - Christmas	Ranger Tim Holtz Summer Seasonal Distress Ink Pads
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Pine Needles	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Stickles - Clear Rock Candy	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Ranger Inkssentials Manila Card Stock 8.5x11

Home Sweet Home!

My DT Sister, Yvonne, has chosen "Home Sweet Home" for the current challenge theme at Fashionable Stamping Challenges.  With Christmas fast approaching, I decided to go with a Vintage Christmas theme.  Really stop by and see what my Teammates have created, because there is so much stamped inspiration for your viewing pleasure.  We are a stamping challenge blog, so pull out those rubber babies and get inky with us.  You may be the winner of a prize from Cottage Crafts or make it into our "Top 3" selection. 

All of my images are from Stamping Up and sadly ones I don't seldom use.  I love their older stamps, which most of these were eBay wins.  For my "Home Sweet Home,"  I wanted a viewing window.  Not to be "Peeping Tom," but I really like driving around and seeing Christmas trees through open windows.  Now I can honestly say, I have never had the pleasure of seeing that Man in Red.  How cool in our little creative world, that we can!  All images were stamped with Archival Sepia and clear embossed.  I cut a window pane from the "snowflake" picture frame (what a pain, but worth it), inked over it with Distress Antique Linen and then clear embossed the entire frame.  For Santa and the Christmas tree, I just added bits of color with Stampin Up chalks, metallic pencils and Spica Glitter pens.  When I was satisfied, I gave this a quick spray with Matt Sealer.  Added my favorite little Christmas lights and some tinsel.  It took a bit of time to color in the objects, especially with old eyes looking at very tiny objects, but I just could not leave it uncolored.  At first I was just going to add a splash of color on Santa's suit, but just could not leave it at that.

Sure hope you will join us at FSC.  Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are getting into the Holiday spirit.  Have a wonderful weekend! 

Friday Focus with Metallic Stains

TGIF, right?  You better believe it!  It is this Funkie girls turn to do a Friday Focus at Frilly and Funkie and Distress Metallic Stains is the product of choice!  If you would like more details, hop on over to Frilly and Funkie.  You have to love Tim's products and I really hope he will add more colors to the Metallic line.  I love these stains!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for stopping by today.  It is always a pleasure to have you visit!  Enjoy!

Thankful!

This week I have had four different projects going on and someday I will be organized enough to work on one thing at a time!  What happens is that I get an idea for one and go to it, before I have finished with the previous!  Oh well, I don't think that will change and that is OK!  This is my take on Tim's 12 Tags of 2012 - NOVEMBER and I am also linking this to the Inspiration Journal's, THANKFUL. 

For the tag image, I used the flower branches from Tim's Spring Sprung stamp set.  Since I do not have the stamps Tim used, for the sentiment on the side, I used his embossing folder and kind of did my own diffuser system to just have "Blessings."  The beautiful leaves were gifted to me by my sweet friend, Vada.  I thought these were just perfect for the corner.  I did cut the acorns and branches from the Sizzlits strip and these were covered with Rock Candy Crackle (after inking) or clear embossing powder.  The back panel was inked, embossed and then highlighted.

Well there are many blessings in our lives to be thankful for and this "Thanksgiving," I am going to start counting those blessings.  I am thankful for all of you who take the time to stop by and commit, as the comments really lift my spirit!  Thank you!

Reflections Without Ink!

OK, well that is  to "Stamp Without Ink" at Simon Says Stamp and Show or at least not traditional ink pads.  As luck would have it, Simon Says Stamp, is also the sponsor of this weeks #28 CC2C at Linda's lovely Studio L-3, so I will be linking this up to both!  Linda has chosen, page 65 of Tim's book, "Reflections Stamping."  You know I can't give details, but I will tell you that I used Distress Metallic Stains, "Brushed Pewter" for this technique!  Here it is and I hope you can see the sheen from the Metallic stain!

The snowflakes in the background were stamped using the metallic Brushed Pewter stain.  The reindeer (after following the instructions on page 65, minus the use of an ink pad), was stamped directly on my background!  The background was inked with Distress Festive Berries, Vintage Photo and edged with Walnut Stain and then the magic of Water Spritz took place.  I used the Barn Door marker for the calendar and sentiments stamps, which were cut out and Walnut Stain marker for the crackle stamp.  All stamps are Tim's .

Many thanks to Linda, Simon Says Stamp, Mr. Holtz and especially all of you for stopping by to visit!   Have a wonderful rest of the week! 

Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe is our current challenge at Frilly and Funkie and you can chose whatever line your little heart desires, so come on and play along!  The Funkie side is up this week, so if you have not been by to see what the Frilly gals have done, you are in for a double treat!  There is a winners badge and a $25.00 gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique that two lucky winners will receive, so come on over and join in the fun.  Now I am combining my DT project with the current CC2 #27 challenge over at Linda's Studio L-3, "Ink Palette: Alcohol Ink" page 52.  This is quite fun and I can't tell you about the lesson, but I will tell you that Tim's book really rocks, kind of like the man! 

I chose Metal, Alcohol Inks, Glitter

First I inked up my paper with Pine Needles, Dusty Concord, Tumbled Glass and did the water spritz.  All shading was done with Walnut Stain.  The stamped images are all Artistic Outpost and were stamped with Archival Coffee.  This tag will be linked up to AO's November Referral Program.  The leaf background on the tag was done using a stencil from Dylusions, by mixing Lumiere Pearl White paint and a drop of Pine Needle reinker.  I also edged the main tag with the mix.  It really has a beautiful sheen, but as always very difficult to capture.  I did blend a bit of the Walnut Stain over the tag and wiped off excess.  I wanted to add a extra layer of color.  For the Glitter part, I applied Glossy Accents and sprinked some Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds! 

Thank you so much for visiting today and have a wonderful day!

Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tag and Bookplates Die	Artistic Outpost Birds of a Feather Unmounted Rubber Stamps	Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Stencil - Luscious Leaves (5x8)	Bronze Metal Peacocks for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Sail Boat Blue	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Meadow	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Pine Needles	Ranger Tim Holtz Pine Needles Reinker
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Dusty Concord	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Tumbled Glass	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool-With 2 Blending Foams
Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Ranger Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities Vol. II	Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee

The Sound of Music!

"Musical" is the theme chosen by Esther for the current challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges!  As we are a stamping challenge blog, we need to see some form of stamping on your projects to be eligible for a prize from Cottage Crafts or to make our "Top Three."  My most talented DT Sisters have not missed a beat in their musical performance, so stop by FSC for some sweet tunes and great inspiration!

Before I tell you about my card, I want to give a big SHOUT OUT for my DT Sister, Joanna, who so kindly offered up some help using the Fran-tage products from Stampendous.  Well I don't know how I missed the part about first adding a little clear embossing powder with the mix or on the bottom, but it sure does make the difference!  Thank you, Joanna!  I had just a little of the embossing enamels mixed and after heating from underneath, only a little remained.  As you can see, following directions sure make a difference!  Very cool stuff!  So much fun, I may have over done it with the mix of embossing powders, enamels, micas fragments, glitter, seed beads, etc. 

I have had this musical stamp from Stampin Up for quite some time and have never used it, so what an opportunity this challenge gave me!  The violin was colored with Tim's markers, antique linen and tea die, the flowers, butterflies and bird were colored with Stampin Up markers.  All shading was done with Distress Inks, antique linen and frayed burlap.  The musical print background is a stamp from Stampendous, which I stamped with Black Archival on plain newsprint paper, torn around the edges and shaded.  After I decided how I wanted my background layout, I did the little corner Fran-tage fun stuff.  Had a very hard time looking for an embellishment for the focus panel, but then came across the crystal flower and thought it was just fine!  I so wanted a musical note and I bet if I looked hard enough, I have a die and could have made a shrink plastic note!!  Next time!

Many thanks for visiting me on this lovely Saturday!  Sure hope you can join us at FSC.  Have a wonderful weekend!