"New Stash" at FSC and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We are using NEW STASH for the current theme for Fashionable Stamping Challenges! How fun to pull out some of those never used treasures or perhaps some gifts Santa left for you! Won't you join us for some Stamping Fun using your New Stash! Stop by FSC to have a look at the clever and gorgeous creations of all the Fashionettes! I want to thank FSC for inviting me to be a part of such a great group! This is not only a group of collective talent, but such a fun and caring group! We actually have a blast together and that is what this is all about, having a good time and encouraging others to just have fun!

So here is what I came up with for the Fashionable Stamping Challenges "New Stash" challenge and I will also be linking this to Grungy Monday's "Get Out The Tissues," Simon Says Stamp and Show a "Tim Holtz Themed Tag," Lisa's Bloggers Challenge "Celebrate Good Times." Using some New Stash, I wanted to ring in the "New Year."

I used Tim's tissue tape to cover a tag and inked a little Festive Berries (new) and Vintage Photo on some areas. Ran it through the crimper several times and then gave a spray with my new "Shimmer Spritz." The spray settled nicely in the groves and added a little extra color! All stamps are my "new" Tim Holtz "Little Labels." The countdown numbers were stamped with Stazon Red on my "new" clear shrink plastic and the "2012" were stamped on red card stock using black craft ink, clear embossed and hand punched. The hand and admit one were stamped, inked with Vintage Photo and cut. I added a thin line of red Stickles to the "Admit" one! The little "party favor" was cut from foil with my new Martha Stewart "Fringe Scissors." Wrapped it around a cocktail straw, added some double sided tape and then sprinkled the glitter/bead mix. I cut a second tag from black card stock a quarter inch larger than the original tag, so I could add a little extra festive fun! I made a little batch of mixed fun using some new chunky glitter, along with some glass glitter, fine red glitter and black beads. Added some fibers and the clear tinsel is new! So I used several new items from my stash. Hope to see your amazing creations using some of that "New Stash" that I know we all have!

I want to wish all of you a very happy and amazing "2012." A big "thank you" to all of my newest followers and to those of you who take the time to visit and comment! Your comments and friendship mean so very much to me! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Stamp Man Annual Award!

While visiting Brenda's blog, I learned The Stamp Man has a lovely contest happening to celebrate your favorite project of "2011."  For me it has to be my first altered cigar box!  For all of the details you can click here.  I played for the first time with moulds and added shrink plastic pieces and used Artistic Outpost stamps!  This was such a blast from start to finish! 

Now I was also very torn as the next project I enjoyed way too much, was Tim's "12 Tags of Christmas," so I decided to show these also! 

Such a fun year was 2011 and I just know that 2012 will be an even better year for creativity!  Thank you for stopping by and I will be back tomorrow!

Traveling Around the World with FSC!!

The FASHIONABLE STAMPING CHALLENGE team would like to take you for a spin around the world!  We are flying, sailing, driving and even motor cycling around the world or countryside!  Won't you join us and experience life outside the box!  Oh and speaking of "box," what I have here is an altered cigar box that I made using all Artistic Outpost stamps!  I really hope my hubby will love his "Route 66" box which was certainly made with love and lots of glue!  Well we sure hope you will come and play along and really stop by and have a visit with my awesome and talented "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."  Could not resist! 

So here is the scoop on the box alteration!  First I sprayed some primer gray paint in all areas of the box, not the inside.  The inside was done using Tim's Kraft paper and adding some interest with the Distress Inks, listed below.  Lots of cutting and measuring!   Now of course I would use the world travel piece paper, which I thought was just so perfect for the inside.   I took some white wrinkled tissue paper and ran some Distress Inks (Faded Jeans, Tea Dye, Peeled Paint)  lightly over the entire sheet!  Do make sure that Distress Inks are dry before stamping and added embossing powder, because they do stay damp for a while.  This was glued down using Mod Podge and I crinkled it up a little more for extra dimension.  Then I covered with another layer of Mod Podge, which will now be referred to as MP!!   Some of the images (motor cycle, hotel scene) were stamped with black craft and clear heat embossed on the colored tissue paper.  These were then cut out and glued down.  I wanted them to blend in!  The gas pump, motel sign, etc., were stamped on white tissue paper with distress inks and or markers, then clear embossed.   Some images were just stamped directly on the tissued covered box and then covered in clear embossing powder.   The little map was also shaded around the edges for a more worn look, which is quite faint.  For each piece, a layer of MP and then the paper and then another layer of MP!  I added a little Mica Flakes for fun!  I decided to keep this somewhat flat, because it will be used and too many embellishments would get in the way!    This was a fun project and more so that it will be a gift! 

Hope you all are doing well and just about ready for the Holidays!  I still have shopping to do for my hubby, but he is easy - NOT!  He always wants some stupid thing from Sears and I don't like shopping at Sears!  Usually I order online and then just go to the store for pickup!  Other than crafts, I am not a shopper!  Is that not a sad thing?  Well I won't be doing any posting until after Christmas, but will visit blogs as I have a few of you I need to give a "hello" to.  I wish you all a Merry Christmas and the very best of the Holiday season! 

Distress Inks:  Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Barn Door, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain
Stampin Up:  Craft Black, Markers Red, Black, Blue
Stampendous Mica Flakes

"Mini Lights" Winners

I so loved how Tim grouped his tags, so decided to take a picture of my collection!  Was that a fun time or what!?  More than anything, I love playing with techniques and backgrounds and learning to improvise!  Some of you had mentioned to take a picture of my tags on my Christmas tree, but my plan is to give a few to family!!  My G-Daughter already put her name on Tag #2.  Maybe after the Holidays, I will remake the ones I give away! 

Now the reason you came here!  OK, I cheated a little and actually decided to give away four sets of lights.  I was fortunate enough to come across more lights and if I happen upon even more, I still have your names in a little box!  And the winners are!  Send me an e-mail with your mailing details!

Diane -  1CardCreator
Silvia -  BarniesBaustelle
Jan -  PaperCraftPleastures
Helene -  LotsaScrap

Have a lovely day and be sure to stop by on Saturday for DT post for Fashionable Stamping Challenges!  It is a Christmas gift for my DH and he took today and Friday off, so I have to be careful.   Thanks as always for stopping by!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day 12

Well like they say, "All Good Things, Must Come To An End."  Here is my final take on Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas and I can honestly say that this has been an amazing adventure!  Boy oh boy have I learned how to improvise and even came up with a couple of clever techniques of my own or I think they are mine!   This is my first time playing and I loved it all, but it would have been more fun, if I would have not been a "sicky" the entire time!  Linking up to Inspiration Emporium and Simon Says Stamp and Show - Projects with Depth.  So here is my #12!

Since I had none of Tim's Tissue Paper and no time to order, I made mine own.  Not the first time I have done this!  The word/music backgrounds are from Stampendous.  I stamped tissue paper in Stazon Red and yes I know the flower leaves something to be desired!  Kind of a sick puppy, like it's creator!  The "25" was cut from Tim's sizzlits.  The snowflake I covered in Rock Candy Stickles and pushed through some Xmas Red from underneath for a stained glass effect!  I wanted red this time, because that is one of my favorite Christmas colors. 

Well thank you again for sharing this adventure with me.  You have no idea how much I appreciate the time you take to comment.  Just in case you missed yesterday's post, I have a couple of sets of mini lights to giveaway, should you have an interest.  Just go HERE and let me know!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day 11 and a little BLOG CANDY!

For Day 11, Tim has us experimenting with Shrink Plastic, UTEE and Alcohol Inks!  Not too much fun!  I decided to go with a mini version of a tag for a gift tag.  Each year, I make up a bunch of little gift tags and I just loved the idea of making them extra special.  This is also being linked to Inspiration Emporium.

I used Tim's Mini Tag die and inked with Fired Brick and Bundled Sage, but first clear embossed the snowflakes.  Stamped the Merry Christmas and torn by hand.  All edges were shaded with Frayed Burlap.  Now for the really fun part!  I did open my Melting Pot, but was not going to even mess with this until tomorrow!  Well I could not resist and thought I would do a quick trial run.  If you try it my way, a suggestion is to shrink first and add UTEE after!!!  Just letting you know!  I did save my first little guy, but it was an unnecessary waste of time!  I so love to experiment!  I cut my Gingerbread guy with Shrink Plastic.  Now I also did mask the little frosting areas with some 3M Safe Release tape, but I am sure any would work.  I applied my Ginger Alcohol Ink and keep it off the masked areas until the very end.  Removed the masking tape and carefully with one of those little swabs with a point, dipped it in blending solution.  I carefully went over the area that I wanted white/clear to remove the little excess ginger color.  Now I pushed the little guy (uncolored side down) into the VersaMark and then sprinkled him with UTEE.  I did several coats of this.  Turned him over and painted the back with white.  I will try this with the pot, but I just did not want the drama of me and hot materials today!    So you don't need the melting pot to play!

Blog Candy

Now I have had several of you mention these lights and as luck would have it, Michael's actually had some show up kind of late.  I grabbed them and am offering a set to two of you!  You do have to let me know that you would like a set of lights, because some of you may have no interest in these.  I just know that sometimes I see something I really would like and can't find it!  So just ask and I will do a little drawing by the end of the week and who knows, you might even receive them before Christmas! 

Thank you for the visit and I will see you tomorrow!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day 10

It is hard to believe that we are now on day 10 of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas!  Tim has all the instructions posted on his blog if you want to know the right way to do this!  I won't lie, I tried four times and maybe I rubbed the paper off too hard.  The images I ended up with were very faint and I was not going to waste a facet, so ended up just added the paper images to fragments.  I will practice, but needed to be done.   I wasted a trip to Michael's in search of kraft tags, so worked with what I had.  Here is my tag for #10 and will be linked at Inspiration Emporium.

For my tag I used Stampin Up Naturals paper, which has kind of a rough finish.  I gave it a distressing with Vintage Photo and then used Stampin Up French Script for my background!  Used Tim's pine stamp and inked the pine needles with Forrest Moss and the pine cone with frayed burlap and then clear embossed.  The edged the tag with Versamark and then embossed with gold.  The fragments were edged with a Krylon gold pen.  The letters were cut with a Sizzix die.  I decided to not add further embellishments, because I think I will mail this one off! 

Well tomorrow I am not tagging!  I need to maybe "START" a little decorating for Christmas - you think?  Thanks a ton for stopping by and will catch you on Monday!  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day Nine

What can I say but, "Fun, Fun, Fun."  Tim's Day Nine tag lesson is all about the background, so go have a look and join in on the fun!  For my background stamp, I used the "Snowflake" from Impression Obsession and I also received more background stamps today!  WooHoo!  This is also linking up to Inspiration Emporium.

I used Tumbled Glass to ink up my stamp and then followed Tim's instructions and finished with Faded Jeans.  All shading was done with Vintage Photo.  For my main piece, I had to use the "Lamppost."  I painted Grunge with the black dabber, distressed a little.  Now I don't know how well this will look, but I made the lamp look like old frosted thick glass!  I cut a piece of plastic, embossed with the Damask folder, sanded lightly, inked with Scattered Straw and clear embossed, repeated with Dried Marigold.  Now most of the embossing faded away, but the effect was pretty cool.  I added a piece of wax paper to the back and I just love how this turned out!  I really looks like glass!!  Promise!  I did the snow effect with paint, glitter, stickles and more paint.  Again I wanted a snow look, but also some of the icing that always goes along!  I may live in CA now, but I know about snow!  For the holly I glued down some of my leftovers from the "Glassine" technique, cut and added a thin layer of Peeled Paint Stickles.  Once dried I put little touch of snow and ice on the leaves!  The berries I painted with red and then added dimension with Xmas Red Stickles.  The Joy was cut from the Market Place strip and covered with UTEE.  My little deer has a red nose and a garland wreath with little red lights!  It was a berry, until someone turned it upside down, before the stickles dried! 

My DH just got home a little while ago after being gone most of the week, so I am quite happy.  It has been a long week with battling this cold/flu or whatever, but thankfully, I have been able to play!  Have a wonderful evening and will see for Day 10!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day Seven and Eight!

Yes, I know my blog background is off and so are the backgrounds of a few bloggers I know.  Not quite sure what to do, but will remove it, if this is how it will be!  Anyway on to Tim's Day Seven and Eight!  Linking to Inspiration Emporium and Simon Says Stamps and Show Some Elements of Time.

Day Seven started with a very late start, because I was hoping the stamp set he used would actually arrive and it did not!  It also looks like it might not arrive before this adventure ends!  I used Pumice Stone and Bundled Sage for the background colors and shaded with Vintage Photo.  Background stamps are Stampin Up "French Script" and Stampendous "Crackle."  I have been trying to use mostly Tim's products, but now and again, you got to do what you got to do!  I will say this tag had me pull out my Hot Glue Gun that I have not used in ages!  So much easier!

Day Eight, was another late start.  I had a doctors appointment and knew if I started anything "stamp" involved I would be late and arrive with ink stained hands!  So sorry on both accounts that the pictures may be lacking!  I am not the best photographer, so lack of light, does not help!  My inks of choice were Bundled Sage, Barn Door, Tumbled Glass, Pine Needles and Walnut Stain.  I cut out little images from Tim's Seasonal papers for the film strip.  The GIANT letters, which never dawned on me until after, were chipboard pieces that I inked with Black Craft and then did two coats of UTEE.  I used my own collection of vintage gears and watch/clock pieces and added a little piece of tissue tape.  All stamps are Tim's.  I decided my guys were have tinsel instead of holly in their hats. 

What a total disaster the room is in now!  I actually will have no choice, but to clean it up!  I am not sure where I have put little bits and pieces.  Wow!  Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit and will catch you all tomorrow!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011 - Day Six

You absolutely have my permission to laugh, because I have found this experience quite amusing!  For all the details visit Mr. Holtz and learn about foil paper and paint dabbers.  Will be linking this to Inspiration  Emporium.

The paint dabbers I have and used are white, gold, silver and copper.  For the other colors, I used my enormous collection of acrylic paints, green, brown and red.  Followed the instructions, sanded lightly and then covered with the Walnut Stain, which kind of gave my whites a dirty look, which of course I did not notice until I added the clear embossing powder.  Now I wanted my whites to be white, so I decided to take a VersaMark embossing pen and cover the dirty white areas and then embossed with white EP.  So that was done.  Then I decided I wanted my tree to have a little more of a festive appearance, so I covered again with the pen and added a coating of a previous mix I made.  So this is what I did for the last six hours and I am not joking about that.  Well I did take about an hour off for lunch and coffee!  You should see that room, because I have not really cleaned it up the last couple of days!  Maybe tonight, as my DH is off at a class!

Thank you for stopping by and go right ahead and have yourself a good old fashioned chuckle!