Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas day 6

I love learning all the new techniques Tim comes up with!  again I don't have everything he used on his tag so I had to substitute with what I did have.  I don't have the trees embossing folder but tim gave us the snowflake and snowman folders on the cruise so used the snowman, I'd cut some of the deers while on the cruise too, thinking they'd come in handy. I can't wait until the Vagabond is released in the U.K. - really makes die cutting and embossing a breeze!  I did struggle with the stamping on the inside of the folder - couldn't seem to get enough ink in the right place so a couple of tags bit the dust until I got one I was happy with.  Don't have the tree die either but another present from Tim on the cruise was the Raven and Scaredy cat die - the branch the raven perches on also makes great antlers - just cut 2 and flip one over :)

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Playing along with Tim

Day 1



Day 2

I've been playing along with Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas.  I don't always have all the products that he uses so it's a challenge to find alternatives.  Day 1 Ididn't have the house die so used the haunted house from the seasonal grungeboard, trimmed it down to fit.



Day 3


Day 3, I didn't have the tree stamp Tim used so I used another tree stamp I had in my stash and it worked quite well!

Day 4

Day 4, no prima bling swirls so made my own from a cut  apart Heidi Swapp bling frame and some flat backed pearls.  Also don't have the baubles so made my own with some pearls, headpins and beadcups.

 

Day 5

Day 5, I don't have the metal number so used PaperArtsy number stamps on metal, cut them out and painted/embossed. 

CCC#21 Perfect Distress

This week Linda of Studio L3 set us the challenge of Tim Holtz's Perfect Distress technique that can be found on page 38 of his Compendium of Curiosities book.  I love this technique, have had Perfect Pearls for a while now but not used them much, so this challenge was good in getting me to use something from my stash.  I love the look, gives a really soft, pearly sheen - it's a bit hard to see in the picture but I think lends a vintage look to the tag.  Used the swiss cheese punch Tim gave us on the cruise to give a different look to the rosette. Finished off with a ruffle of tissue tape - love that stuff!

Blog Hop. Celebrating 1 year of Shimelle's Bakers Dozen

Can't believe it's already been a year that I've been a member of Shimelle Laine's Baker's Dozen design team.  I love Shimelle's style whether it's traditional scrapping, digital or hybrid.  So her kits Streamlined 2009 template and Bazinga seemed ideal to use to document my first ever Tim Holtz Cruise.  It was such a wonderful time, so full of creativity and the most wonderful people. Can't wait until next year's cruise.

If you'd like to continue the hop please pop(hop!) over to the lovely SJ's blog at http://www.scrappyfairy.blogspot.com/

CCC#20 Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 20 - Industrial Grunge

This weeks technique set by Linda at StudioL3 is Industrial Grunge which can be found on page 54 of Tim Holtz's book.  Not sure that it really shows up well in this photo but the technique was done on the grungeboard key, does give it a weathered, rusted look.  Card is a late birthday card for my friend Sam.  Hope she likes it!

CCC#19 Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 19 - Extreme masking

Linda at L3Studio has set the Tim Holtz Challenge for this week as the Extreme Masking technique on page 61 of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities book.  I used a mask cut from the Scaredy Cat and Raven die and various colours of distress ink, then stamped the skeleton onto the masked raven.  Used some tissue tape at the bottom and a couple of paperclay skulls - took a mould from the skeleton I bought at Absolutely Everything while on the Tim Holtz cruise- AE is a fantastic shop, loved it so much!  I'll get back to blogging about the cruise soon.

Bon Voyage!

I'm slowly working through the photos I took on the cruise and have just sent off my first 2 rolls of film from my Diana F+ camera to be developed.  The Diana is a lomography camera sometimes known as a Toy camera as it's made of plastic and totally manual - no batteries.  Not sure how they'll turn out but that's all part of the fun of Lomo.  Theres a great Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/diana_plus/ which show the type of photos produced by the camera - love the vignetteing.

So on the 30th Sept the buses came to pick us up from the Hampton Inn to take us to the big boat!  I knew it would be big but just didn't realise how big it would be... so massive.  The weather wasn't so great that day, drizzly rain and overcast, and as we were heading for the bus to take us to the ship I caught a glimpse of a tv showing a weather report and New York was catching the end of a storm - explained why things got a bit bumpy later on - I didn't really know this was unusual as I'd never been on a cruiseship before - nearest thing was trips on the ferry to Isle of Man with my family when I was wee. (Don't think the Renfrew ferry to Yoker counts!(Scotland)). It took Carolyn and I a few days before we got the hang of finding our room without going the longest way round. 

 

We had our welcome party in the Maharaja lounge, received our id bags(best things ever), Cheryl swapped out our charms and we met Jim, Tim and the gang - didn't get great photos because Tim never stays still for long :)

Back to reality

Oh well, firmly back to reality now. First day back at work, the joys of traveling on the London underground.  At least I have next years Tim Holtz Cruise to look forward to - and my projects and photos provide great memories too.  I can fully recommend Tim's cruises organised by Scrapmap, everything is taken care of, Tim is an amazing teacher and his gang of helpers take care of all the workshop needs.  A fully stocked studio was available for us to work in at any time and it was so fantastic to meet so many creative people from all around the world who share your passion(obsession). 

This was my first ever visit to the USA and my first Tim Cruise.  Met my roomie Carolyn on the flight over to Newark which  was a good start.  Once we arrived at our hotel in New York we decided to wander around until our room was ready. 

Our hotel was in the garment district and the fabric and trimming shops were just amazing.  We had a look around Grand Central Station - what amazing place! Tried to make it to Empire States Building but we had to make our way back to the hotel to freshen up for our trip to the Tinsel Trading Co. and dinner at Tony Di Napoli's.

Tony Di Napoli's



Grand Central Station



St. John New Brunswick

Coastal Photography tour, 4th October. Great day, sunshine, waterfalls, beach, sand in my shoes - what more could you want?

New York and Portland

Having such a great time on ScrapMap Tim Holtz cruise to Canada & New England. Had our first class with Tim yesterday - boy is he fast :) Fab class, really pleased with how it turned out and it's something that can be worked on all during the cruise - a travel journal.

Just a quick few photos - New York and Portland.

August

It's been a busy old summer and I can't believe it's August already  - not long until I go on my cruise not just any cruise but a Tim Holtz cruise!!!!

Shimelle has released a lovely new quick page on Two peas 'An instant pretty page template'.  Its really great and so easy to use, just drop you favourite papers and photos in - and you can flip it around for different looks.

Here's a couple of LO's that I've done using it :

Bazinga!

I blame it all on my big sister! July flew by, Pauline (the big blister in question) came to visit with my nieces Heather and Lorna at the beginning of July. We packed a lot into there time here and felt like I needed a holiday afterwards!  I also signed up  for Picture Summer at BPS but didn't manage to keep up this time, but still on the look out for photo ops.

Did manage to create a couple of layouts using Shimelle's Digi kit at Two Peas in  a bucket - Bazinga

 I love the butterflies in this kit and the papers are great - very summerey. 

I love Jonsi and thought the papers worked really well with one of the photos from his forum.

Father's Day

Another day, another blog entry!  Just managed to get this hybrid card made and posted in time to send to my Dad.  He thinks my photography has really improved so thought I'd include some of the photos i've taken recently - the tulip is from his garden. Used the journal block and alpha from Shimelle's "You are amazing" kit and frame from Starburst mini kit.

Flaming June

Flaming sinusitis more like! Been really suffering this week, sinusitis pain really horrible and balance off, feeling much better now though. Just as well since mybig sis, 2 nieces and one of their friends are coming to visit on the 30th and I have a few things to get organised before they arrive.

I actullay completed 2 design team projects before the end of the month, just forgot to blog the layout above! This was made using Shimelle's "You are amazing" page template and alpha.

More photos I'd taken during the Picture Spring course. I borrowed the title from Photographer Craig Tanner's Blog as it really captures what I feel I have learned from Picture Spring at Big Picture Scrapbooking - will need to sign up for Picture Summer!

A hybrid project using part of the same template to follow shortly....

Where did May go?!!!

I can't believe it's June already, May seems to have flashed by in the blink of an eye. At the beginning of May, Mum finished her chemo sessions and this coincided with Dorothy Pauls last ever performance of her one women show at the Pavilion in Glasgow(although she does always have a pianist!). If you haven't heard of her take a look at Youtube, she is so funny and it was great to see Mum enjoying herself. The end of May also marked the end of Mum's radiotherapy sessions too so June will be a better month all round. My niece Heather took part in Kilbarchan's Lilia's Day procession yesterday so hopefully my sister took some photos - did you Pauline?? Hopefully she did and no doubt they might end up on a layout or two!

The LO above is of our day at the theatre - couldn't take my SLR to the theatre so took a couple of photos on my phone - not too bad really! This is a page template by Shimelle at 2peas "Count to four" - it also includes a full alpha!

I'm very late with my DT work this month, real life work getting in the way again :) Lots of overtime this month. Did this LO for Shimelles Something for almost nothing class and used one of the Cute labels as a journaling spot.

Photo of Max & Molly sitting on the windowsill - so cute!

Hey big blister if you read this leave me a comment!

More digi stuff

Half way through February already! Where's the time going to? The weekend just doesn't seem long enough to do all the stuff I had planned :) I'd been thinking about starting up an Etsy store or something similar, I've got as far as finding a site very similar to Etsy but is UK based http://www.misi.co.uk/ and have created a shop banner but so far haven't got anything on there to sell.

One thing I have managed to do is 2 digi layouts for Shimelle's Bakers Dozen design team.






















Used the Can't buy me love kit from TwoPeas and one of the Lovely Labels. Photo of my sister's papillons Max & Molly - they're so cute, I just love their big ears.

Second one uses the Love You quick page, added Heart created in PSE6 using cookie cutter tool and an old text brush, also used one of the Pretty Labels.

Happy 2010! Hoping this year will be a good one. I don't make resolutions as such but this year I do want to try and be more creative - lost my inspiration a bit last year but this year have got off to a good start. Completed a hybrid desk calendar and a layout using Shimelle Laines "Remember" quick page template. The page templates are so easy to use - just clip your favourite digi papers and photos to the appropriate layers and you are done - of course you can add brushes etc or move the elements round.

Here's my Layout - Remember Winter

I wanted a desk calendar for work so decided to make one myself. I used the 2010 CD Calendar Template from The Digichick.com and several of Shimelle's kits at TwoPeas. Used a piece of chipboard for the base which I scored then covered with fabric scrapbook paper. I printed out each month 2 to an A4 page, then trimmed to size. Printed photos out on photo paper then handcut. Embelished each page with ribbons etc then bound together with BIA.