TIM HOLTZ 12 TAGS of 2015 (My Version)

My second year participating in Tim Holtz 12 TAGS event! Following through with Tim's tutorials last year was a fantastic experience that not only resulted in me now having 12 FANTASTIC TAGs that I can use for a multitude of purposes but also I learned many new techniques and added some amazing products to my craft hoard ... eh .. STASH.. yeah ... craft stash :) -- the tutorials for the tags are found on Tim's blog at www.TimHoltz.com (plus he does a giveaway each month for those that participate in the monthly tag challenges).  So let's get the show on the road!  Each month I will edit this post with my version of the tags / tutorials that Tim posts for the month.

December 2015
What a fun tag to end the year with - made a clay Santa face from a mold - BELIEVE is one of Tim's rubons and the frame is Stampin' Up.  Since I don't have any of Tim's new punches (YET!!) I used one of Martha Stewart's.

November 2015
Such a fun tag I had to do two.  Using both the pumpkin and the raven from Tim Holtz stamp set (stamping the images twice and cutting a piece or two to 3D) ... the grape leaf punch is McGill and the paper for the leaves was just cheap cardstock sprayed with a variety of Ranger Color Wash sprays.

I used paint chip strips to cut the word AUTUMN out of since I didn't have a great texture stamp for it.  Under the pumpkin, the background is TH stamp coated with white UTEE, and under the raven is TH stencil with Embossing Paste.

October 2015

Using Tim Holtz Kraft Resistance Halloween Haunts paper for a background I had to use the the Vampire Thinlits die (I received from my dear crafty friend, X. Montano) (WOOT - sooo much fun to use) from his Halloween collection this year.  I put a few strips of metallic blue paper in the corners of his hair and behind his eyes for a little touch of bling.  

Kept it simple this month since the die had so much detail.

September 2015
I didn't have the Frosted paper so I used the Clearly for Art Modeling Film by Wendy Veechi (also sold by Ranger Ink) for the butterflies.  And the Texture Paste Transparent Gloss by Ranger is a must have ! I love it.  Although it is definitely a longer drying time than their basic Texture Paste, the effect is fantastic!

August 2015
I found a vintage picture at a thrift shop that I picked up for 25 cents, a little girl in a white full apron and white, almost pointed hat.  The background showed a tree and another child's arm. I'm not sure what profession or school she was dressed in uniform for, but she was perfect for this tag.  I didn't have the block words that Tim used in his August tag, but I did have the 102 piece set of Tim's AlphaNumeric Thinlits so I could make my own words!

June 2015
Since I'm not a coffee drinker I decided to focus on Father's Day for the June tag.  It was a hard choice between Tim's antlers die and the award die ... went with the award ribbon. 

May 2015
Morticia is one of my favorite fictional characters and is given lines that makes me smile, couldn't resist using her on my "nostaligic" tag. --- ----
"I'm just like any modern woman, trying to have it all, Loving husband, a family, it's just I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade."  Morticia Addams

ok ok ... so I got a little distracted from the nostalgic theme by one of my favorite fictional characters, Morticia Addams.  But hey ... I followed some of the techniques -- 

I clipped out the word "Occultism" from some torn dictionary pages that a friend sent me for altering items ... thought that was appropriate for Morticia.

A broken necklace chain (touched over with a silver Krylon pen) served the perfect hanger for a chandelier charm that I bought from ebay - E600'd a little flatback plastic skull on the charm and  used Tim Holtz Adirondack inks on it to give it more of a Gothic look (In Red Pepper and Pitch Black, then tapped the silver Krylon pen over it).  The same treatment was used on the filigree behind the roses.  I remembered I had a bag of old vintage silk flowers snagged from a thrift store. These were purple and fuscia until I sprayed them with Dylusions sprays from Ranger.  The leaves were punched from McGill leaf punch and splatter sprayed with black Color Wash spray by Tim Holtz.  To "splatter" with the sprays you barely compress the plunger a little at a time (it's a little messy so I have a special box set aside just for spraying into). The large rose at the top is from I Am Roses and received the same spray treatment.

APRIL 2015 - My mother, Catherine's favorite flower was the purple iris and they grew wild around the land in Odd, West Virginia where I grew up.  During the summer I would get off the bus and pick a few and hold to them with dear life as I climbed up a rocky rutted hill to our trailer home nested between the mountains and trees.  Turned out it was also one of the favorite flowers of my husband's mother (Linda) and her mother (Merle) as well.

I loved the design elements Tim Holtz came up with for this month's tag.  I just had to add a touch of "Majik".  The little metal charm is "painted" with Ranger Patinas. The iris is layered, I stamped it 3 times and cut different layers to give it more dimension.  The stamp manufactured in the USA by Crafter's Companion and was designed by Sheena Douglass as part of the stamp set - A Little Bit of Floral - Iris

MARCH 2015

I attached the "mask" of the stamp (that I stamped on a piece of acrylic from packaging) with E6000, bent up the wings, and added some Stickles so the butterfly would look like it was taking flight.  

This was quite an enjoyable tag to make, one of my favorites so far.

FEBRUARY 2015

Heart cut from red velvet with Tim Holtz Love Struck die, 9<3 is a real playing card cut up, the K<3 is a clipart from the internet, the Heart Tarot card is a scanned and reduced copy of a real tarot card, Platinum UTEE, Holtz Heart Charms, background papers are Tim Holtz' papers from many years past , the red heart under the King card is cut from the scraps of the card

JANUARY 2015 

My version of Tim's January tag has a few different features than his tutorial .. the background I followed almost exactly except I ran a black Sharpie down the edges for outlining and at the top, there's a "blob" of Platinum and Black UTEE..  Instead of ChitChat stickers I used Idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Life Quotes) - rubbing them on thick white cardstock and cutting them out ... the large resin clock (Prima) was altered by staining it with Krylon pens in Silver and Copper.  The number "2" is cut from thick chipboard using Tim Holtz' Vintage Market Die, the "0" is a wood number from my stash, and the "15" is Tim's Idea-ology Game Pieces (color changed by Krylon and Sharpie pens).  A silver chain was folded and tied in with the ribbon, draped over the corners, and adhered VERY lightly with a drip of hot glue on the back - the star is Tim's Mirrored Stars

Tim Holtz Woodland Pine Tree and Boughs Tussie Mussie Night Light for the Winter Season

Total length from top of pine boughs to bottom of beaded dangle is about 17". Used thin chipboard and cut the Tussie Mussie form, added the paper and cut out the inset shape using one of Tim Holtz Sized Arch dies.  Painted inside the Tussie with white, crackle medium, then brown. Formed Tussie Mussie cone shape. Made a loop from stiff wire and hot glued it into the bottom of the cone to hang the bead dangle.  Cut the smallest and the largest circles of his Sized Circles dies from medium/heavy weight chipboard - glued the smallest toward the bottom of the Tussie for the Woodlands tree (and faux snow) - cut a center circle out of the big circle and glued a battery operated tea light where the switch was accessible. Then I glued the large circle with tealight in place over the tree.  Covered the "platform" with dried moss & glued in some realistc looking pine boughs and cones - decorated with some scraps of lace from my stash.  Tree and green lace are sprayed with Tim Holtz Adirondack Color Wash sprays.

That Vampire Feeling -- Gothic Style Tussie Mussie with Sizzix Wings Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks Inka Gold Rub

This was a fantastic fun creation to make for one of my niece's birthdays to fill with some bday surprises.  The face is a Prima Resin piece altered with alcohol inks and Inka Gold pigment rubs.  The veins are also colored in a similar fashion - used an Anna Griffin embossing folder for the aluminum cover on the wings.

Clean and Organized Craft Space?

I try to keep my home basically clean and organized, with one exception - my craft tables! My husband often says he doesn't have a clue how I find anything in my craft area. I found several similar quotes attributed to a variety of authors (so I don't know who originally said something similar) but it perfectly expressed my sarcastic response.  I applied it to a photo of my crafting / studying spot I took this morning while working on a Halloween wand ... mwhaha

Spiders made from Beads and Wire - in time for Halloween

There are many tutorials online showing how to make a variety of beaded spiders.  I would have never guessed they were so easy to make until I came across this 3 minute video by BeadClub.  My nieces and I spent 2 nights watching tv, making spiders, and enjoying conversation.  They are soooo much fun!  The video I watched is no longer available on YouTube but I found another easy to follow tutorial by Emilie Lefler (you can easily search for others as well) Here's a link to the quick video and a few pictures of my first creations. BEAD SPIDER TUTORIAL by Emilie Lefler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alr_GaooeaQ

Alice in Wonderland Assemblage Clock Night Light using Oxford Impressions Stamps, Tim Holtz products, Handmade Embellishments

  Finally decided to take the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Assemblage Clock out of its package and make a fun Alice in Wonderland inspired night light.  I used Graphic 45 paper for the background of Cheshire Cat, Oxford Impressions rubber stamps "Classic Alice" for all the figures, embossed with Ranger black UTEE (colored with Spectrum Noir markers), handmade and purchased embellishments.  If you have a question about anything just leave a comment :D ... now down the Rabbit Hole (....of photos)!

There's some texture paste inside the clock too :D oh and the little Q<3 and the knight's cards are from the web as well, just made them different sizes and printed them out.

The Alice's Adventures in Wonderland mini book is simply a clipart from the web, made tiny and I glued some little rectangles of cardstock together, stuck in a wire with a loop, and coated it in Glossy Accents to make a charm.

I used dry wall tape and scraped some Ranger Texture Paste over it ... left on some of the tape and removed other pieces for a fun effect ... drizzled alcohol inks over it ... I love how the Ranger Texture Paste absorbs the colors even after its dry!  E6000 a little crown on the "bell" under the bow.

Little fuzzy, just wanted to show off the mushrooms!  The red ones are purchased and the one with the face I made from polymer clay.

I cut the head, arms and legs off the knight and glued them around a little card I printed out.

You can see where the candle "LIGHT" is poking through, even though you can't see it in the pictures, it's tucked behind the Queen of Heart's dress.

Was playing around with the texture paste on the back plate, but here you can see where I punched a hole in the back plate with a We R Memory Keepers Big Bite and glued a battery operated tea light on with E6000 glue.

Just a better mushroom view :D

Artist Trading Block - with Victorian twinge and Corset Top Hat and Luminary Night Light

A recent craft trend (at least for me) has been the ATB or Artist Trading Block.  Some have called them "Chunky ATCs".  I joined one of the recent swaps on The Craft Hole for a one-on-one swap for a 3" x 3" ATB, so this is my first ATB.

The corset is made from a paper towel (formed around a doll bodice and decoupaged).  This one was a gift to me from Andrea (http://talkinghorsesarts.blogspot.com) last year and I've been waiting for some fun project to give me a reason to decorate it.  The top hat is made from chipboard and wrapped in embossed aluminum ventilation tape. The 3"x3" box is made from cardstock with chipboard overlay & Graphic 45 paper.  Wooden knobs, painted for feet.  I used Tim Holtz' smallest circle die to make "windows" on each side so the flickering battery operated tea light, nestled in roses, could shine through for a night light.  The clear resin pieces were made from molds by me and the clay corset was also made from a mold.  Thanks for looking!

Dark Forest Peacock Feather Birdhouse from Sizzix die and Inka Rubs

Again The Craft Hole posted a challenge that got the fun creative juices flowing.  The challenge was simply to decorate your own birdhouse.  I had the Sizzix 3D Rounded Birdhouse Die and had not yet used it so it gave me the opportunity to give it a try.

Steampunk Zeppelins from Upcycled Trash (Hot Air Balloons on the way)

Using drink bottles, plastic cups, detergent caps, broken ink pens and chipboard scraps with aluminum foil and charms/chains from my stash - had a ton of fun putting together a little steampunk decor.  The big gears cut from chipboard are cut from a Tim Holtz die. Wings were handdrawn.