Loving Tim Holtz

I can't believe I have never dedicated a whole post to Tim before. He's creative, inspiring, the creator of some of best products on the market, and he's adorable.
  I have been a fan of Ranger since I first started scrapbooking 16 years ago. When Tim joined their team it was the perfect marriage. Not only did he open up and expand the world color and textures to the most basic crafter but the spin he put on vintage art is still thrilling the scrapbooking community to this day.
I could gush endlessly about Tim. But who wants that? So I will keep it short and sweet.  When he began doing the 12 tags of Christmas I was ecstatic. I tried keeping up with  them  and playing with the techniques but never shared my work. When he switched over to the monthly format it made me a little sad because I loved the Christmas theme but I also found the joy of  having a different idea/concept to look forward to every month, like gifts from Tim. It gave me a chance to play around with my materials more and to incorporate the ideas into whatever medium  i happened to be working with at the time instead of attacking the techniques without a plan.   I'm pretty sure this was his plan all along because it also gave me the chance to go out and shop for  products at my local scrapbooking stores as opposed to throwing my hands up because I didn't have what I needed right in front of me. And that was happening a lot when it was the 12 tags of Christmas. If I didn't have the stamps or the embossing powder then I would skip over the tag lying to myself about trying it later but really how often do we go back to something if it's not right in front of us especially when we're in creative mode. So the monthly tags have increased my stash (not something that I really needed) and it also increased my creativity and has allowed me to grow even more smitten with Tim Holtz.
So this last tag in November with the layered leaf was gorgeous but I didn't have the die. I had managed to get the butterfly months earlier from my local Joanns. The butterfly represents change and there were a lot of changes in Nov. for me and my family. The biggest was losing a friend/Sister to cancer. Not that I needed the reminder about how short our time here is or about how precious each moment truly is. But I think the message sometimes gets lost or pushed to the back so I made a little reminder, mainly for my daughter but also for myself- Our choices define US! And thanks to Tims November techniques I made it pretty, thanks Tim

CC3C- altered burlap panel

I meant to do this earlier, better late....
I had so much fun with this challenge. (Sponsored by the Funkie Junkie) I was able to play with some products that have been in my stash for a while.

This is the finished piece. The background done with distress paints, tissue paper and old children's dictionary pages topped with more inks and paints. I added a few rub-ons and a few spritzes of glimmer mist.

Remember the metal eyelet letters from Making Memories. Mixed with distress embossing powders from Tim Holtz for Ranger. 

Flower dies. Way more work than I wanted to do but exactly the look I wanted. I made extras in case I need them later. I like having a back up stash for everything. 

Some Heidi Swapp titles I found in a drawer inked with distress minis. The ruffle behind it is from Tim's new fabrics. 

The Prima bloom stamps are some of my new favorites. Colored with the distress markers. 

I haven't figured out where or to whom this piece is going but I have time before Renee tries to put it on her wall.

Now I'm off to my scrap table while I have ideas brewin. And then a little shopping. BTW The Funkie Junkie has all the new Tim Holtz releases and a cart I'm gonna have to rob a bank to purchase. 

Compendium of Curiosity : challenge 5

I am in love with the Tim Holtz books and products.  I have been allowing life to get in the way of completing the challenges (check out Linda Ledbetters blog) and getting them uploaded but I finally did it.  Because I have been a stamping nut lately,I have plenty of projects for this distress watercolor challenge. 

  The canvas  is for my niece for her 8th grade promotion. I stamped the main image several times, cut them out, colored them and pieced them back together. I went over the dress with glitter.

 The cards below are simple and follow the instructions from page 39.

The End. ..of June

I missed May. I did the tag, I did the challenge, I made some cool things. I didn't, however, share them. I meant to and as usual life got in my way and I let it. I am hopefully getting better at prioritizing but it does not seem like it. I want to be better, I'm really really trying and it is definitely on the top of my many many lists of things to do. So its June and yes I understand this is the last day I did the tag I did the challenge naturally I still need the photograph but that'll be done before the end of this so I can get everything submitted and in its proper place and it'll give me a great feeling of accomplishment and I really really need more of those [feelings of accomplishments]. These past couple of months have  had me all over the place for so many reasons.
I'm saying happy belated birthday to my big brother, Bobby,worlds greatest big brother. and every year it gets harder I would like to say easier because everyone claims that time makes things easier but that is total crap.I have not gotten to the easy part of dealing with the death of my big brother and sister. I'll settle for sending him  happy birthday love and because I love him and continue to love him more than any other man in this whole wide world I won't sing it. He knew better than most that I was not blessed with a voice: he was and Kimm was. They sang beautifully together. I had no talents but that was never a bad thing no one ever had a cheering section like I was for my beautiful talented siblings. sorry tangent but Bobby has been on my mind a lot as usual and the month of June is always his month. I feel like a don't have my best friend my big brother my protector the one person that always made me feel safe no matter what was going on or how far away we were from one another. I always felt like if things got rough or hairy he would step in and  come to my rescue and make it all better and manage to get some pretty good laughs out of me while it was all going on. And I need that. These past two months have made me realize that I really miss being Shell and Bobby's little sister here in the physical world. I have gotten through all the bad the best I could but when Renee was attacked I know that they would have handled it better, made her feel safer. Made me seem a little more sane.  I do know with all of my heart I tried my very best.
Where Renee is concerned I always give 110%. Even in that situation I found a reason to thank the Goddess. She's alive, thank Goddess. The scar healed,  thank Goddess. The fear didn't paralyze us, thank Goddess. After dealing with those emotions and a million or so more I was able to get back to my desk again. It really is where I need to be. I finally have some clarity on that issue. More on that next entry. Let's end June with love, gratitude and peace. And as usual happy crafting.

this is one way to do it....

I've been saying for years I wanted to start blogging more often. It hasn't happened and I always seem to find a reason to avoid it or not do it or postpone my self imposed time-lines but now I want to start doing the 12 tags on the Tim Holtz blog which has to be uploaded monthly. So i guess that means I now have to commit to my blog.

I guess this is one way to get it done.