Tim's December Tag--To Grandmother's House We Go!

Well, I'm going to give Tim's 12 Tags of 2014-(December) one more try before the calendar flips another page!  My, how 2014 flew!

My tag is actually a card...it is to thank my brother and his lovely wife for gifting me with a copy of the family movies from when we were kids.  Can you say "take a nostalgic trip to the past"?. Speaking of nostalgia, my brother's business is called Nostalgic Restorations, where he customizes and does auto body repair to vintage and antique vehicles.  I thought Tim's Old Jalopy was just the thing for him. I really wanted to put  "Nostalgic Restorations" on the door panel, but I was afraid to mess it up.  Thought that counts!

A Vintage Journey  wants us to "Ring Out the Old and Ring In the New" with their current challenge, showing a heavy Tim influence.  I was inspired by Tim by his 12 Tags of 2014, and a quick trip down memory lane to one of his older videos on using his "new"  stains!  Ha! Ha!  I think that was made in 2011, right?  I had to reference it, because I knew there was a way to put my stains into mister bottles, as I only have ONE Distress Spray stain. Also my connection to Out with the Old (using Old Tim inspiration). In with the New inspiration from his latest tag challenge.  I've used many of Tim's "Old" products, as well...Mini Tall Trees Texture Fade, Old Jalopy die, Old Movers and Shapers snowflake die.  Well, you get the idea!  And now In with the New!  New to me are Tim's Industrious Stickers (first time I've used mine), and Tim's stamp set Mini Handwritten Holidays. I've used so many of Tim's techniques here, including those from his December Tag tutorial, the masking technique using his masking sheets and snowflake die, using stains in Mini Mister bottles to name a few.

That "ringing" you hear are my jingle bells adorning the wreath on the grill of my jalopy!

There's also that contrast of Old versus New with the old grungy jalopy with the bling of the stars (kicking myself for not antiquing them!) and the tinsel twine.

I love Tim's idea to use a tea infuser to shake on his Distress Glitter, and I actually had one in my hand to buy at an estate sale recently, but passed it up since someone else REALLY wanted it.  So I have my collection (yes, another collection) of vintage salt and pepper shakers that did the trick of releasing just enough Distress glitter to make a frosted look on my jalopy.

This is before I added the Texture paste to try and hide the pink Distress paint which should have been white! Glue is still wet!  I love the little sparkles the Distress glitter affords my old grungy jalopy!  The Chipped Sapphire gives the paint job some depth.

 You can see I've had to wing a few things again with this month's tag. I'm sorry to say, I do not have the Frosted, that particular reindeer, the SPRAYS!, the stamp image, the Pine Twine, the Snowfall Texture Fade, the Thinlits, or the snowflake. That doesn't leave much, does it?  So I've substituted vellum for the Frosted and used the Mini Tall Pine Texture Fade for my trees in the background, Distress stains in Mini Misters (not too shabby as a substitute, but I WILL  be getting the sprays!), a stamped sentiment, Distress paint on a skewer to make snow fall, Tinsel Twine and jingle bells (colored with alcohol inks), Festive Greenery (I also used the wax paper!) and added some Mirrored stars for additional bling.  I tried to use frosted Shrinky Dink film in place of the Frosted, and it turned out well. But it was not transparent enough, so the detail of the light background didn't show how I wanted it to. Hoarding that for another project. Did I say "hoarding"?  I meant "saving".

You can see my Picket Fence Distress Paint turned pink on my jalopy (grungeboard painted with Black Soot, Brushed Pewter, Chipped Sapphire, Walnut Stain and Picket Fence). I may have put it on too soon before the Chipped Sapphire had a chance to dry.  I tried to cover it with Texture paste (more snow!) and it continued to appear pink, so I think I will just have to "Embrace Imperfection" as Tim reminds us!

UPDATE:  To embrace imperfection, I'm going to say the pink snow just HAD to be there to symbolize the old pink Cadillac convertible my brother restored as a wedding present to his wife years ago.

This is the specialty stamping paper with my home-poured Distress stain sprays and my one and only real Distress Ink Spray.  Sorry for the glare--it's so shiny!  I cut  some of the flourishes at the rear of the jalopy from this to symbolize exhaust.

I think my brother and sister in law will get a real kick out of this card! This is standing in as a last minute gift to them.  They were sweet to send me the family movies on a DVD; the least I can give them is a homemade (with love) card!

Thank you for visiting and leaving your lovely comments--they are treasured!  Please let me know if you have any questions on how I did anything, and I will try to recall.  This was one of those projects where I just kept trying different things 'til I liked the outcome, and didn't record anything.  Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve, and if I don't come up with something else to show you, I'll see you on the next calendar page!

I would like to enter this in the following inspirational challenges:

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014-December

A Vintage Journey "Ring Out the Old-Ring In the New"  My jingle bells are ringing!  Can you hear them?  Also I am referring to the old Tim products and the new ones I've used on my card, as well as using Tim's old videos for inspiration.

Allsorts Challenge Week 290/291 Last Minute Gifts

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

The Artistic Stamper December's Creative Challenge "Anything Goes" I've stamped my sentiment.

Winter Wonderland Challenge Blog "Fussy and Fancy" For me this is a relatively fussy card with all the fussy die cuts and the background.  The flourishes is what gives it a little fanciness as well as the soft color palette of the background.

Loves Rubber Stamps # 132 "Something Old & Something New" My old is the Old Jalopy die cut; the new are Tim Holtz Industrious Stickers and Distress Ink Spray.  The old jalopy looks old, the Mirrored Stars look new. Sort of a current nostalgic look!

Inspiration Emporium "Sing, Sing It Loud!" Can you hear my tiny jingle bells ringing?

Love to Create Challenge #147 "Icy Winter Days"

Travel Album

Linda Ledbetter Studio L3 has a new challenge using Tim Holtz Pocket Pages featured on page 36 of A Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 3.  If you are not yet familiar with these challenges, they are based on Tim' book A Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 3.  Each fortnight The Curiosity Crew chooses one of Tim's techniques from his book, and challenges us to create something using that technique.  You must work from your own book, so be sure to order your autographed copy here.

The Curiosity Crew has whipped up some great inspirational pieces using the new Pocket Pages, so be sure to drop in at each of their blogs and see their amazing work, then leave them a comment.  If you link up your project, and the Crew picks you as their favorite you will win a whopping assortment of Tim's products compliments of Tim and Mario. In addition, a lucky winner receives a generous $25 shopping spree from the The Funkie Junkie, compliments of the owner, the lovely Linda Couglin. She keeps an awesome array of craft supplies in her store, and always includes a special gift in your orders.

So I rounded up some of these delightful little album pages from my local craft store to put together a couple of very special albums. I'm so happy I did!  I can't tell you how much fun these were to work with.

Front as it folds out.

And backs of these pockets.

Brenda is hosting the new challenge over at A Vintage Journey, and the theme is "Ring Out the Old and Ring in the New".  Be sure to pop in and see the myriad of ways the Creative Guides have interpreted this theme with their fabulous creations.  They would like to see a strong Tim Holtz influence on your project and see how you interpret the theme.  I am strongly influenced by Tim in my use of so many of his products and in his techniques on my album. I interpreted the theme by using old and new items on my project. Brenda found this poem to help us focus on the theme:

“Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.” Alfred Tennyson

Additionally,  the third line reminds me of the reason I made my project, but insert "Kim and Emily" in place of "year". Read on to see why. "Kim and Emily are going, let them go; Ring out the false, ring in the true."

The challenge over at Craft Hoarders Anonymous wants you to break your hoard wide open and create something travel or vacation related for the theme  "Have a Nice Trip". I have LOTS of travel and transportation related papers, rubber stamps, and ephemera, although I don't know why...I don't travel much.  But I decided to focus on Tim this time, and pulled out all my oldTim Holtz paper stash, including Destinations, dies, a travel themed Texture Fade, stencils, travel related stamps and tissue tape.  I pulled out some of my very first stamps from Inkadinkadoo, too, for good measure, and some very old transportation ephemera from K and Co. that I literally have had for about 10 years! This was a great excuse to use some of that old stuff, so I couldn't pass it up, even if I was doing a mostly-Tim project.

Album front cover.

Close up of the globe.

Stenciled sticky back canvas spine and grungeboard  antiqued hardware.

Back cover

These are going to be a couple of late (I'd call that last minute) Christmas gifts for my oldest sister, Kim and my neice (other sister's daughter), Emily. They are each going on Missions trips in January and February. Kim to Dominican Republic and Emily, to Myanmarr. ( I had to look this one up!  It is near China, for those that are curious.)  It will be Kim's first Missions trip, and Emily has visited Myanmarr before and is delighted by the people there. I thought they would like to have a little album to hold their special memories from their trips, so I made a fold out album using Tim' new Pocket Pages...well, they are new to me!  And some very old coin envelopes from my crafty hoard for the cascading pockets on the back cover. I made a similar album using just coin envelopes for my daughter several years ago. I had to purchase 500 coin envelope and only used ten! The album shown here is for Emily;  Kim's will be personalized for her and her destination after this post.  I have shown her album covers only.

What you see when you open it.  Pocket pages on left; coin envelopes on right.

Front inside cover.  Tissue tape is colored using Distress stain. Little corner pocket using Kraft Resist.

The tag I made using one of Tim's techniques (pg. 42 Vol. 3)  which sits in the little corner pocket.

The back of the tag where I will write a personal message. The spritz and flick is my all time favorite Tim technique.

Kim's incomplete album--another day!  Will not add glaze to this.

Some things I used are old...some things are very old as I mentioned above.  What is new to me are the Blueprints stamps, Little Things stamps,  Life Quotes rub-ons,  Bigz Hardware Findings die, Sticky Back Canvas, Faber Castell Glaze, the pocket pages, and my one Distress Spray in Vintage Photo. Santa was very good! I want to use up some of my "old" to make way for this "new".

 I will list the stamps I used at the end of the post, but I cannot name every product used, every technique used,  nor can I do a step by step, as this post would fill pages.  I will say I followed Tim's instructions on page 36 for how to fasten the pocket pages, and I used Distress Paint and a little smudge of bronze fabric paint on my coin envelopes and a dampened baby wipe to blend the colors.  Love this technique and those versatile paints. I cut my album covers from chipboard, gave them a coat of gesso, and colored them with Distress stains, stamped with Archival ink, and gave a thin coat of glaze over the dried-overnight stains.  I am very unhappy with the glaze results, but time was short and I had to press onward. It claims to work over all mediums, but I found it pulled up both the stain and the ink from the board.  Since I am still working on Kim's album, I will know not to use the glaze on that.  I had to use a pen to fill in the smudged title.Luckily, most of the cover is covered with the embellishments.  If you have any questions about how I did the rest, please leave a comment with your question, and I'll be sure to respond.

I painted the coin envelopes with various Distress paints, wiped with a baby wipe to blend and added a bit of bronze metallic fabric paint for shine.  These have a nice sheen in real life and have a real smooth finish thanks to the fabric paint.  Stamped and added Tim's rub-ons.

I adhered the envelope flaps and covered with tissue tape to finish it off.  The background is from one of Tim's paper stashes, inked with Distress ink, spritz and flicked, and then sprayed with my one and only Distress Spray ink-Vintage Photo.

I would like to give a big thank you to Anna Karin for her inspiration with the great quote by Henry David Thoreau "Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around". I thought this very fitting for Emily as she is going into a foreign land to spread the Good News and help those in need. Also thanks to Annette Green for her idea to use the Sticky Back Canvas for the spine (I've used card stock in the past for albums, but this stuff is great!) and more recently for her idea for a fold out album. Thanks go to Paula Cheney for her inspiration behind the mini globe on the front of my album. I know I saw the Texture Fade technique on a blog somewhere, but I cannot recall who it was, so thanks to you...you know who you are!

Tim's Blueprint globe colored with Distress markers and water pen on watercolor paper.  Quote using Chit Chat and my printing;  Tim's rub on phrases and Tim's Little Things stamped images in Archival coffee on vintage ledger paper distressed  somewhat by me.

I chose several different techniques from Tim's 3 volumes to make the inserts, using stencils, Texture Fades, Kraft resist paper stash, and water coloring with Distress Markers. I left a few of the pockets with either plain or simple backgrounds so Emily can insert a special photo or do some journaling. I left some of the ephemera free so she can remove it and replace it with photos or use it elsewhere in the album.

Front of blue tag.  Waste plastic packaging embossed and painted with Distress paint.

Back of blue tag. Front of yellow tag, Distressing I gave the tickets-my all time favorite Tim technique!

Close up of the blue tag to show text.

A few K and Co. pieces and a ticket stamped with Tim's stamps, distressed, and fussy cut. That's vintage ledger paper behind the plane and train.

Kraft resist with arrow pointing to Myanmarr and back of the yellow tag.  A date ticket so she can circle dates of her trip.

Back of the Kraft Resist with Inkadinkado Time Travelers stamps in Sepia Archival ink.  "I love adventure" in Chit Chat and Tim's rub-ons.  Traveler fussy cut from Tim's Destinations paper stash.

I truly enjoyed making this album for my niece, and thanks to Linda at Studio L3 for inspiring me to go get some of those pockets to make this album even more special. The entire album took me part of an evening and an entire day and another evening!  Coming up with how to construct it was a very time consuming part--I will be recording all my measurements (once tweaked) for future reference. I have ordered some Tim knobs with globes today, and along with some of Tim's elastic bands, these will be the perfect fasteners for this album. Once it is filled with Emily's treasures, I think it may need something to fasten it closed.  Thank you all for visiting and leaving your wonderful comments.  Happy New Year! Be safe if you are out and about!

Stamps used:  Unknown -map; Inkadinkadoo-Travel Time; Tim Holtz-The Journey, The Impossible, Good Thoughts, Grunge Cirque, Urban Grunge, Lost and Found, Boundless Flight,  Odds and Ends, Way With Words,  Blueprints 1 and 4, and  Little Things. Phew!
Dies used: Movers and Shapers Mini Globe, On the Edge Ornate and Bigz Hardware Findings--all Tim Holtz

I would like to enter this into the following inspiring challenges:
Studio L3 CC3 Challenge 18 Pocket Pages

A Vintage Journey "Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New"

Craft Hoarders Anonymous #22 "Have a Nice Trip"

Allsorts Challenge Blog290/291 Last Minute gifts

Fashionable Stamping Challenges #88 "Turn Up the Heat" I used my heat tool for drying my paint layers and for embossing sentiment and hot air balloon.
Wow! Embossing Powder Challenge "Memories" I used embossing powders for my sentiment "It's the Little Things That Make Life Big" and for the hot air balloon. I hope my niece will put lots of her memories in this album.

Artist Trading Post Exchange "Let's Celebrate!" I used many stamps on this entire project.  I am celebrating Christmas with a late gift to my niece and celebrating her Missions work!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

The Artistic Stamper December's Creative Challenge "Anything Goes" I've stamped many things on this!  See my huge list of stamps used!

Celebrate with Shiny Brights

I was thrilled to be asked to be a guest Creative Guide over at A Vintage Journey this fortnight, with the challenge "Let's Celebrate".  The idea at A Vintage Journey is to create  projects with a heavy Tim Holtz influence which the Creative Guides have polished to perfection.

(Warning:   this is a long, photo heavy post, and there are many white lines and other ghosties in my photos from the reflection off the "glass" in the frame--they are not on my project!.)

  I've been a huge fan of Mr. Holtz for a couple of years, and have been admiring the many Configurations projects on his blog. I've hoarded a few boxes, but just never got up the courage to put one together (commitment phobe).  This challenge has given me the creative push I needed.  When I think of Christmas and Tim, I always think of Shiny Bright ornaments. I share a love of these fragile, colorful glass ornaments with him, and have collected quite a few over the years.. I chose to make my project for my guest spot using a few of my ornaments and one of Tim's Configurations boxes.

I wanted to make a wall hanging which I could display year round, so I chose to give the exterior of my box  a wood grain look. My thought is to be able to remove the cover and use it to display other Configurations collections with an quick change.  To achieve the  framed look, I die cut thick chipboard using Tim's On the Edge die and attached one top and bottom. I gave everything a coat of gesso--both large and small pieces.  For the faux wood finish, I used  Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain and Weathered Wood Distress Paint, followed by Rock Candy Crackle Paint and another wiped on coat of the same paints. In person, this has the look of old barn siding.  Just the look I was going for in the area of my home where it will be displayed.

I added the Idea-ology word plate and key hole after applying Antique Linen Distress paint, allowing it to set up, then wiping off the majority of the paint for a nice antiqued finish.

Now for the interior.  What fun!  This is much more tedious than I ever imagined it would be, but I am a perfectionist and there was a LOT of measuring twice, cutting once.  I chose to use just 3 of the 9 little boxes (I LOVE boxes!) for this project.  Each of the boxes is lined with paper from Tim's Seasonal 8 x 8 paper stash, which is the perfect size for these little "rooms".  I chose the Shiny Bright ornament (of course!)  and the catalog pages and aged them slightly with Distress ink. Most of it is covered by the ornaments, but I tried to get a "before" photo of the boxes in the following photos.  I just love the graphics on this paper!  I painted the edges of the boxes using the same paints mentioned above.

There's my bell!  You can hear it if you BELIEVE!

I attached an Idea-ology ring fastener to the bottom of one box to hang a vintage bell, and once my background paper was in place and the exterior of the boxes papered, I glued the three boxes in place.

For my background paper, I chose to use photocopies of some vintage Post Cereal Promotional pop out and assemble Christmas ornaments.  I picked up these great little folders at an estate sale this summer.  One side is printed with the sweetest Santa, angel, tree and other ornaments you pop out and assemble into  3D paper ornaments, and the other is this graphics you see here (You can see the lines of the perforations if you look closely).  I gave the photocopies just a little distressing with Distress inks to tone down the brightness. I think the paper is just a perfect compliment to my ornaments. I also papered the sides and top surfaces of my little boxes with this paper taking extra care to cut the papers so the images would appear continuous as they would on the original paper.  I didn't get it right every time--not such a perfectionist, after all!  The ceiling of the large box and the little boxes and undersides of the little boxes were inked with Vintage Photo.

I glued on some Idea-ology Mirrored Stars which I colored using alcohol inks.  One star was placed so that it would appear to be the star on top of my vintage tree. (I did not want to actually attach anything to any of the ornaments.)

These are vintage deer; they just don't build them like they used to!

I made several embellishments using Tim's dies, which I will list at the end of this post.  For the poinsettia, I embossed  with Tim's Poinsettia Texture Fade, inked with Distress Inks and glittered with Diamond Dust  The center is Platinum Stickles. This is my favorite Christmas die.

 The pine cone and foliage glistening with Rock Candy Distress Glitter.

Same with the holly leaves and berries from my stash. I think the glue was still wet when I snapped this photo.

 Snowflakes cut from acetate waste packaging and glittered as above.  Adhered  to acetate window with removable glue dots.

I filled an Idea-ology vial with mercury glass beads, tied up with string given as part of my little gift with my most recent Funkie Junkie order. (Thank you, Linda; it was just what I needed!) An Idea-ology metal word tag altered with a little Antique Linen Distress paint.

One last embellishment is an Idea-ology game piece aged  with a little Distress ink.

All that's left to do is to decide which ornaments I want to put in and decorate! (which is what I have to do in my home now, too!)  I installed all the ornaments with removable glue dots, so I could remove and replace them with other favorites.  I can also remove and store my precious vintage ornaments and store them in their original Shiny bright boxes for safe keeping.

A piece of my vintage jewelry found it's way in!

I hope you've enjoyed my little ornament display box as much as I've enjoyed making it.  You'll notice it is sitting on a shelf.  I still have not found an ideal hanging system for this.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know.  The folks over at the frame department in Hobby Lobby could offer no advice.

Dies used:  Tattered Pinecone and Poinsettia dies, Festive Greenery Decorative Strip, Snowflake Movers and Shapers and Brackets On the Edge dies.
Texture Fade: Tattered Poinsettia

Thank you for visiting my blog today and for your lovely, heart warming comments you leave!

I would like to enter this into the following inspiring Christmas Challenges:

Country View Challenges December's Festive Challenge "Nostalgic Christmas"

Inspiration Journal "Sing, Sing It Loud!" (My bell!  Can you hear it???  Only if you believe!)

The Mirror Cracked #4 Recycle/Upcycle or a Christmas Gift (I've recycled waste plastic packaging for my snowflakes, an old earring (only had one of a pair) for my Santa ornament, chipboard from the back of a paper pad to make the top and bottom "frame", and berries from an old wreath for my holly berries)

Crafting For All Seasons #92 "Anything Christmas BUT a Card"