A quickie tonight

Wow where does time go?

Last week my shower pump leaked and flooded half of downstairs.  That was fun - a week of cleaning up and trying to dry stuff out.  At least the insurance are happy to pay out, not that I've had time to get any quotes.  This week, I'm not really sure what happened, physio and work I think.  How boring!!

Anyway this was supposed to be quick so here's a photo of my entry into Simon Says Stamp and Show this week where the theme is stars.

The frame is tissue taped thanks to the fab Tim Holtz.  I then Gesso's, distress stained and used snow cap dabber to stamp the Tim Holtz star.  The inside of the frame is lined with some beads which I coloured with alcohol ink.  A bit of metal embossing and a PaperArtsy stamp later, Voila.

Hope you like

Debz

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4 x 6 Photo Love

As a photographer (in the losiest sense of the word) I think its too easy to snap away these days as we nearly all have digital camera's.  How many of us actually print the pictures?  If you do print them, how often do you look at them?  Most people can probably answer No to the first without moving on.

I'm a scrapbooker which means I should be printing my photo's all the time and looking at the fairly regularly, but sometimes everyday life gets in the way.  I have several time consuming hobbies, altered art, rubber stamping, scrapbooking and researching my family tree, as well as attempting to improve my photographic skills.  I dip in and out of them, but sometimes I realise that I dip out of some of them too much and I could combine them.

That's what I'm doing this year.  Two Peas in a Bucket are doing a number of online classes this year so I've signed up to keep myself up to date with my scrapbooking which also means I have to take photo's regularly.  On top of that I'm going to try to put some sort of inking, rubber stamping or paint on the majority of my layouts.  Let's see how it works out.

This layout was inspired by Shimelle Laine's 4 x 6 Photo Love class in January 2011.  The swirl is inked with Distress Inks and sprayed with glimmer mist.



Click for a larger image

The picture is of the outside of Casa Battllo in Barcelona, Spain.  Designed by Gaudi, it's a seriously impressive building inside and out despite the fact that it looks like there are bones supporting the structure.  If you happen to find yourself in Barcelona don't leave before you have visited.  I'd given anything to live in such an inspiring space.

Hope you like it

Debz
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Oh La La

Okay so originality in my writing is not my strong point!

Popping in to see Hel's at Ink on my Fingers I discovered her theme this week was Paris so I set about making a Paris themed tag with some lovely new stamps.  Whilst waiting for the background to dry I discovered the theme over at Simon Says Stamp and Show  is Ephemera.  Great as my tag was already going to incorporate my lovely new Tim Holtz stamps which I got at the ArtsyCraft event he did recently (did I mention that already?  Slipped my mind, nah that's such a lie.  Slipped my mind, as if).  The label I used was from his travel labels CMS108 set.  Love these already. 

But before I stamped I should probably tell you about the base.  I sprayed the tag with Adirondack color wash (sunset orange and butterscotch),  dried it and then rag rolled it (not sure if that's a technical term or not) with Distress ink in walnut stain.

Finally I stamped a paris scheme which consisted of an Eiffel Tower stamp from Hero Arts and a B Line Designs stamp called The View.  I set this slightly off the page and then restamped some of it slightly lower as the tag was too long.  Don't look to close at the Eiffel Tower as it seems to be sat on a house!

Finally Finally I sprayed it with Crafty Notions white Matte and blended it in before finishing off with a few drips on the same spray and Perfect Pearls heirloom gold.  Think I might have to get a bottle of that white matte in reserve as I'm not sure what I would do if it ran out.  I seem to use it on everything lately.

Anyhows, here's my finished tag

click for a larger image

Hope you like it

Debz
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An Ode to Tim Holtz

As promised my homage to all things Tim Holtz.

To those of you who follow me just because you like my work (rather than being a crafty person), Tim Holtz is massive in the craft world.  He works with Ranger showing us amazing ways with new products and inspires people all other the world.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image

The class he bought to us was called Configuration of the Imagination.  I love altered art, but mostly because I get to play with rubber stamps, inks and paints in a big way.  I was a little worried about this class when I saw what we were doing as there wasn't a lot of painting or inking ... was I going to enjoy it?

Those Tim Holtz stalkers out there are probably balking at the fact that I have even dared to think I wasn't going to enjoy a Tim Holtz class.

But that's where I showed my ignorance.  What Tim did was give us 4 hours of inspiration.  Two hours to do the boring stuff and further 2 hours to fill the box with the goodies we were given and anything we had bought along.  With music in the background (he's got great taste in music btw) he allowed my imagination to get carried away, playing around with placement of items and changing what I had into something a little different.

It's hard to see from the finished product but it starts off as a fairly plain box with all these litle boxes you can move around before covering with paper, in our case, inking and painting.

The large glass vial we were given was fantastic but it would have been way too easy to use it as a glass vial, so I didn't. Instead I used Ranger matte medium to stick pearls to the bottom, added some seed beads at home and then wrapped the film stip and ticket inside it. The matte medium is taking forever to dry but when it does the pearls should look suspended. If you look carefully the lower ones already do.



None of the flowers I was given went into the box without being cut up and changed into smaller or wilder looking flowers.  The corks in my bottles had a habit of being grouped with something else (one is supporting the soda cap at the top, and one I stuck in to look as if it's support the cotton reel with flowers).

As I was filling my box I realised I had so many wonderful things at home I could add so when I got home I filled one of the bottles with mico beeds, added some shells, a metal crown, a stamped peice and a couple of badges I've had for years.

Anyway, morale of this story never judge a book by its cover (or class instructions, in this case).  I REALLY enjoyed this class and can't wait to do another.  I'd love to do some of Tim's inkier classes so maybe a trip to the States is in order.  I don't want to become a stalker (that position is already taken, anyway), but maybe a Holtz cruise is in order.

Hope you like it

Debz

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