Infusing some December Daily into my days with Her Lost Tooth

Turning on her light, she barely stirred more than a deep breath inhaled.  Other than her hair streaming out, I could see nothing beyond her two colorful quilts, made with love by a grandmother and an auntie, covering her small body.

“I wonder if the Tooth Fairy came?” I mused.

Fast as a cork released, she popped up from her cherry red framed twin bed.  Taking no more than a second to steady herself, she ran down the hall to the blanket folded into a pillow left on the table next to the front door.  The tradition began with her big brother and his first lost tooth.  It was only logical to leave the pillow near the door to make the exchange easy for the welcomed Tooth Fairy.

Not my first rodeo, I had my camera already in hand, turned on, ready to capture her expression as she saw the lump in the blanket pillow.  Already smiling, she rapidly progressed to squealing with delight as she pulled out a present from the fairy who had taken her first lost tooth and left behind a small toy.  In the low light she saw the small Lemon Meringue figure from the Strawberry Shortcake bunch, a tiny comb, itty bitty hair clip, and a long hot pink hair extension.

I might have held a piece of technology in my hand, meant to capture moments in a flash, but the best moment captured was her pure joy burning a place in my heart.  The pictures will record the gap in her mouth, the jammies she wore, her hair pulled back, but my heart will hold her bubbling delight in its treasures.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

I've already shared my excitement for the creative bonanza that is Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, but the other creative infusion I get at this time of year is from Ali Edwards' December Daily album.

I've always wanted to create one, in real time, throughout the month of December.  Without a photo printer at home, I've never been able to make the project function for me (same reason I've struggled with Project Life, but I'm toying with some ideas for next year and will get back to you on that! :>).

But, no more excuses!  Whether I jump in and get a December Daily album put together or not, I'm not going to let 2011's December memories fall into the blurred oblivion of one Christmas season fading into the next.  To ensure that, I've been writing a single story (or journaling it, if you're coming from a scrapbooking perspective) to etch the day into our family's preserved memories.

And I thought I'd share today's with you!

How do you preserve your memories?

 

 

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Celebrating { Creative Traditions } Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas

I may not be sharing a whole lot of papercrafting as of late, but it is something that has made me smile for the last seventeen years, since I first visited a rubber stamping store that I later worked at.

One of my favorite December traditions is coming up very soon...

Come December 1st is Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas!

Papercrafting, stamping, mixed media, inky joy is sprinkled all around during those twelve days.  Quite literally, I find myself on a high every night I can stay up 'til 12:01 a.m., when he posts the next day's tag or first thing in the morning if sleep found me before the clock ticked past midnight.

But, that joy isn't just for me!  In addition to all of Tim's great fans around the globe, I happen to have one little one right here with me.  My wee girl (she's probably officially not 'wee' anymore, but I still think of her that way!) adores Tim and all his creative creations.

She begs to watch "Mr. Tim's" videos on YouTube and to see what inky, painty, stampy tag he has created for her today (okay, okay, so maybe not for her...but, don't tell her that! ;>).  Her eyes widen and glisten with sheer delight.

"Mom!  He has paint!  Ink!  Look at his hands!"  That last bit would be in reference to his stamper's manicure which she knows I always love to see on my own hands...because it means I found time to create - hands on.

Sometimes creativity is simply something I enjoy for myself or with my girl.  Sometimes creativity is put to use for others.  One round of Tim's tags inspired me to make sets of Christmas tags for my son's teachers' gifts.  Practical and creative!

Whether paper or stamps or paint or ink or altered items or the holidays bring you delight, I do hope you find the time to bring a little creativity to your days in this busy, chaotic, fun, joyful month that will arrive on our doorsteps in just a few short days.

I know where I'll be heading to recharge my creative batteries for at least twelve of those days.

What about you?

The Sketchbook Challenge: {Opposites}

Squeezing in a new art journal page prompted by February's theme (before February is over at midnight tonight...already?!), Opposites, at The Sketchbook Challenge!

Initially, I was unsure what direction I would go with this theme. Yes, there are a lot of options, but nothing spoke to me. Then, earlier this month, I got a migraine from Hades.

And with it, came something that I had never experienced before, an aura.  Scared the bleepers out of me!

The progression from everything being just fine & dandy, to altered sight, to loss of peripheral vision seemed as opposite as could be to me....and something I really wanted to translate with my hands.

I started with one paragraph of an email I zipped off to my Four Musketeers the next morning about what happened, copied and pasted over and over, printed onto cardstock and cut to create three columns.

The far left is left completely untouched.

For the middle column, I used colored pencils, spica glitter pens, pearlescent paint, and dimensional adhesive...a lot of dimensional adhesive! (It is always sooo hard not to touch that liquid pool while it dries!)

And on the right I used Distress Inks to show the darkness that followed that wonky wacky aura.

The light was reflecting off the dimensional adhesive, regardless of turning the flash off and moving it out of direct light (artificial or natural), but I did my best! :>

Not only was it fun to get the creative on, but it helped to put something that scared me and felt so intangible down on paper and into my art journal.  Thankfully, there has not been a migraine with aura repeat and I would very much love that to be a one time only experience!

 

Thanks so much for stopping in!  Have you gotten your creative on?  What were you up to over the weekend?

Linking up!

Inspiration Everywhere - Art Journal {Cover}

Jessica Sprague's Inspiration Everywhere has been a fantastic class! I just loved how many different creative sources & mediums the class assignments were pulled from.  In fact, it has drawn & pushed me to a variety of inspiration wells to drink from & materials to play with.

There has been a variety of assignments & I will be back to share more of them, but first I wanted to share an ongoing assignment in the class, our Art Journals.  And what do we start with first?  But, the cover, of course!

While Jessica Sprague embraces design & creativity through technology, her site also allows for the scissor & glue types as well.  And though I'm learning more & more techno/digi options each day (& there were digi options for these pages as well), I chose to pull out acrylic paints, sparkle glaze, Tim Holtz masks, & my favorite Spica glitter pens.

Ironically, Tim Holtz was demonstrating his masks (in reverse) on today's 12 Tags of Christmas tag  (talk about a fountain of inspiration!) and I will definitely have to remember to stamp with them next time!

I painted over the alpha letters 'a', 'R', and 't' first with a red, then orange, then yellow.  While the background bright pink was straight out of the bottle, I mixed the other three colors for the shades I wanted and added a sparkle glaze that I had on hand (it adds bits of glitter to the paint).  I also dry brushed on all three colors around the perimeter of the cover.

'Journal' and 'Inspiration Everywhere' are written in black & while it seems that I was not able to pick it up with the camera, they are traced over with a black spica glitter pen & do indeed sparkle.

I didn't paint the left edge, under the spiral, intentionally.  Initially, I was going to just tie color coordinated ribbons all over the spiral, but a wee different idea has sprung.....I'll share more with the next art journal post! ;>:>

What is lighting your creative fires these days?  Both Jessica Sprague & Tim Holtz have lit many creative sparks for me and I'd love to know what's working for you!

I'm linking up!

 

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

Creative inspiration wise, this is my favorite time of year!  And if you are a papercrafter, you probably know why.......that fabulously creative guy, Tim Holtz is back with his 12 Tags of Christmas, starting today!!!!  Ahhh...happy sighs.

But, wait!  Even if you do not paper craft, I would bet that you could & can find inspiration from Tim and highly recommend running clicking on over and checking his posts out.  He is one of my regular stops all year round.

And while I never need convincing to go check out what Tim is up to in his studio, I did absolutely love the little video he made for us in anticipation of this year's 12 Tags of Christmas.  Check it out...I've watched it..ahem...a few times now!  More happy sighs.

I really must run now, there is grunge paper, ink pads, paint, and a wee girl (who adores that man and his technique videos!) calling my name!  What creative calls do you hear this time of year?

10 Reasons why I am Ecstatic about {Fall} - Writer's Workshop

Time to play/write along with Mama Kat and this week, I'm choosing prompt #5, "10 reasons why you’re glad it’s Fall." 

Hmmm.....I don't think that's good enough.  How about 10 reasons I'm ecstatic its Fall?!

1)  We have a kidlet birthday to celebrate!  And just as soon as I cringe that one of my babies is getting another year older, I smile & celebrate how they've grown & see the happiness across their face.

And there is happiness whether I stock the party with store bought decorations...

...or hand crafted decorations for a custom themed party.

2)  And before I blink my eyes, mini pumpkins of many hues are scattered about the house (depending on wherever whichever kidlet moves them!) and we're off to the pumpkin patch, a favorite family outing, to get the big ones.

Red wagons, chickens, a pig, sheep, half dozen old tractors to sit in, a hale bale pyramid that lets them climb to the skies, random farm kitties, and of course, oodles and oodles of pumpkins to ooo and ahhh over, pick and choose, and come home with four to six perfect for us pumpkins.

3)  And the night before Halloween, we gut, seed, and carve those plump pumpkins.  Most end up with jagged smiles or sinister faces, but at least one gets a detailed carve every year.  C-3PO and R2-D2 was mine!

4) Kidlets in costume!!  We've had The Great Carrot, a monkey, Cat in the Hat, race car driver, Mr. Incredible, Snow White, Buzz Lightyear, Aurora, Batman, and Cinderella parade these halls.  And rumor has it, we will see Harry Potter and either a scary witch or another Aurora trick or treating this year!

5)  November brings on cravings for edible pumpkin treats.  Scrumptious and savory roasted pumpkin seeds from all those carved pumpkins are enjoyed by all and since a kidlet went GF/CF (gluten & casein free, among other things that have been removed), close to three years ago, we try new holiday recipes every year.  Last year, it was delicious GF/CF Pumpkin Bread, which will make an appearance again soon enough.  And this year, I will finally make that GF/CF pumpkin pie!

6)  Cool, crisp air combined with rustic deep reds, golden yellows, and screamin' oranges make me giddy!  Then when those beautiful leaves fall, its a race to see who gets to crunch it.  In my past, I've even hobbled on crutches to get the best crunchy leaves and now, must admit, I've even cut off one of my own kidlets to get to that crunchy leaf first....but, where there is one crunchy leaf, there are many to go around. :>

7)  Thanksgiving!  We first arrived at our own perfect turkey recipe pre-kidlets for a Four Musketeer gathering here back in 2001.  And in the years since, it has been refined & made absolutely moist & scrumptious.  I'll let you in on just one of our turkey secrets......instead of butter on top of the bird, Hubby (who is ever so kind for cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year!) puts a couple of slices of bacon on top for the duration of the roast.  There are a few other perfect & moist turkey secrets, but we'll save that for another day! :> 

8)  And after turkey day, we love our family outing to pick the perfectly tall Christmas tree!  I request (demand?) a tall one every year.  And the kidlets ooo and ahhh and giggle and cannot contain their excitement, which always make us smile just as brightly.

9)  And then there's the magical twelve days in stampy, inky, creative, crafty land that make so many of us giggle with childlike giddiness that is brought to us by Tim Holtz himself...his annual 12 Tags of Christmas!  Here are a few Tim inspired & guided tags that I made to pair up with dozens of smaller ones for teachers' Christmas gifts last year.

And as if the inspiration alone that Tim provides wasn't enough, he does giveaways all twelve days....and last year, I won one of them!!  Look at all those beautiful fabby Tim products!! :>

10)  And there's another kidlet Fall favorite that is mine as well because of the great thoughtfulness behind it.  An Auntie & Uncle always kindly got my kidlets a chocolate advent calendar every year.  But, once the GF/CF diet change was made, the regular chocolate advent calendars were no longer edible for one kidlet.  After a little research, she found a GF/CF one from Peanut Free Planet!  Wooohooo!

I could probably list another fifty things I love about the Fall season.  But, I'll spare ya & stick to the ten! :>

What are your Fall favorites?

Gettin' a little Moxie a la Tuesday Trigger!

When I saw the Light & Bright Tuesday Trigger picture on the Moxie Fab blog, I immediately knew I wanted to play along! The colors are so fresh, bold & fun!

Aren't these itty bitty composition books, only 4 1/2" x 3 1/4", cute??  I had so much fun making an altered journal for myself last month, and I thought it would be nice to have a mini version that would be small enough to fit into a purse for those creative random thoughts on the go!

The colors in the inspiration photo are what drew me in, so I reached for them in cardstock, ribbon & paints.  The Bermuda Bay cardstock was embossed with one of Tim's fabulous texture fades and then painted over with a yellow pearlescent paint, for the 'Light & Bright' element from the inspiration pic.

I used the same yellow pearlescent paint to put a top coat on the painted yellow 'K' grungeboard (more crafty goodness from uber creator Tim Holtz!), and one more place.  I painted yellow pearlescent paint all over the wide pink grosgrain ribbon!  I have never tried putting those paints onto ribbon or fabric before, but a whole new shimmery world just opened up and I like it.

I tried my best to capture the fantastic shimmer, shine & sparkle all over this little mini composition book.  All the areas that look like a camera's flash is putting a white-light look to it are indeed that shimmer, lit up not by any flash at all, but the sun.  (All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

It's a simple, sparkly little book that is making me all smile happy right about now.  And I wore that smile the whole time I made it because I got a chance to get crafty AND because I had my little Princess sitting across from me with recycled colorful tissue paper, a glue stick in her hand, and many Little Mermaid songs escaping her lips.

What's making you smile today? 

Supplies:

Cardstock:  Bermuda Bay (retired) - Stampin' Up!

Embossing Folder:  Dot Matrix of the Dot Matrix & Gridlock Set - Alterations by Tim Holtz

Embellishments:  'K' Grungeboard - Tim Holtz;  Wide pink grosgrain - Stash

Paints:  yellows - Making Memories;  Yellow Pearlescent Paint - Yasutomo

Crafted Minutes Create {Altered Journal}

Five minutes here and there for some creative, inky fun are not exactly conducive to finishing fast, but the process is still full o' fun and smile worthy playtime!

I started with a composition book and shirt that my daughter has outgrown, then pulled supplies from there.  Three patterned papers, Tim Holtz stamps, and I broke out an unopened pack of Tim's masks.

Tim's sentiment stamps are so fabulous (I just LOVE them!) that I couldn't use only one.  So, I collage stamped all of the stamps in his Just Thoughts set on the mini polka patterned paper.

If you've read my blog for awhile, you might have noticed that I really enjoy a clean look, love my cardstock, don't use a lot of patterned paper (though I collect it! lol), and rarely ever collage (I think I've only collaged something once on here).  But, I am happy with how this came out! :>

I definitely gave myself my stamper's manicure for this project, as I inked the edges of my background paper, painted & inked (with white acrylic paint, white pigment ink, pink dye ink) the binding, used multiple, alternating layers of white acrylic paint & pink dye ink over the Tim Holtz "K" mask, and once the mask was removed, the open area was filled with multiple layers of dimensional adhesive.  Add in Fabri-Tac, Modge Podge, white glue, and I had sticky, inky, painty hands.  But, I like that.  It means I found time to play!

I cut out a couple of the hearts on my Princess' old shirt, as well as a rectangle, which I used the reverse side of.  Some clouds were detail cut from patterned paper and hand cut scallops from the large glittered polka paper made for a couple of borders. 

One last detail that isn't showing on camera, but does in real life is the extra sparkle added to the journal's front.  Using a clear Spica glitter pen, I traced clouds, the polkas on two clouds, and certain words in the collage stamping that I wanted to emphasize.  Sorry I couldn't get the camera to pick it up, but it does balance out the sparkle on the large polkas.

There is a ton of that shirt left, so I will save it for when I eventually get to scrapping some pages during the shirt's time in my wee girl's life.  I also have the cutest pair of jeans, with sweetly colored & shaped buttons, lining the front pockets, that I'm holding on to for a scrapbook page or two of her.

Do you do that?  Do you save a favorite piece of clothing (kidlets' or your own) for a creative project?

I'm playing along with some creative peeps today!  Come visit some of the linkups...I'll bet you'll be inspired.  I'm off to see some inspiration too!! :>

                

Supplies:

Paper:  Sky's the Limit - Follow the Cloud - My Little Shoebox;  Baby Girl Dots (mini polkas) - My Mind's Eye;  AnimalCrackers 12x12 Ella Glittered Dot - Making Memories

Paint - White - Delta Ceramcoat & Adirondack Paint Dabber

Ink - Positively Pink Classic (Dye), White Craft (pigment) - Stampin' Up!

Masks - "K" from Alpha set - Tim Holtz, idea-ology

Stamps - Just Thoughts - Tim Holtz for Stamper's Anonymous

Adhesive - Fabri-Tac, Modge Podge, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Ribbon - Pink Ruffled Grosgrain - Stampin' Up!

Other - Composition Book - Target (wait for clearance after Back to School...30cents!); Fabric/Shirt - Old Navy

Butterfly {Dreams}

I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly........oh no....wait...that's Sound of Music...not quite where I was headed here. But, with spring in the air, I have butterflies on the brain. And since there is oh so often a song singing its notes in my head, its not a huge leap....right?

Okay, okay, so I imagine you came here for something other than the inner workings of my brain, yes?! So, I'll spare you the adventure that would require a five point harnass and show you.....a card!

I've had this fantastic butterfly lady stamp in my collection for over fifteen years now and I love her! She's a butterfly who just seems to be made of {dreams}. I stamped & embossed her with fabby pink foil embossing powder, also from my old stash.


Then! I decided to try one of my friend Elise's (Mamacow Creations) coloring techniques.....using Stampin' Up!'s watercolor wonder crayons with an Aqua Painter (taking the aqua painter brush tip to the tip of the crayon and then laying it on the paper) to add some pinks & purples to my fabby butterfly lady. (Okay, I definitely need some practice here, but I had fun trying this for the first time.) After cutting her out, I wanted to pop her up, but not so extreme like with foam, so I cut out three itty bitty strips of white cardstock, adhered them together, and then to the back of her body. See, she has lift! (Those Sound of Music lyrics are floating through my brain again!! :>)

Add some printed vellum with a fun K& Company rubon sentiment, bracketed with some Cosmo Cricket chipboard pieces (that were painted pink and decked out in Tim Holtz's Distress Stickles) and The Butterfly Lady has a safe place to land. (If you are noticing a difference in the colors, the first two shots were in the sun and the last one was shot in the shade.....and then my camera battery said it was tired and wanted a charge.)

The weather here has been like easy summer days this week.......we've been running in the 80's. And with tomorrow being the first official day of spring, it will be nice to have the sun out this weekend.

Does it look like spring where you live? Do you have any spring like activities planned this weekend? We're hoping to get some work done in the backyard, plant the parsley, sage, and chives that came home with my daughter and I this week, and clear out some room for the tomatoes that my kidlets are dying to plant! Happy Friday! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hibiscus Burst - Papertrey Ink
Paper: Vellum - Dollar Tree (I've had it in my stash for over five years now...lol!)
Stamp: Butterfly Lady - Hippo Heart

Ink: Versamark
Watercolor Wonder Crayons: Stampin' Up!
Rub On: K & Company
Chipboard: brackets - Cosmo Cricket
Other: embossing powder - from stash....and it has mysteriously disappeared, if it just as magically reappears, I'll update the info.; Paint - Delta & Making Memories; Worn Lipstick - Distress Stickles by Tim Holtz for Ranger; Bling - Stash (off brand from Walmart)

Detailed Fun with Just Us Girls & EBTKS

Come & Color, I did....but not with markers, pens, or pencils. But, I did have so much FUN with these colors for the Just Us Girls 21st challenge! I mean there were little giggles, lots of smiles, and oodles of delight as I played!

And all that delight is most definitely in the details! But, before I tell you about those details, let me share where the rest of the card came from.........the current sketch challenge from Everything But The Kitchen Sink! I have wanted to play along with the EBTKS crew from the beginning...thank goodness I finally did! :>

Okay, okay, back to some of those details! I cut some lovely K & Company printed paper into four squares, used some temporary adhesive to adhere them all butted up against each other (as in one big square) and then using coral and raspberry ink, I inked up some fun stripes. If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now (or again) that I feel just like a kid when I get all inky....instant happy pill!


Next, I spread out those four squares, adhered them to a piece of raspberry cardstock, pierced around the edges, using the Tim Holtz Clear Design Ruler (I LOVE this tool!), and hand stitched with vanilla embroidery thread. Matting the whole thing onto a chocolate card base, I turned to the rest of those fun details.

That fab scalloped square chipboard frame took a quick bath in some ivory paint and then went for a good soak in some of Tim Holtz's Distress Rock Candy crackle paint. I stamped that wonderful sentiment (that oh so fits my love of the little things in life!) in brown StazOn onto vanilla cardstock, cut it out with a circle Coluzzle (still do not understand why it was discontinued!) and it too went for a soak in Rock Candy. And when they started cracking like mad, can you see why giggles were escaping me?! When they were all dry (the cardstock curled, but I simply bent it back and smoothed it out), I rubbed some coral ink onto it and rubbed off the excess.....its a very subtle effect, but it does add to it. I also did the same dry rubbed ink on the sweet vanilla wood button.

The last bit of details rest in the fibers. I layered the stitched raspberry ribbon on top of chocolate ribbon...I just like the subtle extra bit of chocolate in the middle of the card. Now the stitching on that raspberry ribbon is white and that just didn't work. So, I took a Q-Tip, dabbed it in some Distress ink and ran it over the stitches. Again, very subtle, but it took the edge off of the white stitching and made it applicable to the color challenge, which calls for vanilla, not white! I tied the whole bow together with some brown embroidery floss and that sweet vanilla wood button!

Big Thank Yous to both the JUGS & EBTKS teams for creating their fabulous & fun challenge sites! So glad I crafted some time to play!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week! I'm off to celebrate some of the cherrished details in my own life.....in fact, one is smiling at me right now, while nibbling on her carrot! :>

And don't forget my Blog Birthday Giveaway is still going on!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate & Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Purely Pomegranate - Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: K & Company

Ink: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate - Stampin' Up!; Vintage Cream - Papertrey Ink; Timber Brown - StazOn by Tsukineko; Old Paper Distress Ink - Tim Holtz for Ranger
Stamps: Life Bundle - Kolette Hall
Chipboard: Scalloped square frame - Stampin' Up!; circles/Chips (2 circles under the sentiment) - Bazzill
Paint: Ivory - Delta; Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint - Tim Holtz for Ranger
Ribbon & Fibers: Purely Pomegranate Saddle Stitched, Chocolate Chip grosgrain - Stampin' Up!; Chocolate embroidery thread - Making Memories; Vanilla embroidery floss - DMC
Button: sweet flower wooden button - La*di*dah for Ki Memories

Tim Holtz Tag & Christmas Teacher Gifts

Rocky Candy, how I love you....let me count the ways..... Well, if I truly did count.....this post would go on and on and on and on and on and on and ON! {And since I'm already a chatty gal, I'd rather just leave room on the post for that chatter!} But, needless to say, I LOVE the stuff, both the Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint alike...thank you Tim Holtz!

Here are some of my tags that I made based on his first inspirational tag from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas:

I made five total. These three went on top of the blank Stampin' Up! tags I made for my son's teachers' Christmas presents this year.

In addition to the uber fabulous Rock Candy Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint, I loved how I made my snowmen! I do not have Tim's fun snowman stamp, so I punched out three circles, taped them together, layed them on top of Grunge Paper (I didn't even realize it was Grunge Paper and not Grunge Board, until he did a tag later down the line with it.......then I went back and looked and what do ya know!!! :>), traced and cut out my snowmen.

Next, I inked them up with black ink and embossed them twice with clear embossing powder. I inked up the snowflake stamp with Versamark and then pressed it down into the embossed snowman while the embossing powder was still warm. When it cooled down, I removed the stamp and it left a snowflake depression in my snowman (Thank you Claire for showing me that technique! :>). And then I added the white paint, followed the rest of Tim's instructions, and I had SO MUCH FANTASTIC FUN!!!! I felt like an inky, sticky kidlet making these and I think I had a permenant Chesire smile etched into my face! :>

Using assorted Stampin' Up! tag stamps, I made fifty-four tags, eighteen for each teacher. I used my Spica glitter pens to add some sparkle, some crystal Stickles for snow, and threaded each one with coordinating embroidery thread.

To present them, I threaded through each set of tags with a double strand of silver cord, put a signed large Tim snowman tag on top, and tied them off. School let out a week before Christmas this year, so these were practical for the teachers to use on their gifts. Practical, crafty, and fun makes for a great gift in my book and hopefully, in their books as well. These three women have been wonderful assets in our son's life and we are thankful for all of them!

Supplies:
Cardstock: White - Georgia Pacific; Certainly Celery - Stampin' Up!; Pure Poppy - Papertrey Ink; turquoise & blue - Stash
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue - Stampin' Up!; black - India Ink; Faded Jeans, Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Weathered Wood - Tim Holtz Distress Inks for Ranger
Stamps - Stampin' Up! (all except snowflake....$ stamp from stash)
Other: silver ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Grunge Paper & Board, Stickles, Distress Crackle Paint, Spica glitter pens - Copic; Paint Dabber - Adirondack; Versamark ink; clear embossing powder, embroidery floss & fibers - Stash

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas!!

Its the most wonderful time of the year..................................Tim Holtz is doing his 12 Tags of Christmas again this year!!!! I have SOOOOOOO enjoyed his creative bonanza at the beginning of December the last two years and can you tell that I am excited that he will be doing it again this year?!!?!! Yahoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! If you have never followed Tim for this, definitely be sure to hop on over there and visit him during this time....each and every day for oodles of creativity and inky fun!!

Stop the presses.......

........I stamped a card! Waaahooooooo! I know its been a bit and I'm so sorry for that. Life has just been a wee bit busy and the first thing a lack of energy seems to zap, is my creativity. Grrr... Now, even though, I still feel as if I am a cat chasing her tail some days, I decided to craft some time for myself to ink up a stamp that I've had sitting out for awhile now. I absolutely love the detailed images of Mostly Animals stamps and this sunflower is from my stash from back in my early stamping days......about fifteen years ago.

Did you know that you can emboss with your Distress Inks?? Remembering hearing (okay, so I didn't hear it...I read it!) on the 2Peas stamping board (a couple of years ago) that you can emboss with Distress Inks, I thought it was about time I finally try it out for myself! Even though they are dye inks, they do stay wet long enough to pour on embossing powder and heat. Sooooooo....add another dozen ink colors for me to emboss with....yay! (There are way more than a dozen colors....but that's about the number that I own.) Does this add to your collection of colors to emboss with? Or are you an uber cool stamping encyclopedia and already have this knowledge incorporated into all those fun files in your brain?

Even though I had much more elaborate plans for this beautiful stamp, once I stamped and embossed her, I found that I liked the detailed line image so much that I chose to leave it as is. Wanting a bit of color on the card, I punched a trio of butterflies to flit up the card from some Stampin' Up! DSP left overs I had on my table, inked the edges with the same Distress Ink, folded them up, glued them on, and added a touch of bling for some sparkle. Actually, while the pic doesn't show it, there already is a bit of sparkle embossed into the image. Do you remember that orange glitter I had covering my old stash of embossing powder, glitter, and flocks? Well, there was a touch of it left on the rubber of my sunflower stamp that I absolutely could not get off.......until I stamped it on my card and then it was embossed in for a permanent home. Now, I'm really glad its there as for some reason, it just works!


Here's one more trip down memory lane..............back in May, I shared with you some wonderful Strawberry Charm of and from my sweet boy. Well, here is strawberry number four....kind of. That plant has flowered and fruited many times now. But, the noisy blue jays that visit us in our backyard every afternoon this year have been eating them all summer long!! My sweet boy got so excited every time he saw a "pretty white flower" because he knew that a strawberry that he planted, watered, and nurtured would follow that he could eat. We kept encouraging him to keep taking care of it and more would come. Well, either the blue jays found something more interesting to eat or the tomato cage with the reflective strips tied on is working or my sweet boy's timing has improved because he has been able to reap the benefits of his care taking as he harvests and eats the last four ripened strawberries from his charming strawberry plant. Now he wants to grow tomatoes, eggplants, lettuce, zucchinis, and a whole host of other fruits and vegetables!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bashful Blue - Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up!
Stamp: Sunflower - Mostly Animals
Ink: Tea Dye - Distress Ink
Punch: Butterflies - Martha Stewart
Other: clear embossing powder - Stash; Hemp Twine - Stampin' Up!; Bling - Me & My Big Ideas

KWerner Color Inspiration #55...my 1st time playing along!

Amazingly, I have never played along with one of Kristina's color challenges before. But, that ended today. I have a couple of new books by my bedside and I am so tired of pulling the nearest thing to mark my page....a paper clip, a barrette, and my old standby, a kleenex! So, a bookmark seemed to be calling my name.

With Kristina's colors in mind, I riffled through my stamps and pulled out quite an assortment that have most definitely not received the love they deserve. First, I cut a piece of More Mustard down to size. Next, I stamped an antique map of Africa. Then, I stamped the sentiment and the Tim Holtz clock with Versamark and embossed with russet embossing powder. I stamped some vines randomly all over the cardstock (these were not embossed) for a tone on tone effect.

Not wanting to add any cream cardstock to the bookmark, I went through my options to include the color. Cream ink? Nope, don't have it. Cream rub-ons? Nope, none in a shape that would work for me. Hmmmmmmm.......what else do I have?? Then it came to me!! Prismacolor colored pencils!!! PC914, Cream, at my service! I know this seems so simple, but its a major light bulb tip moment for me!!! With my pencils, I pretty much have any color that could be used in a color challenge, even if I do not have it in ink, cardstock, or ribbon! I used the cream colored pencil to color the edges, as you would ink the edges with an ink pad. This light bulb moment just tickled me oh so pink....er, um, cream colored?!

I finished the bookmark off with a Making Memories pebble clip at the top and matted the stamped More Mustard carstock on to a piece of Really Rust cardstock. One thing I want to note, I know that the embossing powder looks a bit different in color to the cardstock, but they really are the same color in real life.

I typically do not collage stamp. Yet, I had so much fun here and really like how it came out.....not to mention, all of the unused stamps and supplies that are feelin' the love with this simple little creation! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: More Mustard, Really Rust - Stampin' Up!
Ink: Versamark - Tsukineko; Weathered Wood Distress Ink - Ranger
Stamps: Antique Maps - Sunday International; Decorative Flair (vine) - Stamped In Ink; Sentiment, Special Occasions - Marcella by K&Company; Clock, Life's Possibilities - Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous
Embossing Powder: Russet - The Herbarium
Embellishment: Travel Pebble Clips
Other: Prismacolor Colored Pencil