Winner Winner!

Hello and Welcome LONG Weekend! 

I'm hopping on quick to share my news:  I am one of the winners of Tim Holtz 

August 12 Tags of 2016. I have participated with Tim's 12 Tags series for years and have quite a collection!! They are great to refer to and provide lots in inspiration. This year's Technique Remix has been a great reminder of past techniques combined with new and old products to create a new look. It's a chance to try new products, reconnect with older products and refresh past techniques! It has been a blast! 

Here's Tim's August tag

and here's my tag

I went beachy with my version, using what I had in my stash. I have more close ups of my tag on my post >here<.

Thanks Tim and Mario for selecting my tag as a winner! You guys rock! 

Thanks for letting me share my exciting news and I hope you have an awesome Labor Day Weekend.

Stay safe is you are effected by Hurricane Hermine! 

Random Thoughts and Gettin' Messy Again!

Hello Everyone! Hope you are all well. I've been quite busy with Miss Lola who is now 4 months old. I haven't had a puppy in sooooo long I forgot how time consuming it is - in a great way. She fills a huge void since I lost Simba (the best dog EVER) last December. The house training is a long process for us and it's getting better but we're not there yet. Teething is still difficult but I seem to have the patience for that. The accidents in the house is when I lose my cool! The drawback of having this adorable creature is less creative time. I haven't created anything in the mixed media realm in awhile so I'm trying to add that back into my creative schedule. Still trying to add gym time but haven't figured it all out yet.
I'm realizing something creative has to go or get condensed - between project life, maintaining two planners, trying to keep up with SSS Card Kits, work and the puppy, my studio time is so limited. Plus it's summer and I want to be outside. At one point I thought I wanted to keep three planners going: one for everyday life, one for blogging and Design Team stuff and a third for fitness. That was fine when I was out of work recuperating from my surgery (no puppy at that point). Now I realize, that's not gonna happen. I want to continue with the two planners I have going now because I've put a ton of time and $$ into them. Starting next year, I'll use one planner for everything. A vertical style would be perfect - one section for everyday life and appointments, one sections for DT stuff and a third for fitness/meals. Simplifying planning will allow me more time for Project Life and Mixed Media. I need to decide which planner will be the best for that - there are so many great planners out there - I've experimented with many this year. So, lots going through my head at the moment.
I have missed Mixed Media so I jumped back in and created Tim Holtz  August 12 Tags of 2016. Here's Tim's Tag.

I went with a beachy color scheme and used a stamped shell as my focal point. Here's my tag.

I used what I had in my stash. I don't have the Wildflower Thinlit Dies yet and was going for a beachy theme, so I stamped a shell image on watercolor paper and water colored the shell with distress ink. Here's some close ups. The image alone looked small on the tag until I added some cheesecloth behind it. I colored the cheesecloth with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain. The quote is fitting as I'm slowly getting back to mixed media.

I love how these Distress colors blend: Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon and Mowed Lawn. 

The honeycomb die was fun to use. I cut the frame from burlap and filled in the open spaces with corrugated cardboard, cork paper, canvas and scrapbook paper scraps. 

This was a fun tag to create and I love using what's in my stash. 

Thanks for stopping by and I'll return next week with more projects! Happy Friday! 

Supplies Used:

• #8 Manila Tag
• Frameworks Honeycomb
• CMS194 Nautical Blueprint Stamps
• Distress Inks: Scattered Straw, Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean
• Distress Stains: Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon, Mowed Lawn
• Distress Paint: Picket Fence
• Distress Spray Stain: Antique Linen
• Distress Sprayer
• Distress Splatter Brush
• Distress Watercolor Cardstock 
• Archival Ink: Jet Black
• Alcohol Ink: Mushroom
• Linen Ribbon
• Small Talk Stickers
• Vial Labels
• Mirrored Hearts
• Multi Medium Matte
• Mini Ink Blending Tool
• Mini Brayer
• Paper Distresser
• Water Brush - Detail Tip
• Heat Tool
• Scissors
• Bigshot Plus
• Textured Surfaces
• Paper Scraps
• Cheesecloth

12 Tags of 2016 | May

Hello Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend and are ready to tackle Monday! Today I'm 6 weeks post-op and am feeling great. I have a few more weeks off before I go back to work and I'm cramming as much creative time into my days as possible. I have Physical Therapy three times a week, some errands to run during the week and walking on my non-PT days. I'm trying to build my strength up but it's a slow process. I'm doing great, just wish I was able to walk a longer distance. I know that will come but I'm anxious to improve!! I'm still amazed at how pain free I am - just dealing with muscle aches as PT gets more intense. Once PT is over, I'm joining my local YMCA and I'll start weight training and try to tone up and lose more weight! I'm anxious to get stronger and hope all continues to go smoothly.

This week I have three projects to share. Today I have a mixed media tag. I finally finished Tim Holtz  12 Tags of 2016 May Technique Remix. I jumped ahead to May so I could enter into the current 12 Tags Challenge and I'll catch up with April's tag sometime soon. Here's Tim's Tag using a cool resist technique.

I didn't have some of the supplies Tim used so I improvised. Here's my tag.

 We started with tissue tape on a few places on the tag and stamped our images with archival ink. Then came the fun of adding colors to the tag and the tissue tape resists the colors so the images stand out.

I didn't have Tim's Tiny Tattered Florals Thinlits Dies so I used his Heirloom Roses and colored them with coordinating alcohol inks. I added the roses to the hat of the Couture Lady Stamp, which is Dyan Reavley's. 

The crinkled ribbon and lace were colored with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain and I added a watch charm from my stash.

This was fun to create and I'm happy with the results. I love using the new mini stencils - perfectly sized for these tags. The subtle spots of Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain add a nice shimmer effect to the tag.

Thanks for stopping by today. I'll be back tomorrow with a new layout and later this week I'll have a new Project Life page created with a card kit!!! 

Have a great Monday!!

12 Tags of 2016 Continued

Hi there - Happy Monday! It's Spring here in New England, so what does that mean ...  why, snow of course!! Snow, wicked winds and hail. Snow, yesterday and today. Not alot of snow, but enough to make it slick under foot and make commuting a pain in the butt! Oh yah, and it's cold again. So what to do ... CREATE!!

I finished a layout, which I'll post tomorrow. I also photographed my January and February Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016. I've already posted my March tag - you can see post that here. January's tag was done while I was at Crop on the Cape 2016 with my Artsy Fartsy Girls. Here's January's tag based on Tim's.

Here's my January Tag 

I like the foil taped background technique.

My new fav technique is using Picket Fence Distress Crayon to add color to metal embellishments - it's so much easier than paint!! 

I really loved February's tag - the colors and gold embossing are gorgeous. I worked on February's tag right after the crop with one of my Artsy Fartsy girls. Here's Tim's tag

I used my own photo to personalize the tag. Tim's new tag-sized stencils are perfect and were used on this tag. Here's my version

I love this photo of my Grandma and Aunt - they are both so young and all dressed up! Hats were so in then!! This close up shows the lovely gold embossing. 

The ribbon is so vibrant - it was stained with Candied Apple Red Distress Spray Stain - one of the new distress colors from 2015. 

Well, I'm officially caught up on my 12 Tags of 2016!! I'm gathering my supplies for April's tag which features a technique I'm anxious to try. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Monday!!

12 Tags of 2016 | March

Hello and Happy Wednesday! I'm back to reality (boo!) after a wonderful, fun creative weekend at Crop on the Cape 2016. I met some great new friends and reunited with awesome old friends. I haven't laughed that much in a while. I stayed up LATE chatting and had such fun. I'm already looking out for the dates for next year! I have some pics of my weekend on my Instagram account. 

The Artsy Fartsy Girls, Jenn Shurkus, Rachel Kleinman and I got together at the crop to work on our Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016. We created January's Tag which I will post later. Rachel and I finished February and March's tags this past Monday! I wanted to share March's tag with you today. I love how this came out and it was great to use the new Distress Crayons for the first time! Here's Tim's Tag ...

I stayed true to the tag except I used a shorter piece of corrugated cardboard so the bright colors are exposed on the top and bottom of the tag as well as through the butterflies. Here's my tag including a few close ups.

How pretty is the contrast of the bright Distress Crayons with the grungy look of the corrugated cardboard. The Distress Crayons are so easy to use and blend really well with your finger!

The Picket Fence Distress Crayon is a great way to color in metal word bands - so much easier than paint!!

I LOVE how this turned out.
Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back with January and February's tag soon, as well as the other projects I completed at the crop! Have a great week! 

Supplies:

Ranger ISM-27973 Inkssentials Surfaces Manila Craft Tag, 6-1/4 by 3-1/8-Inch, 20-Pack	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - Set Number 1, 2 and 3	Tim Holtz - Ground Espresso Distress Bundle - Paint, Marker, Stain, Ink Pad, Spray Stain, Reinker -	Ranger 15-Inch-by-18-Inch Inkssentials Craft Sheet	Ranger August Ground Expresso Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains Bottles, 1.9 oz
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains Bottles, 1.9-Ounce, Picket Fence	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains Bottles, 1.9-Ounce, Tarnished Brass	Ranger Collage Glue Stick, 0.5-Ounce	Ranger Dina Wakley Media Gesso, 4-Ounce, White	Ranger Heat it Craft Tool, European Version
Ranger - Tim Holtz Collage Mediums - Crazing, Vintage & Matte Full-Size Set with Brushes Bundle	Mini Ink Blending Tool-1	Ranger Shiny Transfer Foil Vintage Sheets (10 Pack)	Linen Ribbon by Tim Holtz Idea-ology, 10 Yards, Tan, TH93102	Tonic Studios Tim Holtz 817 Kushgrip Non Stick Micro Serrated Snips, 7
Fiskars 12 Inch LED SureCut Folding Rotary Paper Trimmer (154470-1002)	Idea-Ology Textured Surfaces-	Quote Bands by Tim Holtz Idea-ology	Brand New Sizzix Bigz Die W/A2 Texture Fades Folder By Tim Holtz-Butterfly Duo Brand New	Sizzix 661185 Mixed Media #2 Thinlits Die Set by Tim Holtz (3 Pack)
Sizzix 660340 Big Shot Plus Cutting/Embossing Machine, White/Gray	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tiny Attacher Stapler Tool Mini Staples	Metal Tiny Attacher Refills by Tim Holtz Idea-ology, Box of 1550 Staples, .25 Inches, TH92801	Menagerie Mini Stash by Tim Holtz Idea-ology, 36 Sheets, Double-Sided Cardstock, 8 x 8 Inch, Multico

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