Hip Hop ... Pity

 I was inspired by Tim's demo from his Easter + Spring Ideas 2024 live to make a fun Easter card.

I started with distress mixed media heavy stock as the base. Smooshed distress inks on my craft sheet, spritz with water, dabbed card base in inks and heat setting between layers.

Next I placed the stencil from TH/SA mixed media stamps and stencil set, THMM183, (circles) onto inked background and coloured with distress watercolour pencils, then lifting the stencil to out line them. This is a really cool technique. You can find this in Tim's demo. It's at the 1:36:31 mark. 

The TH/Sizzix bigz die butterfly duo with texture fades is perfect for this card, just the right size and the details are awesome. Distress oxides for the base and distress ink in scorched timber swiped over the raised embossed area. I love the look that scorched timber gives, it's almost a black brown depending on how you apply it. 

Switching the butterfly up by adding bunny ears from TH/Sizzix thinlits bunny hop vault die for the antennas, coloured with distress inks, to give dimension to the ears.

The fonts of the stamp set Crazy Talk are so fun. I used the quirky hand written saying 'hippity hoppity' inked in distress embossing ink and embossed with Ranger embossing powder - white, on blackout kraft stock. Then cut the words in sections to create my own words.

Pop ups for the butterfly, rabbit ears and sookwang adhesive for the words.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina 

Beauty in Nature

 Inspiration is only a neighbour's backyard away. There is a lot of beauty in nature, and this is how I came up with an idea for a card.

The base: 

I smooshed distress inks and oxide on craft sheet and embossed with one of my many favourite texture fades falling snow. It seems appropriate as we still have a bit of snow especially on the Rockie Mountains. You can find this easy technique on my previous blog post here. 

It's all in the layers:

Inspiration for the greenery/twig pot came from my neighbours backyard. They have a few planters that bloom, usually late spring to early summer. For the pot I used TH/Sizzix bigz die potted, embossed with 3D lumber, blended with distress inks and distress crayon for definition. The silver bans around the pot were made with kraft metallic card stock, sanding them down to create texture and using a distress crayon for hi lights.

The twigs, eggs and greenery are from the thinlit dies, wildflower stems #1 and funky nature. Feathered friends is one of my favourite dies, the small bird fits perfectly on top of the greenery and branches. I gave this little birdie a nice soft blend of distress inks.

The fonts from the TH/SA crazy talk set are so fun to play with. I chose the hand written saying 'a little birdie told me' and inked it with distress archival ink. 

I wanted something for the bird to perch on and the branch from mini tattered florals die did the trick. Grabbed  scraps from the 3D lumber which I used to make the pot for added texture. One of the signs of Spring is pussy willows. Modern floristry dies came to the rescue for the willows. Those tiny dots are perfect.

The finishing touches: 

Walnut stain distress ink is my go to for blending edges on card stock. It gives a nice soft blend with the right amount of definition. Mastering the art of sewing can be very challenging. I'm not a seamstress by any means, but I do like to sew borders on my makes. I was hoping for a more tattered messy look, but having more patience  and slowly lightening the weight on the petal, gave me a more crisp stitch vibe. Though I did leave some loose threads at the top for some added flair.

I hope you enjoyed the back story of inspiration and the process of my make.

Christina 

Hello Spring

 It's beginning of March, and I can't wait for Spring to come. It's still Winter where we live, with lots of snow, but that doesn't stop the birds from feeding. I saw a bird the other day, and felt inspired to make a card.

The Base:

Using distress watercolour card stock as a base, smoosh distress inks in weathered wood, tumbled glass and speckled egg on base. Heat set between layers, then dab into distress oxide speckled egg and heat set. Next emboss background with TH/Sizzix alterations texture fades snowfall.

It's all in the layers:

My go to for greenery is TH/Sizzix thinlits mini holiday greens and garden greens. They are so versatile and create awesome layering for wreaths and swags. For more definition, swipe or blend distress ink in walnut stain around edges of greenery. For the Spring bird, I used thinlits feathered friends and blended distress inks in scorched timber, walnut stain, rusty hinge, and speckled egg. The little branch that the bird is perched on, is a texture wood plank that I had on hand in my stash. I rolled the plank up to create a stick. The making of the planks is a lot of fun. My go to dies are 3D texture fades lumber and bigz die planks.

The finishing touches:

Next I machine stitched a border with cream thread, leaving the ends hanging loosely. Then to complete the card, I added a TH/idea ology word token and hi lighted the word 'hello' with distress crayon in picket fence. Then slid the token through one of the branches and adhered with collage medium.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina 

Field Notes

 'With brave wings she flies'

Inspiration can come from anywhere, but somehow it means more coming from your surroundings. One of our Swedish Aspen trees in our backyard inspired me to make. This picture was taken a day before the snow storm hit.

......and this is what I came up with.

The Base:

Starting with distress watercolour card stock as a base, blend distress ink in lost shadow. Emboss with texture fades birch trees. Next swipe pumice stone distress oxide over top on the raised areas of the birch trees.

It's all in the layers:

Using watercolour card stock, emboss with 3D texture fades in cracked, then die cut embossed background with the thinlits die branched birch. This gives it a more wood like texture for the trees. Next swipe distress inks in old paper and scorched timber, overlapping on the trunks. Use pop ups and overlay on top of background to create dimension.

Making the birds into robins:

Die cut mixed media heavy stock in white with the thinlits dies in silhouette birds. Then blend with distress inks in rusty hinge, pumice stone and scorched timber. Next using a splat box, splatter brush and distress paint in picket fence is used to create the white dots on the birds. Added pop ups for dimension.

The finishing touches:

Machine stitched the two sides of the card leaving loose threads at each of the corners. Wrap twine around the card a few times and thread through a TH/idea-ology word token, then tie a knot at the end. To hi light the words on the token, rub distress crayon in picket fence over top, and gently wipe away excess crayon.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

My Craft Space

 Ready. And. Breathe.

It's a very good feeling and a sense of accomplishment when you set out goals no matter how big or small, and get it done. This was the last few days for me. I set myself up to reorganize my craft space. The agony and fear of possibly missing something only to find it was right under your nose. lol Although I did purge a few things to donate, which feels good. I can honestly say, it's a Zen moment. 'Ahhhh' After 3 days my craft space is finished. Now for the guided tour. I took a few photos for hi lights and my most favourite storage spaces. So here we go.....

A view from the door going into my craft space. Who would've thought there would be carpet and room to walk around, lol. It's very gratifying to know that there is a sacred space away from the world that is your own. 

This side of my craft desk is where I keep my distress inks/oxides. They are in those white shelving cubes to the left of my desk. They are very handy especially when working on a project. The other half of my desk is where you will find me in the 'Zone' Everything I need is at the ready. From distress watercolour card stock to collage medium etc. 

 

'If you're waiting for a sign ~ this is it'  

This is one of my favourite signs, I got it at a show home furniture store, long time ago. This is apart of a shelving unit, the top part actually and one of my favourites, down below is where I keep my reinkers, adhesives, twine etc. 

This has got to be one of my all time favourite storage solutions. These are two shelving units with nine cubes per unit. Although I liked having my TH/SA stamps in their binders, I felt I was missing out on what they looked like and are now much easier to find. The same goes for the TH/Sizzix dies, I had stored them in fabric cubes. It looked nice but wasn't the same. I'm a visual person. So this is perfect for me.

Here is a close up of how I store my stamp sets. These wired baskets are perfect for them. Each basket holds 20 stamp sets. I absolutely LOVE it! And yes I'm a "flicker" lol! It's easy for me to sort through and take what I need.

The same goes for Tim's dies. These wired baskets hold 36 thinlit dies and about 10 of the bigz dies. It's very convenient and I gotta say I love the look of it! 

I hope you enjoyed my mini tour of my craft space and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

Limited Edition

 A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.........

I've always been a StarWars fan, since I was young. When I received "Walter" (he was the chosen one from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Diecember gift) many ideas came to mind. But this one in particular stood out. I managed to make Walter into Darth Vader.

Using the Alphanumeric lower (the letter l) and kraft stock in metallic and blackout, I made the light sabre. Then attached it to Walter. The body of Walter is layered with Kraft stock in black and grey. The base of the card I used the distress two tone wood grain black, from Tim's Halloween release, a couple years back.

Making of the Death Star: with cms405 mini glitch. The circle with many designs was perfect for the death star. Using distress oxides in black soot, hickory smoke and lost shadow, stamping the image 3 times in each distress colour and cutting out sections from the stamped images, in hickory smoke and lost shadow, leaving the stamped image in black soot for the base. This adds dimension to the death star.

TH/SA cms446 noteworthy stamps are the perfect font for this card. I chose "limited edition" and stamped with distress archival ink in black soot. 

Adding a few pop ups behind Walter to add dimension.

I hope you enjoyed how I made Walter into Darth Vader and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

Wishes

 Creating a non traditional Christmas card or can be made for any occasion. Using the ever popular stamp from Tim and Stampers Anonymous, the inspector. I knew the moment I got this stamp set, what great inspiration would come from it. 

I made a mini slimline card.

The base

Mixed media heavy stock as the base. "Smooshed" into distress ink pumice stone. Heat setting between layers. 

It's all in the layers

Create a mask by stamping the dial from cms465 the inspector in distress archival black soot onto copy paper and fussy cut. First stamp the dial on the background, then temporarily adhere mask over top, then stamp those funky letters on the top and bottom of background in distress archival ground espresso.

The Inspectors hat is stamped in distress archival dusty concord and ground espresso. His glasses stamped in dusty concord and coloured with distress watercolour pencil crayon in villanous potion. Used an eraser for hi lights. Next fussy cut the hat and glasses and adhere with pop ups to card.

Finishing touches 

For the word "wishes" I used one of Tim's older Sizzix dies holiday words: blocks (retired), using the positive letters on purple kraft stock.

Next I machine stitched on either side of the word "wishes" with cream thread, leaving loose threads at the corners.

Blend distress ink in walnut stain around the edges of card. (this is my go to for blending the edges of my makes) Then I added distress archival in ground espresso, by swiping it around the edges of the tag for added dimension.

This was a really fun card to make. 

I hope you enjoyed the process as much as I did making it. The possibilities are endless.

Christina