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 

Prancer

 I created this simple card using one of Tim's older dies and Holiday Knit 3D multi level texture fades from his new release.

Using neenah solar card stock for the base, run the 3D multi level texture fades holiday knits to create background.

I was sorting through my stash when I came across a couple packs of grunge board (retired) and decided to use it with the TH/Sizzix Alterations Bigz die Prancing Deer (retired). It cuts like a dream through the Sizzix foldaway.

One of the things I love most about grunge board is the texture and adding colour using distress paints. I used antique linen and gathered twigs. Once paint is dry, add walnut stain distress ink around the edges for definition.

After adhering deer to card base, die cut word "merry" from the TH/Sizzix thinlits Handwritten Holidays (retired) and stamp from cms429 sketch greenery with distress archival in fired brick.

It's always fun to search through your craft supplies, you never know when something special will pop up.

Hope you enjoyed the process and it leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

Rustic Winter

 Creating a simple Christmas card, using  Tim's/Stampers Anonymous Christmas stamp sets cms476 Winter Woodlands and Stamptember 2023. What I love about these stamps so much is how easy they are to mix and match. This is the card I came up with.

The Base

I like to use neenah solar card stock 110 lbs. It's sturdy enough to hold layers of card stock and embellishments on any card. Using it as a full base for any card.

Using distress watercolour card stock as a base, smoosh distress ink and oxide in pumice stone on craft mat, spritzing with water and heat setting between layers, till desired effect. 

It's all in the layers

cms476 Winter Woodland background stamp is perfect for this card base. Stamped using distress archival in ground espresso, letting it fade onto the base as the first layer. Next stamp the tree off to the side and overlapping the background with distress archival in forest moss and peeled paint. The bottom of the tree in ground espresso.

Finishing touches

Next I chose a saying from this years Stamptember2023 set. let it snow. let it snow. let it snow. and the snowflakes in distress archival ground espresso. Then for an additional final touch I popped up a square from the background stamp, using the 3D texture fades wood grain and distress archival inks in vintage photo and ground espresso to make the image stand out. 

I just love how easy it is to mix and match Tim's stamps, the possibilities are endless.

Hope this leaves you feeling inspired.

Christina

Ugly Sweater

 It's ugly sweater season and what better way to celebrate than with an ugly sweater Christmas card. 

The base 

Using mixed media heavy stock as the base, stamp with cms475 ticking and grain, with distress inks in peeled paint and forest moss, by spraying the stamp first to achieve a watercolour effect.

It's all in the layers

Emboss background with 3D texture fades in woven, then machine stitch to create border.

Making the ugly sweater, using Stamptember2023 coordinating dies (sweater) apply distress oxide in aged mahogany and emboss sweater with 3D multi level in holiday knit, next swipe distress archival in vintage photo over top of sweater.

Using THS030 layering stencil in Christmas, blend with distress inks in aged mahogany and fired brick, then emboss with 3D woodgrain, swiping folder first with distress archival vintage photo and after with ground espresso.

The sayings from Stamptember2023 are so fun! I chose one that fits this card perfectly. Stamping directly to the card with distress archival in ground espresso.

The finishing touch 

An ugly sweater cannot be complete without it's clothes hanger. Just tuck it in behind your ugly sweater. The metal hanger is from my stash. Next take a baby or alcohol wipe, and dab away some of the Christmas words you want to fade away.

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

Christina