Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 - October

Hello and welcome. It's been a busy month here at Moonshine Manor and it has been difficult to find time for crafting. That said, today is my birthday so I have treated myself to some me time in the old Chambre de Craft and am delighted to have started AND finished my October Tim Tag.

You can see Tim's original design here. Once again I have had to work around my woeful  lack of TH supplies but I'm really pleased with the results.

I'm enjoying my Halloween crafting and seem to be getting a dedicated "spooky corner" in my craft room.

Thank you for visiting.

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 - September

Once upon a time (30 or so years ago) I was a Girl Guide. I'm not ashamed to admit it, it's a big part of what has made me the independent and practical person I am today. 

When I was a Girl Guide we had a District Commissioner called Mrs Armstrong a lovely (very posh) lady for whom we all had affection and a great deal of respect. Mrs Armstrong was the lady who, apart from her role as Commissioner, tested us for our Camping Badge and the Commonwealth Badge for those few of us who became Queen's Guides. As such she was a stickler for things to be done - just so. Mrs Armstrong was  a "tough cookie" but she was also an inspirational leader whose words have stayed with me to this day. In a difficult situation she would always exhort, "Stick-ability girls! You must have stick-ability!" What she meant, of course, was that however difficult or frustrating a task is, you must keep at it until you've completed it, that you never give up.

Why am I telling you this? Because my September Tag has been an exercise in stick-ability. My completed tag is my fourth attempt at what should have been a pretty straight forward layered stencil technique (you can see Tim's Tag here). I really don't know why I had such a nightmare with this tag, but the problem came not with the layered stencils but with THE most basic step - Distress Staining my tag!

In the end I did admit defeat (I was running out of tags) and switched from DS to Dylusions spray inks and was MUCH happier with the results - I'm wondering if the root of the problem lay in the fact that I don't have a full arsenal of Distress Stains and the colours I do have just weren't working for me - who knows?

Anyway, I hope this explains the sentiment I've used on my tag, and you might notice the brass tag attached to the ribbon - a lucky find from my stash of random stuff!

I really like the effect of the honeycomb stencil on the seam binding.

I used a That Special Touch mica mask (swirls) inked with Gathered Twigs DI in place of Tim's Rays, I really like the effect of the subtle darker shade over the vibrant Dylusions. (Cherry Pie, Lemon Zest and Squeezed Orange)

Love that Cherry Pie ink, it looks great with the black stamping.

I'm pleased with the final result, so sticking at it definitely paid off!

Thank you for looking, please leave me a comment so I know you came and I'll try and visit you too.

Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013 - August

Hello and welcome!

Firstly a HUGE THANK YOU to Mr Holtz and his team for picking me as one of the winners for the July Tag, I was really thrilled to click on the August Tag and find li'l ol' me on the list of winners. As a relative newbie it was a massive honour and a huge shock to see my name "in lights", so please forgive me while I do a little happy dance........ there, that's done.

Secondly an equally HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has been kind enough to leave me a comment. Thank you for your kind wishes and your interest, they are always very much appreciated.

Thirdly a HUGE Th... only kidding :0) Thirdly, to business...

Tim's August Tag (you can see it here) is on a travel theme in Tim's trademark grungy colour palette, and the technique show cased is masking and layering stamps to give the illusion of dimension.

OK, so we're back to the same old problem - the only things I had on Tim's supply list were the No.8 Manila Tag and a not complete collection of Distress Stains. Pretty poor show Mrs M! So... thinking caps on chaps!

Actually, I'm over egging the pudding here a bit... inspiration for my take on Tim's tag was pretty quick (Mr Mojo must be hanging around the Salle de Craft at the moment). I had just bought some gorgeous Hampton Arts hot air balloon stamps and had a "Round the World In 80 Days" thing going on in my head. So.....

(You can see here that my positioning was slightly off - think I'm going to invest in a stamp positioner as I always seem to have a spasm when I stamp the vital image on a piece and it's never quite where I want it to be).

If you're at all interested in the evolution of this tag please read on. If not thanks for visiting and please do leave me a comment so I know you came.

I used Bundled Sage and Faded Jeans DS for the background as I knew I wanted to use a world map stamp as my base layer image and  thought/hoped the colours would reflect the ocean/landmass colours on the map.

Next I picked out the image and text stamps I wanted to use and made a "mock-up" of my tag to work out where to position my stamping.

That done, I decided that all black stamping was going to overwhelm the tag so I decided to stamp my base layer in Faded Jeans DI.

Next step, and because I don't have any TH Masking Sheets I had to revert to the low-tech Post-it Note to create the masks for my stamps.

Finally I was ready to stamp the images on to the tag, so I positioned my masks as per my mock up and stamped over them, removing and stamping as required to complete the design.

Apart from the minor stamping spasm I'm pleased with how this has turned out, even the Philosophy Tag (my work around as I don't have any Word Bands) works really well with the rounded shapes of the compass, balloons and post mark.

Thank you for visiting.

Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013 - July

Hello there and thank you for visiting.

I've been working hard in my craft room lately and am trying to keep up to date with the various challenges and projects I've got on the go at the moment. So I'm pleased to reveal my interpretation of Tim's July tag (which you can see here).

Tim's Tag is 4th of July themed, although he has dedicated it to the brave firefighters tragically killed in Prescott, Arizona this week.

As a Brit I don't have any stash relating to the 4th of July or Americana in general so I have designed my tag to have a summertime feel. As the tag evolved it also came to reflect the fragility of life and of  the debt of gratitude we owe to those who put their lives on the line for us every day.

As usual I didn't have all of Tim's supply list so had to do some creative thinking. The butterfly (Tim's Fanciful Flight) die was chosen as it was the closest thing I had to the cut out style of the Old Glory flag. I used Distress Stains in Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Bundled Sage and Pine Needles and a little splash of Tea Dye for the background and edged the tag in Tea Dye and Gathered Twigs DI.

I used DS in Bundled Sage and Pine Needles on the butterfly, but I don't think I put my Crackle Glaze on thickly enough to get the full crackle effect. I smooshed Tea Dye DI over the top to distress and then rubbed some Inka Gold over to get a metallic sheen (I hadn't used any metallic DS as Tim had).

My background stamps are PaperArtsy HP1006, I used the flourish and the music and Japanese script sections of the "Sanctuary" stamp. The text stamp "Les Papillons" is by Cavallini.

I used a TH Trinket Pin in place of the Wire Pin and Muse Token which Tim used. (The word seemed appropriate somehow).

The label stamp is Papermania Hampstead and the sentiment is part of a Hero Arts Favorite Journal stamp.

I faffed about for ages with the hardware (as I hadn't got a Stencil Clip - which wouldn't have been relevant to my design anyway) but in the end I decided to go for a simple TH Foliage flower to balance the piece.

Whilst I've stuck to the general design of Tim's Tag I've given it a very different feel and I'm looking forward to seeing all the other interpretations of this tag.

Hope to catch up with you soon. Thank you for taking the time to visit.

Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013 - June

Tim Holtz's June tag (you can see it here) uses Distress Markers and water pens to create a watercolour-esque appearance. OK, so the main problem here is that I don't own a single Distress Marker. But necessity is the mother of invention and I do own plenty of Distress Inks, and a water brush so I'll just have to use the old smoosh-the-ink-on-the-craft-mat,-pick-it-up-with-a-water-brush-and-hope-for-the-best technique.

So, my second Tim Tag and I've got to say that, although I almost fell at the first hurdle, I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

I LOVE the splatted ink spots.

AND the background stamping. And I think you can just about see the watercolour effect - do you think I've got away with it?

If you're interested I took some progress shots, if not - well thanks for taking the time to stop by, please do leave a comment so that I know you came and I can visit you in return.

Chosen images - butterflies and post mark Crafty Individuals, flourish - Artemio

Instead of Distress Markers I used Distress Inks in Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon

I had to repeat the distress technique a couple of times to get a look I was reasonably happy with (I used Salty Ocean DP, Gathered Twigs DI and Dried Marigold DS)

LOVE this stamping - Chocolate Baroque:  Artistic Affirmations, Paper Artsy Ink and the Dog: Clocks 3, Paper Artsy: HP1109 and Cactus Annie: text stamp.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out - and I'm actually itching to have another play with this technique -
Thanks for the inspiration Tim!

Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013 - May - Had all but given up hope...

Welcome friends!

Today you find me patting myself on the back as I have (at last) joined in with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013. (OK so it's May and I'm already four months behind but what the heck - I've made a start!)

And can I just point out that it is only the 2nd of May - so I am well up to speed with this one!!!!!

Sssh - whoever it was that said -yes - but what about your Dictionary Pages AND your AJ homework AND we've noticed you've been neglecting Hels' Sunday Stampers Challenge??? All I can say in my defence is - when  Mr Mojo sashays in to town you've just got to go with the flow (shame he keeps sashaying past my bed at 1:30 - but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do..)

To be honest it was another dose of insomnia that had me checking out Tim's blog last night and I had a sudden burst of inspiration. So I tucked my jammies in my slipper boots, pulled on my fluffy dressing gown and tiptoed across the landing to the old Chambre des Crafts and to cut a long story short ...

Here is my first EVER, and hopefully not last, Tim Tag...

Some detail shots... 

I suppose the first thing I should say is that this tag has been an exercise in invention as I had hardly any of Tim's listed supplies. And the second is that it is, in a way, my homage to THE GREAT MAN for inspiring me to have a go at this technique and join in with the challenge. So thank you Tim for your creative energy, your inspiration and for making us all believe we can do it too.

If you are interested in the whys and wherefores please read on... if not then please leave a comment so that I know you've been and I'll try my best to pop over and see you too.

OK - so the details and deviations

First off - I didn't have any of Tim's Remnant Rubs so I've used a combination of American Crafts Mini Marks Book 4 and 7 Gypsies Rubbings Elements (Whimsy, Alphabetique and Architecture).

Then I only had grunge coloured Distress Stains and really liked the vibrant colours Tim had used in his demo, so I swapped in Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime, Bubblegum Pink and used Distress Stains Scattered Straw. I used the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique as Tim had done with his tag, but I always forget that Dylusions can end up being a bit muddy when you mix the colours wet - in hindsight I should have swiped the tag through a couple of colours, heat set and then used the other colours.

Next I stamped my images. I've had to flip my design over to be on the left of the tag as my focal image stamp faces the opposite way to Mona Lisa. The face is Isobelle by Inkylicious, the "Make Art" quote is part of a quote from Chocolate Baroque's Artistic Affirmations, the numbers are Paper Artsy Hot Picks 1102 and the grunge background is Kaisercraft Grunge, and the inspire sentiment is a Making Memories Express It magnetic stamp.

As you can see I didn't have either the enameled  tags or word bands so I improvised with a transparent cabochon which I glued over a 7 Gypsies Notebook journal sticker with Dimensional Magic. I used a  Making Memories label holder to frame my sentiment.

I know there are a few tweeks which would have improved the look of this tag, but it was great fun to try out a new technique and at lat to be part of Tim's Tags.

Thank you for looking, hope to see you again soon