My Very First Set of ATC's

Have you heard about ATC (Artistic Trading Cards)? I just recently discovered these little works of art and do believe this could be my latest addiction. ATC are like baseball cards to the art world. They are 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches of pure art. I recently made my first 5 ATC for a RAK/PIF game on the yahoo group All Things Tim (Tim Holtz that is) They were so much fun to make and I hope that the 5 people that receive them enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them. Here is what they look like:

As you can see I used mostly Tim's products and techniques to create them. Below is how I made them and what I used:

The background is made using Shabby Shutter distress ink to which I used Tim's flicking method with embossing powder; you can find the instructions for this here: http://timholtz.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/12/19/tag7_3.jpg

I then stamped the umbrella man onto grungepaper embossed him in black and then cut him out. Next, I took a sheet of music that I ripped out of a book and torn off a piece and inked the edge with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, glued it to the card using Glossy Accent. Attached the umbrella man with glossy accent, added a Memo pin with one of my favorite says (I just printed this off my computer, crumbled the paper and added vintage photo distress ink) Added a Philosophy Tag using a brad.

I'm really pleased with the way my first ATC came out and look forward to creating some more. Thanks for stopping by.

Jamie

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas Day 11

Using your die cuts to make custom stamps?? Seriously? Yap, that's what Tag 11 is all about. Tim's mind just doesn't work like the rest of us, how he comes up with this stuff I don't have a clue, but feel privileged to call myself a fan of such an awesome crafter! So here is Tim's Day 11 Tag

Tim's Day 11 Tag

On his tag, Tim, used his snow flurries edge die to cut a custom stamp from fun foam. I hit a little (okay BIG) snag because I didn't have any foam or Tim's edge die, so what's a girl to do? Well one of my fellow ATTers,  Eileen, her amazing blog can be found here http://artsaveslives-paperqueen.blogspot.com/ ,  came up with a brilliant idea to use magic erase foam in place of the fun (craft) foam. So I proceed to rip my kitchen apart looking for one of the 756 boxes that I know I have somewhere, and couldn't find a one, so off to Walmart I went. Craft foam in hand I head down to my craft room to figure out the die problem. What I discovered is that my cricut will cut through this foam; so I used the city line (on shadow) from the Plantin School Book Cartage. Worked perfectly. I followed along with the rest of Tim's masterful instructions to complete my tag, except I replaced the Branch Tree for the Pine Tree die. This is what I came up with:

Well that's it for tonight, hoping to get Day 12's tag done tomorrow between loads of laundry while the children are in school. Humm...if I don't do tag 12 then does that mean 12 Tags isn't over??? LOL

Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Tags Day 10

On the "why didn't I think of that" meter today's tag is a 2 slaps in the forehead type of tag! And a 10 on the cool meter. Here see for yourself :

Tim's Day 10 Tag

Awesome right? And have you guess what is over the tag? It's that irritating plastic that you can never get open without a chain saw! I know, I told you it was 2 slaps to the forehead! This plastic is going to be my new best friend, just love the effect this give after it's embossed.

For this tag I didn't have the snowman die so I used the snowman stamp that I had, stamped it twice and then cut it out per the rest of Tim's instructions. This is how my tag turned out:

So it's on to Day 11, can't believe it's almost over. Happy crafting fellow Tag-i-acts!

Jamie

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with me.

Tim's12 Tags of Christmas Day 9

In the words of our Fabulous King of Twitter, Mario, this tag is FANFRIGANTASTIC! This tag is simply stunning, and of course it's my favorite one, will be doing a couple of different versions of this tag for gift tags. So without further ado here is Tim's Day 9 tag:

                                                     Tim's Day 9 Tag

I must say that of all the tags I'm most pleased with the way my version of Tim's tag came out. I didn't have the Once Upon a Time die, so once again I used my Cricut to cut out letters from the Storybook cartage, also I didn't have enough coredinations paper so I took plain white card stock and then sanded it, then went over it with Black Soot Distress Ink.  For the long fasteners I used Tim's fasteners that look like screw heads (I love those things). And to save my life I could not find my Tim buttons, so I pulled out my granny's box of buttons to find some suitable one (very pleased with what I found). Then came the garland, which is not in my stash but glittery piper cleaners are so that's what I used.  So there you have Day 9's tag in a nutshell. Can't wait to see what Day 10 has in store.  So this is my Day 9 Tag:

Thanks for stopping by and if you'd like leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Day 8 of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

I'm just loving these personal mini classes that we get each day from Tim. It's like having him right in my craft room with me (okay, so a girl can dream). The day 8 tag was all about some serious masking. Here is Tim's tag:

Tim's Day 8 Tag

My Day 8 Tag

 Today's tag took some thinking! How was I going to do the masking technique without the mask or any blank masking sheets? I ponder this most of the afternoon and then it hit me. I used my Winter Wonderland Cricut Cartage to cut out the sleigh and reindeer. I used the negative and positive images just a Tim did on his tag, but let me tell you had I had the blank masking sheets this process would have been MUCH easier.

I then used my Plankin School Book cartage to cut out the city in place of Tim's edge die. Side note...my Christmas list is getting longer with each tag...lol

I had all the hardware that Tim used on his tag for my tag which made me happy.

So that's it for Day 8...now on to day 9, I'm kind of sad that these days seem to be going so fast, so it will be over and then I'll have to find something else to fill my "me time" time.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing this journey with me, I really do appreciate the comments.

Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Tags Day 7

Tim just continues to freak my freak! Day 6's tag with the Branch Tree antlers and today with the tattered floral poinsettia. I had to slap myself in the forehead and say "now why didn't I think of those", and then I came to the realization it's because I don't have Tim Holtz's brain, that's why..lol But seriously did anyone else think of the antler trick?? Even better it was a conscious thing and not a happy accident. So like I said today is all about the tattered floral poinsettia, his tag is simple stunning (I'm going to run out of adjectives to describe his tags by the end of 12 days) This is what his tag looks like:

                                                  Tim's Day 7 Tag

I was just tickled that Tim used this die, it's one of the few that I have. Then came the kink...no sticky back canvas or colorwash. Here is what I did have though: An old canvas apron that just happen to be white, some distress ink, perfect pearl mist, and spray adhesive. I cut the apron to size, sprayed the back of the apron and grudgepaper with adhesive (tada homemade sticky back canvas, I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with that one) and put the two together...worked great. Then I inked and inked and inked some more until I got the color I wanted then sprayed it with interference red perfect pearl mist. I did the same for the leaves, except I didn't use the tattered leaves die I used one that I had made by cuttlebug. For the rest of the tag I followed along with Tim's instructions, this is what my tag looks like:

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by!

Tim's !2 Tags of Christmas Day 6

Mr. Holtz was at it again, I am completely amazed each day by what comes out of his creative brain. If I just had a 10th of his creative juices, I'd be a happy lady. There was one point during his video instruction that made me question his sanity though. It was the point in which he said we can make slits in our fades for our tags can slide through. My first reaction was "You want me to do what to my texture fade"...after that momentary doubt I thought to myself well your the crafting king so okay...and proceed to slice through the seam on my texture fade. This man is just a genius. So on to today's tag it's a beaut.

                                                                       Tim's Day 6 Tag
For this tag there wasn't a lot of Tim products that I had (note to self: ask Santa for more Tim Holtz goodies) So here is what I did

For the reindeer I used my Winter Wonderland Cricut Cartage and cut the reindeer out of grudgepaper at 4 1/2". (I debated on whether to cut the antlers off and use the Branch Tree die to make them. I decided that I liked the curly antlers)

For the trees I used my stamp and then embossed with clear embossing powder to allow the forest green distress ink to show through.

I used some flourishes that I had on hand.

I used a stamp that has little teenie tiny snowflakes on it to get the splatter effect.

I had the music note tissue tape, journal tag, and season greeting stamp.

So there you have it..and here is my version of Tim's tag:

Leave a comment and let me know what you think, Thanks!

Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Day 5

Can you believe it we are already to day 5? Before I post the tags I wanted to share a little funny. My 3 year old son helped me pick up the Mr. Potato Head and when we were done he wanted his usual high 5. So I put my hands up and he went to give me a double high 5 and suddenly he stops puts his hand on his hips and in the most discussed voice says "mom" points to the kitchen sink and says "wash"...lol This is what he was seeing. I got to laughing and just about peed my pants.

Okay, so now onto the tags

Tim's Day 5 Tag

Here is where you can click on the link below the Tim's Tag to be taken to his blog for complete instruction.

This is my version of Tim's Tag:

I really like the way this tag turned out but those numbers gave me fits! I didn't have any of the Utee Ulta Thick Embrossing powder so I used just regular and applied it really thick, well I think I must have gotten it to hot because it bubbled and stayed bubbled never really smoothed out like Tim's did, but oh well, in person it looks like I painted over rusted numbers. I also didn't have the right colors of the distress embossing powder so I used distress stickles instead, which turned out to be okay. I was missing one of the leaves that he used so I put my flower on top of some leaves that I had because it just needed a little something. In the picture you really can't see the sparkly fluff either but it's there. This was the first time I used that product and I think it could become habit forming. Another thing I didn't have was the styled label so I used my cricut to cut one off of the Storybook cart. Well guess that's about it.

Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by, I really do appreciate all of the lovely comments and encouraging words.

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas Past

While I'm sitting here impatiently waiting for the Day 5 Tag to be posted I decided to make a couple more of Tim's tags from the past. If you remember this is my first year doing his tags so I have some catching up to do.

This is the tag from 2007 Day 6



This tag is also from 2007 Day 8

So that is 5 down and 31 more to go not including the tags from this year. I see inky fingers in my future for the next several months...lol

Tim's 12 Days of Christmas Tags Day 4

Tim's Day 4 Tag

I can't believe it's Day 4 already, it's going by so fast. Today's tag was all about the bling, and I loved it! If you would like to play along click on the link below Tim's tag to be taken to his blog with full step by step instruction and be inspired to create one of your owe.

Here is my version of Tim's Tag (I swear once I started with the bling I just couldn't stop..lol)

Let me know what you think and thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inky day!

12 Tags Day 3

Here is Tim's Day 3 Tag

Once again the master was at work creating another incredible tag. He truly does amaze me each day. To see full instruction plus bonus videos click the link above. Also follow Mario on Twitter because he is providing some awesome behind the scene teasers. I know we all aprreciate the awesome job that he is doing.

Here is my take on Tim's Day 3 Tag

Once again I did not have everything that he used on his tag so I did as he said, used what I had. So far this is my favorite tag, but I'm sure he will come up with something else that will be my favorite. Can't wait to see what Day 4 will bring.

Day 2 of the 12 Tags of Christmas

Tim's Day 2 Tag

Good afternoon fellow Tim-a-holics it's time for the Day 2 Tag (click on the link below Tim's tag to be taken to his blog with full instructions on completing one of your owe). Tim once again created another beautiful tag and the techniques he shared are mind blowing. This is my take on Day 2's tag:

As you can tell once again I did not have everything needed for this tag (okay so the only things I had were the bird in flight and the baubles so I used what I did have. It's hard to tell from the picture but my branches (which are from his Letter to Santa stamp set) are embossed using a similar technique that Tim used. I didn't have the Cut N Dry Felt so I used a paint brush and distress ink to color in the branches which stayed wet long enough to allow me to emboss the image once it was stamped on the tag. I used Stampendous Music Score for my background and some flourishes that I had ( not sure who makes them). I thought the flourishes looked like the wind blowing. I didn't have any of the color that he used on his tag except the Fire Brick and Walnut Stain, so once again went with what I had. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.



**Just a note I ordered some of the Cut N Dry Felt so I can try his technique of creating a custom stamp pad, the endless possibilities in this piece of information.

Day 1 of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas

Tim's Day 1 Tag

Can I just say holy cow! Tim sure did throw down the gauntlet for his first tag of the 2010 12 Tags of Christmas challenge. After the 4th try on the house to which I'm still not happy with this is what I ended up with:

Here is the details of the have and have nots and what I used in it's place:

• Had the Rickety House Die
• Didn't have the On the Fence Edge Die (used the rosette die, cut on the perforations and attached to 2 strips of grudge paper and then followed the instructions to complete the fence.
• Didn't have the Prima wire branch (used the Branch Tree die instead and added stickles to get the snow effect on it)
• Didn't have the tag (used the Wish ticket and inked around the edges in Fire Brick)
• Didn't have the crinkle ribbon (used sparkle silver ribbon instead)
• Didn't have the Mini Garland (used a gingerbread man in it's place, not sure I'm happy with that so might try and find something else to replace it with.

As you can see I had more have nots than I did haves but that is part of the fun, coming up with creative ways to use what you have. Now it's off to work on Day 2's Tag. Have a great day and remember get those fingers inky!