Inspiration Journal May Challenge

As Spring time is coming to a close, Memorial Day weekend gone by, graduations are upon us and summer is peeking around the corner. Over at Inspiration Emporium ... Inspiration Journal http://blog.inspirationemporium.com/?cat=18 this months theme is Celebrate !
With my anniversary coming up and my husbands birthday I decided to do cards. Card Maker Summer 2014 was out and this issue was featuring Stair Step Cards ( I like using them to jump start my creativity for cards). So I decided to try one... two... three... was so much fun I got carried away!

My initial card was an anniversary card. I'm in that mode of using what I've got ; so I decided to use some of my leftover Valentine Papers from Recollections.

What better papers to use for anniversary right ? My inspiration came from Noelle McAdam's
card on p. 70 . These cards are so magical to me . For my background I used a gray cardstock, and then I picked complimenting patterns of the valentine paper for each stair step. I added a scalloped heart with sentiment added (sentiment from Momenta ); added a stamped anniversary greeting  on a parchment looking cardstock from Recollections, cropped on red cardstock from Bazzil. I furthered embellished my card by adding  brads by Recollections, my famous signature bling; I used a red heart ... so cool huh and on the bottom step I added some gray wassi tape also from Recollections.
Not bad for my first stair  step card ! How fun.

I had so much fun I did another one. Just gonna share the photos with you for this one ...

Okay ... so I got hooked I did another one using the  Authentique Anchored paper ... swoon ... love the colors in these papers. This will probably be my hubby's birthday card . I just had so much fun  I had to share.

Love those stair steps! They've got other styles... I'm gonna learn those too . I hope you enjoyed my peak. See you next time !

CC3 Challenge #2

CC3 Challenge #2 can you believe it ? Linda and the crew are keeping us busy and inspired! Have you been over to check them out?  http://lindaledbetter.com/2014/05/cc3challenge02.html
What you waiting for ? Come on you've still got time to join us. Linda Ledbetter is an awesome host; she and the crew "jump start " us. Challenge #2 is being sponsored by her friends over at
http://www.thefunkiejunkie.com/ The Funkie Junkie Boutique ...  prize is 25$ Gift Certificate... woo hoo... that would be nice ( can buy more goodies ) !!

Challenge #2 is  Distress Glitter  taken from page 56 of Tim Holtz A Compendium of Curiosities Volume III  ( you NEED to get your book and follow along ) ... I will NOT being giving you instructions. :)

I will tell you it's a fun technique and the results are so amazing. I'm STILL playing with the marble painting backgrounds ... so fun  ! I used my tattered floral and tattered pine cone dies for my flowers and leaves. I chose to use antique linen and shabby shutters distress glitters. OMG yummy colors... just so perfect for my background. I also used  a stamp from Words For Thought Stamp set. I used my Tim hammer to add texture to the brads for the flower centers ( so fun to use ... gives me a sense of power ... LOL ) ! While stamping my stamp misprinted the word "finding" so I re stamped it on another piece of paper , cut it out and popped it up with pop dots over the misprinted word ... pretty cool save !!
I just love the distress glitter... I'm wearing it today and so are the cats ... hahaha ... they are so nosey they need to get close. I could not decide in the beginning what I was going to do so I have a few other flowers ... I'm sharing hoping to  encourage you to try the technique ... I'll be using them in the near future ... check out those colors ... so awesome!!

Well... that's it for now ! I do hope you decide to come join us. It is such a rewarding experience... next best thing to being in class with Tim Holtz himself ! Do go check out the projects of the CC3 Crew ... amazing work ! See you next time :) !

12 Tags of 2014 May Tag

Hi everybody ! Guess what... I've got my May tag done  and it's only May 9th... What ??!
I can't believe it ... I'm on a roll here! :)  I did the CC3 Challenge earlier in the week.
Oh my goodness... Tim referred to this tag as a "creative composition" assignment . Well named... we used a collection of trinkets and embellishments ; some of which I had used others I just had in my stash "to cherish and admire" ... hahaha ... Tim was looking at my stash when he said this ( I'm sure of it :) ).

For my background I had done an extra marble painting background and was so happy with it I decided to use it for this tag. I used evergreen bough, wild honey and peeled paint distressing paints.
I so love this combination ( that's why I had an extra one ... I got carried away playing).
We created tiles using the new wallflower paper stash... love these papers.
He used his new shadow press debossing folders... oh my ... this was so cool to do ... I felt intimidated  reading the instructions but I was amazed at how easy it was to do...absolutely love the look !

I used beautiful... it was beautiful !!! I did not have the same vial labels Tim had (bummer... I dug in my stash... I could not believe I did not have that set); mine were too big so I used a red bling to highlight my Wish rub on.  You must see his tag  http://timholtz.com/12-tags-of-2014-may/ ; it's so awesome. Love how he creates these. I think this was a brilliant idea. This tag showcases so many of his cool embellishments. It was a little tedious ( I have nails ... not real long but enough to get in the way) to work with these tiny tiles and embellishments ; but so fun watching each tile take shape.  I love that linen ribbon too  ... OMG it is so cool; distressing it  and stretching it out made it even cooler !

 

I really enjoyed  doing this tag ... it took me to my happy place. It's so amazing how  an eclectic mix of elements can be such an artful piece. Thank you Tim for another amazing tag !

I do hope all of you go and check out the other tags too! Maybe you'll be inspired to join our journey!

See you next week ... gotta keep up with CC3 Challenge next challenge comes tomorrow night... can't

wait to see what it will be !

 

 

 

 

 

CC3 Challenge #1

Compendium of Curiosities Challenges are here... woo hoo ! I am so excited to be able to participate. Linda Ledbetter over at http://lindaledbetter.com/2014/04/cc3c01.html is once again hosting the challenges. If you have never checked it out be sure to go check out ALL the details and instructions. We will be working through Tim Holtz's new book A Compendium of Curiosities Volume III http://timholtz.com/a-compendium-of-curiosities-volume-iii/ ( okay I'm making it real easy for you) if you go to the link you can order an autographed copy... you know you want /need it... cause we WILL NOT be posting instructions. It's gonna be so fun and exciting  ; my friends at Inspiration Emporium http://www.inspirationemporium.com/  are the sponsors for Challenge #1 , prize is a $50 Gift Certificate to the store... yeah !!!
How cool is that... great way to "hook-up" more Tim Holtz goodness.
Linda has done something new this time; there is a  CC3 Crew. This Crew is amazing, you have got to check out their work and their blogs... OMG some great inspiration!
I'm excited about the challenges 1) Because I'm a Tim-A-Holic 2) They give me the opportunity to use my Tim stash and learn new techniques and 3) It's CRAZY fun you choose your own project !! So come join us !! :)

Challenge #1 Is Paint Marbling p. 43 ( that's all I'm gonna tell you )... No it's not I lied...Gotta tell you GET THE BOOK !!!

Okay , I chose to do a tag using one of my favorite Tim Stamps from Stampers Anonymous . I used  wild honey, peeled paint, spun sugar and evergreen bough distress paints. I love these colors and wanted to see how they looked together... so fun. I used my hearts stencil on the background, and used that fabulous jute string: I further embellished with tissue tape and a grunge heart  attached with my tiny attacher. So much fun !!  Did I tell you I love to use my Tim stash ??

I also used my crinkle ribbon that I colorized with distress ink and then stamped with one of my 7 Gypsies music stamps.
So umm ...  if you are stuck and don't know how to get started  don't forget to check out the CC3 Crew
http://lindaledbetter.com/meet-the-curiosity-crew they have great projects to help jump start your creativity. Hope you decide to join us! And I'll see you next week.
Oh yeah time for the May Tim (12 Tags of 2014)  Tag too... I'll post it soon... so do come back :)