Joyeux Noel

I love it when great techniques and wonderful stamps come together with a great sketch layout. The Compendium of Curiosities II challenge this week is the texture fade technique from p. 64 of Tim's book. Also on this card is the reflections stamping technique from p.64 --last week's challenge. All of the image and sentiment stamps are from Artistic Outpost with the challenge of anything goes. I Brake for Challenges wants to see holidays. And, of course the sketch I used is from the Mojo Monday challenge. The texture fade is from Sizzix and the Background is made from the reflections stamps of Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous)

Guess What

All of the Rogue Redhead Designs unmounted rubber stamp plates are on sale until November 11, 2012! It's a great time to go Rogue with your stamping! Check out the website for more information - http://www.rogueredheaddesigns.com/
These low prices won't last long!  The full-size stamp plates are now available for US$15.40 (Reg. US$22.00), the half-size plates are on sale for US$10.50 (Reg. US$15.00) and the minis are now available for the low price of US$5.25 (Reg. US$7.50). Get in on the bargains while they last!
While you are getting these great savings, don't forget to stock up on EZ-Mount Cling Foam and EZ-Mount Storage Panels too!
For my card I used stamps from Rogue Redhead Designs Floriculture, Just Sayin', and Nature Notes. I do love how well these stamps mix and match.

I am entering this card in several challenges. The layout I chose to follow is the current Mojo Monday sketch. I am quite late for Friday's Bloggers Challenge. The theme is give thanks. Inspiration Journal also has a theme of gratitude. The Compendium of Curiosities II challenge is to use the Ink Pallette: Alcohol Ink technique from p. 52 of Tim's book. All of the coloring of the images and the metal flower was done using the alcohol inks from the pallette. Funkie Junkie is a great sponsor of this challenge. All of the paper used is from Club Scrap. I just love this fall paper.

Autumn Leaves

I have always loved the Old Gristmill stamps from Artistic Outpost. As I worked on the technique challenge from Compendium of Curiosities II, I knew I wanted to use these stamps. All of the stamped images and sentiment come from that stamp set.  Our CC II challenge is Crumpled Kraft Suede from p. 40 of Tim's book. (This challenge is generously sponsored by the Funkie Junkie.) Simon Says Stamp wants to see autumn leaves. Kraft Journal's theme is bangles and bows. The monthly challenge at Artistic Outpost is anything goes.
The crumpled kraft sued technique is awesome. To feel the background panel on my card, it is hard to believe that it started off as a piece of kraft paper. Now it feels almost leatherlike. I tried to keep a very rustic feel to the card. All of the framing is done with wood paper. The copper perfect pearls adds zest to the background and leaves. For the bow, I used raffia.

Blast from the Past

Once upon a time a long time ago I discovered Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous stamps. For my card today I went back into my stash of early stamps and pulled out two stamps that I acquired about the same time I discovered and met Tim Holtz. I wasn't even sure I could make them work together.  I created this card for the Compendium of Curiosities II challenge which was distress markers from p. 50 of Tim's Book. My card mostly shows the stamping with distress markers that Tim described. Everything stamped was done using this technique. The heart was die cut from grungeboard and then colored using the watercoloring technique. Although it's a little hard to see on the scan, I used tissue tape across the background to frame the 2nd stamp. After coloring the heart, I covered it with rock candy distress dry glitter. I believe that this is the first glitter that I can say I really love. I don't feel that I will be wearing it for weeks after using it, and the effects on artwork are so wonderful.

Journey

Wow, it's only Tuesday and I've finished my Compendium of Curiosities II challenge piece. This week the challenge is blended stains from p. 45 of Tim Holtz's book. This weeks challenge is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.
For the blended stains technique, Tim gave several technique ideas. I decided to try the technique with canvas (sticky back canvas from Ranger). Once I had finished with the technique I die cut the canvas with the vintage Cabinet Card die. I stamped portions of several of the stamps from Travel Labels, I die cut the movers and shapers globe. Stamped and cut out the airplane. Then I stamped the sentiment on a ticket. The background panel was dry embossed using a texture fade. I like how everything fell together on this card. This technique is one I've used often. It's so easy and effective.

Moment of Magic

This week the Compendium of Curiosities II challenge is enameled stamping from p. 44 of Tim's book. I love working on these challenges. I follow the technique, but I love to add a few challenges of my own. Today I wanted to use a few of my newly acquired stamps.  As I was trying the technique, I decided to use one of my new stamps from Tim's classics collection. I used victorian velvet and wild honey distress inks. I really liked the color combination. I tore around the four edges and adhered my image panel on navy cardstock and layered it on a kraft cardbase with a dry embossed and highlighted (stormy sky) front. I took a small tag and stamped it with a sentiment from the Dylusions collection. Dyan has some fabulous sentiments. Down in the lower left corner I added a grungeboard flourish (from one of the early sets of grungeboard). I used my brass metallic distress stain to color it.  Ooh I love the metallic stains.
As I look at the finished card, I love all the color. I think I'll also enter this card in Hels'   Ink on my Fingers Sunday Challenge which is riot of colour.

Resists

The Compendium of Curiosities II challenge last week was kraft resist from p. 41 of Tim Holtz's book. Fortunately for me, Linda, the challenge mom, extended the challenge for another week. Hooray, I can play now. Coincidentally, the Frilly and Funkie challenge is resist. At Take a Word, the challenge is clockwork. At Three Muses the challenge is masculine.
The background panel on my card is from Tim's kraft resist paper stash. Check out Tim's book or Tim's blog for lots of ideas on using his kraft resist paper. I used distress inks to color my background and I used picket fence distress stain on the upper left hand corner before the distress inks. I wanted to see how the color varied with and without the picket fence base. The colors are definitely brighter where I placed the picket fence. Also the resist on the paper is much more evident on my card than on the scan. I also used the distress embossing powder resist on my card. The clock was stamped with embossing ink and I used pine needles distress embossing powder to emboss the clock. The embossing resists the distress ink too. My sentiment is from the Dylusions stamp collection. To finish off the look of the card I used Tim's technique of rolling parts of stamps on the paper. (I forget his official title for this technique.) I think everything worked together well. The result is definitely a funkie card fit for a man.

White Wash Stamping and More

Until a couple of weeks ago, I had never missed a Compendium of Curiosities challenge, neither book 1 or book 2. However, because I was busy spending time with my grandson before school began, I had to sit out both challenge 15 and 16. This card incorporates three challenges from Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities II:  #15 - enameled metals p. 56; #16 - perfect pearls mist p. 54; and the current challenge #18 - white wash stamping p. 47. This weeks Compendium challenge is being sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique. The layout of the card is based on this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge (turned on its side).
The black panel of the card was done with the perfect pearls mist technique. Although you can see the beautiful colors a little on the scan, in person they are phenomenal.  The strip across the bottom shows the enameled metals technique. I just love the distresses look. The butterflies on the middle panel show the white wash stamping technique. I decided to use the Club Scrap birthday sentiment because I thought that the distressed look fit with the card. It was so much fun to be able to use all three techniques on my card.

Papillons

It's been a cool, gloomy day today--the perfect day to work in my basement studio. I created this card with three challenges in mind. The Compendium of Curiosities II challenge is to create something with the Creative Core'dinations technique from p. 61 of Tim Holtz's book. City Crafters shared an image (Papillons) from Graphics Fairy which we were to use in our creation. Marks Finest Paper Simple Salutations challenge theme is butterfly.
This weeks Compendium of Curiosities challenge is being sponsored by the generous Simon Says Stamp. My card demonstrates both techniques discussed by Tim. The frame around the image shows one of the techniques and the leaves at the bottom shows the other. For complete details see p. 61 of Compendium of Curiosities II.
The large butterfly is the image from the Graphics Fairy. The smaller stamped image with sentiment is from Club Scrap.

Create Time

I hit the wall when I was working on this card. The challenge for Compendium of Curiosities II was Gilded Kraft Glassine from p. 39 of Tim Holtz's book Compendium of Curiosities 2. The technique was no problem, it was actually a lot of fun. I had a cool piece of gilded glassine and my mojo went on a long coffee break. I must have held and stared at the glassine for over an hour without a clue as to what I was going to do. I kind of knew I wanted to die cut the glassine, but that's as far as I got. Everything clicked into place when I looked at the alarm clock die from Tim and realized that there was no clock face on the die. The clock needed a face and I had just the face for it (from Stampland). I assembled the ckock, stamped some flowers and flourishes (Tim's stamps) on a background panel from one of Tim's paper stacks and added the sentiment using words from Tim's ChitChat. Thanks to the Funkie Junkie Boutique for sponsoring this challenge.
I am also entering my card in the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge which is Hey, Girl and the Kraft Journal challenge which is make me smile.

Glimpses of Life

This week the Compendium of Curiosities II challenge was a technique I've done many times. The technique is spritz and flick from p. 42 of Tim Holtz's book. The resulting background is always a fabulous distressed look. This week's challenge is being sponsored by the wonderful Simon Says Stamp.
For the background technique I used several of the spring and summer distress inks. I wanted a brighter look to my card. The background stamp is from Hero Arts and has a coordinating embossing folder which I also used. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz stamp. Besides the embossing, I added picket fence distress stickles and spiced marmalade distress stickles to the flowers. I like the added texture.

Configuration Box No. 1

Thanks to the challenge at Compendium of Curiosities II, I have completed my first configurations box. I honestly have to say that I really didn't think I would be doing this challenge. I've had my box for ever so long in its original packaging. Why is there that fear to start something? Then I had a little time, so I decided to just follow the steps in Tim's book which would have covered everything and made the box ready to fill. OK, so I just couldn't stop until I had every nook filled with something. Thank you Linda; Thank you Tim. And thanks to Mario for the fabulous prize package.
This is such a cool project. Here are a few close-ups to see the fun contents up close.

Simplify

I've been missing in action pretty much all last week. I missed all of my usual challenges and more. I was trying to get over pneumonia and then I spent a few days in and around Washington DC. I couldn't even get to my email because the Wifi in the hotel was really weak. However, now I'm back! I've got a lot to catch up on, so here goes.
I'm back to my challenges. This card was done with a few challenges in mind. The challenge for Compendium of Curiosities II was tissue wrap flowers from p. 38 of Tim Holtz's book. This week's challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Kraft Journal had an anything goes challenge. Simon Says Stamp and Show wants depth of distress.
To create my card I started with a panel of Core'dinations paper. I dry embossed it with a numbers folder from Cuttlebug and then sanded the raised numbers. I used my Distrezz-it-all to distress the edges. I used walnut stain distress ink along the edges. The flower was made from Tim Holtz's tissue paper according to his technique directions. I added ripe persimmon distress ink to the edges and a Webster's Pages embellishment to the center. The clock was die cut from black cardstock. The butterfly (top and base) are from Webster's Pages. The simple sentiment is from Tim's Chit Chat stickers.

Pocket Watch

The pocketwatch is one of my favorite Tim Holtz Idea-ology pieces to work with. This week the Compendium of Curiosities II challenge was the pocket watch technique from p. 35 of Tim's Book. I am also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp and Show anything goes challenge.
The challenge this week is being sponsored by the wonderful Simon Says Stamp.
The pocketwatch, swivel clasp, compass sticker, and sentiment are all from the Tim Holtz collection. The chess piece, flowers and pearl are from my stash. My piece is relatively simple, but I do love the look.

Imagination is Boundless

This week the challenge for Compendium of Curiosities II is repurposed packaging from p. 62 of Tim's book. I decided to try both techniques Tim described. I used the packaging that the texture fade used on my card was in. The first layer on my card is some of Tim's tissue paper. I did add alcohol inks to the embossed layer. Can I say that I absolutely love the snowcap mixative. It does wonderful things when used along with other colors--in this case, aqua and sailboat blue with a teeny touch of shell pink. The flower was cut from the tattered flowers die. The bird was stamped with a Tim stamp that I have had for years and still love. The sentiment is a wodrd band which I distressed with the snow cap dabber. Another week, another fun Tim technique.

Patriotic Holidays of Summer

This card was created combining the Mojo Monday sketch, the Compendium of Curiosities II challenge theme of brushless watercolor from p. 49 of Tim Holtz's new book and Simon Says Stamp and Show a summer holiday.
I took the Simon Says theme and decided that the summer holidays are all about Americana and patriotism. We have Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. With that in mind I brought out Tim's Americana Silhouette stamp set and texture fade and went to work.
The background layer  is done using the stamping with stains technique (Creative Chemistry 101) and letterpress. The red panel was done using the Cuttlebug highlights technique from Technique Junkies. The image panel was stamped using the brushless watercolor technique from p.49 of the Compendium II book. Ms. Literty actually looks awesome in real life. She loses a little bit with the scan.
Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

Escape

I guess it's better late than never. I missed the deadline for this week's Compendium of Curriosities II challenge. I have not skipped a challenge for Compendium 1, Grungy Monday, or Compendium II. So even if I missed the deadline, I am posting my challenge card. The challenge this week is tissue wrap collage from p. 38 of Tim's book. I had never done this technique before. The result was interesting. I think I have to practice this one a little more.

World of Imagination

The Compendium of Curiosities challenge this week is shattered stains from p. 48 of Tim Holtz's book. I was first introduced to this technique in Creative Chemistry 101. It's a fun technique that turns out so cool. My background is done with distress stains and water. I then used a book covers texture fade to emboss the background. The bird cage was die cut using metallic paper. The bird was cut from grungeboard. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz stamp.
I really liked how this card turned out, so I am also entering in in the Simon Says Stamp and Show anything goes challenge.

On the Sea

This week the challenge for Compendium of Curiosities II is faded layers from p. 43 of Tim's book. I'm excited to report that I received my new seasonal spring distress inks. Of course, I had to try them out right away. Mmmmm delicious colors.  I found the compass mask in my stash and knew immediately that I would use the ship stamp. This is a technique I hadn't tried before. I really like how this technique turned out. All of the stamps, inks, and stencil are from the Tim Holtz line.
Last week I just missed the cut-off time for the challenge. This week I'll just make it. I really don't want to miss the challenges.

ATC's Tim Holtz Style

 This week the challenge at Compendium of Curiosities II is marbled stains from p. 46 of Tim's 2nd book. All of the products used are from the Tim Holtz line and Ranger. I really like this technique so I made three atc's, each with a different background. All of these were created on Ranger manila atc blanks.

The first, "Give Me Five" was created using picket fence, fired brick, broken china, victorian velvet, and faded jeans. The sides were distressed and edged with walnut stain. The 5 is a grungeboard numeralwhich I stained black and covered with crackle accents. The sentiment is created from ChitChat words. The stamp is a Tim Holtz atc stamp and the 5 silver beads are from my stash.

The second "Soar" uses china blue picket fence, dusty concord, and faded jeans, and is edged with pumice stone. The sentiment is an adage ticket. The stamp is also a Tim Holtz atc stamp.

The third atc, "Embrace Your Dreams" is done with picket fence, antique linen, scattered straw, and rusty hinge stains, and is edged with walnut stain. The stamp is a Tim Holtz atc stamp. The sentiment is created from the ChitChat words.