Atten-shun!

Have I got your attention now?  Good!

Just a quick short post to show a birthday card I

made recently for a little boy.

I used the 'Toy Soldier' Sizzix Bigz die from the

Tim Holtz/Alterations range.

I cut the pieces from felt and distressed it slightly 

with distress inks.

The background is cut from a roll of wrapping paper,

mounted onto a piece of card and distressed with

some white acrylic paint.

The black border is just a black felt tip edging.

I must admit when I saw this wrapping paper

a couple of years ago now, 

I bought it with the sole intention of using it with this die -

and hey I did!  Better late than never :)

OK, you can stand easy now ....

and thanks for looking of course!

 

Tim Holtz: 12 Tags of 2014 - May

 

Tim's tag for May is above -

click on the picture to go to his blog and

see in detail how he did it.

 

Here's the one I made

 

The idea this month was to use trinkets and embellishments

and mount them onto a series of little tiles.

In Tim's own words this was to be a

"“creative composition” assignment -

a simple process to layer and incorporate 

an eclectic mix of elements into an artful tiled tag." 

This is what my background looked like at first.

I laid out the bits and pieces I was going to use

(I changed my mind about the buttons and used

a pen nib instead)

I don't have a great many different embellishments

but was pleased with those I managed to find.

 

I like the little blue cameo which I've had for ages.

Similarly, the rusty heart.

I cracked open the packet of idea-ology fragments

and stuck a vintage image below two.

I enjoyed creating the 'wonderful' tile with the

Sizzix Alterations ShadowPress Debossing folder.

(from the 'Authentic Set').

Each of the mini tiles was covered using paper from

Tim Holtz' idea-ology paper stash (Vintage Shabby).

Not perfect, but it's my kind of 'wonderful'!

Thanks for looking :)

Masculine Birthday Card

When I saw the 'Vintage Camera' die by Tim Holtz/Alterations

on the Sizzix website recently for silly money I had to get it.

This is the first time I've used it and am not entirely happy

with what I've done with it - it looks as though I've just

placed a copper card under it, when in fact each piece is a

separate die cut.

  I'll have to try something different next time I use it.

I was originally going to cut the camera from leather,

but found a sturdy piece of board from the cover of an

old diary which had a lovely texture on, so used that

instead and coloured it with 'Walnut Stain' distress ink.

I like the background which is the technique from

Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities Vol II

called 'Riveted Patchwork'.

Just stick randomly shaped pieces of silver tape

and make various marks along the seams, then

colour with alcohol inks and sand off.

It's a shame the camera covers most of it up.

I added a little snippet of Tim Holtz film strip

to go with the camera theme.

This is heading for a keen photographer,

hope he'll like it.

Thanks for looking and say cheese :)

It Must Be Christmas!

A few Christmas cards have been dropping through our letterbox

so it must be Christmas now!

I thought I'd better get a move on and make a few myself.

I used the Tim Holtz/Alterations  'Ice Skates' Bigz Die from Sizzix.

I made a few with a background of old sheet music, aged and distressed a little and a Christmassy rub on.  The sentiment is rubber stamped onto

a Spellbinder's Nestabilitie die cut shape.

 

I then turned to my box of scraps and used some scrapbook paper

which wasn't at all Christmassy, but I think it still works.

The little sprigs of holly are plastic and came from some of last year's

Christmas Crackers!

 

I die cut the skates from card and leather.

Although the leather does have a nice texture, I think I prefer

to work with the card as it takes the distress ink better. 

Next on my list is to try making some Christmas Crackers -

 I've almost got enough toilet / kitchen paper roll inners!!

Thanks for looking and I hope your

Christmas preparations are going to plan :)

Ice Skates!

My latest favourite Bigz Die by Sizzix

 Alterations/Tim Holtz

is the Ice Skates

I bought it with the intention of making Christmas cards,

but today made a birthday card.

 It has a simple background of a doily and

K & Co Scrapbooking paper edged with a little

Old Paper Distress Ink.

I cut the skates from white mountboard

and painted them with Folk Art Acrylic

'Seamist' colour.

The boot laces are embroidery thread.

The heels and blades were coloured

with Distress Markers.  I tried to make

blades shiny by covering them with a layer

of Mod Podge Lustre.

To go with the card, I made a simple

stretch bracelet.

  

It's made up of Shell and Howlite chips

and a little gold coloured charm.

Hope the recipient will like them.

Thank you for looking :)

 

The Toy Soldier

As I mentioned yesterday this is my current favourite

Sizzix/Alterations Bigz Die called

'Toy Soldier'.

I think I like it so much because it reminds me of

the fairytale 'The Tinder Box' by Hans Christian Anderson.

Not that the soldier in the story was a toy one, and having

just re-read the story as an adult it's a little bit unsavoury - lol.

I thought the soldier was a good guy, but he cut off the witch's

head when she wouldn't tell him why the tinder box was so special -

oh well, never mind, I still love this Bigz Die.

I decided to make some bunting with it and it

became advent present number 19 for my swap partner Victoria.

I cut the soldiers from felt and card,

 painted their legs, boots and faces

and grunged them up with some pencil.

I stitched them with military looking buttons onto some navy ribbon.

Following the tutorial on YouTube

'How to make a box from a single sheet of card'

I did just that and decorated it with some

old sheet music and another of the soldiers.

This is probably my favourite of all the gifts I made

and I think I'll be using the die over and over again.

.... shame I'm now dis-illusioned about that soldier in

The Tinder Box story though -

 next I'll find out that Father Christmas doesn't really exist!!!!

Thanks for looking :)