Creative Chemistry with Tim Holtz

I have been busy these last two weeks taking an online course with Tim Holtz. It's all about how inks are created and how to make them work together. Of course this is primarily aimed at Ranger Inks and the Tim Holtz line, but I thought.....hmmmmm.....would this help me to play with my existing CTMH inks and get more out of them. So, here are my TAGS, with CTMH inks as I do not own any distress inks and subsituting freely as I needed to. For the Stain Tech's I used Lindy's Stamp Gang Stains and got that delectable shimmer on the projects.
Day 2

Day 8

Day 3 - I had no glossy paper, so I used HP photo paper, it seemed to work fine, but I am going to try this again when my glossy paper arrives. You cannot see the black archival stamping on the background of this last tag, due to my poor photography...I love this tech. in real life!

Day 4 - I used the art philosophy cricut cart to cut out the number background to make my stencil....a little smaller may have worked better, but I like this tech. (the middle tag). The last tag....no cut and dry felt, so I used an abd pad from the hospital. We will see if it lasts as long. The effect is stunning on this detailed stamp!

Day 5

Day 6

Use it Or Lose it Challenge #4 - Paper Piecing

I love this paper pack, I don't even know the name of it anymore but I hoarded every last scrap :) I know the stamp isn't CTMH but she's a cutey Pure Innocence from MFT and I have waited and waited to use her. I fell in love with this idea of raindrops on the clear overlayer (I used liquid glass to make drops). I attached the girl to the clear layer with liquid glass and she seems to dance on the grass as it shifts back and forth. THat lovely raincoat is a fun piece from our hsaving cream technique of the last challenge. I cut the tag from the Art Philosophy cartridge. MUCH more coming to my blog as I get time, because I am taking Tim Holtz's class on the chemistry of ink and working it with my CTMH products....WAY too much fun. This is taking me some time because I do have to work for a living as well, and my kids need SOME attention :)

Tim Holtz - March Tag

Inspired by Tims tag for March I created this birthday card for my sis-in-law. I used a wood grain rubber stamp from....somewhere, and cut the butterflies out of the Art Philosophy cricut cart. The scraps are from CTMH leftovers and I will have to check which stamp set the phrase came from.

Use it Or Lose it Challenge #3 - Inchies

hmmmm, this was a hard one for me. THis is what I have.......

I used the A Game set and some scraps that were floating on my desk.

Use it OR Lose It! Challenge #2

You likely came from the use it or lose it blog . It's challenge #2

I loved the image that we were asked to take our inspiration from this week (above). The colours, the textures, the lovely old clock, ahhhh. The shiny mirror and the texture of the lamp got to me as well. So off I went to play......

then I realized that I didn't use enough CTMH stuff and I wasn't done playing. Now..I did use the Legendary stamp set, which has been discontinued forever. I loved it, had to have it and never inked it. I wanted the shiny-ness of the metal/mirror and found this metal tape at the hardware store. It's amazing, sticky backed and so much fun! First I attached it to a tag base and ran it through my cuttlebug with the Clockworks embossing folder. I used alcohol inks in the turquoise and lime, burnished it and went over it all in the black archival ink from CTMH to antique it. I then used the seam binding with citrus lime reinker, coloured some brads inturquoise copic and some tissue paper (more on that in another post!) flowers. I cut my tag from the Art Philosophy cartridge and stamped 100% (Legendary stampset) and inked it in brown bag. Whew, finished out with ribbons that I had sitting around my desk.

Now that I finished that, I thought I could do better for the Use it or Lose it challenge, so.....

For this card we had a ton of fun. I am going to share some photos of my son creating my backgrounds for me with the shaving cream technique. I ended up using an older technique from Technique Junkies that created a denim like effect on the paper. I then stamped the Daisy with bleach onto the background and TAH DAH! it magically appeared a few seconds later. This idea came from Fabulously Artsy and I have been waiting to try it. I rinsed my stamps quickly afterwards and so far so good. The trick is that CTMH cardstock will not bleach, but if you use ink over the surface (rubber brayer, dragging or sponging the ink on) and stamp on the inked area, the colour of the original cardstock pops through. I used my kraft borders that I horded ;) Ocean cardstock and the Splendid stamp set. Ahhhhhh, it feels good to use up that older supply hoarde!. Now for some shots of my baby at work :)

Magic Cube Fun

I grabbed this from a fellow consultant. You can visit her at www.kathy-itsagirlthing.blogspot.com

Use it OR Lose It! Challenge

WEEEEHOOOO, so excited to be part of the new challenge group for CTMH! Use it or Lose it is the name of the game. This Weeks challenge is finding your first stamp and putting it to work. I used 'the simple things'. One of my first stamps if not my first one. I leaned on word stamps when I started as I was pretty new to the whole crafting thing. Today I love dabbling in techniques and mixed media art for fun. Welcome aboard, grab that oldie but goodie and play along!

Now this technique is impossible to photograph well, ARGH! It is the false mahogany technique from Technique Junkies. I used barn red and garnet ink from CTMH. We had great fun pounding out the chipboard hinges to look like old and beat up hinges (one casualty with my oldest catching his thumb). Head to the Use it or lose it site to see all the great projects people came up with for this challenge and link up your own :)