Saturday 28 May 2016

12 Tags of Tim Holtz - May 2016

HI Everyone and Welcome 
Hope you are all enjoying the weekend so far and the sun is shining down on you all.  I'm set to head back to my 'happy 'place ( Craft HQ) today but before I do I would like to share with you my take on Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016- May.
You can see Tim's tag for May here and as you will see I have mixed things up a little- not with the techniques they remain the same, primarily with the stamps. I don't yet have the Lady Rose stamp set so I have had to use an alternative and that has then influenced the colours, stencils and dies I have used.
So the stamp set I have used is 'Roadtrip'. It was a real 'must have' set when I first saw it as I have always dreamed of one day traveling down Route 66 in the U.S.A on a Harley Davidson! Alas, it is still just that - a dream but at least now I have this tag to keep the dream alive.
and a a few close up .... 
the tissue tape resist technique which not only is a great technique but also provides the 'white' for my red, white and blue American colour scheme. (Fired Brick, Salty Ocean distress spray stains). I also added a sticker and some remnant rubs befitting of my tags theme.
I used Tim's  'Traveller' layering stencil, and Tim's new gearhead thinlit dies. I cut the gears out twice and adhered them together to create thicker gears that would give some dimension when adhered to the tag. 
Another gear with brad, ideology arrow, Pewter distress spray stain and silver gilding wax provide the metallic touches 
and of course the Route 66 road sign.
Here it is again - my take on Tim's tag for May 2016
 Thanks again Tim for yet another great tag full of creative inspiration. Life just wouldn't be the same without a monthly Tim tag to make .
As you've probably guessed I will be entering this into 
Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016- May 
and I would also like to enter this into the following challenge
 Frilly and Funky Challenge - Oh The Places You'll Go!  
 Time now to head back  to my 'happy place' and see where my creative muse takes me . 
Thank you so much for taking time out this holiday weekend to stop by. I do appreciate it, as I do your comments and follows. 
Hope you all have a lovely weekend
Take care 
Amanda
 xxx

Thursday 26 May 2016

'Think Pink'- Guest Designer at Stamps and Stencils

Hello Everyone and Welcome
Hope you are all doing ok and having a great week so far. 

Today I am a Guest designer over at Stamps and Stencils having been fortunate enough to be their Challenge winner in April for my 'Spring is in the Air' altered canvas (if you missed it it can be seen here) and I really am thrilled and honoured to have been given such a wonderful opportunity to share some of my creativity on such a fabulous blog that has a very talented design team. 
With most of the details about my project over on Stamps and Stencils blog  I'll just take you on a quick tour around my project including a little story about a photo I have used.
When I learned that Stamps and Stencils challenge theme this month, hosted by Branka, was 
'Think Pink'
I couldn't help but smile! If I'm honest I laughed out loud! It had my name written all over it- literally!!
Hahaha! 
So there really was only one way I could go with this challenge I thought- and that was to make something that had a little bit of 'me' in it, on it or about it!
Here's what I made - a 5x7 inch altered canvas using tones of pink and an old school photo of a little girl (me) called Pink! 
Looks like butter wouldn't melt doesn't it with those eyes and that smile ....mwahhhh!  

 
So lets start with the canvas

 I do love the Tim Holtz dot fade stencil (it has been said that I can drive people dotty). There's also some lightly stenciled numbers. (Maths was my favourite subject at school, oh along with art of course) and some 'Hot Pink' paint splats (I love the carefree creativity of splats) 
I also added some crazing
cracks and nuts (me,crazy? cracked? nuts? hahaha I'll let you decide)

The photo is an old school photo, taken when I was about 8/9 that I resized and developed in black and white. I think of all my school photos its my favourite. However I'm sure my mum would beg to differ as she was,lets say a little disappointed that my hair wasn't in the the very neat and tidy 'a bit up and a bit down' style I left home with that morning! Well believe it or not the parting that looks like the 'hinds legs of a donkey' wasn't my fault even though that cheeky grin may suggest otherwise. It was indeed the fault of a boy in my class who en route to  pose for the camera decided it would be so funny if he ruffled up some of the girls hair and yes I was his main target!
Thanks Peter for making a memory that never fails to make me smile ! 
To finish off my 'Pink' canvas I added a personal wish and 'note to self .....'
and now for the arty shot
I thoroughly enjoyed creating this canvas and am really pleased with how it turned out. I really hope you like it too.
Huge thanks to all the team at Stamps and Stencils for the Guest design spot today - it has been a real priviledge and honour .
I would like to enter this  canvas into the following challenges
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge- Make a Wish!
Country View Crafts- May Challenge and Blog Hop - Use a Stencil
Anything but Cute Challenge #13 Celebrate your style 
 Creative Carte Blanche- Wood .... a word.... and something wild!
( wood= photo frame, words = small talk sticker , Wild= my hair!!)  

 Thank you so much for stopping by today. Your visits, comments and follows are always welcomed and appreciated 
Hope you all have a lovely weekend and the sun shines down on you all 
Take care 
Amanda 
xxx

Monday 23 May 2016

Destination Inspiration - Terminal #3 at A Vintage Journey May 2016


HI Everyone and Welcome
Hope you have all had a lovely weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead. 
I begin my week greeting you (if you care to join me) at Terminal #3 of Mays Destination Inspiration 
sharing with you what I have created using the contents of our travel bag.
So just a quick sneaky peek here,
 which I hope will be enough to tempt you to meet me there

See you soon.........

Thursday 5 May 2016

'Opposites Attract'- Guest Designer at Frilly and Funky !

HI Everyone and Welcome 

Today I am a Guest designer over at Frilly and Funkie and I really am thrilled to have been given this opportunity to share a little of my creativity on such a prestigious blog.
The current Challenge theme is 'Opposites Attract', hosted by Kathy and here is what she says :
'For this Challenge, the Frilly side of the team will be asked to create a project in a Funkie style and the Funkie style will create a Frilly style project. Dig deep and create any kind of project you choose, as long as it is not done in your usual style and colour palette.'
 Given that my creative style tends more to the 'Funkie' than the 'Frilly' this Challenge theme required me to find and embrace my 'Inner Frilly' to create my project of choice.
but I don't do frilly!! 
EEK!!!!
I could wax lyrical and really make you smile, howl with laughter infact, at the chaos and drama that ensued as I dug deep to search for my frilly more 'girly' side but I won't. Lets just say 'Once a tomboy always a tomboy' and this definitely proved to be quite a challenge. 
 Heres the card I have made 
 
To create my card  I have used papers, inks, diecuts, crafted flowers, ribbons, gem beads and a meaningful quote. As the challenge suggest I have chosen to use a colour outside my preferred palette - Peach-(it is infact the first time ever I have used Tattered rose Distress Ink) combining it with cream and delicate accents of brown. 

The papers are miscellaneous ones I found in my stash -I know the larger one is by Graphic 45 but not sure about the smaller one. The sides of the larger paper panel are ragged and all sides of both panels are lightly distressed with Gathered Twigs Distress ink. I added some script stamping to the smaller paper panel using Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

Next I created the flowers. I really enjoyed making these and though I have made flowers before I knew this was the ideal time for me to visit a very talented lovely lady and friend, my teamie Jennie and follow her Paper Rose Tutorial  that she shares on her blog. Jennie really is (in my humble opinion) the 'Queen' of flower making. 
The die I used is Tim Holtz Tattered Garland strip die. Once the flowers were assembled I distressed the petals lightly with Tattered Rose and Gathered Twigs Distress ink and embellished them with pearl beads.  
Thank you Jennie I am really pleased with how these turned out
 
 The leaves are die cut using Tim Holtz Spring Greenery strip die, distressed just like the flowers and manipulated to give them shape .
 
The wildflowers ,die cut using Tim Holtz New Wildflower thinlit dies, are distressed like the flowers and leaves and I have to confess I succumb to my 'funkie' urges and crazed them with Tim Holtz Crazing medium, highlighting the crazing with gold Gilding Wax. The crazing is only subtle so I figured that was ok .  
 The  sentiment is stamped In Sepia Archival Ink and the butterflies I found in my 'pre-cut/ punched'  stash.  
Now it was just a matter of adhering everything in place and this involved lots of fiddling and faffing with placement and adhesion of all the elements
Heres a few close ups .....
.....the crazing on the wildflower,
the flowers
The butterfly embellished with a pearl bead pin, (the script stamping can be seen in this photo too) 
and the quote. 
and once again my finished card.
How frilly it is, well, I guess you can decide but it is definitely prettier, more feminine and I think closer to frilly than I would usually create.

If you fancy joining in this Challenge there's still plenty of time to enter - just head over to Frilly and Funkie's blog to find out more details and lots of inspiration from the Design team and then go have some fun creating  in either a frilly or funky style. 
Huge thanks again to all the team at Frilly and Funkie for the Guest design spot today - it has been a real priviledge and honour!
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today and for the lovely comments you continually leave. I hope you know just how much both are greatly appreciated . 
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend 
Take care 
Amanda 
xxx