Christmas Tin - Tim Holtz

 Hello Friends

I thought I would share a very quick post showing a Christmas tin I created after watching one of Tim's Saturday Facebook Lives (HERE), where he used the new Paper Village Thinlits die set.

I don't have many step by steps because I was just winging it as I went along!  I started with one of Tim's Ideaology tins.  I cut two of the village houses and fitted one of them on top of the other to represent a church.  I dyed three of Tim's Ideaology woodland trees with Distress Spray Stain, added some glitter and small beads to the larger tree.  The tiny trees have simply been brushed with gesso.

The outside of the tin was gessoed on the front and then covered with Ideaology tissue wrap.  I applied some die cut holly, some dyed Ideaology baubles for berries and added some of Tim's new Ideaology velvet ribbon to finish off.  I added a pocket to the back of the tin, finished it with Tim's Design Tape.  The pocket houses the Ideaology tiny lights battery pack.

I added some watercolour card to the inside of the tin, coloured with Distress Ink adding some white embossing powder and splats of white paint to give the impression of snow, along with a stamped sentiment.  The 'snow' at the bottom is texture paste and whilst wet I added some Distress clear rock candy dry glitter to give a light sparkle.  I punctured a small hole in the back of the tin and fed through the tiny lights before attaching the church to the base.

I finished off by adding a moon and one of Tim's new Darling Deer Thinlits to complete my scene.

Here is a view of the lit up church.  I added some plain vellum behind the windows.

Finally, here is a close-up view of the front of the tin.

Thanks so much for your visit, I hope to see you again soon.

In the meantime, keep safe and well,

Hugs, Anne xxx

Eileen Hull - Journal for Creativation

Hello Friends

During the month of March Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team are sharing details of Eileen's latest release for Sizzix - Heartfelt Collection. The collection was showcased at Creativation (CHA) in January 2017.  You can see the whole release HERE.

The collection includes the fabulous new Journal that Eileen has designed (Sizzix 661906).  This is a Scoreboard XL die which creates a Journal measuring 8.1/2" x 4.1/2".  It will take the popular Midori inserts, or you can easily make up your own inserts, using items from your stash.  A few people have asked me what they could use a journal for and I have put some ideas at the end of this post.**

This is the first journal I made for Creativation.

The Journal covers were die cut from Matboard (you can also use Mount Board).  The die cuts the holes at the sides and also provides the score lines to fold the sides.  The die also comes with two 'closures' and a label.

To create the journal I used Paper Leather, a wonderfully strong product by Sizzix, which I embossed using one of Eileen's embossing folders (Sunburst #659879).  It is a great folder as it has a repeat pattern, so I was able to match up the pattern to cover the whole of the front and back of my journal cover.  If you line it up carefully, you cannot see the join at all - result!!

After cutting the cover to size I used a strong wet glue to adhere it to my journal blank and put it to one side for the glue to dry.   

For the inside, I created three signatures and  I added a handmade envelope at the back. I lined the insides of the cover with grey card to match the leather paper on the outside.

I used a traditional bookbinding method to attach the signatures to the Journal.  It is called the 3 hole pamphlet stitch and you can see how it is done in a tutorial HERE.

You can, if you wish, add a simple elastic type closure, which is much easier to achieve and allows signatures to be removed and new ones added.  I like the bookbinding method as it creates a nice neat appearance on the outside of the Journal.

Next I created a closure.  I decided to do one by using Eileen's Twist & Style Tool and some soft metallic string from my stash.  Once twisted I made a button shape and stitched it in several places so that it would hold its shape.  I also stitched it to the Journal cover.  I twisted a further piece to use as the closure, which you can see above.

I die cut the word Journal using one of Tim's thinlit dies and I added some pearls and gems to an Ideaology Hinge Clip as a decoration.  Finally I added some sparkly stars to 'bling' up the front.

I have made a few of these Journals now, the second one I made also went to Creativation.  This one was covered in some fabric from my stash.

Covering it with fabric is very easy to achieve.  The insert you can see here is a purchased Midori insert and I added a couple more made from manila card.

  There are endless possibilities for covering the Journal, whether it is card, fabric, leather, paint etc., whatever takes your fancy.

I hope you will find time to visit Eileen's blog to see the other projects my teamies have created with the new release.

Thanks so much for looking, I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx

**  Potential uses for the Journal die

• Art Journal
• Travel Journal
• Diary
• Address Book
• Phone Book
• Wedding Planner
• Wedding Guest Book
• Wine Journal
• Meal Planner
• Gardening Journal
• Wine Lovers Journal
• Students Study Journal .... and so on!!

Tim's Tag August 2013

Hello Blog Friends

It is that time again, Tim has done four tags this month which you can see HERE.  For once, I actually had two sets of the stamps he used, but for those who follow me regularly, you will know that I am totally obsessed with the Chemist set of stamps, see here and here to see how I used it, so I just had to include him. I have made two tags, as you can see here (click on the photos for a better view):

I won't go into too much detail as I basically followed Tim's tutorial and did lots of masking.  The tag on the left represents a wonderful holiday we had in Canada a few years ago, when we went on a fabulous steam train journey in British Columbia.  It is one holiday we would love to repeat over and over - nothing exotic or tropical for us!  The word band says 'Enjoy the Journey' - we certainly did.  The base is coloured with Broken China and Frayed Burlap Distress Stains.

For my chemist (have I said how much I love this stamp set?) I used Tea Dye and Broken China Distress Stains.  This set is ideal for masking, the stamps are quite large.  The word band says 'life is about creating yourself' - I have visions of a mad chemist trying to re-create another being in his laboratory..... is that better or worse than selling arsenic to a lovely steampunk lady?  I think it will be an ideal stamp set for Halloween creations.  I know he does not really fit the - where would you love to travel to theme - but Tim did say we could just use stamps that are our current favourites  - this is certainly my current favourite.

But I didn't stop there, I created two more tags because I was enjoying rediscovering masking so much.

I was not quite so happy with these, the butterfly one does not really show off the masking as well as I would like and I think the airplane one is perhaps a bit too bright, although I made sure the airplane was flying over North America to represent our visit to Canada again.  Still, the tags will not be wasted.....

I can't wait to see what Tim comes up with us for next month. I really hope he enjoys his trip to the UK this week too and that he will keep coming back again and again (please!).  Just sorry I will not be there this time but hopefully friends say hello for me and will take lots of photos and I will be watching Mario's BTS.

Thanks so much for looking!  Take care and I hope you are enjoying some crafty time.  Big hugs, Anne xx