Tim Holtz Christmas Village Green

 Hello Friends

Since watching Tim's Saturday video on 'The Village' I have wanted to make a village of my own.  I was totally inspired by the creation that the very talented Emma Williams, one of Tim's Makers had made.  You can see Emma's beautiful and very detailed village here.

I built the village over a couple of weeks so I don't have step by steps but I have a few photos to share.  The first house uses House 1 from the new Village Collection and the brickwork was created using the Mini Brickwork 3D embossing folder.

The trees are from Tim's Idea-ology Woodland lot and I sprayed them green using Distress Spray Stain in Rustic Wilderness and the edges were covered with Picket Fence Distress Paint.  I added Tiny Christmas Lights to the tree and all of the houses.

The wreaths on the houses, the gentleman and the Carol singers were created by using Tim's Vault Series: Christmas 2021 die set with black shrink plastic.  I was quite pleased with the way they turned out!  The bows on the front of the village are from the same die set too.  

The central tree has Idea-ology pearl baubles (coloured with alcohol ink) and stars but no lights and you will see why at the end of this post!

I used House 2 to create a pair of semi detached houses, I simply joined two of the houses together and added a 'drain pipe' to separate the two houses.  All of the roofs were die cut and coloured with Distress Ink in two colours, Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs.

The Post Office was created from House 1 dies and I added the cute little awnings.  The phone box was created using the tall thin building from Tim's Paper Village die set and it even has a little telephone inside!  The post box was created with a wooden button and card - well I needed a post box to go alongside the Post Office. It was the hardest thing to create because it is so tiny....

The pathway at the front of the properties was created with Tim's Mini Cobblestone 3D embossing folder.  The 'snow' was created with Ranger Distress Grit Paste with Distress Grit Paste - Snowfall to add some extra whiteness. I carefully puffed on Distress Clear Rock Candy Glitter to add a little sparkle.

To finish off my project I added some Idea-ology feet (from years ago) and a metal plaque from Tim's new Christmas range, that says 'Season of Magic'.

And finally, I took a little video so that you can see that I added a music box (playing Jingle Bells) and turntable to bring the Village Green Christmas tree to life.  I hope it works and that you like it!

I absolutely love this new size of Village dies and I can see me using them lots more in the future.

Thanks so much for your visit, I really appreciate you stopping by.

Take care and keep safe and well.

Crafty hugs,  Anne xxx

Tim Holtz Village Collection 2021

 Hello Friends

Well, what can I say, it is October (to me that signals Halloween) and Tim Holtz has released a fabulous new die set, called Village Collection along with some new mini embossing folders.  I do have the original Village collection but I like the size of this new one... so I just had to didn't I; especially after seeing all the wonderful inspiration from Tim's amazing Makers.  If you missed the 'live' you can see it HERE.

I have to thank Art From The Heart for their always fantastic service, my dies and folders arrived last Friday and I just had to get started right away.  I don't have a step by step for you because this project just took on a life of its own as I was building it...

I built the Manor House first and then added House #2 and (just out of view) I added the additional side building.  

I had some of Tim's Halloween papers from a few years back and had just enough of the orange and black to complete the buildings.  The windows each have 'glazing' from some cobweb acetate from the same paper pack.  Just like the original set of dies, the houses go together like a dream!

The base is a wooden box 10.1/4" x 6" and I covered it with some of Tim's design tape (Halloween) from a few years back.

The trickiest part of the piece was the brick wall.  I knew I wanted to use the gate from Tim's Village Graveyard die set to create an entry.  

The new embossing folders are approximately 4.1/2" x 3" and I repeat embossed some cardstock to give me some longer strips to create parts of the wall.  I used Hickory Smoke Distress Paint, watered down, and randomly swiped paint over the embossed brickwork to give a distressed look.

I scored each long strip to create the wall (3 bricks deep for the sides, two bricks deep for the top and three bricks for the back).  I mitred the corners to give nice corner edges. I cut strips of card to join onto the base.  Because the top was a little uneven I put a strip of card along the whole top to give a finished appearance.  I also created some 'pillars' to hold the gate in place.

I created the cobbled paths in the same way as the brickwork fence and fussy cut around some of the cobbles to make them look realistic.

The graveyard was added by die cutting the tombstones from black card, again using the Village Graveyard die set.  I put four layers together to give them strength and dry brushed them with Hickory Smoke Distress Paint.

All that remained was to paint the 'ground' with various colours of green paint and once the Manor was in place I added some moss, a few (model railway) trees and twigs together with a small pumpkin charm from my stash.

Some of you may be wondering at this point, whether I added lights to my creation.... well, of course I did, it is for Halloween!  I added a set of Tim's Halloween mini lights in green.  It has quite the eerie glow at night time!

Not the best of photos but I have photographed the original Manor house I built a few years back alongside the new one, just to give you an impression of the difference in size of the Manor house.

To finish off my new Manor house diorama I added a word chip. The light switch for the tiny lights is hidden underneath.

Thanks so much for your visit, it is much appreciated!

Take care, keep safe and well.

Crafty hugs, Anne xxx

Floral Journal

Hello Friends

I hope you are all well and coping with the lockdown and social distancing.

My Guest designer project for AALL & Create this week is a mini journal.  I decorated the journal with Tracy Evans'  Create It Grunge stamp set (#150) along with the Totally Dotty Stencil (#87) by Autour de Mwa.  I also used Eileen Hull's Notebook die (Sizzix 663635) for the journal base.

I am still trying to use up some of my brayered sheets of left over card, the one here was also used to clean off my stencil after using texture paste.

• Top left shows the sheets of card that I started with.  They are both left overs from another project.

• Top right shows the covers of my signatures, one is a left over and the dotty one was created by applying several colours of paint through the Totally Dotty Stencil.

• Bottom left shows the die cut journal.

• Bottom right shows the flower stamped three times, coloured with watercolour paint and then fussy cut to allow some depth to the flower.

I stamped the flower onto the front of the journal and then added the fussy cut flower on top.

The above is a view of the back of the journal showing how I added the elastic closure.  It also shows the lovely textures I achieved by cleaning off texture paste from my stencil and then brayering over the dried paste with red and yellow acrylic paint.  It feels lovely to the touch.

You can find a full list of the worldwide stockists of the stamp and stencil sets I used HERE.

Short and sweet this week, but if you do have any questions on anything I have shown,

please let me know and I will do my best to answer.

Thanks so much, stay safe and well!

Hugs, Anne xxx

Masculine/industrial for Mini Album Makers

Hello Friends

The first day of the month means that we have a new challenge starting over at Mini Album Makers and I have gone Masculine/Industrial, creating a mini sketchbook using my newfound skill of Coptic binding and adding some industrial covers to give a masculine feel to the book.

I have watched quite a few videos on the Coptic binding technique but my favourite tutorial, which shows the process very simply, can be found HERE by Sea Lemon.  I will admit, it does take a bit of practice but once mastered, it allows the sketchbook to lie flat, making sketching and painting so much easier.  I have not repeated the process here as Sea Lemon explains it so much better than I could ever do!

The difference between her book and mine is that I created a set of five bindings spaced 1" apart across the whole edge and I used 7 signatures (you could add lots more to create a thicker book).  However, I do suggest using a small number of signatures until you really get the hang of it.

The photo above shows how beautifully the Coptic bound book lies flat, perfect for a sketch or watercolour book.  My finished book measures 6" x 4" and for each signature I folded paper sized 8" x 6", one paper for each signature.

For the covers I cut 300gsm cardstock to just over 6" x 4", one for the front and one for the back cover, as I wanted to cover up the binding on the front and back.  I used Tim Holtz's 3D embossing folder (Mechanics) and embossed each of the covers.

I took silver gilding wax (Pebeo) and used my finger to lightly coat each of the covers and then used a soft cloth to buff over each cover.  I just love the industrial look this creates.

To decorate the cover I die cut Tim Holtz's Bigz die -  Steampunk Parts and pieced it together before applying gilding was again to the pieces, silver for the outer edge and gold for the 'propeller' to make it stand out a little more.

Below is a close-up.

Another view of the completed sketchbook.

We hope you can join in the fun at Mini Album Makers this month, it would be lovely
 to see you there.

This will be my last month with Mini Album Makers, I have taken the difficult decision to
step down from the team.  I would like to thank Autumn for giving me the opportunity to be on the team and my lovely teamies who I have enjoyed working alongside.

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

Hugs, Anne xx

Cat Love, New Release for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

I am back again with another of AALL & Create's new release and this time I have created an accordion card using 'Cat Love' by Janet Klein for AALL & Create (#256) along with Stencil #19 by Autour de Mwa.

The image is so quirky and I just adore her cat!  Cutesy is way out of my comfort zone so I thought I would compensate and create something a bit more than just a standard card.  I used Karen Burniston's Accordion die set by Sizzix to create a single accordion fold card.  I think it shows her of quite well.....

I die cut the elements using Watercolour cardstock.

I brayered paint onto the front and back of the die cut elements and stamped

the images onto the separate die cut pieces.

Next, I used embossing paste to stencil the top and bottom of each of the frames.  Once the paste was dry I applied a light coat of Distress Oxide to blend the stencil in on the front and I stencilled the back of the frames directly onto the frame with Distress Oxide.

I watercoloured all of the images, after stamping an extra set,  fussy cut these and added them over the original images to give them some dimension.  I 'grounded' the girl and cat by adding some ripped washi tape.  I added a sparkly bow to her hair.

I stamped the sentiment and added it to the opposite side of the accordion.  This is a view of the card, closed and from the back.

This is a view of the finished card, closed, from the front.

If you are interested in purchasing the stamp and stencil you can find a list of worldwide stockists HERE.

Thanks so much for your visit, I really appreciate it!

Hugs, Anne xx

Checkmate

Hi Friends

My project as Guest Designer for AALL & Create is a fabric covered journal.  This week I have used Stamp Set #122 Chess pieces by Bipasha BK.

 As soon as I saw this gorgeous checkerboard fabric, I knew I wanted to use Bipasha's Chess Pieces stamp set to make the chess pieces.

I started by using Eileen Hull's Wrapped Journal die, the fabric and the stamp set.

 I stamped out onto white card.

After fussy cutting the chess pieces, I coloured the pieces with watercolour paints and then added Glossy Accents to give a lovely shine.

After covering the outside of the journal with the fabric, I painted the inside in plain black.  A pocket was added to the inside back and the red elastic was threaded through.  Seam binding, dyed red with Distress Stain was added these to the front and back covers, as my closure.

Extra chess pieces were coloured and added to the three signatures.

To finish off some silver coloured chess piece charms were added.

So, there we have it, Project #7 for AALL & Create completed!  If you wish to purchase products from AALL & Create, you can do so HERE.

Hope to see you again soon.  Hugs, Anne  xx

Melt It at A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

It is time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey and our wonderful Julia is hosting the challenge.  Here is what Julia has to say:

This month we're asking everyone to MELT IT! Get out the UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel), beeswax, encaustic wax, embossing powders or good old wax crayons and a heat tool and get melting to create something in a vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journalling; industrial, timeworn or steampunk style!

 I had the pleasure of attending Creativation in Phoenix, Arizona this year and I attended a couple of classes with Seth Apter and watched his many demos with his new Baked Textures Embossing Powders by Kim Evans of Emerald Creek - they are fantastic!  This fitted so well into Julia's theme too!

I didn't take step by step photos as I did this at nightime and really, I was just playing.  Seth used a collage of vintage papers in his demos, I used some beautiful vintage music paper for mine, gluing it to a 5" x 7" piece of grey board and leaving it to dry thoroughly.

Now for the fun bit!  I applied three coats of the gorgeous Vintage Beeswax Baked Texture embossing powder - it is truly amazing how much this looks like Encaustic work, I almost didn't want to cover it up!

Next, I applied embossing ink randomly around the edges and then applied Rocky Road Baked Texture, it has a wonderful chunky feel to it, with a lovely mix of ingredients and it dries to a quite glossy finish.

Seth's Maze die is one of my favourites, I die cut two pieces and embossed the first one with Chunky Rust Baked Texture - this is so different to any other EP I have ever used, it has lots of 'fuzzy' bits in it and once melted, these fuzzy bits create a wonderful soft feel and gives a wonderful textural look.  It is hard to describe but wonderful to feel!

I cut down the second Maze and embossed this with the amazing Patina Oxide Baked Texture, the photograph does not do it justice, it has a wonderful mix of colours from green through to gold - it is quite delicious!

It needed something in the centre so I found some rusty Prima trinkets and stacked them along with one of Kim Evans of Emerald Creek's fancy brads, which I also covered with the Patina Oxide EP.

To finish off I used one of Tim Holtz Idea-ology drawer pulls, which I also coated with the Patina Oxide EP and added the chit chat sticker 'Grateful' because I have a lot to be grateful for this year already!

  I do hope you will visit us over at  A Vintage Journey where you will find some fantastic makes from my talented teamies.  We all hope that you will join in the fun with us this month.  Our wonderful sponsor for the month is:


www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk

who are offering a £20 voucher to one lucky winner!

I want to be slightly indulgent here, to say that I am grateful to my Son, Michael who treated me to a very special trip of a lifetime, to Creativation 2018; to Eileen Hull for making me feel so welcome in the team, allowing me to demo for a couple of sessions on the Sizzix stand, on the Gel Press stand and assisting her to run two of her amazing classes - I learned so much too.  And, not forgetting the shopping trip to Joann's! There were others on the team and elsewhere, who I had not met before that made me feel very special too, some dear long standing blog friends who invited me to dinner and unwittingly saved me from being  'Billy no-mates' in my hotel room that night.  Thanks to Jenny Marples too, for assisting me on the trip there and back which sadly, was more than a little bit eventful - sorry Jenny!  I am also grateful to the many people who gave me such wonderful products to bring home and try, it was like Christmas all over!  Thank you Eileen, Seth Apter, Kim Evans, Ann Butler and so many others, I really did have an amazing time!

I didn't take many pictures at Creativation but this one taken by Eileen says it all about our trip to Joann's, I am excitedly clutching a bolt of Tim Holtz fabric.... and yes, I did buy (ahem) a few other bits and pieces!

Thanks so much for your visit, it really does mean a lot!

Hugs, Anne xx

EILEEN HULL MINI BLOG HOP - with GIVEAWAY

Hello Friends!

Eileen Hull is currently on the Paper Trail, driving the whole width of America and travelling up into Canada in her now famous Scotty, a 1976 Serra camper van! You can find out where Eileen will be visiting and teaching classes by visiting her website www.eileenhull.com or by following her adventures on Facebook, where she will be doing regular Facebook Live videos.

Following on from the hugely successful release of Eileen's Scoreboard XL Journal Die and Katie Skilton's sell out shows on the Craft Channel, Hochanda, here in the UK, we want to continue to celebrate the success of Eileen's Journal Die, both here in the UK and elsewhere in the world.  Jenny Marples, Tracy Evans and I are doing a Blog Giveaway and each of us is offering one of Eileen Hull's Scoreboard XL Journal dies, by Sizzix as a prize!  We are happy to post to winners anywhere in the world.

                                                                             
To be in with a chance of winning one of these THREE prizes you need to:

1.  Be a follower of one or (better still) all of our Blogs
2.  Comment and tell us whether or not you already have the Eileen Hull Journal die.
3.  Be a member of Eileen Hull's Fan Club on Facebook.  It is very simple to join and there is a lot of fabulous inspiration there as well as amazing prizes.

If you are here, don't forget to visit:
Tracy Evans
Jenny Marples
Anne Redfern (you are here!)
                                                               
Would you love to have one of Eileen's Journal dies?  Then please do join in the fun!  Prize winners will be announced on 30 September 2017, on each of our three blogs.  Do please check back to see if you are a winner!

If you would like some more inspiration for using Eileen's Journal die, you can purchase Eileen's eBook, Journal Treasury by clicking HERE or by clicking the link in my sidebar, above left.  The eBook has over 80 different designs to inspire you!

Thanks for your visit, hope to see you again soon - and good luck!

Hugs, Anne xxx

Favourite Eileen Hull Projects

Hello Friends

Today I am sharing some of my favourite Eileen Hull projects as Sizzix USA is having a huge sale of Eileen's dies and Eileen's team are sharing some inspiration.  Some of our projects are being shared over on the Sizzix blog today too, you can find them HERE.  The sale only lasts 3 days....

Eileen is offering a prize if you link up a project made with one of her dies HERE.

I think you all know I don't need much encouragement to create with Eileen's dies, the hard part was choosing my most favourite projects!  

The Cantilever Sewing Box die (Sizzix 660768) is possibly my most used die,

I have made several of these for friends, they are great size  for storing trinkets, bits and bobs etc. and like all of Eileen's dies they go together like a dream!

 I have also used the Bag, Caddy (Sizzix 657123) many times, here it is used to house drinks mats

but it will also hold a pad and pencil.  It would make a great Easter egg holder too....

This is the large 3" Block/Cube/Bank (Sizzix 658983) and the very first of Eileen's dies that I bought.  Here I used an Andy Skinner technique to make a Valentine gift.  The box opens up to take a gift inside.

This is the second of Eileen's Block/Cube dies (Sizzix 658984) and has three sizes of box on one die.  This was a gift for a new baby named Leo, I also used Eileen's Thinlit dies, Lion & Monkey (Sizzix 658973) and also Elephant & Giraffe (Sizzix 658972).  The top of the largest box has a money slot, turning the box into a Piggy Bank.

This is a more recent die, Flower Pocket (Sizzix 661112), Romance Flower (Sizzix 661110) and Sunburst & Waffle Embossing Folder (Sizzix 659879)

My last share is the Cookie Box die (Sizzix 659874).  I always like to find new ways of using dies and I made a pincushion, this is one of my most favourite projects!

If you are still with me, I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane!  At the time of publishing, all of these dies were listed in the sale.  I am hoping that Sizzix UK might follow with a sale but there is no news on that at the moment - sorry!  If you are in the USA, I hope you find a bargain!

Some of my DT buddies are also posting, if you would like to have a look!

Eileen Hull
Pam Bray
Julia Aston
Lisa Hoel
Karen Bearse
Anna-Karin Evaldsson
Donna Braaten-Budzynski
Diana Hetherington
Nicole Wright
Mitsyana Wright
Tonya Trantham

Thanks for looking, hope to see you again soon!

Hugs, Anne  xx

Metropolis

Hello Friends

As soon as I saw Tim's new release video, I wanted these Sizzix Cityscape dies, even though I knew it might be a challenge for my less than dexterous hands.... they are such fun to use!

I used three of the Sizzix dies to create my 'Metropolis' - Tim Holtz Cityscape Suburbia, Cityscape Metropolis and Cityscape Commute.  It took me a couple of days as I painted each item individually, using the fabulous new Distress Oxide inks.

I just love the little clothesline!  On a visit to Hong Kong, many years back it was so interesting to see that even in such a large city, people actually had strings of washing out on lines between the buildings and that was my inspiration for combining the Suburbia and Metropolis die sets.

The word Metropolis was made from Tim's new Typography plastic letters, they were painted with Tumbled Glass Distress Paint and simply glued to the top of the Vignette box.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well the plastic takes paint.  Don't you just love the little helicopter!!

The whole scene was created using a Tim Holtz Vignette Box (the largest size) which measures 5.1/2" x 3.3/4" x 1.1/2" deep.  I covered the back and sides of the box with the beautiful new Memoranda papers, also by Tim Holtz.

If you want to be totally WOWED by a creation using the Cityscape dies, please have a look at what my dear friend Jenny Marples has made HERE.  It is breath-takingly beautiful!!  I wish I had thought to cut the buildings from already Oxide coloured cardstock - I will know for next time!

As always, thanks for looking and I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx