Tim Tag September 2013 and Eclectic Elements

It is so good to have Tim's tag for inspiration because Mr Mojo has still not returned from his holidays!
My tag follows Tim's recipe but with different colours and a couple of different stencils (Tim ones) because I do not have the full set as yet.

Here is my effort:

I used the burlap, rays, schoolhouse and splatters stencils but to finish I added pearls instead of a charm and a key instead of a pen nib, otherwise it is similar. Click on the image for a closer view if you wish.

Because my tag has a key on it I am also entering it into the wonderful Hels' Sunday Stampers challenge which is KEYS.

But, even more exciting than doing the tag, if that is possible, I have got my hands on some of the new Eclectic Elements fabric!!  Woohoo - these fabrics are lush.  If, like me you have been dying to get your hands on some of these fabrics, well now you can.  Thank goodness for Dyan Reaveley's shop, which you can find HERE, as she does get Tim's new things in, in record time.  I am on her mailing list but even though I went online as soon as the email came through, all the larger (fat quarters) had sold out. I do believe that she got more stock in though.   Anyway, I am more than happy with my half fat quarters and 10" square pieces.

I am hoping to make one of Jim, the Gentleman Crafter's passport holders with some of the fabric and a nice holdall, plus, I have already given some of the fabric away, but in the meantime I have made these:

Top left is a notebook with ruled lines, in my favourite piece of fabric.  I have cut the letters from Tim's Wordplay die and added glossy accents (love that stuff) and the word 'notes' is a chit chat sticker.

On the right is a diary for 2014 with my next favourite fabric (what's not to like about butterflies!) and the notebook at the front also has ruled lines and the page edge colour matches this fabric so very well.  I added a word band which says 'possibility begins with imagination', which I coloured with Spiced Marmalade Distress Paint.  Finally, with the scrap of blue fabric that I had left over, I made a bookmark - so nothing wasted.

Just in case you want to cover some books too, the notebook top left is 6 1/2" x 4 1/2" in size and I used a half fat quarter to cover that.  The diary is 5 3/4" x 4 1/4" and also needed the half fat quarter size to cover it.  The small notebook is 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" and I used a 10" square to cover it and there was a bit left to make the bookmark.

I used Pinflair bookbinding glue to glue the fabric to the notebooks, it is very easy to do, the fabric is an excellent weight and quality to work with.  With the possible exception of the red butterfly pattern, all the fabrics are suitable for both male and female projects.  The fabric makes the books feel so tactile - I just love them.....

I am hoping you will all like them because I am thinking of making more to give away as Christmas presents and if you, my crafty friends like them, then I am sure my family and friends will too.  As always, thanks for looking and a special thanks if you take the time to leave a comment.  Big hugs, Anne x

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