Month: November 2010

Last week I showed you a necklace with my new Tim Holtz accoutrements and then a layout where I stamped the plastic packaging to create fun circle patterns. Here’s a video of the stamping + stamping with a spritz of Tattered Angels Dazzling Diamonds spray. I’ve been using this product + distress inks now and then to add a touch of sparkle plus make the image “bleed” a bit.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ9CxIPC1MU]

Here’s a tag with both techniques used…

First I stamped (with peeled paint distress ink), then I coated all the stamped areas with glossy accents. This “sealed” the area so that other layers of color wouldn’t cover up my stamped areas. Just be sure to wipe off excess ink as you work. Then I just used fired brick distress ink, black soot distress ink (with my fave Tim Holtz flourish stamp), then added some Tim die cuts + rock candy distress crackle paint.

The paper used is Girls’ Paperie, and overall? Another quick & fun tag! Happy Monday all…

PS – Congrats to Beth W for winning the Zoe Archer signed book!! I’ll email you the info. Thanks again to Zoe for doing such a great interview here (and writing AMAZING books!)

Good friends are something to celebrate, to cherish, and above all, to enjoy. This year has been a whirlwind of activity and change, joy and pain, trouble and bliss. Through it all I’ve deepened my bonds with some special friends as well as enjoyed making new friends.

One such group of new friends are the ladies I am joining as one of Ella’s new ‘best friends’. We’ll be sharing ideas on the Ella blog, contributing, and generally spreading Ella Publishing love (as you’ve already seen here with a few give-aways!). I love all the great things Ella does and the e-zines and books they put out, so I’m thrilled to be a part of this group. Today if you hop around to my fellow team members you’ll find projects, ideas, and maybe even some give-aways today. Yep – it’s celebrating friendship with Ella’s Best Friends.

This month is an exceptionally wild and crazy one for me, but there is one thing that I am working away on, and that is Christmas. From gifts to making decor to writing up my cards – November is my month of preparations. I plan on sharing my ideas here with you on my blog, starting today with a great find I got at the Fossil outlet:

I love these – so pretty and a great price too!! They came in pretty boxes, so I wondered if I could use it to add special gift wrapping as well. Friends, I have a few tips when it comes to sharing some holiday spirit with friends this year:

1. Keep it simple. The message is that you care about and appreciate the person, don’t make it complicated.

2. Go ahead and start now! Pre-planning is great, but you also don’t need a reason to give something to a friend, so think about doing fun stuff anytime.

3. Use what you have. Sometimes you already have stuff or the packaging on a gift can be used to turn a simple gift into a semi-homemade something special…

I like the box these necklaces came in, so I decided to work around the “gifted” word on the front. I tied a strand of fake pearls (available at craft stores/fabric stores) and wrapped with some Crafty Power Tape.

Then I added “to” as well as a die cut heart…

Then I added a jewel, and some Kaiser Craft stamps (using staz-on ink), and finished off with some silver leafing pen and fired brick stickles

Now just a few minutes later I’ve got my gift all dressed up and ready to give. What could make it better? Well friends, I made this for one of you! Inside is the necklace shown on the far right. Would you like it? A gift from me to you, one of my lovely blog readers? Just leave a comment here and I’ll select a winner next week.

I’ll be back to share loads more holiday gift ideas (homemade and semi-homemade), but in the meantime I encourage you to visit Ella’s other best friends at their blogs:

Have a beautiful Friday!

Earlier this week I shared my Tim Holtz accoutrements necklace. Well, once those buttons were out of the package I had to start wondering if it had possibilities too…

It does! Just grab some distress ink and GO!

See all those circles? I just inked the plastic packaging on my buttons, stamped, repeated, and repeated again. LOVE IT! I’m saving that plastic ‘stamp’ for future too.

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This page was pure fun. I took two (4 x 6) photos that I ended up cropping down to about 3 x 4, a strip of paper, and a whole lotta fun stuff and just played…

Product used:
Tim Holtz Paper rosette, elegant flourishes, and tattered florals die cuts
Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby paper pack
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Metal foliage
Tim Holtz Tissue Tape
Tim Holtz Fired Brick & Vintage Photo distress ink
Tim Holtz Journaling Ticket
Tim Holtz Rock Candy distress stickles
other: girls’ paperie letters, cardstock, buttons, pearl brad

I will share another project + video how-to to give you a better visual in a few days. Happy crafting!

Tim Holtz buttons rule. {as do all products he creates!!}

They’re a tad expensive compared to most of the buttons in my stash, but it’s worth it. They’re not normal boring buttons, instead each is very special and wonderfully made. Oh, and I need LOADS more of them… oh man. So last weekend at Scrapbook Territory I was overwhelmed with new Tim product I’d yet to see… and I HAD to buy the new accoutrements (buttons). HAD TO. When I got home I kept on wishing I could, like, wear them.

Well DUH, of course I can! I grabbed some jump rings + charm clips and made myself a necklace. Compared to how much this would cost at the mall it was a deal!! {and very quick & easy to make}

Then I realized that some of his other products could easily be added to a necklace. Like the facets, or some of the metal charms…

I love that all I had to do was add stuff with jump rings. NO jewelry know-how or experience required!!! Simply hook one side to another, and that’s it!

I can’t wait to try out my new necklace. Best part? If I get tired of it I can just take it apart! I can re-use the pieces in other jewelry or in my craft projects as I like. I can also add and move stuff around as I please.

Links to stuff used:

glorious new accoutrements: http://store.scrapbook.com/ch-th92873.html

Facets: http://store.scrapbook.com/ch-th92871.html

Metal charms: http://store.scrapbook.com/ch-th92832.html

Charm Clips: http://store.scrapbook.com/ch-th92880.html 

hmmm…. I don’t have these baubles (yet)… but now I’m thinking I’ll have to order some ASAP!!