tim tag mania #3

hello gypsies!
well tim may have wrapped up his 12 tags of christmas, but that doesn't mean the fun has to stop! presenting...tag #3! this one is inspired by techniques from a couple of tim's tags this year. so are you ready? well hold onto your sleigh bells 'cause here we go!

so the inspiration for tag #3 came from

tag #10 "believe letters"

and tag #8 - background

and tag #6 - rugged metal

so i created the rugged metal following tim's technique. first i used a texture folder on a piece of crafting metal and ran it through the sizzix. the i gently painted over the embossed metal with a "snow cap" paint dabber. once the paint dried i lightly sanded it and then rubbed "walnut stain" over the surface and around the edges to create a vintage patina. final touch was to sprinkle embossing powder over the whole piece and hit it with the heat gun to seal in the ink and add a shiny finish.

next i cut letters to spell "i believe" from idea-ology "alpha parts" and dabbed them with the "gold" metallic paint dabber. after the paint dried i covered each letter with a thick layer of glossy accent and set them aside to dry.

to create the background of the tag i first stamped it a couple of times with a stamp covered in "snow cap" acrylic paint. the paint creates a resist for step 2 - dying the paper. to do that, i dribbled distress stain directly onto my craft mat, spritzed the tag with water and swirled it around in the distress stain. i used a heat gun to speed up the dry time because it was so exciting!

once all of the separate elements were dry, i assembled the tag. note the santa face embossed on my "homemade" kraft paper, and the tissue tape banner. the ribbons and lace are all dyed using distress ink pads - tim's seasonal color set was great! i sanded the finish off the "believe" washer to brighten it up, and finished the tag off with a bell, ala "the polar express", because i believe!

coming soon - steampunk xmas! and a happy elf for giving!

back to work!

now that school is out, and the end of year craziness is done, it's time to get back to work. things have been busy at the gypsy camp - design team projects for june, and teaching my first class at scrapbook island. it's very exciting!

for the june design team project, i was given a special request - make something for father's day using the very groovy cosmo cricket "social club" product line AND these super girlie frilly embellishments from Prima by Marion Smith.

my response? "um...sure! no problem!"
my husband's reaction? "you need to make something that men will want to make? good luck!" - LOL

and actually it was a pretty good design challenge - how to take very feminine items and turn them into something that makes sense for a dad. first up, page layouts with an old-fashioned feel. tomorrow? a minibook that's all about why i'm so glad ur my dad. full of contrasting textures and rich colors, this manly spread makes a great layout to highlight that romantic man in your life.



special feature here is the corragated banner across the middle of the layout. i used pieces from a shipping carton and peeled off the top layer, exposing the ridges and leaving some fragments. a happy accident left a long narrow fragment that was the perfect place for "my tweetie".

the block letters are curtesy of tim holtz. the master of distress, the letters are chipboard squares and letters, acrylic paint, distress ink and glossy accents - thanks tim!



the "oh-so-girlie" embellishments by Marion Smith got a new treatment here. by taking pieces apart and attaching new metal treats, i created the watch chain. and i believe you can never have too many places to attach small photos, journaling, and keepsakes so i turned the clips into memorablia holders on both pages of the layout.



and my special treat of the month - create the look of corragated patinaed metal using cardboard and glimmer mist. take cardboard and peel off the top layer exposing the ridges. the mist with tuorquoise glimmermist, and follow up immediately with copper glimmer mist. the result is a copper patina look that transforms ordinary cardboard into a metal scrap! use them by themselves as accent pieces, or add a cropped photo on top and turn them into a photo matte.



stay tuned tomorrow for a mad men-inspired minibook all about dad!