tattered floral challenge

the tattered floral challenge came at a great time for me as i was looking to make a project that would feature a flower ~ and it also gave me a reason {as if i need one} to buy crafting supplies!!! 

i love my craft studio but what i have really been needing lately is just some time relaxing on the couch. i got my jammies on, got my blankie and a pepsi, fired up the netflix, and got started on my project.

 what i have been making is vases / decorative bottles which are simply glass bottles wrapped with yarn and, in this case, embellished with some tattered florals.

for the flowers i used pages from an old phone book. i used about 4 of each size of flower to make it a little bulkier since phone book paper is pretty thin. then i got busy coloring them with distress stains and inks. i also sprayed them with water here and there and used my heat tool to burn them just a bit. the heat also changed the colors of the ink a little, lightening it in some places. i put all the layers together and used a button and yarn for the center.

 thanks for looking! and don't forget to check out tim's post and the tattered florals info here

12 tags of 2013 * february

hello all! so tim's tag for february was valentine themed -- since i did not create my tag until after valentine's day {but because i loved his use of the queen of hearts} i decided to go for an alice in wonderland-themed tag. and here it is...

for the background i painted a hot pink and fuschia swirl to represent the cheshire cat. i added an actual playing card because i do not have tim's fabulous blue print stamps :(  i added other little "alice" type things such as the mushrooms, a key and lock, and of course the white rabbits watch.

and i had to add an alice quote -- one of my favorites by the way! thanks for taking a look. i hope you all like! and if you want to check out tim's tag you can see it here.

playing {more} catch-up

so here i am again posting a tim holtz tag from LAST YEAR! i just cannot stand not having the full set :) so first i am making sure i am getting this years tags done, along with my design team projects, and then i am tackling all that leftover stuff that i just can't ignore.

this tag is from november and i wish i had all the distress stains i just ordered so i could have used them. i used ink instead which still worked great -- i just can't wait to get those stains!

thanks for looking and hope you like! and if you want to check it out you can see tim's tag here

happy valentine's day!

did everyone have a romantic valentine's day? we celebrated a day early because we had to work on the 14th....not romantic at all!!! :) but we had great fun on the 13th and now i would like to share with you the valentine's i made this year

 i did a few things....some just store bought goodie bags with candy while others were mini treat bags closed with a handmade valentine. i also gave some cute little heart shaped notepads i found at joann's. for my hunny tho i made something really special...

 i found this adorable project on pinterest last year around march. i immediately decided i wanted to make it for <3 day this year. i found some awesome playing cards with the eiffel tower on them and went to town thinking up things i love about my bf. now, let me tell you, i LOVE him! but 52 things can be a little difficult!!! some are serious, some are fun and silly, but all are true!!

 while i did not use the templates available please know that i got this idea from someone else. you can find the original project HERE. 

and finally i have to share with you one of my valentine gifts....

i hope you all had a wonderful day full of love!

all you need is love!

hello there! i really really want to share the valentine's i made this year but i have to wait until they have been given!!! so instead i will post previous valentine's that i never shared with all of you!

the first is a homemade candy bouquet that i made for my bf

 i got a big glass vase and put a hunk of styraphome in the middle. then i filled in all around that FULL of kisses -- something like 4 bags. i taped long pieces of wire inside the flaps of all the candy bar wrappers and then inserted the wire into the foam. i tied with ribbon and added some tags! he loved it and it lasted forever!

 next i made goodies for my family! these are "oreo suckers".....chocolate covered oreos decorated with sprinkles {and did you know that oreos are a VEGAN food? awesome!}

i also did a bunch of valentine tags to send along with the goodies...

 finally, one more past valentine project i have to share is the scrapbook page of my first valentine's day with my boyfriend! <3

i hope that you enjoy and that all of this has offered some sort of inspiration to you!! and i will be posting this year's valentine creations sometime next week! share the love!!!

playing catch-up

the last few months of 2012 were pretty hectic for me -- especially when we got a note on our door saying we had to be out in 30 days! it definitely turned out to be a blessing but in the midst of packing, moving, and unpacking i really wasn't able to do any crafting :/ booooo! so now that i am all settled i have been able to catch up on some of my missed projects for the 12 tags of 2012 AND made with love (and paper).
today i will be posting my october tag for 2012. while tim did a halloween themed tag i went a different route. i am really missing bright colors of spring and summer so that was my inspiration!

i received a new phone book the very day i made this so i took my old one and used some pages for the background of my tag. i kept adding layers of paper, ink, and water until i achieved the desired look.

 

the flowers were brown and tan so i painted them pink, teal, and yellow and then added some gold shimmer and glitter to the middles. this was a really fun tag to make and i hope everyone likes it!

and check out tim's october tag here

12 tags of 2013 * january

i am so so so so so excited that there is a 12 tags of 2013! i knew nothing of the 12 tags of christmas (even though it went on for something like 4 years!) and i found out about 12 tags of 2012 a little late -- plus there were a few months in 2012 where unfortunately i wasn't able to get a tag done in time to submit :/ i am making that work up though so i have a full set of tags but i am really really excited about this years tags because 1) i am starting on time and 2) i am going to do them all in time to submit!

so anyway...here is my first tag for 2013:

i used the indie art cricut cartridge for the gears and i cut them with gold and silver papers and then added some homemade shimmer mist cause i am addicted to it!!! i was also happy to use my metal gears and spinners because it is not often that i have the same supplies as tim. i like to make do with what i have -- i think this is an important part of crafting because it challenges me to be more creative -- but sometimes it is nice to have the same / similar items...especially when i really like the tag he has created!

hope you all like! and make sure you check out tim's january tag here! :)

12 tags of 2012 august & september

really bummed that i didn't get the august tag done in time to submit it for a chance to win :( but there was no way i could start on the september tag until the august one was done! since i am submitting the september one on time i will show that one first:

when i saw tim's tag i was sooooo excited to try the "metal" theme.

i do not have the same self adhesive metallic paper as tim but i do have metallic cardstock and it worked really well. i also only have a few bright alcohol inks which i considered using but i wanted this to have a darker feel so i smeared black and brown staz-on ink all over and buffed it with my craft towel. then i scraped it all up with a wire brush. some of the embellishments include an old zipper that came off one of my bf's shirts and also some little black beads that i glued onto some of the "rivets".

i also love the film strip ribbon and the little pocket watch. these were both things i found on a spontaneous trip to spokane. i tied the top with black tulle and called it good!

check out tim's september tag here

 

~AUGUST TAG~

i knew what i wanted to make for my version of this tag but just didn't get it done in time. too bad because it is one of my favorites.

the big thing with this one was a silhouette and a frame which i conventiently had in a halloween stack. i dry embossed the tag all around the frame and even though the image itself was already raised  i colored in the silhouette with an embossing marker and covered it with clear powder to heat set it. this made it look less smooth and 'perfect' which is perfect for what i wanted!

i colored some strips of paper with distress ink to match the spiral flowers and added some metal studs and a real stick. to finish everything off i stapled some halloween-ish ribbon to the top.

check out tim's august tag here