Grungy Monday and Announcement

There is a challenge going on sponsored on Studio L3 blot (http://studioL3.blogspot.com) using all things Tim Holtz http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/ I usually don't enter these challenges but I received some new stuff in the mail - Distress Stain, Distress Embossing Powders, and a Stamp Set, al by Tim, so I had to play. I created a new page for my journal. This week's challenge required the use of Texture fades (I used Burlap) and distress. I colored the lace with the house (isn't that the neatest lace??? I have had it for about 25 years!) with distress stains, highlighted the burlap texture with distress Embossing Powders, Shaded the ticket and the shoes (a stamp from Stamp Camp http://www.stampcamp.com) and applied stickles to the stamp. The background paper is from a new DCWV stack I bought, Madamoiselles. I stamped the work Home in the ticket with a neat letter set given to me by my friend Tery - Love these Tery! and wrote in One Way with an Adirondack pen. The leaves are from http://www.ribbonsmyth.com and I distressed them using Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint distress inks. The flowers are left over from my NJ pages. I highlighted the lace with a Krylon 24K gold pen and Metallic Copper Paint dabbers.

I also have an announcement about my Madame LeChat pattern. I have never been really happy with the Black and white photos plus it is about 30 pages to print, so I have decided to change it over to CD. I have changed all the pictures in the pattern to high resolution color (slightly lower res for the epat download). I am going to try and do this with One Kiss is Not Enough too.

Also, look for a new release at the end of the Month!

Jouney through the Garden State

I belong to a yahoo group, All Things Tim (that's Tim Holtz of course) and joined a 6" x 6" chunky page swap, Journey around the world. We were to illustrate on our page what is unique to our little part of the world. My page has all things New Jersey - or almost! Did you know NJ's state colors are Buff and Jersey Blue, the state bird is the Gold Finch, State Flower is the Field Violet, and the state nickname is the Garden State? New Jersey is also the home to "the Boss" Bruce Springstein who I went to High School with so I though I would use his HS picture that he signed (he said he would never forget me. HAH!!!) as the center point. The frame was cut on my Cricut (I needed 34 of them!) from cardstock that I doubled. Then I painted the frame with white glue and sprinkled Gold UTEE on it and applied heat. Love the texture. The crown is a mold from Ranger's Mold and Pour of a pin cast in clay then painted and colored with Alcholol Inks. The houses (we are the most densly populated) are Sizzix Tim Holtz on the Edge Die. The edges are covered with printer paper that I covered with facts about NJ and printed on a buff background with blue ink. The bird was also cut with the Cricuit, embossed with Ranger EP and colored with Distress Ink (as were the houses). The lace flowers were colored with Distress ink. The fabric flower was made using Sizzix dies (also Tim Holtz and others). The center metal flower is a Tim Holtz covered with Ranger Embossing Powder. The dangles are a Tim Holtz Fragment (the Garden State), the heart is from a score in the clearance aisle at AC Moore. It is rusted metal that I embossed with NJ in Distress Tea Stain EP. I did the same with the butterfly (please note: the state insect is the honey bee but I couldn't find any of them in quantity so the butterfly agreed to substitute!). The background is Cardstock that I dry embossed.

The back of the page has Pine Trees (signifing the Pine Barrens) from a Tim Holtz embossing folder that I colored with Distress ink and cut out. The base is newspapger (Asbury Park Press actually). The page background is the Real Estate Ads for NJ colored with Distress Ink. I added my business card, a printout of the state stamp that was issued in 2003(?) and a postage stamp. Hope those who receive them like them!

I also made an ATC - my first! with some stamps from Stamp Camp http://www.stampcamp.com I bought at the Stamp Show a few weeks ago. LOVE these stamps. I used the Harlequin Stamp for the background and embossed the black. I then stamped the flowers from Tim's Flights of Fancy Collection and embossed them in Gold. The Crown is a $1 stamp from Michaels, the vines a Sizzix die, the flowers are Distress Stained Vellum and cardstock cut with punches. Lot of stuff in a 2.5 x 3.5" area!