All about Mountains!

Hi friends! I hope you've had a good start to your week. I have been off for the last 2 days and have been super busy...cleaning house, getting ready for showings, going to check on our new place that we get to move into in less than 2 weeks! I did get a little time to myself too, yesterday I went for my first solo hike since we've been in Oregon, just a short easy one in Mt Tabor park, but it was very refreshing and renewing, felt good to get some sunshine on my face! It has been super wet here latley. I also got a little free time today to start my next art journaling page. I was once again inspired by Sundays with Sandee over on the FD blog, if you haven't had the chance yet to watch her videos, you have to check them out! As soon as I saw  her pipette painting tutorial I knew I had to try it. I ordered a few more supplies from the Frosted Designs store, and in less than a week I was on my way! I also challenged my Aunt Vicki, who is my lifelong creative inspiration (very much like my mom!) to try it out. We are supposed to share our creations next week when we do our monthly facetime chat. I couldnt wait till then to share cause I was so proud of how it turned out, so here it is:

Also it doesn't hurt that this is probably my favorite Dr. Seuss quote of all time....

"Today is YOUR Day, Your Mountain is waiting, so GET on Your WAY!"

I used basically the same technique as Sandee did for my rough lines. I didn't remember to gesso the paper first or anything though so intial ink colors spread a little more than I hoped. At first I didn't think I would like it, it took a long time to try and I think I used too much water, but after I went back over the lines several times with a fine tip marker it grew on me. I also gesso'd the back of the pages cause they were worn so thin from me painting and smearing..that also took a while to dry and i tried my heat gun...needless to say I'm not a super patient person! LOL! I had to cover over a few places on the back too with tissue tape just to make sure the front wouldn't tear through....not really sure what I will end up doing with those pages, but I will know next time to gesso first!!

This is what the back of the page looks like, the inks bled through even after I gesso'd. It kind of made a need look but for functuatlity purposes I had to add the tissue tape.

It was good to experiment and try a new technique. It really gets your mind going. I have a few more projects to finish before I can start packing up my scrapping stuff. So excited for a bigger place where I will actually have an entire room to myself again instead of a dedicated corner of the laundry room. Plus I will have a large window above my desk!!! I am soooo excited for that, I just hate packing. The only good thing is that we hardly have any stuff compared to what we had in Alabama, we did a major purge before our 3000 mile trek so it should be easier this time. We get the keys on March 14th. Guess I better get going since I'm under a deadline.... see you next time! Thanks so much for stopping by todayI love all your comments!!!

Here are just a few pics I took on instagram during my hike, it was absolutley gorgeous yesterday and I am glad I got to enjoy it for a few hours outside!!! These are all from the base heading up to the 'summit' of Mt Tabor which is just a few miles from my house. It probaby took me about 1.5 hours to get to the top and back down on the easy trail which has partial stairs. It was alot of fun and I can't wait to go again on my next day off if i am not up to my ears in packing!!!

Happy Tuesday Y'all!

Tim Holtz: 12 Tags of 2013: November

This month, we were challenged to copy Tim's unique 'chalkboard' technique for our tag. It was a lot of fun playing around and trying to get the same effect. This was Tim's tag, our inspiration:

I didn't have a black tag, so I cut one from cardstock. I also didn't have timestamps or chalk so I tried to recreate the effect using my picket fence distress marker and some black distress embossing powder. In the end I found that it wasn't 'chalky' enough so I went over some of the leaves with clear tinsel glitter. Overall I like it, but I definitely want some new Tim Holtz stuff for Christmas!!

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving! Last thing I'll share is some fun stamping I did on cork pieces while I was experimenting with my tag. Until next time, keep scrapping friends!! ~VV

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013: October

Good evenin' friends. I can't believe October is here. This is my favorite month of the year, no  on my because it's our anniversary month, but lots of other favorite things, pumpkin spiced lattes, leaves changing ( gotta get some  goo  pics of those soon they are gorgeous right now!!) Football, the crisp air, and all things Halloween- including movie marathons and candy corn!! Hocus Pocus is my favorite:) it's also especially exciting this year because  I get to experience my first true seasonal change in Oregon.

I am stopping by today to share my version of Tim's tag for October. I always try to challenge myself to use the supplies I have on hand, and for this tag it was especially hard, I have been wanting some of the new seasonal release stamps and dies for a while, alas I still don't own a vagabond so I had to make do. I did have some blank grungeboard, and son  of the distress ink colors he used. For everything else I had to think outside the box! That's why these challenges are so awesome. I can't wait to get my hands on some  real distress glitter though! This was our inspiration, Tim's fabulous tag:

Here's the first tag: (again excuse my photos I haven't gotten used to editing on this tablet yet:/ )

I started my tag by using some of the distress inks on my makeshift nonstick Kraft mat- I used dusty concord, scattered straw, and spiced marmalade. I then wet the surface of my #8 tag before swiping it thru the inks like Tim does. I was really pleased with how the background turned out after a couple of tries. I then went around the edges with a ink blending tool loaded up with black soot for a nice border.

After that, I cut out a few squares of grungeboard and put a black cat and moon sticker from an old creative memories pack, then edged it in black soot, and went over it good with embossing powder and UTEE then heat set it. I led it heat for a while, it made some of the parts bubble up a bit. I also had some frames leftover from another Halloween pack that I glittered and pop dotted up around the cat. I added some black star blingys and tulle and ribbon to finish it off. 

For the second tag, I inked the background directly from the ink pad, then used a distress marker in bundled sage and blended with water. After that I added the pumpkin sticker to the bottom and drew around them with a sharpie. I had another grungeboard moon that I cut out, stamped around and started adding in other embellishments.

I had fun with some old epoxy stickers, glossy accents, and stickles in copper and black diamond. I haven't used these in a while so it was fun to doodle around the moon. This  is a smaller Kraft tag so I used mess ribbon and some staples to finish it off. 

Here are a few shots of both tags:)

Thanks so much for stopping by tonight. I have been so busy lately with work.stuff that creative time has really been on the backburner. But with the colder weather on its way, and more days inside on the horizon, I feel.like the mojo is coming back. I am so looking forward to next weekend...it's our 1 year wedding anniversary and we have a mini road trip.planned and some other fun stuff:) I hope to get some  good pictures!!

Tim Holtz: 12 Tags of 2013 August

Good evenin' folks! I am so excited to share with you some tags that my good friend, Crystal and I made today! She happened to be in town for a short visit, so we were able to get a little crafty time in today since there wasn't much else going on! It was such a perfect Monday. We slept in, got up and went down to the coffee shop by my house for a mid morning snack and iced lattes. We chilled there for a while and got to read the local papers for a bit, then planned our day! Making homemade horchata, doing her laundry from the 2 week road trip, and an afternoon of crafting! It was so nice to take a break and just spend most of the day at home. It was a break I think we both needed and it was so good to scrap together again after a very long time!!! So I am really happy with how our tags turned out- we each did 2 tags, and they are each individually unique but fit with the TH theme this month which is 'travel' of all kinds! 

Here are Tim's inspirational tags:

I also really had alot of fun showing her some new techniques and new products. It was cool to feel like a teacher for the afternoon! We each did 2 tags and then went out on to my little mini yard/patio area at my new place and took some great pictures. It was right before the sun went down so we were able to capture some great shots on the slate rock pieces. Enjoy the photos!

 And from instagram earlier this evening...

Thanks so much for stopping by tonight! I had so much fun spending some crafty time with one of my best friends...so glad they stayed with us for 2 nights and we got to catch up...it was alot of fun and a great start to my long 7-day stretch ahead. Next I will be tackling my 2nd CSI Case file and then my next DT project, but I feel energized and inspired from my mini weekend with my girl! It was so great and so much fun, Thanks CJB!!! ;) 

Until next time, Peace Yall~ VV

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013: July

So I've been a bit behind on doing the tags, I missed June because of the move but I stayed up late tonight just in the nick of time to finish the tag for July! I will probably go back and make the June one, even though I know I'm out of the running for the top 12. It's been so fun making these tags every month and trying to emulate the styles and techniques that Tim uses. This time around I didn't have alot to go with from the original tag, so I cut up some paper from one of his collections, used tissue tape, some old star stickers, gesso, cherry ice smooch spritz, distress ink, and lots of other goodies. 

Here are a few shots of how it turned out:

 I started with a #8 manila tag and stuck down a bunch of old metallic star stickers to the base. After that, I spritzed and smudged with my hand the entire top portion with smooch spritz in cherry ice. I heated it a little, then over top of that I used some gesso with my fingers to smudge it out a little. I found that after heating it for a while, some of the star stickers started to curl and peel up on the edges, which I really liked the look of! Near the bottom, I used Glimmer Mist chalkboard in grey over the bottom where I had already glued down 2 pieces of TH paper. I did another layer of star stickers and gesso, then heated it all again. Over that I did some tissue tape, then distress stickles in faded blue jeans. I distressed and inked all the edges and crevices with vintage photo. 

For the title, I used a scrap piece of cardboard that I inked with salted ocean distress ink, then glued down some TH chipboard alphas. Then for the top I did a bit of lace, twine, and a vintage button. I also added some mini pearls near the top and bottom for a finishing touch. 

The other elements I used were a ticket that I inked and colored with a distress marker in broken china, a elements sticker from TH crowded attic collection, a metal piece, some more pearls and tissue tape, and some felt stars that I ended up melting a little with my heat gun too. 

Really happy with how it turned out! I like the peeling up stars and the pictures of Washington and Eisenhower that poke out underneath everything. So I am off to submit right before the deadline! Wish me luck, hope you are joining in for the #12tags. I can't wait to see what he does for August!!

Until next time, Peace Yall~ VV