Creative Chemistry 101-Day Ten

The last day of class, alas, all good things have to come to an end, oh darn! Maybe he will offer some more classes online, that would be cool, hugh!! Anyway, the last technique Tim shared was called Rock Candy Distress Stickles. I have never used stickles this way before. He had us spread it over the whole tag. It left a sparkly kind of sheen over the tag, he said kinda like glass fragments would look. I may try this over some easter eggs, that sounds pretty fun, hugh?

Rock Candy Distress Stickles Technique

There will be a follow-up class on Monday probably where he will show some of his favorites from the gallery. There are so many! Anyway, see ya Monday! Hugs, ~Jody

Creative Chemistry 101-Day Nine

Day 9 had some pretty cool techniques on it to. The Perfect Distress Mist technique I had kinda tried before. Some one had given me a set of PearlEx powders a few years back and I had mixed some with water and spritzed a couple of projects before. I have never added them to reinkers though so this was a good one to try. I played around with the powders and the reinker colors and this is what I got. You, of course, can't see the shimmer from the photo but it looks pretty cool, kind of Eastery colors, I thought! The second technique, Perfect Distress Technique was a really cool one. I especially liked the way the distress ink wicked out from underneath the powder. I over did the misting on mine (or wasn't fast enough with the heat gun) but the technique is still visible. I will definitely use this one again. Very Cool!!! The third one for day nine was a Perfect Splatter Distress technique. Mine didn't turn out as good as Tim's did but it will work for the demo. I like the white parts of Tim's so I will have to perfect my style on this one.

Perfect Distress Mist Technique Perfect Distress Technique Perfect Splatter Distress Technique

Creative Chemistry 101-Day Eight

Day 8 was one of my favorites too. The Paint Dabber Resist technique was one that I really liked and will try again. Mine didn't turn out very crisp on the first try but I think it was because I used two spray of water on top of my dabber instead of one. I thought the first one wasn't enough, but the second one was too much. It diluted my snow cap dabber too much. You can still see it but next time I will not spray it at all and see what I get, lol. Next up was the Crackle Paint Resist technique. This one looked really cool until I sopped up the rest of the ink on the back side and it made the front side even darker, oops! The technique is still visible but note to self, use a separate tag when sopping up! And the Shattered Stains technique turned out some pretty spectacular results. Since it's Easter time, I wanted to do something with the little bunnies. I think they turned out SO CUTE!!! Love the bunnies!!! I used the old tree stamp from a Christmas set and the sentiment is from a set of Verve stamps. I think it's my favorite one of all. See what you think!

Paint Dabber Resist Technique Shattered Stains Technique Crackle Paint Resist Technique

See, I told you I got excited about those bunnies, got'em out of order, lol!

Creative Chemistry 101-Day Seven

Now Day 7 I was really getting in to it. First up was a Batik (A method of dyeing a fabric by which the parts of the fabric not intended to be dyed are covered with removable wax) technique. We did this technique in grade school a few years ago, lol. I believe we used hankies. Anyway, the stamp I chose did not have alot of covered area and I forgot to iron it before I took the photo but I thought it turned out very pretty. Second technique was the Rusted Enamel technique. This one I had tried before (without instruction) on a the jalopy car die cut. I made a card for my dad's birthday a couple of years ago and black embossed it. I dropped it while I was heating it and some of the embossing powder came off, especially where I had touched it again. I thought, oh well, it will be fine. I just inked over it with vintage photo and VIOLA, it was the same technique he used here. Works Great!! Third technique was the Distress Powder Resist technique. This one was pretty cool too. I have to tell ya though, when I first got in to embossing I bought like 5 colors of this distress embossing powder and took them home to give it a go. I was so disappointed when it didn't get shiny that I put it on the shelf and never used it again. Figured I did something wrong and would try it again some day. Little did I know, it was supposed to be that way. I finally found that out a couple of years ago when Tim used it on one of his 12 Tags of Christmas tags. Silly me!!!! It really does add a vintage distress look to things.

Nostalgic Batik Technique Rusted Enamel Technique Distress Powder Resist Technique

Creative Chemistry 101-Day Six

Awww, Day 6, this is where I really hit a snag. I don't have very good markers and what I do have are very old. Like I said earlier, I'm not much in to coloring so I don't really use markers alot. Some of them are from CTMH and I don't have the reinkers for those and they are kinda dry. The others were bought at Michael's when I first started doing this about 7 years ago, if that tells ya anything. So................... needless to say, the whole 'marker' technique thing didn't work out well for me. I did the first one and was very dissatisfied with it so I didn't do the other two. I am playing with the idea of investing in some more markers just haven't decided which ones to go with yet. I did like the way he worked with the Distress Markers so that will play in to my decision. If and when that time comes, I will do the other two techniques so I have them in my collection.

Watercolor with Markers Technique Blending with Markers Technique Stamping with Markers Technique

See, my colors are not blended at all. The more I tried the worse it got. The green one at the bottom is where the paper started to get roughed up. That is when I gave up, lol!

Creative Chemistry 101-Day Five

Day 5 was getting in to more of the things I like. The kraft resist paper is so cool, really like that stuff. And the marbled stain technique turned out really well. I think I will be using that one alot.

Stained Kraft Resist Technique Stamping with Stains Technique Marble Stains Technique

I even went hunting a new stamp just for the marbled stain technique. I found the one with the eye and it spoke to me so...................there it is. I used the background stamp from a Christmas set and then put the eye right in the middle of it, kinda. It wasn't planned that way but it did turn out really well I thought. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!!! Thanks for looking!

Creative Chemistry 101-Day Four

On to Day 4............... I'm not the best with coloring and/or painting so this one was a bit challenging for me. I did ok inside the lines but when it comes to the blending, I don't really have the patience for it, I guess. I didn't have any stencils really but I found an old one of my daugthers that had somehow made it in to my craft room stash but it bleed underneath so the images are not very crisp (that's supposed to be a 'J', lol) . The custom stamp pad technique I had done with the last two 12 Tags of Christmas so that one worked out better for me.

Watercoloring with Re-inkers Technique Layered Misting Technique Custom Stamp Pad Technique

Love how Tim made little instruction card to go on the back of each tag. Those will come in really handy for reference. I am thinking of a cool way to store the tags so that they are at my fingertips when I want to use a particular technique, I can just pull out the one I want and the directions will be on the back, love that!!!

Creative Chemistry 101-Day Three

Day three was even more fun! I like using the alcohol inks and the embossing folders. It was a bit tricky stamping on the glossy paper, the stamp wants to slide. It started to just as I was lifting it off but it didn't make so you could see it, which I was thankful for, lol! I really like how the Alcohol Ink Agates technique turned out. And the umbrella man too, lol!

Alcohol Ink Agates Technique Archival Resist Technique Stamping w/Reflections Technique

Really enjoyed the class. Glad he numbered the pages. Makes it a whole lot easier to go back and make sure they are all in order. Pretty Cool lookin', don't ya think!

Creative Chemistry 101-Day Two

Well, I finally have time to post my creations from the Creative Chemistry class. It's hard to do all that and keep up when you have to work full time, lol!!! So........................ Without further delay, here is Day 2 (Day 1 was a training sort of day-Demos started on Day 2)

First up is the Blended Distress/Spritz & Flick Technique Second is the Brushless Watercolor Third is the Wrinkle-Free Distress

I had played around a few times with two of these techniques but never had any instruction on how they were actually done. Love the step by step directions Tim gives. He's a great teacher!

Wool Felt Bunnies

I just had to try the Easter tag that Tim Holtz had up on his blog a few days ago. I found the wool felt at my LCS and I had the little bunny mover & shaper. It turned out so cute. I roughed up the edges of the wool to make it fuzzy and it really took on a life of it's own, so stinkin' cute! What do you think? I had some left over green grungeboard from one of the 12 tags of 2011 and it was just laying on my craft table and the green spoke to me so I used it for some grass. I didn't have the grass die that Tim used but later I did find one of my Cricut cartridges that had some grass on it. The grass turned out pretty cute so I will have to make some more tags, oh darn!!! Hoppy Easter, Hugs, ~Jody

Meet King Vagabond

Have you heard? Sizzix is having a contest to see "Where in the World your Vagabond is?" Mine is where it always is, high atop Die Cut Mountain. Now Die Cut Mountain is still being landscaped (I'm always adding to my collection). King Vagabond was added to the throne a long time ago (approx. II-MMX). It is located on a remote island in FL (St. Petersburg-across the bay) that takes a long drive through rough terrain (mega construction going on) to get there. However, you can see it just as you come 'round the bend (it's the first thing you see when you walk in to the room). King Vagabond is very dedicated and does a fantastic job ruling over Die Cut Mountain. If you ever get there, you really need to check it out! Happy Trails!!!

Sha-Shamrocks!

Or is that Sha-zam, lol. Oh well, either way! Here is the card I was going to put on TH Tag of March but it's nothing like what he made, at all, so I decided to find a couple of different challenges that I could link up with. I was disappointed that he didn't do something for St. Patrick's day, ya know Marchy. Spring to me is more May, with April in the middle, being Easter! Anyway, I did something Marchy, for St. Patrick's Day. I was able to go over and see my daughter on Sunday so I made the card for her. I also took her a box of thin mints (green box-lol) and I made her a little charm pin she could wear on St. Patrick's Day at her job, but I forgot to get a photo of it, oops. I decided on a long card for this one. I seldom do long cards and I like them so, ta-da! I used an old HSPD stamp that I had and embossed it on white cardstock. Then I cut it out with Spellbinders Labels #14. The little squiggly under the sentiment is from Walsingmouse. All the shamrocks are just different stamps I had plus I used one of the new shamrock dies from Verve Stamps. They were smaller than I thought but it worked out ok. The seam binding ribbon I dyed in bundled sage and inked around the whole thing with vintage photo. Added a piece of jute as a little bow and a stick pin with some beads added. I think she really liked it. She showed it to her co-workers, they liked it to. Here's the inside. The inside sentiment is from Verve Stamps. I sprinkled some peeled paint distress stickles around too. Hope you like it too. Hugs, ~Jody

Ms. Charlotte is home

Ok, so Ms. Charlotte finally found her home, lol! I had a hard time finding her and was informed that that was the last one the place had and they were on backorder. It's weird to me how a little white doll with no arms is in such great demand??? Anyway, I got her and she's on the tag and I must admit it definitely finished out the tag, what with the crown and the wings and her charm. See what you think. You can find the tag without Charlotte in the last post. Poor Charlotte, does any one know the actual story behind this fractured doll, as TH calls it. Apparently there is a story in his first Compendium book about this lady, years ago, that was going to a ball in her very fine dress. Her companion tried to wrap a cloak around her so she would be warm but she didn't want to screw up her finely pressed dress so she wouldn't let him cover her. When they arrived at the dance/ball he went to help her down out of the carriage by taking her arm and it broke off because she had frozen to death, or something like that! Guess you'll have to get the book if you want to know the whole story, lol! Hope you have a great day, Hugs, ~Jody