A fun little piece I made to put on the mantle in our living room.  I was inspired by a blog posting that I think was on the Silouette website.  It took a while to make and the letters are not the easiest pieces to glue together.  I do like the whimsy of the piece and it really looks nice on the mantle.  It is funny when you don't even have an idea of what to do until you find that inspiration piece.  I found this really cool ball ornament garland when I was out shopping last weekend and that was the inspiration for the colors that I used.  One might say that I have an over abundance of paper in my scrapbook room but I can usually put a project together with only what I already have, the question would be: Where did I put that?  Happy Holidays!

An Advent calendar that I made with my Silhouette Cameo.  I used the round box, print and cut tickets, holly leaves and the little bow shapes.  It is made from Joann's cardstock and SEI Christmas paper.  The glitter paper is made by Stampin Up and it cuts the best on the Cameo.  I have had some trouble cutting with the thicker versions from the big box craft stores.  We are going to put mini candy canes and candy kisses in the boxes for the kids at school in the library homeroom to have one day at a time.  The kids seemed to be excited with the countdown idea and many of them have enjoyed the entire bulletin board.  The wreath sets on one of the double doors with the slogan "Open the door to knowledge, Read"  Luckily there are 15 students in the homeroom and 15 days of school some things just work....Happy Holidays to all!

November Tim Holtz Tag

Since October kicked my butt, I didn't get a chance to do the October tag but made the time to do this month's tag.  I followed the technique but substituted a Gina K stamp as I didn't have the Tim stamp to do the wheat with."Thankful" was made with a stencil that I created with my Cameo a tool I can't live without anymore it is simply the best digital cutter out there.   I also used the colors of distress inks that I have on hand and also the distress stains that I currently have as I am trying to build my distress stain inventory and only have about 10 so far.  Hopefully that will change LOL!  I also used some CTMH burlap ribbon, as I love that stuff it is amazing and I love the stuff.  I substituted core paper for my leaves with glassine paper and used my maple leaf punch to make them.  I then crumpled them and used some distress ink and perfect pearls on them.  The acorn is one from Jolee's that I love, the set comes with glittered pine cones also one of my favs.  Hope you enjoy my tag this month as I had a blast creating!

 Well it seems the only time I post here these days is when I have a tag to share.  This month's tag was fun!  I really enjoyed the metal tape technique with the alcohol inks to color them up a bit to distress.  I did not have the typewriter die and was too lazy to try and cut on on my Cameo so I dug up myGrungeboard shapes and decided to make a Halloween theme instead.  I used white paint on the skull and crossbones and then used the rock candy crackle paint with a little distress ink over the top.  A piece of black cardstock behind the eyes and colored clear rhinestones with my alcohol ink pens that I filled with the alcohol inks.  They really work great to color the rhinestones.  I dug out my little bottles for the potion and filled it with some funky "POTION" really cool glitter.  The paper is from my last year's Stampin up stash.  I used the gears to funk it up a bit and called it done.  I frequently start the tags and it takes me a while to actually finish them.  I do like this one the most so far, but we'll see how the rest goes.  Thanks for taking a peek and leave a comment if you dare!

Oh my August has crept up on me and another lovely tag to share.  I really enjoyed making this month's tag because we got to use the pinecone die to make roses.  I watched the video a couple of times and I think I have them down pretty well.  Since I have only sons I decided to do a silhouette of a boy instead of a woman.  I also utee embossed my little words as I wanted them to look like tiles.  I needed a little bling so the branches were cut out of glittered paper and the leaves are the little artificial ones you buy in the bridal isle.  I used my peeled paint distress stain on two of the white ones and just added the green ones as they were.  One of these days I will get the kraft core paper when I can find in the stores.  I would love to add that to my stash...

The July Tim Holtz tag was a real challenge for me this month. I had a hard time getting the alcohol ink and spray air coordinated properly to get the result I wanted and in the end I think I threw in the towel.... After many attempts at that piece of this tag I hope you enjoy my efforts as I am not happy with that part of the tag. It sat on my crop table for about 10 days half finished because I couldn't get that one part done to my liking so here it is.

Thank you Jessica Sprague for having a birthday and sharing with us a free class.  I have thoroughly enjoyed creating with all the wonderful free goodies and tutorials.  Your site is the best for instruction on Photoshop Elements for scrapbookers.  I made this blog topper from one of your classes and totally love it.  Although I will continue to be a paper and glue gun scrapper, your techniques have taught me to use some really cool photo effects to alter my photographs.  I do love your Echo Park digital papers and will use them with my Cameo to fill shapes to print and cut with my machine.  I look forward to taking another of your classes soon!

I really enjoy the Tim Holtz 12 tags.  I take the challenge and create with some of the items that he uses that I have on hand and substitute with others.  The best part is learning the techniques that Tim shares with us every month.  If I had been a little more ambitious I would have found an old b/w photo of mine to use but I wasn't in the mood to go hunting for one and wanted to get the tag done.  I used a scrap of music themed paper instead of words and a close to my heart rosette that I died with tumbled glass distress stain.  My little jewel is a Making Memories piece.  The stamp that I used was a tattered angels stamp set that I had on hand that I really like.  I hope you enjoy checking out my tag, thanks for looking and thanks to Tim for his creating!

Tim Holtz 12 tags for May.  This tag was fun because I had to get a new stamp set, but then I just improvised because my melting pot doesn't come til next week after the deadline for uploading.  Hope you like my version!

Nature my favorite subject

A pair of rather bold Canadien Geese in the marshland near Glen Lake.  I love how they were just standing there one legged and they didn't seem to mind me taking some picts.  So beautiful!

April Tim Holtz Tag

I just love following Tim Holtz's blog so much creative energy.  So this month I tried my hand at interpreting his April tag from the 12 tags series.  I tried to follow the same techniques but giving it my own creative touch.  Hope you enjoy this tag...