Martial Arts World on a collision course with the Scrapping World...

....And it's a beautiful thing.  My sweet "Tae Kwon Do-Dos" have earned their first belt and boy, were they excited.   I'd officially like to note that they've been training as long as that Ralph Macchio Karate Kid trained and gosh, would you believe they just couldn't get that tournament winning fly kick down??  I don't get it.  Must be because I didn't have them "Wax On...Wax Off" or "paint the fence...up... down...up...down... side...side."  Ah, the 80's were a great decade of memorable movies.  Anyway, I digress. 

Back to the present.  At my girls' tender young age, they are not yet embarrassed  by Mom "Scrapacizing" everything.  So when they got these cookie cutter Tae Kwon Do back packs with all their gear...that looks like every other kid's cookie cutter back pack...Scrapping Mommy got to work.  No way were my kids going to have a generic luggage tag attached to the top.  I picked up my pals, Mr. Holtz and Ms. Copic and created my version of an ID tag (colors chosen by the TK Do-Dos, of course).  

I wanted to capture the flavor of Tae Kwon Do along with our spiritual beliefs.  We chose II Timothy 4:7 as their motto verse to strive for: "I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith."  I picked the beautiful Mugunghwa (the Official Korean flower) to draw and fill in with my Copic markers for the corner of the tag.  And then of course, their names on the back to complete. 

So there you have it...East meets West. 

12 Days of Christmas ~ Tags 11 & 12

And so we come to the final 2 "Tim tags." I have thoroughly enjoyed doing all these inspired tags but I can truly say, these last two were my favorites. That rose technique alone was worth the whole thing. I also enjoyed making my own "faux brads." I don't have the tool Tim used to create them so I showed you how I did them with buttons below.

Here is a close up of the flowers. My flowers are covered in Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist. I added some Gold Perfect Pearls to a Mini Mister and poured in the Glimmer Mist. Before spraying the flowers that beautiful shimmery red color, I used a make up sponge and sponged on darker highlight along the flower ridges. I then sprayed the flowers and dried.

Below are the steps I used to make my "faux brads." First I chose my vintage photo and printed it off on the canvas paper. You can find free Vintage clip art here.

Place the smooth side of your button on the sticky part of the canvas. Make sure you have cut out your picture and button in a circle and leave a litle over 1/4" all the way around. Proceed to make small cuts all the way around the circle.

Take one strip at a time and fold it over the back of the button.

Here is the finished result.

Below is a picture of Tim's day #11. The photo and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and is only posted here to show a comparison of inspiration. To get complete instructions for this tag, please go here.

Next up we have tag #12 and probably my favorite. Those roses are divine. They're not too incredibly difficult to make and with practice could become a lot easier.

Here is a close up of the roses.

Below is a picture of Tim's day #11. The photo and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and is only posted here to show a comparison of inspiration. To get complete instructions for this tag, please go here.

Thanks for joining me on the 12 tag journey.

12 Tags of Christmas ~ Days 9 & 10

Nothing like a snow storm to help you hunker down and scrap. I finished up tags 9 & 10 tonight. #9 is my favorite of the two. I didn't have any of his film strips, so I made my own version. These photos are of my Mom, her two siblings and her parents at Christmas. I don't scrap too many heritage items but this seemed a perfect opportunity too.

Here we have Tim's tag which the photo and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and is only posted here to show comparison of inspiration. Full instructions to complete Tim's tag can be found here.

This one was a lot harder technique-wise. I'm not over the top thrilled with my version but it turned out okay. I didn't have the Adirondack Pens that he used so I sponged on my Alcohol Ink with the Ink dabbers. I love the vibrancy of the purple part of my tag and wish the other colors had turned out as vibrant, but I suppose it's something I'll have to try again another time.

Here we have Tim's tag which the photo and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and is only posted here to show comparison of inspiration. Full instructions to complete Tim's tag can be found here.

Tomorrow, I hopefully will be finishing a Webster's Pages project for Lil' Lambs Boutique. Keep an eye out.

12 Tags of Christmas ~ Day 7 & 8

Nothing like a weekend to help you crank out scrapping projects. Not only did I get 2 more tags done but I also finished a couple of teacher gifts for my girls. I'll try to post those some time tomorrow. You won't want to miss it. It's such a great, quick idea that my friend Patti told me about.

So, basically for lack of a huge Santa face stamp and having to switch to slightly bigger tags for the last 6 tags, I opted for a different look from Tim's tag. I chose one of the big picture stamps from Stampendous of our Saviour come to earth. I didn't want to use the whole stamp, so I made an image of the stamp on paper, cut out (with an exacto knife) the part I wanted to see and left the shell (note you need the shell). I taped the shell onto my stamp, inked it up and stamped my tag. With the mask over my stamp, I only have the part I want on my tag.

I used Antique Linen, Dusty Concord, Milled Lavender, Broken China and Weather Wood distress inks for the background. The music stamp and stars are from Hampton Arts, the flourish from 7 Gypsies and the Noel stamp from Inkadinkadoo. I used Stickles and Liquid Pearls to add accent colors to the masked stamp.

Blah, blah, blah (for those following all 12 days, here's a repeat of the first 6): Disclaimer - Below is a picture of Tim's Day 7 Tag. The photo below and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and are only being used here as a comparison of inspiration. If you are following along, complete instructions and detailed photos of Tim's tag below can be found here.

Tag #8 was a lot of fun. Since I don't have a lot of stamps from Stampers Anonymous (not that I wouldn't love them all), I opted for a Frosty tag instead of the lamp post. The snowman and flourish stamps are by Inkadinkadoo.

Most everything was the same except for the items I added to the snowman. I embossed the snowman on grungepaper with black and then I wiped across it with white acrylic paint. After heat drying the paint, I wet a paper towel and scrubbed the paint off of the embossed areas. In the snowman areas, I added Glossy Accents and then covered with Martha Stewart's Course Crystals (I really like this stuff). Note on the crystals: they are pretty clear when they aren't shimmering in the light, so you'll want to use them over some type of colored area. Finally I added Christmas Red stickles to the scarf area and berries to his hat. I think he turned out kinda cute.

Guess what time it is... Disclaimer - Below is a picture of Tim's Day 8 Tag. The photo below and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and are only being used here as a comparison of inspiration. If you are following along, complete instructions and detailed photos of Tim's tag below can be found here.

Happy crafting everyone. You still have time to get your gifts made before Christmas.

12 Tags of Christmas ~ Days 5 & 6

It's been a busy week here. I need more hours in a day or more limbs on my body.

I didn't forget the 12 tags of Christmas....here are days 5 & 6. I really loved Tim's Day 5 tag so I stuck pretty close to it. Instead of German Foil, I stamped designs on my edges and embossed with Detail Gold embossing powder. It gives a very similar look and is a bit less expensive for you budget savers.

The pictures inside the ornaments are from Crafty Secrets. The flourish is by 7 Gypsies and the "foil edges" are stamps by See Dee's. Background word stamp is by Hero Arts.

*Typical Disclaimer* Below is a picture of Tim's Day 5 Tag. The photo below and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and are only being used here as a comparison of inspiration. If you are following along, complete instructions and detailed photos of Tim's tag below can be found here.

For the Day 6 tag, I thought Tim's tag was incredibly creative. Since I didn't have a cool antique car stamp, I did my tag with the tree already delivered. Ha ha. I used a hymn page instead of a dictionary page for my background. The stamps are by Inkadinkadoo.

No Fluff Stuff here, so I embossed my Christmas tree on grungeboard and then covered over with White Acrylic paint to fill in the cracks. I finished off with Icicles Stickles by Ranger for sparkly snow.

Aren't you tired of reading these disclaimers yet?? Below is a picture of Tim's Day 6 Tag. The photo below and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and are only being used here as a comparison of inspiration. If you are following along, complete instructions and detailed photos of Tim's tag below can be found here.

If you're also doing the 12 tags, don't forget, Tim extended the deadline for the Grand Prize until Dec 31st.

12 Tags of Christmas ~ Day 3 & 4

What do you do when life hands you a bowl of lemons...why you scrap of course.

Below I have Days 3 & 4 inspired tags from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. On Day 3, we created a plaid background using Alcohol Inks by Ranger. Very, very cool technique. I can definitely vouch that you need glossy cardstock and not photo paper. I tried both and the alcohol inks just blend in with the photo paper and there is no plaid effect created. Stamps on this tag are by Inkadinkado.

*Disclaimer* Below is a picture of Tim's Day 3 Tags. The photo below and tags are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and are only being used here as a comparison of inspiration. If you are following along, complete instructions and detailed photos of Tim's tag below can be found here.

The Tag from Day 4 had the most adorable birdhouse created from several of the Inkssentials and Idea-Ology trinkets. I'm not sure how his brain thinks up these things, but I'm glad he does. I used more stamps from Inkadinkado on this tag below. The image in the birdhouse is vintage ephemera from Crafty Secrets. I decided to use a softer background for my tag and create more of a story with the birds and birdhouse, instead of the Christmas collage background that Tim chose. I used Old Paper and Tattered Rose to ink the background with Fired Brick and Walnut Stain for the edges.

*Disclaimer* Below is a picture of Tim's Day 4 Tag. The photo below and tag are the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and are only being used here as a comparison of inspiration. If you are following along, complete instructions and detailed photos of Tim's tag below can be found here.

Hope your Christmas season is Merry & Bright!!

Tags of Christmas ~ Day 2

(NOTE: for those following, I have to step away from my scrap supplies for a couple days...booo....but when I'm back I will catch up on any tags missed and post them here. )

Here is my Day 2 tag. I had most of the items he used on his tag but I did not have those cool metal flowers he created. I settled for stamping some holly leaves on grunge board. I embossed it in Evergreen Embossing powder and then added Antique Gold Perfect Pearls to the vein lines in the leaf. I had a gold wreath charm and added more Perfect Pearls to it, to tarnish it up a bit. Finally, the berries are made using Liquid Pearls Ruby Red. Stamps are by Bo Bunny (Flourish) and Inkadinkado (sentiment/frame)

Below is a picture of Tim's Day 2 Tag. The photo below and tag is the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and is only being used here as a comparison of inspiration. If you are following along, complete instructions and detailed photos of Tim's tag below can be found here.

He makes this look so darn easy.

Christmas Tag - Day 1

And we're off...

Here is my First Tag of Christmas inspired by Tim's Creation. As I mentioned previously, I do not own everything Tim-related, so I substituted with what I had on hand. That's the fun part of the creative process....letting other's work inspire you.

You can really see the effect of the Rock Candy Crackle Paint, Glossy Accents Glaze and the Stickles. I loved Tim's technique of creating your own wired ribbon. It works great.

Below is a picture of Tim's Day 1 Tag. The photo below and tag is the intellectual property of Tim Holtz and is only being used here as a comparison of inspiration. If you are following along, complete instructions and detailed photos of Tim's tag below can be found here.

If you are doing the 12 Tags, or any of them, leave me a link in my comments section. I'd love to see your inspired take!

Gearing up for the 12 tags of Christmas

What is the 12 tags of Christmas you say? Well, it's certainly not about pied pipers and maids a milkin'. If you are at all a Tim Holtz fan then you'll know exactly what the 12 tags of Christmas is about.

Every year Tim Holtz, the wonderful wizard of all things distressable, uses his products and stamps to create 12 different technique tags....all Christmas of course. You can follow along with the fun here, starting tomorrow. I thought this year, I would attempt to try as many of the tags as I could using my own interpretation (ie. my hubby would kill me if I bought everything Tim made).

So to get my tag brain in gear, I started off with these two tags, using more scraps from my Winter Wings Deluxe Scrapbook Kit. For the first tag, I stamped the Season's Greeting image with VersaMark Ink and embossed with clear powder. I added the green background using Alcohol Inks by Ranger (Meadow and Lettuce used here) and edged with the Gold Mixative Alcohol Ink. I highlighted the snowflakes in white (Inkssentials White Opaque Pen). Next, I added Rangers Stickles (Christmas Red) for the berries. Finally, I accented with the red Poinsetta Prima flower, scraps from the Winter Wings paper, holly leaf and green trim from the Deluxe kit.

For the second tag, I inked the plain background with Distress Ink by Ranger (Antique Linen and Old Paper for the background, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo for the edges). I used a cursive background stamp from Hero Arts to fill in my background with another layer. The stamps were added, both by Inkadinkadoo and then accent items on the bottom of the tag from the Deluxe kit.

Alright Tim, I'm all warmed up. Let's get going!!!