How old do you need to be to own a dog?

One of the reasons I'm "fabulous at fifty" is that I've finally become a really good dog owner. I think it takes a bit of maturity and commitment that I didn't really have when I was younger. I was thinking about that as I made today's art. It's a tag using the Tim Holtz technique featured this week by Linda of the Studio L3 blog (click on this link). I photographed it outside on my back deck, and I really like everything about it. What about you? When do you think you are old enough to have a dog? I'm thinking a lot about why I'm fabulous and fifty this year as part of an ongoing project. Since the beginning of the year, I have been running an online project to keep people on track with their 2011 resolutions, intentions and one little word projects. March is almost over, so I'll be checking in with everyone this weekend to see how you are doing and to give you a chance to link up and show off.  


I have three projects going (all in the form of art journals):
*my one little word ("health") journal (see e.g. here);
*my 2011 Resolutions Journal (see e.g. here); and
*my "Fifty an Fabulous" art journal (see e.g. here and read about my fabulous at fifty philosophy in this post).
If you click on the "2011 intentions" label below, it will bring up more pages and descriptions of my project.  Hope you can join me this weekend.

Grungy Monday & Blog Candy Winners

Linda of the Studio L3 Blog ran a terrific challenge series working her way through Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities book.  I did most of the challenges, but I lost focus toward the end.  Now that she's done with all the techniques in the book, she's starting a new series called "Grungy Monday" focusing on a variety of other Tim techniques. I was inspired to play along this week and created this tag.  You can see the challenge at this post. 
For my background, I used Heidi Swapp ghost butterflies as masks, as well as Tim's border mask. Spritzed with cranberry and plum color wash inks.  Smudged on aged mahogany and black soot inks.  The focal element is a Tim stamp, embossed on grungepaper and then colored with antique gold and really red perfect pearls. Added vintage paper, bits of trim, some charms, Tim's ruler ribbon (which I won from The Scrappy Tree blog) and some very old doodad letters from Tim.  Lots of grungy fun! Thanks for the challenge Linda!
In other news, the winners (I decided to choose 4) of the Tsunami Relief blog candy give-away are:
#3 Sharyn (who will receive several original photographs)
#18 Amy (who will receive an original piece of art) 
#28 Kristy.A (who will receive an assortment of scrapbook goodies/ephemera) and
#37 Furry Pig (who will receive an assortment of handmade bookmarks and cards).
Email me your mailing address at rinda1961@yahoo.com, and I'll get your prize in the mail. Also, I wrote a check for $100 to the Red Cross Tsunami Relief fund.  I had 44 comments and decided to round up to an even number.  Thanks for your support!
p.s. Madeline Bea who ran the wonderful Creativity Boot Camp last summer just put up a wonderful post about the 1000 Crane photography project to benefit Japan.  You can read it here.
p.p.s. Ali Edwards just posted here about a designer digital kit benefiting Japan.

Class Review: 12 Tags of Christmas

Before we're through with December, I thought I better write my Christmas class reviews.  Even though Tim Holtz's Twelve Tags of Christmas is not technically a class, it definitely has that feel.  Each day, between Dec. 1 and 12, Tim posts instructions for completing a tag using a variety of products (especially his signature products).  This is the third year in a row in which he has undertaken this project and the first year that I haven't finished all twelve tags.   The bloom was a little off the rose for me this year, I think, because so many of the tags featured products that I don't own - especially his die cutting machine and dies.  Although Tim encourages participants to substitute other products, I found it difficult to do in this situation. Also, it struck me that a large portion of the tags used variations on these materials.  In the past, almost every tag featured a different technique.  So, this was not my favorite 12 Tags of Christmas, but I did enjoy making my tags, revisiting some old techniques and learning a few new ones.  Plus, it's all FREE!  Hard to be too critical of a free sharing of information. Something new for this year were videos.  I love listening to Tim Holtz talk about how to create and so would play them for background, even if he was describing how to use a machine I didn't own.  His voice is so calming and supportive that it increased my creative enjoyment. As always, alternative viewpoints welcomed. Overall grade: B.

Snow, Pine and Mahogany, Take 2

The color challenge over at Gingersnap Creations this month is snow, pine and mahogany.  You can see the challenge and design team entries, including one from me, at this link.  Unfortunately, I didn't love my entry.  And I have so enjoyed being a guest artist there, and I have so much respect for all the talent on that blog, that I felt compelled to take another crack at the challenge.  And I like this take much better!  I'll be out of town for a few days, so I may not be visiting blogs or getting too much new posted, so let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope you holiday is filled with family, friends, love, happiness and all the other good stuff.

Done and Done

For Shimelle's class, Journal Your Christmas, the Day 1 prompt is to write a manifesto.  Here's what I've written:
"Stop. Ponder. Savor the present.  This holiday season I will stop and ponder our life in the here and now, so that I may savor the present and leave a record for the future."
I think that captures what I want to do this year, which is really focus on Shimelle's prompts as they relate to our current life.  The last time I did JYC I did a lot of backward looking journaling and thinking about how I view the holidays in general.  I loved it, but I want to do something a bit different this time. I snapped a picture of my new Christmas mug filled with coffee and our calendar to illustrate my idea.
I also finished the first Tim Holtz tag.  Here it is:

I know it doesn't look that much like Tim's tag, but it's done!
I wanted to share some tips for doing Tim's tags quickly:
1.  I keep most of my Tim supplies in their own containers - all my distress inks are together, all my distress powders and crackle paints are in another, etc.  This makes it easy to grab the container(s) I need and to put them back away.
2.  I clean up as I go.  This not only keeps my home a bit neater, but it also means I can find what I want the next day.
3. I improvise.  Tim's tag for today included a very complicated house-build and some big things I don't own (the die cutter thing, the house die, the fence die, the embosser thing).  Instead, I took the haunted house from the holiday grunge board pack and cut it down to a smaller size and regular house shape.  I stamped the house with a crackle stamp for the texture.  I hand cut my fence with some of the leftover haunted house.  For the background, I sprayed some glimmer mist, instead of his perfect pearl mixture. I made wreaths for the house out of stickles, and I used glass glitter instead of white flocked stuff.  And, of course, my tag and top treatment are different than his.  In the end, mine looks a bit more like a Christmas mansion, I think that his more rustic cabin in the woods, but that's okay.  As Tim himself says, use the ideas as a jumping off point, rather than a rules.  I think of it like the Pirate Code; to quote Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow . . . "they're more like guidelines really!"

Trick-or-treating for Blog Candy

This week's challenge at the Studio L3 blog is the wrinkle free distress technique, and I used it to make this Halloween tag.  It seems like a perfect accompaniment for a bunch of give aways!
First, as I hinted at yesterday, I'm having a give-away to celebrate the San Francisco Giants winning the National League West Championship. I'm giving away several packages of vintage paper and ephemera.  To enter my blog give away, post a comment below and tell me the name of your favorite sports team to root for.  It can be anything from a professional team to a school team or anything in between.  My challenge will remain open through Sunday evening 9:00 pm California time.
Second, Terry is celebrating her appointment to the Scroll Works stamps design team with a blog give-away.  You can enter at this link.
Third, Ali is so thrilled to be have been recognized at Split Coast stampers that she's giving away a very cool prize.  Check it out here.
Fourth, Mel is giving away a very nice journal for blogtoberfest.  Read this post to enter.
Fifth, if you're more the bookish type, Sian runs a book pass around. Read about it and sign up here.
Finally, while not technically blog candy, there's a cool blog-it-forward "Haunting" event going on sponsored by Gingersnap Creations, which you can read about here.  I picked up my tag from Vicki at The Cheerful Stamp Pad.  Check out her haunting work by clicking this link. If you want to play along, post a creation to your blog with a "Haunted" theme and link back here.  Imaginary bonus points if you also link to the Gingersnap Creations starting point and double imaginary bonus points if you invite others to play along and continue to spin the haunted web throughout blogland.
I'm also submitting this for this week's challenge at Something Completely Different.  The challenge, which you can see here, is to make anything in shades of autumn.  Now what could be easier than that?

Crackle Paint Tags

This week's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge at Studio L3 features crackle paint distress.  I made two tags using this technique.  "Art Horizon 2010" started with white (picket fence) crackle paint, and I also used rock candy on the blue stamped bit.  "Nature's Beauty" started with orange crackle paint, and I also used a Tim Holtz mini-mask on the background.  I'm definitely partial to one of them, but before I tell you which one, I'm curious about whether you have a favorite.
Both of the tags also reflect on my 2010 word of the year - Horizon.  The Art Horizon tag has two quotes: "A person can grow only as much as his horizon allows." (John Powell) and "You must learn, day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizon." (Ethel Barrymore). I think Ethel has the right attitude!
On the back of Nature's Beauty tag, I have this Horizon quote: "October is the fallen leaf, but it is also a wider horizon more clearly seen.  It is the distant hills once more in sight, and the enduring constellations above them once more in sight." Hal Bowland. I'm hoping this thought will help guide me into fall and out of summer more easily.
Once August is over, the year is three-fourths of the way passed.  Have you thought about your "word of the year" lately?

Sizzling Summer Songs & Challenge Thoughts

It seems to me that every summer there's a certain song that encapsulates that summer.  It's played nonstop on the radio but somehow I don't mind because it's fun and catchy and I always sing along.  Last summer, it was "I gotta feelin' that tonight's gonna be a good night" by the Black Eyed Peas.  Two summers ago, it was Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie."  This summer, for me at least, it's "California Gurls" by Katy Perry.  I know that chronologically I'm way too old to be one of those girls in the song, but inside I still feel fine, fresh and fierce enough to represent the west coast! With apologies to Amy and my other friends in the Southern Hemisphere, do you have a signature song for this summer?


In other thoughts, I've been thinking a lot about challenges lately.  I really love them because they often give me the inspiration I need to get moving on a project. But I sometimes find that they can drive me crazy because I start making a list of the challenges out there and feel almost compelled to do them all.  Yikes! That's no fun and not compatible with my artistic vision. So, like Mel who is "blogging without obligation," I decided I'm "doing challenges without obligation."  Once I made that promise to myself, my artistic mojo started flowing again, and I made this tag in response to the "heat" challenge at the Gingersnap Creations blog.  I'll still be doing challenges at Gingersnap, Studio L3, Something Completely Different,Sunday Creative and all the other wonderful challenge blogs out there.  But I'm not going to drive myself crazy doing it!  Do you do challenges?  Do you ever go overboard?  Or have you found a happy balance?

Let's Talk Heat Embossing

Studio L3's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge this week features distress embossing powders.  Linda suggested that people either love 'em or hate 'em.  I'd say I'm in a love/hate relationship with them - like I am with most embossing (LOL!).  I love it when it works but get frustrated when it doesn't.  I've done enough embossing to know that its success is affected by humdity, ink type, paper type, and all kinds of other things.  I decided to try embossing on plaster, and I love the effect, but find it sort of fragile.  Most of the distress powders wiped offed, even after being heat set and cooling.  I was able to get this part of the image to stay intact, but I'm not sure how well it will hold up.  Oh well, in the meantime, I love it.  I guess I'll think of it like a sandsculpture, something you can only enjoy until the elements wash it away.  How do you feel about embossing in general?  How about distress embossing?  Got any great embossing tips to pass along?

A Tag Full of Wild Flowers

My mixed media group is doing a tag swap this month with the theme of "flowers," and here's my creation. Sprayed tag with candlelight glimmer mist.  Stamped clovers using Tim Holtz brushless watercolor technique.  Stenciled violets onto tag with light moding paste and painted them.  Stamped sentiment onto tag and added flower punched from plaster (spritzed with adirondack colorwash). Stamps and stencils from Club Scrap.

Review of A Compendium of Curiosities by Tim Holtz

Here's two more creations I made after receiving the new Tim Holtz book, A Compendium of Curiosities. They both use the alcohol ink monoprint technique for the background of the stamped image.  Although I have used alcohol inks a lot to make his "alcohol ink agate" backgrounds, this is the first time I have tried this.  It took a little practice to get some backgrounds that I liked, but I think I eventually got the hang of it.  I especially like the background in seashells.  These are two of the 35 techniques covered in the third section of this book.  Each technique is described in six illustrated, easy to follow steps.  Although many of these techniques have been covered in Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas (found here, here and here) or other tutorials on his blog, there are several new ones and it is wonderful to have them all in one place. Unlike the tag tutorials, these techniques do not result in a completed project; rather they show you how to create various pieces that can be used as either background or embellishments on completed projects.  I like that because I want to learn the techniques and then decide how to put them together.  If you're looking for completed projects, the fourth (last section) of the book is a gallery with 28 completed cards, tags, scrapbook pages, etc.  There's no description of which techniques were used in the completed project or cross-reference to completed projects in the technique section, and I wish there were.  But I guess the reader will just have to figure it out themselves.  The first section of the book is a list of tools:  24 different Tim products (including basis like scissors and heat tool; specialty tools like a scratcher and tiny attacher; and consumables like paints and inks).  I guess it's a sign of my interest in Tim stuff that I own at least one version of 22 of these!  (I do not have the texture hammer or tiny attacher.)  In my defense, I accumulated these slowly over time, often for classes I taught based on Tim's techniques, which were always very popular.  Plus, I use them all.  The second section of the book is called ideas and covers 22 products, mostly metal.  For each product, there's four photos of how these products can be used on a project with a brief description.  These products are things like corners, plates, fasteners, etc.  I own very, very few of these products, so this section did not appeal to me that much.  On the whole, the book offers a wealth of information for how to use the various products created and/or popularized by Tim Holtz. I also like the feel of the book - it's 75 pages or so and about 9x9 square.  It has a spiral binding, so it will lie flat, but the wire is covered and won't catch on anything. Two caveats:  if you don't own any of these products, the book is not really for you.  Also, if you're looking for a step-by-step guide to make completed projects (like the tag tutorials), you'll be disappointed.   But if you're looking for a primer on everything from alcohol ink to distress powders, A Compendium of Curiosities is definitely for you!  Since this review is longer than I anticipated, I'm going to review Tim's other publications in a separate post.

Like a Schoolgirl . . .

That's how I felt when I opened my copy of Tim Holtz's new book, A Compendium of Curiosities and read "Maria - Explore your curiosities! *Tim Holtz 2010."  It made my heart flutter like a schoolgirl to know that he had written that - just for me!  Yes, I have a little crush on Tim.   I have actually met him several times, including at a very small mutli-day retreat when he was just starting out.  We've also exchanged emails a few times when I was teaching projects using his techniques at my local scrapbook store.  It's hard to imagine there's a sweeter, more generous artist.   Anyway, the book got my muse all, um, stimulated, and I made a few tags.  The one of the left uses a very cool stamping with water technique to create the batiked/bleached flowers at the bottom.  I also colored the crown with alcohol inks after painting with a silver dauber, but that's hard to see in the picture.  I made a few other Tim-inspired bits and pieces that will no doubt show up soon in my artwork.  If you like Tim Holtz and want to learn more about how to use his products, the book is a terrific resource - and he'll even autograph one for you if you order it from his website here.

December Class Review: Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas (click to enlarge)

I'm not sure if this was considered a class, per se, but it certainly was chock full of learning and had the feeling of a class.  Each day, starting on Dec. 1 and continuing through Dec. 12, Tim Holtz posted a detailed tutorial for how to make a Christmas tag.  This is the third year in a row that he has done it, and more people participate each year.  A variety of different websites, including blockhead stamps and the All Things Tim yahoo group posted contests and moderated discussions.  Tim Holtz gave away 12 prizes each day to people who commented on the tags. The class was free, and the instructions (along with instructions from 2007 and 2008) remain on his blog. The tags extensively feature Tim Holtz signature products (produced by Ranger, Stampers Anonymous, etc.).  I completed my tags without buying anything (because I have sooo much stuff - Tim Holtz and otherwise) and Tim encourages people to improvise and use things from their stash.  But check out this message which my friend Marian posted on the Paper Addicts Online forum:

I was talking to someone on another group who is doing the Tim Tags, too. She wondered how much the supplies for all the tags would cost if you went out and bought them. I had just seen the lists at Stampers Anonymous yesterday so this morning, I added them all up. I removed all the duplicate items once they were 'purchased' on a previous tag. This also includes all the tools he used whether from Ranger or someone else.
And so here it is:
Tag 1-$216.75
Tag 2- 102.40
Tag 3- 128.50
Tag 4- 67.50
Tag 5- 57.35
Tag 6- 71.75
Tag 7- 45.85
Tag 8- 37.15
Tag 9- 60.75
Tag 10-43.90
Tag 11-75.34
Tag 12- 9.90
for a grand total of $917.14 

Oh my gosh!  Obviously, that would be tooooo much to spend!  Given the fact that I spent nothing, I was thrilled with the class.  Here's some off the techniques I most liked:
Tag 1- painting grugeboard with a dauber, then wiping away for a faded, watercolor effect.
Tag 3 - alcohol ink plaid background. . . easy, fun, addicting and totally new to me (and I consider myself a bit of an alcohol ink expert)
Tag 4 - using photo corners to make an ornament/pin was okay.  Loved using unmounted/assorted stamps to make a custom collage background
Tag 5 - my favorite!  I loved the combination of techniques on this background which gave a beautiful, subtle, yet textured background.  I also loved using fragments (with stickles behind them and metal tape on the top)  to make Christmas ornaments.
Tag 6 - Loved combining two very different stamps (jalopy car and tree), tied together with twine to create a completely new element
Tag 7 - Paint (dauber) resist is a technique that Tim has demonstrated before, but this one worked really well.  I also loved how the layering on this one really  helped the masked Santa image pop!
Tag 8 - My vellum never turned into a crispy, curly parchment like Tim's did, but I still like this tag.  I especially like the combination of grungeboard elements.
Tag 10- I didn't have the special foil tape, so faked this one.  It turned out okay, but will be a good illustration for a party page in my JYC.
Tag 11 - I love the paint & resist approach to coloring the reindeer. Tim used a special button making tool for  this (which seemed kindof goofy).  I simply covered brads with sticky-backed canvas that I stamped.  I think it's a cool technique for making custom brads and a nice flower center.
Tag 12 - Grunge paper roses were quite the hit on Tim bulletin boards over the summer, and he posted instructions for the first time as the final day of tags.  What a gift to all his fans!

Overall, Tim is a master of layering, composition and embellishment creation. He also teaches in a very clear way how to use all his various products.  I have taken 3 or 4 classes from Tim and have followed his blog tutorials.  Even with that background, I still learned a lot! It was a terrific class.

Santa brought me a gift certificate for a new Dina Wakley journaling class.  I've just started it, and it looks fantastic!  So, look for art work from that class and a review in January.

Tim Holtz Twelve Tags of Christmas

Tim Holtz Christmas Tags

The amazingly wonderful, creative and generous Tim Holtz creates and publishes instructions for twelve wonderful Christmas tags. . . one each day starting on December 1.  I love these, and I have turned them into my Advent Calendar.  He's starting again today, and he gives away great prizes to people who comment.  Check it out at this link. Here's a slideshow of my tags from last year and my Christmas mantle.  Enjoy!

Tending your inner light with holiday art

There are so many potential art projects for the holidays.  In particular, there are many Christmas Journals designed for you to be able to chronicle your holidays through scrapbooking, journaling and art.  I have looked at a few of these and thought about doing Ali Edwards' December Daily or Jessica Sprague's Holiday in Hand, but I've decided not to.  I think that either of these would just make me feel pressured to have an "authentic" holiday season, when I'm just really not in the mood. I mean, either you're authentic or you're not, right? You just can't force the feeling!  LOL!

When I am in the mood, I love the idea of Christmas Journals, and I adored participating in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas a few years back.  It remains one of my favorite art journals, and I'll be posting it here for you, as a slide show on Christmas Day.

What I do feel like doing is Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas.  I love these, and I am thrilled he's doing them again this year.  Check here on Dec. 1, and you'll see my tags from last year.  I may even put the 2009 tags in a mini-album with a few Christmas memories from this year - the authentic memories, that is!

How are you tending your inner light this holiday season?

Gratitude with Attitude

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!  Today I am thankful for family, friends and quirky stamp designers like Daniel Torrente at Stampotique Originals.