Tim Holtz 12 Day of Christmas Tags - My first 3

 I did Tim's first one first and did it pretty much Exactly like Tim did.  Which I am going to do for most of them as I Love Tim's Designs and get to have something close this way. :-)

This was Tim's 2nd and again, I did most the same as Tims except for the Star around the Reindeers neck.  I didn't have a star so I used a pearl.  And I made the wreath from tinsel pipe cleaners & used Alcohol Ink to make it green.

 I was missing some supplies (which are on their way LOL), so I jumped to Tim's #6 tag.  After I made yet another run to Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley to get this Texture Fade which I never even considered buying before............but how Perfect is it for this technique!  And I LOVE this Technique!  I Thought it would be a little bit faster.........but I spent over 2 hours painting after it was embossed! LOL  I suspect I could have done that a little more quickly as once it's sanded off a bit, it would have been fine.  I was So Thrilled with the results though.  I would Love to make a set of vintage looking Christmas ornaments using this technique!  One thing I wouldn't do next time however, is use the Walnut Stain ink over the part I had painted white.  It worked Great over the colors and distressed them a little.  But it turned my white paint brown.  I still love it, but would like that white to be white next time.  I hope to start a 4th tag today!

Ice Resin ATC's

I made ATC's this weekend for my Art Ventures swap group.  This is an A - Z ATC swap and we are on the letter "I", so I needed to use a technique beginning with I.  I had heard of Ice Resin, but hadn't used it before and thought this would be a great place to try it.   I am so Thrilled with the outcome I decided to do as my friend Carol Sweeney does and post the process to my blog.

First I needed an ATC size Bezel so I could pour in the ice resin.  As I have Many Times now, I went back to mold making that I learned in a class at Art & Soul Retreat from Ty & Marcia Schultz.  I had Silputty 40, A & B, from Silkpak, inc. that I ordered after that class.  The 2 jars actually go a Long Way and I Think the cost for both was less than $40.  I have made Many, Many, Many molds from these jars.  To make the mold, I took equal parts of the white and the green putty and mixed them together Well.  The color needs to be and even green for the mold to set up correctly.  No threads of white going through.  This doesn't take long.  I had a thick ATC shape (about 1/8" deep) which I used to make the mold.  I pushed that into the putty, then made sure the putty was pushed close to the ATC shape and would harden smoothly.  The mold hardens in about 5 minutes.

For the ATC design, I tore Stonehenge paper to ATC size (2 1/2 x 3 1/2), then painted the background with Golden Interference Blue paint. (Adding another "I" to the project) 

Then I stamped a design over the paint with Golden Iridescent Bronze Fine paint.  A 3rd "I". :-) 

Then added another "I", an Iris as well as stamping the word Iris in Stampin Up ink.  I had 2 issues with these....and that ink was one of them.  Next time I would use a Permanent Ink.  The Stampin Up ink pads did bleed in the process.  I was able to somewhat recover from that, but I would have liked the word to have been more clear. 

I used a little glue stick on the back of the ATC to keep it flat in the mold (which Kind of worked.....next time maybe double stick tape).  I did need to trim the ATC's a bit to fit the mold well.  That negated the Tearing of the ATC's instead of cutting.  I wanted the torn side to show.  Next time.....I'd tear them just a bit smaller than the mold. 

 Since I make multiple ATC's when I make them, I ended up making 6 ATC size molds, instead of having to make them one at a time.  I didn't realize before I started, it takes 6 hours for Ice Resin to set up enough to work with it and 3 days for it to completely cure.  I made 9, so I was able to do it in 2 groups, instead of 1 a day! 

Next step is to mix the Ice Resin & pour into the molds.  Several years ago I took a class with Susan Lenart Kazmer using resins.  She was a Great teacher & I had Much Fun in the class.  But the Biggest thing I learned is that Resin takes enough Patience to Stir it as Required in the instructions!  Ice Resin calls for stirring for 2 minutes minimum.  I learned from Experience....if you Don't mix the 2 parts well enough......it does not set up.  This time, I took the time & did it right. :-) 

Once they were poured, I put them in a flat bottom pan to be sure they would dry flat.  It Did take at least 6 hours to be able to unmould them.  I ended up leaving them overnight.  This morning I could pop them out of the molds and they were still soft enough I could trim the edges where necessary.  Through the day they have been hardening further.  But they Are out of the molds & I can add to them if I want.  And right out of the mold would be a great time to punch any holes one might want in them.  A punch would probably still work at this malleable stage.

And Here is the Ice Resin ATC out of the mold.  I love the feel of it.  I didn't have problems with bubbles really.  A couple here & there & I popped them with a turkey skewer (probably with some gravy on it! LOL). 

I will be putting a back page on with the ATC info and most likely use the golden iridescent bronze paint to go around the outer edges yet.  And I could now add any items I want on top......not sure about that yet.  I'm very happy with the end product, although there are a couple of things I would definately do differently next time.  The ink for stamping IRIS needs to be Staz On as this did bleed and is much lighter than I originally stamped.  Also the resin can soak into the paper in places.  I read that Elmers glue could be used to keep that from happening.  I did cover the front and back of the ATC's With an elmers glue mixture (with water), and it did not really work.  I think I diluted it too much.  I ended up not minding where the resin soaked in however, as it brought up parts of the blue in the interference paint & I kind of like the effect.  Anyway....................my first post of a How To project.  With the new blogger interface, it's Much Easier than it used to be so I might try to do this more often, IF a project works out that would be fun to share. :-)

Creative Art Camp - Projects Completed

The first project was a Vintage Valise Journal taught by Jan Hoefler at her beautiful home in Wisconsin.  Not only did we get to take a class, but we also got to Shop!  Jan's website is www.redrubberpaperandink.com.  She sells most of Tim and Rangers products along with lots of other great supplies on her site.  She was a Great teacher and we had a FUN day! Here is my journal and a few of the pages we created.

This was our first project at Chrissy's house.  I suggested and "taught" this.  I had watercolor paper torn to size 8 1/2 x 11, and matboard covers cut to 8 1/2 x 5 1/2.  We used Glimmer Mists on both the watercolor paper and the covers.  Any spray solutions with mica in them will work with this method.  Basically you use maybe 3 colors, spraying them on the watercolor paper.  You want the paper to be quite wet and covered.  Then layer saran wrap over the puddled mists and create patterns in the saran wrap.  Then let dry.  I never wait too long before I pull the saran wrap off.  At least 10 minutes.  But I Think the patterns will appear better if they are left to dry completely.  They don't look very interesting until you pull the saran wrap off.  Then they are quite Beautiful!  Here is my book and some of the pages.  The piece with "windows" on the front is a vintage dental slide page that Mary brought for us all.  Pea took headshots of all of us and I will be putting pictures in that soon.   

 Here is a the table with many of our pages drying.

Here are some of the fabric beads I made.  We painted fabric first, then overstamped it if we wanted.  Some we used already printed fabrics.  We glued them & rolled them tightly around straws, cut them to various sizes, then put fibers on some, rolled some in seed beads, wrapped wire and various glass beads around others.  They were Much Fun.  

Fragments Charms - I made one that was double sided with Christmas images.  I will make this into a single charm necklace.  The other charms we made were backed with embossed metal.  I added jump rings and charms to mine and added them to a chain to make a necklace. 

The final project was a domino collage.  This idea was found on this website: http://creativepointe.blogspot.com/2011/08/sharing-challenge-entry.html  The person who created these has very pretty ones for sale!  It was much fun to give the technique a try!  

Creative Art Camp - Mukwonago Wisconsin - October 2011

I just returned last night from 5 Wonderful days in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. Several months ago, 7 of us started planning a small art retreat and the day finally came. Chrissy hosted the camp at her home with her husband Bob. 3 other Wisconsin friends came...Maggi, Sweatpea and Mary. I flew in from California as did Bev, and Carol flew in from Washington state. We were all So Excited to get together and Play. :-)

 Chrissy and Bob have a Beautiful house on Phantom Lake. They are Such Welcoming hosts, they make us feel at Home. This is a view from the house overlooking the lake, and below a picture of the house from the lake.

Carol, Bev and I on the deck.

The weather was beautiful the day we arrived, so the first night Bob and Chrissy took us for a pontoon boat ride around the lake. It was Beautiful as I remembered. Bev and I were fortunate to have stayed here a few years ago when we flew in for Raevn's Nest retreat in Cedarburg.

Our gracious host, bartender and special events coordinator during the visit, Bob. :-)

Maggi and Bev, enjoying the ride.

A beautiful sunset beginning.

Both of our wonderful hosts, Bob and Chrissy!

The next day we travelled about an hour to Jan Hoefler's house for a class she taught.  I will post my projects next. This was a vintage valise journal ala Tim.  We were also able to buy lots of supplies.  I've known Jan through yahoo art swap groups for years and was Thrilled to get a chance to meet her.  Here is her website: http://www.redrubberpaperandink.com/

And even though I just told a mutual friend, Beth, that Bev & I were staying Out of Trouble this trip.........look what Bev found!! LOL

When we returned, Bob had a Wonderful big bonfire going outside.  It was chilly out, but Not around the Fire!  

Another night we formed our own pizza dough (that stuff is Stretchy!!!  They were all Different).  Bob then grilled one side, brought those in, we added whatever toppings we wanted to the grilled side, then he grilled the other side & the toppings warmed & melted at the same time.  Wonderful Barbequed Pizzas!  Dave & I are going to try that!

The next 3 days, we worked on various projects around the table.  Thursday morning we made glimmer mist papers that we would later tear to journal size & bind.  That afternoon we made fabric beads embellished with fibers, wire and other beads.  Saturday morning we tore our glimmer mist papers and stamped on them if we wanted and bound the journals.  That afternoon we made charms using Tim Holtz's acrylic charms, papers, etc.  Saturday morning we chose between a domino collage or a canvas.  We all chose the domino collage and although it appeared it wouldn't take too much time at first, once we started wrapping wire & adding beads to it, it took most of the day and was Much Fun!  We also made some molds from Silpak's Sil Putty.  Chrissy went wild in the afternoon, making lots of molds for all of us!  We actually used some air dry clay in them and it worked Great!  I can't wait to pour some of the eurethane I have into them also.  We accomplished a LOT.  Photos to come.

As Saturday evening was approaching, we were a little quieter, a little slower and I think fatigue was setting in.

I'm SURE Fatigue was setting in!!!

It was a Wonderful few days of Visiting, Creating and Sharing.  We all hope we will be able to do this again next year and in the future.  Maybe California next time, then back to Wisconsin.  We'll see what we all can come up with. :-)  The pictures below are just some of the Color that was still very much around.  The peak of fall color might have passed, but it still was Very Pretty!