Challenge 10 - Dies and Distress

Hi Everyone......It's Annie here from Curious'n' Crafty Treasures blog and I am the host for this fortnights challenge theme, which is 'Dies and Distress'.

You can create any type of project i.e tags, canvas, cards, altered art.....as long as you include dies and distress products such as inks, paints, stains, embossing powders and markers.  Dies can be distressed, stained,painted, embossed and stamped.................the creativity is yours.

We are a Tim Holtz inspired challenge blog, however, it is all about Tim's style, so the dies you use do not have to be from Tim's Sizzix range. Please check out our Travelling Instructions for more details.

Our regular sponsor is Country View Crafts and the challenge winner will receive a £10 gift voucher to be redeemed at their online store.

We also have a Pinworthy Badge for the Top 3 projects....so why not hop on board...it would be lovely to meet you :-)

Our Creative Guides have provided some fabulous, inspirational projects for this challenge and you can find out more of their 'How To' details by visiting their own blogs.........so c'mon, let's see you get creative :-)

Annie

I recently purchased this blank Burlap Panel and really wanted to alter it in a grungy style. Of course I just had to use my favourite dies and distress products along the way. To find out more details, please click on my name above, which will take you to my blog.

Chris

When I think of Tim Holtz I think not just of vintage and distressed/shabby items but his eclectic mixes of elements, his texturing and layers. I love using metal sheets and pattern wheels so to highlight the 'Dies and distress' I have used Tim's distressing and texturing influences, together with his inks, paint, stamps and dies, to create my crown card. The how and the what can be found in my step x step HERE.

Astrid

I decided to alter one of Tim's wonderful Assemblage Clocks. I had great fun playing with a mix of Distress products and both Sizzix and Spellbinders dies. I have a step by step and more photos on my blog.

S@ndy

When I first heard the challenge for this fortnight I decided to try a plan I have been thinking about for a while. Using Tim's Dies and Distress together couldn't have been more perfect for this project. There was some construction and lots of experimenting.

Now sitting next to my computer I have this distressed calendar/clock so I never happen to miss a challenge date. Stop by my blog here for all the details and step x step photos.

Anne

I wanted to do something a little different for this challenge and used Tim Holtz's Butterfly Frenzy die to create a kaleidoscope of butterflies, in soft tones. I used Distress ink, paint and markers and some dry embossing. You can see full details over on my blog HERE.

Trace

So I wanted to have a play at using my favourite die, the gears and lots of yummy brown distress colours to decorate and create my ATB. I love the possibilities to decorate not only the sides but fill the inside with goodies too! I also used one of the new framework dies, artful arrows and lots of distress inks and paints. To see all the details and the surprise inside please see my blog here.

Alison

As you can see, it's still a bit autumnal over at Words and Pictures - but there's lots of die-cutting here, as well as plenty of Distress Ink and Paint involved, all on my favourite corrugated cardboard. Do hop over to see more details if you'd like to.

Brenda

Well Alison is autumnal and I am still seeing all the wonderful colours of Hawaii in my head. Today I thought I would share a journal page with you, made in my large Dyan Reavely journal which is full of distress products as well as Dylusions sprays and Tim's gorgeous butterfly dies. Don't forget your project does not have to be only vintage in style it can be shabby chic, a mixed media piece or journaling style - so I guess you know which category mine fits into lol.

Terry

For this "Dies and Distress" challenge I went with a mix of Dies and Distress Inks, Paints and Stains and of course adding some Idea-ology along the way. I so love Tim's pocket watch dies and of course a little Rock Candy crackle adds a great distress feel. Stop on over for more details!

Jools

I love die cutting and Tim’s Dies have to be some of the best in the market both innovative, unique and beautifully detailed. What a great challenge to use lots of them and lots of distress product too! For more detail on my project please click here.

I think you'll agree they are amazing projects, and I hope they'll inspire you to play along on this wonderful journey. You have until 6pm UK time on Thursday 24th July to place you entries.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Crafty Hugs Annie xx

Welcome Tammy as a Guest Creative Guide today

Today we have another exciting Guest Creative Guide to A Vintage Journey and we are so pleased to welcome the lovely Tammy Tutterow.

I love everything that is vintage and shabby, chippy and well loved.  When I first started scrapbooking I thought I made ok projects but there was just something missing in them.  I still remember the very first moment I saw someone inking the edge of a project, it was in a class at a CKC and I knew instantly that ink on the edge of paper was the key to creating projects that felt like me.  I wasn't a stamper so I had no clue about inks and what you could do with them.  Crafting and learning more about stamping and inking and finding what types of papercrafts I really loved to make was a creative journey for me.  What an amazing journey it has been too!  Being able to take a blank piece of paper and add inks and images to capture what is in my heart is such an amazing thing!  

I am passionate about sharing what I learn along the way.  If you would like to follow along and learn with me, you can find me on my blog at www.tammytutterow.com.

 

For the challenge, I was inspired to go way back into the Tim Holtz stamp library to stamp number 18.  The peacock feathers on the border stamp in this set has been a long time favorite of mine.  I thought it would be fun to use it to create a background using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink to go along with the feather image.  

To create the background I combined stamping and clear embossing along with blending and spritzing to achieve different intensities of the same color.  I added a blended edge of Vintage Photo to add some definition to the edge of the card.

To embellish the card I stamped the sentiment from the stamp set in the frame.  I added Crinkle Ribbon dyed with Peacock Feathers and several mini paper flowers with beaded centers and velvet leaves.

We are really proud to have Tammy with us today as I am sure you will know she has recently been named as ‘Media Specialist’ for Tim. Please join us in wishing her the very best of luck for this new venture and thank you so much Tammy her for taking time out to create something so special for our guest spot. This is such a beautiful card and I think so many of us will resonate with the inking the edges experience you talk of.

Don’t forget you have another four days to join in with the current challenge which is to use every stamp in a set hosted by our great CG Nikki. We have some wonderful projects that have been entered, you are all so very creative, thanks so much for sharing your work with us.

Thanks again to Tammy and to all of you who come jump aboard to share this amazing journey.

Have a great week.

hugs Brenda and the Creative Guides. xx

A Guest Excursion and Winner's Announcement

Hi everyone!

It's second Friday so it's time for an excursion from a Guest Creative Guide and to announce our Winner of the last challenge.

We're starting with our excursion and delighted that today we're being joined by Mary Elizabeth of ME and My Walk on the Creative Side, winner of challenge #6 'All about him'.

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Mary Elizabeth

"I remember the first time I ran into the Tim Holtz line at my local craft store.  I loved everything about it.  The vintage aesthetic just called to me.  However, I did not run to the counter with one of each item in hand.  I was used to buying “new” and “amazing” craft products that never gave me the advertised effects that I saw on the packaging.   I was very wary and skeptical.  I finally broke down and bought Vintage Photo Distress Ink and an Ink Blending Tool.  I went home and checked out some of Tim’s online videos.  My first attempt worked exactly like it did for Tim.  I was thrilled.  I actually felt like an artist!  From that moment on, I was hooked and I’ve been distressing everything I can get my hands on."

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"I was so excited when I saw Nikki’s “Use every stamp in a set” challenge.  One of my favorite Tim Holtz stamp sets is Floral Tattoo.  It’s not one that I see used very often.  I’ve used individual stamps off of it occasionally.  I knew that this challenge was the time to let this set shine.  My inspiration for this project came from my other addiction … home and garden television.  I had a major surgery last month and I have watched way too much TV while recuperating.  I love shows that use reclaimed and vintage finds to decorate homes.  I saw a show that used some vintage tin and copper ceiling tiles as wall art.  I wondered if I could make a faux vintage ceiling tile.  Here is my attempt:

I wanted to use my "vintage ceiling tile” as the cover of a scrapbook.   I had a 12 x 12 chipboard album in my craft stash.  I started by giving the front cover a good coat of gesso.  After that dried, I painted it with copper acrylic paint.  Then came a coat of Antique Linen Distress Paint.  Now here is the fun part. I started designing my cover by using my Tim Holtz Floral Tattoo stamps.  I used some 12 x 12 white paper and stamped various designs on it with black ink until I had a design I liked.  I then recreated that design on the cover with Pirate Gold embossing powder.  I used Distress Embossing Ink for the stamping.  After the entire cover design was stamped and embossed, I painted the entire cover with another coat of  Antique Linen Distress Paint.  

I was really pleased with the overall look of this cover.  I’m looking forward to filling this scrapbook with some wonderful memories."

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This is beautiful Mary Elizabeth, fabulous use of these stamps and a wonderfully original and creative idea - thank you for joining our journey this week.

And now we move to the winner and Pinworthies of our last challenge, #8 'Wings & things'...

Winner of the £10 shop voucher from our sponsor, Country View Crafts is.... 

#5 Meggymay of Meggy's Way

Sandy was host for this challenge and she says:

"For the Wings and Things challenge, the entire team was taken by the passion shown by our winner Meggymay #5.  Her  journal page is filled with wonderful color, fabulous texture and of course those winged things.  Congratulations Meggymay and thank you for sharing your beautiful art with us."

Meggymay's winning project will be pinned to our winner's Pinterest board and will be invited to join us on an excursion shortly. A blog badge is also on it's way.

Our 3 Pinworthies (who win blog badges) will be pinned to our Pinworthies Pinterest board and receive blog badges. Sandy says:

"Congratulations to the following ladies who showed us their amazing talents!"

#4 Rosie of Rosie's Bastelwelt

#8 Bonnie McLain of Love Light and Peace

#22 Jan of Scrapbooking from the Attic

Congratulations to all our winners and a huge thank you to ALL of our entrants who demonstrated their creativity and passion for Tim's crafting style.

We will be back after the weekend with another excursion so please be sure to mark it in your diary. Wishing everyone a happy and creative weekend,

Chris xxx

For Brenda and the Creative Guides

Destination Inspriation - Distress Paint Marbling

Hi everyone, S@ndy here, I'm happy to be with you today to share a few tips about Tim’s paint marbling techniques for backgrounds.  We have had requests here at A Vintage Journey from our readers for this Destination Inspiration—so this one is for you!!  I hope you find it helpful. 

First thing I want to say is that this technique does take some (very little) practice so don’t give up, practice does make perfect, or as close as you can get. 

I like to use three or four colors and there really isn’t any special way to put them down on your craft sheet.  It can be straight lines of paint or squiggly lines.   Here are a couple ways I prefer and have had good results.

I suggest that you have a stack of tags ready to use while doing this technique.  There is always paint left on the mat when you're done with the first tag and although we all seem to have enough supplies to last a life time we never like to waste.

 

For the this demonstration I am going to use the same three colors so you can see the difference in the technique.  This is one of my favorite color combinations since I'm very fond of orange.  I have used Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge and Mustard Seed.

I always have water handy & I like the Mini Misters from Ranger because the spray is even and not too heavy.  You can place the colors next to each other or leave some space as I have done. 

 

Here you can see that I have spritzed the paint with water and it's good to go.  The photo below shows how the paint reacts to more water and both are good, it is a simple mater of personal preference.  

I like to place the tag straight down on the paint and move my fingers around the tag, much as you would do with a stamp to get equal pressure on the ink.  The difference is that if the tag moves it's ok - that's even better.

 Here are three examples of  how the paint will look different depending on how you treat it. 

#1 on the far left -  place the tag straight down on the paint walking your fingers around the tag and then lift straight up.  You can see how the colors are smooshed (technical term).

#2 in the center - place the tag straight down on the paint, walk your fingers around, then pull downward (just a little) and lift straight up.  You can see how the colors move together.

#3 on the far right -place the tag straight down on the paint, walk your fingers around and pull downward a little more than in example 2 and lift straight up.  More of a marble effect.
         

#4 shown above - (my personal favorite) I took sample #3 from above while it was still wet - spritzed it with lots of water.  The spritzing makes the paint move around and some even runs off the tag.  The colors are still separate but much more subtle. The thing I love about these paints is that they never become muddy.  The colors blend but hold true to their original color.

If you like more movement in your paint, you can always swipe it through the paint or even twist it before you pick it up.  If you don't get complete coverage with the first application, simply put the tag back in the paint.

#5 This tag was placed on the paint and then twisted before lifting

#6  This tag was placed next to the paint and then pulled through it.

You are never going to get the same results twice - so "embrace imperfection" and go for it.  By the time you add Distress Ink and maybe some water splats, you'll be happy with your tag.

You can let the tags air dry of course but I have found that if your paper is very wet it tends to curve upward in the center. This makes the paint puddle on the edges and you  get a dark line of paint on both sides.  You can see that in example 2 above.  The best way to minimize this is to use the heat gun and dry it right away.

Another thing to remember is that once the paint has dried, it is there to stay, it will not react again no matter how much water you put on it.  You can add paint on top of the surface as shown below.

I'm going to switch colors on you now - I made this tag but was not happy with so much red and pink.  I wanted to add some blue so when the tag was completely dry I added some Broken China.

 

Much better!!

 

Unlike DI which is translucent, these backgrounds are going to be opaque.  When dry they will no longer react with water so you can add to them without changing the paint surface.

 

So there you have the basics of Distress Paint backgrounds but if you care to stay awhile longer I will show you some other ways of using them.  You can certainly use them as they are and they will be beautiful but below are a few samples of the same tags after some small additions.

 

Below are the before and after of the same three tags shown above.  I will do my best to tell you exactly what I did with them.  As you will see, even if you are not thrilled with your tag at first, you can turn it into something useful.

 

I intentionally tried to change the colors so you would see that any tag can be saved.  Even though Distress Ink was added, the paint maintained it's original opacity.

 

#1 I used Peacock Feathers DI over the entire surface and then edged with some Mowed Lawn.  I left this one as is but you will be seeing it in a future challenge.

 

#2  I stenciled with the Ruler Stencil and the Honeycomb Stencil both in Black Soot DI.  Then I added some Dusty Concord DI around the edge, next came a sprinkle of water.  When that was dry I added some white Distress Paint in random splats.

 

#3  I stamped this one with two stamps from Tim's stamp sets Time Traveler and Remnants.  I stamped in black and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I dry embossed the top part of the tag with Tim's Clock Texture Fade and then edged with Evergreen Bough DI and finally stenciled with the clock stencil.

 

I hope that you have picked up some good information and that you will give this technique a try.  I am going to end with a tag made by "the man" himself.  Tim gave me this signed tag at CHA in 2013 after he demonstrated the very same technique. Nothing like learning from the master.

 

 

 

 So now I hope you will get busy and smear some paint on a tag. 

 Relax, have fun and get creative. 

 

S@ndy

 

All products mentioned above can be found at  Country View Crafts,

our generous sponsor 

 

  

 

 

 

Challenge 9 - Use every stamp in a set

Hi everyone, Nikki here from A2A - Addicted to Art and I have the pleasure of hosting our latest challenge. The theme for the next fortnight is to 'Use every stamp in a set’. It sounds quite challenging but although we would like to see each stamp in a particular set used, it could be a full or partial image of each of them. 

At A Vintage Journey, our challenges focus on the inspiration of Tim Holtz and we ask that you tell us in your blog how you have been influenced in your creation. Please take a look at the Travelling Instructions for clarification and the guide on interpreting the styles at A Vintage Journey. Don’t forget to provide the name of our current challenge theme and a direct link to that challenge in your blog post. For this challenge please also tell us the stamp set you have used. (It doesn't need to be a Tim set - just tell us how he has influenced you.)

The Creative Guides have made some amazing pieces to provide some inspiration. Do pop over to our personal blogs where you will find more detail on each of the projects. Of course there is plenty more inspiration to be found on Tim Holtz’s blog too!

Our lovely sponsors, Country View Crafts are, once again, offering a £10 gift voucher to spend, to one winner who will be chosen by the team.

Nikki

I have used one of Tim's Visual Artistry collections to make this card, there are 6 stamps in the set. I have incorporated  lots of layering ( I love how Tim works with layers), distressing and some crackle paint to embellish.

Chris

Based upon one of Tim's earliest stamp sets, Fancy flourish, my card is almost a total homage to him! His dies, inks, remnant rubs and other Idea-ology have all been used together with his stamps and techniques. Full details of what and how are on my own blog.

S@ndy

Using Tim's Artful Tools Stamp Set - I made a small tool box to keep on my work table.  No problem making a Tim inspired project when these stamps, papers and inks make everything so easy.  Hopefully I will be able to spend more time working and less time looking for things.  To see how I made it - stop by my blog.

Alison

I thought this challenge was a great chance to go back to my first love and just plain stamp!  

I used the Urban Tapestry set and of course there had to be Distress Inks involved.  

There's some glossy embossing that you can't see here - you'll have to pop over to Words and Pictures for the full effect.

Jools

A Vintage Dress for A Vintage Journey

This Challenge was the perfect opportunity for me to use my favourite Tim Holtz Urban Chic Stamps
I loved layering the stamps together to create an all over pattern
then colouring with the rich Dylusion inks
Please pop over to my blog to see how I constructed my Couture Creation

Annie 

I used the Tim Holtz Stamper's Anonymous Set Oddities CMSO83
and as you can see I had a great time using the stamps, stencils, Idea-ology and TH Sizzix dies as well as some splatting here and there with Distress Stains. You can view the process over on my blog by clicking my name above.

Jenny

I'm loving using Artist Trading Blocks as boxes for storage purposes in my craft room (what's that saying, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris) There's a bit of a collection building now and this is the latest, using every stamp from the SA 'Classics #3' set. There are six sides to this so head on over to my blog and take a look.

Brenda

I loved this challenge as it really made me think about how I use my stamps. I chose to use Tim's Paris Memoir set and made a hanging. I added some stamps from his Papillon set and used texture fades and dies too, but for the background I used Fresco Finish paints.

Some fabulous projects to inspire you and we look forward to seeing how you use Every Stamp in a Set. Please remember it does not need to be a Tim Holtz set but please do tell us how you have been inspired by Tim in order to be eligible to win.

Have fun!
Nikki
xx

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