Happy Holidays - Distress style!

Good Morning!

This is one of the first cards I made after getting my stash of distress inks and Tim Holtz Stamps.  The stamp collection is Holiday Wishes.

I started by inking my background of the center image with browns.  I then used the sheet music stamp to enhance the background a bit.  I kept stamping and inking until I was happy.  I added some pine leaves in greens and santa in red.  All of this stamping was done with the distress inks.  Then I used black archival ink to stamp the Happy Holidays.  It was very simple and lots of fun to see what you can create with inks and a white piece of paper.

For the inside, I used the pinecone stamp and stamped it around the edges to make a border.  I stamped off the actual card to add variety and used several shades of brown.  After I stamped all of them, I spritzed it with water to mute some of the pinecones into the background.  I then stamped some more pinecones for the front.  Finished it off with the sentiment by Stampabilities.

I am sorry most of my posts lately have been with these distress inks, but I have had so much fun creating with them.  You will never get the same look twice.  I think maybe Tim himself should stop by and maybe hire me as his sidekick!  What do you think?  What a dream job that would be ;0).  I guess a girl can dream.  Try them out and they will likely become your new addiction!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I enjoyed your visit!

Blessings until next time!

Enjoy the Journey!

Good Morning!

I made this card for my dad's birthday.  I wanted it to look a bit rustic so I used the rusted enamel technique with my distress inks and embossing powders.  Tim Holtz teaches this in his Creative Chemistry 101 online class.

First you cover the background in distress ink.  I used my greens.  Then you cover the entire paper with embossing ink and then embossing powder.  Now before you heat the embossing powder, you pick up the paper and flick it with your fingers on the back side.  This causes some of the ink to fall off the paper leaving little "pits" in the embossing.  Then you go over the paper with your brown distress inks.  That leaves it to look like the paper background is a bit rusty.

So after all that, I tore off the edges and stamped this little car on there to make it a bit manly for my dad. I did use some white distress stain to lightly put the Enjoy the Journey image on the background paper.  I finished him off with the metal embellishment tied with twine.  I wrapped the twine behind the card and left it a bit loose to give it more of an old feel.

This is the inside of the card.  Very simple with another Tim Holtz embellishment.

I hope you picked up something that you can use in your crafting today.  Please stop by again, your visit is greatly appreciated!

Blessings until next time...
Athina

ATC Happy Birthday!

Hello Blogging Friends,

I hope you are all well, feels like I have been gone forever!!

Today I am sharing some of my ATC birthday creations.  I belong to an ATC group within my family.  We make a special card for birthdays for each of the members.  So here are just a few for the month of July.  July is a very busy birthday month!!

The first, I  used water colors and my Tim Holtz distress markers.  The edges are inked with pumice stone and tumbled glass.  The sentiment is by Stampin Up.

The second is inked with bright colors of distress ink, then I used a background stamp with white picket fence stain to soften it a bit.  I then stamped it with butterflies and decorated them with stickles.

The last one is the same principal as the second just different colors and a multitude of stamps with white stain.  All stamps on this one are from Stampers Anonymous.

They all turned out very different, but they were very easy to create.

I would like to enter these into the following challenge:

ATCs with Attitude - Anything goes

I hope you enjoyed them.  Thank you for stopping by!

Blessings until next time...

Athina

April ATC Swap

Hello Friends!

Last month my Aunt thought it would be a good idea to arrange an ATC swap group with our family.  So we gathered 8 of us and had our first swap and challenge.  I was the hostess to get us started.  With spring in the air, I went with "Things that Bloom" with the goal to use at least one embellishment and your favorite color.

A 2.5" x 3.5" card is not a large space to work with.  So I had to think a little bit.  I have a few sets of Tim Holtz stamps that I love and what a better place to use them than on a swap ATC.  This one is one of my favorites.  I airbrushed the background with E31 to give it some color, then I tore some pretty pink paper for the sides and inked it up with distress ink.  Top that off with some lace and a flower with a pearl brad to stick off the top.  I couldn't just stick with the little card, it had to be a bit different =-).

Our challenge for May is "Gone but not forgotten", so I must get to thinking on that one!

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great evening!

Blessings until next time!

January Crafty Gals Challenge "Newness"

Hello!

Today is posting day for our January Challenge for the Crafty Gals Blogging Group over at SCS.  There are 11 sweet and talented ladies with many great ideas participating today!  So what was the challenge?

Heather was the host this month and chose "NEWNESS."

My challenge to you for the Crafty Girls January challenge is to celebrate newness....it doesn't have to be a new baby...perhaps it's a New Year, new marriage, new job, new friend, etc.

In addition, use the opportunity to try a out a new technique (or template, something you haven't tried before). SCS has a great resources section with plenty of techniques, fancy folds, projects, etc.

So I chose to create a smash book of my own.  I am typically a straight line, symmetrical perfectionist.  For me embellies are usually just a single one or in groups of 3.   I stepped out of my box for this one.  Things are not really lined up, I have 3 jewels at the bottom (couldn't help myself) and 4 down the right hand side.  I choose to do a bit of grunge and lace, I don't mind either style, but usually not together.  I am definitely a quote person, but do not use them much in my paper crafts.  So here is my opportunity--quotes galore!!! Whooo Hooo!

Some inside pages.  This was a great project to use up some of that great paper that may not be fitting for a scrapbook page or a card.  I had a pad of lined paper for journaling, I cut it down and it works perfect.  I bound the book with my bind it all.

This is another sheet I pulled out of MME paper pack.  I have a few, so I am going to fill one out at the beginning of the year and one out at the end to see what has changed and what has stayed the same.  I will have to cut this down so it will fit in the book.  It will likely be scattered throughout.

So for the challenge, I have created a new project and for me the new beginning will be to keep up with the book for 2012.  I have always created for others and really not much for myself.  This will be fun, as it will make me step outside my box and make it a little wonky and fun.  I will give some updates on my blog throughout the year.

One important note... Please make sure to stop by the other Crafty Gals blogs and leave them some love.  They are at the left hand side of my blog for easy clicking!

Thanks Heather for a great challenge.  Thanks to everyone else for stopping by and taking a look.
Blessings until next time!
Athina