My Top 10 Favorite Craft Products Of 2012

Well here it is...New Year's Eve! This year has flown by! It brought with it many happy and joyous times for me, and many new creative opportunities and blogging friends. Thank you to EVERYONE who follows, comments, emails, and watches! You have made this year the very best, and I am SO THANKFUL for all of you!

I am going to continue on with my tradition of listing my favorite genius creative products from this year that I added to my already mega huge hoarding stash! I really need a 12 step program...no joke!!! Some may have been around longer, but I just started using them this year. Feel free to tell me yours in a comment in case I haven't tried it and need to.

In no particular order:

1. Tim's Idea-ology Frosted Film
2. Wendy's Studio 490 Embossing Paste and Stencils
3. All of the Tim Holtz Stamper's Anonymous Blueprint Stamps
4. Ranger's Inkssentials Specialty Stamping Paper
5. Ranger's Distress Markers
6. All of Ranger's Metallic Distress Stains
7. All of Dyan's Dylusions Ink Sprays and Stencils
8. Ranger's Inkssentials Jumbo (#10) and Giant (#12) Sized Tags
9.All of the Mudd Puddles
10.Ten Second Studio's Verday Paint

Happy New Year Crafters!!! I pray you have the very best 2013, and that you get to kiss the lips of the one or ones you love at midnight!  I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

12 Tags Of 2012 - January

Okay, here's the last one for Tim's 12 Tags of 2012. I do hope he continues on for the new year. I basically stayed kept to his plan, but I did add the Tissue Wrap like I did on my December tag. I also added the Snowman Blueprint "Glazed Mosaic" piece, which is the challenge at Linda's Compendium of Curiosities II Challenge from Tim's book pg. 60.

I used Broken China, Brushed Pewter, and White Picket Fence Distress Stains for my background.

I decided to try something a tiny bit different on the Glazed Mosaics. I stamped first in Jet Black Archival, and wanted to see if it would come off using Tim's technique, and it did not, so that was good.

 

 

Supplies:
From My Stash- snowflakes


I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Merry Christmas All!!!

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you who celebrate! I hope you have the most joyful of times with friends and family, and that you feel all the love and warmth of this most special occasion of celebrating the birth of Jesus! And to those who celebrate other special occasions during this holiday season, I wish you the same! Peace and love to all!

 

Christmas Pomegranate Jelly

Homemade is best! Right? I hope so in the case of my Christmas Pomegranate Jelly, because like all canning jobs, it's a labor of love! Not to mention messy, but oh so yummy! I didn't get quite as many jars made as I would have liked, but I have enough for teachers and office mates, and of course one for the kids.

Pomegranate juice was everywhere!

The prep and the preparing.

The canning.

10 jars of jelly ready to decorate.

 I've also made some tags to go along with them.

Tissue Tape over kraft paper is turned into snowflake.

Sparkly holly leaves are cut.

Sailboat Blue Color Wash, Picket Fence Distress Stain in a mister (That Tim is a genius!), and a little Perfect Pearls Mist transforms all of the snowflakes. Stickles bling them up as well.

Festive Berries, Evergreen Bough, and Salty Ocean Distress Stains make up the color on the Blended, Spritz, and Flicked tags. I also added some wrinkles.

Christmas Music Notes are stamped in Cobalt Archival Ink.

More Picket Fence Distress Stain and Pearl Perfects was misted. An embossed sentiment, a gemstone, and some curly wire finished off the tags. Some tags were tiny and some were the small #5 size. Everyone had their choice.

 

 

And, it was good that I had one left over to take a photo of, because I forgot to take pics of the whole lot.

I am submitting these to Simon Says Stamp & Show's challenge of "Gift-Spiration", Sunday Stamper's challenge of "Holly & Ivy", The Blogger's Challenge for "Holiday Gifts", and of course to the Compendium of Curiousities Challenge II for "Tissue Tape" from page 36 in Tim's book by the same name, and this last challenge is being sponsored by the awesome peeps at Simon Says Stamp.

Supplies:
From My Stash- numbers, gemstone, wire

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Make It A Christmas Tag...On Video?!?

Hello All and welcome Newbies!!! The Funky good time is back this fortnight to bring you the Frilly & Funkie challenge, which happens to be our last challenge for 2012. Terry of  Terry's 2 Dogs is hosting. Terry says, "Since this is the busiest time of the year, and my turn to entertain you all for the next challenge at Frilly and Funkie, I thought it would be nice to keep it simple with "Make It A Tag."  Show us your tags in the Holiday Spirit celebrating Christmas or Winter. Maybe you even make your own gift tags or place setting tags. Whatever it is, just tag it!"

Inspiration comes with a leap and a bound from the other Design Team Members. Check out their goods!

Linda Coughlin - The Funkie Junkie

Marjie Kemper - She Who Stamps and Scraps 

Teresa Kline - Paperie Blooms

Terry Horrall -  Terry's Work In Progress 

Sue Carrington - Stamping Sue Style 

Rebecca Deeprose - Paper Primrose

This is hard to write, but this is also my last project with F&F, and I'm singing the Funkie Town Blues about it, but I am venturing on to new creative endeavors. My time with Linda (A definite Mentor for me.) and this team has been the best experience ever, and I cherish their friendship and all that they have taught me with their amazing talents. Thank you Linda for helping me to grow with this thing I call Art! Thank you team for being so supportive, kind, and so full of creative knowledge. I will miss you. Alas, my favorite quote, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." - Seneca.

 

So...sniffle sniffle...I wanted to leave Frilly & Funkie with a teeny tiny bang and it's been long over due, but I thought I would bring you a quick video tutorial showing you the process for using Ranger's Holographic and Tinsel Embossing Powders, as seen on my tag, although I had the most horrible time trying to photograph this to show you the full realm of color on the Wise Men. This do not due this tag justice.
Also, sorry for the video quality and the sound especially. I had the worst time getting it to upload, and had to change file types several times to no avail. So after a computer change, I was able to upload it, but after all the changes the quality flew out of creative window! Live and learn!!!

 

 Supplies:

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

12 Tags Of 2012 - December

Parting is such sweet sorrow....that is how I feel about the 2012 Tim Tags ending. He posted the December and January tags together, but I am doing them in separate posts. Here is my December tag.

Is it possible to be in love with a background??? I am in love with this tags background...I want it as my wall. Okay, I am planning my wall all out already...just you wait! Anyway, I glued torn pieces of Composer Tissue Wrap onto my tags with Glue N Seal.

I used my three favorite colors of Distress Stain (Aged Mahogany, Barn Door, and Tarnished Brass) to do Tim's technique for Marbled and Blended Stains.

I had enough wet goodness on my craft sheet to stain three extra pink tags. FUN!

I used the most wonderful metallic thread from Tinsel Trading to sew around the tag borders. Let's sing together now...I'm in love I'm in love I'm in love I'm in love I'm INNN love...sorry, back to my BTO days!

Don't get sentimental on me now, but this is left over lace from my wedding dress make oh so long ago. I still have a couple of yards left. I adhered it to Wendy's Clearly for Art Whiteout. Oh so pretty.

Using the Sizzix Tattered Poinsettia Die, I cut three out.

A little heat, Distress Stain, and Distress Ink and viola! Love Tim's die! Golden Rod and Antique Linen Distress Stickles finished the edges and center.

More die cutting, Staining, and inking. I love the words on this die. I Stained the flourish with Tarnished Brass and applied Antique Linen Distress Stickles to it as well. I traced around the sentiment with Krylon Gold Paint Pen and adhered it to an inked Journal Ticket. I used Alcohol Ink to color a sentiment paperclip to adorn the ticket.

Grunge Paper makes the greatest Star bursts. I covered these with more lace, then Antique Linen Stain, and then Rock Candy Crackle Paint, followed by Krylon Gold Ink Pen, and finally Stickles. Phew! What a star! Everything was adhered and a more Tinsel Trading goodness finished the tag.

 

 

 

I am also submitting this to Simon Says Stamp & Show's challenge of "Inspired By Tim's 12 Tags", and Unruly Paper Arts Reader Art Quest 1 for "Use 4 Patterns", and to my old haunt Our Creative Corner for "One Stitch At A Time"...love those ladies!

Supplies:
From My Stash-


I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!