Tim Holtz Stamper's Anonymous Christmas 2024 - Modern Tree Stencil Christmas Cards

Hello Everyone! Wasn't that Tim Holtz Stamper's Anonymous Christmas Release Live excellent?!! It's always amazing to me that so many sample makes can be so different even though we all used the same stamps and stencils. Blows my mind every time. On these two cards the only stamping is the sentiment. The rest is paper design and stenciling with the Modern Trees Layering Stencil. I love how they came out. Enjoy!

 

Using the Legder and Gold Stars paper as well as the Tree Line with Music Notes paper from the 2018 Christmas Paper Stash, cut both in half length ways to make 2 - 4 cards. Both papers have line space right down the middle so cutting is easy. To figure out where you need to add the tape, stencil in the Modern Tree Layering Stencil, centered and 1/2 inch from the top, using Frayed Burlap Distress Archival Ink from Ranger and an Ink Blending Tool. Archival Ink is better to use with the tape so it sticks better, and Frayed Burlap is light but dark enough to see the design. 

 

 

From the Rose Design Tape Collection (2017) there is a roll of tape with Ledger Numbers that matches the paper. Tear the end like an arrow point and add the tape the length of the tree and about 3/4 inch further for the trunk on the Ledger paper. The only Music Note tape I found that matches the notes on the paper is old school Merriment Tissue Tape. It was a little too wide and the white background blended in too much with the paper despite the red writing, so I added a strip to a few strips of Cello Sticker Tape (widest) which made the background a nice soft vintage yellow, so I inked over it with more Frayed Burlap for a deeper vintage look. I cut it in half so I can use it for both parts of the Tree Music Note Paper (I am making 4 cards) place it like the other one, pointy arrow on star and down past the tree about 3/4 inch for a trunk.

 

 

Using the Cello Sticker Tape (thinnest) add strips to the Ledger trunk going from shortest to longest to mimic branches, applying them at different angles for a wonky imperfect look, from the star to the bottom of the stencil area only, leaving the trunk bare. (FYI...I feel I didn't make my branches long enough, and you can't really see them like I wanted in the finished cards, so if you think so as well, make your branches longer.)

 

 

Using different designs of Design Tape in green tones, apply strips of tape to the Music Note trunk, applying them at different angles for a wonky imperfect look, from the star to the bottom of the stencil area only, leaving the trunk bare. 

 

 

Add two sided tape to the back of the Ledger paper so it doesn't buckle for this next part. Pounce an anti-static pouch over the paper very liberally especially over the tapes. TRUST ME! You need to do this or there will be embossing powder stuck to everything as I learned on the first one. Blow off the extra dust (I think it's actually corn starch.). Add the Modern Tree Layering Stencil over one of the papers and line it up with the ink you already did. Have all your Distress Embossing Glazes and Embossing Powder ready, as you will need to work fairly quickly, not rushed but quickly. I used Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, and Vintage Photo glazes and Gold Embossing Powder. Take the SNOWFALL Grit Paste and spread it over evenly and fairly thick (you can't see the circles under) with a palette knife, and then remove the stencil and place it in water with the palette knife to clean later. Quickly pick up one of the glazes either pinching it up with your fingers or using a mini spoon like I do because I can control it better, and randomly sprinkle the glaze over some of the circles so that it is evenly distributed. Then take another color and repeat, and then repeat again with another. Finish up with Gold Embossing Powder on the star and any little circles you didn't get before. Take the paper and swirl it a bit to make sure all the paste is covered and then pour it off onto a paper. If you have an empty jar save this new color of powders mixture for a future vintage project as all these blend nicely together. Double check to make sure no powders are stuck to the tapes. If they are use a tiny brush to brush them away. Set this somewhere to dry for a bit, and clean your stencil. Repeat with the other paper. Keep in mind it is probably impossible to keep colors separated on the circles so you will probably have multi colors on some of them, but to me that just adds to the artsy look. 

 

 

 Add two sided tape to the back of the Music Notes Tree paper so it doesn't buckle for this next part. Pounce an anti-static pouch over the paper very liberally especially over the tapes. Add the Modern Tree Layering Stencil over one of the papers and line it up with the ink you already did. Have all your Distress Embossing Glazes and Embossing Powder ready. I used Bundled Sage, Rustic Wilderness, Candied Apple, and Lumberjack Plaid glazes and Platinum Embossing Powder. This time take the SPARKLE Distress Texture Paste and spread it over evenly and fairly thick (you can't see the circles under) with a palette knife, and then remove the stencil and place it in water with the palette knife to clean later. This paste is much thinner than the other so the spreading goes much quicker. Quickly pick up one of the glazes and randomly sprinkle the glaze over some of the circles so that it is evenly distributed. Then take another color and repeat, continuing with the rest, and finishing with the Platinum Embossing Powder on the star and any little circles you didn't get before. Take the paper and swirl it a bit to make sure all the paste is covered and then pour it off onto a paper. You can save this new recipe, but it will probably make brown, so keep that is mind for another project. Double check to make sure no powders are stuck to the tapes. If they are use a tiny brush to brush them away. Set this somewhere to dry for a bit, and clean your stencil. Repeat with the other paper. After about an hour or so heat emboss all the papers. Despite being dry both pastes will probably bubble up some, which just adds to the texture.

 

For even more texture and glitz, more paste will be stenciled over the circles this time using the Sparkle Fade Layering Stencil. It's hard to see in the photos but the sparkles are on top of the circles. Take the neutral and gold tree paper first, and lay the Modern Tree stencil back on and push it over the circles to get it as flat as you can. You will hear little pops as the stencil gets pushed down and that is good to prevent paste from getting underneath. Take the Sparkle Fade Layering Stencil and find the teeny tiny sparkle hole that is just about an inch below the hanging hole of the stencil, and make sure this part is right over the very first circle under the star and the sides match up perfectly with the sides of the tree stencil so all should be covered up except the openings for the tree of course. Take the SNOWFALL Grit Paste and palette knife and hold the stencil as flat and tight as you can and stencil in the paste in a light layer over all the openings. Lift the Sparkle stencil first and then the Tree stencil and place them in water. You will be able to see the grit paste sparkles well now until they dry. If any paste got between the circles use your palette knife to carve it away carefully. Let this dry naturally for at least an hour. Take the Music Notes and Trees paper and do the very same but with the SPARKLE Texture Paste this time, keeping in mind it's viscosity so really hold the stencils down tight so you won't get any spillage under. If you do, just carve it away. Remember that the pastes are translucent and you will only be able to see the sparkles under light while moving it around. This is what is going to make these cards so fun, is all the different things to see while moving it around in light as well as touch all the wonderful texture...a delight for the recipient I think.

 

Cut and fold a Kraft Cardstock base card to 4.5 x 8.5 inches. Cut Gold Metallic Kraftstock mats to 4 3/8 x 8 3/8 inches from the Metallic Classics Kraftstock, and adhere onto the front of the Kraft card base for the Ledger card. Cut Platinum Metallic mats to 4 3/8 x 8 3/8 inches and adhere those to more Kraft Cardstock for the Music Notes card. Cut dark green Kraftstock to 4 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches and just have two sided tape on the back and set aside for the Music Notes cards, and keep two 1 x 3 inch pieces for the sentiment.  Cut Vintage Photo colored Kraftstock to 4 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches and just have two sided tape on the back and set aside for the Ledger cards and keep two 1 x 3 inch pieces for the sentiment. Take the sentiment pieces and add the red music notes Tissue Tape to the green Kraftstock down the center, one for each card. Do the same with the Vintage Photo pieces using the Ledger Design Tape. Pounce an anti-static pouch over these, so the powder doesn't stick. Select sentiments from the Home For Christmas Stamp Set and place them in the center of the strips in the stamp platform and close to secure lid. Stamp these in any color ink...I used Frayed Burlap Distress Ink as that is what I used to ink everything remaining...onto the pieces, and quickly add Gold Embossing Powder to the Vintage Photo ones, and Liquid Platinum to the dark green ones, and then heat emboss. Using a Distress Tool, distress the top and bottom edges of the sentiments and then ink those edges with Frayed Burlap. 

 

 

 Ink around the edges of the card fronts with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and then flick water on them for a mottled look and pounce with a paper towel to remove excess. Let dry. Distress the edges of the card front with the Distress Tool, and ink the edges with Frayed Burlap. Mount the card fronts on the dark green and Vintage Photo pieces. Distress those edges and ink just like before.  Add the sentiments below the trees with two sides tape. Use a mini hole punch to make holes on each side of the sentiments as well as in the middle of the star. Gather Star Fasteners, one for each star, and two long fasteners for each sentiment. Shake up Gold and Silver Mixatives. Color the star and long fasteners for the Ledger card with the Gold Mixative  and let dry. There is no Mixative that is Platinum colored so you can make your own, which I have done on many occasions. Use a small throw away cup for your mixture and a toothpick for stirring. Add a few drops of Alcohol Ink Blending Solution to the cup, then 2 or three drops of Silver Mixative and then about 4 drops of Gold Mixative and stir. You should get a Platinum color, but you can add more of either color to get the exact match as the Platinum Embossing. Dip your fasteners into this a few times and let dry on the craft sheet. Add all the fasteners to the holes where they go and close to secure. Then add the paper to the Kraft card bases. Ink the edges of the Kraft with more Frayed Burlap.

Supplies:

(Trimmer, Ink Blending Tool, Scissors, Two Sided Tape, Anti Static Pouch, Palette Knife, Heat Tool, Stamp Platform, Water Mister, Distress Tool, Mini Hole Punch)

-Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Christmas Paper Stash (2018), Cello Sticker Tape, Merriment Tissue Tape, Rose Design Tape, Christmas Design Tape (2017, 2018, 2022), Christmas Trim Tape, Trims Design Tape, Neutral Kraftstock, Cool Kraftstock, Metallic Classics Kraftstock, Star Fasteners, Long Fasteners

-Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil (Christmas 2024): Modern Tree, Sparkle Fade 

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink: Frayed Burlap

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste: Snowfall

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze: Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Bundled Sage, Rustic Wilderness, Candied Apple, Lumberjack Plaid

-Ranger Embossing Powder: Gold, Platinum

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste: Sparkle

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap

-Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp Set (Christmas 2024): Home For Christmas  

-Ranger Surfaces: Kraft Cardstock

-Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Blending Solution

-Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Mixative: Gold, Silver

-Small Cup, Toothpick

 

I thank you so much for stopping by and for commenting! Thanks as well for all the comments and likes on social media. I'll be back again next week with another make from this release. Until then, I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Tim Holtz Sizzix Christmas 2024 - Christmas Brooches

Hello Everyone!  Here are the last of the Brooches I've made this year using the new Christmas Vault Series Dies from Tim Holtz and Sizzix, and seen in the LIVE last week. I have thoroughly enjoyed making each single one, and appreciate all the many comments and questions on them. AND speaking of questions...it looks like Ice Resin from Ranger was discontinued, and there are no more of packs of just the resin, BUT they still have a few of the Alcohol Ink kits with Ice Resin in them. Click on this link to see it, and even though Alcohol Ink is in there you can use it on another project.  Ice Resin is just a simple two part system that you mix together and then pour over your project....don't be scared to try resin. So many of the questions and comments I've gotten are about being timid to try it. If you don't try how will you know. Anyway, The sizes of the Dies in the Vault series really are the perfect sizes for making jewelry pieces, and the detail is wonderful and you really don't need a lot of bling on them. I made the first two brooches separately from the last four, so the step out pictures are grouped. Enjoy!

 

Note: I did the Poinsettia and Snowflake Brooches first, and then did the Sleigh, Snowmen, and Skates later and a bit different since they had many die cut layer parts.

(In this picture you are seeing the back of the brooches.) To begin the first two brooches, I added two sided tape to the back of what I would be using for the center layers, which is 2 layers of whatever cardstock I had (I think it was black heavystock which wouldn't be seen) and I die cut the solid base portion of the poinsettia, leaves, (from Vault Seasonal Sketch) and snowflake (from Vault Winter Wishes), and then I went ahead and did the backing parts in silver metallic and gold metallic since these weren't going to be die cut heavy layered like the previous brooches, as the snowflake is just one piece and the poinsettia two with two leaf parts. To do the backing, you add two sided tape to the metallic, but die cut the base piece from the two sided tape side instead of the front metallic side (don't remove the insides from the snowflake). Then I adhered them all together. Then I die cut the base pieces again that would be seen in colored Metallic Kraftstock with two sided tape on the back, so a solid red for the poinsettia, two colors of green for the leaf, and a blue for the snowflake, but not taking out the little pieces in the centers and instead keeping them in place for the snowflake (see the next photo).

 

 

Here you can see the fronts now. I added two sided tape to more silver (snowflake) and gold Metallic (poinsettia) and then die cut the parts I call the frames or the second top parts of each for the poinsettia and leaf, and for the snowflake I removed the center pieces so that it will now be a frame. I added the frame parts on top, and used a bit of Collage Medium on the border parts to make sure they stayed in place. I used Metallic Leafing Pens to color the sides of each to match the backs and frames so no Kraft paper was showing. 

 

 

I was going for a pearlized enameled look for these two brooches, so I thought using some Distress Spritz from Ranger, would do the trick. Using a detail paintbrush and after shaking each color well, I poured out a tiny bit of the Spritz and painted it in the open areas... Barn Door for the poinsettia, Twisted Citron and Peeled Paint for the leaf, and Mermaid Lagoon for the snowflake. It did pearlize the Metallic paper some but not to the degree I wanted probably because of the foiled surface, but it was still dreamy yet subtle. I also used tiny letter metal stamping punches and a Craft Hammer for my initials onto Metallic Kraftstock, and added those to the back of each piece for my maker marks using Glossy Accents. Then I adhered the poinsettia to the front of the leaf with more Glossy Accents. 

 

 

I added Silver Droplets on the snowflake frame and gold to the center of the poinsettia. I decided to also add rhinestones and they were not the color I needed so I dyed them with Alcohol Pearls, Tranquil for the ones on the snowflake, and Sublime for the green ones in the center of the poinsettia. I just colored them directly with a Qtip. Then I adhered all the bling with Glossy Accents. The bling takes a while to do, but it’s so worth it.

 

I mixed the Ranger Ice Resin as directed, by pushing the plunger down, and into a cup, mixing well, and poured it over the pieces on a baking cooling rack I have designated for Art, with a piece of wax paper underneath. I tried to do as heavy as a coating as I could and I kept these on the rack over night, moving them around every hour using a craft pick so they didn’t get stuck in place. By morning they were dry and not stuck in place. The package says they totally cure after 48 hours.

 

 

After the resin hardened,  I die cut Matchbooks from Kraft, and added the words cut from the Vault Holiday Classics using the same metallic colors for the front. I used pliers to bend the hook of pin in a little more so that there wasn’t more tension to secure the pin in the closure hopefully alleviating people from pulling on the pin too much to latch it. I added the pins to the back of each brooch so they wouldn’t be seen using lots of Glossy Accents., and then I coated the whole back with more Glossy Accents for added strength again, and let them dry. Once dry, I measured and marked where both ends of the back of the pin would be on the Kraft Matchbooks and punched holes for them, and then used scissors to cut a line between the holes. The back of the pin just pushes through the line into the holes and stays in place. 

 

 

 For the two Snowmen and Ice Skates with Greenery, I die cut the base skates and snowman from a white pearlized cardstock I had in my stash which I do not remember where it came from. I add two layers of black heavystock cut base pieces under for added strength. Then I added two sided tape to the back of metallic colors and die cut all the detail parts, which were many on the greenery, and did not remove the backing so I could play with placement of all the parts. For the snowmen it was easy as they have embossed lines showing where to go, but on the greenery I went rogue and just started playing.

 

  

 Here is a close up of the beginnings of the greenery on each skate. Once I liked it, I adhered the skates together with Glossy Accents, and then flipped it over to the do the backs, adding silver metallic backs to each piece, so this brooch is quite thick (see the picture below of the finished back). The snowman has just one solid silver metallic piece on the back.

 

 

For the sleigh, I went a bit different, by cutting many of them out in different metallics, all backed with two sided tape, and trimming off what I didn't want for each layer. So I started with green as a base, then light gold with the toy sack cut off and added that on, then deep brownish gold with Santa completely cut off, as well as the antlers and hoofs of each reindeer and added that on. On the red, I cut Santa's body, his hat, and the sleigh out, and added those parts on only, and nothing on the reindeer. Then on the bright gold layer I cut out only the sleigh legs and trim and added only that on. Then I die cut only the santa part out from the pearlized white scrap from the skates only for his beard and suit parts and added those on. Then I die cut one last time using black Kraftstock, and carefully cut the parts of the reins for the reindeer going all the way to the sleigh. This took some time and planning, and I totally forgot to take a photo, but just imagine the harnesses and reins and only cut those. I added a little bit of colored rhinestones to all the brooches, colored with Alcohol Ink, and then did the resin and pins the same as all the others. For these last 4 brooches I cut black tags to fit them and flicked Picket Fence Distress Paint on them for a snowy effect and when dry cut the holes and line between them to secure the brooches.

 

 

Supplies:

(Paper Trimmer, Two Sided Tape, Die Cut Machine, Die Pick, Scissors, Small Paintbrush, Water Mister, Craft Hammer)

-Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits (Christmas Vault Series 2024): Vault Winter Wishes, Vault Seasonal Sketch, Vault Holiday Classics, Vault Festive Wreath, Vault Christmas Magic 

-Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Metallic Classics Kraftstock, Metallic Colors Kraftstock, Metallic Droplets, Mirrored Stars

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper

-Ranger Glossy Accents

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Spritz: Barn Door, Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint, Mermaid Lagoon

-Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Pearls: Tranquil, Sublime

-Ranger Ice Resin

-Sizzix Tim Holtz Movers & Shapers Large Die: Matchbook Set

-Ranger Surfaces: #10 Black tags

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Picket Fence

-Gold and Silver Metallic Markers, Metal Letter Punches, Various Rhinestones, Cup and Stir Stick for Resin, Brooch Pins

 

Truly I thank you all for all the wonderful comments on this whole Brooch series for the Holidays. My cup runneth over! Until next time, I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!