A Grinchy Whobilation Retreat

I'm back again this week! I just came home from a much needed Christmas Art Retreat, with some fabulous ladies, and our theme was The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Here are some of the things I made for my secret Santa and for a gift exchange. I had such an amazing time!

I made my secret Santa an apron, a pillow case, and an album.

 

The inside of the album was filled with pages from the original book, as well as some sewn pages, for her to fill up with Christmas memories.

I also made personalized tags for everyone at the retreat.

We had a gift exchange with the whole group, and I made this 12x12 wooden pallet.

 

 

That's all until tomorrow. I have a Ranger tutorial for you. Happy holiday crafts everyone!

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

CC3C - Frayed Fabric

Happy New Year!!! I wish each and every one of you the most blessed and love filled year yet! It's time for another challenge in the new Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge!!! Kudos to all the entrants from the last challenge during the busiest time of year, and for all the comments!  The Curiosity Crew and I always have our socks knocked off by all the wonderful work and we are so inspired as well!
This new challenge, number nineteen is Frayed Fabric. I just LOVE Tim's Eclectic Elements Fabric, and it can be used in a million ways, but for this challenge we want to see the technique mentioned on page 66. I am so looking forward to all the entries. Please play along so you can win some fabulous prizes donated by the ever generous Tim and Mario, and this challenge's sponsor, Inspiration Emporium!!! You will have two weeks to complete this challenge and link it up to the CC3Challenge site, and you can read all the rules here. Please take the time to visit every member of the Curiosity Crew (See below.) for not only some gorgeous fabric pieces, but for a chance to win some extra goodies!

Linda Ledbetter

Annette Green

Candy Colwell

Cheryl Grigsby
Marjie Kemper

Hels Sheridan

Susan Mostek

Yvonne Blair

Tim's birthday is on January 7th, so I decided to make him a card of sorts using the Frayed Fabric technique. I hope he likes it.

 

 

I added Velcro so that the card can be closed, and perhaps Tim can use it to store mementos of his times at Disney.

A pocket inside stores a gift card.

 

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements in Labels 12 x12	Tim Holtz Electic Elements 12x12 in Documentation	Ranger Surfaces Manila Tag #12 Giant	Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink In Walnut Stain
Tim Holtz Tonic Retractable Craft Scratcher	$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Hashtags	Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

4th of July Topper!!!

Hey everyone! Occasionally I like to challenge myself.  Ever do that? I used to sew all the time in high school and made almost every shirt I owned back then, and several for friends, but after that I stopped sewing. Since Tim Holtz came out with Eclectic Elements Fabric, I've wanted to take it back up again, but time is always a factor. Recently, I had a day to do nothing but play, so I decided to challenge myself to not only sew, but to stitch something very difficult, A HAT!!! A challenge it certainly was, and it's far from perfect...so far...but I LOVE it, and am proud of myself for trying! I urge you as well, to try something new and challenging...it's very rewarding intrinsically.

This was so much fun to make in an afternoon! I will proudly were it every year on Patriotic occasions!

All I used was the fabric, scissors (Tim's new longer sheers.), crinoline to add stiffness between layers, a die, an iron, and the sewing machine. No glue, pattern, or measuring tape were involved. I just used my head to measure fabric.

I die cut the stars with Tim's Sizzix Stacked Stars Bigz Die, and sewed them on to the blue striped fabric.

I stitched the white newsprint and red striped fabric strips together, with crinoline on the back, before adding the blue letter block fabric to the back.

The top was a little hard to sew on the machine, and it's uneven, but it works. The crinoline really helps everything stand up well.

Here is where the trouble started...the brim. I wanted it to be really shaped and stiff, so I used a piece of chipboard between the layers of fabric.

After sewing around the outer edge of the circle, I cut the center out, added the chipboard, and cut slits to help the fabric fold back in on itself. I sewed this to the main part of the hat, but it came out a little wonky...okay, very wonky. It's only for fun though, so I don't mind that it is not perfect. It's perfectly okay to me!

I planned to not have any seams showing on the inside, but it didn't turn out that way. Oh well, I love it anyway!

 

And guess who stole it from me? The little one! He loved it, in fact, all the kids did! It turned out to be a big hit!

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Coats Eclectic Elements Documentation 12x12"	Tim Holtz Coats Eclectic Elements Melange 12x12"	Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements - 12x12 Labels 8 pc Crafting Pack	Cotton Crinoline	Tim Holtz Tonic Studios 9.5" Titanium Scissors
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Stacked Stars Bigz Die

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon! 

CC3C - Distress Watercoloring, Part 1

Happy Saturday crafty peeps! Today marks another challenge in the new Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge!!! Again, The Curiosity Crew and I, want to thank you all for all the wonderful comments as well as all the entries from the last Stencil and Paste challenge! Talk about amazing texture and beautiful creations! We always have a very hard time choosing a Curiosity Crew winner. You all make such gorgeous entries, and I know it inspires all of us every week. Thank you so much!

This challenge, number five, is about Distress Watercoloring, the first part.  I hope you can play along on this painty challenge so you can win some amazing fabulous prizes donated by the ever generous Tim and Mario, and this fifth challenge's sponsor, Inspiration Emporium!!! Imagine the loot you can score! You will have two weeks to complete this challenge and link it up to the CC3Challenge site, and you can read all the rules here. Please take the time to visit every member of the Curiosity Crew (See below.) for not only some beautiful watercolor inspiration, but for a chance to win some extra goodies!

Linda Ledbetter

Annette Green

Candy Colwell

Cheryl Grigsby

Hels Sheridan

Marjie Kemper

Susan Mostek

Yvonne Blair

Summer is always a great time to visit the Circus. So I thought I'd show Tim's technique using his new Stamper's Anonymous Big Top Stamps and Sizzix Framelits set on an Artist Trading Block (ATB).

After using Tim's technique for Distress Watercoloring, Part 1, I die cut the images using his Sizzix Big Top Framelits Set and the new Magnetic Platform. The platform makes diecutting fool proof...love it! I hate to fussy cut so this makes my life so much easier, as I only had to cut two images by hand. I decided to add a little sparkle so Ranger Stickles finished the images off.

I wanted a clown hat, so Tim's Eclectic Elements fabric was my choice. I cut a half circle about 8 inches in length, and used four strips of 1 and 1/2 inch fabric (2 sewn together) to create the ruffles. I wanted a little more white and a little stiffer fabric, so I painted the tan stripes with Ranger's Gesso. It worked perfect.

I stitched the half circle together, and then I had a hat!!! For the ruffles, so I stitched a loose stitch across, and then just pulled the back thread from the bobbin, and it made a nice ruffle.

For the wooden base of the stand, I misted Dylusions on the wooden piece, and then added a little Snow Cap Paint Dabber over it.

After die cutting Eileen Hull's 3D Block die onto Mat Board, I stenciled the sides that would be seen using Tim's stencils and Salty Ocean Distress Ink.

I wanted to make Circus event rings on each side of the ATB, so I used Frame Industrious Stickers to create them, and filled them in with Espresso Paint Dabber to look like dirt. Then I added the images, hat, and ruffles.

 

 

 

I hope you join in all the fun, and if you do, good luck on the prizes!!!

Supplies:

Sizzix Little Sizzles Mat Board	Sizzix Eileen Hull 3D Cube Scoreboards XL Die	Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber	Sizzix Magnetic Platform	Sizzix Tim Holtz Framelits Die Set in Big Top
Stamper′s Anonymous Tim Holtz Big Top Stamp Set	The Big Top Stamp Set	Inkssentials Specialty Stamping Paper	Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink	Ranger Archival Ink In Chrome Yellow
Distress Markers Set	Ranger Water Brush - Detailer Tip	Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Melange Fabric Pack 12 Inch	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso	Tim Holtz Collection Stencils in Harlequin
Tim Holtz Collection Stencil in Stripes	Salty Ocean Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Industrious Stickers in Frames and Trims	Ranger Paint Dabber In Espresso
Dylusions Black Marble Ink Spray	Ranger Stickles in Cranberry	Ranger Stickles In Twilight	Ranger Stickles In Champagne

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!