A Notecard Set Featuring Tim Holtz

Brandy and I are such fans of Tim Holtz.  He's one of the folks we've watched and followed over the 15+ years we've been crafting together.  As such, we have quite the stash of supplies and materials that we accumulated through out fandom and attending all three Creative Chemistry classes over at Online Card Classes.

Today I decided to pull out some of the supplies that have languished in the stash and make good use of them.  These cards were made with an assortment of Tim Holz Wildflowers Thinlits and Garden Greens dies die cut from Distress Ink and Distress Oxide backgrounds..  The background paper is Tim Holze Kraft resist paper that I layered with matching Distress Ink and Distress Oxides.  They blend so delightfully.  The flowers are made using Tim Holtz glassine paper, an oldie but a goodie.  Here's some additional inspiration from Tim Holtz Kraft glassine ideas.

While making these cards in the midst of creating for Stamptember which has involved lots of techniques, I'm reminded how very much I enjoy working with my Distress products and what a delightful finish they provide.  I should definitely use them more often!

This pink card is mostly Distress Oxides and I'm pleased with how bright the card turned out in the end.  Again - reminder to use these techniques more often.

I'm going to link this up to the Simon Says Stamp link party for Tim Holtz.  I am also going to link this up with Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge Simon Says Anything Goes.  Check it out.

Falling for the Happiest Birthday

The man card birthday.  It can be tough, but fall is the best time of year to celebrate and make a card appropriate for those men in your lives.  This card is a take on a card I made last year.  I like it so much and I found these Momenta Cut Emboss Leaf dies.  I used Rusty Hinge, Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick and Peeled Paint Distress Inks to color the leaves after embossing.  Crinkled glassine paper accents the left side and a little twine for effect.  The sentiments were all stamped in brown Archival Ink.

On the inside was one lonely leaf and a final sentiment.  I think my friend enjoyed his card and certainly felt the warmth of caring on his birthday.

It's a Man's Birthday- 89th in fact!

My grandfather's birthday was earlier this month.  Not just the dreaded Man Card, but an Old Man Card.  He'd laugh to see me say that. 

I was inspired by this Pinterest pin.  I used my Cricut Straight From the Nest cart <leaves2> to cut out these leaves from some script printed papers in the stash.  These are easily 5 years old if not older.  A little Forest Most and Barn Door Distress Ink applied with an Ink Blending Tool around the edges finishes the leaves.  The strip of paper on the left is glassine paper that I crumpled up  and then opened up and placed on the kraft matted paper.








There's a bit more dimension with the glassine paper than the picture shows.  The kraft mat paper is edged with some Barn Door Distress ink and the twine wound around before placing on the card.  The inside had a simple Happy Birthday stamp.

Grandpa is 89 years old.  He still objects to being called old.  I'm old, so I think he can man up and own it himself.  He'd laugh if he knew I said that.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!  I love you dearly.

Glassine Paper Flowers

When recently shopping with Brandy, we happened across a pad of Tim Holtz Kraft Glassine Paper.  Don't ask me why I felt like I needed a pad of this paper.  Don't ask me what I thought I was going to do with it.  I can't explain these things any more.  I find that sometimes it is just about how cheap it is (you better bet that I used a 40% off coupon and the cost was just north of $5).  Sometimes it is because I like it (the texture that is inherent to this paper is fabulous).  Sometimes it is just that you don't want to walk out of the store empty handed (this is particularly true when shopping with friends). 

Either way, I did have occasion to use the paper in a couple of recent cards.  We had the misfortune of losing a close friend earlier this year and a good friend lost her mother in December.  The memorials happened to occur within days of each other and these adorable flowers came in handy for a monochromatic looking sympathy card.

These flowers were cut using Cricut's Mother's Day Bouquet cart.  I worked the ends of the flowers around a thin paint brush handle to curl the edges back and create more of a 3D effect.  The pearl brads were punched through the center of the flower to finish the look.  Although I considered inking the flower, I ultimately decided that the cracking and "wear" of the flowers from the curling provided enough texture and I didn't want the color difference.

The background is the Walnut Stain Distress Re-inker made into a mist (similar to the layered misting technique in my Creative Chemistry 101 class).  The mask is a Tattered Angels snowflake mask I've had for a while.  The cream card was lightly misted creating much variation in color (and adding to the monochromatic color scheme).  The flowers are adhered with a glue dot and the waxed twine tied around the inside of the card.  The tiny flower on the tag was cut with my Quickutz die, shaped and layered with a tiny pearl brad.  The tag is a 1 1/2 inch cut of <tag1> from Cricut's Plantin Schoolbook that was cut from a preprinted sheet of tan cardstock I ran through my printer to print the "In Sympathy" sentiment.  A tiny Tim Holtz bronze paper clip holds the sentiment in place by anchoring the tag to the twine.

This card expressed heartfelt sympathy to our good friend who lost her husband (whom my husband was close with) to ALS earlier this year.  ALS is a devastating disease and as we watched our friend approach the loss of his ability to talk and walk around, he never lost his deep and abiding faith in the God who made all things, including this horrible disease.  His peace at knowing he was still in the hands of a loving God who has wisdom beyond our understand will stand as a testament to me and many others.  Although I still feel sorry for his wife and family (and truly myself), I am comforted by the thought that all his questions can be asked and answered as he spends eternity with his Lord and Savior. 

This next card used many of the same techniques, but the flower was made slightly differently.  The inner 3d portion of the flower was cur from Cricut's Flower Shoppe cart.  The cut was then twisted and adhered to the layered petals cut from Cricut's Mother's Day Bouquet cart.  The petals of the larger flowers were folded in half and then curled around a thin paint brush handle.  The flower was then mounted to the card base with a glue dot. 

This card was given to a friend who lost her mother suddenly and tragically in December.  Although my friend has faced this loss with deep sadness, she has been able to begin the process of working through the layers of grief.  My sympathy is genuine and deep for this friend.  When they held the memorial service in March, my thought was to try to encompass this sympathy and express it to her.  I love how this card turned out.  Even though I love it, I can hardly see how a simple piece of paper can express how my heartfelt sorrow is mixed with encouragement and admiration.  My prayer has been and continues to be that my friend may know how tender and supportive I might feel and that she knows her comfort is on my mind even now.

I really would like to close this post with some deep and comforting wisdom on loss.  As I am middle aged (how in the world did that happen?), I know that the number of losses ahead of me will far outstrip the number behind me.  This is true for both me and for most of the people in my life.  I consider that I am unable to think of anything profound because I am so humbled by loss and sorrow.  So, I will continue to cling to what I know to be true. 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

Andie