JoyOfStamping

I don’t even think I had unpacked my little suitcase from last weekends trip from ScrapFest when it was time to pack it for a jam packed weekend.  It all started at 4:30 friday morning when I had to pack my bags for a quick and mini road trip with my friend Chelle.  I had to pack early since I had to be at work at 7:00 am but as soon as I got home at 4:30 pm, we were suppose to hit the road ASAP.

As soon as Chelle arrived, we jumped in her card and our adventures began. 🙂  Chelle and I have both been a little busy lately, so we haven’t gotten together as often as we use to.  But, with a friend like this, it is always nice to be able to pick up right where we left off.  She is such a kind and thoughful friend.  We had quite a few laughs throughout the ride…. we thought we even saw a werewolf, a Pterodactyl, and other things on the road.

I even busted Miss Starbucks drinking some Coffee Bean Tea. And of course, a girls road trip would not be complete without some singing… we sang our hearts out to wicked and even did some throwback songs from the 80’s and 90’s.  Good thing for singing… kept us awake until we reached Arizona at almost 1 in the morning.

We woke up to a beautiful day got ready to spend the morning/early afternoon with tim, mj, alain and justin before the wedding.  MJ made the most amazing lunch… so scrumptious and delicious.  And we got to relax a bit and chit chat.  I even spent time in the hammock… something that I was afraid of falling out of. Thanks tim for helping me “get over” my fear! 🙂  It really was an awesome afternoon with amazing friends.

Then, it was time to get ready for the wedding.  Chelle and I had quite the adventures getting ready.  But, I wouldn’t have changed it for anything. 🙂  The memories were priceless.

It was nice to see everyone looking so handsome. (click on any of the photos for a larger view)

MJ3 and Sara were gorgeous and they had such an adorable wedding! 🙂 MJ’s sons really made us feel so special… like family.  So sweet!

Chelle and I were so happy to be able to attend the wedding.  It was tough to leave our friends after such a short visit….

By 10:30 pm, I had to sadly nudge her to go since I had to be home early in the morning for another event.  We got back in the car and headed home…. another 6 hour drive.  Chelle was such a trooper and drove the whole way.  She let me sleep during the drive, since she knew that I had the Race for the Cure in the morning.

She dropped me off around 4:30 and then I hopped in my car, drove to my sister’s to pick up our shirt that we needed to iron on a logo for.  My other cousins arrived promptly at 5:30 am and we got to work. 🙂

This was my first ever Race for the Cure…. and I was so touched… so humbled by the people there and their stories.  I see grandmothers wearing their survivor shirts with their grandsons helping them get through their race.  Tears in  my eyes throughout the day.

It was such a beatufiul day in Newport Beach and I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my sister, her boyfriend, 2 cousins, and 2 friends.

Here is 1/2 of our Team:

After that, us girls treated ourselves to some Pinkberry! 🙂

I got a little nap in last night, but I didn’t want to throw off my sleep too much….

On this Monday, I am tired from the “race” and lack of sleep…. but once again, I feel BLESSED.  I spent another weekend with FAMILY… Prescott Family and SoCal family.  I am surrounded with amazing people in my life that do amazing things…. again, I’m a lucky girl!

XO!

~joy

When I say that I’m a lucky girl, I truly believe it!!!!  Last weekend was a prime example of how good life really is! 🙂  Archivers hosts Scrapfest at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN.  This was their 10th one and I was so excited to be able to go.

My trip started with meeting my besties in PHX.  We had a nice lunch at the airport and it was nice to be able to catch up with my boyz. When I am with them, it is constant giggles and laughter.  MJ is getting better and better with his self-portrait skills. 🙂

We flew into MN a day before Scrapfest to go to the Junk Bonanza.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect….  I didn’t know if there was going to be piles of “junk” like a garage sale or how big this thing was going to be.  No matter, I was happy to go.

WOW!  I was pleasantly surprised how well everything was displayed!  Every booth looked AMAZING.  If any of you have been to CHA, it was like a hundred idea-ology booths.  So much to look at… so many fun displays.  I have to say, the thing I loved most was seeing how happy tim was.  He was like a kid in a candy store with all of those yummy treats.  MJ and I made several trips to the car to drop off some of tim’s purchases.  I can’t wait to see what he does with stuff he bought.

The next morning was the start of scrapfest.  The crew was ready to go. 🙂  We took a picture at the world’s largest scrapbook page before class started. Such a fun crew: tim, Patti and Terry from Ranger, Michelle Cutts, MJ.

Patti and her team did such an amazing job prepping for these classes.  And I also know all of the hard work that MJ and tim put into these classes, too!  What a team….

tim taught in the rotunda in the middle of the mall. Love this shot that MJ took when class started.

We sure did had fun being class helpers.  Here we are “helping” during class! 🙂

After the 2 back to back classes are done, we grab a quick bite to eat for lunch and then tim demos in front of archivers for a couple of hours.  The first day, he demoed the vagaond and the alterations line.  The second day, he demoed distress.

(just have to add that I love his shirt… its pretty bad @$$)

One of my favorite parts of Scrapfest is running into friends.  Heather Nichols (aka Pinefeather) and HB (aka Carol) have been friends of mine since I started my crafting journey.  We met on Splitcoast and we use to go to crafting retreats in Wisconsin during the summer.  No matter how busy our lives get, when I see these two, we can pick up where we left off.  I adore them and I am so grateful to have them in my life.

Another friend that I love running into is Natalie. 🙂  I met Natalie when I attended my first scrapfest when I was still with Our Craft Lounge.  She was so much fun from the beginning.  We were constantly running into her… so as a joke, Cambria had started calling her our stalker.  She is definitely someone that I look forward to seeing during Scrapfest. 🙂

And we had so much fun being able to hang out, go shopping, have dinner, ride a few rides, and fill the night with laughter.

And what trip wouldn’t be complete without MJ sporting a hat?  Love him in this stylish cheesehead.

Oh… and congrats to MJ for hitting 10,000 tweets. 🙂

I loved spending time with this guy… whether it was taking trips back and forth to the car or packing boxes…. he really is very special to me.

Fun, fun, and more fun.  I adore these boyz… oh how they can make me laugh.  One night I laughed so hard, I was crying… I also didn’t think MJ would be able to breathe.

And before I knew it, we were off on a plane heading back home……

Amazing weekend with amazing friends…. I’m a lucky girl!

I fell in love with the tim holtz’s new blueprint stamps as soon as I first laid eyes on them! 🙂  When I first saw the first two completed sets, I was in awe… but the coolest part…. was watching MJ3 (Mario Rossi III) draw the next set and then see tim do his magic to make it absolutely perfect.  It’s not every day that you get to see amazing teamwork like that.

And when tim asked me to make samples for him for CHA, I was giddy…. excited… and a bit nervous.  My work isn’t like the other girls that he had asked… its much more “simple”.  But, I have to remind myself that he asked me for a reason, right? 🙂  So, I just created what I normally would create and hope for the best.  lol.

It was also good to be able to create… these last couple of months have been very very busy at work, work, and my other work.  It was nice to take time to play with such fun new stuff.  Loved the new texture fade, the alpha tiles and the new inkable paper string.  It was also fun to be able to whip out the distress markers and play with them to color the leaf.

can’t wait to be able to play a little more with these fun stamps.

thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Have you ever had one of those PERFECT vacations?  Well, I sure did one month ago today…. and I am still on a high…..  this isn’t one of my normal “crafty” blog posts… just life… so hopefully you’ll stick around to this long blog post! 🙂

So, I have been an NKOTB fan since Jr. High…. like the kind with posters all over the bedroom wall from BOP or Teen Beat…. I thought I would marry Jordan Knight one day.  LOL!  Well, since they have gotten back together, sis and I have been going to concerts here in Southern California and we also went to one in Las Vegas.  We even saw them one year ago today in Anaheim.  After all these years, these guys still have “the right stuff”.  LOL!

Last summer, when NKOTB joined with BSB (backstreet boys), we brought 2 cousins with us to the concert.  I brought Krystl (we call her pop) to her first BSB concert when she was a young teenager since I knew what it was like to be in love with a boyband.  Well, my cousins ended up loving NKOTB, too.  We joked about going on the NKOTB cruise… but when it came down to it, we started getting serious about it…. really?  after all these years?  it would be like a once in a lifetime opportunity….  so, the day that the tickets went on sale, it was a stressful day….  every cabin package we were trying to get kept selling out in a matter of minutes.  panic took over…. but after a few stressful minutes and a few choice words, we got confirmation that we were going on the boat…. we had no idea what we booked… we just knew that we were going to be there.  That was back in August… so of course, as time went on, we sort of forgot that we were going on this cruise.  Not until 3 weeks before cruise did one of my cousins remind us that we still needed to book our flights to Miami… and “what???? we need to pack for ‘theme nights’?”

Us cousins hopped on a red eye to miami… we were so excited that we could barely sleep….

And how after such a long red eye flight did my cousin continue to look adorable?

We couldn’t wait to get on the boat…. we checked out our cabin and tried to figure out how 4 girls were gonna fit all of their stuff in one tiny cabin…. and we checked out our little balcony right away.

And first things first as soon as we left our cabin…. ice cream…. i don’t know what it is about me and carnival ice cream…. I have to have it all of the time.  definitely after every meal.  With the miami weather, we had to have it like 5 times a day.

after we got our ice cream, we were ready for the sail away party. we didn’t really know what to expect.  So, us 4 girls were looking for the girls we were gonna meet up on the lido deck…

holy cow…. 2800 all on the lido deck…. probably 2700 females and 100 guys.  us girls decided to just find a place where we could fit all 4 of us without “touching” anyone else… the hot sticky weather was definitely not something us SoCal girls were use to…. but when the guys came out, it didn’t matter how hot we were. we were SCREAMING like we were 12 year old girls again.  LOL!  one big party on that lido deck.  And the “love of my life” for 25 year ready to party with 2800 of us. 🙂

within 30 minutes of the party, donnie wahlberg decides to go into the crowd… and we were shocked that he was coming into our section…. out of the rows of people, he turned on our row.  as he was walking by, one of my cousins stops him to take a pic with him, then he drinks out of my other cousins drink and then takes a pic with us.  he was talking in this picture… but its all good… look how happy sis and i are.  LOL!  25 years of love for these guys!

The party ended since it was time for dinner and NKOTB squares where the guys and some of the crew played a game like “hollywood squares”.  totally funny and we were laughing through whole thing.

FIRST NIGHT‘s theme was “red carpet affair”.  everyone got dressed up so fancy.  look at my beautiful roommates looking all gorgeous!  It sure was windy that night, but we danced our @$$es off.  LOL!  The parties at night didn’t start until midnight and would go on until 3-4 in the morning.

The next day, it was time for Half Moon Cay.  NKOTB was going to be performing a concert on the stage in front of the ship.  It was such a beautiful island.  The water was absolutely gorgeous and so warm.

They guys were putting on a great show… sis gets hot and tells me “hey, I’m gonna take a dip in the water and I’ll be right back.”  She comes back after a couple of minutes and taps me on the shoulder… “let’s go watch the concert from the water!” so, us 4 girls head to the water and watch our favorite boy band perform while we enjoy the beautiful ocean blue.

Had a great time with the girls just hanging out on the beach and in the water… watching the beach games, talking, laughing, just being together.  We even ran into Danny Wood and got to take a photo with him. (I looked like a beach whale in the pic… 🙁 so i opted to omit it from this blog post. lol)

SECOND NIGHT‘s theme for the party was “up close and cuddly”, which pretty much meant PJ night.  There was also a fundraising event “dance for the cure”  for Danny Wood’s charity (Remember Betty). we were encouraged to wear pink since it was a breast cancer research fundraiser.

But before the party, Danny Wood performed by himself… just him and his guitar, singing and telling us stories of his life experiences… what he went through when his mother died from breast cancer.  He sang a song dedicated to her and there was not a dry eye in the house.

After Danny finished, they reset the stage, and it was time for Joe MacIntyre…. he performed for almost 2 hours.  More of his life story and his life experiences.  Talked about growing up in Boston.  Talked about his parents… he got a little emotional and again… not a dry eye in the house.  It was so awesome to hear what these guys have gone through and to hear their personal stories.

Saturday…. the most stressful day… the day of the group photos.  When you take your group photos, you have to be in a group of 10…. 2 for each guy…. you have to decide which 2 girls go with which 2 guys…. well, there were 6 of us in our group, which meant we needed to find 4 random girls… 1 danny girl, 1 jordan girl, 1 jon girl, and 1 joe girl… guess who had to look for these girls… me.  really?  they shyest one of the bunch?  so, I walked around asking people if they were already in a group and who they wanted to take pix with…. it took like an hour to find these girls… but it seemed like 10 hours.  so, needless to say, I was already sweaty by the time it was time for our group photo…. not only that… but I was actually going to get to TOUCH Jordan Knight….  LOL! really?  after 25 years? oh my!….  and like a dork… i tripped over his foot when I was going to take my place next to him for the picture.  lol.

All 5 guys were super sweet when we met them.  I didn’t have anything “clever” to say, so I just thanked each one of them for putting together this amazing event.  How could they party every night until 4 am and then be beautiful for the group photos that started at 10 am or concert that started at noon in the heat.

After our “high”, we had lunch with our new friends that we made taking our group photos. 🙂  We just walked around the ship and took silly pictures with cut outs of the guys…. and then… of course got more ice cream and just chatted on the lido deck.  Girl time… bonding… it was AWESOME!

NIGHT THREE‘s theme was “into the 90’s”.  I wasnt’ really sure what to wear for this night.  But, as I saw other girls… duh, flannel shirts with combat boots or 90210 or Britney Spears. Naughy by Nature was also on the ship with us as guest for 90’s night.  They did their thing and the crowd really enjoyed them, too!

But, of course, before the party, it was time for more individual performances by the guys.  Donnie did his thing, but we weren’t allowed to bring cameras for his event.  The next event was my absolute FAVORITE.  Jordan did a concert from his latest tour from his “Unfinished” album.  It was so awesome and he did an amazing job. (can you tell who I adore?  LOL!)  His dance moves are still amazing and he did not look like a 42 year old man out there…. he’s still got it.  How can he perform better now than when he was 19?

The next day, we docked in Key West.  It was tough going through immigration between 8 am-9 am after going to bed around 5 am…. and because we went through immigration so early, my government id wasn’t in my purse because I forgot to put it back… when everyone was getting off the boat to check out key west, the carnival employee announces that we needed government id to get back on the boat.  our sail and sign card was not enough….  It was a good thing that we had to go back up to our rooms to get my id… because when we walked out of our cabin, Danny Wood was in our hallway autographing doors. (girls had decorated their doors with posters, pictures… looked like how our bedrooms looked back in the day.)  He is just so super sweet and so funny!

Then, we hit the town…. did a little shopping and little sight seeing.

THE LAST NIGHT‘s theme was “GPS Lovefest”… so you are suppose to show love from where you are from…. of course us girls had to represent our Lakers! 🙂

This party went until we docked into Miami…. the sun started to come up and we just had such a blast….. hanging out and spending time together!

We spent an extra night in Miami…. but instead of going out, we decided to catch up on a little sleep in our gorgeous hotel room with a beautiful view.

Words cannot explain how much I loved this trip… how much I loved my girls.  4 girls sharing a little cabin… with very little sleep… yet, there was no drama, no fighting over the shower, the hair dryer, etc.  no fighting about what we were going to do next…. everyone down to do what the others wanted to do….  I just have the utmost love and respect for these girls.  I hope we can do it again next year… provided we can get on the boat before its sold out….. lol

Until next time… goodbye miami…..

When we got the new distress inks in, I was so happy and excited to break it open and play with them!  We were suppose to head to the warehouse, so I asked if I could quickly make a tag before we headed out.  I just need to see ink in person.

So, I quickly busted out my “go-to” layout with my “go-to” stamps and “go-to” technique.  I love the whole spritz and flick technique that tim showed us in Creative Chemistry!  But, I just used the spring distress colors, with Walnut stain and Black Archival ink.

The next day, we gathered the troops to get the distress inks shipped out.  Papa was in charge of breaking apart the three packs of re-inkers.  Chelle made the shrink plastic bags for them, I put the re-inkers in the bags. Bryan (nephew) heat shrank the plastic. Mama pulled orders, while Anthoni (other nephew) shipped orders.  My brother and his daughter Chloe did inventory after the awesome crazy Creative Chemistry classes.  We had our little “factory” going.  But, as always, we enjoyed our time together as a family laughing and cherishing the time we had together.

Again… I’m a lucky girl! 🙂

I can’t even begin to describe the friendships I have made through this crafting industry.  Some of my best and closest friends come from this craft.  I love how there are so many that I have built a relationship with… may not talk to for months, but we can pick up right where we left off.  So many laughs shared with friends.  It truly is the best!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Plano, Texas to help my dear friend Monica Smith with a weekend filled with Tim Holtz classes for her store, Stamp Asylum.  Over 100 students in each class… with 2 classes a day.

My connecting flight was in Phoenix, where I was greeted at the gate by my BFFs MJ and tim. Always nice to see my boyz.  The three of us hopped on a plane and headed to Dallas.  Monica picked us up and we stopped for some grub…. Texas BBQ.

Before setting up, we got to do a little shopping.  MJ needed a new watch and we found the perfect one for him!  LOL!

After the grub and shopping, we needed to get to work.  There was lots of work to be done…. lots of tubs to unload… lots of setting up to take care of.  These guys are so incredibly organized.  It is truly unbelievable.

It was time for classes and I got to meet so many nice Texas ladies and gentlemen.  It was fun to see all of the cool projects and be inspired.

Again, I am so super duper grateful for the friends I have made in this industry.  Some of my girlfriends from Splitcoaststampers came to have lunch with me.  Always great to see Jen Del Muro, Susan Liles, and Jenn Balcer.

I was so thrilled that Jenn was going to be able to take a class.  She drove all the way from San Antonio.  She is one of my first girlfriends from this crafting industry.  We met on SCS and have been through quite a bit together.  She is one of those friends that we can pick up right where we left off.  Even if we haven’t talked in months, its like we never lost communication.  I do think of her often and cherish the time we can spend together.  I absolutely love this D girl!

It’s always tough to say goodbye to friends…. but at least I had something to look forward to…. a Ranger Trip.

Again…. this industry has brought me some amazing friends!  Even if I haven’t met everyone in person, it is amazing to be able to connect with them online and feel like they are truly friends.  When Kaz told me that she got accepted to Ranger U, we joked about me coming out to see her since she is petrified to fly and she was coming all the way from the UK.  We didn’t know when we would have the opportunity again…. more talks back and forth… and before you knew it, I was booking a flight to New Jersey.  LOL!  Some of my other besties were going to be there, too….

Chelle Fowler (our inspiration team coordinator and a dear sweet friend) had also gotten accepted to Ranger U.  So, she picked me up at 5:00 am and we headed to the airport on Thursday morning.

With the lack of sleep, not to mention the excitement, we got the giggles and we couldn’t stop laughing…. fun fun plane rides.  Long… but it goes by fast when you are with a dear friend.

Chelle got to get all inky during Ranger U…. I was there to help with what I could…. kitting, running errands, special projects or just being entertainment.  LOL!  I enjoyed spending time with my BFF.  He always made sure that the students were well fed.  He also took me for a tour of the Jersey Shore.  We got lost, but we enjoyed the scenery and had fun trying to find our way back to Ranger.

I was also excited for a Ranger U tradition…. Square Pizza day!

Meeting Kaz was worth every penny!  She is such a sweet and genuine person.  So beautiful… inside and most definitely outside.  She had us cracking up and she taught us new British terminology.  I also adore her Milly.  I hope to be able to see them both soon!

Friendship…. love these two girls!  Genuine!

But, of course the weekend wouldn’t be complete without a few laughs.  Ted, was being such a good boy during class…. and he sure would let lose after class.  LOL!

I am fortunate to be a part of this industry.  I am fortunate to have made some amazing friends.  I cherish these people.

I am a …. lucky lucky girl!

This year, I decided to join the fellas at work for the “Biggest Loser Competition” at work.  Since I work in the computer field, the majority of people I work with are guys.  It’s a lot of fun at work and I love the guys I work with.  Two other ladies joined in for the competition as well.

(almost) Every year, they have a competition to lose weight.  It’s a 3 month deal and everyone puts money in the pot.  Weigh-ins are every Wednesday and my brother (our commissioner) puts together the stats and a mini newsletter every week. We have to lose a 7% minimum or else you have to put an extra $15 in the pot.  And last place has to put extra $$$ in the pot.

These fellas are really competitive.  It is funny how some of them will bring donuts into work just to torment their competitors.  Chocolates are left on the desks of those in the competition.  Homemade brownies and Cookies are brought in.  All in good fun! 🙂

I knew I didn’t have a chance with the fellas…. I just wanted to be in the middle tier and I just wanted to get healthy again.  Plus, with CHA, trips to AZ, fun at Disney, birthday parties, I knew that food (and beer) would be an issue.  But, it was a boost in the right direction.  I wanted to lose weight slow and steady… and I want to reach my goal weight by June. (hmmmm… maybe cause of the cruise I will be on.  LOL!)  I needed to MAKE time for workouts… between a full time job, helping at the emporium, and babysitting, time was my biggest challenge.  Working out wasn’t the issue.  I looooove a good workout.  Luckily, I had “school” every night for the last couple of weeks of the competition.  I plugged my headphones into my iPad and watched my Creative Chemistry classes as I hit the treadmill.  That sure made the time on the treadmill go by much faster.

Anyway, glad I took a step in the right direction.  I ended up finishing 6th, which was the top of the 2nd tier. 🙂  I still have a long way to go, but at least I’m headed the right direction.  First place lost a CRAZY 21%.  He’s so tiny and his nickname “Lil Chris” fits him perfectly.  I’m proud of my brother, too.  He lost over 30 lbs and he came in 4th.  He was also so encouraging.  Since he was the commissioner, we had to weigh-in in front of him.  He would ask me what I did during that week and we would try to figure out what as working for me and what wasn’t.  I was very lucky he was there. 🙂

The night before we were going to give the prize winners their money, my brother called me and asked if I could make some quick cards to put the money in.  I had to remember my audience was a bunch of guys… so I made some quick and simple cards.  Tim’s Rosette and word play die came in so handy… and of course my favorite texture fade, the woodgrain.

I ate a bunch of junk this weekend… felt kinda gross…. so, I hit my treadmill again this morning… now I am watching the next class from onlinecardclasses.com called A Cut Above. 🙂

Let’s hope I can keep this up! 🙂

Well, its no secret that I am one of Tim Holtz‘s biggest fans… hahaha… punny!  I just finished taking his Creative Chemistry class and it was awesome!!!! If you didn’t sign up for the class, it isn’t too late to register to watch the videos and have lifetime access to the class content.  It really is worth every penny and then some!!!!  That man sure has a gift for teaching… but most of all for SHARING!  He continues to inspire me…. not just creatively but how I live my life….  He is encouraging and I love learning from him.

Anyways…. I learned and TRIED a bunch of new techniques from class.  I’ve seen some of them done before, but never tried it for myself.  I was happy that this class pushed me to try…. because I fell IN LOVE with one of the techniques…. RUSTED ENAMEL.  It’s so cool!  And tim’s Alteration Dies are perfect for this technique!!!!

We have been working hard at the warehouse until late night trying to get caught up on orders.  After a long weekend and long day, I asked to be “excused” so that I could take a little bit of time in my stamp room creating before I went to bed… no pressure… just for fun…. I only budgeted a short time so I had to act quick… I knew I wanted to try the rusted enamel technique again…

This vintage fan was perfect.  So, I grabbed one of my favorite Distress Inks: Weathered Wood! After putting clear embossing powder and heating it, I used Walnut Stain to ink those parts of the fan that the clear embossing powder didn’t cover.

For the bottom part of the fan, I used black soot and then the clear embossing powder…. but after I heated it…. I had to figure out how to get that rusted look… what ink could I use to hightlight?  Oh, duh… Picket Fence distress stain!  It worked like magic.  Then, I just used my mister to dampen a cloth to lightly “buff” the black part.  Hard to see from the pic, but the white stain is cool with the black soot.

For the background, I used some distress ink to ink up a background on my manila cardstock, ran it through my vagabond with the Pocketwatch and Steampunk Texture Fade.  Then I just used my Walnut stain to rehit the high points. And what is a card without any bling?  LOL!  I used my favorite perfect pearl mist called Biscotti.  Then, I just added some idea-ology: Sprocket Gears, Mini Gears, Mini Fasteners, and some of my favorite words from chit chat! 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

So, I have a new obsession…. when I took the class I mentioned in my previous post, we created a tag that used a Tim Holtz Mask. (see 2nd picture in previous post)  I loved the outcome of using the mask.  So, I decided to create one with my own twist.

The new Sewing Edge Die is one of my favorite dies that was released this past January.  I cut my mask out of this die.  I took my tag and covered the right side of it with Milled Lavender Stain. After I dried it, I covered it with the mask.  I then ran Broken China, Peeled Paint, and Walnut Stain Distress Pads over the tag.  Then I used one of my favorite new stamp sets Attic Treasures inked with Jet Black Archival Ink.

I hope the Inspiration Emporium customers that received this in their orders enjoyed it! 🙂  I sure enjoyed making them! 🙂

~joy

During CHA, I was fortunate enough to take a full day class with Tim Holtz where he taught quite a few techniques.  I loooooved the first tag we did.  Here it is on the left:

I’ll have to admit… when I first heard we were going to the “spritz and flick” technique, I wasn’t thrilled.  I’ve never been a good flicker…. but during the class, when we did it, I really liked the effect.  It was my new obsession!  I’m glad I gave it another try….

So, when it was time to make some tags to include in the Inspiration Emporium orders, I knew exactly which one I wanted to do again.  Being the girl that I am, I just added brighter colors and cut out a butterfly to pop up.

I love being able to go to the ring of tags for inspiration. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by….

Ranger Non-stick Craft Sheet	Ink Blending Tool	Inkssentials Surfaces – Manila Craft Tags – #8	Distress Ink Pad – Broken China	Distress Ink Pad – Peeled Paint
Distress Ink Pad – Fired Brick	Distress Ink Pad – Wild Honey	Tim Holtz Collection – Attic Treasures	Tim Holtz Non-Stick Micro Serrated Scissors	Trimmings