My new journey with Tim

Don't worry I haven't found myself a new Hb...but I have decided that after 2 years of watching as a bystander I am going to jump in feet first and play along with the craft challenge run by the mega talented, Professor of crafting and card making Inspiration...Tom Holtz....and his 12 tags of 2014. For my non card making friends Tim is just HUGE in the crafting world and his company Ranger make many of the products card makers use. Each month he creates a tag for inspiration and opens it up for our own interpretation. His ideas are always genius, this man is able to think outside normal card making constraints and his ideas never cease to amaze me.

 If you would like to play along all the details for 2014 are here. For his first tag of 2014, shown above, he gives an amazing tutorial of how he created it. For my first piece I wanted to use the amazing background he created and the pocket watch as my inspiration. Now I don't own, other than the inks, many of the products he used. I decided that a small post Christmas purchase was in order and I bought the stencil for the inky background and a set of Remnant rubs. If you are a 60s girl like me and you remember Letraset Panoramas with  rub on transfers, these are similar but go on sooo smoothly. If you want a trip down memory lane have a look at this link I always remember the old Letraset ones cracking and leaving half an image behind but  I used to spend many happy hours making pictures ;0) Tim's transfers are amazing and so easy to apply to card stock. Great progress!

I know everyone liked seeing my creative process for the 12 tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie cards I recently made so I am planning  to do the same with Tim's tags. I have also decided that I will mostly make cards rather than tags as I like to use them for the men in my life. My Hb is a big fan of Tim's more male style so this card is destined for his birthday on 20 January.

First I inked and misted my card with Pumice distress ink and dried it.

 then had a practice with a spare piece of card with the stencil and once I was happy used the stencil on my main sheet.

It really makes a cool pattern. I then added some remnant rubs on the card. You can see them in a later photo.
Now at this point I had a dilemma as I do not own any TH dies, which Tim had used to make the pocket watch. I wanted to add this to my card so I decided to improvise and make my own watch out of circle die cuts and a little bit of creativity.

I cut circles and scalloped circles and I embossed them with silver embossing powder in several layers. I also cut an extra black circle as a frame

To make the clock patterned embossed centre I used a stamp from my Lili of the Valley Pretty Vintage set. This is the clock themed stamp from set 45 "Background bits-Industrial". I build up 3 layers of silver embossing powder and in the final layer I pressed the stamp into the hot embossing powder to made an impression. The rim I just left plain.

Here are the components of my watch ready to assemble. I also die cut a happy birthday sentiment for the centre,

I also cut some small labels, numbers and  letters which I embossed with a folder to add the date of my Hbs birthday

I really like the way these came out.

 Now Tim used a little pin to attach his accents to the card...again I have nothing like this but I spotted a great vintage looking pin on the new slippers I was bought for Christmas so I used that instead!

So now it was time to get creative and put my design together. Tim actually cut the side of his pocket watch off his tag but after all the effort I had made to make mine I wanted to leave my one intact.


OK so are you ready to see my very first card................here it is

and here are a few close ups of the details.

Spot the slipper pin holding on the tags ;0)

I need to keep this one a secret from my Hb until his birthday on Monday week, I hope he likes it.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2014 #1
Lili of the Valley  anything goes I have used set 45 Background bits-Industrial from my Pretty Vintage set  to make the embossed pattern inside my pocket watch.
Inky Chicks anything goes
Pan Pastel UK anything goes
Papertake Weekly anything goes
Crafting Musketeers Grunge
Heck of a Challenge New my new are my stencil and my remnant rubs
A Creative Romance  New my new are my stencil and remmant rubs
Jelly Park  New beginnings my new beginning is this new creative journey!
Frilly and Funkie New Year resolution my resolution is to keep trying to exploring all sides of my card making and also to try to enter Tim's Tags every month this year.


I would like to thank Tim for really inspiring  me to try some new techniques of card making which 2 years ago I really didn't think I could do. I have always admired these techniques and now I can not only use my very girlie colouring/floral side (which I still love) , but I can develop a grungy side too.Yes underneath there is a rock chick leaping out to play.......Lili of the valley meets Tim Holtz..what an interesting combination ;0)

Thanks everyone for stopping by today, it's always great to see you here. I hope the rain is keeping out of your homes in the UK and that those of my friends in the USA are surviving their Big Freeze...brrrr, stay warm, safe and carry on crafting.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x