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

A pretty vintage birthday

With all the excitement of Christmas I did not get the chance to share with you a very special birthday party I held for my dear Mum. On 30 November it was her 80th birthday and I managed to pull off a surprise family birthday party. All 13 of our direct family was able to come together to celebrate. It really was a super evening and  my Mum still reminisces about the fun time we all had. We had a proper party tea with jelly and ice cream and even played party games.

I wanted to share with you the cake I made Mum and here it is.

I bought ivory flower paste (a special type of sugar paste which can be rolled very thin and dries very hard) and made the orchids with flower cutters as well as hand cut flowers and leaves.

 I then wired all the parts of the orchids together

I also used the colouring skills I have learnt with my card making to colour the flowers to make them much more realistic than I could in the past.

 I added a final depth of colour by using some gold petal dust. I had to wire all the leaves together together with some ribbons to make the posy.

Once I had finished the posy I made up a sugar paste plaque which I decorated quite simply. I made a hole for the flower pick which held the posy and also 3 candle holders.

and here is the completed plaque on the cake.

 I had also found a photo of my Mum as an 18 month old which I decided would be perfect for making  special wrapping paper for the pass the parcel, little prizes and for some unique party bags.

 Just look at my Mum at the seaside in 1934 with her little bucket for making her sandcastles.

I made up a bag template using A4 paper. I hand stamped the paper with stamps from my Lili of the Valley Pretty Vintage set of stamps I won last summer. These ones are from set 47 Background bits, Old Romance.

 I scored to make the folds

 I had a little production line going.....

I made sets of tags using my Mum's photo

 and this gorgeous set from Nicecrane which is in his store here

My Mum loves fairies and this set was just perfect for the job. I printed a large and a small image together with one of my Mum's photos

I cut the fairy tags with my Sizzix tags set and my Mum's photo with my Marianne tag die and threaded them with ivory and gold ribbon. This matched the ribbon in the cake.I punched a hole through the tops of the bags and threaded the ribbon through and tied them with a bow.

I decided to put some "vintage" things inside which have been around since the 1930s; Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate bars, Lindt chocolate, ice gems and a little personal gift for each person.

As Daisy was so tiny I decided that rather than a party bag she would have a little book.

which I made some wrapping paper for and added a tag and ribbon just like the party bags.
We had such a fun party, all the cake got eaten and everyone went home smiling with a party bag.

 Happy times.

I would like to enter my handmade floral cake decoration into the following challenges;

Allsorts Free and Easy
A little Bit Crafty celebrate
A heck of a challenge New my new is the Orchid cutters I bought to make the orchid flowers


I would  like to enter my party bags into these challenges.

Lili of the valley anything but a card
Emerald Faeries Things with wings the fairies on my tags are winged as are the butterflies on the papers
Natalie and Amy One for the Girls
Ali Craft Anything goes
Party Time Tuesdays Party
Pan Pastel UK anything goes
A gem of a challenge New My new is the Sizzix scalloped tag die which I bought especially for making the party bag tags, it's brilliant as there are 3 different sizes on the single die.
Totally Gorjuss ribbon I used about 4 metres of ribbon making these bags!
Polkadoodles anything goes
Pile it on just because
Stamping sensations ribbons buttons or bows
Simon Says Stamp New my new is the sizzix tag die..it's brilliant.
Loves rubberstamps new year resolution I would also like to try to make things other than cards!
Make it Monday Linky party #173


One very special photo taken at my Mum's party was of 4 generations of girls; My Mum, me, my daughter and my granddaughter Daisy. I think our faces show the delight of all sharing such a special time.

Daisy is growing fast and is 8 weeks old tomorrow . Here she is a few days ago..such a happy sweetheart.

I hope everyone is faring OK in the awful weather we are experiencing both here and abroad, it really seems to be quite extreme this year. It is so difficult to even get out for a walk between the torrential rain showers. My walk to work has turned into a battle with the elements. The only good thing is that the days are certainly getting lighter now. Spring does seem a long way away still but we will get there. Today we took all our decorations down and the house looks so bare. Christmas really is over for another year but not to worry as there are only 354 days until the next ;0)

Have a great week ahead and take care,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

My favourite 5 creations of 2013

Happy New Year everyone, it's nearly time to leave all the reflections and celebrations behind but before we do I wanted to enter Debby of A scrapjourney fun annual round up of our favourite creations of 2013. Do pop over to her blog and join the fun, the details are here. I have already entered her 5 favourite Christmas creations so I was able to leave my Christmas ones out. Thanks so much Debby for hosting this, it's been great looking at everyone's work...so many lovely creations.
                                             
This year she has called it My Favourite Creations not cards as a lot of people are diversifying their crafts. As you know I am also a silversmither, cake decorator and jewellery maker so I am going to include a couple in here. We are supposed to limit ourselves to 5 but she has said we can go to 7...so here goes with my cards first.

My  first is  the card I made for my daughter's 27th birthday last March, she loved the bold and black colours I used and the theme was perfect for her...lots of bags and shoes

My second is a guest design card I made for the I Love Promarkers blog in the early summer. The theme was to add stitching and all of mine was faux.

My third is another Guest Designer card I made, this time for my buddy Kerry over at Ladybug Crafts ink. It was an elaborate criss cross card and I made my own patchwork pieces from paper.

My fourth is the card I made for my Mum's special birthday in November. I used one of my Nicecrane Kewpie images which I coloured. It is also through this that I was offered my permanent GD post on the Design Team by Ignacio of Nicerane Designs ;0) (Thanks Ignacio)

My 5th card is one of my accordion cards, I just love making these. I have made several but if I can only choose one it is this one. It is the card I made to welcome the birthday of my darling granddaughter Daisy Jane on 11.11.13

Now as Debby said we can sneak in a couple of other creations I wanted to add 2 non card making ones.

So my first is one of my bag charms I made for a knitter

and lastly the sugar paste flower arrangement I made for my Mum's 80th birthday cake in November

As I was so busy in the run up to Christmas I did not have time to share this special day...I will be back soon to show you some photos. I made handmade party bags too which were such fun!

So that is my 2013 in summary, it was really hard to choose as there were others that I really had fun making too.

That just leaves me with my card challenge card for today which has been un shown and unblogged until now. I decided to get my pencils out and have a play with a monochrome colour scheme.

It was made very simply just stamping my Uptown Girl image onto Kraft card and then using Sepia and white Prismacolor pencils to give some shading. The sentiment is LOTV, again just stamped onto the card. A real clean and simple card for me...I really do love playing with different styles of card making.

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

Country View Challenges  monochromatic  I am a Guest Designer  for this challenge later this month so I thought this was a simple card to practice my monochrome ideas with!

Loves Rubberstamps New Year resolutions another resolution with my cards is to keep trying lots of new ideas and techniques. Clean and simple is a very unusual style for me!

Creative Inspirations Celebrations

Crafting from the heart Anything goes

Whoopsi Daisy Celebrations

Polkadoodles anything goes

Simon says stamp Something New my new is this new stamp....such a cool image

Make it Monday Linky Party #172

Live and Love Crafts Perfume  my perfume to inspire this card is Fleur by Floris, both the smell and the monochrome packaging inspired my card, here is the link

I am planning to have a restock of my Etsy shop over the next month and as a thank you and also to make way for this I am having a massive New Year sale. I am offering a huge 30% off everything in my shop (normal shipping rates apply). So if you want to stock up on your Christmas cards they start at only £1.40 and my bag charms are now just £4.73. Follow the link here This offer will run until 20 Jan and as they say, when they're gone they're gone! 

I am back at work tomorrow after a lovely long break and at least this morning the rain has stopped for a brief break and the sun is shining. Time for me to get some photos taken of my most recent cards whilst the light is good. I also plan some crafting and maybe even a little tidy up in the garden.  Have a great day and thanks as always for visiting.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x