Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 April, Jane's Journal's card version

Tim really had me thinking outside the box for this month's project. Here is his tag combining

mosaic and a textured paper background. You can see the techniques he used over on his post here.

Well eeek I thought....I don't have a large bird die and I don't have his new mosaic making set. I also don't have any of his new wood grain textured paper.

I seriously considered not entering this month but I'm a girl who likes a challenge so I dug my heels in and had a long think. I could not see his wood grain paper for sale here in the UK so I decided to made my own. I bought a wood grain embossing folder and had a play. I used different paper and Hickory Smoke distress paint and made these fun "bark" backgrounds.

I then had a play with various inks and sprays to see which colours I liked

The paint acts as a resist when the inks dry and I decided to use the one below for my card. I felt it was very spring like.

I had my little helper  Billy with me (it's not quite warm enough yet to work in my garden studio)

and I had to laugh at his antics...

 thanks Billy, my lids are really useful on my stool!

So then it was time to make  the mosaic part of the challenge.

For this I decided to use my TH butterfly duo die and Tim's very original mosaic technique...I don't have sheets of wonder tape so I used strips and I don't have his crystal embossing powder so I used weather wood embossing powder for the "grout".

 I liked the effect the glossy accents gives to my scraps of paper.

I wanted to use my Tim wildflower dies again...I LOVE this die set, they are gorgeous whether you water colour them or just cut them from card. I also used one of his sentiment dies, another set which I use again and again.

So now it was time to put on my creative hat .......

and here is my finished card...very feminine (sorry Tim ;0)

Here's the background in close up

 and my mosaic butterfly.

I have kept the rest of  the backgrounds and butterflies I made for future projects. 

So despite the challenges I faced this month with Tim's April tag I did exactly what the Prof encouraged us in January, as he started the 12 tags this year;

"my goal is to empower your creative way of thinking and remind you that inspiration is right at your fingertips." (Tim Holtz Jan 2016)

Thanks Tim for your ongoing creativity and for encouraging me to find ways of overcoming creative challenges. I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016 April

A Vintage Journey spring is in the air

PaperArtsy resists techniques

Noor UK anything goes

Card mania 3/5  spring

The Ribbon Girl 2/3 any card goes

Live and Love Crafts Photo inspiration I was inspired by the texture of the roof of the summer house and used the colours of the birdcage roses photos, pinks,purples, green and cream for my little floral butterfly bouquet I created 

We love to Create 2/2 #8 anything mixed media

Creative inspirations favourite things 2/3 mine inks, card, ribbon and embossing powder

Simon Says stamp Monday April showers brings forth May flowers

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

My spring birdsong publication

My complimentary copy of craft stamper finally popped through my letter box on Friday morning which had my Birdsong card published inside. As promised here are some photos and a little about how I created my card.

I took a photo of my card with my card ;0)

I also spotted someone taking a snooze on my kitchen window sill, oblivious to what was going on inside.

My darling Billy.

The original brief was to use the set colours to make a card featuring birds, branches, spring trees or bulbs and to team these with Kraft paper and raffia. Everything I used can be seen in the first photo showing my materials.

This is what I got up to. First I blended some distress inks on my card and added some splashes of water. I then stamped using PaperArtsy and Tim Holtz stamps and various shades of Archival inks.

I stamped my PaperArtsy tulip onto book paper which I had also coloured with DIs.

I made my flower pot out of stripped card packaging and added a raffia bow. I have had a packet of raffia in my stash for about 5 years and never used it. I nearly threw it away last year but like every good crafter, who keep everything, I was really glad that I still had it.

So here is a few close ups of my card.

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

A Vintage Journey spring is in the air

That's Crafty 3/3 all things bright and beautiful

Noor anything goes

Pixie's snippets playground #224 I used a snippet of packaging for my pots, a tiny snippet of raffia and snippets of my book pages for the tulips.

Card mania 2/5  spring

The Ribbon Girl 1/3 any card goes

Crafty Boots 1/3 use a sentiment

Mod Squad 2/3 show us your background

We love to Create 1/2 #8 anything mixed media

I hope you had a lovely weekend. We managed a few sunny walks between the showers and a cuppa or 2 in the garden which is always bliss. I also got my April Tim tag made...goodness me I had to think outside the box for this one....I had none of the ingredients he used this month.

Today has started sunny and incredibly mild but we have rain on the way for later on.  Thanks for visiting me here today and for the lovely comments you take the time to leave.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A pot of spring flowers

The first of my tulips are finally flowering in my pots in my garden. Every year I plant a different variety or 2 in with my daffodils. Over the last week my pink edged variety has bloomed. It is so pretty and delicate and the morning dew on them looks magical. 

They look so pretty in their pots and really bring some early colour into my garden. There are lots of spring challenges running at the moment and the next letter for the dictionary challenge...D...is running over at the Craft Barn.

So using my lovely tulips as my inspiration for the challenges I decided to make a new art journal page. I looked through my stash to find my tulip and daffodil stamps and stamped out tulips and daffs.  EDIT; In answer to a question the top tulip stamp is an ancient unnamed wooden one, the middle is PaperArtsy and the daff is an old freebie from Papermania that was a giveaway on a magazine about 5 years ago raising funds for Marie Cure. 

 I then water coloured  them using my distress inks.

 The word I chose for the dictionary challenge was D for dozen, so I fussy cut out a dozen blooms.

I created a spring background using distress inks in my journal

and added some stencilling and a lovely quote.

I also wanted to recreate a terracotta pot, just like those in my garden. To do this I used a Cheery Lynn die cut pot and added some Decoart texture sand for texture. After it had dried I painted it with DecoArt media acryllics. It's such fun building up the colours.

So then it was time to put on my creative hat...................

here is my finished spring flowers page.

 I really like the texture I created on my pot....it really is rough to the touch.  I added my snippet from my vintage dictionary for "Dozen" to it.

 I thought I would also show you what my double page spread now looks like in my journal, if you missed my G for garden post you can read it here..................it just sings spring to me ;0)

I would like to enter my tulip art journal page into the following fun challenges;

Craft Stamper Take it make it 2/3 spring flowers

The Craft Barn dictionary challenge D with pink included my D is for dozen.

Rubber Dance 3/5 spring into spring 

A Vintage Journey spring is in the air

That's Crafty 2/3all things bright and beautiful

Rhedd's creative spirit; April

Noor anything goes

Stamping Sensations 2/3 one for the girls

Mod Squad 1/3 show us your background

As you like it 1/3favourite non card project and why....because I give away or sell all the cards I create making journal pages allows me to keep a library and record of my work and to share it with my family and friends.

Cupcake Inspirations #354 yellow/pink/blue and flowers

Crafty Boots 2/3 spring is in the air

I hope that your gardens and the open spaces where you live are showing off their spring blooms. My 2nd variety of tulips are a really bold colour. I am really looking forward to them unfurling and revealing all. What an exciting time this is in my tiny garden. Mother Nature has so much in store for me. Have a lovely weekend, the sun is shining as I type this but I think we'll have a typical April weekend of showers here. 

Thanks for visiting today and for taking the time to leave your very kind comments. I finally received my complimentary copy of Craft Stamper magazine in the post on Friday.  I was so delighted to see my Birdsong card there. I'm on page 56 if you have one and if not I'm going to share some photos and a step by step of that card here on Monday. 

Bye for now,

Jane x