Ideaology – iGirlZoe, Crafter & Tim Holtz Addict

‘Ideaology’ Category

Industrial idea-ology

14th May, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello Friends. Hope you’ve had a great week. Today I’m sharing the final sample I made for the idea-ology LIVE including the “how to” for that crackly lightbulb. If you missed the launch you can catch up on Tim’s blog.

Industrial, steampunk, gritty grungy goodness is my jam, so when I saw the new idea-ology industrial gears I wept happy tears. The detail is incredible and if altering the idea-ology pieces isn’t your thing, they really are ready to go. I enjoy dinging things up and adding additional grunge, so I altered them a little, but truthfully, they need nothing, the altering is just for fun.

I painted a large idea-ology vignette tray with black soot distress paint ready to cover the back panel with paper from the new idea-ology backdrops volume 2 paper pack. You can catch glimpses of the paper throughout the post.

These new advert vignette panels are beautiful and fit perfectly in the vignette trays. I used distress re-inker to add colour to the lightbulb before covering the panel with vintage distress collage medium, being careful not to smudge the distress re-inker ink. I mounted this onto adhesive foam so it sat high in the tray. I added hitch fasteners to each corner, using my dremel micro to make the holes.

I used my dremel micro again to drill holes in the top of a vignette box and thread tiny lights through the back of the vignette tray and up through the vignette box, (see next photo). I twisted the lights around themselves so they would fill the flasks and wouldn’t all be grouped in one place. The twisted tiny lights also help to hold the flasks in place.

Once the laboratory flasks were stuck fast to the vignette box, I laid it flat and glued it to the vignette tray. The tiny lights come up through the back of the vignette tray and into the upturned vignette box and up through the top into each flask. NOTE: The tiny lights battery pack was moved aside before gluing down the vignette box.

To create the faux lights you will need an idea-ology laboratory flask, paintbrush, distress clear rock candy crackle paint and vintage distress collage medium.

Paint a generous layer of the vintage distress collage medium onto the flask and set aside to air dry.

Once completely dry, apply a generous layer of clear rock candy distress crackle paint and set aside to air dry.

Once completely dry, add another 2 layers of vintage distress collage medium, allowing the flask to air dry between layers.

I added florists wire to the base of the flasks and added to the top of the vignette box, over the tiny lights and glued down with distress collage medium.

Then onto the hardware… these new idea-ology industrial gears took my breath away! The detail is insane and I added a little distress grit-paste and distress paint, they really are ready to go.

I also loved the new idea-ology gauge frames (I squealed) and knew immediately that I wanted to create some kind of machine works (with tiny lights of course)! I paired this one with a piece from the urban layers set and that AWESOME piece from the idea-ology odds and ends embellishments pack.

I covered idea-ology apothecary vials with sterling alloy ink and added remnant rubs and copper wire before gluing them to the underside of the upturned vignette box.

For a final addition, this plaque from the factory tags embellishments pack was mounted onto adhesive foam with long screws from the idea-ology vignette hardware findings pack glued into place to add to the industrial look. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Remember that! 😉

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Friday.

Zoe

Category Ideaology, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 11 Comments | Views: 2,262
To Thine Own Self Be True

12th May, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. I hope you’re doing well. Today I’m sharing a little something that I made for the Tim Holtz idea-ology 2021 release. If you missed the LIVE, (and to be fair it was a little while ago) you can catch up on all the fun and check out the other makes on Tim’s blog.

“To thine own self be true” is my favourite quote from Hamlet. I was certainly true to myself with this make for the idea-ology 2021 launch. It has all the things I love, gears, skulls, tiny lights, bottles, crackle and grunge.

Using a dremel micro with a drill attachment, I made a hole in the cork base of an idea-ology display dome. I used foam circles between my gears, which I made holes in and threaded idea-ology tiny lights through. I carved a line in base of the cork for the tiny lights lead to sit in so the dome sits flat.

I continued to layer the gears, finishing with one of the new idea-ology industrial gears on top, with a little distress grit-paste and distress crayon added, of course! 😉

The detail on the new industrial gears is awesome. I mounted it over a circle of metallic kraft stock embossed using the foundry 3D folder to hide the foam divider. I love all the different gear edges. This just makes me happy!

To cover the foam dividers I cut strips from idea-ology metallic kraft stock using the lattice trim impresslits folder and added walnut stain distress crayon to grunge them up. The center strip I ran through my die cutting machine a second time to flatten so it would look worn compared to the others.

I added a clock key from the new idea-ology odds and ends embellishments pack. I love these new mixed packs with a little old and a little new mixed in. I also added a skull hoarded from the idea-ology pumpkins and skulls pack with a crown added from the treasures adornments pack.

The light is an upturned idea-ology laboratory bottle with tiny lights inside, covered in distress crackle paint and vintage distress collage medium. I used the same bottles on another idea-ology sample I made for the launch and will be sharing that with a “how to” ~~tomorrow~~ Friday.

I love this idea-ology token from the factory tags set. I added a little distress crayon into the recess and added with distress collage medium.

Finally I added an ephemera piece and idea-ology hardware heads to the cork base, ready to slide on the glass dome.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that this has inspired you to make your own display dome light.

Zoe

Category Ideaology, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 16 Comments | Views: 1,770
idea-ology 2021

12th March, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. Hope you’ve had a good week and found some time to make. I’m sharing a sample I made for the Tim Holtz idea-ology LIVE launch a couple of weeks ago. The new idea-ology range is amazing! Every year it’s even better than the last. What particularly floored me this year was that Tim continued to raise the bar with incredible products whilst navigating a global pandemic. If you missed the launch, you can catch up on all the fun over on Tim’s blog.

This is a super easy make, I promise. I took a medium etcetera thickboard tag and covered with 2 sheets of the black (of course) kraft-stock. Tim revealed an exciting secret about the black kraft-stock, watch the launch video for more details. As you will know, I’m a huge fan of kraft-stock and I was excited to try the new smooth kraft-stock stack and I am SOLD! It sands like a dream and the colour palette is gorgeous. I also love the new size. Once I sanded the edges you couldn’t see the join where the 2 sheets met.

I added a piece from the new paper line – Backdrops volume 2. I spent the longest time looking through these papers and there is a special sheet that I have plans for and will share more about in another post. This beautiful vintage 10×6 paper inspired my entire make. I picked up some antique linen distress ink droplets to make it a little more grungy and mounted onto the tag using adhesive foam.

I added a clip from the idea-ology vintage clips. Adding a little picket fence distress paint, dry brushing evergreen bough distress paint on and finally rubbing a little walnut distress crayon over the top and a new idea-ology hook clasp attached.

Next I die cut a typewriter using the retro type die (664422) that was released last year. I die cut from the new kraft-stock and sanded. I added metallic kraft-stock to parts of the typewriter and blended in walnut stain distress ink. Adding idea-ology long fasteners as keys for the typewriter which I bashed with my texture hammer. I highly recommend this, it’s a great lockdown stress reliever. This clever idea to use long fasteners for keys was Tim’s, so thanks to him for suggesting it. Craft friends are the best!

I added a piece of adhesive foam to the back of the typewriter under the keys and pushed the long fasteners through each key before folding back. I peeled the backing off the foam, it just tears away from the fasteners too, ready to stick in place and giving it some nice dimension to tuck other things under.

I added the fabric piece to the typewriter and the 3 x’s (which I adore) from the stitched scraps 2, which was attached with an idea-ology mini pin. I used a type chip, I absolutely love these, added a couple of gears from the new industrial gears, YES, I am OBSESSED, they are 100% my jam and I love the detail. I added a little translucent distress grit-paste and distress paint to grunge them up.

This piece of flair with underwood from the mini flair set was perfectly themed. I added it over the top of a couple of tags from the salvaged tags set and added a paint brush for no other reason than it rolled onto my tag and I liked the way it looked so I painted the handle and glued it down! There are no rules! 😉

Thanks for stopping by and please let me know if you have any questions. A big thank you to Tim, Paula and Mario for being such a kind, supportive and fun crew to make for. Don’t forget to head over to Tim’s blog and take a look at all of the amazingly talented makers samples and the new idea-ology.

Have a great weekend and see you for the Saturday LIVE tomorrow on Tim’s YouTube channel and don’t forget your snacks.

Zoe

Category Ideaology, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 15 Comments | Views: 3,888
Steampunk Assemblage Clock

10th February, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. I’ve been busy making samples and catching up on all those blog posts I didn’t get finished last year. Christmas is well behind us, but this assemblage clock from the Tim Holtz idea-ology range can easily be adapted to any season. You could change the 25 to 14 and spray the trees with kitsch flamingo for Valentines.

When Tim invited me to make some samples for the idea-ology Christmas release (IN 2020 LOL) he reminded me to “just do you” and it’s really good advice that I listened to when creating this Christmas steampunk clock.

This isn’t the first time this exact idea-ology assemblage clock has been on my blog. In fact this clock is a bit of a world traveler. I repurposed a sample I made for the CHA show in 2017. It’s ok to repurpose… there are NO RULES when you create! Let’s get to the how…

First I cut several pieces of idea-ology metallic kraft stock and embossed with the foundry 3D texture fades folder (662717) and then sanded. If you have 12×12 paper you could cut one strip but I wanted to use the idea-ology metallic kraft stock so I cut 2 pieces and 2 smaller ones to cover the joins.

I cut slits into the outer edge to allow the kraft stock to be folded back where the back of the clock sits. I added tiny lights to the inside of the clock where the glass would normally sit as I wanted it to be open. I like that the glass is removable so you can choose to have your clock open or closed. I attached the tiny lights with hot glue making sure not to get the glue on the bulbs as it can short them.

I covered idea-ology baubles with mushroom alcohol ink and gunmetal mixative and sprayed woodland trees with ground espresso distress spray.

I hot glued the baubles into place in the bottom of the assemblage clock.

Using alcohol ink foil tape, embossed with the 3D foundry folder to cover the edges of the clock. I covered with ground espresso distress paint and let air dry a little, before wiping away the excess paint with a cloth.

I added ivy from the garden greens thinlits set (661206), die cut from heavystock covered with foil tape to give some more structure so you are able to shape the leaves.

I covered a piece of card and laid across the bottom of the inside of the clock to create a platform for the numbers and trees to sit on.

I used alcohol foil tape again, also embossed with the 3D foundry folder to cover idea-ology number blocks. Here’s how I did it.

I inked up idea-ology number blocks with black soot distress archival ink, stamped onto the back of a piece of alcohol ink foil tape and fussy cut. I embossed the foil number with the 3D foundry folder, peeled off the backing and stuck on top of the number block.

I added ground espresso distress paint and walnut stain distress crayon added to the platform with the woodland trees behind, which I added some mica flakes to.

Merry early Christmas… and thanks for stopping by.

Zoe

Category Ideaology, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 9 Comments | Views: 1,719
In Case of Emergency… Break Glass

12th November, 2020 by iGirlZoe

Hello Friends. I hope you’re doing well. Can you believe it’s been almost 10 months since Creativation?! I still have one sample to share and I think it’s perfectly themed for this year. In case of emergency… break glass!!

If you know me, you will know my love for all things apothecary and the apothecary and corked vials in the idea-ology line are completely my jam. The new urban layers released in January made me swoon and I had to use them alongside the vials.

I may sound like a broken record, but the best way to keep your favourite products in the idea-ology line is to buy them, use them and buy them again. I always try to use those products that I don’t want to see retire and so I chose a vignette tray as my base. I used vintage distress collage medium to glue the field notes and field notes snippets ephemera to the edges of the vignette tray.

Once dry, I added walnut stain distress crayon to the edges of the ephemera and rubbed in with my finger.

I took the small vignette box from the same set and lined the inside with typeset collage paper using vintage distress collage medium to glue into place. It gives the collage paper a nice sepia tint and made it translucent in places so you can see the wood peeking through.

I added some more ephemera to the back of the vignette tray so it would poke out from under the urban layer piece.

Which I added next using adhesive foam to lift away from the vignette tray slightly. I scratched and sanded the edges and blended in a little vintage photo distress ink.

I added a piece of mica sheet over the top. Thanks to Tim for the idea (and for the mica) 😉

I added more pieces from the urban layer pack and added a clock hand and clock key, both painted with candied apple distress paint and rubbed when almost dry to remove some of the paint and create a chippy paint look. I also rubbed a little into the optical lens number and added some mushroom alcohol ink to the lens glass. I tucked a type chip in, I love these, they are card but look like weathered metal and needed no alteration, so cool!

I covered some of the bottles with distress collage medium and then painted with black soot distress paint, adding labels from the field notes ephemera pack and remnant rubs. I rubbed more candied apple paint into a token from the factory tags set which I hung from the top of the vignette box with chain and a hook. I added a small piece of adhesive foam to the back of the token so it stayed in place.

Finally I added twine to the bottles and a little more walnut stain distress crayon here and there. The distress crayon open stock is ending unfortunately and will only be available in the packs of 6 so stock up on your favourite crayons and if you have walnut stain crayons you don’t use… let me know 😉

Thanks for stopping by and hope you’re having a good week and staying safe and well.

Zoe

My vignette tray hanging in Tim’s idea-ology booth at Creativation 2020!

Category Creativation 2020, Creativation Show, Ideaology, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 6 Comments | Views: 1,536
The Crypt

25th August, 2020 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. I’m back again with another Halloween sample that I made for the Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 3 Halloween release last month. If you missed it, you can catch up on all the fun on Tim’s blog.

I love the new Tim Holtz Sizzix gate keeper thinlits die set. I immediately fell for the grungy, twisted, gothic style gates, coupled with the moon and bats and knew I was going to make a crypt. They fit perfectly on the idea-ology vignette boxes. Here’s what I did…

Covered an idea-ology vignette box with distress texture crackle paste and sprayed with distress and oxide sprays.

Using the 3D brickwork texture fades embossing folder, I tore portions of the brickwork away to make it look like exposed wall, before gluing it to the back of the vignette box with distress collage medium and rubbing walnut stain distress crayon over the top to age.

The lit up moon was a bit of a triumph for me. I got a Dremel micro for my birthday, it’s an awesome tiny tool and makes short work of drilling through the back of vignette boxes, (please wear safety glasses). I die cut the moon twice from vellum and glued together with the moon slice between. I painted an antique linen distress paint wash over the top of the moon to diffuse the light (see next pic).

Threading one tiny light in behind the moon, I added a thin layer of hot glue to the back edge of the moon which created an invisible lift. The rest of the tiny lights were threaded in through the second hole I drilled behind the idea-ology tombstone, (retired) (inserts sobbing).

I stacked idea-ology skulls either side and added some remnant rubs to the tombstone and some creepy moss. I cut bats from blackout kraft-stock from the gate keeper die set. I shaped the wings slightly and glued in the center of the bat with distress collage medium.

The gates were die cut from blackout kraft-stock and the highlighted portions from distress watercolor cardstock with an antique linen distress paint wash added and walnut stain distress crayon rubbed over the top. The gates were glued together with distress collage medium. The precision tip bottle makes it really easy. I attached the gates to the edge of the vignette box and when dry, bent the gate prongs slightly.

I pulled out an older and retired die, Pediments (658557) to create the top of the crypt. I die cut it several times, glued it together and covered with distress texture crackle paste. I added letters from the alphanumeric labels die set, cut from blackout kraft-stock and added with distress collage medium.

Attaching a small wood block at the back to stabilize the die cut. This could be covered with some die cut foliage or even have a skull mounted to the top. I wish I had added some die cut ivy to the crypt. Tim Holtz Sizzix garden greens thinlits die set (661206) has the best ivy die and wouldn’t it look nice climbing the gates…

That’s what I love about investing in craft tools, you can mix and match over the years as you build your collection. The seasonal dies are produced in limited numbers, so please pick up your must haves for your collection.

Thanks for stopping by, only 24 hours until the new Distress color is revealed and I can’t wait! See you there and don’t forget your snacks…

Zoe

Category Halloween, Ideaology, Sizzix, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 16 Comments | Views: 2,062
An Uninvited Guest

8th August, 2020 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends, it’s been a minute! Did you just catch the spooktacular Tim Holtz seasonal idea-ology LIVE on facebook? Holy Halloween, the products and samples were frightfully good.

Even though I haven’t been posting like crazy, I’ve been making like mad and wanted to share this creepy clipboard using the new idea-ology entomology.

The detail on these entomology bugs is phenomenal! There’s some great techniques on Tim’s blog using distress embossing glaze and distress crayons on metal adornments. Here I used distress paints to alter my bugs. I wanted a nice deep red so I mixed candied apple with ground espresso distress paints and added it to the beetles back with a detail paint brush and set aside to dry.

I used the same paint for the clipboard clip and idea-ology hardware heads, (still my favourite in the idea-ology range). I added “identification check” with remnant rubs from the specimen set to the clip. I painted the bug and this time, rubbed the paint off the raised detail to expose the metal and leave the paint only in the recessed areas.

I covered the clipboard base in the new departed paper. I’m so head over heels for this paper pad and will be stocking up like crazy because it’s limited and it’s amazing!! That crackle is just… YUM! I added walnut stain distress ink to the edges.

I have been obsessed with the idea-ology pocket watches and date dials since they were launched and I never use them, because they’re too precious! Yes really, I know it’s nuts but I had to force myself to use this one. So far I’ve only ever used one in a special handmade gift. I added the distress paint I mixed to the pocket watch and the chain from a swivel clasp. The beetle had to be shackled to stop him crawling away… naughty bugs!!

I rubbed more of the remnant rubs from the specimen set onto the clipboard. They are perfectly matched for the entomology bugs and work so well with Halloween, they are part of the non seasonal line.

I used pieces from the idea-ology halloween baseboards, ephemera, layers and snippets packs under the pocket watch. I added the “specimen” remnant rub to the bug chart from the halloween layers pack. I’m going to stock up on these for sure. I love this years ephemera and a lot of it is perfect even if you’re not into halloween. There’s an apothecary themed project in my future for certain!

Thanks for stopping by. If you missed the facebook LIVE you can catch the replay on Tim’s facebook page and blog.

I will be back next week with more Halloween makes.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Zoe

Category Halloween, Ideaology, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 11 Comments | Views: 1,711
Agent B15

24th April, 2020 by iGirlZoe

Hello there. I wanted to share another of the samples that I made for this years Creativation for the Tim Holtz idea-ology booth using the new display dome.

For my sample, I snuck in some skulls from the last Halloween release, any excuse to make Halloween a year long season! One of the (many) things that I love about idea-ology is how well the old and new products mix. I know you Holtz Halloweeners have hoarded some skulls in your stash for just such a project! 😉

The gears from the idea-ology range are my jam and the large ones made a perfect base for the interior of my display dome. I stained the cork base with distress paint and glued the first gear to the base, laying some ephemera in between.

I used some of the wood slices from the Christmas idea-ology release as spacers between the gears. I die cut idea-ology metallic kraft-stock with an impresslits folder and glued it around the edge of the wood slices to give an industrial look. Check out Tim’s demo from last Saturday to see the coolest ever technique using distress glazes, distress crayons and impresslits folders!

Another of my favourites from the idea-ology line is the bottles. I painted on distress collage medium, rock candy distress crackle paint and finally black soot distress paint, allowing to dry between coats. It gives a really cool gnarly texture to the bottle. I love making bespoke labels for the bottles using the ephemera and remnant rubs. Agent B15 sounds like something you may want to avoid!

I glued one piece down at a time, checking that the dome would still slide over the top. I finally mastered distress collage medium!! You have to glue it down and WALK AWAY! NOT, I repeat, NOT, check if what you just glued down wobbles 10 seconds later… by wobbling it!! #ohzoe #craftworldproblems

I pushed the glass dome onto the cork base and added jute string and a piece of ephemera, not forgetting the idea-ology hardware heads… 😉

Finally, can we please talk about the new idea-ology flair?! It’s awesome and all based on real vintage flair that Tim has collected. Cool right?!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are safe and well.

Zoe

Category Creativation 2020, Ideaology, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 5 Comments | Views: 934
Creativation 2020 Part 3

27th February, 2020 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. I’m back with the third and final installment of my Creativation adventure. Thanks again for your kind comments, it’s really nice of you to take the time and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed seeing bits from the show. I know I sound like a broken record, but if you get a chance to attend, do it!

The show floor goes from complete chaos to complete craft village in just a couple of days. It’s a lot of hard work by the people involved, plus all of the planning that goes into it ahead of the show. I watch with awe at what they do!

Stamps are my jam and Stampers Anonymous make the best red rubber in the industry. This is their cool booth! Love all the vintage suitcases and the signage I’d seen for years in photos online before seeing it in person at the show. See the hat? You always need a hat! #justsaying

The etcetera tags from Stampers Anonymous are the perfect base for the new Tim Holtz professor 2 (CMS395) stamp set, he’s bigger and better than ever! The tag (top left) is the one Vicki Evans, (Thelma) nailed to Mario’s table in Creativation part 1.

These are some of the incredible card samples from makers around the world using the new Tim Holtz stamps, hanging in the Stampers Anonymous booth.

Mr Stampers Anonymous! One of the nicest guys in craft and so much fun to hang out with. He tells the best stories!

The Tim Holtz section of this years Sizzix booth. Not going to lie, last years booth was EPIC and I’m not sure anything will ever match it for me, but this was cute, like a small artists studio.

I don’t know who drew the sketches of the new colorize dies, but they’re amazing. Love these samples using those colorize dies by Kath Stewart and Tami B.

More samples from the Sizzix booth using the new Tim Holtz dies. So much inspiration…

Monica and I did a make and take together at the Sizzix booth, it was a lot of fun. I think that Bad Monica is rubbing off on me and when they offered us bright distress ink colours I snuck a brown out the cart and started a tiny revolution on the table, sorry not sorry Sizzix. Thanks for suggesting it Monica, had a lot of fun.

Shortly afterwards, Monica was back to misbehaving… 😉

Mario and I ran into Eileen Hull at the Sizzix booth. I really enjoyed getting to meet Eileen and spend some time chatting with her, such a genuinely nice lady.

One of the things I love best about going to Creativation is the people. It’s a such a pleasure to get to see so many people I adore in one place. Here are some of them…

Tim Holtz and Mario James Rossi are two of my favourite people in the world. They are genuine, kind, thoughtful, hard working, humble and SO much fun. They are both such great company and a total joy to be around and I feel really lucky to have friends like these.

Speaking of a joy to be around, my sister from another mister, Joy Kennedy is joy by name and nature. I love this girl, she is such fun to spend time with and makes me laugh. Beautiful inside and out and the selfie queen! She makes us all look good.

I loved finally getting to meet my sweet friend Stacy Hutchinson in person this year and hang out. She is truly awesome, super talented and even sweeter and we shared so many laughs, dessert and sugartinis.

Thelma and Louise Part 2! I love riding with this girl, she is so easy going and we have so much fun together. We are trying to convince Kaz Hall to come next time… we need a Brad! 😉

Paula Cheney is the Mum of the group and she takes care of us all during Creativation. She is incredible to the team of makers and guides us through with good humor. I love spending time with Paula in person, and she shares her cookies! (photo credit: Joy Kennedy)

Last day selfies with my SFAM, Dyan Reaveley, Ben Reaveley (Art from the Heart) and Anita Houston.

How many photo’s does it take to get 4 people to smile, open their eyes and look into the camera? I had to include all of these because they make me laugh! So much silliness. <31

We nailed it!

During the show they run education workshops and seminars. Vicki and I signed up for a jewellery class with Susan Lenart Kazmer. Susan is such a cool and nice person and I really enjoyed talking to her after class.

Susan makes these amazing jewellery pieces. Just in awe!

It’s incredible how many colour swatches have to be made for the show! These were just 4 boards of many that Tim Holtz prepared for the Ranger Ink booth using distress products! It’s a lot of work to get ready for the show, so hats off to all of those who work like crazy in the run up. The displays were awesome!

Shout out to the Tim Holtz Addicts group who I did a couple of facebook LIVES for when Tim demoed on the Ranger ink booth. Stacy Hutchinson was doing a LIVE for the Tim Holtz page. How awesome to have 2 perspectives. Thanks for taking this Mario, I love the photo, the moment and the perspective. (photo credit: Mario James Rossi)

It was a lot of fun to watch Tim demo, he’s an incredible educator and makes learning so much fun.
(Monica has her eye on me…)

One of the new products that Tim demoed is the distress embossing glazes! They are so awesome and I was lucky enough to take some home with me to play with! Check out Tim’s facebook LIVE replay or head over to Tim Holtz Addicts group to see the facebook LIVE from the show.

Celebrating Heidi Klausing Crowl from Simon Says Stamp receiving a Creative Retail Award. Cheers!

And just like that it was done for another year! Packed up and heading home…

On my long journey home I got a fever and went down with flu right after the show. When I got home I was overtired and not feeling good, but the sight of this one soon had me smiling again. Missed him.

I want to end with this piece I made in the jewellery class I took. It’s important because of the words I chose. Last year was a really tough one for many reasons and I got through thanks to some really good friends. To see them and hug them after such a scary, happy, sad and introspective year for me personally was so special. And to spend time with these people that I love, surrounded by inspiration and incredible kindness was genuinely what I needed most. Counting the days until we get to do it all again and I get to see all of these amazing people again. Thanks for following along, reading, commenting and mostly for making this creative community such a happy place.

Much Love

Zoe x

…oh and come to Creativation, it’s so much fun!!

Category CHA Show, Creativation, Creativation 2020, Ideaology, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 15 Comments | Views: 1,489
Blackout Banner 2019

7th November, 2019 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends! Hope you had a hauntingly happy halloween and you’re still enjoying your candy hauls. I love this time of year so much, the cool crisp weather, cosy candlelight, pumpkins as far as the eye can see, (and not just in my apartment)! It’s also time for my annual Halloween banner, which is a little late this year, but this witch had to stitch…

You may have heard (me screaming) about the newly released BLACKOUT kraft-stock. I’ve burned through so many pads of classic kraft-stock taking the black sheets out and this year I had none left, so I am eternally grateful for this little pad of black only!

This years banner celebrates the blackout kraft-stock and gave me chance to use the halloween dies one more time. Of course the banner would be incomplete without a hat and I had to mix it with the bat crazy dies, which were my favourite of 2 sets this year, frightful things being the other, those ghosts are just epic! I am going to use them every year, I know it. I highly recommend investing in a few of your favourite dies from the seasonal collections because they will serve you year after year and I had a lot of fun mixing and matching from older years too.

To start off I cut the banner panels, see my 2017 banner post for the measurements. I sprayed mixed media heavystock with black soot distress spray and antique linen oxide spray. I love this combination of inks and I’m on my second bottle of antique linen oxide spray! Thanks to Stacy Hutchinson for the colour combo inspiration.

Prepare the other banner layers using the blackout kraft-stock. Sand and fray the edges and blend in distress ink, I used frayed burlap.

This years banner started with a creepy eye. I love these eyes and I really hope they return next year, but I stocked up just to be on the safe side. I love the cobweb die, it appeared on my 2017 banner but this time I made it more dimensional by only adhering at the edges. It’s cool to look back at the different techniques you use with the same products over time. Another reason I enjoy making something annually.

This is the first time I’ve used one of the dimensional domes and I’m hooked. I added some mushroom alcohol ink and distress rock candy crackle paint to make it grungy. I placed it over some creepy eyes and added the woodland branches die cut over the top, another die from last year and one that I just keep using.

The next piece I had in my head from the moment I saw the creepy eyes. Really simple and one of the easiest pieces to make. I added black soot distress crayon to the eyes. The iris pops out with a pin to make it easy to alter and then a dot of collage medium to secure back into place.

These ghosts are one of my favourite halloween die pieces from all the sets. I just love how they look like they’re howling. I love them in every project I’ve seen them used in. Super cool!! I decided to die cut mine from blackout kraft-stock and sanded back a little to give some dimension. I mounted the mouths over creepy eyes and added a cobweb from the same die set with the iris of a creepy eye in the center. Love love love these dies!!

Of course there had to be a hat from my favourite stamp set Distinguished (CMS371). I paired it with the very awesome bat crazy thinlits die set! I die cut from blackout kraft-stock and blended in vintage photo distress ink to match the pop of rusty hinge distress ink added to the hat and coat. I curled the bat wings and adhered by the body only to give some dimension. I added the iris from the creepy eyes to the center. Those eyes really are super creepy!

If creepy eyes grew on creepy trees how frightful would that be… I used a leftover bat from the bat crazy die and the tree from the ghost town die, along with a sentiment from the vintage spirits thinlits die set, all cut from blackout kraft-stock.

I told you that this witch had to stitch and I did with orange thread which popped against the awesome blackout kraft-stock and abandaoned paper pad, my favourite paper pads of all time! I use a Singer heavy duty sewing machine.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed this years banner and it has inspired you to make your own. There are more details on 2017 and 2018 banners if you’re interested.
Zoe

Category Banner, Halloween, Ideaology, Ranger Ink, Sizzix, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 14 Comments | Views: 2,380

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