Stampers Anonymous – iGirlZoe, Crafter & Tim Holtz Addict

‘Stampers Anonymous’ Category

Botanic Collage Mica

13th June, 2022 by iGirlZoe

Hello Friends, I hope this finds you well. Did you catch the Tim Holtz Stamp LIVE launch party on Saturday?! There were very early morning coffees and early evening cocktails being poured from the various world time zones while we took our front row seats for the show… If you missed the party, you can watch the replay and see all the maker inspiration over on Tim’s blog.

I made this card using the new Botanic Collage stamp set (CMS447). I’m not usually drawn to the floral side of the force, but the newsprint background gives these stamps such a cool vibe for me that I had to use them.

Let’s get into how I made it and the secret beneath the mica sheets! 😉

Ink up your stamp with antique linen distress ink or another very light distress ink and stamp onto the smooth side of distress watercolor cardstock.

Choose the distress reinker colors you want to watercolor your stamped image with. Put a tiny drop of each on your glass media mat ready to pick up with your paintbrush to watercolor.

As you watercolor the stamped image, you will see the antique linen stamped lines become less prominent. You don’t need to be too delicate with this, however, do try to stay within the lines-ish. I set the stamp next to me when I’m watercoloring so I can check the design where the stamped image lines are feint.

I know it looks like a hot mess, but stay with me…

Place your mica onto your stamp platform. The Tim Holtz Tonic Media Grip Mat will keep the mica tile from moving. Magnets will work, but I wouldn’t use sticky grid because it makes a mess of the back of the mica. Position your stamp, ink with Stazon and stamp onto the mica tile. Because it’s Stazon ink, you will need to use stamp cleaner afterwards and then wash the stamp cleaner off with dish soap and water.

Your mica tile is now ready to place over the top of your hot mess watercolor background.

Ta Dah!

I added a frame over the top and trimmed the mica to size. Using distress collage medium to attach the mica tile at the edges and leave the center to sit slightly above the background.

I added a couple of stamped images from the new Eccentric stamp set (CMS448) which I am OBSESSED with!

I stamped the “handle with care” stamp with barn door distress archival ink once and then lightly touched the stamp with a black soot distress archival ink pad and stamped very lightly. I fussy cut and tucked under the background layer which I stitched.

It’s a pretty quick card to make and you could easily adapt this to a slimline card or tag.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any questions.
Zoe

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Category Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz, Tutorial | Tags: | 26 Comments | Views: 3,109
Jolly Santa

6th December, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. Happy December. I thought I would pop in with a little Ho Ho Ho and share one of my makes for the Tim Holtz Christmas stamp release, all the details, replay and inspiration makes are over on Tim’s Blog.

I love Santa and this stamp from the Jolly Santa CMS442 stamp set stole my heart. He really is a very jolly looking Santa indeed!

I crackled up an etcetera thickboard tag, you can see the how to for the crackle on a previous post, click here. I added idea-ology velvet trim and tiny bells, hung from a hook clasp. The holiday greeting was stamped from the Jolly Santa stamp set in distress archival ink, fussy cut and mounted onto the tag with adhesive foam.

I stamped the text from Jolly Santa onto plain collage paper with distress archival ink and pasted it on with distress collage medium. I love how the collage paper “melts” into the background when you add collage medium. If you want to give it a more vintage hue, add vintage collage medium.

I used distress reinkers to watercolor the santa, which I had stamped with distress archival ink. I blended in a little walnut stain distress ink and spritzed with water. I fussy cut the santa and mounted with adhesive foam.

I added a frame and more stamps from the jolly santa set using distress archival ink and covering with a layer of vintage collage medium.

You could easily adapt this to a card, but I think it’s so fun to have a gift with a massive gift tag and bells on.

Thanks for stopping by and happy making.
Zoe

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Category Christmas, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 7 Comments | Views: 1,936
Special Delivery

19th November, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. It’s Day 5 of my week of Christmas makes and I wanted to thank you for your kind comments. I hope these posts encourage you to make a little something something during the season. I have some fall/thanksgiving makes planned for this weekend which I’ll be sharing next week, but on with the Christmas makes. If you’d like to see the Tim Holtz holiday stamp launch and all the inspiration makes, head over to Tim’s Blog.

I made a little box of tiny cards and envelopes using the curio box bigz die and retired envelope die and the magical new Tim Holtz holiday stamps and stencils. I made one of these boxes for the villainous potions distress launch which you can see here. They make such sweet gifts for non card makers (and card makers too) and it’s always so handy to have notecards and gift cards ready to go.

For the mixed media heavystock box top, I sprayed frayed burlap onto the non stick mat portion of my glass media mat and picked up with the heavystock and spritzed with water and dried. I sprayed a little antique linen distress spray direct onto the box top and dried again. I stamped the santa from the holiday things stamp set and the text from the jolly santa stamp set. I stamped the sides and once finished I assembled the box. How to a little further down…

The base of the curio box was die cut from distress kraft heavystock and I used the new stripes shifter stencils to create these cool candy cane stripes. I LOVE candy cane stripes like I LOVE pumpkins and this stripes stencil is perfect for creating your own. I used distress paints candied apple and picket fence and painted through the stencil. Shifting slightly to leave a strip of the kraft heavystock showing through. I did this before assembling the box.

Using the curio box bigz die, cut distress mixed media heavystock and distress kraft heavystock. You will see that the box on the left has tabs, this is the top of the box and it slides over the top of the box on the right that has no tabs.

I add a little scor-tape to the tabs and stick into place. Super super simple.

The base is a little more fiddly, but only until you find your way. I used distress collage medium in the precision bottle. Run a line of glue along the edges of the end pieces and hold them together until they dry. You don’t need much glue and it doesn’t take long to dry. It can be a little tricky the first time you do it, but once you’ve made a few it’s really easy. I suggest die cutting a cereal box and practice on that so you’re not worrying about wasting the good cardstock.

Pro Tip: Ask your husband/wife/friend/family member to hold it while it dries. Thanks to my sweet husband for always being willing to lend a hand (literally).

Your box is ready to fill with tiny cards and envelopes.

Using the holiday things stamps, I stamped onto distress watercolor cardstock with distress archival ink and watercolored with distress reinkers. I stamped the sentiments from the cozy christmas stamp set with distress archival ink. Once dry, I gave the card toppers a light mist with the seasonal mica sprays. I decorated in the inside of an envelope using the same technique as the box base and stamped onto the front with a stamp from the jolly santa stamp set.

I stamped and fussy cut a label with “special delivery” from the jolly santa stamp set stamped inside with distress archival ink and added it to the bottom of the box.

I used my sewing machine to stitch the distress watercolor cardstock toppers before I attached them to the distress kraft heavystock card.

I attached an idea-ology tiny clip to connect each card and envelope. This is such a cute addition if you’re sending this out as a gift for someone.

Brown paper packages tied up with string… these are a few of my favorite things!

Thanks for stopping and don’t forget to join Tim and Mario tomorrow for part 3 of the holiday demos on Tim’s YouTube channel. See you there.

Zoe

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Category Sizzix, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 14 Comments | Views: 3,025
Cozy Christmas Snowman

18th November, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. Welcome back for day 4 of my week of Christmas makes that I’m sharing with you. I wasn’t kidding about loving the new Cozy Christmas stamp set by Tim Holtz. You can see the stamp launch and other inspiration makes over on Tim’s Blog.

I do love that you can use these stamps in parts and pieces. I decided to make a mini card to go with an envelope I had created that was the wrong size for my curio box cards (which I will be sharing tomorrow).

I used distress reinkers to watercolor onto distress watercolor cardstock. I stamped the cozy christmas stamp in black soot distress archival ink. I love this ink as it’s permanent when dry and perfect for watercoloring over.

I created this envelope using my mini envelope punch board. I added frayed burlap distress oxide spray, some of the seasonal mica and then dried with my heat tool. I added crackle texture paste through the hocus pocus stencil and once dry, added vintage collage medium through the stencil onto the stars.

I liked the envelope so I decided to make a tiny card to fit. That’s the great thing about having the cardstock and these tools, you can customize anything. I used the envelope as a template to cut an envelope liner using some leftover idea-ology paper I had. How fancy right?!

Seriously?! How cute is that snowman with his pot for a hat? I love him.

Thanks for stopping by

Zoe

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Category Christmas, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 7 Comments | Views: 2,132
Cozy Christmas

15th November, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. The weather outside is frightful here today, which is perfect to get cozy inside and start sharing my Christmas makes. I made quite a few cards with the new Christmas stamps that Tim Holtz released a few months ago. You can see the launch replay and all the inspiration makes on Tim’s blog.

I was very taken with the Cozy Christmas CMS444 stamp set and couldn’t stop making with it. It really tapped into my love of coloring. I stamped onto distress watercolor cardstock with distress archival ink and used distress re-inkers and a water brush to watercolor. Each of the cards is mounted with the following layers: idea-ology kraft stock + idea-ology metallic kraft stock + distress kraft heavystock.

If you look closely you will see there is text underneath the stars and the paper looks wrinkled. I stamped onto the background and then regretted it as it was way too bold and overpowering. So I went about fixing it! I added a piece of torn plain collage paper over the stamped text with collage medium.

Once dry I covered with a white gesso wash and then dried and stenciled distress crackle texture paste through the falling stars stencil. Finally, I added vintage collage medium and once dry, rubbed walnut stain distress crayon into the cracks.

This card was also not as planned but the happy accident worked…

The brown mark was the happy accident. I had turned the card over to mount it onto the card and there was a a little wet distress ink on my media mat. I dried it with a heat tool and liked the look so went with it. The one time I tried to make a “clean” card though hey! The universe was trying to tell me something!

By just adding a little brown distress ink you can grunge the same card right up!

These stamps are so wonderful to watercolor. I used distress reinkers and dried with a heat tool and then picked up some frayed burlap distress spray drips from the non stick mat portion of my glass media mat.

For this card I used both the stamps and a little masking magic.

I stamped onto a piece of copy paper and fussy cut. It takes a minute but I enjoy fussy cutting, it relaxes me. The reason I use copy paper is that it’s thin and so you don’t get that ridge when you mask and stamp over the top.

I flicked with a little white gesso.

Something else I love about the cozy christmas stamps is how well they work in parts and pieces.

I turned the stamp upside down and stamped a portion at the top of a #8 heavystock tag.

I stamped one of the sentiments from the set in hickory smoke distress archival ink. I love the sentiments in this set and plan to use them for my December Daily this year.

I LOVE this snowman with a pot for a hat. I’ll be back tomorrow with another make ~~featuring that cute snowman~~. Change of plans… that cute snowman will be back later this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoe

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Category Christmas, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 17 Comments | Views: 3,874
Casket Co

1st November, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Happy first day of November friends! I’m not quite ready to give up Halloween and I’m not one of those super organized people who have their makes and blog posts ready to go. I’m the person sticking things down as Fedex arrives and when I post, the ink on the webpage is barely dry. It’s something I hope to work on next year but for now, I’m still playing catch up. So all the underachievers, Halloween lovers and rule breakers follow me and welcome to one more week of my Halloween makes.

The Casket Company is open for business. To see the spooktacular Tim Holtz Halloween stamp launch, head over to Tim’s blog. The coffin box is a retired die and I dare to dream that one day it will pop up in a vault series! I love to invest in dies and stamps as you can mix and match them over the years and this much older die is the perfect match for the rest in peace CMS435 stamp set. For this piece I just used the lid of the coffin box which has a nice low profile.

I covered a mini etcetera thickboard tag with distress watercolor cardstock which I stitched with my sewing machine before sticking down. I often work directly on my etcetera tags, but this time I wanted stitched detail, so I traced a tag, fussy cut, stitched and then glued onto the etcetra tag, brayering on a little iced spruce distress paint. Using the gothic stencil, I spread distress crackle texture paste and once dry added distress crayon.

The coffin top is embossed with the lumber 3D embossing folder and brayered with iced spruce distress paint. Once dry, spray with ground espresso distress spray. The paint covered parts will resist the distress spray.

I die cut a piece of metallic kraft stock, trimmed off the edges and mounted inside the coffin box to reflect the lights and make them nice and bright. Mark where the bottom of the coffin will sit on your tag and drill a hole big enough to thread tiny lights through from the back. Using a hot glue cut carefully wind the lights around the inside of the coffin lid and secure. Be careful not to get hot glue on the actual bulbs as this can short them out. I always work with the tiny lights switched on so you can see where you’re placing them.

Run a line of distress collage medium to the bottom edge of the coffin lid and glue to the tag.

I added a faux sign to the top of the tag using stamps from the new rest in peace CMS435 stamp set.

I stamped onto distress watercolor cardstock using distress archival ink and sprayed with distress sprays. I glued it to a piece of chipboard and edged with thin pieces of distress watercolor cardstock painted with ground espresso distress paint.

I added a little distress crackle texture paste to the edges of the sign and hardware heads to the corners. I covered them with distress grit-paste and crackling campfire and walnut stain distress crayon.

I used a thickboard scallop trim covered with a die cut using the new decorative trims dies and embossing with the lumber 3D folder. I LOVE these dies because it makes decorating the thickboard trims so easy and the trims make perfect shelves.

I stamped and fussy cut candles from the halloween doodles CMS437 stamp set and mounted away from the tag with adhesive foam.

I added idea-ology bouquet flowers to the other side of the trim shelf.

For the base I stamped another stamp from the rest in peace CMS435 stamp set onto idea-ology plain collage paper with distress archival ink and attached using distress vintage collage medium to give it a nice tint. The collage paper disappears into the background when you add the collage medium. I love this method of adding stamps to a background.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any questions.

Zoe

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Category Ranger Ink, Sizzix, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 10 Comments | Views: 1,380
Happy 4th of July

4th July, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends and Happy July 4th to my family and friends across the pond. To celebrate with you I’m sharing this July 4th inspired tag that I made for the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous LIVE launch. If you missed the LIVE, you can catch up on all the fun over on Tim’s blog.

Tim definitely had me at hats with this awesome new inquisitive CMS432 stamp set. I immediately thought of Americana and this background tag I made last year was the perfect base for this stamp set. Here’s how I made it…

Add painters tape to a small etcetera thickboard tag and paint between the tape with picket fence distress paint. Once the paint is dry, remove the tape and mask the painted area with clean tape, mix candied apple, fired brick and aged mahogany distress paints together and paint. Finally paint the top of the tag with blueprint sketch distress paint and set aside to dry.

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Once completely dry, lightly sand and blend in walnut stain distress ink to the edges and blue section of the tag using a mini blending tool.

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Apply distress crackle texture paste through a stencil (stars THS008) with a palette knife and set aside to dry. Your tag is ready to decorate.

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I stamped the larger “hat dudes” from inquisitive set onto distress watercolor cardstock in black soot distress archival ink… Using the newly released full size ink pads!! I embossed with clear embossing powder and fussy cut. I used 3D adhesive foam to create lift for some of the hat dudes and added some etcetera thickboard trims which I decorated using another stamp from the inquisitive set, for them to rest on.

I used the bullseye stamp from the inquisitive stamp set and stamped in archival ink. I cut equal sections and then used the awesome Tim Holtz shaping kit from Sizzix to create this Americana bunting rosette.

I stamped the numbers, again from the inquisitive stamp set and used a circle punch and some mica to create a little token to highlight the 4.

Lastly I added July cut from alphanumeric thinlits dies and added some mummy cloth to the top of the tag.

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy and safe 4th of July.

Zoe

Category Ranger Ink, Sizzix, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 7 Comments | Views: 1,422
Salvage

22nd February, 2021 by iGirlZoe

Hello Friends. Welcome to the first day of the new week. Today I’m sharing a sample I made for the Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 1 release. If you missed the LIVE you can catch up with all the action on Tim’s blog.

I love this submarine from the wacky transport 1 thinlits die set (665220). It made me think of the little subs from the beginning of the Titanic movie, which inspired me to light it up.

I painted an etcetera thickboard tag with speckled egg distress paint and once dry, sanded some of the paint away.

Using the bubbling thinlits die set (665211) to die cut distress watercolor cardstock.

I cut twice and mounted one on top of the other to give some depth and sprayed with frayed burlap distress stain and blended in pumice stone distress ink.

Then glued it on with matte distress collage medium and trimmed to the edge of the tag.

I die cut some more submarines and pulled through a frayed burlap distress ink wash and cut them. Also die cutting some greenery from the holiday greens mini thinlits dies (661597).

I blended in various distress inks, the frayed burlap background wash creates dark patches under the distress ink and makes it looks aged.

I added opaque distress grit-paste and painted with frayed burlap and pumice stone distress paint.

I placed the submarines like wreckage at the bottom of the tag and fixed into place with adhesive foam and tucked greenery in between. I think the grit-paste looks like barnacles.

I drilled a hole in the back of the etcetera tag using my dremel micro tool and fed idea-ology tiny lights through, trimming excess from the open end of the strand. I mounted the submarine onto adhesive foam over the tiny lights.

I added vellum to the underside of the sub for frosted windows to hide the tiny lights.

I stamped the octopus from the sea life stamp set CMS304. Yes I fussy cut this, it’s a fussy cutting nightmare and I enjoy fussy cutting but so worth it. But please Sizzix, PLEASE, could we have a framelits die for this sucka. 😉

I added some white and glitter pen highlights to the suckers and mounted onto adhesive foam.

I stamped glitch CMS405 stamps onto the side of the submarine after I had mounted it. I put the entire tag onto my large stamp platform and stamped and fortunately it worked out.

This would be a really fun home decor make for a kids room and you could add more lights to the wreckage at the bottom of the tag.

Thanks for stopping by.
Zoe

Category Sizzix, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 23 Comments | Views: 3,061
Distinguished Framelits

10th December, 2020 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. If you’ve been tuning in weekly to the Tim Holtz facebook LIVE Saturday demos, you will have seen the new Sizzix framelits sets; Snarky Cat and Distinguished.

And if you know me, even a little, you probably know I love a hat and when the distinguished CMS371 stamps set were released I put hats on everything and I have fussy cut A LOT of hats, so I went a tiny bit hatty over having framelits to match my favourite ever stamp set. I was very lucky to have an advance copy of the distinguished framelits set as one accidentally (but not so accidentally) fell into a box that was being shipped to me! It’s not been easy keeping it under my hat. But now the cat is out the bag (I’m stopping I promise), let’s get to the banner panel details…

The base layer of my banner panel is the new distress kraft heavystock. It’s 130gsm and perfectly solid as the base, but I stitched through it with ease. The next piece up is idea-ology blackout kraft-stock, sanded mounted onto adhesive foam. The top layer is the new distress mixed media white heavystock. Oh this stuff is magic! The ink just acts differently on it to the mixed media heavystock. If you try it, I think you’ll understand what I mean. I stamped the background stamp from the professor 2 stamp set, this stamp is rarely off my desk at the moment. I added a label that I stamped onto the kraft stock and fussy cut. Finally I added a banner frame that I die cut from kraft stock and painted with ground espresso distress paint and sanded back. Everything is edged with ground espresso distress ink. I keep reaching for this instead of walnut stain at the moment. I think maybe ground espresso is my “winter brown”.

I added a piece of mica over the top of the label, which I glued into place with distress collage medium under the banner frame. I broke pieces away from the edges and you get this grungy tattered look.

I die cut and then stamped (yes in that order) the hat and suit. Check out the LIVE on Tim’s blog to see the great hack that his good friend Joy Kennedy showed him. It’s an absolutely brilliant technique, thanks Joy and Tim, this is a game changer and not just for these framelits, but for all the others in my collection too.

Like this moth die, cut from the entomology set using the matching framelits die set and using the same technique. Whilst I love fussy cutting, I can’t tell you how many times I had cut the antenna off bugs before these dies.

Look at the cut on the suit jacket. I’m a very very happy crafter!

I used this display hanger from the idea-ology range to hang my banner panel. I dabbed on picket fence distress paint and when dry, added a little ground espresso distress paint with my finger. I added remnant rubs to the label sticker that comes with the hanger and added the epoxy bubble sticker over the top, also comes with the hanger.

Thanks for stopping by, if the distinguished framelits dies are still available when you’re reading this and you would like to have a set, please don’t delay. Once the stock is sold out, they won’t be manufacturing more. I say this simply so you don’t miss out, especially if hats (or cats) are your jam,

If anyone wants me, I’ll be over here making Christmas cards. Check out Tim’s video on his blog!

Zoe

Category Banner, Sizzix, Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 8 Comments | Views: 2,664
Vintage Holidays

9th December, 2020 by iGirlZoe

Hello friends. Today I’m sharing a card that I made for the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Christmas stamp release. If you missed the LIVE, you can catch up on Tim’s blog.

Vintage Holidays CMS423 stamp set is my favourite! The Santa is so perfect, I love love love the strip stamps and ephemera is always a win for me.

I love the backgrounds on the The Poinsettia CMS426 stamp set and I used the text and music notes stamped in distress archival ink. The background is an antique linen distress wash, edged with ground espresso distress ink and stitched.

I used the painting stamped images technique that Tim demoed during a Saturday LIVE. Fussy cut the Santa and mounted with foam adhesive. You can see the video demo on Tim’s blog and a quick step through in a recent post on my blog.

Stamping the ephemera ticket from the same set, I then painted with picket fence distress paint and followed the technique as before. I added corners that I die cut using the retired bigz die ATC and Corners (657184). I love these corners.

These strips are fantastic, I loved the stickers Tim released a few years ago, admittedly so much that I couldn’t use them (I know you understand), I’m so happy he has made them into stamps.

This strip was stamped in black soot distress archival ink, cut using my paper trimmer. I used the same technique as with the ticket ephemera piece. The background card was mounted onto distress cracked leather, blackout kraft-stock and the distress kraft heavystock.

Thanks for stopping by, I have to go and get my Christmas cards made! I like to get things done early! 😉

Zoe

Category Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz | Tags: | 9 Comments | Views: 1,988

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