There is a very warm welcome to Tracy Evans as our Guest Creative Guide today. I have know Tracy in blogland for quite some time and I love popping over to her crafty space for a shot of inspiration. You can find her blog post at Craft Addicts and I recommend you take a while to peruse some of her other work if you haven't already.
Tracy has made us two projects today, so you are in for a real treat.
I asked Tracy to tell us what her Tim inspiration is and this is what she said ...........
How have I been influenced?…… well to be honest I think Tim’s product range inspires me the most, they are a perfect fit for my style and I adore the Distress Range, in fact I don’t think I create anything without reaching for my Distress Ink Pads, Paints or Sprays in some shape or form. I like to think that although inspired by Tim’s grungy style I like to take my own direction, use my own style to showcase his wonderful product range and If I inspire others along my journey, well that’s a huge bonus. If I am ever stuck for inspiration I find that turning the pages of Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities series of books always sparks my creative juices and one of his techniques is always a wonderful starting point for me to be inspired along my creative journey. These pieces have been created with my husband in mind as its his 48th Birthday in April, this being my significant number within my design. I love using numbers in artwork they are so versatile and perfect for male or female pieces.
My project began with a piece of corrugated card, cut to 8” x 8”. I then die cut Tim Holtz Matchbox die from white card, using only the base in this project, creating an aperture within the corrugated card for the matchbox piece to fit. I applied a thin layer of cheesecloth over corrugated card to add texture to my design, I adore texture! The next step was to layer elements over the corrugated card to add dimension and layers of interest.
I die cut 7 hearts from mountboard using Tim Holtz new Heartfelt die and then added numbers to three of the hearts using the Cargo Layering Stencil and texture paste. I also applied Texture Paste over the Honeycomb Layering Stencil to add further interest to the background and a also die cut random pieces from white card using the Washer Border Die along with random pieces of chicken wire from my garden.
I die cut two further hearts and this time soldered them to add a further texture and element to my design. The inside of the matchbox was coloured with a touch of Gathered Twigs and Tarnished Brass Distress Paint to coordinate with my background and I then housed one of the hearts inside the matchbox aperture, adding chicken wire and the second heart onto the top. I also included Arrow Adornments to the top of each heart for added interest.
The hearts at the bottom of my design have been covered with Vintage Photo Distress Powder to add texture and once all my elements were added I then covered the whole area with Black Soot Distress Paint and then allowed to dry. The embossing powder is a fantastic way to add gritty texture to a piece.
48 it a significant number for this piece as this will be given to my husband on his 48th birthday in April. Once all my elements were applied to the background and Black Soot Distress Paint added to the whole area I then took time to layer metallic colours over the top to highlight all the texture and dimension further. I began with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint, painting lightly over areas of the background and then drying with a heat tool. The second layer of colour was Tarnished Brass again applying layers of colour until I was happy with the depth. Something more was needed, a touch of sapphire wax to lift the whole design and to add a touch of colour. I also included wire wrapped around two of my hearts secured in place with the Tiny Attacher. To complete, I added Big Chat Stickers from Tim’s new 2015 Idea-ology range.
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I created this card also for my hubby’s 48th birthday again using all Tim Holtz wonderful product range.
I cut a piece of Kraft card 4.5” x 6.5” and then spritzed the background with Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain, adding subtle splatters of Picket Fence Distress Paint. Texture Paste has been applied over the Cargo Layering Stencil to add numbers to the top and bottom corners for added texture.
I die cut three hearts from mountboard using Tim Holtz new Heartfelt die, applied texture paste over the Cargo Layering Stencil onto the hearts to add dimensional numbers to each heart. Each heart was then coloured with Gathered Twigs Distress Paint and then dried. Touches of Tarnished Brass were added around each heart and once again dried with a heat tool. To highlight the numbers further I applied Black Soot Distress Paint to the numbers with my finger.
I die cut a piece of Washer border to fit across the centre of my card and then set about giving the die cut a rusty appearance. I coloured the die cut piece with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink and then applied VersaMark ink to the die cut piece and then sprinkled Vintage Photo Distress Powder over the top and then heated with a heat tool to melt. Once cooled down I then applied a touch more VersaMark randomly over the die cut and sprinkled a further layer of Vintage Photo Distress Powder over the die cut, adding different thicknesses of powder to the die cut piece and once again melting with a heat tool. Once cool, I then spritzed the die cut piece with touches of Black Soot Distress Spray Stain and then dried with a heat tool. This gives a really authentic rust appearance to the die cut piece. I added the die cut washer piece across the centre of the card and added the die cut hearts along with an Elementary Flash Card, spritzed with Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain, tucked behind one of the hearts.
I added touches of wax around the edges of each heart and included a Small Talk sticker to the top of my design. To complete, I added a few more splatters of Picket Fence Distress Paint.
Wow Tracy what amazing projects and thank you so much for taking the time to make two for us with all the process steps to go with those gorgeous photos. Thank you also for bringing this first leg of A Vintage Journey to a close at the end of our first year. There is so much inspiration here for our lovely readers I know I will come back several times to take it all in.
Well, it doesn't seem like 12 months ago that we all hopped aboard A Vintage Journey with the aim of bringing you interesting challenges, quality Creative Guide samples to inspire you and useful destination inspiration stops along the way to show you how we use Tim's products, techniques and ideas. I think we have met that goal. So now there's just a few days to get in those special numbers projects before we announce the new challenge and changes for the coming year. Also there are some very special prizes up for grabs, Oooh I'm squealing with excitement, I just can't wait to show you - but of course I don't want to spoil the surprise either.
See you Friday then.
hugs Brenda xxx
Well, it doesn't seem like 12 months ago that we all hopped aboard A Vintage Journey with the aim of bringing you interesting challenges, quality Creative Guide samples to inspire you and useful destination inspiration stops along the way to show you how we use Tim's products, techniques and ideas. I think we have met that goal. So now there's just a few days to get in those special numbers projects before we announce the new challenge and changes for the coming year. Also there are some very special prizes up for grabs, Oooh I'm squealing with excitement, I just can't wait to show you - but of course I don't want to spoil the surprise either.
See you Friday then.
hugs Brenda xxx