12 Tags of 2014 - February

Hello again

Another month has passed and it's February, which means it's time to create another tag for
Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2014 Challenge. For me, February is always such a special month, celebrating love, relationships and the birthday of a very special person. This year, Valentine, or the 14th is so much more as it marks my and my hubby's 10th wedding anniversary.  I really wanted to capture the essence of this event on my tag and as such my tag looks nothing like Tim's.  I'd dare to say there is a little bit more "me" in this one.

You can have a look at Tim's tag below or hop over to his blog by clicking on the photo for a step by step tutorial to create it just the way he did. (Naturally he could not but help to use the brand new heart stencil, released on CHA2014. How did I just know it even before he published his proposed materials or finished tag? Mm mm intuition or logic?)

I loved the techniques and especially the chalkboard effect Tim used, but I did not have any of his new goodies in my stash. Sometimes I think that every now and then we make the mistake of thinking that we just have to buy all the new stuff and can't possibly live without it. However, not having it all, can also stretch our imagination, take us out of our comfort zone and feed our creativity. Saying that I am very pleased to be the owner of the new Eye Chart stencil. Yes, I am a confessed scrap-a-shop-aholic.  Surely, you can relate, can't you? Come on now, be honest, I'm not telling your significant other...

So here is my take on this month's challenge:

How To:

1. For this month's tag, I did not even had to create a background, as I've just used one of the tags I previously used to mop up some of the leftover spray-ink on my craft sheet. It's a great way to make the most of your products and keep wastage to a minimum. Tags can always be used later, rather than merely wiping it off with a cloth, never to be seen again.
2. Since I had no heart stencil to start with, I had to create my own by using a very small random heart punch  in my collection. I carefully punched 5 hearts out of a piece of leftover transparency.
3. Instead of using distress ink and clear embossing powder, I decided to use my Distress Embossing pad directly on the stencil, onto my tag.
4. I then used red embossing powder to create the embossed hearts on the bottom.  I carefully repeated this process, altering the position of the heats in each row. It did not work exactly as I anticipated, but it has a distressed feel, so I just highlighted the edges with my Fired Brick Distress Marker.
5. The Eye Chart stencil was used to fill in the blank space above the hearts.
6. To create a border, I used an X-cut border punch and covered it in Black Diamond Ice Stickles.
7. I then cut a rosette, using the Tim Holtz Alterations die and again covered it with Black Diamond Ice Stickles.
8. I also rediscovered some cardstock hearts, which I bought quite some time ago. I think it was Cre8tive, but I can be wrong, as I disposed of the packaging when I stored it with similar tags shapes. I covered two in Black Diamond Ice Stickles and the other in red WOW glitter. I added about 3 different layers of glitter to get a nice thick solid look.
9. I then stamped Angle Wings on a piece of acetate with Staz On Black. Once dry, I fussy cut it and glittered the backing with Ice Stickels.
   
10. While I waited for the glitter to dry I added a heart shaped eyelet at the top.
11. I then glittered a piece of organza ribbon and waited till it dried before attaching it to my tag.
12. I then added our wedding date with some rub-on letters from my stash. (also purchased a very long time ago)
13.  I proceeded to create the foil words for my tag, using a texture plate I bought during my visit to South Africa in 2013. 
14. To do this, put the texture plate face up on your multipurpose platform of your Big Shot or A plate.
15. Put the foil colour side upwards on top of your texture plate and cover with embossing rubber and spacer plate. Finally add one cutting plate and roll through the machine. (Please note I played with different texture plates to make sure I get the words that best fit my tag)
    
    
    
    
    
    
16. Using you Tim Holtz sander, carefully sand the embossed surface of your foil to reveal the silver words and cut.
17. Since my words are all in Afrikaans, I decided to translate them for your purposes:
18. EK LIEF JOU - I Love you
19. JY's MYNE - You are mine
20. Troudag -Wedding day
21. When my embellishment pieces were finally dry I assembled it together and added a few feathers and charms. (Big thank you for the inspiration AngelaVenableArt, just loved your January Tag
22. Finally I printed mini tags to add to finish it off.

Product List
Tags (3.5" x 5.5"): Kaszazz; News Agent
Ink: Staz On ink, Ranger Distress Ink -  Black Soot  
Stencil: - Tim Holtz Eye Chart
Texture Plate: Creaticca Studio (creaticcastudio@gmail.com)
Craft Metal: Creaticca Studio
Sanding Grip: Tim Holtz
Die: Tim Holtz Alterations
Border Punch: X-cut
Embossing Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Embossing powder: KaszazzIce Stickles - Ranger
Stamps:  Kaszazz
Glitter: WOW
Organza Ribbon:Kaszazz
Cardstock hearts: Cre8tiv
Trinkets
Eyelet
Rub on letters

Feathers

January Kraft It Up Challenge

Hello everyone

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this little Christmas Break, which allows me to get a bit crafty and get the creative juices flowing. So today, I'd like to share my take on the Kraft It Up Challenge for January. 

The Criteria is to use washi tape, a number and a summer photo, working with the follow sketch:

So this is my take on it:

For the purpose of this challenge, I used washi tape to create a photomat for my photos.

The Title:

The title (February 2004) proved to be quite a challenge as my only white rub-on letters has deteriorated over time and had no numbers. I found a solution by using the ones I had and filled in the gaps with little bits from other letters with similar curves. To resolve the number issue, I used a z as the number 2, the letter o instead of 0 and finally a skewed x for the 4. To complete the 4, I again filled in the extra line with another line from another broken letter.

The rose vine:

To construct the rose vine, I covered florist wire with a craft paper string. I then bent it into shape, according to where I wanted the roses on my layout and attached them one by one.

Detail on the patterned paper:

I first fussy cut some shapes from my patterned craft paper and then colored some lines with smooch ink to match with my cardstock and photos.


Product List:

Cardstock: Francheville Kraft Boutique Paper Pad, Cre8tiv
Craft Paper: Dotty's Craft
Ink: Smooch Moonlight, Sassy Pink
Stamps: KAISERscrapbook Doodled frames
Rub-ons: Chriswick
Flowers: Little Birdie Boutique Elements
String
Washi tape