Nimble Fingers

Does this picture take you back to when cars had hood ornaments?


I started out with a #11 tag and inked it up with Picket Fence Distress Stain, but not all over.  On top of that is Vintage Photo and Weathered Wood Distress inks and water droplets.  Around the edge is Aged Mahogany Distress ink.  The right side of the tag was run through Provo Craft's embossing folder, Heart Blocks.  On the left I stamped the love definition (Purely Random in Vermillion Archival ink.  At the bottom is a strip from Tim's license plate card stock that was aged with Vintage Photo DI.

The jalopy was cut out of cardboard covered with sticky tape.  LOTS of Stampendous glitter was used to cover it.  Using Tim's Alphabetical die I chose the lower case 'l', 'v', and 'e'; the heart (Mini Love Struck die set) is shrink plastic.  A LOT of Glossy Accents covers it all up so the car looks like metallic paint and really sparkles!

Cupid was cut from black shrink plastic...voila...a hood ornament for the old jalopy!  I cut apart a sticker from the Seasonal Salvage Sticker package so I have the faces of a little boy and little girl in the windows (recycled packaging from the dies) and the heart is in Cupid's hand.

The Valentine ticket is from Odds and Ends, stamped in Jet Black Archival ink on red card stock.  The edges were distressed with my scissors, Vintage Photo DI was smeared over the ticket.  It's attached with the Mini Clip.

HVAC tape was adhered to card stock and run through the Typeset die.  The 'x' and the 'o' were smeared with Jet Black Archival ink so they'd look better with the Gunmetal glitter than the original silver color.

Metallic silver and red ribbon finish off the tag.

This tag qualifies for the Simon Says Stamp & Show blog theme (anything goes) as well as the Grungy Monday 36 theme (A Holtzian Valentine).

Please disregard all the imperfections in the Glossy Accents.  It's so thick that some cracks appeared as well as bubbles that would NOT go away. 

Thought you might enjoy seeing a card I made recently using Studio 490 stamps.

Nature's Art - gingham background, leaf (Olive Archival)
Lower Case Art - newspaper text background
Dimensional Rose Art - find delight...(Jet Black Archival), numbers background (Coffee Archival)
Make Mine Mini Art - windmill flowers, butterfly (Jet Black Archival)
All About Art - polka dot background (Coffee Archival)
Rose Art Part 2 - leafy background (Olive Archival)

The butterfly was stamped in Jet Black Archival onto Clearly For Art and colored with Adirondack markers  The large flower was stamped onto grunge paper in JBA; the windmill flowers were stamped on card stock also in JBA.

Using Tim's Typeset die I cut out the name in turquoise kraft core'dinations and sanded the edges before removing the letters from the paper strip.

I used the following Distress inks:  Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Aged Mahogany, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss.

Miscellaneous:  tan/black and turquoise gingham ribbons, wire for butterfly's antenna, buttons (flower centers), twine (buttons)

I wasn't going to buy Tim's mini Love Struck die set.  I have several heart dies already and when else would you use cupid except around Valentine's Day or maybe anniversaries?  When I saw the die hanging next to the mini Old Glory die set I had an idea instantly.  What would Tim's mini cupid look like without wings?  He looks mighty fine...
and he carries that flag like a true patriot! 

I followed along with Tim's description of how he made his tag but went with a red, white and blue color scheme and a patriotic theme.

I cut cupid out of cardboard, cut off his wings, striped him with dabbers, then painted him with Stickles.  Before they were completely dry I wiped them off leaving just a hint of sparkle around the edges.  Looks really cool IRL.

The flag was also cut from cardboard but was colored with distress inks and Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

The stars folder was run through the Big Shot with the dark blue kraft core'dinations paper and trimmed to fit the tag.  Using Tim's sanding block I removed some of the color.  The edges of the tag were distressed with the edge of my scissors.  I also sanded some of the embossed lettering on the tag before running a brown distress ink all over everything to age it. 

I stuck down some HVAC tape on cardstock then ran it through my Big Shot using the Vintage Lace die.  I scuffed up the silver so the Coffee Archival ink would stick to it and make it look older.  Glossy Accents holds it on the bottom of the tag.

Uncle Sam was stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink on white shrink plastic that had a light hint of brown ink smeared on it.  Cut out the image, punched a small hole using my Cropadile then shrank it.  I happened to have a spool of red, white and blue crochet thread on hand; it was dunked into some brown distress stain and water to age it...white was not right!

It was fun playing with the honeycomb paper by Inky Antics.  However, Tim's tiny star was maybe just a bit on the small side.  I tapped a brown distress ink on the edges before cutting it in half...that was the most difficult part!  The stickers were distressed and aged with the sanding block and more distress ink.

Wait 'til you see what I do with cupid next!  Stay tuned for Sunday's post...


Products used:

Ranger:  Denim, Cranberry, Snow Cap paint dabbers; Xmas Red, Midnight Blue, Frosted Lace Stickles; Faded Jeans, Fired Brick, Gathered Twigs, Tea Dye, Chipped Sapphire, Aged mahogany, Walnut Stain Distress inks; Rock Candy Distress Stickles; Jet Black, Coffee Archival inks; Glossy Accents

Sizzix:  Mini Love Struck Set, Mini Old Glory Set, Vintage Lace, Americana Print embossing folder, stars embossing folder

TH:  Americana Silhouettes stamps, distress core'dinations cardstock, Seasonal Salvage Stickers

Misc.: #8 manila tag, cardboard, twine, HVAC tape, Inky Antics honeycomb paper, jump ring

Do you find yourself using some stamps over and over while others are virgins where ink is concerned?  The Stampers Anonymous Yahoo group decided to work on that and have issued the challenge to create a tag for the February swap featuring at least one SA stamp that hasn't been dirtied and another one (or more) as partial images.  I don't have all that many unused SA stamps but did find these (small bird & nest from Tim's Artful Flight, filmstrip frame from Captured Moments and the log from School Desk).

*Fragments, jump rings, kraft paper, #8 manila tag, #1 manila tag, vintage book page, Martha Stewart seam binding, Sepia Copic marker, recycled waxy postal envelope, foam tape

I tried to add this to yesterday's post but Blogger wouldn't let me.  So, this card gets its own!  Thanks to my friend north of the border, I get a lovely embossed card wishing me a wonderful day.  She does lots of embossing and it's always fun to see what she's done.

It's never too late to celebrate your special day!

Thought I'd share with you the handmade cards I received for my special day.  I'm so honored to have such creative friends.  Thank you all!!!

Not only am I happy the way this ATC turned out but happy that it meets the requirements for 3 challenges!  Grungy Monday asks for a Holtzian themed ATC, Simon Says Stamp & Show asks for a special recipe using torn edges, distress inks, wings and buttons, and the Making Art Challenge on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo group asks for custom epoxy embellishments (memo pins filled with Glossy Accents and art).

My recipe for happiness and success starts out with ingredients from Ranger and Stampers Anonymous:

1 Ranger black ATC blank
2 Stampers Anonymous designers
3 things with wings and tiny buttons
4 torn edges

To this I added Worn Lipstick Distress Stickles; Clearly For Art (clear, white and black); Idea-ology game spinner and long fastener; Adage ticket; Inkssentials white pen; black and white Enamel Accents; Adirondack markers (red pepper, stonewashed, denim); Glue N' Seal; Snow Cap and Juniper Pigment Inks; Sizzix mini butterfly die; Jet Black and Vermillion Archival inks; Old Paper, Gathered Twigs, Walnut Distress inks; Gold Encore ink; Studio 490 stamp sets: Lower Case Art (b), Make Mine Mini Art (butterfly), Botanical Art (butterfly), Mail Art (tree); Tim Holtz stamp sets: Playful Journey (enjoy the journey, grid), Purely Random (scroll stamped on butterfly), Art Travel (map); page from vintage book (butterfly)

You just can't go wrong with these quality manufacturers and their designers!