Bella's Creative Space

I have had the busiest but BEST ever 2 weeks of my life so far this year.  I have been participating in the CC101 online class with Tim Holtz and he has been so generous with his information, product knowledge and I can't begin to imagine how much time and effort he has put into it.  If you did not do it but still want to, you can register and participate at any time in the future.  Just click on the participant button on my side bar and you will be taken straight there.

The tags above are the culmination of all the "homework" we have been given to practice the knowledge and skills he has imparted from each days class.  I have participated in the last few years of 12 tags of Christmas and Grungy Mondays challenges as well as read and tried all the techniques in his Compendium of Curiosities book 1 but nothing has come close to learning directly from the "professor" one on one in my home studio!

Now I need to get my inky paws on his Compendium of Curiosities book 2 which I might just order on line from him directly where I can get an autographed copy...

and before you say it...I will...yes I am a Tim Holtz product junkie or addict, call me what you want in that line and you would be quite right!

There should be an AA group for people like me, but at least I know I am not alone...

"Hello, my name is Belinda Basson (aka Bella) and I am a Tim Holtz Product Addict!"

Thanks for the visit.

Bela

Hello there fellow desk hoppers!  I am loving how many of us WOYWWers are doing the Tim Holtz class CC101...I am up to date with watching the videos as of yesterday, busy downloading today's but am DAYS behind in my homework...its is called stretching out the fun!  Class finishes this week and I want something to look forward to next week and so am dilly dallying on getting on with it...sort of like I did at school. 20 years on and nothing has changed!  Well truth be told, I only got my grubby paws on those distress markers yesterday and that was for Mondays class.  By all accounts I am lucky to have these as some countries have not received theirs yet.  I know Ranger is full tilt ahead with packing and posting these little beauties.

I am busy with an order for specific cards for one of my students, so that is what you see on my desk today and the rest is just debris left over from doing the tags for Tim's class.

Now I am off to Julia's desk where she is still managing to host the world wide desk hop while not actually being at her desk...gotta love how us women can multitask!

Thanks for the visit

Bella

Well if you are participating in the Creative Chemistry 101 then you will know what the abbreviation in my title stands for...I got behind on my homework on Thursday and Friday and had to do a little catching up this Sunday morning...not that you have to keep up with the days of the class or anything, it is designed to be done in your own time and you have a lifetimes access to the notes and videos, but I prefer to keep on top of the class schedule cos we have another 5 fun filled days with Tim ahead...

Oh how I have loved doing this course.  It is like having Tim on tap in my studio every day. I am assuming that Ranger U is something like this class only you get to go to the factory and really experience it hands on and not to forget the square pizza that is a legend at Ranger U.

Mario keeps up up to speed with the Behind The Scenes (BTS) photos on Twitter and Face Book, so the anticipation builds as the day goes on almost like the 12 Tags of Christmas used to be.

Well, if you have two children you know how it goes...you can't do for one what you haven't done for the other!  So I had taken a photo for the "Where in the World is your Vagabond" thing going on at the  Sizzix blog of my one Vagabonds at the foot of Table Mountain yesterday and promised the other one that I would take it with to the other side of the bay for its photo shoot today.

This has been such fun!  I have loved showing you where I live and the iconic rock we have situated BANG in the middle of our city.  I live behind it in what is called the Southern Suburbs...The area that I have taken this from is called Table View for obvious reasons I guess...






And Tammy if you are reading this, I am not after two sets of keys, I just happen to have two Vagabonds  cos I broke my first one by not seeing the instructions of not using two sizlet strips at once on the shim, cos I don't use the shim...cos I stick the packaging on the die and had to get another Vagabond to finish kitting for a class I was teaching of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas to 20 ladies at the end of that week...My hubby fixed the one I broke cos he is clever that way and so now I have two, lucky me!

For those of you who don't know, Tim Holtz has changed his 12 tags of Christmas to the 12 Tags of 2012.  He issued his first tag in February and then another one in March...

Over at the Scrapbook Factory shop in Salt River, we decided that every second month when there are 2 new tags we are going to do them as a class.

So today was the first of those classes where I taught 11 awesome ladies the Valentines and Butterfly tags and boy did we have fun.

Not all the dies and stamps are available yet here in Sunny South Africa so I changed things up a bit design wise, but kept the techniques the same.






Here are some of my ladies at the end of the class with their finished or nearly finished tags.  Unfortunately I did not get a shot of the shop owner Carolyn and another lady who had gone to do some retail therapy in the store upstairs, but they were there, I promise you they were!

Thanks for stopping by.

Bella

Over at the Sizzix blog they have a thing going where you can get a set of keys that help you with choosing what plates you need to use...when you upload a photo of where your vagabond is residing or even on location!

Well I took mine to a class I was teaching today in Salt River at the Scrapbook Factory shop and did a little detour on the way home past the Castle at the foot of our famous Table Mountain!  So here is my Vagabond languishing in the grass on location!

Tomorrow it's twin (yes I have two Vagabonds...one on and one under my desk as you see below...) might come with me (cos you have to be fair you know - can't be seen to have a favorite...)to the other side of the bay and have its photo taken on the beach with the whole mountain in the background...its a rather large rock in the middle of our city you see...watch this space!

Firstly I would like to thank May for bringing to my attention that the horrid word thingy was on my blog.  I had "tested" by commenting on my own blog and it did not ask me for it...that is because my blog knows who I am as the author and it does not need to ask me for verification...  Anyhoooo

I looked up on Google for help on how to turn it off and found this web site called 66Square Feet and they have a very simple explanation that I will copy and paste here for you so you can check and see if you have it on yours...

You cannot turn them off from the new interface.
Go to your old dashboard.  
Find your old dashboard by clicking on the settings icon (little grey wheel/cog) top right of your new interface.
It will give you a dropdown menu.
Click on Old Blogger interface
From there proceed to Settings, then Comments.
Uncheck Word Verification.

It was so simple when I knew how!

Now on to Tim's March Tag:

I did make one earlier with other dies and stamps, but could not resist buying the little butterflies die when I saw them in my local Scrapbook shop...they smiled at me!

I chose to use a stamp in the background that is made locally here in South Africa.  It does not have any branding on it so I could not tell you who makes it, but it is stunning in my opinion.

Also, I don't have those metal flowers so I chose to use the pine cone die and made a rose which I had also stamped with the background stamp so that it all matches...

Thanks for the visit, I really appreciate it.

Bella

This is my latest project on my desk.

My moms going to a 75th birthday bash on Sunday and this afternoon (being Friday) she casually asked if I had any finished tins just lying around and blow me down I did!  It was rather full of bling and flowers so it needed some revamping to make it a bit more masculine, but I think it worked out ok.  The tin is covered in torn telephone directory and inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and over stamped with Archival ink.

Peter (the birthday boy) worked in Kodak about 40 years ago which is where my dad knew him from so the Tim Holtz film strip ribbon was the perfect stuff to put round the tin.  I also used some of his idea-ology in the form of the memory key and the game spinner for some added interest and the lettering which I die cut from Tim's Vintage Market Sizzix strip got a dose of Glossy accents for good measure.



Every guest has been asked to write a letter full of memories of their past together and so my mom is hoping that this tin will be the perfect gift for him to keep all his letters in.

Thanks for the visit, its always nice to know that I am not just talking to myself!

EDIT:  My mom gave him the tin yesterday and it was gone over with a fine tooth comb, he even noted the film strip and appreciated the thought that went into making it.  It is so nice when someone takes the time to really look at and enjoy what you have put hours of love and attention into.  So often it is just glossed over.

Bella

Well, I only had the sentiment for this tag...the new stuff from CHA has not landed in South Africa yet...

I am waiting in anticipation for the wood grain stamp, but in the mean time I made my own by finding a photo of wood on line and using my Teresa Collins stamp maker and making my own one.

Then I set about using the fanciful flight die for the butterfly.  I don't have the cement embossing powder so I used Peeled Paint instead to give the tag a bit more colour and repaced the bits of paper with Color Wash using my little paint brush and then put glossy accents on the top wings and Diamond Stickles in the bottom wings.

I really enjoyed the process of making this tag even though I did not stick to the actual brief as it were.


What I love about Tim's stuff is that he gives you the idea and what you do with it is up to you....I have some other projects in mind that would really suit this technique for Christmas time...see can't do these tags without thinking of Christmas, I am pre-programmed!