TIM HOLTZ' 12 TAGS OF 2014 FEBRUARY TAG

Sliding in at the bewitching hour, I have a tag to present to Tim Holtz' 12 tags of 2014.  I loved the technique Tim presented in his tutorial.  I used all of his steps including distress staining the tag, and stenciling the tag in three colors (tattered rose, worn lipstick, and finally fired brick) using TH Dot Fade stencil.  I then covered the entire tag with clear EP and embossed.  LOVE the shiny effect!!

I then created my "chalkboard" with the sentiment on it.  After that, I went astray.  I used some wooden hearts (found at Paper Whimsey).  I love working with patterned paper and mixing and matching prints.  I used papers from My Mind's Eye Reunion.  The hearts were covered and stacked and then placed on a bed of crinoline.  The small heart became my "chunky heart" after it was drowned in Distress Glitter.

I made a love token (wooden blank from Paper Whimsey) using TH Crackled Paint.  I stamped LOVE TOKEN and used Distress Glitter on the wings.  Of course there had to be an arrow through my heart since the person receiving this LOVE TOKEN shot right through it.  AND, that person also received the KEY to my heart, so it's pretty much a done deal!

Again, I loved the stamping and embossing technique Mr. Holtz taught us this month.  Love learning new techniques. Thank you, Mr. Holtz!

FRILLY AND FUNKIE CHALLENGE - FEBRUARY 2014

I was first introduced to paper flowers by the one and only Funkie Junkie and now have become enamored and maybe a little obsessed with paper flowers.  It's pretty amazing what beauty can be created by using patterned papers and many different assembly techniques.  For the Bloomin' Marvelous challenge at Frilly and Funkie, I decided to go big.  I wanted to test the waters and see if paper flowers would give enough visual impact to use on a wreath. This endeavor turned out to be quite extensive.  Paper flowers DO make for a very pleasing visual when placed upon a wreath - however, many, many, many flowers are needed!

Still need more flowers!!

Using TH's Tattered Flowers dye, Sizzix Rose 3-D, Sizzlets Branch with leaves, and Sizzix Build a Lilac dies and watching hours and hours of instructional videos found within my favorite blogs and You Tube, the wreath was built step by step.

Using tulle draped and attached to the wreath base, I began to build the layers.

The papers chosen were basically pink and delicate floral patterns.  Graphics 45 Ladies' Diary made into flowers turned out beautiful and so feminine, which is the look I was going for!  For some of the flowers, I used white CS and stamped the background with TH Worn Lipstick.

After all of the flowers were attached, I decided to personalize the wreath and make it a "new baby wreath" for someone really special.

So, my conclusion - paper flowers ROCK a wreath!