My Stamping Playground

Tim Holtz Fever!!!

I had such a great response to our "Virtual Class with Tim Holtz," that a few more of us got together this last Saturday to try out some more techniques. I love this weeks tags even more than last weeks. Check them out. (You can check out the individual tags in the "Projects" album on the sidebar.)

You've really got to try this out. It is so much fun, and you get to play with all those toys you don't know what to do with. One of the girls, Naomi Chokr, loved it so much, she said she is going to start using these techniques on her cards. I had so much fun, I just want to keep making more and more tags. I just don't know what to do with them all. LOL!

Thanks again Tim. We love your work!

Happy Stamping!

Terry B. Lee

Playground Coach

Tweety Jill Comes to the Playground

We may be a small, but we don't mess around here at the Playground. This past Friday we had our first celeberty come to teach a class for us. Jill Haglund, "Tweety Jill," of TJ Designs Rubber Stamps came to the Playground to teach us a wonderful project using some of her new stamps, card kits, and collage packs.

I first learned of Tweety Jill a few years ago, when my brother gave me one of her books, Creating Vintage Cards. I fell in love with the book, and have gotten a few of her other books since. My favorites are:

Creating Vintage Cards

Altered Art Projects

Rubber Stamping Artist Trading Cards

Recently, she launched a line of Rubber Stamps with coordinating card kits, and collage packs. They are wonderful products. The rubber stamps give you nice quality images, and the card kits and collage packs come packed full of unique vintage images that can be used in any project. Here are a few pictures of the project that we made in the class. We used the Vintage School Days Card Kit and created a unique table top display.

If you are interested in seeing Jill's new products in person, you can stop by K2 Scrapbook Studio in Sarasota, FL or click on the link below to see them on her web-site.

Click Here to go to Tweety Jill's Website

I'd like to thank Jill for taking the time to come to the playground to show us all her new products and teach us how to make that wonderful project. I hope we can do it again sometime soon. We all had a great time. Thanks again!

Happy Stamping!

Terry B. Lee

Playground Coach

A Virtual Class with Tim Holtz

My friend, Sheri Maruca, and I are both huge fans of Tim Holtz. So, this last Saturday, we decided to have our own customized class taught by Tim himself. We basically took out all of our Tim Holtz products and some manilla tags. Then we went to the Demo section of Tim Holtz web-site, and picked the techniques that we wanted to learn. It was a total blast. You can start and stop the demos whenever you want, so the class is always at your pace. Here are some of the techniques that we tried.

Distress Inks

This first tag was made using Tim's Distress Inks and blending tool. The Distress Inks are great for blending colors together.

This tag was made using the Distress Inks with a water spritzer and an iron. It's amazing how the color holds when it is wet. I love that crinkled look.

Distress Powders

In this tag, we were trying out Tim's Distress embossing powders. The blue hearts in the background are made using the powder. It's quite different than traditional embossing powders. It has the feel of sandpaper and is made to flake off a little to give it that distressed look. I also tried using some of Tim's Grunge Board, and new Grunge Paper. Love it!

Masks

The background on this tag was made using Tim's masks and Distress Inks. His masks are great, because they have a slight stick to them on the back, so the mask doesn't move the way most masks do. Also, they are clear, so "what you see is what you get." I loved that aspect of it, because you alway knew whether or not to add more ink to get the desire effect. I covered the bird with some of his Distress Stickels, and some of his Alcohol Inks to distres the number one. The little gears give it the perfect touch.

I strongly recommed everyone try their own customized class by Tim Holtz. I guarantee you two things: you will have a blast; you WILL get your hands dirty. :-) (It's no fun if you don't get dirty.)

I'd like to give Tim Holtz a special thanks for having all those wonderful demos on his site. What a great way to help people learn to use your product. Come on, I know you all have them, and some of you don't know what to do with them. Get out your toys and your laptop, and have some fun.

Click Here to See Tim Holtz' Demos

Happy Stamping!

Terry B. Lee

Playground Coach