Big Show This Weekend With a Whole New Look

 I have a big show this weekend and my booth got a total revamp after my last show 2 weeks ago.   I am still new at the craft shows so it is a bit trial and error.  At the few shows I had 3 tables set up but it reduced the foot traffic space in my booth.  At times there were so many people trying to see items that we had some traffic jams and people had to return later when it cleared out.  So I decided to give my booth a remodel and build some walls.  I am now able to get a lot of the merchandise up off of the tables and display them on the walls (eliminating a table) and increased my traffic pattern in my booth.   Plus the tables that I do have set up are much more accessable now!  I will have lots of new handmade creations along with everyones favorites.   I hope everyone that is in the area will stop by and say HI!  I was able to meet some of you at my last show which was wonderful! 

 This weekend, March 17th and 18th, I will be at Harper College 

for the Festival of Art and Craft Show there.

1200 W. Algonquin Rd., Building M

(corner of Algonquin and Roselle Rd.)

Palatine, IL

200 booths

Saturday 9am - 4pm

Sunday 10am - 4pm

$3.00 admission

Get map

then next weekend you can find me at the

Shower of Craft Show at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

College of Dupage Gymnasium
Park Blvd. & College St.,
Glen Ellyn, IL
200 booths

 March 24th and 25th Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 11am - 4pm
Get Map

Sublime Design Paperie is open!

The craft show went very well this past weekend.  Thank you for all of you that came out to see me.  I hope you found some goodies.   My next one is in two weeks at Harper College you can find out all the details HERE. 

A few weeks ago I told you that I was working on a big surprise for all of you.  I think I am ready to spill the beans... because of the tremendous response all of you have given to me I wanted to give something back to you.  I have decided to open an online store and offer you some of the products that I love so much and that you are always hearing me boast about and I am going to offer everything at well below retail prices.  I have decided to name my new store Sublime Design Paperie.  I will have links to it in future projects and if I don't have it I will let you know where you can find it as I always have in the past.   I know many of you do not have craft stores nearby and some may find it difficult to find what they are looking for.  I would love to hear feedback from you all as to what you are interested in seeing stocked at Sublime Design Paperie.  I am in the process of putting in my first orders now so please let me know what your favorites are so I can have my store well stocked.  I hope you are all as excited about this as I am.  There are a few items in the store now if you are just dying to go shopping but there are lots more to come... 

Creative Chemistry 101

I have been signed up for a while now but I wanted to let you all know about Tim's first online class, Creative Chemistry 101.  It runs March 19th - April 2nd. I'm sure his class is going to be packed full of great techniques and surprises.   By reading the class description (you can find it HERE) I'm super excited to get experimenting with Tim.  That's one of my favorite things to do, just start playing with my materials and just see what happens. I'll be posting all of my technique tags for you to see but I will be leaving it up to Tim to teach you how to create them.  The class is only $35 for 2 weeks of great info and lifelong access to the info.  Sounds like a deal to me!  I've taken classes with Tim before and I learn something new every time, not to mention that he's a fun guy.   Another class that I enjoyed from OnlineCardClasses.com  this past year was Inspiration Showcase with Jennifer McQuire which I see is still offered but is now an independent study course.   Hope to see you in the Creative Chemistry classroom.

Compendium of Curiousities #2

It's almost here!!! Tim's the Compendiumof Curiosities volume 2 is to be released very soon. I just ordered mine this morning from the big guy himself. If you had the wonderful opportunity to see his last Compendium of Curiosities book you already know it's not just like any other book. Each page takes you step by step in full color through amazing techniques. Linda at Studio L3 hosted a challenge that brought us through all techniques in the book. Once a week she would choose a technique from the book and challenge us to create something using that technique. I did every single one and was sooo glad I did. Every one I did as a tag and keep them on a ring in my Ranger Station. They are great inspiration and because I've labeled the backs of each with the technique I can reference how to do it if needed. You can find my original post HERE. If you are like me and want to get a autographed copy of Tim's newest book you can order it straight from the big guy himself just click HERE to go to his site where you can pre-order your copy.  And don't forget to check out Linda's Compendium of Curiosities 2 challenge, you will LOVE it!

Here are a few of the tags that I created from the first book

Design Detail Tag

Journey Tag

Time Flies Tag

Be Yourself Tag

Rusted Grunge Tag

Alcohol Ink Splatter Tag

Fragment Charm Tag

Alcohol Ink Agate Tag

Grunge Flower Tag

Blended Blatik Tag

Crackle Paint Distress Tag

Totally Grunge Tag

Ok, that's just a few of what I made for the first challenge ...

I can't wait to see what's in store for the second...

Wearable Art - Grungy Monday 37

 This weeks Grungy Monday hosted by Linda at Studio L3 is Wearable Art with Tim Holtz products.  And everybody knows how I love everything Tim!  I must have a knack for them as my pocketwatches that I bring to shows have been featured in the Daily Hearld newspaper. Most I don't share online but  I thought I would share a few of them with you today.

One of my favorites. 

 Most housewifes can relate to this one when they need to escape reality once in a while.

Febuary Tag of 2012

As some of you may have heard Tim Holtz is no longer going to do the 12 Tags of Christmas instead he will be doing the a tag a month for the 12 Tags of 2012!!! I love this idea! Having done all of the 12 tags of Christmas I don't know what to do with them all except to use them as inspiration and to bring them out at Christmas for display. This way I can display my current tag and keep all past tags as inspiration and for info as to how to do a certain technique.  Here is my tag for this month.  You can check out Tim's tag HERE and find out all the awesome techniques used to make this tag.

 I have a little tip for pleating the tissue tape.  If you are concerned with the back ruffle being sticky, rub a little baby powder on it to un-stick it.  You can also do this to stickers and other embellishments.

March Madness

This March is going to be a busy one for me!   I'm doing 2 crafts big shows which I'm very excited about.  I'm working on filling my piggy bank for a big surprise for all of you!  One that I hope you will be as excited about as I am.    If you are in the area please come on by and stop by my booth.   I have tons of stuff there that I don't have in my online store.  Plus, I would love to meet you!  Hope to see you there :)

March 3rd and 4th I'll be back at the DuPage Expo
for the Festival of Art and Craft Show.

DuPage Expo Center

4050 E. Main St

St. Charles, IL

(on North Ave. across from Pheasant Run)

170 booths

Saturday 9am - 4pm

Sunday 10am - 4pm

$2.00 admission

Get map

I am then heading over to Harper College March 17th and 18th.

for the Festival of Art and Craft Show there.

Harper College

1200 W. Algonquin Rd.

(corner of Algonquin and Roselle Rd.)

Palatine, IL

200 booths

Saturday 9am - 4pm

Sunday 10am - 4pm

$3.00 admission

Get map

Lastly, I finish off the month with the Shower of Craft Show on
March 24th and 25th at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.
College Of DuPage
College of Dupage Gymnasium
Park Blvd. & College St.,
 Glen Ellyn, IL
200 booths
 Saturday 10am - 4pm
 Sunday 11am - 4pm
Get Map

Tissue Tape Explained

I have gotten lots of questions on what exactly Tissue Tape is and how I use it.  Let me first show you this awesome way that I store my tissue tape.  I started with a paper towel holder that I found at TJMaxx.  The top flourish unscrews to have access to the long metal pole.  I then found some awesome vintage receipt holders on Ebay and Etsy.  I used Glue N' Seal from Inksenntials to affix the receipt holders to the base of the paper towel holders.  That way I can move my collection of tissue tapes and washi tapes around my room to wherever I am working.  I love it!  I am going to keep looking for 2 more of the receipt holders.  I want to keep a space free so I can access the bottom tapes on the long rod without having to remove them.  

Now that I have them perfectly stored what to do with them...  You use them any way you use Washi tape but tissue tape has some really awesome characteristics.  They are slightly transparent so you can layer them over prints or color and it will show through.  I like to color mine with my Distress Inks. 

I tried to color the tissue tape with Distress Stain but it beaded up on the top and didn't take to the tissue like the Distress Ink does.  After blasting with the heat gun it did keep some of the color and gave it a more distressed blotchy color, I kind of like it but not for all projects.

My next one, I added Distress in using the applicator.  This give a light hint of color.  I was using the dark Aged Mahogany and the color was nice and subtle.

The third piece of tissue tape I used the Distress Ink pad directly on the tissue tape for the true color of the Aged Mahogany!  This is by far my favorite!  I love the deep rich color!    

This close up pic you can see the differences of the 3 techniques for adding color to your tissue using the same color but different methods of achieving the application.

I couldn't let this beautiful tape go to waste so I made a little notebook with it.  I layered the tissues on the bottom and created a rosette by simply pleating the tissue tape and adding a button to the center. 

Here are a couple other posts using Tissue Tape

http://creationsbychristie.blogspot.com/2011/02/configurated-configuation-boxes.html

http://creationsbychristie.blogspot.com/2010/06/fragments-tag-challenge.html

http://creationsbychristie.blogspot.com/2011/08/weeks-grungy-monday-challenge-was-using.html

http://creationsbychristie.blogspot.com/2010/10/dabber-resist-tag.html

Color Labeling the RANGER STATION

I made further improvements upon the Ranger Station.  I color labeled the tops of all my lids so that I could easily find just the right color for the project.  It was quite easy and terrifically fun to do.  I ran a scrap piece of  white card stock through my Xyron sticker maker so that it was ready for my lids.  I then cut out a bunch of 5/8" circles using my Marvy round punch. 

I decided to start with the Distress Stains first.  I placed all the stickers on the lids and colored them in place.  You can, of course, color them first and them adhere them.  I just find it easier this way.  And here is a great TIP... to get the backing off of the sticker, stab the back in the center with a pin and remove.  Not only is it way easier to remove the backing but you essentially are shish-kabobing all the left over backings making clean up a breeze!

My next step was to simply start staining all the tops of the stain lids. So quick and easy.  And a great reference to have at a glance!

I also added a drop on the tops of my Dimensional Pearls.

 Next came the messier, which for me is the part I really enjoy! I used one of my favorite and probably one of the cheapest tools you can have in your craft studio...Q-Tips!  You can get a huge bag at the $1 store or on sale.  I use them all the time to mix try out a color.  Add a little of this or that.  You get the picture! 

 I use the Q-Tips to add just the right amount to my stickers that I had already put on to my Adirondack Paint Dabbers (1st picture in the post) and the Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints.  I  am in love with my new Ranger Station!  Now it's time to CREATE!!!

Distress Station!

I'm updating it already.,.  the Distress Station name has been changed to the "Ranger Station"  since it's not all Distress products and it is mostly Ranger.  I thought it was more appropriate as the Ranger station.  And as a camper, I like the play on words too.

The Distress Station has been born!  I'm always rearranging my studio to best suit my needs.  I have several stations in my room, such as my die cutting area, an area which I keep all my tiny adornments and all that I need to attach them, computer area, etc. Probably the area that I love the most is my messiest and most used.  My "distress" area for lack of a better name.  It has all my Distress inks, stains, crackles, etc.  I did some rearranging so that on the counter in front of me is my Studio paints, Daubers, Shimmer Sprays, Crackle Paints, and Distress Stains.  To the right of me is all of my Distress Inks and applicators.  In the drawer under the counter is my well loved collection of Alcohol Inks.  And with a swivel of my chair I have full access to all of my Embossing Powders.  I  think this is going to work for me!  My crafty heaven my not be as pristine as before but now I can have access to all by favorite things at my fingertips. 

What I used for my display trays are Cabinet Organizers from the Container Store.  They are a 1/4 round and have 3 tiers.  I just placed 2 together to make a half circle against the wall.  Now I have a eye appealing display that is also extremely functional!