Come and play...

... with the inaugural challenge at A Vintage Journey!  We're kicking off with an easy one, revolving around the main creative inspiration behind this new challenge blog - Tim Holtz - so we'd like to see Anything Tim!  That vintage, retro, grunge style of his; any Tim techniques that you love; something made using any of his products... they're all welcome!

You'll find inspiration galore from my fantastic team-mates over at A Vintage Journey, as well as all the challenge details but, before you rush off, here's my offering for you.

It started from wanting to use the bargain dies I got in the Sizzix Mega-Sale, and everything else - including me chanelling my ancestry to come up with the words - just sort of happened.  It was an absolute joy to play with pure Tim Holtz and, as you'll see from the photo-heavy post that follows, I got a little carried away!



I began by covering a 10x12 inch canvas board with tissue wrap, wrinkling as I glued it down.

Then lots of Distress Paints, splodged on, spritzed to marble-ise, and tilted to let them run.

I love how the wrinkles give you defined areas of colour in places.

Next some stencilling through the Rays with Broken China Distress Ink, which I clear embossed.  And then some more stencilling with the Cargo alphabet.

By this point, I'd decided to use the retro telephone and typewriter dies, so for one corner of the canvas I used the letters from the Cargo stencil to go with the typewriter, and in the other corner the numbers to go with the telephone.



I'm trying to keep it condensed, but remember, you can click on any of these photos for a close-up view if you like.

I love the glossy embossing over the grungy paint, and with the tissue wrap showing through...

I die-cut my focal pieces out of black kraft core, scuffing it up for a distressed look, and did another pass with some pale card for the extra bits.














I replaced the cardboard telephone cord with a bit of bead chain.














Pewter Distress Stain was a useful way to get a metallic look on the paler card.












I added a coat of gloss glaze to the black to get a hint of the vintage Bakelite sheen.














There's a sheet of paper tucked into the typewriter - but see how aged it is - that's how long it's been sitting there!










It was while I was making the phone and typewriter that a bit of my own vintage heritage surfaced... my inner Jewish Momma came bubbling to the surface with the age-old accusation : "You never call, you never write!".












So there were my words - stamped using the fabulous Worn Text alphabet stamps.

You can see it's done on some card with one of my favourite Tim techniques - the trusty spritz and flick - and layered up on some paler card, all shabbied up with the Paper Distresser.











I needed more stamping, so I started adding extra layers onto the background. 

So there are pen nibs to (not) write with too...











...and clocks marking how much time passes without any phone calls or letters...











... not even a PostCard!

Once all the stamping was in place, I could start to glue stuff down.










I pulled out lots of Idea-ology bits to echo the themes... I'm hoping this Vintage Journey will encourage me to use rather than hoard them!

More clocks to beef up the sense of time tick-tocking away between communications.










The typewriter charms were an obvious choice.













And of course some little metal numbers - altered with Distress Paint and Enamelware embossing powder...

... just as a reminder, because, you know, maybe you just forgot the number to call!










And - finally! - some corners to finish the whole thing off... Tim Holtz overdose, you might think?  

Nope, once I'd finished, it just made me want to start playing all over again!




Do hop over and see what the rest of the team have been making over at A Vintage Journey, and we hope you'll come and play with Anything Tim too.  You have two weeks, and we can't wait to see what you create.

You never call, you never write!
Many, many mothers
(Not only Jewish ones - but look, there's even a book! Not to mention the genius of the BT Beattie ads...)

From one inaugural challenge to another - I'd like to enter this in the brand new That's Crafty! Challenge Blog where Anything Goes.
With my glossy rays gleaming in the sun, I'd also like to play along with Stencils and Texture over at Frilly and Funkie.
And with all those clocks measuring the time elapsed between calls, I'm popping it into Tick Tock at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.