“All Tim Holtz Card” with new Tim Holtz Stamp Platform

I got my new Tim Holtz Stamp Platform!! Thinking I may make an ‘All Tim Holtz’ card to break in my new tool!!!

I recently got this Sizzix / Tim Holtz Alterations stamp and die set “Compass Blueprint” that caught my eye on line. This was right around $19 for the set – which seems to me a very good price considering you get 3 nice rubber stamps and 5 dies. Brand name dies are so expensive, you’ll often pay $20 just for 5 dies with no extras. I haven’t used this set yet, so It seems a good one to use with my ‘All Tim Holtz’ card…!!

I rarely buy 12’X12″ paper packs – no real need for that big of patterned paper when making cards. However, I can’t resist a deal, and I have always admired Tim Holtz’s paper packs. When I found this Crowded Attic Paper Stash by Tim Holtz Idea-ology on-line for $9.29 I jumped at the deal. Regular price for a 12X12 TH paper pad runs at least $15. A heck of a bargain! I like the Tim Holtz pads because they offer the initial full page designs reduced to quarter-page size (6X6) and then even smaller at 2″. That makes what might be too large of a pattern for a card, more in line with the scale of an A2 card. I think I will use this Paper stash for my “All Tim Holtz’ card to christen my new Tim Holtz Stamp Platform.

We received a new Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink pad in Worn Lipstick with the Simon Says Stamp June 2017 ‘Blissful’ Card Kit. I was so impressed with this ink that I did purchase the other 11 pads from this first release of Oxide Inks. I LOVE THESE INK PADS. So versatile, very blend-able, works great for stamping, reacts with water… the list goes on and on with this new line of Distress Inks. Of course, the minute I got that whole set, Ranger released the second set of 12 Oxide Ink pad colors… sigh… So… let’s add the Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink pad to do my stamping, and my ‘All Tim Holtz’ card is starting to take shape! A simple Kraft card base will work well. I like the Recollections (Michael’s) Kraft card stock – very inexpensive, and I like the nice medium tone with this card stock – not too light, not too dark. I tend to shop the sales at Michael’s where you can get the 50 sheet card stock packs for $2.50. Now that’s a bargain at a nickle a sheet!

The Crowded Attic Paper Stash by Tim Holtz Idea-ology has a great map of the Pacific Ocean… Of course it’s way too big in the 12″ X 12″ sheet but it’s perfect for an A2 card in the 6″ x 6″ size. There are also a number of 6″ X 6″ distress colors on the back sides of the reduced patterns. I really like the dark red, brown, sage green and beige colors on this other sheet from the pack, so I’ll use those colors for the different parts of the compass. I do want to conserve as much of that map pattern paper as possible so I divide that piece into four 6″ X 1.5″ pieces. I can get four cards out of that one piece of patter paper that way.!

Okay… lets wrap this up! I seem to have lost or inadvertently deleted my stamping pics so let’s just go right to the finished card! I did all the the stamping in the Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink… basically just stamping the whole compass stamp on each of the papers. I did use the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform to stamp the kraft card base and then added the map pattern paper in place to stamp it again… that prevented me from having that thin blank line between the papers where the stamp cannot reach if you stamp both papers together. I then used all of the die cuts for the compass pieces and the banner, and I layered everything up with foam tape. I spattered the whole card with some plain white watercolors, added some mini brads on the sides of the banner and the center of the compass, and for a final touch, traced the shadow lines on the ‘needle’ with my Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Gel Pen. Along with the brads, that Stardust pen adds a nice touch of glimmer to an otherwise very ‘distressed’ card – I like this card a lot – the papers all go together very well, matching up with the hints of red, green and beige on the map pattern paper. Next time, I will die-cut all the pieces but probably skip the foam tape between the 2 ‘needle’ pieces.