Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Done and Done

For Shimelle's class, Journal Your Christmas, the Day 1 prompt is to write a manifesto.  Here's what I've written:
"Stop. Ponder. Savor the present.  This holiday season I will stop and ponder our life in the here and now, so that I may savor the present and leave a record for the future."
I think that captures what I want to do this year, which is really focus on Shimelle's prompts as they relate to our current life.  The last time I did JYC I did a lot of backward looking journaling and thinking about how I view the holidays in general.  I loved it, but I want to do something a bit different this time. I snapped a picture of my new Christmas mug filled with coffee and our calendar to illustrate my idea.
I also finished the first Tim Holtz tag.  Here it is:
I know it doesn't look that much like Tim's tag, but it's done!
I wanted to share some tips for doing Tim's tags quickly:
1.  I keep most of my Tim supplies in their own containers - all my distress inks are together, all my distress powders and crackle paints are in another, etc.  This makes it easy to grab the container(s) I need and to put them back away.
2.  I clean up as I go.  This not only keeps my home a bit neater, but it also means I can find what I want the next day.
3. I improvise.  Tim's tag for today included a very complicated house-build and some big things I don't own (the die cutter thing, the house die, the fence die, the embosser thing).  Instead, I took the haunted house from the holiday grunge board pack and cut it down to a smaller size and regular house shape.  I stamped the house with a crackle stamp for the texture.  I hand cut my fence with some of the leftover haunted house.  For the background, I sprayed some glimmer mist, instead of his perfect pearl mixture. I made wreaths for the house out of stickles, and I used glass glitter instead of white flocked stuff.  And, of course, my tag and top treatment are different than his.  In the end, mine looks a bit more like a Christmas mansion, I think that his more rustic cabin in the woods, but that's okay.  As Tim himself says, use the ideas as a jumping off point, rather than a rules.  I think of it like the Pirate Code; to quote Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow . . . "they're more like guidelines really!"

15 comments:

Kristin said...

WOW! You were a busy girl Maria! I adore Shimelles JYC but am not taking part but I have to say, it's been really fun seeing what others are doing. And you are following T!m's tags, ambitious! I love your tag, and how you got your house converted to a Christmas house :) I am going to play with those a bit, can't resist the tags :) I have to ask, how/where did you frame your top picture, I keep seeing that dark distressed frame and LOVE the way it looks! Thanks for sharing, good luck!

donna said...

Wonderful tag Maria! I love your greeting and angel! Thanks for the tips. I am actually a really organized crafter. I own so much stuff I have to be organized.lol I am not good at the cleaning up right away part though. I usually keep going til I have no space left and then clean up. For the first project I like to do as close as I can and then after that I just do what feels right to me. I might have to rethink that for these tags though as I still have a lot to do for Christmas.

Margi said...

Love the tag and the page. So agree with you on reviewing the current for Christmas this year. I think we've all been through quite an ordeal over the last year or so and just seems fit to be thankful for where we're at in the here and now.

sharyncarlson said...

Love your tag, and the photo too! Hoping you enjoy your approach to JYC :)

MonicaB said...

Great job with the tag! I'm just following along this year and not making tags. I also like your manifesto: Stop, Ponder, Savor...I need to try that may self. :)

Sian said...

I love it when you quote Capn Jack!
Your manifesto sounds perfect. Sometimes I think we scrapbookers should spend more time in the present instead of looking back or getting ready for the next project. Here's to the here and now.

Linda Ledbetter said...

Rinda, your tag is spectacular! Way to improvise, girl- you took the concept and made it your own in the most wonderful and creative way!

Treasure said...

tags looks amazing

nancy y said...

great tag - and I like how you just use what you have and make it work!

love the quote ;-)

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

I'm more of a guidelines person myself.

Terry said...

Not that I would expect anything differently, but this is amazing! Love the house that you built! Beautiful tag. I have the Tim things kind of together, but I cannot keep organized. So sad!!

Amy said...

Rinda I am really interested in seeing how your JYC comes together this year - the hippstamatic app you have chosen has such a strong personality of its own, no doubt you will create a vibrant and ecclectic album!

laurie said...

i love the photo for your journal - it is a perfect representation for stop and savor.

Anonymous said...

I love that Hipstamatic photo. How are you planning to put the photos together? I'm quite intriqued by this idea. I can't imagine trying to keep up with the journal AND Tim's tags!

2amscrapper said...

I haven't made this tag yet, but I also don't have many of the supplies and plan to use that grungeboard house which I do own. I like how you create your own version.