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:

  1. 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!

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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

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  5. 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. :)

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  6. 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.

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  7. 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!

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

    love the quote ;-)

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  9. I'm more of a guidelines person myself.

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  10. 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!!

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  11. 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!

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

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  13. 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!

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  14. 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.

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