Stacey’s “Tim Holtz” Giveaway

Some people are just so generous. Stacy, at Scrap with Stacy, is giving away a massive collection of Tim Holtz product…and anyone, anywhere in the world, can enter to win it.

Pop over to Stacey’s site, follow the instruction and be in with a chance to win.

A Great Mail Day

Some days the postman only brings me bills. Today brought some very different mail - wondrous stuff. The first package I was expecting and I knew from it's feel exactly what it was - Tim Holtz's latest book - "A Compendium of Curiosities". My first impression... it's rather small; second impression on opening...who cares about size! I'm going to have some fun with this.

The second package was what transformed the day into Great.  

I'm a member of the yahoo group  All Things Tim  that discusses the work of Tim Holtz. A group of fellow Australians were bemoaning our lack of access to his products and the cost of them here. A member of the group, the lovely Linda Hoffman from California, took pity on me and sent me this wondrous package of goodies that she created from his products: there are full size sheets coloured with alcohol inks, die cuts galore, a huge variety of  embossed card pieces, sheets of grungeboard and grungepaper.


This was an incredibly generous act that made my day. I couldn't stop smiling as I kept sorting through it all. I will certainly enjoy using all these goodies. Thank you so much Linda.

Make sure to check out the bottom right of the photo.

 That's my camera shy boy, Indi, managing to get into the shot.

My Cats

Introducing the major loves of my life - my cats, former and current: Dimi (sadly missed), Circe and Indi. Dimi and Circe are Russian Blues and half sisters, Indi is a Rag Doll.

Dimi was my first and most loved cat. We bonded the moment she came into my house and she trusted me completely. We helped one another through losses, heartaches and illness. She survived a cancer diagnosis in 2006 and last year she had several months of on and off illness.

Sadly, I had to let her go in November. She would have been 17 in February this year. Just typing this brings up all the emotions and tears of last year. I'll never have another cat like her - she was very special.

Circe is Dimi's little half sister, is 15 years old & still acts like a kitten. She is very sweet and loving and not particularly bright. She loves everyone and hates being left alone. Having spent all night on my bed she will go out for a minute and as soon as she comes back in will start purring again. Nothing makes her happier than to have uninterrupted time on my lap.

Indi (short for Indigo) is the new addition to the household and has been here for 3 weeks. He is a 2 year old boy - a retired stud - and is very athletic and affectionate but still a little unsure about this new place. He and Circe have just started doing a little tentative playing. He is a real blokey boy, reminding me of one of my brothers. He bounces all over the house crashing into things and knocking them over; he makes a mess and his food winds up all over the place!

Some photos of Indi - he was camera shy to start with & I took a lot more photos like this!

 ...nearly got him

At last a decent picture...pity about the background; and his eyes are a light blue

He's a handsome boy, isn't he?

And this is what I found one morning...

 Indi - housewrecker extraordinaire!

Tim Holtz Inspired – for Simon Says Stamp and Show

I’ve been meaning to start a blog for some time now. A particular challenge has been the incentive to get moving. The Simon Says blog is having a challenge to show anything Tim Holtz inspired.

I created these ATCs last week and while they don’t have huge amount of Tim’s goodies in them they are certainly inspired by his style. Creating them was probably the most crafting fun I’ve had in a while. I just relaxed and played around until the layout sorted itself out

The background is pure serendipity. I was creating a set of cards using distress inks & adding a bit of shine with Glimmer Mists when I noticed the silhouette from the over-sprays looked pretty cool. I popped a watercolour sheet underneath to catch the sprays & moved the cards around the sheet to get good coverage. The swirl is a Tim stamp in Distress Aged Mahogany; the cat is embossed in black.

I'm a recent convert to the Tim Holtz way & have only very recently started making ATCs. This is my third. I;m finding them very relaxing to create without having to worry about a whole card design. I think I will be doing a lot more of them. :)

Elizabeth