Stampin' an' Holtzin'

It's another great challenge over at Stampin' Dymonz Creative Space: this week we have a sketch & several fun rules:

"This week's challenge is a tag challenge...with a twist. We will be using inspiration from the PageMaps website (www.pagemaps.com) and utilizing [this] Tag Map [on the left]...This week's challenge will have you put your spin on this sketch, including the following elements -- your tag must have a functional folder on the front and the piece of paper inside of the folder must be in the shape of a tag. There should be space on the tag for a small photo and some journaling. This space can be on the inside and/or the outside of the folder and/or the inserted tag...Since this week's challenge is a tag challenge and when I think of tags I think of Tim Holtz, as he's done so much with tags and making them a popular paper crafting project, we will have a bag of Tim Holtz products as the blog candy for this week's challenge." --Stampin' Dymonz

Be sure to check out the DT & Participant projects; they all are unique takes on the challenge & all incorporate scrapliftable ideas.

I decided to make a scrapbook tag about this year's garden (a tradition I've kept up for 3 years so far). I used mostly Tim Holtz products. I certainly have Stampin' Dymonz to thank for getting me into his style! I'm really feeling more comfortable with it, and found myself trying lots of techniques on this project.

All the coloring is done with Distress inks. The pine tree stamp is from a Tim Holtz Christmas set I won from IslandV at Scrap InnoVations (thank you!), and I hand-stamped "garden" and "11" with wood-mounted rubber letter stamps (not from Tim Holtz, but in the spirit). For a little some thing extra, I made ploymer clay buttons from molds I made earlier this year of a whirlybird and a very young walnut. I colored both with Distress ink.

The file folder is cut on manila cardstock, using a super cut file from Heather M (Be sure to check out her link; she uses the folder to organize her embossing folders in the most lovely way.)

I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder for the base tag, and sanded the paper a bit. All the pieces are distressed with the handy Tim Holtz paper distresser.

I color-matched the ribbon and clip with distress inks. I also made empty stitches on the tags with my sewing machine.

I stapled ribbons onto the inside of the folder, and hung the tags off of them.

I used photos from this year's garden, and journaled on the back of each tag with a gel pen. I made lines for the journaling text with a pencil.

Tim Holtz Products: Idea-ology paper stash, Winter Sketchbook stamp set, Distress inks, paper distresser, scissors, embossing folder
Die Cuts: File Folder svg by Heather M (Thank you!), Bread Tags from Walk in My Garden Cricut cartridge
Other Supplies: Wooden letter stamps from stash, Core'dinations & Recollections cardstocks, clip from stash, sandpaper, WetOnes, paper towel, nail file, Elmer's gel pen, Offray ribbon, staples, thread, Sculpey polymer clay, Copic marker G99
Other Tools: Sizzix Texture Boutique, Cricut Personal Cutter, SCAL, stapler, needle, awl, oven, sewing machine

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I made the following project way back in May but never did publish the post. It used part of the same Paper I used for today's project, and the two certainly go together. So here it is, my Plant Tag Booklet:

May 5, 2011
I am seriously feelin' the Spring Fever; On Saturday we picked up some veggies & herbs for our back porch garden and I've already made a yummy pesto with the first cut of the herbs (cilantro, mint, basil, pine nuts, oil, that's it!). I hit my two favorite plant sellers at the famous 32nd Street Market: the $3 specialty varieties and the 75¢ everyday varieties. We've purchased from both before, and gotten great results. At the specialty table they have lots of heirloom varieties, so I treated us to an Abraham Lincoln tomato plant; they also provide nursery tags.

The 75¢ table (where we bought pretty much everything else) does not provide tags, however, so once again this year I found myself back home unable to remember which plant was which. Wishing I had remembered to write down what was what, I decided to craft the heck out of the problem.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this idea before, but I thought that a little notebook with plant tags would be really handy. I cut a bunch bread tags on my Cricut and attached them to a matchbook base. I included a holder for a small pencil. It's small enough to fit into a pocket. Then you can just attach the bread tag to the plant: