Blending Tim and Anne!

Hello and welcome.

I needed to make a 25th birthday card so reckoned I should join in with the 'Special Numbers' challenge at 'A Vintage Journey'. I've only entered the Tim Holtz tag challenge once before so I'm way overdue to try that again too. I've ended up with the following card that fits both challenges. It's also a salute to the terrfic inspiration obtained during every visit to the lovely Anne's blog. She consistently delivers beautiful creations with clean lines and i.m.o. the very best use of the colour black in blogland.

My card is a take on Tim's March tag here. I don't have any distress paints in bright colours so my background is done with distress inks instead. I used Tim's 'Bird Branch' stamp and his 'Clockwork' stencil. I hadn't used the embossing powder on texture paste technique before and really love the results so will definitely do again. (That's Ranger's 'Queen's Gold' popping up there).

I wasn't sure how to adapt Tim's tag design into a card but having recently admired Anne's clever card here I decided to copy her technique so as to place a second bird on the branch (slightly floating alongside the one in the circle). Anne kindly sent me a link to a video showing how to do extended die cuts. It looks easy in the video but my M.E. brain really struggled to actually get the cut right - having several times amputated the bird the wrong way! I've watercoloured the 'extended' bird using my TH waterbrush and D.I.s so that it might appear to be the same lesser spotted species as the one in circle.

One of my other blog pals recently used jigsaw pieces but can't recall who - please shout out if reading! (or 'Reach Out' in parlance du jour!). (Edited to add, it was the fabulous Lisa from You made me Ink). I painted the jigsaw pieces with Adirondack 'Snow Cap' and then with crackle paint in 'Picket Fence'. I tried edging each piece with black ink but it made the card look too busy so abandoned idea and made them pristine again. The digits 2 and 5 are rather handily on the TH 'Christmas' stencil so stencilled same onto pieces to left side, again coating the texture paste with gold powder and heating once dry.

The glossy black 2 and 5 to right of circle are die cut using Sizzix 'Mini Reindeer 25' movers and shakers. Inked them with Ranger black archival and coated liberally with glossy accents. I further decorated card with various idea-ology elements that I black embossed. To complete, I arranged black string to right side around an Idea-ology hitch fastener to mirror the wraparound that Tim often does with his fabulous tags.

Very many thanks for your visit - it's a pleasure to see you stop by.

Nicola x

I wish to enter card to the following challenges:
Tim Holtz - 12 tags of 2015 - March
A Vintage Journey - Special Numbers

As there is a smidgeon of green ink within the circle I hope it's not too much a stretch for me to also enter:
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Just a hint of clover

Also delighted to join in at the 2nd birthday celebrations at:
Country View Crafts challenge - theme is Anything Goes