Sizzix Design Team Announcement!

I am so excited to announce that Sizzix has put together their first ever US design team and I have been asked to be a part of it! I have been bursting at the seams to share this secret with you all - I'm so thrilled!

What I love about Sizzix is the versatility of their dies - there is something for everyone, no matter what your style is. Because of that, there are some incredible artists and crafters that are a part of our team. Click here to visit the Design Team bio page or check out their individual blogs below!

Tammy Tutterow - Design Team Leader

Amy Friend

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Gretchen Schmidt

Hilary  Kanwischer

Jan Hobbins

Jeanne Streiff

Melony Bradley

Richele Christensen

Ronda Palazzari

Tamara Tripodi

Tammy Roberts

Tiffany Johnson

Trisha Ladouceur

For my post today, I thought I'd go back through some of the projects I've done over the past year using Sizzix dies and Texture Fades. When I went back through my blog, it was almost impossible to narrow it down to just 12 pieces! You'll probably notice that I am quite partial to Tim Holtz' Alterations line. His style has always appealed to me and it wasn't really until he came out with his vintage dies that I became a die-aholic! I hope you enjoy this sample of my work.

January

This New Year's card is one of my all-time favorites! It was a blast to make and I managed to use not one, but EIGHT different Sizzix dies and Texture Fades. This was also the post that I shared my Faux Mercury Glass technique. One of my favorite things is to use the dies in different and unique ways! The card was made using a tutorial from the Technique Junkies 3D and Fun Folds cd (ordering info is on my sidebar).

February

I just love this sweet Valentine's tag! It was one of the samples I made for CHA using Tim Holtz' new Idea-ology release. The Distress Doily die is so pretty and looks beautiful combined with the Mini Baroque die that's been embossed using the Valentine Texture Fade. My little cupid was cut from Core'dinations paper and lightly sanded. He's holding a little embossed glitter heart. You can find the tutorial for this heart by clicking the link above. Did I mention I kind of have a thing for tutorials? ;-)

March

Ooooh, isn't this just heavenly?! This is a crown I recently made. It's something I've been dreaming of for awhile and finally got around to doing it. The base is chipboard that was cut using the Sizzix Scrollwork On the Edge die. It was given the Faux Tarnished Metal treatment (click here for my tutorial) and then embellished with pieces cut from all of my favorite dies: Mini Butterflies, Mini Rosettes, Mini Flourish (lots of minis on here!), and Tattered Florals.

April

This is my latest obsession - using the large Movers and Shapers with the smaller ones and creating frames from chipboard. This one was painted with a Pitch Black Paint Dabber and then sanded. I love the worn, distressed look of it. The frame creates the perfect window for my French gents and their balloon. The balloon was made out of tissue paper. You can see the tutorial here.
*Rubber stamps are from Artistic Outpost's Paris Exposition Collection.

May

When I saw a sample of an easel card with drawers on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one! I created this for a friend on the All Things Tim Yahoo group. She always goes above and beyond for others and I wanted to do something special for her. You might be able to tell that I was pretty heavily into my Faux Porcelain technique at the time - nothing was safe! Here I've used the Mini Labels, the Weathered Clock, and the Tattered Florals dies. The background is Distress Core'dinations that's been embossed with the Sizzix Collage Texture Fade.
*Rubber stamps are from Stampers Anonymous Winged Things and Stuff to Say collections.

June

Ah, now were are getting all Steampunk-y. Actually, I would consider this more of an Industrial Grunge kind of look. For this tag, the Sizzix Gadget Gears and Tiny Gears dies were used to cut gear shapes from chipboard. They were adhered to a tag and then covered with Metal Foil Tape and burnished. Such a cool look!
*Rubber stamps are from Artistic Outpost's London Underground and Apothecary collections.

 July

This 4th of July wreath was a true labor of love. I don't even remember how many Paper Rosettes I had to make, but it was a LOT! This was before the Mini Rosettes die came out and I had to cut down the larger ones to make the smaller pieces. Labor. Of. Love. Seriously.

August

This little flight journal is yet another project from the TJ 3D and Fun Folds cd. Something I've just recently started playing around with is using the Movers and Shapers dies in the way shown above. For my book cover piece, I used the Small Cabinet Card with one of the Small Gears dies and cut the pieces from chipboard. Next, I painted them and then pieced them back together again. It's a really fun look that I can't wait to experiment with some more. I also love the 'fly' tag on the bottom. That was cut from chipboard using the Mini Labels die, stamped and embossed with black embossing powder, and then covered with UTEE. Really cool look!
*Rubber stamps are from Artistic Outpost's Charles and Amelia collection.

September

This tag illustrates a few of my favorite things. First, we have a very fun technique - Chalked Embossing from the Technique Junkies newsletter - that gives you a great way to add a lot of interest and texture to your background. On top of that, we can build our tag using a small tag cut from a vintage French book page using the Mini Tabs and Tags die. The Vintage Market strip die is one of my favorite alpha dies. Here, I've used it to cut letters from foil-covered cardstock. Tim Holtz demoed this technique during last year's 12 Tags of Christmas and it's one of my faves!
*Rubber stamps are from Artistic Outpost's Paris Exposition and French Flight collections.

 October

How cute are these??? They're little Halloween 'chunky' ATCs. When I made them, I was in a pretty heavy Paper Rosette phase - I love that die! Here, I've cut them from Idea-ology Kraft Resist paper and edged them with Black Soot Distress Stickles. I used the Regal Flourishes Texture Fade to emboss Core'dinations Kraft Core paper that covers my 2" x 4" blocks. This is a super fun project that could be adapted to any holiday.
*Rubber stamps are from Stampers Anonymous Halloween Silhouettes and Mini Halloween 2 sets.

 November

It seems appropriate to place this project in November - that's when I received an email from Tim Holtz asking me if I would do design work for him using his new Idea-ology findings. Let me tell you - I was freaking out! This piece was one of my favorites that I created. I used the Row House, Weathered Clock, Caged Bird, Gadget Gears, and Tiny Gears dies on this one. It might sound corny, but you are truly only limited by your imagination when it comes to what you can create with these dies!

December

I'm closing with one of my absolute favorite pieces - my deer head ornament. This was one of those crazy ideas that comes from nowhere and ends up working out perfectly. Would you believe there is a total of five dies on this piece? The base of the ornament was cut using the Row House die, another house was cut and an opening cut in it using the Small Labels Movers and Shapers die. The deer head is three stacked and glued heads cut using the Reindeer Flight die - oh, I love that part so much! Next, we have the Tattered Banners die and finally, a piece of trim cut using the Vintage Lace die.
*Rubber stamps are from Artistic Outpost's Sleigh Ride and Ephemera Backgrounds collections.

Whew! I hope I didn't overwhelm you! I guess it's obvious how much I love the Sizzix Alterations line from Tim Holtz. It is such a great collection and each piece works beautifully with the next. I hope you're inspired to play a little and look at your dies in a whole new way!

I've included links below to many of the products I've used. They can all be found at Inspiration Emporium. If you decide to do a little shopping, make sure you use my coupon code - stamptramp - to save 10% off your total!

InLinkz.com

Thanks so much for stopping by - have a great week!