My New Camera

Any of you long time followers may remember I was saying I really needed a new camera. Well, it finally came yesterday (Merry Christmas to me!) and today I wanted to check out the features on it as well as the zoom lens. This one is a "real" camera that I can take a picture and it is on a memory card, not like my old one where it went to a disc that had to be finalized before removing each time you wanted to "get" one of the pictures.
It is a challenge learning these new settings (It is a Kodak Max Z990 with 30x lens) and what button does what but here is some of my results.

For normal pictures in the house....I don't remember if I had it set on Kodachrome or what but the color is very true to life. That is the color of the blanket and the couch is the right color too.

Picture taking advantage of the "Photo Booth" Setting.

And of course I had to check out the zoom lens. This is a small bird in my neighbor's tree. (No, the tree was not real close, the zoom lens works good).

Here is a female Cardinal in my neighbors apple tree.

Needless to say I am so happy with the new camera although I do have some concerns about the battery life. It is too early to tell but I already went through a set of regular batteries and now have the rechargeable in. I will need to pick up another set so one can be recharging while I am using the other. One set just won't cut it with me...LOL.

Cupcake Birthday Card

I used Copic Markers to color this card.

Santa Card

Colored this card with Copic Markers.

(Made this for Card Lifters and was inspired by Fiskateer Tamara 437.)

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 12

Here it is....last but not least. This tag is so pretty in real life but the worse as far as scanning. The scanner focused on the tissue flower since it was the closest and blurred the rest of the tag. This angel came out beautiful. I wish I could show you but it would just ruin the tag if I pulled the pieces off now. Any ways she was done in chalks and stickles and really turned out nice.
Needless to say I improvised with everything on this tag too. I didn't have the tissue wrap, that partial doll or the metal wings and crown. No dwellings although I could have cut one by hand but I didn't think it would "go" on this tag (especially since I have no stains). Hey, what can I say? At least I had a tag...LOL.

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 11

I would have had this tag done sooner but I was caught up having fun with the shrink plastic (I didn't have clear) and the embossing powder. I could not believe how it came out. It is like I made it out of  glass. It is too bad the scan don't capture this but it is very cool. I sort of got carried away playing with it. Any ways, it is done. I had to add extras on it because my Santa and Merry Christmas were not as large as the one Tim used so my tag looked empty. I thought the extra ornament I made when I made the last tag would go nice here since I had the Holly here and really didn't want to let it go unused. All I can say about doing this tag is I am going to the store to buy more shrink plastic and a melting pot. This is just so neat. I can make all kinds of embellishments for cards/pages. If you never tried it, you really need to. I will warn you it is addicting.

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 10

Tag 10 I had a bit of trouble on the transfer of the image onto the ornament. I think I have the wrong printer/ink for it because when I wipe the paper away there is nothing on the tape....no ink. I know I use to do this with my HP printer but this Kodak ink just isn't the same.  So I ended up leaving some paper on but it looks like part of the design so it really don't look that bad. It just would have been nice to get rid of all the  paper.
Scanning this tag did not work out either. I had to take the gold colored berries off the end of the tag in order for it to pick up what was in the ornaments. So try and visualize the gold berries on the tag.

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 9

This tag is so pretty in person. It does not scan right because I did not have clear embossing powder other than a glittery one. What you can't see (or may be able to make out slightly) is that the background is stamped with a sheet music so it has all these notes all the way down it. The scanner just sees the shine but I assure you it is really pretty in person. I like this tag a lot. I didn't have the right stamps or dies and had to cut everything by hand but it still came out cute.

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 8

I had fun doing this one. Again I didn't have all the products Tim used but I did it with what I had and I like the way this one came out. It is "different" and all I think of when I see it is that it is so "Holtz-like". Not really your traditional Chrsitmas tag but it is still nice.

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 7

This is my least favorite tag. It was a lot of work and did not come out as I expected it to. Of course if I had all the dies (holly and branch) and all the stains plus the stamps and embossing powder it would have made a huge difference. However on a good note, I did play with things I never did before such as the Kraft Glassine paper. There is nothing else quite like it....amazing stuff. Any ways, here is my pitiful tag.

In fact, I dislike this one so much I changed it a bit. I still am not that found of it although I think it looks better than it did above.

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 6

I really improvised on this one. I did not have the neat embossing folder Tim used. In fact, I couldn't find any kind of Christmas embossing folder at all so I had to use the snowman and snow flake one I already had. This technique looks so much better on the one Tim used but I don't think it looks all that bad on this one. The only thing I should of had the foresight to do is not to use the dark distressed ink to under the clear embossing powder because now it looks like I have a city snowman ....a bit on the dirty side. So....here is my city snowman.

Just wanted to add I never used the foil tape before but loved using this technique. I can see it being used in the future for all them old metal hinges, locks and  keys as well as other metals I may need.

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 5

Going back to tags. Here is the alternate tag for tag 5. I do not have any Reflections stamps to do tag 5 (and there is not a substitute for them, either you have them or you don't and I don't (even though I looked in both craft stores in my area). Any ways, I think the alternate tag is cute too.

New Liftateers Layout

Trying to keep up with Tim's tags (both this year and last) while doing all my Card Lifters and Liftateers each week. (Each of these were inspired by other Fiskateers.) Not an easy task. However....since I don't have all the things Tim is using I can do my other projects while waiting to go to the store. So....here is my Liftateer page of my granddaughter Kallista. (Sorry to all my Fiska-friends as I know you have seen it on Fiskateer site however my family and other friends are not Fiskateers so I have to post it here).

Here is another of my granddaughters (Kallista's older sister) Sara.

and last but not least by any means here is my granddaugter Amberly (both Kallista's and Sara's younger sister) on her 3rd Birthday.

The proud parents of "girls".

Be sure to look back at my Nov. 17th post for more layouts.

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 1

Finally! Here is my version of tag one. Naturally I had to improvise because I didn't have everything and then to top it off, I ripped the tag when I was gluing the greens and pine cones on it. All that work!!!! So, this tag is a little shorter than what was done. I just cut the part that was ripped off. Who says tags have to be 6 inches long any ways????

Tim Holtz - Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 4

Yes, I know the tags are out of order but some are easier than others because you can improvise for what you don't have. For example this tag is all improvised. The only thing I had was the tulle. I didn't have the snowman die or the snowflakes. I don't have any of the stains. Heck, I didn't even have a clear button. LOL However, I made it work somewhat with what I had and this is what I made.

Twelve Tags of Christmas 2010 - Tag 11

Twelve Tags of Christmas 2010

I figured I would try and do last years tags too. This is my version of tag 12 of 2010.

Twelve Tags of Christmas - Tag 3

Unfortunately I do not have that wonderful stamp/embossing folder Tim Holtz used for today's tag so I improvised and used what I did have to make my version of it. Sorry but the yellow didn't show up that good on the scan.

I didn't have a bell but I will pick one up and add it at a later date.

Tim Holtz started the 12 Days of Christmas Tags -Tag 2

I loved these 12 tags of Chrsitmas for years and this year I am doing them (at least trying to). If you never seen them than visit Tim Holtz Blog.

Tag one I had to order the die and the embossing folder so I will have to do that one later.

Here is my version of tag two.

There is a "message" in this tag. Can you guess what it is?

Sorry about the blurry key. I realize you may not be able to see it but it says "Life".