Tim Holtz: O Captain, my Captain!

I was very fortunate to attend a fantastic art/paper craft workshop in Ohio earlier this year put on by one of my favourite online stores Simon Says Stamp.

My peep convinced me to go and I am so happy she did!

(airport selfie)

(We might have the same tastes.)

 The featured teacher was the adorably cute, effervescent, one and only Tim Holtz.

(Me, Tim, and a new crazy friend Diana)

To be able to take one class from Tim is a blessing; we took three over the course of two days.  Prior to this event, I owned a few tim Holtz products, but really didn't understand how to use them or why they were special (Sorry Tim!).  Well…his classes opened my eyes to the world of inks, stains, paints, blending colour, abstract randomness, getting messy, and loving it!  (A few of you know my obsession of keeping my fingers clean, especially when eating movie theatre popcorn.  I use about 20 napkins for a small!)

The first class was 4 hours long and overwhelming.  I think I started to hyperventilate at one point.  He was moving so fast and so many of the techniques were new.  I'm still not done the final project, but here is the beginning of the Folio album:

The second class was this cute little burlap canvas:

Can you believe I MADE that??

And the last class was this amazing configuration box with a working miniature lantern in the top left corner!

Before attending this workshop, I had sadly lost my scrappy mojo.  Real life got in the way, with deadlines, projects, assignments, three jobs, and my peep's move to Toronto.  I was so happy to come home from Ohio with a ton of goodies and an inspired zest for creating!  I have been crafting up a storm since there, which I will share with you in upcoming posts.  Stay tuned!

(My haul!  And all I took was a carry on!)

~E