Write Your Own Story-Featuring the Tim Holtz Sizzix Retro Type Bigz

Hello Friends…

Whew.. the end of year and beginning of 2020 has been pretty fun and busy, although I bet you think that I’ve been a little quiet. Myself and many other makers have been busily working on super secret projects for Tim Holtz and his booths at the Creativation show that will be in a couple weeks in Phoenix.

Holy Moly…so many awesome new products are coming your way!!!

Today, I’m here with a tutorial for a project that was created using a couple of the Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 1 dies that were released yesterday and Tim announced on his Facebook Live.

If you missed the Live you can CLICK HERE to go and check it out on Tim’s blog…wonderful new Sizzix dies designed by Tim and beautiful inspiration from so many talented makers.

This project features the new Bigz Retro Type… a vintage typewriter that can be personalized into whatever color you can dream up.

I chose to mimic the look of some very vintage ones. It was such a fun project to create.

I may have this thing for vintage typewriters, in fact, I think I own 5. ❤️

Also, guess what? …this is only the beginning of the new announcements, here is a peek of the Facebook Lives that are scheduled for next week!

So, lets get to making…

The Typewriters…

I started out by cutting the typewriter pieces out of chipboard and Distress Watercolor Paper. I blended the pieces with distress paint with my desired colors and then layered the 2 pieces together. This made the typewriters heavier and gave them more stability for the vignette.

To add the paint to the pieces I used my fingers (my favorite blending tool) and rubbed  the color on. I started with Iced spruce, let the color dry between layers then added a bit of Evergreen Bough, Black Soot, & Brushed Pewter. I finished by rubbing the pieces with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, spritzed with water, dabbed with a towel and dried with a heat tool.

Then I adhered the typewriter together with Distress Collage Matte Medium, and moved onto the next color combo…

The brown typewriter combo was… Antique Bronze, Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso, Black Soot and Brushed Pewter and finished with Black Soot Distress Ink.

The black typewriter combo… Black Soot, Brushed Pewter and Antique Linen. (not pictured)

The Large Vignette Tray…

I painted the outside of a Large Vignette Tray with a light coat of Antique Linen Distress Paint, let it dry, then added some Crackle Texture Paste to the outside of the tray. I let it dry and crackle then randomly layered on a bit of Evergreen Bough Distress Paint. I blended Ground Espresso Distress Crayon into the crackled areas and blended it in with a damp finger.

Yum… Crackly yummy goodness, my favorite! 🙂

I cut a piece of paper from the Memoranda Paper Stash, and adhered it to a piece of chipboard that fit within the vignette tray. The front of the paper was rubbed with Distress Collage Matte Medium and dried with a heat tool. The I applied Crackle Texture paste through the Stampers Anonymous Typo Layering Stencil (THS040) then set it aside to dry.

After it had crackled, I blended Mushroom Alcohol Ink into the letters, and blended Walnut Stain Distress Crayon in with a damp finger, then I rubbed on more crayon randomly and dabbed a bit of it off with a baby wipe.

I lightly dabbed on a bit of evergreen bough distress paint over the letters with my finger…hence the very messy fingers, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

messy fingers = happy heart

yep, more crackly yumminess…I just can’t get enough!

I cut strips of the same paper stash paper and added them into the box with collage medium. Then I adhered a piece of foam core board within the tray, then added the background piece.

I blended two rulers with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, then added applied a thin coat of Clear Rock Candy Crackle to them. Then I set them aside to dry and crackle..ignore the jar in the photo for the moment, we’ll get to that later 😉

I trimmed the 2 rulers with my Tim Holtz paper snips (yes, they cut wood) to fit within the vignette tray and create the shelves. I spaced them out to fit the typewriters and adhered them with collage medium.

Then I set the box aside to dry…

The small jar…

The jar was created with the new Bottled Up Bigz die set. I cut several bottles out of clear plastic acetate sheet that I had from some packaging. The small jar is the one that I used in this piece. I lightly rubbed the jar with Distress Collage Matte Medium, then set them aside to dry…Don’t use your heat tool to dry these, LOL, not the look I was going for with this project 😉

When it was dry, I rubbed on a bit of Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint, then set it aside to dry and crackle.

While I was waiting for the bottle to crackle, I colored some flowers to put inside the bottle.

Once the bottle was crackled, I added some mushroom alcohol into the cracks, tied on a piece of string, and added a small cork with an eye hook screw. The flowers were adhered together and tucked into the string on the back of the bottle.

I gathered up some additional idea-ology ephemera and vintage buttons and watch hands, distressed them, and began arranging the vignette.

I typed out the phrase “write your own story” with a typewriter onto a small piece of vintage onion skin typing paper. Then I blended and dipped it into some distress ink. The little hidden phrase was made with a combination of phrases from the idea-ology sticker clippings pack. It was added prior to adhering the typewriter together.

Then everything was adhered within the tray.

I adhered to the side of the tray, an idea-ology Mini Hardware Pull and some Hardware Heads.

With that, my vintage typewriter vignette was complete!

Thank you so much for stopping by and be sure to mark your calendars for the next facebook lives and keep an eye out for many more tutorials after Creativation. It’s so EXCITING, I can’t wait to share!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

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Gather Your Supplies-

Tim Holtz/Sizzix- Bigz Retro Type, Bigz Bottled Up, Wildflowers 2

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous- Typo Layering Stencil (THS040)

Tim Holtz/Tonic- Tonic Guillotine Paper Trimmer, Tonic Shears

Tim Holtz/Idea-ology- Large Vignette Tray, Ruler Pieces, Ephemera Pack Keepsakes, Snippets, Mini Hardware Pulls, Hardware Heads, Clipping Stickers, Tiny Vial Cork, Vignette Hardware eye hook, Memoranda Paper Stash

Tim Holtz/Ranger-

Distress Paint- Black Soot, Evergreen Bough, Iced Spruce, Antique Linen, Brushed Pewter, Walnut Stain, Antique Bronze, Ground Espresso

 Distress Ink- Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap

Distress Crayons- Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso

Distress Markers- Variety of Colors

Alcohol Inks- Mushroom

Distress Tools/Mediums- Distress Sprayer, Media Mat, Heat it Heat Tool, Blending Tools, Distress Collage Matte Medium, Clear Rock Candy Glitter, Opaque Crackle Texture Paste

Other- vintage buttons, watch hands, typewriter, onion skin typing paper, baby wipes