Distress A Little Different with Tim Holtz

Hi bloggers, so last weekend was one of the best weekends of 2016 to date and will probably be one of the biggest highlights of the year for us as we got to craft with Tim Holtz once again. It's been 5 years since our last meeting which was the starting point for Vintage Follie and teaching our own workshops so we couldn't wait to learn more about distress and there is no better way to learn than from the King of Craft himself.

Tim was over in the UK for the CHSI Stitches trade show which is held at the NEC in Birmingham every year. So not only was he over here to demo his new products at the show but to also fit in a workshop for retailers and designers.

The name of the workshop was Distress A Little Different and the project was an altered frame using Tim's new Framed Panel from his latest Idea-ology release.

If playing with Tim's new Idea-ology releases wasn't enough we also got to play with Tim's new Distress crayons and mediums and got a set to take away with us.

I took a few pictures along the way to show how we transformed a plain framed panel into a wonderful vintage masterpiece. And of course Tim took us through step by step with plenty of hints and tips along the way. As teachers ourselves it was great to be on the learning side for a change and to pick up a few teaching techniques along the way.

All the distress that we added to the project was through Tim's new crayons and a bit of distress paint - no distress ink pad in sight which Tim said was a first for him which goes to show just how versatile these crayons are!

It was the first time we used Tim's Letterpress and we absolutely love them so will definitely be getting hold of some of these!

The finished result!

It's fair to say that had been the best 3 hours spent crafting in a long while and has definitely inspired me to get back on it and get our next workshop project finished asap. This may not be our next workshop project but I can definitely say it will be appearing sometime this year so watch this space.

Of course Tim was his usual gracious self and kindly signed the back of our frames and posed for a photo so thanks Tim for a great afternoon!

The fun was not over for the weekend as the next day was the start of the CHSI Stitches show which houses some of the biggest suppliers to the craft industry including Notions Marketing, Groves, Personal Impressions, Tonic Studios, Woodware and many many more!

We caught up with Tim again at the Personal Impressions booth to see the new crayons in action once again and you can't help but pick up even more tips and techniques on how to use this fantastic new release.

Other than the hundreds of stands that were in the hall there was also a seminar area set up which played host to some fantastic seminars including Reinforcing Your brand through Blogging by Hannah and Rosie from The New Craft House and How to Build a Social Media Plan for Success by Warren Knight which provided me with endless inspiration for what we can do to engage more with you guys! So again watch this space for new social media channels appearing from us, including Instagram.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and it was just great to be around like minded people who love to craft just as much as us.