Doctor and the TARDIS get SMASHed

Well, you don't have to hang round me for long to know that I have a deep and abiding love for Doctor Who.
 I adored the show in the 70s, but the New Who has taken me to new heights of geeky fantasy, and so of course I had to do something about it in my SMASH album.

 So here we go -- a little trip through my mind. Scary, hey?

The left page looks kind of plain like this -- but then the TARDIS itself doesn't give much hint of what lies behind that blue door, either.

I wanted these pages to reflect the idea of the TARDIS being bigger on the inside, so the flaps open up to reveal much, much more.

The first flap lifts to reveal pictures of the TARDIS, and a couple of quotes from the show.
Fans will recognise the episodes these came from.

 ******

The second flap folds down to reveal more pictures of the TARDIS, and another pocket-page.
This one opens to show -- guess what? the TARDIS! and one of those images is of the TARDIS in human form, as Idris.

This was one of my favourite episodes.

*****
 AT LAST we get to the actual SMASH page.

I've used an image of the TARDIS in all its' regenerations, with some tissue tape and gears from Tim Holtz to reinforce the mechanical/time aspects.

And -- I used a Gallifreyan translator to write the words TARDIS and TIME AND SPACE on the page. (pencil lines have been left in deliberately)

I've also used a direct quote from Idris, which I love.

 *****

 Page 2 is about the Doctors.
Only I realised I haven't done anything about the 9th Doctor, must fix that!

***
I used a Tim Holtz key as the key to the TARDIS -- it could have been SLIGHTLY more perfect if it has said TIME instead of LIFE but I'm still stoked with it.
The 'real' key doesn't have any string on it, I know that, but this one needed something so I used some gorgeous bakers' twine.
 It's lying on top of an entry from The Journal of Impossible Things, another favourite episode, in which the Doctor has to hide out on Earth in 1913. He has no memory of himself as the Doctor, but has odd 'dreams' which he records in a journal. Of Impossible Things, obviously.

*** 

More pocket pages.
These ones feature what is universally acknowledged as the scariest episode ever -- Blink.
The monsters in this story are weeping angel statues, that creep up on you while you're not looking -- hence you can't even blink if one is after you.
I wanted this series of images to show the angel getting closer till it revealed itself...

***

And the backs of the angel pockets have Matt Smith (Doctor 11) and a fabbo quote from one of his eps

and the coolest Centurion ever, Rory Williams (Mr Pond).

***

 Under the Journal entry at the top, I've slipped The Whovian Prayer.
This is fan-fiction, written by someone very clever.

I've attached an angel wing and a clock.

And there are a couple of journal pages here, which I'll fill out soon.

I still have some work to do on these pages, but I'm happy with how they look so far.
Truthfully, I could probably do a whole album JUST on this show!!

a SMASHing good time

Here is my SMASH book (so far)

If you haven't got one of these babies yet -- OMG!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??

They're made by K&Co, and come with LOTS of accessories.

This is the TRAVEL album, with a rubber band around it, before I started decorating it...

and here it is finished. (I think)
I've used some G45 Le Circque paper, Tim's tissue tape, and Rusty Pickle/Kaiser alpha stickers. I inked the embossed cover and sanded the edges of the paper. I also made the label using dies and a black pen. (the pen that comes with the album is a nice writer at one end, and a glue stick at the other)

Inside, I've done a couple of pages...

These interactive pages are about my trip to Melbourne. I love interactive pages, they make a LO dynamic. I used a SMASH calendar pocket on this page, to hold some ephemera, and then used brads to attach other pieces to the front of the pocket, so that the whole process was one of discovery.

On this page, I used a cut-up ATC pocket page, to hold photos and other bits. It lifts up to reveal yet more pictures underneath.

The tape is another SMASH product, which I LOVE. Also I've attached 'flags' to the plane tickets (SMASH) and there are stickynotes as well (also SMASH accessories).

Here's another page I have done -- not sure if it's finished yet....

To make the tree, I glued paper strips down onto some white card, then laid the tree diecut (Tims) onto it, and free-hand drew the leaves shape around the trunk. Then it was just a matter of cutting and gluing them together.

The birds' nest is made by wrapping string round two fingers, then gluing it to a disc of card, and finishing with some stickybacked pearls. I jabbed a blue heart pin through it, too, but you'll have to squint to see it.

You can check out more SMASH here...

better than a rock god

Last week, (on the 22nd June actually) I got the opportunity to meet THE Man Himself, Tim Holtz, and to do a full-day workshop with him in Melbourne.
 It was a fantastic day! though it started WAY too early (in my head I was still on WA time, and I got up at 3 am. SOOOO tired)

Brekky in Melbourne at a cute little place called Cafe Baci's

and then to Oaks on Market for the workshop

Here we are getting settled in
 (and, of course, taking a million photos. For a while the clicking of cameras drowned out the chatter!)

I got to meet Mario and he hugged me twice! which Noriel completely failed to get pictures of, but oh well.

Then we got busy.
And I mean BUSY.
We completed 10 tags before lunch, and then another 10 after, and Tim is such a master of running classes that we kept up a great pace for the whole day -- not so fast that you get lost or flustered, and not so slow that you get bored.
Plus, the whole time he talks and drops really cool tips and techniques.
Let's face it, he's probably forgotten more about inks and paints than the rest of us will ever learn!

And then The Big Moment -- I actually got to speak to him, and get my picture taken with him (ugh) and get his autograph.

Truly, if you ever get the chance to do one of Tim's workshops? GO FOR IT!!
 He's a really good teacher -- even the techniques I didn't think I would like were enjoyable.
 And he is SUCH the nicest guy, it was a real pleasure to meet him.

playing with ink. OR making a mess and loving it.

I'm a bit of a product junkie, but then I get intimidated by how to use the things I've bought, and so they sit in my stash gazing reproachfully at me and gathering dust.

Does that happen to you, too?

A big part of it for me is not knowing why or how certain things work, so I never know 'what else' I can do with it.

THIS is why I'm loving Tim Holtzs' Creative Chemistry 101 class. Knowing how a product is made, how it works, why it does what it does, means I can think of loads of ways to try it out without having to see if someone else has done it first.

Just recently, I joined an Tim Holtz inspired mixed media ATC swap, where we have to use at least one TH product. NOT A PROBLEM!! I reckon I can find at least one!

So I made three different ATCs, using different techniques, and even *gasp!* EXPERIMENTING!!

One of the things I tried was using alcohol ink on mica. You know, mica? the must-have a few years ago? yeah, well, I bought some and then didn't know what to use it for, so it just sat in a drawer, languishing and making me feel guilty.
Turns out, you can colour it with alcohol ink and then layer it over a photo or image and get this amazing vintage look.

I loved the freedom of exploring as I wanted to, loved using something I'd had forever, loved the result, and felt so good for stepping out of my comfort zone.

And here are the ATCs, finished and ready to post. (I made a set for me to keep as well)

Seriously, if you get hung up on using things 'properly', give yourself permission to play with product. Give yourself permission to try, to have a go, and even to mess up.
You'll learn way more that way than by following 'proper' techniques.

It's ALL about the process of creating.