Tim Holtz Magic Holiday Book

If you are any sort of paper crafter, you know the name Tim Holtz.  You may even be as big a Tim-o-holic as I am.  I know that I am far from the only one suffering this disease, so chances are you LIKE Tim too.  If you have never heard of the man, let me tell you….he is extraordinary.  He designs the most amazing products. Making his work and design even more amazing?  He doesn't have a background in art, crafts, design... in fact, he stumbled into the industry by accident.  He stumbled in and then HE became THE industry.  Tim Holtz simply has no boundaries; his ideas have no limits.  His products are game changers.  

Tim dabbles in many areas of the industry.  While some designers lend their names to a product and little else, it is clear that Tim is VERY active in the designing of products that bear his name.  That hands on approach is what makes the products so special.  I love that a Tim Holtz product is very well thought out.  Tim likes his products to work together and he works hard to ensure that 2 different products from two different lines work together; often making a completely different, third, design.  He makes Rubber Stamps that coordinate with his Sizzix dies by fitting exactly.  All of his Sizzix dies fit each other and sometimes by adding keyholes we can change a plaque into a door.

For Tim, designing products is a serious and well thought out process and the sky is the limit.   His products have pushed technology and changed the crafting industry as much as Martha Stewart has.  Imagine if Martha and Tim got together….. Oh, I'm sorry, I got caught up in that fantasy.  Tim not only designs products but he also teaches.  He is a terrific teacher and spends a lot of time producing videos and samples on his blog to highlight his products.  He teachers often and is rarely home, spending time at industry teaching events, store-owner teaching weekends, scrapbook cruises, independent store classes, the twice-a-year Craft and Hobby Association convention and several international classes.  His booth is always hard to get close to and his classes fill quickly.  The man is literally traveling all the time and frankly I get exhausted just reading about it.  It is also amazing because his classes always come with complete supplies.  His staff must spend hours and hours and hours putting these supplies together.  I was lucky enough to take a class from Tim 2 years ago.  His class was large and well planned with a PowerPoint presentation and helpers walking around the room with Tim.  We walked out with extra supplies because Tim Holtz doesn't give you 1 piece of an item.  Oh no, he gives you a package- use 1 and keep the rest.

The Ephemera kit I missed out on :(

Because Tim is so busy, he hardly has time to think let along create products for an Etsy story, so his Etsy shop sits empty.  I had no heard of it being open in the last few years that I have followed his blog closely.  That is, until 2 weeks ago.  It was open for 10 minutes.  In 10 minutes, he sold the cutest little album kit, 2 different very charming collections of vintage Christmas ephemera, and tiny little green lanterns-vintage of course.  I whipped into the shop exactly at 12:00- the time he was going to OPEN- and grabbed, in order,  one of the Christmas collections, a book kit, and a lantern.  By the time I clicked on the Book kit, the Christmas Collection was gone from my cart.  What?  Seriously!  People must have grabbed the ephemera and paid without getting anything else.  Within 10 minutes it was sold out.  I did manage to get the book kit and the lantern. He managed to put together some more book kits and they were gone in 1 minute.

The book was a almost a complete kit.   It contained everything needed except the inks and paints.  It was so complete that all the paper was cute to size.  I love to put together kits like this because it gives me a peak into how other artists put together projects.   

It really is the cutest thing.  I only took pictures of a few empty pages because, frankly they all look similar.  I shall fill it up with something-tiny- and take more pictures.

Laters…..