Tim Holtz on Creativity

Tim Holtz is an author, designer and the Creative Director for Ranger Industries, one of the leading manufacturers of innovative inks, paints, and embossing products. He has teamed up with various key companies like Ranger, Advantus, Stampers Anonymous, Sizzix, Tonic Studios, and Core’dinations to bring unique products that work hand in hand with Ranger’s extensive lines.

Creativity Made Simple is all about finding the time do what you love when life gets busy. As part of the campaign, we asked Tim to answer the four questions below. Have your own question for Tim? Share in the comments below, and he will select five to answer.

Check out his guest blog post with a free cardmaking project, too! 

1. How do you make time to craft?
Well I guess I would say I'm lucky enough to get to craft for a living, but just like everyone else, it's a balance, but an important one to have in my opinion. It's important to not only make time to craft, but actually take time to craft. What I mean is sometimes you may plan on crafting, but allow something else to get in the way - I say no to that. You need to take time to craft, perhaps you start small and choose one night during the week for maybe an hour or so. As that time becomes part of your routine, try adding another day, or another hour, and before you know it you'll be making the time, and taking the time to allow yourself to craft and stay creative...

2. Who/what was your influence to craft?
I guess you could say I was somewhat creative growing up, although I honestly never dreamt I would actually have a career in crafting. We grew up with very little money, so we had to make every holiday decoration and every gift we gave. This definitely influenced my "anything goes" crafting style. It's very rewarding to say you actually made it by hand and had fun doing it...

3. Name a crafting item you can't live without.
That's a simple one....INK. In my world if it's not worth inking, it's not worth doing. I think ink adds such personality to any craft. Whether you're going for a distressed or grungy look, wanting to add a little color to a stamped image or background, ink is my go-to product every single time...

4. Someone says, "I'm not creative." How do you respond? 
I believe everyone is creative, it's simply a matter of embracing it and more importantly trusting it. Since I've been teaching crafts for over 10 years, I have met a variety of crafters from beginners to beyond. Yet no matter the level, if you simply allow yourself the creative freedom, anything is possible. We all have a variety of styles, likes, and skills, but the one thing that is that same is we are in fact all creative in some way...

Check out an upcycled project from Tim, too!
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Tim Holtz is the Creative Director for Ranger Industries, one of the leading manufacturers of innovative inks, paints, and embossing products. Tim plays an integral part in the development and design of cutting edge paper crafting products. Tim has teamed up with various key companies like Ranger, Advantus, Stampers Anonymous, Sizzix, Tonic Studios, and Core’dinations to bring unique products that work hand in hand with Ranger’s extensive lines.

As a well known designer, Tim travels across the country and internationally to educate and introduce people to his world of ink techniques, project ideas, and so much more. His books “A Compendium of Curiosities” Vol.1 and Vol.2 are filled with creative and inspiring ideas for paper crafters and beyond.