TFJBChallenge ; Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters…SSS Monday Challenge; Fun and Quirky… TIME & AGAIN!

 July 4th has come and gone once again- my favorite holiday of the year just seems to pass by all too quickly for me. At least I'm feeling much better now, and so are the rest of the members of our family. We waded through quite a bit this year, but GOD willing, we've managed to keep up with everything, and then some. GOD is so good and we are so very blessed! I keep thinking of how I grew up and how my life is now. I'm so in awe of it all! Do me a favor; go outside in your back yard, or sit on your front porch or patio for just a few quiet minutes. (If you can't get outside, just stand in the middle of your house or place of residence). Take a good look around you. Note the GOOD THINGS and take a minute to wonder how in the world did you manage to make it this far in life where you are right now? Sometimes, I think we get too caught up in all the 'bad' in this world, and we forget that we are simply and plainly HUMAN. Most of the time, we can barely keep up with our own tiny corner of responsibility, let alone solve every huge problem of the world at large. I'm not saying we should ignore it; but it's kind of 'out of our league' to try to solve every problem in one day. Just take a few minutes to look around at what you have RIGHT NOW.  Just be grateful RIGHT NOW. For a few minutes, the world can wait while I stop and just be grateful to still be here: enjoying my Grandkids, laughing with my ChiefHubby, putting out the sailboat (finally!), and catching a fish (my first in years of trying, actually!). Even the raccoon family that has taken up residence underneath my back porch (yes, last month it was a litter of kittens under the front

porch....sigh) has brought me laughter: watching just one long racoon arm stretch up to search around blindly, finally hook onto the cat food dish and pull it towards the deck edge where the arm grabbed a paw-full of cat food and the arm disappeared. I think I must have a child/animal magnet inside me somewhere. The recent monsoon rains got all the hundreds of baby frogs jumping all over the backyard and I was wondering if they were...partying, or what??  It was a joy to be able to show the tiny, less-than-half-an-inch babies to the older two Grandbabies. All three simply ADORE animals. So, of course; I try going to the bathroom alone, only to find it crowded with small children and furry pets. (That's why we call it The Petting Throne.) In any case; I know how blessed I am, and I am THANKFUL!

This post's make is a bit "scattered". Blame it on my ArtMuse- she really took me all over the place with this one. I just meekly followed along. I kind of went in one direction.....generally. VERY odd for me to veer so far off the path, but I ended up being very pleased with the results. It took me a few full evenings, I will have to admit. And I am again toeing the deadline (for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge , but end up EARLY (*GASP!!!*) for TFJB Challenge #8 , and it really all just 'fell together'. So let's see what went on:

I cannot seem to get enough of those Etcetera Tim Tags !!!

I played around with some of the gears to see what I wanted to do...

And started adding a few things to see where I was going with this.

Distress...

...distress...

...and MORE DISTRESS !!!

Instead of adding more faux rust edging, I chose to just sand off the tag's outside edges.

The result made the inside items' rusting stand out more.

Since I ran out of Multi Medium Matte, I made do with Mod Podge.

The shelf covering matches with the BACK SIDE of the Tag-

kind of pulling it together more.

I really LOVE those layered ephemera items- like this target. (All Tim Holtz)

And here's what came of it...

The FRONT Side of the Tag.

Time is VERY IMPORTANT to me: it means spending it with my ChiefHubby,

our kids and our Grandbabies (the 3 Grandbabies are again represented as "Time Flyers".

Can you see: "Measuring Time"

How about: "Time Goes On"?

I was originally going to distress the gears but realized that TIME goes on like a well-oiled

machine; never stopping and never grinding to a halt. So the gears had to stay nice and new.

And behind those gears here; another "Measurement of Time".

Can you find...

"Time (Thyme) in a Bottle" ... (Thanks, Jim Croce!)

"Inside the Times" (Whatever "Times" newspaper you read)...

and

"Lost in Time",,,?

Oh, look; there lay "The Hands of Time"!

There's that Ruler for "Measure of Time" again, in the background here.

Bet a lot of you may not realize how IMPORTANT this gold rope is...

Being a Firefighter's Wife, Mom, and Daughter-in-Law for so many years,

I've learned how critical time can be:

"The Golden Hour" is a victim's first hour after the accident 

(or fire, or whatever trauma has taken place),

in which they have the best chance of survival.

This is why you see Emergency Personnel hurrying to the scene.

It's not to 'get there by speeding' -or any other silly thing that often comes out of mouths

of motorists- it's to ensure that a victim has the BEST chance to live, and

also the BEST chance to return to their normal physical state after healing.

"Perishable" can mean "Wasted Time"!

The Back Side of the Tag...

...and we all know how "Time Flies"!

Now that we're retired, we are also "Free to Fly",

and while we're not exactly getting there by our backside wings;

we're headed off to our other home in Florida,

to spend our 37th Wedding Anniversary:

lazing on the sunny beaches of the Emerald Coast, come Wednesday; July 14th!

As we're heading off in just a few hours, I'd best wrap this up....

After all; I am NEVER "On Time" like this target.

But maybe the "Key to Time" is to just get a move on!! LOL!

I'm entering this crafted Tag into the following:

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog: Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters.

Sponsored by:

The Funkie Junkie Boutique

and

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog: Fun and Quirky

Sponsored by:

Simon Says Stamp

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                                                          Until Next TIME...

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                                 HAPPY BLOGGING!!!