Wishing You A HAPPY NEW YEAR....2015...Filled With Warmth & Sunshine!

From us, to you...

 

  

 

 

       As the old year 2014 passes, and the new year 2015 rolls in... 

      May The LORD continue keeping His watchful eyes on you, and yours...always!

              Thanks for looking in on my Blog Posts all through 2014, & as always;

                                        HAPPY BLOGGING in 2015!

 

DECEMBER Tag ; The 12 Tags of 2014

     

  

   This is my own take on the monthly challenge of Tim Holtz's December Tag of the 12 Tags of 2014. It was easy to get the tags themselves done, but it has been rather hard to get the photos edited and put up into a blogpost since we hit the road well before CHRISTmas this year. I really thought I'd have more time to get it all done and up while enjoying some downtime with the Bama/Fla side of our family. Of course -as always- best laid plans... but it's been a VERY enjoyable holiday and even though I'm getting this  month's Tag up at the very last hours; it seems rather fitting to be doing it on the very last day of 2014, and ring in the  New Year 2015 with a big bonfire party (don't let being in USUALLY WARM, SUNNY Florida fool ya: it's close to freezing today)... and Tim's first Tag of the new year just after midnight, along with the First Family Foto I always take just after midnight as well. (We'll give Tim a wee bit of leeway here, and not expect it until at least 3am....lol!)

          As you can see, my usual 'look' is different because of not having my home setup for editing my photos. I actually took these as soon as I got done making the tags, then concentrated on getting them put along with all the gifts packed with the tags (jars od homemade "Indiana2Florida Wild Black Raspberry Jam/Jelly"). And, as always; I made many copies of my December Tag, but some of them had different items on them. I also had to make some changes with Tim's use of the Frosted Film since I didn't have any of that. Instead, I utilized an old 'imperfection' which came from mistakenly putting white distress paint onto a plastic sheet then realizing it was NOT what I wanted to do during that project. I did keep the mistake in mind for another useful time, and this just fit. I like to use, re-use or recycle items, and I use the top-loading plastic page savers that are for school binder reports or scrapbooking sheet covers. I run them through the BigShot with my Bookplate Tag die so there is no extra trimming to match the Tag itself, then for this Tag- I used Picket Fence distress paint to cover the cut plastic, let dry, and wipe off slightly; leaving a 'filmly white' look which then can be embossed using the snowflake folder. Sewn onto the Tag, and follow along the rest of the same basic instructions for background colors.

         For my December Tag, I made two sides as I usually do. I made the FRONTside a 'darker' blue using Broken China Distress Paint for the background that I wanted to dipict a night-time scene; as if the deer were "playing in the moonlit night" decorating their own tree while all the humans were in bed asleep. The BACKside of my Tag shows the snowman, who ends up just a wee bit dirty from a full morning of playing in the snow-filled community with all his snowman friends. He's just about ready to come in for some hot chocolate, a hot bath, and snuggle under blankies near the fireplace with the rest of his snowman family...and wait for the CHRIST child's birth to be quietly celebrated with the special awe of music floating throughout the house while watching the lights twinkle on the nearby CHRISTmas tree. 

        In case you're wondering why some of the deer are cut off at mid-body... I'd cut those from actual Bible pages of an old one I purchsed at a yardsale. I copy off the old, yellowed pages, add some Vintage Photo Distress Ink here and there, and adhere it to Grungepaper. The pages read out of Luke 2...the story of JESUS's birth. I needed those tags to fit into smaller treat bags for gifting, but the full body wouldn't fit. So I trimmed them down and that's how it came out. They still weighted evenly for tree-hanging, so I went with it. 

       So, here they are: I showed the FRONTsides first, & BACKsides lastly. The two sides adhered together made striking ornaments...if I do say so myself! ;)

                                

THANKS SO MUCH for checking in at this busy, last-minute time!!! 

HAPPY BLOGGING!!!!

The Ticket 2 Thankfulness....

 Like most churches, The Church of Christ at Logansport has a group just for the women, and young ladies. Our group is called The Ladies Friendly Circle, which meets just once a month. Each of us tries to take a turn hosting unless there is a visit planned to one of the three area nursing homes, or we plan a special event for others. Since those things take up half the meetings, that leaves only 5 or 6 other months to host.

   While not everyone can make it to every meeting, I try to get to all of them, and I always like hosting one of the fall months just so I can do something special for these 'sisters' of mine. This year, I got the help of a Co-Hostess, and while she helped IMMENSELY by making half of the supper planned, she had other events going on with her two younger sons, and I gladly took over the rest of it as I already had a little item planned for each lady. I'd just gotten a new Alterations Die- Big Ticket- for my birthday in October, and I was eager to use it. I kept thinking of the smaller TH tickets I have on my metal "Receipt Holder" that I keep four of my most recent or fave Tags of the 12 Tags. The tix were colored brightly and kind of 'too small' for using on my idea, but I went ahead and scanned them off, sized two of them together, touched up the coloring, and ended up with a CUTE big ticket to which I added the title "Ticket 2 Thankfulness" and also the words "ADMIT MANY" as a play on listing as many thankful things as there were left days of this month after our meeting. Since the night of the meeting fell on November 11th, I set the theme also with red, white, and blue balloons inside some wooden 'post' pumpkins that one of my "Besties" (also a member of our group) had made for my birthday gift. With a pan of hand-picked raspberry pie from this area earlier this summer... it fit in nicely with the Italian casaroles and salad.

In keeping with our work for others, we prayed for our United States Servicemen and Servicewomen - past, present, and future - and for the leaders of our nation; that they fulfill The LORD's will even if they are unaware they are doing so. We know GOD is in control, no matter what. 

 So, while I am thinking each day of how many BLESSINGS I am thankful for, I happened to read another friend's Blog (she's actually a very active writer, with several blogs), and was surprised at something she's thankful for that I admittedly have over-looked...she wrote that she is thankful for the ability to READ.

  I guess you could say, correctly so, that kinda 'hit me right between the eyes'! Being deaf, I depend on reading more than the average person. Texting, Closed Caption use on television and (HOPEFULLY SOON it will be ALL) internet videos, (and PLS!!) radio interviews and many other things that hearing people just don't stop to think how many of us are unable to hear and depend heavily on...is the written word. So, YES, I agree WHOLE-HEARTEDLY!!! And I'd like to give a #SHOUTOUT to Tena Carr in Arizona for making me (and hopefully everyone else) aware of a seemingly 'simple' thing that I have DEFINITELY taken for granted! You truly 'WOW!' me, gurl! ;)

May we all be as 'open-eyed' and aware of many other BLESSINGS we may have missed in our hurried, everyday lives. And may GOD's protection and blessing be on YOU, my readers. I give thanks for YOU and for being able to BLOG with you all!!

Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Blogging! 

NOVEMER TAG: The 12 Tags of 2014

   Tim's November Tag with the leaf is actually one of my faves of his out of the year. It lends itself to the tones & shades of color I love using. I probably use them way too much, and need to practice getting outside my own colorbox now and then. And,I actually ran into a 'problem' since Tim's leaf theme was the same theme I chose to use as my take on his October Tag. (I like his better, too.) So, that left me a bit stumped, but as Tim would have it: I let my "LylaMuse" lead me, and once I got going I ended up with not just one, but THREE different tags. That number actually ended up totalling 8 since I was planning to give out 5 of them. I am short on time this month since I used a good 2 weeks for my "By The Sea" project, and we are leaving for Minnesota to join the YgrPurdueNukeEngineerSon's Wife (PurdueHonorsEduDaughterIL) on a trip up to be with him for Thanksgiving. So I needed to get my Nov. Tag done and posted since we won't be back until after Decemeber's Tag is posted.

        I was pretty pleased with the outcome because NovTag#1 was my original idea; using my own WLYLA "LEAF BREAK 2014" photos on a puzzle-cut. As soon as I got the die cut using Sizzix #654992 Puzzle Maker #2 (retired)...it didn't look like I was going to be doing any coloring of the tag itself. So I put aside that one set of cutouts to see if I could use it later for anything. After I got the other two done, I went back to this set and played around with it. This is what I came up with:

  



It's my love for photography- and GOD's wonderful outdoors - that gets me going. It celebrates the world we live in; a gift we often take for granted. I came up with this idea a few yrs ago to share the season as it changes. I was noticing that the leaves seemed as if they 'changed overnight when I wasn't looking' and wanted to remember to ENJOY IT. So I started sharing it each week on my WLYLA as a kind of 'commercial break' halfway through the song choices. It's made me aware of how truly BEAUTIFUL it is up here in Indiana in the Fall each year.

That's our Creator GOD -the greatest Artist!



     Tag #2 was my next plan after thinking Tag #1 wasn't going to allow me to use all the techniques Tim was showing. I chose to use my Movers & Shapers Mini Old Glory Set, and changed only one other part; I didn't have any sticky embossing glue or tape product to use with the foil. My stand-by for this part was using a stiff brush to splatter some Ranger Silver Alcohol Ink. I didn't get the 'blunt' look of the foil, but it did get some silver sparkle that ended up looking just right for this Tag #2- along with some tiny buttons hooked into a Trinket Pin with a jumpring. Some scrap Americana cloth torn into ribbon topped it off nicely.

    Since the reason I chose to make this R,W,B theme was due to my strong feelings for the men and women who serve in our US Armed Forces, and honoring them from each branch of Service, in each era of our USA History. One of these tags went to our Older FFCaptSon's girl, Ahsley, whom we are VERY proud to say is U.S. NAVY. (So is one of her older Bros, and her Dad is Marines.) Since both the ChiefHubby and I have our Dads both served in the ARMY, along with just about all our Uncles, as well as several cousins in Air Force...Veteran's Day is more than just another holiday. So this Tag#2 will be my choice to post on Tim Holtz's Blog.

     

      And the last Tag, #3, is a bit of a joke the weather chose to play on us all. While I was getting out the cardboard, I found a stack of white ripple cardboard that usually comes as cushion for alot of the ChiefHubby's Fire Dept. items. I keep tucking it away thinking I'll use it for something, and that something hit me as the SNOWFLAKES FELL....literally! I also found some small wooden snowflakes that already had a cute finish of white with sparkles on them. I added 2014 with my  trustly little date stamper.

    Since I am lucky to already have a Sizzix Bigz Die #655545 Snowflake, I settled in making three of these; 1 for my own collection, 1 for a birthday gift, and the last will go into the drawing for the home-crafted CHRISTmas ornament trade we do each year in our church's Ladies group. It gets challenging to come up with a new idea each year and even those who admit to not being 'crafty' are giving it a try! 

By the time anyone sees this, TAG No.2 will already have been posted to Tim's Blog. But if you have a different fave of the three here; you are more than welcome to let me know! :D

Thanks for checking in and esp for reading through this long posting really meant for just ONE Tag for the month.

"I just have too many Tags!" said NO CraftGurl EVER!!! ;)

Happy Blogging!

By The Sea: a Configurations Book with a mix of 'Tim Holtz' and 'Graphic 45'!

Winter has apparently decided it needed to move in early, without a welcoming invitation to do so. At this typing, it is a mere 16* with a WCF (if you live in Indiana, you deal with this daily in winter- Wind Chill Factor) hovering at a slightly bitter ZERO...or just below. So with all that cold, mixes of ice and snow already covering the ground for a good two inches or more...time in the studio became available, & it warmed me up. What probably warmed me up was not so much the heat in the house as much as it was the craft I was working on: the Mini Configurations Book I'd picked up earlier this summer to use for our 30th Anniversary Cruise memories. The pics and items from the trip definitely took my mind off the bitter cold blowing outside the window!

I started out with a video explaining what I did to get the finished project, and added some photos below the video. This will give you a chance to see details both ways. Enjoy!

  



We both initially were on the jetski together, but after I did my donut thing and he ended up in the water. He let me go out alone after that. hahaha! (I had alot of practice on the first day of school every year- it took away the tears once everyone left me alone at home again...and made a couple of kids a wee bit jealous that Mom got to go out and play, hehehe!) Unfortunately, that was also the donut that caused me to forget I didn't have floaters on my Rx sunglasses. Good thing they were an OLD pair. I was smart enough to leave the new pair in my bag. After that- it was an all-out-race-the-waves free-flying alone out there; what a THRILL!!! And you could see all the way to the bottom of the water, too- BEAUTIFUL and well worth the $$ for that thrill !! 



The detail I forgot to mention: the bottom of this box is paper 'sand' with a cutout photo of our feet drawn as I photographed them inside a heart shape I drew onto the beach in Freeport, Bahamas, and then made ChiefHubby stand inside with me just for this 'flooring' idea. :)





This is what happens when you leave your Studio door open and a 2yr old Louisiana Catahoula pup decides to see if there's anything in there for him to play with. *slow sizzling burn causing SMOKE to come out of my EARS*

         Thanks so much for all the views, comments, and kudos! I have found so many of you fellow craft-bloggers to be VERY clever and also very sweet and supporting of each other. Once again, I wish you all HAPPY BLOGGING !!!