MARCH TAG- The 12 Tags of 2015

I doubt there is anyone who is following Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 who did NOT like his March Tag and all the vibrant lovely colors of this! All I could say was "WOW"! And like most of the rest, I could hardly wait to get going. Yeah- I checked in and found a ton of ppl already posted theirs while I am thinking I'm earlier than my usual 'always late'. ;) So here's what I came up with after ditching my first design idea of a bird getting outside its cage. Since I'd just done a project with the same idea, I wasn't so hot on it. But the more I thought about it, the wilder my idea got and I ended up with two tags that are pretty cool, I think!



Here's my entry photo. The tag on the left- "HOPE" is for my own collection, while the tag on the right- "WISH" is for a Bestie whose birthday was just yesterday. (No, I didn't miss it!)



Actually, I ran into a HUGE PROBLEM. I started out pretty good as you can see...




While Tim wanted to use clear embossing so he didn't have 'specks' that usually show up when it's color emboss, I DID want those specks! They make the 'shadow' look sort of vintage, I think, and I really LOVE that look. So I used something 'spongy' to make my shape emboss onto the tags. And I really liked how it turned out. BUT...




You can see from this photo how the lettering on the paste is.. well.... BLAH!! Nothing else describes it well enough.  At this point, I kept on with my plan and did the backs of both tags and began what I wanted to add to the fronts. I used an Emboss Plate that was 'Daisys' to give the back a little touch of 'Spring' without really doing anything else to it.




Here's where I took a coupld of IdeOlogy Enameled Tags and stuck a few Remnant Rubs onto them. I keep all the odds and ends of the Numbers Rubs because you never know where you can stick those into a design like I did here.




It was at this point I gave up ENTIRELY on those first two tag fronts. So, back to the Craft Sheet, so to speak. And frankly, I was much more pleased with this second set than I was with the first as far as colors go!




Here's where I went wrong the first time: I figured out from studying my own work compared to Tim's via my iPad, that I was pressing way too hard on the paste and smashing it under the Stencil instead of just FILLING the spaces of the Stencil. Ok. Problem FOUND. Now to SOLVE my problem by taking this second time 'round a wee bit easier on the putty!




Here are both tags of the first try and second try all next to each other. You can obviously see a HUGE difference! On my second set-which is in the middle- the left is yet to be heated while the right is already heated and done. WOW!! This time I could yell "NAILED IT!!!", and I think I did. lol




Now onto my own deviation from Tim's tag- the computer part. I wanted REAL photos inside that die cut from Tim's Alterations Picture Wheel. To do that, I would need two sides for each wheel. Double that up for toughness so you could really turn the wheel AND not come into touch contact with oily fingers to ruin the printer ink on the vellum....I cut four wheel from Tim's Resist stash and used some Tarnished Brass Distress Paint then wiped each with a rag so you could see the design through the color, and used Glossy Accents to put the double sides together to ready them for the printout wheel to go between. But first, I had to DESIGN the inside wheel. Not a hard thing to do when you're a photographer and that is what YOU DO. And what you've been doing for years for others. So I made my wheel, spent a couple hours finding my Bestie some photos of her own family and some "springy' flower photos I always take out here every year of what I and my friends plant and grow. Then I did the same for my tag wheel, too.




After I have a pattern, I save it on my files for future use. All I need to do later is just add the photos I want. Here's the finished vellum for this project, ready for cutting and using some GAccents to put together.




And HERE'S the wheel! This one's for my own- you can easily see me standing in front of the ocean from one of last year's 6 trips to Florida's Emerald Coastline. And my Hunni Pi's face nosed right up to my camera, too!




I added as many pics of all us Besties together as I could find right off, some of her kids out here in the pool, and some of the stuff the ChiefHubby and I attend with them. Their kids are kind of like our adopted Gandkids.



Here's what the backs look like. Just simple, but cute.



The results of the technique of paste and embossing powder is nothing short of REALLY COOL looking stuff!





I took the tags outside after I got them done (just 14 hours ago), and put them up against the sunlight...COOL!




LOVE how you can see not only the photo inside the window, but it looks as if the design in all over the actual wheel! I hope she likes it, and more than that- we wish her a: WONDERFULLY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! With a great many, many more years to come, BJ!!!



What a fun tag this one has been- even though it took me two times to get it right, practice makes perfect.  Thanks so much for taking a look at my March Tag, and I hope to be looking at YOURS posted onto Tim Holtz's Blog as the month goes on! Until next time; Happy Blogging !!