AUGUST TAG; The 12 Tags of 2015

       Tim's gone and done it again; made a fantastically COOL tag that I just LOVE! So, my first thought was "I really wanna do one like THAT!" and of course - as is my usual- I also had to go and get another idea for a different kind of tag also. Aaaaand made a copy of it for a gift. Backsides done, too. Like I had that kind of time lately with the backup of blogs I still have yet to get out. ( I know everyone is wondering at this point if it will ever happen...YES, it will. In my usual lateness.) August is almost out, and I am unwilling to let go of Summer 2015.

As I type this, we are packed and ready to head up to Minnesota for a weekend with the younger PURDUE couple kids. They just moved into a new house- getting out of the tiny apartment they were in to start with. They've only been in Red Wing since October (Holli joined  Brett at Christmas after her graduation from Purdue) and they have made themselves quite at home. Holli took a nice offer of a job in the school system, only to be offered another job as well the next day. She finally chose the second and is really excited to start her first High School English Teaching job! Brett has been working alot at the Nuke Facility, so this will keep Holli busy during his long shifts. He gets a week off every 6 weeks, so they do get time to go off to see new places. They took their first camping trip for their 2nd Anniversary and posted some AWESOME photos of Minnesota!

And I would be totally remiss if I didn't shoutout the BEST NEWS so far: back in July, the older couple kids took a trip south to the Smokey Mountains, and we kept it mum till they announced it formally the first week of August.....Brian popped the BIG Q and Ashley said "YES"!! He presented her with a beautiful diamond engagement ring, and we are a VERY HAPPY set of 4 'Rents (hers and his both)!!! Brian also began his new job on August 17th as a Permanent Associate at Subaru of Indiana Automotive (the same SIA he's been working at for a year now as a Temp). The funniest thing about it is that he will be in training for some time in this job. He's officially registered at PURDUE UNIVERSITY and we now have our 4th BOILERMAKER in the house !!!  He actually is a few classes short of a Fire Science degree from Ivy Tech. But he is switching gears now for this new job. So that will all remain as is- unless he changes his mind when it comes to another Fire Dept.

 What's so funny about this is Brian NEVER wanted to be a Boilermaker at PURDUE. And Brett never wanted to be a Firefighter. And yet- here they both are; Brian is a student at PURDUE and Brett's job description at the Prairie Island Nuclear Facility is that he maintains training on their Fire Brigade. So we still have a Firefighter in the family....and we still sing "GO PURDUE" !!!! lol

Ok, lemme get back on track now....hahahahaaa.....



Here's a closeup of the saying I chose. It reminds me that we raised our Sons to go out there and get 'em! So wherever they must go to do that, and to take care of their wives....GOD will watch over them all for me. :)




Here's the closeup of the embellies...I shrunk the stamps on the computer then printed them out. That way you can fill in the blanks if you want. I filled in others for our cruise we took last summer- and they look really COOL on the stuff I used them on. The little sailboat used to be shiney silver. A little Alcohol ink took care of that for me.




The plane (and the compass) were printed out on printable velum. Once you scan your stamps to use them on the computer, you can save them and use them over and over on different programs. Being a photographer, I know alot of tricks like this to use that come in handy when I am crafting ! 




This is the full backside of my entry tag- I used a date stamper for my choice of stamps. It looks cool to ME. This gave me a chance to cut into that new stack of TH Correspondence papers!



This is the background of the other 2 tags- I call them Summer tags. I wanted to make something different that was colorful to share with a Bestie who has been such a wonderful help to me with my kittykats ! She and her Husband said goodbye at the first of August, to their puppy, Hershey (The Great American Chocolate Dog) after he spent a very GOOD , long life with them. It came at the end of the stay of their kids and Grandkids- so they all got to say goodbye. I'm gonna miss him, too !! I used my M&S Sand & Sea Mini dies to cut some seahorses, sand dollars, and starfish out of CoOrdinations paper, lightly sanded and shaded them a bit for some depth. I kept it kind of plain for these tags- so the COLORS would pop.







These are the fronts- Mine is at the top and Susan's is on the bottom. Each shows what kept us busy this August....their entire family coming to stay.....and the ChiefHubby and I finishing up the front and back porches and the new pool and damage from the old pool break......





And the Backsides of each.....ours shows how the porches only come alive when they're filled with those we LOVE! And their backside shows a previous year of their family staying and a photo of Hershey just before he went to be an angel pup for JESUS!! (Yes; that's what I believe and I am gonna STICK with that!!)



THANK YOU, EVERYONE, for all the NICE comments for my last CC3 Challenge entry!!

The winners HAD to be HARD to choose because, in moho, they were ALL so FANTASTIC!

I hope to keep in touch with, and follow as many as I can. I have yet to keep up on here, so we'll see how it all pans out as the fall weather gets here. (Shhhhhhh!!! Let's not help it get here!)

Be Safe and Happy Blogging !

Compendium of Curiosities Vol.3 Challenge #34....And That's A Wrap, Folks!

Well, here we are; at the very last Challenge for the Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 3, and while I only began at #19, it still seems like a loooong time ago. I am really happy to have joined in on all the fun, learned a lot of new techniques, and made some new friends I hope to keep in touch with and craft with in the future! So, here I am at the last minute again, and burning the 11:00 pm oil to make the deadline once again. Forgive me the times I've nearly missed it, but life keeps me on my toes. And that, my readers, is a VERY GOOD thing! With this last Challenge, there will be prizes again... and I feel like I've come full circle with this since I am using prize $ won from my JUNE TAG from Tim and Mario, to make this last Challenge project with !!

I must add a huge THANKS to everyone who has been checking in for all my posts and esp these Challenges! I still have one I missed that will feature a Bucket List happening of mine. Plus a few more that our busy life has not allowed me time to post yet. *sigh* Then, I must thank Tim Holtz for making these awesome CoC books that have me trying out new things all the time in my studio. And to Mario Rossi- for keeping us all in the know with his BTS photos, and doing all the sending of prizes!! A HUGE THANKS to all the ppl I've gotten to know in these Challenges on Linda Ledbetter's site- truly AWESOMELY TALENTED CRAFTERS!!! And their encouraging ideas and inspiration has kept me going.

And lastly, THANKS SO MUCH for all the prizes sponsored: The Funkie Junkie Boutique ,The Inspiration Emporium , and of course- Tim and Mario !

All that said; here it goes.....



It all began with my winning JUNE TAG. Mario sent out a $25 Gift Certificate for my prize and I chose to use it for adding another rack to my Blending Tools Spinner. But, like I've complained before- each rack comes with a base. I already have a neat looking base and wanted to just add another rack for 8 more Mini Blending Tools. So the base was leftover. What to do with that?? I came up with a neat idea and dug up a paper mache star and a tough paper tube.



The first thing I did was add a little bit of texture to my star with some Guesso. I wanted to use Tim's stencils to give it a texture you could SEE as well as FEEL...



I had to think ahead because I knew the star was going to be at the top. So I cut the tube to fit the star and pinched it tight with a SPINNER to hold the star onto the top! :)




I didn't want to get any Guesso onto the base, so I taped it up nicely - it doubled as a place to put the tube for drying.




Yep- I wanted to add texture to the tube also...it wasn't easy !!




Then I used Black Soot Distress Paint to coat the tube and it actually matched the base PERFECTLY!




This is the Guesso'ed star- with stars at the top and all bricking at the bottom 3 points.



I then used Tarnished Brass on one side only.



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For the actual Challenge- I can't show you that, but I LOVE stars and stripes and those stencils would go really WELL with this star!!! Full circle...see what I mean?? (Hint: My JUNE TAG 2015)





Here's the finished Side 2 after the technique.





Side 1 also has the technique done on it- with a white background/ I used a pattern to decide how to embellish it.




For those of you who wanted to see HOW IN THE WORLD I DRILLED THOSE MIRROR STARS:
veeeeery carefully !!




Some pearls onto red wire and a few IdeaOlogy items....



I chose to do some "rusting" of the Brass side... then some IdeaOlogy embellies...



And some ribbon in Distress Fired Brick....



I used my new TH Heart Punch (which I also got from prize $$) to add our wedding photo to the charm...



And there is Side 1 finished: it has all the colors of our wedding in 1984. Sitting up on my dresser next to all our family photos is a really COOL touch!

And in the summer, when it's Americana Flag time- I can just turn the star around for some antique look.

            Thanks for checking in this last Challenge and I sure hope to get the rest of some really COOL projects I've done in the past two months....POSTED SOON!!!
                                        Have a great weekend, and Happy Blogging!