October is usually busy for me, but this year it literally got away from me. I was all geared up to turn 50 on the 18th, and I wasn't diappointed. Time has a way of fulfilling itself so you can be SURE it will pass. So the inevitable happened, but unlike my 40th birthday 10 yrs ago,
this one passed much easier by far! I had been praying that The LORD would use me as HE saw fit for my 40th yr. Since I became ill just before my 40th, endured at least 2 surgeries, numerous complications, and the onset of 2 more lovely degenerative diseases... I took on prayer with a lot more thought about what I was saying to HIM this time. My outlook is actually more basic than it used to be, and I'm far more apt to look for the upside to life and -I think- more ready to ENJOY it, too! And the ChiefHubby pulled off a REAL surprise party for me- complete with all four of our kids and all our closest Besties who live nearer to us. More on that later, since I did a fun photo shoot at a sunflower field, and a few other fave spots. I'm working on those now.
So, we are at the end of the month and my October Tag was actually all finished, but
needed to be put together. I was waiting on photos for 2 of the tags for Besties who shared a Pumpkin Month birthday along with me. Here's my take on Tim's October Tag...
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| I started out with choosing my colors, and then went to see what all I had that closely matched what I had in mind. At this point, I have two tons of Distress Paints (my fave go-to coloring) and am currently keeping an eye on all the places I frequent (Hobby Lobby & JoAnn Fabrics have the best choices in Indiana) for the newest colors of Distress Inks coming out. I recently picked up Cracked Pistachio- which I LOVE LOVE LOVE!! I'm truthfully not all that crazy about the Distress Sprays, but on the other hand, they do look convenient. I'm more partial to the Distress Ink Pads tho. |
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| So here are the colors I came up with. I really wanted to get the Alterations Pumpkin die before this, but it was not to be. I did find it available through Wendi Vecchi (THANKS!), but didn't get the time to go online again shopping for it yet. |
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| I ultimately think October is all about the LEAF WAR- the Leaf Battles I fight throughout the entire month from trees that are all AROUND our property. And for some reason, they always end up at the back door & tracked inside. So, I can be found out on my John Deere sucking them up and depositing them back into the woods- much the same way the squirrels run around doing with their stash of nuts. Whatever. But the colors with water spots....really COOL look! |
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| My fronts were all cut from the Seasonal TH stock, so I was thining on something different for the backs. I had enough of one cardstock that looked like old newspaper, but not enough for the other two. So those were cut from TH Resist which I sanded lightly and did a little wash of Distress paint over it. The resist shows up after wiping lightly. |
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| Now the fun part; embellies! I played around with this once before and got great results, so I was HOPING the same results would happen with leaf cuts. It not only was super easy- it was super COOL looking! My trusty drill, using the tiniest bit in my pack, made the holes needed. |
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| Here's the resulting ShrinkyDink leaves. I used TH Distress Metalic Paints in Gold, Tarnished Brass, and Bronze. |
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| The leaves needed a 'base' to fall from....in other words: a branch. So my thought was why not layer the branch like I was planning to layer the leaves? This meant cutting at least 3 branches for each tag. I also embossed them with the Woodgrain folder for a little more depth. |
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| So in all, I ended up with 8 leaves for each of three tags. But after cutting the leaves, I started thinking "Hmmm....the leaves outside are so...CRUNCHY....mashed up....TEXTURED as well as veins clearly showing up now with the stems,", so I was trying to think up how to get them to look more realistic. I came up with: using Distress Markers to make the 'veins' and then embossing them all with the "Ledger/Numbers" embossing folder from the Notebook set. You'll see the closeup down below how this folder added the texture to the leaves perfectly. |
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| Now, to just get them all put together. I wanted to add a Word Band to the pile of leaves at the bottom, so the best thing to use for so many layers was my mini flue gun. I hadn't planned on it, but it ended up working very nicely! It helped add some space in between the layers- really giving serious dimension! |
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| Here's a closeup of the "tree branch' with three leaves on it yet to fall.... |
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| ...and another closeup of the pile of leaves at the bottom of the Frontside of my October Tag. |
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| The is the backside of the tags. Each one had our birthdate on one of the pumpkins, special photos on each tag, and a set of the ShrinkyDink leaves hanging from a Trinket Pin. |
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| This was my own tag- celebrating my 50th with a fun photo shoot. Wait till ya see the pics....HILARIOUS! The closeup here shows the leaf embellies and the wooden numbers I happened to find on a shopping spree with all the Besties (sans our Hubbys)! We hit the Treasure Mart and the craft stores, and generally terrorized the Hubbys' wallets. Hehe! |
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| Frontsides... |
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| and Backsides. |
Thanks so much for checking in throughout the month! I am so sorry I am late with my tag posting and also the long-promised posts awaiting finishing of things done over the Summer I'd still like to share with you all! It's not so much about "I made this!" as much as it is to share ideas, encourage each other in talent and inspire others to keep moving, keep making, and keep sharing.
We ALL have something to share, and we ALL have special gifts and talents !!
I am very humbled to be a part of a -literally- a WORLD full of wonderfually talented folks!
Here's hoping this finds you all well and wishing you to stay so.
Till next time:
AND
HAPPY BLOGGING!
