MARCH TAG; The 12 Tags of 2016

    March blew in and I'd gotten my Tag done that very first few days. Somehow, the 'winds of life' got hold and just kept holding me back from getting it blogged and posted. I'm not too upset about it, because I've spent a good bit of that time with my Dad. I will never have that time back, so it was well spent. I often think of all the time we spent with our children- Band, sports, Scouting, travels, and most importantly; church. (We don't just attend- it's a lifestyle 24/7.) The things we did as far as community leading and the Fire Dept was not just well-spent family time, but will hopefully inspire our kids to do the same things they saw us doing for others.
   So, anyway... I guess there's always an excuse, and then there's a GOOD excuse, for being late.
        Tim's Tag combo for this month is another awesome breath-stealer! That's why I had to dig right in on mine. There is never a shortage of people I can think of who need an uplifter, and this month's Tag gift was actually inspired early on from thinking of my Dad. The lady I did the second one for has been battling Alzheimer's (not what my Dad has, but he is 87 and does have memory loss). We took right to this special lady and her husband, Barb and Don Allison, when we first attended Church of Christ at Logansport in June of 2008 moving into town from a county church. Don and Barb just walked right up to us and were so WELCOMING! You'd say "Oh, yeah, for Visitors, they greet you and then that's it," but that was not true at all. Barb really took me under her wing, and she has so much to share with others and teach younger wives! One of the founding Elders there, Don did the same with David, and the couple actually were only the first of many couples we have gotten close to and can look to them as 'adopted parents'. That fall, Barb took me and one of my cousins (who'd ended up at this same church also) on a day trip north to Shipshewana; a very well known Amish area & flea/crafts market. I asked her what she was looking for and she answered "Oh, nothing for myself. I came just to bring you both. It's my way of getting to know you and help you find what YOU like,". Sherry and I were floored! We were very well and able-bodied (ok, so Sherry was) and here she was SERVING US. Another humbling find that day was when I found out she had two sons who'd gone to the same school system Sherry's boys and my boys all graduated from. I just about lost it when Barb told us one of her boys died in a car accident. She spoke highly of her blessings for having had him for the length of his life and told how the funeral had been on a Saturday, but on the following day- Sunday- they got up early to attend worship as usual. She told how she was so EAGER to go worship The LORD, and THANK HIM! Just from this, you can see how this humble, loving, gracious woman affected me. And her husband always gives such gentle care for her with his absolute adoring of her. He'd go to any length for her: her craft room, whatever she needed or wanted to make for others, and never failed to seek her opinion or advice if we came to him with a question or idea. So, this Tag was a "Thinking of you" gift to this wonderful woman who now lives in a nursing home with the daily care and visits of her loving husband. I miss her and hope to get to visit her soon. Meanwhile.... here are the pics of the Tags:

My idea was to use the Window Box Die again for this project. But to make it work, I was going to have to turn the die cut sideways in order to keep the flower box from cutting the tags also. The box would be added later, but the with the cut exactly how I wanted it.

After the die cuts were made, then I knew how muuch background space I'd have for the design underneath, and started choosing some embellishments for the idea my own tag (on the left) would look like first.

I needed to see where the clock would 'fall' at so I used a pattern to see where it would be viewed inside the window cut...

The next problem occurred with the Weathered Clock die; the hands of the clock would show through the window and I didn't want ANY hands on the clock... they would be 'growing' in the flower box. So I used my Diffusers to carefully keep the die onto the very edge of the cutting plates and help protect the under tag paper. It worked!

So, now I peeled the cardboard and got the undertag cut just how I wanted. I did the same with the pieces for the other tag, but I used a cloud and a sun. Both tags had the same theme (flowers growing in a flower box outside a window with colors shining from inside the window as if the outdoors and inside were mixed up. It's the way my imagination works!

Next; choosing the bottom layer. Not too hard to do- music to go with the 'normal' springtime  and word text to go with the clockworks springtime.

Now, I could add some shading and spray effect to the uppermost layer.

Gesso is way too much FUN!

Coloring was absolutely the BEST part, but I can't wait to get some of those new DISTRESS CRAYONS!

Inky hands means you're having creatively great time!

Now, for some needed embellishments...

Making a mechanical butterfly out of an ordinary brad backing is easy using the TH Tonic Scissors and a pair of pliers/tweezers. I had a miniature penny and came up with the idea of using the penny as the bf body as in "Time is Money and Time FLIES!" I can see my ChiefHubby's face: major eyeball! LOL!!! 

Hmmm....colors or jewels...?? I went for the "costly look" of jewels to go in with the "Money" of the penny.

This is a closeup of the finished mechanical butterfly. I really loved how it turned out!

The finished fronts of the 2 springtime tags for March Tag. I ADORE those transferable Foil Sheets !!!

Closeup of the "roses" made with the TH Heart Shaped Punch and glued together with  Glossy Accents. I added a couple of colorful butterflies with the TH Small Butterfly Punch- which matched in size perfectly. A few TH Mirrored Stars were needed since a cloud was chasing the setting sun- night was coming soon.  

Here are the finished BACKS of the same tags: I added some of the same theme using embossing folders, and some shapes  cut from the Alterations Movers and Shapers Die Sets. 

Closeup photo: BACKside of the "Clockworks Springtime" March Tag 1 

Closeup photo: BACKside of the "Springtime Love" March Tag 2

Both finished Tags bagged up; mine for display and Barb's gift tag.

    Once again, I thank you for checking in on my projects and I LOVE getting a great look at so many- even if I don't always leave a comment on every crafter's blog, FB or Twitter posting, or Pinterest Pin. But I DO take time to browse through during our driving travels, and that is one nice thing about driving that you can't exactly do while flying. (ME, anyway!) I have one more blog post to get up on here and it will contain some HEATED FUN...really under fire! :) Meanwhile...
                       Stay Safe and HAPPY BLOGGING!

The Crochet Projects... Part 2

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      Here we are; on 65S in Southern Home-Sweet-Home Alabama, on  way down to the Florida Gulf for a refresher Easter weekend w the Dixon side of our family. The kids are all staying busy with their own lives  but we'll see the older set to celebrate Ashley's 25th Birthday (which was Wednesday), & see the ygr set when we head up to MN in May. Meanwhile,  I'm catching up blogwise.

 This 1st is another batch of blankets I've created in the past 18 months. Up front comes one made for the ChiefHubby... whose choice was an Indianapolis Colts throw. My idea was that since NFL games go way into the cold months (Playoffs & Superbowl bound, of course), I wanted to add some extra weight to it. So instead of the horseshoe design woven into the blue background, I crocheted it onto the blue as a second layer- not sewn onto it as I have done in previous designs using lettering. It came out as a freehanded, entirely unique item! It wasn't positively straight, but as close as strung-together crochet stitches can be. He was happy w with it and so was I. 

 

The next set of blankets was a departure from my signature Americana Flag blankets. This double gift is for ygr Daughter, Holli's older middle sister who lives w her Canadian husband on that side of Niagra Falls. Matt & Krista have been waiting for several years now to complete their family adopting 2 precious children. GOD is so good & they will be wrapped up in these Canadian Flag blankets while in the loving arms of their Mommy & Daddy!! Krista was one of our PHS Legion of Gold Guard girls during my 1st ur as BusMom. Holli was still in Elem in Brett's class (even then his Best Friend) & I remember her twirling flags in the grass outside the practice field while Krista & our olderSon, Brian, marched & Brett played in Pit Drums. 😊

I just finished another 'Old Americana' blanket for another neice who recently married, and am already started on one more for yet one more recently married neice.

 (Yeah, I DO have many neices and nephews!)

       

 

 

Then, there's been several blankets over the years since 2009. The size of the bed the larger blankets sit on is queen. Just to give you an idea how large some of them are.

Here's a small sampling of the dozens:

Thanks for taking the time to check in on my projects! I'll have 2 more posts to get out, with the next being my March Tag.

HAPPY BLOGGING!