Summer has been keeping me on my toes; between getting sick and several doctor appointments, we've
been to 2 family reunions, as well as a couple of cook-outs already. While I adore the heat of these months, we desperately needed some rain. The grass and fields were stressed and I ended up watering all my plants nearly every day until yesterday when the sky finally opened up for a good day's soaking. I was able to do something I've wanted to do for a long time now: a re-do of my craft studio from plastic drawer sets to real metal cabinets. While up in New York last month, I found a lateral filing cabinet online from a student at Purdue University and made arrangements to pick it up once I got back to Indiana. Before I was able to go get it, I happened upon another cabinet that sounded like it would fit my needs for all my inks, tools, tapes, glues, etc. So the ChiefHubby spent a Saturday afternoon running me to West Lafayette where both cabinets were. I got to work after we got home with them, cleaning them and getting all my stuff out of the plastics and going through another 'purge' of unnecessary trash. As soon as I got finished, I knew I wanted to add another lateral set on top of the one I just got. As luck would have it; I found it just a couple days after and it was actually closer to us this time. Another trip, another cleaning and rearranging, and I'm all set once again. I like the items I have surrounded myself with that give me inspiration and ideas for my kind of style of crafting, and the new cabinets give me an ease of opening and closing drawers that my RA hands were having so much trouble with for some time now. I like the 'clean' look of the metal and yet- that bit of age and distress to them... very cool indeed!
We're at it again, over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique's Inspiration Ave; it's another focus on Tim Holtz's latest Stamps Sets and Stencils. When I saw The Inspector, I knew I had to get him! He's a perfect addition to The Professor- an older TH set that is still very popular. There are so many ways to use the stamps and the ideas just kept coming, but I finally narrowed it down to the one I'm going to share here...
Click on these links to find the products I used:
I dug up some old Tim Holtz Destinations stash paperie to add to the TH Backdrops Vol 4.
My base was the Etcetera Mini Tag and I only wanted to use the middle large circle from the
pack of Etcetera Facades. A smaller square from the Destinations in a yellowish was perfect.
Burnishing both sides of the Tag and only one side of the facade circle was first,
and then making a couple of reinforcers by simply tracing the Etcetera enforcer over scrap.
I used a regular paper hole punch for a smaller hole this time. Twine/string was my plan.
I embossed some scrap craftstock, inked it up on the "boards", heat dried it and then
added some TH Foundry Wax in Sterling onto the "rails" and heated again.
Then added Crypt Paste with a paint brush (I added a bit of water to help smooth it).
When the Crypt Paste was dry, I used some Picket Fence Distress Paint to dab
a bit just in the middle of the Crypt Paste areas- to highlight the middles.
I reinked all the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink and heated the last time.
The lettering is all together and I didn't want to cut it apart
(although I was TEMPTED...)
so I taped off around the R and used it for the finishing touch.
I had one bit leftover from this page and I saved it just for the engine;
I stamped it in Black Soot Distress Ink and embossed with a plain black powder.
IdeaOlogy!!
I wanted to make a play on the train wheels, so my (retired) TH Jewelry Punch came out.
The last part was the fun part: stamping The Inspector.
Like The Professor before him; this set of stamps is EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE!
Clear, crisp, and very detailed in every way!
The resulting Tag is 2-sided with cute elements!
Front and Closeups following...
Back and Closeups following...
This was a sentimental journey as my ChiefHubby's Grandpa Dougherty was on my mind the past 2 weeks as we attended the Groff Family Reunion which was Grandma's side. Grandpa was a Yardmaster for the railroad and they had many items in their home on Lake Shaffer reminding us of this. We'd spend most of our summers there with Grandma and Grandpa and we miss them dearly. There is one tiny thing that I noticed just as I began this Tag: if you look closely at The Inspector, you'll find that the insignia on his hat (on the stamp itself) stands for something that I just "happened" to have.
It's a sneak hint for my next project coming up SOON! (Scroll back up to that first photo at the top.)
Thanks so much for joining me on yet another "trip"! I have to hand it to Tim Holtz for his amazing set of new stamps that made this Tag easy and fun to make. You'll definitely want to check this out and
The Funkie Junkie Boutique has the best prices you'll find. Be sure to head back over to Inspiration Ave for more makes in the next two weeks from the rest of the wonderful TFJB Design Team!
Until next time...
Stay Safe &
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