I'm getting some chillaxing done, right now, while we're back in our Florida place for a couple of weeks. But what a whirlwind that led up to our leaving,,, We had a great 4th of July holiday with all our Besties gathered at our Indiana place for a Fish Fry. Our older kids brought the older Grandbabies, and we met back up with them down at their town for spectacular fireworks show. Peanut can see the fireworks better now without squinting now: having gotten his first eyeglasses just a couple weeks ago. The younger kids made sure to send and post the younger Grandbabies having fun at the Oswego, NY July 4th Parade, and the picnic they had with their family/friends. Since they couldn't make it back to Indiana as previously planned, we decided to take that time to run down for a bit of a vacation. Or so that was the plan... a huge storm caused an electrical surge that shorted out the main component of our house. Thankfully, we have a Bestie who is an Electrician (as is our own older Son), and that comes in handy; very much! Everyone came over and helped get us rigged up, but it's sloooooow going until the new component gets here on Wednesday the 12th. The new surge protector got here today. Here I was all geared up with my crafting done an entire 2 weeks ago, thinking this time I'd have it all ready. Riiiiiight. Here I am typing this up LATE again. I did manage to get quite a lot done up in Indiana before we left, including: getting my sailboat out and getting another Big Shot ordered. It's actually a Foldaway so I can take it south (and any other direction) with me. I am SO in LOVE with the Big Shot Plus, and I have a Tim Holtz Vagabond for all my heavy-duty (or 100plus cuts) needs. The Vagabond is a great backup as well. I was sad to get down here and just throw out my 15-year-old black Big Shot machine; simply because they will no longer send replacement parts! I went through replacement gears & another time was the handle pin, and Sizzix was beyond helpful, but now they are opting not to replace parts for our own 'protection'. That makes me sad. I'm tearing that old one apart for any usuable pieces and parts.
Meanwhile, summer is in full FUN swing!
Summer Fun is a perfect theme not only for TFJB's Inspiration Ave, but it certainly describes my own life right now; the fun times can go up and down, and I've had many ups and downs so far this summer. One of the upsides of wildfire smoke and intense heat (without both main ACs going right now due to a recent storm blowing through and knocking out our main electrical box) is having time for crafting! So, for the next 2 weeks, our Design Team will be posting their takes on Summer Fun. Let's float on down and see where the summer months have taken me... so far!
I'll start out with a helpful list of links for you:
Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies- Garden Greens (older set)
SA Tim Holtz Stamp Set CMS304 Sea Life (older set)
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Rusty Hinge
The first thing I did was to grab my set of Tim Holtz Kraft Stock Papers in Warm and Cool
to die cut the 'ocean life' in greens and reds/corals, then set those aside.
Next, I got out my very old (and one of my first) TH Bigz XL Tag and Bookplates Die
to cut a few tags from the Cio Bella leftover sheets. (Sorry, but that is looooong retired.)
There's a CLEARANCE SALE on this set, and if you love Summer...you'll love this paper. Grab some while it lasts!
On the Tag's background, which already had some cool ocean plants, I wanted
some more background plants, so I stamped and embossed these out of
TH Sea Life Stamp Set and used some clear embossing powder- just lightly.ff
It would give me 3 "layers" of plant life: the paper's, my embossed, and the die cuts.
Then I took out my big OLD TH Distress Archive Inks (this was a long ago yard sale find)
and stamped some fish onto TH Cool Kraft Stock Paper.
and Archival Ink Refills (those would also refill this pad).
I added the Distress Oxide Uncharted Mariner to my TH 3D Folder Mosiac...
... and 'wet down' my fish with the TH (water) Sprayer,
then heat dried after embossing. I then inked all around the edges of each fish,
and reheat-died again...
... before adding some eyeballs to them with Glossy Accents.
The balls were simple little round black beads from my stash drawer.
Then I trimmed the Garden Greens die cuts to look different from one another,
and used some DO Vintage Photo and some DI in Forest Moss and Rusty Hinge
around the edges for some depth to the paper.
Scor Tape came in handy with adding the mesh onion bag to the matboard
(which I die cut with my Bigz XL Tag die) stretching it around the
die cut tag and then putting the backs of two matboard tags facing together.
That mesh gave my tag even more texture!
I used an Easter Egg Coloring Kit's copper metal 'spoon' dipper for my hook!
Who knew?!
And THAT is why we crafters look at something that's normally tossed
into the recycle, knowing we just might do something with it; someday!
I cut the long legs on the Large Fasteners (say that 3x really fast, lol)
to wrap them easily without the legs sticking out, for some "split buck shot sinkers".
Here's the Summer Fun: The One That Got Away!
FRONT
I made the "worm" from a twisted paper bag handle!
Simply keep twisting and adding Distress Oxide Ink in Vintage Photo
until it folds the way you want. I added a touch of red from one of my Ink Blenders
hanging on the Spinner on my desk- which may or may not have been Fired Brick-
for a slight touch of red for this "red worm".
Hemp string and a couple of TH Large Fasteners made the "fishline and sinkers".
See how curvy that fish is? I added pop-dot tape under him and
doubled it up in the middle for him to look like he's 3D.
This fish totally missed his opportunity to take my bait!!!
BACK
Ditto on the pop-dots under these "large-mouth bass" which was my best catch this summer!
All packaged up, just like the real ones in my freezer, awaiting another Fish Fry with our Besties!
Thanks so very much for joining me!
Summer crafting needs... and a lot of you Summer crafting WANTS!
Please don't forget to come back every couple of days for the next two weeks
and join my Design Teammates for more adventures in
Until next time...
Stay Safe &
HAPPY BLOGGING!!
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