June brings on the heat and the pool feels so nice with the sun getting hotter and the days longer- for just a couple more weeks, anyway. This is my favorite time of year and I hate it when it almost goes too quickly to enjoy. I'm trying to keep up but got behind when I ended up flat on my back for nearly a week after a Colonoscopy. Good news; only one polyop this time. So I'm good for another 3 years instead of 2. I'm thankful for that because this time literally kicked my butt! I was extremely sore- like they beat my entire spine and back with a hammer. I'm still sore and tired, even now. While I was down, Princess Chloe began her Dance Classes, while Peanut attended his first Basketball Camp. Their Daddy parked his camper out in back for the Grandbabies to enjoy a long weekend of swimming, fishing, sleeping out, and S'mores, before they picked up Mommy and took their yearly Birthday trip to the Dairy Farm for Cole's 7th Birthday. Meanwhile, the younger kids posted Princess Rose already counting to 5! They took a trip to Syracuse for the Zoo there and got to see the baby elephants. What an exciting time for all 4 Grandbabies as they each love animals. When they all got back to their respective homes, everyone geared up for more: Peanut had his Birthday Party on Saturday, after celebrating his Golden 7th Birthday on Friday; June 7th- born in 2017, no less! He was happy to get what he'd asked for: an electric guitar. Princess Chloe got out her Saxophone to chime in with. The younger NY fam packed up and took their camper up to Canada for camping with their Cousins, and from all the pictures sent, I'd say they all had a great time! It feels like they all do so much more than I can keep up with sometimes, but I am thrilled that our Kids stay busy showing our Grandbabies all the same fun things we did with them when they were small. There's so much to see and learn about here in our own USA and we are truly blessed to have the freedoms we have here! My mind, lately, has been on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day; the landing at Normandy, France. I cannot imagine how those men, and so many young men, managed such a feat- GOD surely led them! They- and those who followed - believed in what they were doing enough to volunteer for service, and so many sacrificed so much... too many sacrificed all. There are so few of those men- and women who served as well- who are left to tell the History they made and why they made it. LORD willing; we'll live long, peace filled lives, and pass on the horrible lessons learned from those years. Let us never forget!
It's time for another new theme over at Inspiration Ave! I'm taking you for another journey of inspiring makes for the next two weeks, and this one is something that most everyone enjoys getting messy with: "All About Alcohol"! Owner of The Funkie Junkie Boutique, Linda Coughlin, has been extremely busy setting up CLEARANCE SALES and you can find just about anything you need at a rediculously low price right now, so take advantage of the sales and enjoy and bit of peaceful summer with the bright colors of Alcohol Inks!
Take a load off and I'll show you what I came up with!
I dug up some of that (retired) Tim Holtz Kraft Core Seasonal stack to use
for this project. I chose an Etcetera Tag and a No8 Ranger Tag also.
Here's your List of LINKS:
I began just experimenting a bit. It's been awhile since I've played with Alcohol Inks.
Grandson Cole is very interested in the Distress Inks and this was his first time seeing me
get out the Alcohol Inks, so I showed him a bit of how-to.
Mine didn't turn out very great looking. Bleah!
In fact, this wasn't how I remembered it at all.
So I went to Tim's Blog and looked up some of my favorite ever
"The 12 Tags of (Year):July" Tutorials in his Blog Archives.
Just looking at the phots brought back the memories of How-To, for myself anyway.
Here's where the Alcohol Ink was used, so I took this idea...
... and the stars idea from this Tag...
...and the tearing, sewing, and stamping from this Tag.
First off; re-creating a better AI background with YUPO.
Remember Tim yelling out "Helllo, YUPO!" when he first introduced it?!
I started with Crimson and Sail Boat Blue- just like back then, but added a new-since-then
Mixative of Gunmetal. I popped a few drops onto one side of my overlapped 2 sheets of YUPO,
then used my old Distress Marker blower and puffed on the AI till it ran across the page's width.
I liked it, but needed a brownish tone too...
... So I popped a few drops of Sepia onto the Gunmetal Mixative area.
Then puffed it across with the blower.
I still didn't think I had all the color tones I wanted, so I picked up some
Antique Linen Distress Oxide ReInker and blew a few drops of that across as well.
Since the Antique Linen is DO, it needed to be heat dried.
Looking at my new AI creation, I was hit with several thoughts:
1) I should tear it- to match up with my idea for the backside of the Tag, and
2) I should turn it upside down so the blue is on the top, which led me to think;
3) I should add 3 Adornment Stars onto that blue area.
So I tore it, then I found some (retired) TH sticky-back canvas cloth substrate sheets.
(These were REEEEALLY retired, folks!)
I spaced out the AI pieces and then sewed each to the subrate, with the sticky-back still on.
Now, it looked like it was taking on the shape of the idea in my mind!
My next move was to use my sets of (retired) fave TH Stamp Sets onto some Clear Dura Lar sheets.
I used Jet Black Archival Ink, but I kind of wavered on it before deciding to go ahead.
I carefully trimmed away only what I needed: I LOVE this old TH paperie and hoard it!
My TH Rotary Trimmer is a DREAM to use- it came in handy for making these edges clean.
I did quite a bit of sanding down the TH Seasonal Kraft Core.
Then gave it some Distress Oxide Vintage Photo inking- the Tag got some, too.
I had another linen-colored TH sticky-back Canvas substrate,
so I sewed these to match the front side of the Tag.
Distressing some IdeaOlogy... my fave details!
I also got out that roll of wired paper Americana ribbon I've used sparingly on my fave projects.
I added in some more of the trim to the back of cut down TH Collage Strips made a
cute little mini-Tag to tuck inside the ribbon Tag.
Here's the Set of 3 Tags
In plenty of time for an ALL-AMERICAN JULY 4TH!
FRONT of Tag Set
I switched it around because of the middle Tag's star.
I didn't get a closeup of the Americana Ribbon Tag's little add-on:
it's a piece of the Filmstrip Ribbon's packaging sample they gromet to the outside of the pkg.
I added in a "1941" airplane Remnant Rubs (retired Correspondence??).
Closeups of FRONTS...
The TH Tiny Attacher came in handy for the TH Filmstrip Ribbon.
Here are the BACKSIDES to each Tag:
And some Closeups of the BACKS...
That's ALL ABOUT ALCOHOL for ya!
Thanks! so very much for joining me for another new theme kickoff!
Oh, but wait; there's more to come from the rest of the amazing TFJB Design Team!
Check back every few days for more Inspiration Ave with Alcohol Ink fun!
Grab some paper and AI and get a little messy with us these coming days.
Be sure to head over to
for Clearance deals you won't see again; at these prices, they'll go FAST!
Until next time...
Stay Safe &
HAPPY BLOGGING!!
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