The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #20; Terrific Tags!.... I'm calling this one "Never Forget".

     I'm sure that as soon as most people saw the title of my "Terrific Tag" theme for TFJB Challenge Blog ,they'd know what the subject was going to be, and the colors that would be included.
September 11th has come and gone, but each anniversary of that date never gets any easier for me. While most folks won't understand, since I was not actually in NYC at the time, seeing it unfold from the very first minute of shock on the newscasters' faces ("Did you feel that?") and the camera panning outside their studio window... that moment began a surreal time in my life that has had long lasting effects. Nearly ten years of a 'spiraling down' that included 2 years of swiss cheese memory. Even though I could be a person considered to 'have it all' during that time, it hit like a ton of concrete that seemed to start with that very day. Since that time, there has been quite a bit of new information that led up to that terrible day. And, a lot of arguing, finger-pointing, blame, and all out dissent and discontent. The America that came together those weeks after 9.11.2001 has split into so many shards, I am not sure She can be healed and reunited. While I don't wish to go back to that day's events, I do yearn for a country that pulled together and showed brotherly love and kindness to one another; a country that held their Law Enforcement, Firefighters, Emergency Medical Services, First Responders,  Paramedics, and especially our US Military (all branches of service)- not just in high regard- but in actions of giving, kindness, thoughtfulness, and ceaseless PRAYER! 
          I'm at the point where I am afraid that caring for our Earth is not going to matter very much since we seem to have a problem taking care of the LIFE on the Earth: what's the point if we can't care for living PEOPLE and ANIMALS?! After all, the plants were all pretty much provided for (if you are in agreement with The Bible as Truth) that it was all to be used for FOOD for the important parts of Creation: animals and people (Adam and Eve and then the rest of us). I just have this strange feeling that those mountains and oceans are way too powerful and too large for us to handle. We're pretty outsourced as puny humans to try to take control of it all. In short; GOD's got this! We all need to share in His command to "care for all" in His Creation. So, I do my share of recycling (and sadly;  I think I'm pretty much alone in my community doing it, too),  and trying to not make such an 'imprint' (but I do like mowing, and caring for my property), and do my share of stopping to pick up trash or put things right that someone else just cannot bother themselves to do. Most important of all: I've done my share- SO FAR, cause it NEVER ENDS- of taking in stray pets that have made their way into our lives and given them what obviously they didn't get from someone else; a Forever Home. I've tried to be friendly to others. I stand up; not for what I FEEL is right...but for what I KNOW is right. And I keep praying that in some way, each and every day, I can make at least ONE living being feel they are worth being LOVED. 
          I'm so tired of the arguing & division. I've done it a few times myself and it has sickened me to look at myself in the mirror afterward. I'm so tired of the finger-pointing, blaming, and especially the name-calling. I don't give a rat's butt who you voted for. I don't give another rat's butt what you stand for or who you love or hate. Those are YOUR choices. Those are YOUR rights in this America that gives you- and me- those rights. And I THANK GOD FOR THAT!! What DO I care about? YOU- your talents, your thoughts and ideas that lead to solutions of helping other living beings lead a better life. And THAT'S the biggest blessing we all get here in this USA! I THANK YOU if you've read this far- just for turning this over in your mind a bit. Whew! Soapbox put away.

                                               Let's get down to the TAG! 

It all began with a shopping trip 

(after a usual 90 day visit with Dracula at the Lab for a blood draw)

where I treated myself to a Hobby Lobby sale on loose paper.

The left side sheet is a normal choice for me many times, but the right side is

a new one for me- it really SHOUTED OUT "U LOVE ME!"

and I wondered... could try making this myself with TH inks?

I gathered up a ton of things I thought I would use- and most of it, I did.

I really liked this spool of ribbon out of my ribbon stash, but it only 'pointed' in one direction.

So I cut off the gathered seam at the top, duplicated another piece the same length,

then used my Glider Tape to stick them together so they looked like one piece with 

the scallops going BOTH up and down.

Here, you see the doubled lace,

and using the lace as the 'white stripes', I shaded in the 'red stripes'.

A lot of usual ink scrubbing, but it was really pretty easy to copy.

For making the odd-sized stars; my TH Alterations Bigz Die Crescent Moon and Stars

came in handy! I simply cut some out of regular white cardstock and used my

Glider Tape runner to add a bit of adhesive- that is easily removed!-

to mask the white stars. The Blender Tool is one of my FAVE tools!

The rectangular BT makes it simple to border things by just going over the area more.

Here is the result... on a regular 8 &1/2 x 11 white cardstock.

Making the stripes thinner was my plan and it WORKED!

Otheriwse, the tag would end up as large as the 12x12 sheet of the copied piece.

My Tag was cut from the middle of this sheet- so I had two nice edges & a bottom

leftover to cut some hole covers for the top of the tag.

I also flicked water all over and let the Distress Fired Brick Ink do its reacting,

heat dried, the repeated the process until the page looked more naturally blended together.

The two stencils, NY City scape, from a set of TYPO I purchased a few years back at

the Mall of America in Minneapolis, and another of the US States- greatly used-

allowed me to put some Ranger Texture Paste into the background.

Notice I typed "into" the background....not ONTO. I wanted it to blend into that Flag. 

The Flag is the thing that holds us all together in commonality.

I did the same Ranger TPaste with the Lady Liberty

(but not the rest of the New York City scape out of the stencil).

Then I took some TH Regular Distress Ink in Pumice Stone- less than half a dropper-

and just a tiny swipe of the TH Distress Oxide in Old Paper.

I do have the Old Paper refill but was afraid I'd drop too much out of the dropper

than I wanted, so I used just a tiny 'swipe'.

Sprayed water and swished it together and then just laid Miss Liberty

down into it to soak up the color FROM THE BACK SIDE.

This was going to give her a background color darker than the front.

Don't worry- that Ranger paste will soak up the inks and not get mushy!!

Flip her over and heat dry her.

Then, after I inked up her entire front side (sorry I forgot a pic of that)

with the Distress Oxide Old Paper and another heat set,

I applied a thick layer of TH Clear Rock Candy Distress, re-heat-dried,

which left a nice crackle all over her;

I used TH Regular Picket Fence Ink to fill in those lovely cracks!

I set her aside for now...

… and went back to the Tag background to add a bit of TH Month Embosser

with Distress Oxide in my fave Vintage Photo...

… made some nice Spritzer marks with the Distress Walnut Stain Marker.

And for a bit of highlight- the TH Stencil Dot Fade made some awesome dots

randomly with Distress Oxide in Antique Linen.

It still needed something more to tie the entire theme in with that day...

The entire WORLD was involved with September 11th;

it affected EVERYONE in some way- physically, emotionally, spiritually, & financially.

So the other piece from TH Stamp Set CMS226 "Documented".

(This world plane map is also a fave of mine that Tim 

uses in several of his things- paperie & ephemera- as well as this stamp piece.)

I used the leftover practice pieces of stamped/inked cardstock to

make easy toss-out masks. The pieces were dried and already had

the very same stamps on them- which I fussy cut around to match on top of their mates.

That other piece of inspirational paper?

I folded it in half to make a 2-sided backing for the Tag.

I cut it to the tag's size with just a slight overhang, and sanded the edges to 

smooth the paper and fade out the pattern as it left the paper edges.

The backside was a perfect touch for the most iconic photo of September 11th.

This was the resulting project:

FRONT

BACK

(I make no claim whatsoever on the photo used on my Tag.

It's rightful owner has already copyrighted it.

I am only borrowing the image for my own use and not financial gain in any way or form.

Ditto for all other September 11th images used other than my own Tag work.)

A few closeups...

The ribbon was white, but I added Regular Distress Pumice Stone Ink

to make it appear 'smokey' looking.

The ribbon symbolizes the smoke from the WT Towers as they filled the sky over Manhattan.

The tri-colored string symbolizes the prayers of the AMERICAN people

IN ALL COLORS AND CULTURES

as we came together that day in shock, fear, and mourning,

over what a comparison handful of people filled with hate managed to do.

The Trade Towers were not just filled with concrete, steel, and paint...

that morning, they were filled with PEOPLE.

And those people had NAMES.

From earlier on when I bought this stamp set from a Crafty Sister on a destash sale;

I saw those Twin Towers in this stamp and wanted an opportunity to make this.

While I used the TH Stamp Platform- which easily gives precise, clear. non-blurry

stamping... I really, really rubbed this stamp in, picked up, slightly moved,

and restamped- several times- till I got a very bold look I felt matched what I wanted. 

This is what they were, and STILL ARE.

I want to shout it out: respect that... please!

She still stands for The Great American Melting Pot.

No matter how we disagree on who we let into this country, and how we let them in...

EVERYONE has to abide by the laws of this land.

Or we are just as lawless as those "other countries" we consider to be so.

Can you see them?

I circled one in light green to show what I mean...

I used Glossy Accents to put help the Towers stand out.

But just glossing over them didn't seem enough; it was 'too perfect' looking.'

The Twin Towers looked far from perfect that day,

so I not only added drips here and there for a sense of "falling apart", but I also

added fingerprints that covered both towers in the glue.

The towers were ALIVE that day, and so many never made it back to their Earthly home.

Whatever choice those folks up in the towers made that day- it was the right choice

for them and I am thankful I have not been faced with anything of that like.

The texture did just what I wanted- it's added on TOP of the inks,

but it fades into the inks just right.

WE SURVIVED,

but are we really better for it?

Or did they all die in vain?

I wonder...what if there is a next time...will the USA survive?

We don't need a next time to destroy ourselves; seems we're doing a pretty good job of it now.

My HOPE is we can change it- GOD willing- before it's beyond hope.

My humblest apologies if I have offended anyone with this post. It was never my

intention to do so, nor to make anyone feel 'depressed' in the frank wording I have typed.

My heart is totally screaming out in prayers for each of us to embrace

BEING AMERICAN

and remember the things that brought us

TOGETHER.

And in a large way- crafting and artistic talents bring us together in more

peaceful and happy ways than a lot of other topics do these days.

I have quite a few "crafty friends" out there in the world

-not just here in America!-

who can make something out of paper with a little glue and a set of scissors,

and bring a smile to EVERYONE over the entire Earth!

THANK YOU!!

And- a HUGE "THANX SO MUCH!" to the Sponsor,

The Funkie Junkie Boutique

for their AWESOME SERVICE from their Shop,

and the VERY TALENTED Design Team

who really blew me away with so many GREAT MAKES this year-

and there's still quite a few left to go that YOU can join in on!!!

Until next time:

Be Safe &

HAPPY BLOGGING!!

                  

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog Challenge #16 It's Heating Up!...There's Only One Professor

    This Challenge must have really lit a fire under me! The theme is a perfect description of this Summer's heat here in Indiana, and while we've hit the pool in the evenings to cool off, it's basically like taking a bath in 92* water. It means adding more chems into the water in order to make it safe from bacteria. It's supposedly going to finally break the heatwave sometime this week. Even so- I'd MUCH rather deal with the extreme heat instead of the mess and cold of winter! I do worry for those more susceptible to the heat; the very young, the aged, and especially pets. This heat outdid the heat of Florida, by far. Even my flowers are panting for water.                 The Challenge is calling for colors on the warm side; reds, yellows, & oranges. As a Retired Firefighter's Wife, I am reminded of some fires in which the flames burned bright blue- almost to a silvery white- these are the hottest spots of a fire that has burned to an extreme heat. The Cole Hardwood Fire of Logansport, Indiana, was one of the hottest, longest burning fires my ChiefHubby was called to (you can google that). His descriptions of that fire were in my mind as I made this background. So my idea was to add in some metallic (gold/silver/gunmetal, or rose gold) TH Alcohol Ink into the mix of colors and see what happened. I had some awesome inspiration from both the Lead Designers (we have a new Designer recently added) on The Funkie Junkie Challenge Blog, and from a personal card that was included with my prizes from Tim Holtz Addicts of Facebook. I keep that card in the middle of some of my favorite Tags on my Studio wall...

                                          

I blended several colors of Regular (Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, & Mustard Seed)

and Oxide (Old Paper) Distress Ink,

as well as some Alcohol Inks (Rose Gold and Gunmetal), and Blending Solution.

After getting both a panel and tag background,

I used the same colors mixed for adding some texture with Distress Powder in Antique Linen.

After using the tag to make the TH Alterations Die cut of World Map,

I added some more Distress Inks in Regular Black Soot and Vintage Photo Oxide

for some grungy-ness, and used a finger-mix of TH Paints in Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean

for that greenish tinge of rust on orange metals.

Next up; making my own masks for stamping.

I wanted to cut the masks slightly smaller than the stamp- to make the image look

like it was blending in with the planned ghosting.

Making masks ended up being a HUGE job- a mask for each stamp chosen.

My TH Stamping Platform REALLY came in handy for this panel project!

It became "stamp and cover... stamp and cover" for each layer.

Lastly; for the stamping part...

I decided to use my newly acquired -and much wanted!- Distress Perm Inkset-

with my TH Stamper's Anonymous Reflections Set; Numbers, to "ghost stamp" all over the background (all masks are on at this point now).

Yeah, the numbers are backward on the panel, but it just looks right to me.

Complain to my Muse...she was THERE!

I liked the ghosting colors so much, I decided that The Professor was going to

be a mix of all those same colors. I simply kept turning the stamp all around until it was covered

completely. I LOVED the effect!!

And here's another newly acquired item- wax seal set by 7 Gypsies

(and a very generous Crafter who was willing to part with this on a DeStash Sale).

It was actually a first for me, but it was something I always wanted to do!!

And this was the resulting panel...

There have been MANY Inventors, Time Travelers, Scientists,

and others from all times, eras, and places....

But there's only ONE PROFESSOR!

(And that's why I just had to have him!)

A few closeups...

I even labled the numbers 20 for Calcium and 80 for Mercury.

Both bottles have Glossy Accents in the bottoms with a drop of (20) Gunmetal Alcohol Ink

and (80) with Silver Alcohol Ink on top to make it look a bit 'foamy'.

I LOVED the play on "eyes and ears" you see here: the horn blowing into The Professor's ear,

and his goggles with TH Nailheads (Screwheads?).

IdeaOlogy is never very far from my mind!!

Distress Crayon in Black Soot around the Quote Chip.

The awesome card from THA Team (Tim Holtz Addicts of Facebook)

that inspired this panel...I was loooooong waiting to finally use The Professor!!

             Since I am actually finished EARLY, you have time to join in on this Challenge!
                             There are Badges and Prizes to be had for the Top Picks courtesy of
                                                              The Funkie Junkie Boutique ,
                   & you can also enter your project into other Challenges as well (up to 10 others).

                       THANKS SO MUCH for the comments and encouragement from everyone!
                       Sharing is what it's all about, and reading your shared thoughts is awesome!!
                              Be sure to check out the next post as well, since it's my first time
                              entering more than 1 project (a second panel) and I am excited !

                                               BE SAFE &
                                    HAPPY BLOGGING!!

Frilly and Funkie Challenge #20; Haunted Halloween..... "BOO!"

      October! While Summer are my fave months by far, October would come next. No, not "fall" itself, but just the month of October since it gives me reason to shout out my fave team: Los Angeles Dodgers! Don't get me wrong her; I was brainwashed very early on as a bonafide, lifelong Chicago Cubs fan- along with all my older siblings- by our Dad. He coached, taught us how to keep paper score, and watched all his Sons' ballgames long into their 30s when they had their own kids. Girls were not allowed to play back then, so I was out. But that didn't leave me out of HIS teaching and coaching! By the time he had Grandkids- all of them played baseball or softball, but with 23 of them- it was a bit hard for him to get to all their games. Especially since most of them played at least one sport and were in at least one other school-sponsored activity, so it was up to us kids as Parents of our own kids...just like he did. He spent many a game at Wrigley Field long before lights became the norm. He died in April of 2016 and I always say that the Cubs won the WS that year because our Dad died and went up and had 'words' with GOD about that. lol! And while my older Brothers gave me heckling about the DodgerLove, I blame it on my Dad: Rick Sutcliffe was an early crush for me who was back on the Cubs then in the 1970s before he became a Dodger. I finally have the time again to actually SEE a ballgame on TV or stream it...after years of coaching, teaching, and basically running around like a chicken with my head cut off during the raising of our 2 boys and getting them off into the world.

          Oh, yeah...my Birthday falls in October, too. So I guess you could say I am a genuine PUMPKIN!! So October is a fave month and while some would comment that "real CHRISTians don't celebrate Halloween", our belief is that while there IS evil in this world...Halloween is a perfectly FUN time of year and we have always done the neighborhood thing: Mom at the door with at least 12 bags of candy bars (I had to save them up for a couple of months to have enough) while Dad took about 7 or 8 kids from here to Trick or Treat with our boys. Our last name officially changes for this time from Larimore to SCARImore ! We did all that so it would be SAFE for the kids as well as FUN for ALL ages. The past 9 years, we have been heavily involved in our church's Trunk or Treat event. We started with less than 100 attending but last year's count was over 800 people!! The ChiefHubby does all the food (chilli, hambeans, hotdogs) cooking while all the ladies supply the sides and desserts. We have blowup funhouses, games, hige hayrides, punkin-chunkin, apple-bobbing, prizes, tons of toys and candy, and every bit of it is FREE. I do all the photography (we did away with the Old Time Booth because of too many in line and only 3 hours to do it all), and posting it all on the FB site so ppl can grab all they want to send out to Grandparents or for their own scrapbooking. We usually take a month to get ready for it all...and a month to RECUPERATE!! But it's worth every minute and Halloween seems to have been seen as only a kid's thing, but we make it for FAMILIES, and keep it SAFE so all can play! And the costumes that show up: there are some VERY talented kids out there who have great imaginations! Won't surprise me a bit to find them crafting up a storm as adults!!!

      
        So, let's GET ON with this! This is my third time as Guest Designer and it seems like I pop up with ideas so easily. Actually, tho; I keep my eye on what Tim Holtz puts out each season as he develops new items or tools for us to use. Some I like, and some I don't. But it seems that Tim always has a design or a color that sparks with me! This year: those little IdeaOlogy Mini Pumpkins!! And always: Tim's Pumpkin Dies and Stamps are AWESOME! I am still keeping my eye open for the "Pumpkin Parts" die to add to my collection of his Alterations Bigz Dies, but I will find it! Meanwhile, I invested in his Pumpkinhead Stamps and got my hands on those Mini Pumkins along with some Broomsticks and THOSE ADORABLE DOLLS !!! (Thanks to some TH Addicts who took the time to show a few of them so we could all see the possibilities!)
                                     Of course, I had to order from
                                                          The Funkie Junkie Boutique
                                    since Linda almost always has the newest TH stuff in stock.
              Your package always has a few little "extras" in there and on this particular project,
            I used the TH Crinkle Ribbon that was part of those extras- it matched PERFECTLY!!
                              And then, I won the drawing for the $25 Gift Certificate on
                                                The Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog
                                     which meant I went back to order again from TFJB!!!
                                         Hey, if it can happen to ME; YOU can win, too!
                                               But you can't win if you don't join in !!
 

                                                     Here's what I came up with....

Ready to play on that AWESOME TH Stamping Platform!

The main background paper was one of 2 NON-Tim things:

the light set was found at Menards and the paper is Graphic 45.

My area of creativity is usually CHAOS.

But, it's MY chaos and I embrace it!!

The IdeaOlogy Mini Pumpkins come ready to use, but I sanded them down a bit (lower 3) as they are flattened out on the bottom for easier stacking.

I dabbed a bit of Walnut Stain Distress Paint onto the stems.

The front side of the Tag is all 'normal mode' with the Husband under the Wife's feet while she is trying to just keep up with the daily Pumpkin mess that is never ending.

Little messes always get bigger!

Please note the "BOO!" 

(made by lightly smearing Picket Fence Distress Paint onto Mirrored Paper 

and then using a Qtip to write letters onto as it dries)

leaking through from the other side of the mirror...

*POOF!*

Everything's ALTERED!

The broom turned into a tree,,,

the big Pumpkin morphed with those little ones and they came ALIVE!!

The mirror on the other side had hidden "The MAN in the MOON"

But no matter- though the Wife can be crabby about it: she's still cleaning up,

and the Husband is still up there playing around and making messes.

                             Are you ready to be SCARED?!

MwhaHahahahaha!!

                 September was a tough month for our family- especially on my side- with the loss of our Oldest Brother , our Dad's namesake. Here's a HUGE THANK YOU! to everyone who left comments of condolence, and especially for all who prayed for comfort during the time we needed it most. My Niece is still having to deal with some tough decisions as well as getting married in November. It's hard for all of his siblings because we are the Grandparents we once were able to lean on our Dad to be. Time marches on and keeps pulling us all with it.

And it's about to get BUSIER:

Wittle Peanut, Cole, announced to us that he's going to be a BIG BROTHER

with a Baby Brother or Sister due in March 2019 !

            And another THANKS! for all the sweet comments on my blog, photo work, and esp the creative work I do with paper! It's totally wild how people actually LIKE my projects! While it humbles me, it also spurs me on to creating more! If you get the chance to surf online once in a while-  check out the amazing things being added onto "Tim Holtz Addicts" on Facebook. The projects are just AWESOME!!

                           As always: THANKS for checking in on my blog!!

                      BE SAFE and HAPPY BLOGGING!