Find the Fun of Making a Compass

                                                                  

      Here it is, mid-November, and we had to deal with severe storms and tornados...LOTS of tornados. The Chiefhubby and I were driving home from Wabash in the middle of this. It was a visit to a funeral home, so it wasn't like we could put it off due to weather, or whatever. But it sure made the trip...well...vewy interwesting to say the least. Nothing like feeling the car lift up on you and seeing signs mown down by sideways rain& wind. The Chief being the Firefighter he is- was both cautious, and excited. Go figure. This girl likes staying on the ground. Preferably in a safe shelter. The funnel cloud I THOUGHT I saw was indeed likely very real. Too real for this girl- even with her Gurl Panties on.

       That said, November should be a month where we are 'stuck' inside and have more time to play "Crafts". Seems just when I got that time, I got hit with the first Flu Bug of the 2013-14 season. After three weeks of doing just 'catchup' and sleeping. (Mostly sleeping but whoz keepin' track here??) I did get a chance to finally go into the Craft Room for more than just dusting or sweeping it. And this was the result...

NOVEMBER TAG: 12 Tags of 2013

           November has blown in, and T!m Holtz has posted the November Tag. He was a bit late, but that kinda made me feel nice to think that I'm not the only person who's ever late with anything. (Ok...so I am late ALL the time. And....???) Anyway.... I usually just fall into TOTAL LOVE with just about every Tag he has posted. I guess by mentioning that, you can guess that I wasn't exactly falling all over this month's technique. Frankly, I felt like I was pushed out on a ledge when it came to the October glitter- even as it was Distress Glitter. But then T!m chose to do CHALK for the November Tag! YIKES!!!

When I think of chalk, well, all I think of is that screechy feeling I get of chicken-claw-scraping on raw blackboard.

    All that being said....if you're STILL with me thus far after that rather...er...scraping remark....(shuddering)...

I'll get down to business here about my take on his chalk-technique.

    This particular technique had to be THE hardest I've ever had to TRY to master! And, I will fully admit, I have NOT mastered, but rather-sort-of-maybe-kinda-just 'floated along' with it. By the time I did SEVERAL mistakes- AND- THERE WERE MANY.(Mistakes of which I did NOT 'embrace' as T!m lovingly suggests we do with our flub-ups...nope- I uncerimoniously tossed them into the trash bucket; and trust me here on this one that my trash bucket is a charming silver metal feed bucket to compliment my Craft Room's 'old' decor....the bucket is MUCHO cuter than the TOTAL FLUBS I first did with this tag.) We're talking ALOT of time out of one afternoon which turned into all evening too. Just trying to get that powder to heat up juuuuust enough to make a Matte Finish on the embossing powder takes alooot more practice than it looks. That said. I finally resorted to the only thing I could figure out to help me FINALLY get ANY chalk at ALL to stand out on that paper. (Even if you have all the right items, it STILL depends on the right finish of matte with the emboss to make the chalk stick inside the bumps produced by the flat matte finish.) And since I was making THREE MORE of this Tag- let me tell you that I had QUITE A BIT of practice doing this technique moooooore than enough, thankyouverymuch.

        Long typed story short- I used WHITE emboss powder to help my chalk show up alot better. So was that 'cheating'? On this particular technique....YES. On the other hand, much like life itself; we all have our particular talents. Only a few crafy things have I come across that I reeeeeeallllly struggled with- painting is one of those. This chalk thing would be another.

I DO LOVE, however, the starkness of the white-on-black! It reminds me of a Tag I did on my own idea of "Just Me & My Camera" in the Spring of 2012 using paper & scissors.

(I've included pics below.)
    The rest of T!m's November Tag is mmmeh...okay I guess. I was half-hearted over the LEAF on it just because we are doing the last of the fierce battles of LEAF WAR 2013. So I chose to make my own take on this month's Tag to be about family traveling home for Thanksgiving. We have Brett&Holli (married on Aug 10th this year) coming home as a family, as well as Brian staying all night for the Holiday, so that means TWO NEW GRANDPUPPYs coming as well as Shax Grandkitty joining our HunniPi pup and BudderCup kitty. A full house of BLESSINGS we are VERY THANKFUL for !!! And we pray for our kids as they grow their own family to add each year- MORE BLESSINGS ! We wish the same for YOUR family also: GOD's merciful forgiveness & kindness in His infinite LOVE for us ALL !  

 

OCTOBER TAG- 12 Tags of 2013 by Lyla Larimore

      My blog is now up & running, although I will probably need tweaks here and there....basically, it looks like I want it to look. So for my first Tag that's a product of my own work to post, it is fitting that it happens to be for my own birthday which falls in October on the 18th. While that was my inspiration for making four more for other 'Fellow Pumpkins' in our group of close friends (better known as 'The Chickstas' as we call ourselves- which I'll explain at some point on this blog) whose birthdays also fall (hehe) in the month of October.

       T!m Holtz's tag was a technique showing off the Distress Glitter. And here is where he and I part ways on the Crafty Road....I absolutely detest glitter. Ok, that sounds kinda strange coming from a girl. But ever since I was little, I see glitter as being an ugly-cheapo-cheesey kind of....what's the word we used to use before "bling" came along...??....."glitzy"...??? So, there ya go. While I will admit to the draw that the Distress Glitter COLOR did for my eyes, I am still put off by it. I will also admit that looking through his technique, I was drawn in by the fact that it can be SHADED or played down by using Distress Inks (which I'm crazy over!) around the edges. That said, it makes me ....just a TINY BIT....wanna give it a try. So next time I am near any of it on my next shopping excursion - provided they have some neutral shades of color stocked of it - I will give the Distress Glitter a fair try. Until then, you will not find even one grain of glitter in my home. ICKEY-POOEY! (shuddering)

         So, I did the next-closest technique to the glitter-thing; embossing powder. Other than that, I stayed true to the rest of his techniques used in the October Tag. Seeing that I love playing with numbers (that's the closest you will get me to saying I like any part of the Honors Math my kids are gifted at), I decided to make my cut elements and background stamps pertain to the numbers found on a calendar or in time. That's kind of a hoot when you think about "Lyla and TIME" in the same sentence. I am ALWAYS LATE- almost to a point of OCD with it. I'll hopefully be late for my own funeral and eulogy. Oh well.

OCTOBER TAG 12 Tags of 2013 by Tim Holtz

      The October Tag from Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013 marks my very first blog post! From this point on, I may post his next to my own, but that remains to be seen as to how I will go about this. And how often I will add a post to my blog. Generally- whenever I make something is when I will post. And more than likely- those items will vary from papercrafting to my photography work. And as I get this blog running, I'll add more decor and ways to mainstream so it can all be easily borrowed for ideas if others wish to. Here's what I am all about: as long as GOD provides a way for me to share it, then it will be so shared. And what is the fun of having a talent in anything if it can't be shared with others so that GOD will get all the glory for giving us those talents. Esp in my photography- the subject of the photo is the most important part be it people, animals, or the world around us.