September's Tag of the Month...

was a tough one for me.  It was Roxanne's turn to choose our challenge in our little "tag exchange" group which was, use a recycled item.  I thought it was going to be easy, I came up with a great idea.  But, it was one of those ideas that sound cool, but once I started making them nothing worked out the way I thought it would.  I should have quit when the lid from my bottle of diamond glaze split open when I was squeezing it and I had the stuff everywhere!  So I trashed that batch, and ended up with this:

I used an old book and cut out a lot of tags with Tim Holtz's tag die.  I put his mini butterflies mover and shapers die inside the tag.  I stamped on the top tag with Pink Paislee and Tim Holtz stamps. Using acrylic from packaging, I cut out a tag and then used rub-ons on the area where the butterflies were cut out. After stacking all the layers of tags with the acrylic one in the middle, I drilled holes in the four corners.  I then used nylon screws (colored with alcohol ink) to secure them together. Taking a bunch of the butterflies that were left from the tag cutouts, I stamped the top one with versamark ink, embossed it with clear powder, inked with Forest Moss distress ink and stapled them together.  I glued it on the tag, and finished it off with Forest Moss Distress stain, seam binding and tulle.  In this next photo you can see how many layers of paper I used (about 1/4 thick).

I haven't been working on any layouts lately, I've been having fun playing with stamps!  I signed up for Jennifer Mcguire's online class "Inspiration Showcase".  I'm lovin' this class! Lots of inspiration, tips and techniques, great videos and Jennifer is a great instructor.  If she offers this class again, I would highly recommend it.  This is what I've done so far:

Each tag is a different technique, and there will be five rows when I'm done.  Her samples are heart shaped but I decided to do tag shapes and I had this wood "canvas" so I decided to use it instead of a white canvas.  I put a light white wash over it, but I think I might put another one on before I adhere all the tags.  I haven't decided if I'm going to put a hole and ribbon in the tops of the tags.  What do you think?  I think it's a great idea to put all these techniques on a canvas, so I can just look at it on the wall for inspiration and so I can remember what the heck I did!  Well, I'm off to finish another row...
Have a great week!

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Not much time....

for scrapbooking lately, the weather's been too nice!  My long weekend was spent finishing up our backyard project which started in July and unfortunately has dragged on for the whole summer. We decided to replace our concrete patio this year with a new one, and replace an ugly grass area with shrubs; which we thought would take just a week or two.  Ha! What were we thinking! Anyways, it's almost done and hopefully the nice weather will continue for a while so we can enjoy our patio for a few weeks.
I did get a layout done last week for The Color Room's #73 palette, which again I was able to use some of my new My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found" paper.  These papers are from the "Rosy" collection.

This photo is of my mother-in-law.  I also used some diecuts from Pink Paislee and one of their mistable journaling spots.  The piece of paper behind the photo is from a Making Memories notepad.  I like buying these little journaling or notebooks when they come with a line of paper.  They are great when you need a small piece of paper, but they usually have interesting shapes or borders to add interest to your page.  I crocheted a strip using baker's twine and attached the dimensional stickers. The little sticker letters are from Girls Paperie.

The large flower was made with Tim Holtz's tattered flower die using "Rosy" paper and tulle.  The center is one the the decorative brads in this line. The smaller ones are made from Rosy paper with a brad and glitter in the middle.  I almost forgot, I used the tattered lace die from Tim Holtz for the little accordion flower and the strip beside the photo.
Hopefully I  can get a few projects done this week.  With all this new product coming in (for some reason, this year all the scrapbook companies decided to ship everything in late August and early September) it's hard to keep up!  Every time I work, there's new product delivered, which only means one thing - I'm not bringing home a paycheck!  I tell my husband he should be grateful I don't work in a furniture store, now that could be expensive!

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It's September 1st...

and that means it's time for Urban Scrapbook's monthly challenge.  The kits are now on sale so drop by the store or check on Urban's website to see what the design team have come up with.  This month the kits were full of Bo Bunny's Autumn Gatherings line, the colors are gorgeous!  Our technique this month was all about "Fussy Cutting" and I was surprised that I did not hear any grumbling!  Here's my layout:

It certainly feels like fall here the past couple of days, I'm sure it won't be long before the leaves start changing.  Fall is my favorite time of year, it's too bad it doesn't last longer here.  I always say I'm going to take more photos but before I know it, the leaves are all gone!
Enjoy the long weekend!

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