Running a little late....

I am running late on projects as per usual.  I always have good intentions to get things completed quickly but I seem to need a deadline to actually get something finished.  I know that I have until the weekend after next to finish my mother-in-laws Christmas gift.  She already knows what she is getting since it has been the same gift for that last few years.  I do an album of the kids that show their progression during the year.  It is usually about 40 8x8 layouts.

So how many do I have done? If you guessed, zip, zilch, zero then you would be right.  I seem to be stuck at choosing which pictures I want to put into the album.  This is the part that I find the hardest every year.  When you take so many photos, it is difficult to limit it down to 40 or 45 photos.

So instead of working on the photos last night, I finished Tag #4 of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas and started Tag #5.  I am not sure I like my #4 as much as the others.  The balance seems to be a bit off.  I think once it is added to the rest as part of the wall hanging it will probably work.  I will be adding other bits and baubles once it starts going together.

Materials used:  Melissa Frances pattern paper, stickers, and chunky glitter, Tim Holtz's facets, Prima bling, Gelatins bling, Distress ink, Ranger alcohol ink, 4x6 coaster, Bazzill cardstock, Maya Road chandelier gems, and miscellaneous beads.

Tonight, I am once again planning on tackling those photos but I have the sneaking suspicion that Tag #5 will call me instead.  I left it at the Stickle drying phase last night.

Happy Thursday...only 1 more day left of this work week.  Yay!

Number 3 is all done...

I had a fairly productive night last night.  I managed to get my mother's Christmas gift done which I am not going to post today.  I also finished Tag #3 of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas and managed to get a start on Tag #4.

I was hoping today would be just as productive but no such luck so far.  Lots of little things that need to be done around the house have been distracting me.  I am hoping that I will be able to get back to it tonight.

Here is the next panel in my Christmas wall hanging based on Tim's Tag #3:

Materials used:  4x6 coaster, manilla file folder, Distress ink, Ranger paint dauber, Tim Holtz trim, Pink Paislee tinsel, Dollar store moss, tissue paper, miscellaneous button and bling, Melissa Frances sticker, Maya Road chipboard bird, Rock Candy Stickles and Grunge Board.

Since I didn't have any of the tissue paper tape in my stash, I made my own by stamped some white tissue paper that I had for wrapping gifts and tore it into strips.  I, also, don't own a bird die so I used a chipboard bird from Maya Road instead.

It is going to be interesting to see how all the these tags are going to fit together as a panel.  I have a few ideas for spacers to make sure that the portrait and landscape panels fit together.  I am just waiting to see how the rest of the 12 Tags are oriented before making a decision.

Don't forget that tomorrow is the reveal for this week's card sketch over at Let's Capture Our Memories Blog. 

Tag #2

I had hoped to share both my version of Tim Holtz's Tag #2 and #3 today but I am afraid that Tag #3 did not even get started last night. I sat down with my husband and kids last night for a chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone and promptly fell asleep to the sound of my husband's voice.  I must have been more tired than I thought since I woke up on couch this morning.  I usually wake up after a couple of hours and move to my bed if I fall asleep on the couch.  That was not the case last night.

So, here is Tag #2 or I should say panel #2 of my Christmas wall hanging:

Materials used:  4x6 coaster, manilla file folder, Distress ink, Tim Holtz stamps, Stampendous embossing powder, Glossy Accents, Ranger Alcohol ink, Dollar Store bling, Melissa Frances Chandelier drops, Making Memories Chandelier beads, Teresa Collins Blingage, black acrylic paint and unknown ribbon.

I altered the Teresa Collins Blingage accents with alcohol inks and black paint.  I found that it was too silvery and shiny for the tag.  Once I had muted down the metal component, I wanted to change the colour of the jewel in the center from clear to red.   It has a more vintage look to it now.

Hopefully, I will be able to share Tag #3 and #4 tomorrow.  I am planning on spending as much time as possible today crafting. 

A Bit of News

I have a little bit of news to share.  I have accepted a 3 month Design Team position on the Card Team for Lets Capture Our Memories.  I have been a member of their forum since the beginning of the year and have been really inspired by all the talent that their members display.  They are a friendly, welcoming bunch.

My first DT assignment will go live next week on the their blog.  I am pretty excited to be part of a DT again.  It has been a while since I have agreed to take on anything like this due to every day life time constraints.  I don't like letting people down so I don't commit to something unless I am sure that I can make time for it.  The next three months are historically pretty quiet.  It was the perfect time to take this on again.  Plus....I must admit I really needed the kick in the behind to get some cards done. ;-)

Tim Holtz is once again doing his 12 Tags of Christmas.  I participated last year and learned a few new techniques and tricks.  This year, I have decided to follow along again but I am not going to be making tags.  I decided that I am going to make panels from 4x6 coasters which I am going to join together to make a wall hanging instead.

This is the first panel:

 Materials used:  4x6 coasters, Manila file folders, Cuttlebug embossing folders, Tim Holtz stamps & grungeboard, pipe cleaner, Prima wired stars (stars removed), embossing powder (red, green & black), DecoArt Snow Writer, miscellaneous glitter, q-tip, transfer plastic, & Distress ink.

Not bad considering both the house and the fence are cut out by hand.  I raided my sons stash of pipe cleaners to make the wreath.  I wonder if he will notice. :-)

I am still not sure about the rings.  I was originally planning on joining the panels with the rings but I think I am going to join them with ribbon or twill instead.

Tonight I am going to tackle Tag #2, work on my mother's Christmas gift and enjoy the fact that my fingers are stained with ink and covered with paint.

Babbling....

Yep...that is what I am doing today.  Just babbling.  I don't really have anything creative to post so I thought I would just babble for a bit.  You can just ignore this post if you wish.

I haven't had much of a chance this week to work on anything and I have lots to do -- a yearly 8x8 album for my mother-in-law, a Christmas gift for my mother (no more details than that just in case she is reading this), my Christmas cards, and a few other projects that will remain nameless at this point.  Alas, I have worked on none of these this week.  Why you ask?  Well, my in-laws are coming for a visit this weekend.  Since I have been so busying creating the last few weeks, my house work has suffered and suffered badly; and, if I am truly honest, I have never been one for housework.  I do what is necessary when I have to; but if I can put it off for awhile, I will.

Having said that though, even I would be ashamed if anyone came to visit with the state my house has been in lately.  A fellow scrapper may understand the piles of pattern paper sitting on the floor, the ribbon hanging off the backs of the dining room chairs, and glitter covering every horizontal surface but anyone else will most like roll their eyes. So, I have been cleaning, sorting, and hiding things away.  Of course as I have been cleaning, mojo has decided to visit.  I have all these ideas floating around in my head and no time to implement any of them.

Today is my anniversary.  My husband and I never 'officially' tied the knot but we do mark the day we first started dating which was 22 years ago today.  Scary to think that I have been with this man for half of my life so far.  There is a silly story about how we met but he tells it so much better than I do.  I will have to find the story that he wrote about it....all about the red-headed monster and the magic blanket of warmth.  You can already see where the story is going....

Well, it looks like I am running out of things to babble about.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.  May your day be full of turkey and pumpkin pie.  To all my Canadian friends, happy Thursday...only one more day left in the work week.

Hopefully, I will have something more interesting to share next week.