Twelve Tags of 2015 ~ August ~ Uncle Jim

Hi everybody!I hope my UK friends are enjoying this typical British Summer, rain, rain and more rain ! Still, the best way I know of cheering myself up on a wet afternoon, is spend some time in my craft room. Thanks to Mr Holtz, I happily spent a few hours absorbed in making my tag for this month's Twelve Tags of 2015 challenge.  I was a bit daunted when I first saw Tim's tag, as I haven't got any of the  lovely Word Block Dies. I'm also running low on Ideaology bits and bobs. Still, I see this as all part of the challenge, it makes you put your thinking cap on! For my die cut background I used Tim's Typeset Alphabet strip die. As I use a Big Shot die cutting machine, I was able to cover the last inch of the tag with a thicker piece of card in order to prevent the die from cutting through the bottom of the tag. The cool looking dude in the picture, is my ' Uncle Jim'.  He came to England from Nigeria, at the same time as my dad, in the early 1950's. They were best friends and our two families spent a lot of time together as we were growing up. They remained firm friends throughout their lives and sadly, they passed away within a year of each other.  I love this picture and have welcomed the opportunity to use it this month's tag. x

P.S. Just been having a look at this month's entries, wow.. there are some fantastic interpretations!

Time Flies ~ New Challenge for Stamps and Stencils

It's the first Thursday of the month and that means it's time for another challenge over at Stamps and Stencils. The very talented Yvonne is our host, and this is what she has to say......

'For this challenge we would like to see clocks/watches/or any other time related element

 as a focus on your project. Remember we are are a mixed media challenge blog

and we would like to see some stamps and/or stenciling'

 While I was mulling over the challenge title, the song, 'Fly Like an Eagle', by The Steve Miller Band, with the opening lyric, 'Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future....', sprang into my head. This set the theme for my project, which is a little 5x7 inch canvas, in a fun 'Steam Punk' style. I got a bit carried away as I was working on it and haven't taken too many photos of the process, however, here is a shot of the background before it got covered up.....

In this picture, you can see the stamped tickets laid out on the surface. You can also see a bit of a splodge in the middle. This is where I had stamped directly onto the canvas and then changed my mind and decided so make stamped tickets instead. The original stamping didn't show up enough, so I stamped some small die cut tickets with the months of the year and adhered them to the background.

The die cut pocket watch, was treated with Vintage Photo, Distress Embossing powder and a smear of Treasure Gold around the edges. The stamped image, has been coloured with Distress Markers and a water brush. The wings have been cut from card covered with aluminium foil tape and then embossed with a cogs and gears embossing folder. They've been coloured with Alcohol Inks and have had a few cogs attached to them.

I love the phrase as it just about sums up 'time' to me. So lets all make a point of using a bit more of it to do the things we love !!!

If you've got a bit of time on your hands and would like to join in with our challenge, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog with this link and you'll find all the details of how to join in. You will also find some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team. I look forward to seeing your creations. x