Using themed papers where the theme is iffy

Of course there's a rather long involved story when I created these 2 pages. 🤣The picture of Ash alone was supposed to go on the the first page. Well. I used the Playful Pets 6x6 pad that I mistakenly purchased because I liked the colors and didn't look closely - as I have no pets. However, I've been sneaking it in w/o pets lately. Which brings me to the 2 different pages. 

I was going to put Ash alone on the PET paper but I felt that people would think I was inferring he was a dog. My pal Holli Dagg-Hicks helped me out indicating it probably wasn't a good idea, sooooo I replaced the photos with a dog in the picture and used UP some really old Authentic and oddly its a beah theme. Surprised me too but I love how they turned out.

 

July 4th tags for the Grands-Update

 - Some assembly required...

🥸

Mostly cardstock with a dash of vintage photo ink 

around which it looks like I forgot

to do on the kraft paper.

This took an assembly line (though I did a run-through on one card)

to see if what's in my head translates on paper.

The stars and liberty bell are 

old Quickutz dies. 

The itty bitty ones pop out of big USA letters so I

now have a bazillion USA letters in white

in case you're interested.

I was debating if I actually wanted to put them on a card

and decided nah...but It need something.

So I decided to maybe make it like a tag but it needed

some edging so I pulled in the color

from the bell - which I did remember to distress.

One in a row.

I love the banner sentiment even though it's obvious.

But I remembered I had this cool post card stamp that would

make it kind of a really cool tag.

I added some stamping to the back of the card

and I thought it turned out pretty cool.

TH stamps except for the stamp cancel. 

Traveler's Notebook - More tags and envelopes

As you know by now, I love tags and cards,

but I also love envelops.

I have some neat ones, big enough for a photo

or filler stuff.

The first tag came from Treasured Memories S/B store

and they had a "shop hop". 

Sadly, they were the only shop and that just

had to be in my TN.

The yellow envelope has the journaling for the

shop hop as I was able to meet up

with my pals Holli and Brooke and had the

best time spending each other's money.

I drew that flower freehand.

Yes, I know...but it is a big deal for me because

I never thought I could draw and as long

as it doesn't have to be perfect,

I'm golden.

On the other page, we dined out at our favorite

steakhouse in town. 

Prime.

We always have a great time with our

friends Wayne and Dara 

(and don't they always take a great photo-

which is very annoying to us that don't)

And the rodeo.

So.much.fun.

And Lee Greenwood showed up out of the blue

and sang God Bless the USA.

This is our second year and it was a lot of fun.

Those riders are such athletes.

I kept the ticket and basically used it as a title

with some road signs.

I remembered to take pictures again and I

snapped this enthusiastic look of our friends 

having pizza with us.

Dispite the look we did actually have a great time.

How about that "guest check" is that

a hoot or what.

No clue where it came from.

Sigh.

Actually, the photo is on a tag - not a page

because it really did need a page.

Tim Holtz

No idea on the road signs. 

(I even got up to look)

 

A challenge among friends!!! Oh what FUN!!

So my pal Brooke and I did a thing.

We challenged each other.

Goodbye comfort zones.

Here we go.

The challenge was to provide a sketch - 

and 5 things to incorporate in

said sketch.

My challenge to Brooke.

I love this sketch I found on Page Maps. 

No sense in drawing when you can get one from the best.

Her 5 things:

Mixed Media background

Work in the tag I gave her.

Thread or Twine.

Fussy cut something

Use her new TH alphas - the skinny ones that I love.

AND WA-LA!!!

Brooke totally rocked it!!!

Using stencils and inks in her background.

I LOVE how she did the title.

She rocked my tag - changed it up a bit and love it.

And fussy cut the butterflies.

Twine behind the tag.

She did work in 8x8 page.

A beautiful photo of her mom rounds it out.

Love love love how it turned out.

And we're so gonna do it again.

I need to get to pondering.

Again.

My challenge from Brooke went down like this.

A sketch she found on pinterest.

3 arrows 

(I struggle with arrows)

Nuvo drops

3 pattern papers

staples

paint

I work in 8.5x5 in my traveler's notebook so I took

it right down the middle.

I managed to work in 4 arrows - using pattern paper

and my arrows were PP but the anchors didn't come through LOL

however the tiny flowers are heart PP.

I did use 2 photos because I didn't want to

waste - I used 2 different sizes which worked out great

because it highlighted the 'rentz.

I used a doily as the "round" thing

The nuvo drops are in the flowers I drew and

on the tag.

The paint is on the homemade washi tape because

I really couldn't think of another way to

work it in.

So I made my own washi tape using Studio Calico

blush crush and arrow stamps with

versifine black ink.

Splattered some watered down paint.

I love how BOTH turned out.

It was sooooo much fun we're gonna do it again.

I'll keep you posted.

 

Valentine Tags

 

For the grands.

I used some watercolor paper because I knew I was going

too use inks to making and I wanted the

background to have texture, so whipping out a cool embossing die

I didn't know I had sent 10 tags on through.

Using a few distress inks using the smack and dab technique

that Tim Holtz teaches and uses.

It was a lot of fun actually, and normally I don't

heat dry the layers, but I did this time.

The background looks great.

 

Oh I added the pockets on the back to hold the $1

I took in - quite the big spender.

That was a total stash bust, but I love those envelopes

and have no clue where I got them or the brand.

Some punched and die cut hearts.

M's dinosaur stamp.

 

A Tag booklet in the making....

I love making tags-especially with the TH

oxides and dyes.

The colors are yummy, therefore,

I shall have a very cool tag booklet.

Oh the bling, my friend Holli made that tassel because

she has the shears to do it.

I'm thinking I need a pair.

A tassel from M's and a TH gear is there somewhere.

I made the cover with some really thin chipboard I got

from HL (I wish it was thicker) however,

I am using watercolor papers for the covers and it's

quite thick so I adhered the watercolors to the chipboard

and it appears to be quite sturdy.

I have an assortment of stamps to add more

texture and fun.

I used grey because I wanted a "shadow" effect

but I'm thinking maybe the black next time.

I made blackeyed Susie a real long time ago (I think when the "seed" packet

thing was going on) and it's been in the

"please use me" side of the embellie bin forEVER and

decided it'll work pretty good in this booklet.

I will jazz it up a bit more at some point because one

can't have empty space.

This is an envelope which surprising opens at the bottom.

So I just stamped up the front and tucked

the flap in the bottom until I figure

out how to not have anything fall out besides

sealing it which defeats the whole read me purpose.

And some grands to put on tags.

Sometimes the picture just needs to be on a

funky cool tag instead of a page.

So this is fun as a pre-made tag that I can either leave as is

or wait for that perfect "something."

Granddaughter with her pal...

Those long legs - another fun tag that works perfectly together.

I need to find out how that was photoshopped

I love that photo.

That brown cardboard tag has been around for

an extremely long time and it's a cool addition for something.

This is the back and of course there are inside covers....

This is the inside cover of the front cover and of course

it wasn't till I put it all together that I realized

I had done it upside down.

Therfore, I covered everything up (mostly) 

stamped this big, really cool mermaid on it and added

that sentiment which I think is a great question.

Outside back cover which was really supposed the inside back cover.

Evidently, I flipped it over and the holes didn't match so.....

It's the back cover. 

I'll be adding more tags as I go.

I love working in different sizes and mediums and

I can't go too big, but I am pushing it.

LOL!

If I do it a little at a time will anyone notice?

 

Halloween tags for the grands

 

 I really had a great time doing the tags.

Normally I do cards but I wanted to do something different

so tags it is.

I also send $1 being the big spender that I am

and I'll be attaching them on the back with 

double sided tape.

I love how they turned out. 

And I'm also impressed that I used stash AND I was

able to get those Tim Holtz dies done.

 

That Halloween die with the 4 characters has a lot of itty bitty parts.

   I so do NOT do well with itty bitty parts.

Howver, I did find out that

IF YOU DO ONE CHARACTER AT A TIME AND REFER

TO THE PICTURE ON THE FRONT OF THE PACKAGING

 THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE ONE CAN GET 

A FAXSIMILE THERE OF 

OF THE CHARACTER.

Just sayin....

Anyway it worked for me as I tried to do them all at once.

Total disaster.

 

I did some fussy cutting and the background was made from

Tim Holtz oxides and distress inks.

Sadly I didn't make notes but basically, 

yellow, orange, brown and black.

 

Traveler's Notebook - Bags and tags

I adore both tags and bags and they're sooo much fun 

to embellish.

Bags are fun to tuck tags in when one is

especially windy in one's journaling OR maybe

it doesn't need to be out there for all to see.

For no particular reason the embellishments are just

a fun addition.

 And tags. 

Just out there having fun and I like to do them

for no particular reason as well and while

a couple of them are "heritage" I love the

addition - I feel they're kind of like a "pause."

Above happens to be my cousins Al and Joanne 

when they were kidlets about a billion years ago and

same for below of me and my brother.

We took a couple of road trips to Florida when we

were kids and this photo was taken 

on our trip to Six Gun Territory - which was

a lot of fun going back to the wild west.

Tim Holtz stuff.

I try to use my heritage photos whenever possible.

Not that I don't love TH cutouts but

no point in driving the family any more crazy

trying to figure out who those people are in the family.

LOL.

PS I just noticed I used that saying twice.

 It's a good saying....so

 'my bad' ....oops.

It started innocently enough - A tag's evolution

Actually it did, I was fooling around with my new TH oxide sprays (peacock feathers, mustard seed, abandoned coral, cracked pistachio and picked raspberry) spraying the tag in my sketchers shoebox to keep the spray down to a mild roar. I must have skipped a step or two because the sprays were like spritz and weren't melding together, so I took a paintbrush and straightened that out.

I'll be needing to review those videos again.

So on the left, I hand wrote "keep it simple" because I thought it went well with the snarky phrase at the bottom which totally summed up how I was attacking the tag.

WELL....I decided that what I wrote wasn't bold enough, so with supreme confidence I tried to go over the writing with a sharpie.
           It didn't go well and basically it turned into a big black blob that worked its way into a smear.

Enter more ephemera because when you have a big black blob that needs covering up what better way than to add more stuff.

I have a stash of precut dies (so I don't have to break it out every time) and sometimes I get lucky when the colors work out. So I kept adding and couldn't seem to stop and I especially couldn't stop until the big black blob was fixed.

Can you really have too much stuff on a tag.
   Um Nope.

I'm totally hooked on the Tim Holtz Tags

Say Tim Holtz Tags 3-times FAST.

LOL.

These were so much fun to make.

Fortunately, my pal Holli has a ton of TH stamps and we had

a great time at her place making these tags.

These were stamped on regular watercolor paper by Canson.

(sorry Tim) I'm hoarding yours LOL.

Anyway, after watching his demos (using Ranger products)

I jumped in and found that regular watercolor paper 

 doesn't flow as well as the Ranger products.

Once I put oxide inks on the Canson watercolor paper

 I couldn't mush it around.

The ink stayed right where I put it turning out bold and bright 

and no matter how much water I used I couldn't

diffuse the ink and make it softer.

 I was bummed at first that it didn't work

like the demos 

 DOH.....

However, it was fun - and I think I'll continue to use both products

now that I know what's what 

because I like what I get from both.
 

Traveler's notebook - field notes

I love how this turned out.

The red, white an blue thing just evolved because

that's what I had in my stash.

I made the fields note tag ahead of time and

I wanted to use it for these 2 photos.

 I decided to put one of the photos on the tag.

 And the other one on the envelope.

I love those envelopes - I'm gonna be so bummed

when I run out.

 Also added some journaling on the back of the tag,

So this was on the Columbia River that is right

next door to the Maritime Museum.

We went to the museum today and it was amazing.

Lots of really neat stuff.

So I put the tickets with this - because it's like two birds

one stone. I didn't feel the need to scrap the museum

so I wrapped them together.

Studio Calico, quikutz, punches

Tags Tags Tags

I happened on a post in Scrapaholics Anonymous FB page

that had really lovely tags.

So I watched  Lara Rahel Crosby u-tube on it and

really enjoyed it.

So, of course, I had to make tags.

She also has a challenge going on with Rachel Tallman on

making tags with the Wild Hare Kit that they both subscribe to.

Anyway I watched both and the really cool thing 

while they both subscribe to the Wild Hare - they receive

different items in their kits based on YOUR style profile.

Well ain't that interesting.

Some stuff is the same, but based on your profile

you may have different stuff in your kit.

Genius actually.

Now I need to figure out how I can sign up

AND GET THEM on the road.

Also, they also don't require a monthly subscription.

Woohoo!

I was also inspired by how they just tossed everything on.

No overthinking, no pondering, no agonizing and all their tags

were really really cool.

So that's what I did.

Very freeing.

Anyhow, check out their u-tube channels.

Project LIfe style - Stockyards

We had a great time at the Stockyards poking into

shops, strolling the streets and BBQ.

So of course it had to be documented in a PL

format instead of popping it into my traveler's notebook.

Do these wooden embellies make you swoon.

Yea me too.

They are itty bitty.

Of course I'll share -

Jillybean Soup

Love how this turned out. 

I traced the tag from one I had it my stash but

wasn't the right colors.

The 2 tags were from my stash and the one my

handwriting is on - just whacked it out of some scraps.

Simple.

TN - Celebrate Good Times

This was a fun page to make.

The paper bag that is hiding my tag was from

Chili's where they hide your utensils.

Perfect size.

I have another one I think.

 The Murphy Cousins got to meet up in

Naples where Carolyn lives, and Alan (NJ) was visiting.

Tom and his sister (originally from NJ) but now live

in FL (well except Tom) we live in the USA. 

We we able to see Carolyn's new digs - which are lovely

and so perfect for her.

 Because of the way I designed the page, I left

no room for journaling, AND I was

in the picture on another picture so

I wanted to include both.

Tags can be your friend.

We had a great time. Good food and

wonderful visit.

Using transparency stickers

These transparent stickers came in the new Studio Calico kit

and I loved them for this photo the minute I saw them.

However, the vision in my head didn't quite translate to the papers.

Ever have one of those moments?

Very annoying.

 For some reason I felt compelled to stitch through the ones on the side there.

and the green star has a 3D glue dot behind it. 

It doesn't look too goofy.

Anyway, this is Amelia flipping a tire.

In 6 years of Crossfiting I have never flipped a tire.

And flipping a tire really goes with the transparencies.

I have a tag tucked into a glassine bag behind all the layers

and it's just about us both being crossfitters and

that one day I hoped we could do a WOD together.

Got my grunge on!

I found, deep in my closet, a set of foam stamps

from way back in the day, and thought

why not?

I really miss making pages like that.

It was a "stamp of the month kit" - "not your ordinary stamps"

is the only I can find about them.

They have everything from months of the year, to huge flowers

and clocks and punctuation.

 The background stamps I used - the small circles and

big ones are about 12x12 size - the "brick" looking

ones and xo- aren't part of the set.

Also did a bit of mixed media in the background with watercolors.

And then there's that DOILY lol.

Couldn't help to be paired with the oversized tag.

Tags and doilies.

This is a photo of my favorite youngest - he and my

pal Barb would have dueling guitars going on when she came

to visit. We both loved her visits.

I fussy cut those letters from some specialty paper that

came in the candyland kit and you'll be seeing

those again. Along with tags and doilies LOL!!!

Sortof Studio Calico.

Oversized Tags Tags Tags!

Clever title as you shall see.

Had a girls day out and of course it has

to be documented.

I really don't do enough of that and

it's gonna change.

So voila- 3 tags...tags 3times in the title.

hehe

I really have been into tags these past 10 pages or so.

Totally focused.

Anyway I thought they'd be a fun change to matting.

Of course the lighting is bad but nonetheless, we had a

great time at the comedy club.

The doily ties everything together and love the

colors of the cards on the grey.

Gasp*** I didn't doodle around the page.

Studio Calico and I am stash busting people.

A fun cluster with tags. You're shocked I know!

You may have noticed I'm rockin' the tags

and the clusters with this bunch 

of pages lately. 

It's been a lot of fun!

These tags are soooo cool and I used

the stamp set more than once.

 Love this photo of my favorite eldest son - stole

it off of the internet somewhere.

I'm getting really good at it too 😉

A scrapper's gotta do what a scrapper's gotta do.
Used a glassine envelope to tuck another tag in with some
journaling whining about not seeing him enough.
Just a mom thing. LOL.

Love the mug (both mugs actually LOL).

Love how the page came together and the background "noise"

on the pattern paper suits him perfectly.

Check out his FB page Nick Collins Visuals for

stunning pictures from around the world.

He gets out more than I do.

📷

Studio Calico - more stash bustin'.
Had that word "photograph" in my stash forEVER.

Just a few tags on the page

I jacked this from somewhere but honestly,

I can't remember because I cruise a lot of scrapbook

blogs and videos.

It had to have been a blog because I'd remember the video

(maybe LOL).

Anyway, thanks!!!

 I just love having the tags all over the page and it was

fun to do.

Then to decorate all the tags was a hoot as well

again, not wigging out because "some" don't "fit."

It's a page 😲 and I found it quite

freeing to not worry about those things.

 I also used up a lot of stash which is very cool.

And would you believe I still have more tags.
And that washi tape - I love the words on it and used
it to make a fun mini title to guide you through the page.

This was a lot of fun just because and its whimsical.

I'm coming to love whimsical.

I love the way it came out and I'll be doing this again I'm sure.

So I found a photo of me riding a gondola up Vail.

I'm trying to not look LOL!! 

Thanks to Tom I can see the view was beautiful now
(I did look when I got off the gondola).

Anyway the photo came because of the "lift tickets"

and I used the stamps that came in the Summit kit. 

Studio Calico.