March Tag Swap

It's Spring!!! I am so excited! I am a bit sad the fireplace won't be used as often but I am psyched for spring. We started planting in our yard and the birds are driving Finn nuts! It is so fun to watch him growl at them. Adorable. It should be interesting when his girlfriend (the neighbor kitty) comes to visit him on the porch with the screen door instead of the glass. I will try to film some of these precious moments for more Finn Fridays!

I signed up for the March tag swap that Arlene is hosting on her blog butterflykisseswithlove.blogspot.com . Her youtube channel is mybutterflykisses12. She rocks! I wasn't planning on participating this month but when I heard the theme was Asian/Spring/Flowers (any or all of above!). I had to sign up! I just kept picturing how pretty the tags would be and I couldn't resist!

I found my inspiration from Asian screens. I always love them when I see them in catalogs. I decided to create a screen that held my tag. I wanted to keep the tag a bit whimsical so I added the panda and bamboo. I thought it was just too cute! Because the tag wrap was so elaborate I kept the tag fairly simple.

I always try to do something new with each tag so I decided to play with embroidery floss. I love the texture it adds! I also had so much fun with the Distress Inks. I am loving the new colors. My current favorites are pumice stone, crushed olive and chipped sapphire. I used both the pumice stone and the crushed olive on the tag and paired them with my favs from the old inks, peeled paint and Aged mahogany.

I used the emboss resist technique. I inked the tag first with Shabby Shutters because that is the color I wanted for the bamboo. I then stamped the bamboo with versamark and added clear embossing powder and heat set. If redoing this step I would have added another stamp with bamboo. I have a different bamboo stamp that if added would have made it seem more like a jungle but oh well, next time! I still like it as is! Then I inked over the tag with crushed olive and peeled paint! I love the effect. I added a tag using the Tags Happy #2 Sizzix die. I love how the pumice stone looks on this element and the edges of the tag!

I designed the tag wrap so you can either open the doors or just slide the tag out the top. You can also reuse the wrap for another tag. Journaling can be added to the back of the tag or the inside of the doors. I am loving this idea and I love how it turned out! I can already see this incorporated on a mini page! It was fun and pretty easy. If I just had one to make it would be a snap! I however made 12! I got pretty sick of the screens after the 8th or 9th one! LOL!

I hope the ladies in my group like what I came up with! I can't wait to see thiers! Check out my video showing how I created the screen wrap! (There is also a Finn cameo!) Thanks for stopping by!

Fun Tag Project!

I bought a Martha Stewart score board for $8 at Michael's and was dying to use it! I searched for a few projects and found this one. I knew it was perfect for a gift I was giving next week at Crop Club. I hope you like ti!

You can make a bigger bag by using a larger tag, cutting a large tag on your Cricut, or just cutting a tag shape out of card stock or manila folders.

This is a super quick project and perfect for those small gifts. A great way to show off your tags!

Thanks for watching!

Kathryn, My angel!

Back Story:
In October 2009, I signed up for a mini album swap with TWS (Trade Wind Scrappers) on the Life on the (Scrap) Beach online community. The theme was Feeling Spooky. I made the spooky album (I have a video for that here ) for my partner and I never received one in return. I was pretty bummed.

Kathryn (the founder of the Scrap beach and an amazingly talented Scrapper) decided to start a Scrappers Angel Guild. If someone doesn't get an album from their partner a bunch of ladies (me included) have volunteered to make one for them when called upon. Kathryn was my angel and made me a mini to make up for the one I never received! How nice is that!

I was blown away by how amazing this album is. She put so much effort, time and personalization into it! I feel so special and I couldn't be more grateful. She had kitty stamps that were just too adorable and even named one Finn! She is just so inspiring and talented! The album colors are awesome - she has such a eye for detail! I love the paper bags, tags, and bind it all O wires! I was just blown away! My favorite parts are the owls, Finn stamp and fragments! You outdid yourself!!!

Kathryn, Thank you so much! I am truly touched!

TWS Christmas Tag Swap

So here are the tags I made for a Christmas Tag Swap on the Scrap beach community. I tried to recreate a tag Tim Holtz made on his 12 tags of Christmas blog. I fell in love with this snowman tag. I found a snowman in an Inkadinkado stamp set called Ornate Christmas. I love him. So cute and the scarf is amazing! I did some embossing, painting and resist. And boy did it RESIST me!!! I had a total screw up when I decided to follow the directions! Really, I should know better! I ended up having to redo all of the tags but in the end they turned out beautiful. It was super fun and I hope you like it! As an added gift to you I filmed my mistake and included it in a Part 2 adventure video called My big blooper mistake! I give you the gift of laughter!I hope you enjoy it!





What was your biggest mistake on a project and how did you fix it?

My fix: Trash!

Thanks for watching!

Next up on the blog: Christmas cards and a cool idea for Stampin Up Sweet Treat cups!

~Amy