Tim Holtz August 2012 Tag

LOVE this little tag! He has some of the greatest ideas! And I didn't even have all the correct stuff, I had to improvise, but then that's what it's all about right? My frame and silhouette are from Close to my Heart and they are a bit smaller but I don't think it mattered. I only had the one oval frame texture fade (can't remember the name of it) and I used a different ink that I had in my stash instead of the Juniper dabber. Everything else is pretty much the same, with the exception of the key. I have a stash of old keys that I bought off of ebay years ago so I used one of the those. The roses came out nice, those are a bit tricky. They could have been opened up a little more, now that I look at the picture more closely but like I said, they are a bit tricky. I need to use that die more and work with them a little bit, looks like. I added some baby pearls around her neck too. I noticed that he had a "gem" of sorts on his so I gave her a pearl necklace and a pearl earring, so elegant. I didn't have the postage/plaque on the edge die either so I used the ornate one and it just made a point at the bottom, but I accentuated part of the scroll with it so it looked pretty cool. Hope you enjoyed gazing at it and will give it a try. Happy Monday, Hugs, ~Jody

I'm Still Here...................

Just have been a little busy lately. Have been trying to work on my August ATC, in which the theme is "Fun in the Sun". I have most of the components now so 's just a matter of putting them all together. My daughter has been staying here on weekends as she finishes a make-up class at school and prepares to move to northern Florida. Her new love lives up there in the panhandle so she will move up there the end of next week and find a job and begin the next chapter of her life. It's about a 7 hour drive up there so that will be a nice road trip for me when I want to go visit. She wanted to make a picture frame for a picture of the two of them so I helped her make one. We just used some chipboard from my stash and cut out the center about 1/4 " smaller than the actual photo she printed. We covered it with some generic paper from my stash in blue, red and yellow. We added some Tim Holtz embellishments and it turned out pretty cute. She will give it to him when he leaves for Kentucky in a few weeks for his job! So, anyway, I will be back in a few days with a highlight from my August ATC reveal, hope you have a great weekend! Hugs, Jody

The Reveal, finally!!!

Good Morning bloggers, this morning I am going to reveal the actual ATC cards that I made for the ATC Club tomorrow  night.  I think everyone has completed theirs so.............................................. without further ado, TA DA!!!
The theme was "American Made" so Red, White and Blue was a sure bet on this one for me!  I used a couple of different stamp sets on these.  One was from Crafty Secrets and the other one was a Close to my Heart set that I have had for a while now.  I stamped the background starting with plain ol' white cardstock.  Then distressed it some with vintage photo and walnut stain.  Stamped the "Made In America" signs and attached them with foam tape for a little dimension.  They were to have a charm on them as well so I added the round metal tags that a girlfriend and I split the purchase on and the little star buttons were the perfect size to fit right in the hole in them (I removed the piece of string that it came with). I stapled the distressed ribbon on at the top and them added the "charm" with a jump ring up underneath the staple, it worked like a charm, lol!!!

Front of ATC

 For the back of the card I embossed another stamp (CTMH) with the July ticket stamp and die cut them with Tim's ticket strip die.  Added the #4 in red and a little teeny red brad where the star was.  I typed out my info. on the computer and then printed them six to a page.  Cut them down and glued them to the back of the playing card.  After they dried overnight, I distressed the edges and inked them up.

Back of ATC

I think they are the cutest darn things, sure hope the clubbers like them!!!  I'll let you know!
Hugs,
~Jody

Happy 4th of July 2012

                                                   

Can you believe this year is half over already?  July 4th - a day to celebrate our nation's birthday.  Sometimes I wonder what our forefathers would think of what our nation has become these days.  Brings shivers to my spine!  But.....we still have one so that gives way to Celebrate Her Birthday!

This is the tag design that Tim Holtz came up with for his July tag.  He used his big Statue Of Liberty stamp that I don't have so I opted for my smaller Crafty Secrets stamp.  I also used the bigger #4.  The technique he used was a bit difficult to get just right as far as the 'fireworks' go.  I don't know how many pieces he tried before he was satisfied with his results but I was up to #3 so I quit.  I also made a little flag embelly from his mini mover-shaper flag.  I made some for earrings too that I wore to work yesterday, everyone loved them, lol!

Hope you are with loved ones and giving thanks for what you do have!
Hugs,
~Jody 
                  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

ATC's

So I wanted to show you what I have been working on this past week.  I joined an ATC (Artistic Trading Cards for those that don't know what that stands for-I had to ask too, lol) Club.  They are baseball sized cards that you make up yourself, embellishments and all, and put your name on the back as well as the theme of the card, your blog address, if you have one and then you number them, i.e. 1 of 20, 2 of 20, and so on.  They should also have a date.  The first ones I made are going to be for the July meet so the theme was "American Made".  I have a little sneek peek here I will share with you. Can't show the whole thing because that will spoil the surprise for some, I know at least one of them reads my blog, lol!

They use actual playing cards for the base and sand off the plastic coating that is on them.  Then you adhere paper to each side and embellish all you like.  You don't have to use playing cards though, you can just use a plain piece of cardstock cut to the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2.  It helps to use study cardstock so it will withstand some wear and tear.  There are even some websites out there, I know, imagine that, right?, that cater to these ATC's.  I haven't had a chance to peruse all of them yet but maybe later today.  Our weather here in  FL is pretty nasty this weekend, is there a better way to spend a rainy Sunday?  Yesterday, I made a big ol' pot of hamburger potato stew so I'm good for the duration.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Hugs,
~Jody

Blog Candy

Good Afternoon Bloggers!

Helen over at The Craft Project is offering some blog candy just for leaving a comment.  Also If you post her photo on your blog. I thought I'd give this a try.  I've never done this before so wish me luck.

Helen is turning the big 50 so we want to wish her a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! You can get to Her blog by clicking here.

Father's Day 2012

Good Morning bloggers!  It has come around to that time of year again where you desperately search for something "different" to send to your father on Father's Day.  I don't know about ya'll but it has always been a challenge for me.  They are just so hard to buy for.  Remember my last post, I said I was digging through a plastic tub full of old pictures.  Well, I also found one in there of my stepfather, of years back when he was, I'd say, probably 30-35.  He was quite the wild child back in the day, as we probably can all attest to at some point, lol!  Anyway, in the photo he has a full beard and an ol' black hat that had one of those plastic poppy flowers that the VA gives out, I think.  He is wearing an old blousin' shirt that has elastic in the sleeves and a big yoke on the front.  It was a really cool shirt and I just loved it.  As a matter of fact, I wore it as a night shirt for years after he left it lay one day.  I scanned the photo and made a 5x7 and embellised it a bit and put it back in the same frame it came out of.  See what you think?

I found some charms that reminded me of him, a fish-he has been an avid fisherman for years.  I don't think he ever owned a boat so now he has one, lol.  A bull representing the rodeos that he so loves (and on the other side of the frame is a grandstand ticket). The other charms are a cowboy boot, which I'm sure he wore many a pair out and a slot machine and a deck of cards.  He still goes to BlackHawk gambling.  The cards represent his initials and the vials, the liquor that he consumed for medicinal purposes, of course, lol!  The key represents the old '67 Mercury Comet he drove for years with a handmade stereo box as the console.  The others were just thrown in for a good measure.  I had a great time putting it all together and I'm sure he will shed a tear when all these memories come flashing back.

Hope you get to spend time with your fathers this Father's Day.
Hugs,
~Jody

NOTE:  Stepfather received his photo and called to say Thank You.  He also mentioned that it took him a year to grow that beard, and that was the reason for the photo.  I had forgotten that little tidbit of information, so glad he called to remind me.

June's Tag 2012

Hey there bloggers, I think I finished June's tag in record time, lol.  Still don't have May's done but hey, who's counting right? 

I was able to find a old photograph of myself in the huge tub of pictures that is my life up until now.  Thought I had more than the ones I found, still do, just not sure where they are.  My mother sent me all the old photos that were damaged in the flood at her house several years ago (approx. 1982) and I know I have them somewhere, just can't put my fingers on it today.  So...............the one I did find will have to work.  Didn't have a few of the elements that Tim used so I improvised which is what this is all about, right?  Anyway, I thought it turned out very well, I am quite proud of it.  The significance of the numbers is that I believe this was taken in 1963.  I was probably about 3-4 years old.  I used just a plain old marker that I had to color the dress and shoes.  I used spun sugar and frayed burlap for the tag colors and for the rose flower.  I like the little punches of pink in it.  Hope you like it too!!!

Hugs,
 ~Jody

Tag #6

Yes, believe it or not, we are still working on our 12 Tags of Christmas 2011.  Don't want to rush into anything here, lol!  We, meaning mainly myself, didn't like the tag for #6 last year so we opted to do Ted's version of Tag #9.  There weren't many instructions for it so we improvised. Tim didn't use the new lamp post die cut in any of his tags last year and I, for one, was quite disappointed.  It was my favorite of all the new dies so was sure he would use it just for that reason, lol, ya right! So, he left me to my own devices and this is what I came up with.  My friend Gloria came over yesterday and we finished up the last remaining tag using the lamp post!

I really like how it turned out.  We clear embossed the 'christmas carol' stamp and the holly leaves and added some red stickles in various places.  For the 'light' in the lamp post, I cut out a piece of clear packaging and covered it with Sunflower Yellow alcohol ink, looks pretty authentic, hugh?  Then we shaded the outskirts with faded jeans, broken china and tumbled glass, working toward the center.  We left the center open and shaded in a little bit of one of the new spring series colors, squeezed lemonade.  It was just the perfect color of yellow to make it look like the lamp post is brightly shining.  Added some foilage and some scrolls, some bells and a snippet of red netting.  After it was glued down to the base, we put some clear rock candy stickles in different places and 'scattered some snow' around.  The streamers are broken china.  I think Ted would be proud of our rendition of his creation!

I had just realized that I hadn't put up photos of two of the others that we did.  At least I couldn't find the photos that I took of them.  So if this part is a duplicate, let me apologize now.  Tag #8 was the steampunk one and anyone who knows me, knows that that is not my style at all.  However, my friend Gloria is quite the steam punk gal.  She convinced me that I should do the steampunk card so, VOILA', I did it, and I have to admit, it did turn out pretty good.  She gave me a little light bulb to put on it and I put it in a special place so I wouldn't lose it and and guess what, it was lost for many moons, lol!  I had to go buy a package of them myself just so I would have one for this tag.  AND, as my luck would have it, I found the one she gave me just days after I bought my own!!!  Isn't that how it always goes, lol.  Anyway, here's Tag #8-SteamPunk

And the last one that I haven't put up yet, was Tag #11, the Santa and Merry Christmas one using the photo paper.  I didn't care for this one much either but I managed to get through it.  The leaves and branch were die cut from shrink film and then shrunk in the utee/melting pot.  That was a pretty cool technique and I have used it a few times since then. 

Well, that's it for today.  Hope you have a great Memorial Day and please do remember,


All Gave Some, Some Gave All, We Will Never Forget!

Hugs,
~Jody

Just love me some Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

I remember years ago, an old green wooden ice cream maker my father had.  It was the hand crank model and we all had to take turns if we wanted any ice cream.  It was soooooooo good.  I have my father's recipe for it but have never had a machine with which to do it. 

My ex-husband's dad had an electric ice cream maker we used to borrow once in a while. And I almost bought an old green hand crank model at a flea market a couple of years ago but my boyfriend at the time convinced me that I didn't want that old thing.  Should have swapped him for the ice cream maker, lol!!!

Then last week, Tracey over at The Cottage Industry blog has been making different kinds of ice cream in her new ice cream maker and she has inspired me to go get my own finally.  I did a little research online and found that Target had them on sale so I raced over there to see if they still had one and they did, had 2 left, YEAH!!!!

 

 I also picked up some heavy whipping cream to go with the sugar and eggs that I already had.  Some rock salt and some plastic cups and spoons so I could share with the kids that run around the neighborhood.

Got it all washed up and set up and churning in about a half hour.  Froze the metal canister while I was mixing up the ingredients and then poured it all in with about 6 cups of milk.

 It took a bit longer to start setting up because I had it outside and it's pretty warm here in ol'FL.  About 90º+ today so this was going to be a pretty good treat on a hot afternoon.

Couldn't hardly wait to get the dasher out of it.  I had already taste-tested a couple of times but I wanted a dish of it right now, lol!  I did eat a little cup of it but it needed to set up some more in the freezer.

Unfortunately, it was a bit too late to share with the kids tonight, but it will be good and ready tomorrow.  Of course, I've had several little cups of it already tonight and it is SOOOOOOOOOO Good.  It tastes just as good as it did way back then! YUM!!!!

Hope you get some yummy treats this weekend too!
Hugs,
~Jody