13 Tags of Halloween

Over at All Things Tim Yahoo Group, Stephen - Bearcrazyman hosted a 13 Tags of Halloween  Swap. He has an awesome reminder system set-up to encourage you along the way and help you remember your commitment and how much time you have left to complete your tags.

The picture is of the front and back of each of the tags. The hard part was figuring out the design - after that, it's just assembly line. 

Distress Ink is on the front of the glossy paper I used for the #8 tag. I used my trusty Janome sewing machine to add the edging. Doesn't that stitch look like spiders marching around the edge? It made me laugh out loud!

The tag, tickets and tree are Tim Holtz Sizzix Die Cuts. All of the stamps are Tim Holtz designs. The raven and skeleton are embossed - the hardest part of the whole project was hand-cutting the skeletons! I've also used some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist on the tree branch and the little tickets. 

I've seen some awesome posts on some of the 13 Tags of Halloween that have already been submitted and I'm really excited to see what sort of tags I'll get back. The suspense is killing me, but it sure makes checking the mail fun!

Here's my tag for the September Quick Fire Challenge at Outlaw Womens Scrapbook Emporium. The challenge is die cuts and an Autumn Theme. I like this quote, "Autumn, the year's last loveliest smile".

Tim Holtz tag, tree and leaf die cuts, Tim Holtz, Owl and Ticket stamp, Distress Stains and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.

Enjoy!

Fabric & Flower Tag Swap

Here's my tag for the Fabric & Flower Tag Swap over at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium Yahoo group. It's on it's way to Maxine in Canada.

The tag is the standard #8 and is cut from old upholstery sample swatches with cotton batting in between. I embellished with a few decorative stitches on my sewing machine to make it look quilted.

The flowers are made out of Tim Holtz's wonderful Glassine paper. That is fun stuff to work with! I ran the paper thru an embossing folder, crumpled it up and smoothed it out a little, then inked it up with some Distress Ink. I used the Tattered Flowers Sizzix Die to cut the flowers from both the Glassine and a couple from some heavy muslin. I then fastened them all down with some vintage buttons from the giant button jar and fluffed them up a bit.

The quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Earth Laughs in Flowers". I stamped on paper and tacked to the tag with the sewing machine. 

Added some ribbon and attached tiny bells to the ends so you can 'hear' the flowers laughing!

It was a lot of fun to participate in a swap because it gives you a reason to create something with a deadline! I like that idea and I think it will help motivate me to make more art. 

My next swap is 13 Halloween Tags for ATT group. I'll let you know how that works out!

This is the first page of a journal we are working on at Outlaw Women's Scrapbook Emporium - we are doing a journal on 'Fears'.

My fear focuses on worry - I can turn a small fear into a mountain of worry and this Mark Twain quote captures my irrelevant fears perfectly.

Sophiology is the science of ideas. When I learn something new, my right brain loves to have instructions to follow, and reasons why these instructions are good. My left brain does not like to join in until there is some groundwork, some rules to follow.

This is the beginning of my creative journey. I hope you'll find a little inspiration along the way!