Quick update #onelittletag

I am a little behind and I haven't finished a lot of tags lately, but I have to stop getting hung up on finished product instead of focusing on the process. I have been painting for a show and being creative every day, which is really the One Little Tag challenge. So, even though they aren't finished (and probably won't be for a little whie, really busy lately) I'm sharing!
The photos don't really show it, but the one on the left is glitter gel and for some reason, maybe be...cause it's old or maybe it's meant to be that way, but there's not a lot of glitter and there are these little beads in it. It actually looks really cool. The middle one is my fave. It is white paste ad because I am a bad crafty girl that did not clean her stencils after using sprays, the ink transferred from the stencil and blended in the paste. It looks really pretty in person.. I may have to just leave that one as is.

Tag 3-27 Seasons Greetings #onelittletag

Tag 3-27 Seasons Greetings #onelittletag

Another Christmas tag using the monochromatic challenge.  Getting caught up!

Thanks for letting me share my tags with you!

Tag 3-26 Merry Christmas! #onelittletag

Tag 3-26,

Very similar to tag 3-25, with a different non-traditional colour scheme.  The pink and gold colour combo was insprired by a tag done by Yvette, one of the ladies doing the One Little Tag Craft Challenge on FB

Tags# 3-25 Some more Christmas tags #onelittletag

I am still playing catch up since my holiday, so I am a little behind with my tags.  Some of you that have visited my blog before, may already know this, but one of my own personal challenges is to make the 25th tag of each month, a Christmas tag.  The idea is that I will be ahead of the game when Christmas rolls around coupled with the fact that I just enjoy Christmas cards and tags.  Doing one usually puts me in the mood to do more.  So I hope you can handle a few Christmas cards, even though we are all ready for some nice spring weather and maybe not really wanting to be reminded of  wintery December, lol! (Unless, perhaps if you are in Australia or the other parts of the world that have lovely warm Decembers!)

The challenge last week was to do monochromatic tags, so I tried to stay in keeping with that idea.  Not 100% monochromatic, but definitely leaning that way.

Hi there!  I didn't make a tag today, I made a card because my beautiful baby turns 18!  I can't believe it!  It seems like only yesterday she was so tiny in my arms.  She has grown into a strong, intelligent and beautiful woman.  Sometimes it's hard for me to accept that she has grown up.  She finds this frustrating, but I know one day she will understand completely.  What I hope she understands today, is how proud I am of her.  No matter how old she is, she will always be my baby, and she will always be the sunshine in my life.

Happy Birthday, Taylor!  I love you so much and I am so happy you happened to me!!!

More fun with foam #onelittletag

Hi there!  My blog today is a continuation of yesterdays post. After getting such a good result with the textured fun foam, I wondered how well my own textured foam would work.  I have several embossing folders with great patterns and thought I could make some interesting textured foam.  I wanted to share my results.  I noticed that the foam I used yesterday was a little thicker than usual, so I adhered 2 sheets together and cut them down to sample sizes.  I chose some of my folders by a few different companies.  I ran them through my Cuttlebug, passing it back and forth a couple of times to make sure there was a good impression.  I used my distress ink and ran it over the foam and put my card on top and rubbed.  One of the bonuses to this method is that you also have the negative image on the other side of the foam, so I tested both sides.

I have to say, I think the textured foam I purchased worked a little better and gave a cleaner image.  But, I do think that the foam I made with the embossing folders gave some very interesting and distressed effects, too.  What do you think?

I'm dying to share my little arty find with you! #onelittletag

How did I get all those yummy textural impressions?  Glad you asked, because I am dying to share my little arty find with you!

I was in the dollar store to get a couple of neck cushions for our flight, and I always have a peek in the craft section.  I was rushing through, but there I spotted it, textured fun foam!  I though it would be great, if it worked, and tossed it in the cart.

Today I pulled it out to give it a try.  I lightly ran my distress ink across the foam and placed my tag on top and rubbed.  I was really pleased with the results!  So. I thought I would share.  I am going to give it a try with my Gelli plate, too, when I get a chance.  I'm not sure if the pattern is deep enough to work with the plate and the paint, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

The sheets are 20 cm x 15 cn (7.8" x 5.9") and there are 2 of each per package.  I may try cutting out different shapes and using them as stamps.  I will let you see how that looks when I do it.
I got my textured foam sheets at Dollarama.  I think they may only be in Canada, but I'm sure this foam must be available in other stores.  So if you like the look of this texture, keep your eyes open in the craft or kids section of your local store.

Tag 3-24 "If Music be the Food of Love" #onelittletag

Tag 3-24 #onelittletag

Okay, back in the saddle.  I missed the acrylic challenge with One Little Tag Craft Challenge, but I am going to do a few at some point, just because I like acrylics.  This weeks challenge is MONOCHROMATIC.

so, for the monochromatic challenge. I used "Picked Raspberry" distress ink for all the sponging, stamping and stenciling. I had to add my white splatters, though. I used my new Graphic 45 Enchanted Forest stamps that just arrived today!

Holiday Haul!

I had to do a little shopping while I was away, and I thought I would post a couple of pictures to share my haul.  That Minc foil in the top photo was my best find, $5 a roll!  I don't even know where to get it here and it's $25 each on Amazon.ca.

Art supplies and craft supplies are my addiction.  It doesn't take much to make me happy or keep me entertained.  Give me a new set of stamps and it makes me very happy, add matching dies and I am in heaven! A tube of paint or a new jar of medium and I am totally inspired!

Drop me off at Michaels and I am entertained for a good couple of hours,.  I am like a kid in a candy store when in Curry's or DeSerres.  I tell myself that since I don't drink or smoke, and I only shop for a good deal, it's okay, but the truth is, it's getting pretty crowded downstairs.  I know many of you will never understand how a new set of mini distress inks can bring such joy, but I know there are also many of you who will get it.  I will never understand why someone would want to spend 4 hours walking around a golf course when they could be painting or making a new tag, so I guess it's all perspective.

As soon as they open up an Art supply Anonymous in my area, I promise I will  attend. 

We are back! #onelittletag

Well, we are back!  We stayed in a resort in Kissimmee, just outside of Orlando. We had some great weather.  One day was a little rainy in the morning (good day for shopping!) and Monday was a little cool, but that was perfect because that was the day we went to Universal Studios.  Universal Studios was very crowded and the line-ups were very long, most of them about 1 1/2 hours.  We thought we would be just missing March break, but, the Florida spring break actually started on Monday!  I was fine with  it, though.  I was there for the kids and I expected it to be crowded and I expected long waits for the rides.

 I did manage to make a few tags while I was away.  My friend said "You don't have to make tags, you're on vacation!" And she was right, I didn't have to, but I wanted to. This is something I am doing because I enjoy it, not because it's a job.  It was a bit of a challenge though, because I didn't take any supplies with me (I knew I would be doing some shopping while I was there!)  I picked up a few things in Michaels in Buffalo before we went to the airport. I got some stamps, but no ink.  I thought I would be able to grab something close to the resort, but Kissimmee is a lot bigger than I thought and we didn't get over to any craft stores until later in the week.  I bought some little tags and some kids water based markers at Target and used those as my ink.

 I lucked out the week I was away. Michaels had it lowest price of the year sale and the original prices were already cheaper than the same products here. So even with the dollar being as bad as it is right now, I still got a good haul!  I also got to check out Hobby Lobby, for the first time.  It was just a quick visit there, but I'd like to go again, sometime.

I picked up this Tim Holtz set before we got on the plane in Buffalo. It came with the stamps, an embossing folder and coordinating dies. I had bought some mini distress inks when I did this tag. I did not have my die cutting machine, so I fussy cut (which I am not very good at!) I had picked up some index cards to use as tags at the dollar store. I put the card in the embossing folder and stood on it and danced around a little bit and Voila!  Coincidentally, these two tags work for the monochromatic challenge of this week at One Little Tag Craft Challenge on FB.

So, I am a little bit behind, but it won't take much to catch up.  It was interesting doing these tags without all my supplies that I have at home.  "Roughing  it" for the week, lol.  You need to be a little innovative.  That would be a good challenge, to limit yourself to a minimal amount of supplies for the week and doing the most you can with what you have.

NOW FOR THE RANT!

This has nothing to do with art or tags.  I am merely venting and totally understand if you are not interested in reading the rest of my post  for today.

We drove down to Buffalo and flew with South West.  We were taking a night flight that was supposed to depart ant around 9:30 pm.  Our plane arrived on time to take us to Orlando, BUT, there was a flight to Fort Myers that had been delayed 4 hours and then was delayed again, so they gave them our plane and delayed us 3 1/2 hours!  I understand that those people had been waiting quite a while and felt bad for them, but I don't understand how the brilliant powers that be, thought it would be better to inconvenience two planeloads of people.  I really wouldn't have minded if it was a lot earlier, but this was a night flight and a 3 1/2 hour delay had a lot more impact. We had checked a few times to make sure we were on schedule before we went o the airport.  They made this decision at the very last minute and we were stuck there until 12:45am.  But the worst part was that we didn't end up arriving at our resort until

5:00 in the morning, so we pretty much lost a whole day.  I will NEVER fly with SouthWest again!  I would have understood if the delay was due to bad weather, or technical issues with our plane, but everything was fine and they just gave our plane away!  So that is my rant, I got it off my chest.  I know this was only one experience, but it left a bad taste in my mouth along with the attitudes of the staff that I spoke with at South West, who basically didn't really seem to care.  Even if they didn't, good customer service would dictate that they at least pretend to!  So, to anyone else using South West, I hope you have better luck than we did.