Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 - February Tag

Ahhh - love is in the air and I can't breathe. Just kidding! This is my take on Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 February. As you know t!m encourages us to use what we have, and this tag is full of my "substitutes" for all the glorious t!m stuff I don't have (yet). Including a tag; I ran out! Here we go!

What I Used to Make my Tag:
Homemade #8 Tag
Tim Holtz Paper Stash - 8 x 8 Seasonal
Love Sticker - #31012, Pebbles Inc. (discontinued)
Ranger Snow Cap Ink
Distress Paint in Picket Fence
Distress Marker in Soot
Stampers Anonymous Stitches Stamp
Sharpie White Water Based Paint Pen, Extra Fine Point
Silver Paper
Red Paper (for the heart)
Scrap of Lace (dyed with Brushed Corduroy & Tea Dye Distress Markers)
Spellbinder Nestabilities Imperial Gold, Gold Labels 4
Embellishments - old silver hoop earring, wire, love charm, red glitter fiber, fabric tape, collage sheets, heart cut from Silhouette Cameo
Tim Holtz Tissue Tape 
Ranger Glue 'n Seal

OK, as you know, there is an awesome tutorial on t!m's blog, so I am just going to go over what I did with the tag. After I cut the tag to the correct dimensions, I covered it with the black & white Valentine's paper

smudged & painted

in the Seasonal Stash pad. I did notice that the sides of the tag didn't quite get covered, so I ran some tissue tape up and down each side. I chose the black & white "love" sticker,  the "14" (which was punched out of a collage sheet that's older than t!m), the woman (cut her out of a collage sheet from Somerset Studio magazine), the sticker up top, and the "february" (fabric tape from 7 gypsies) just to collage the piece a bit.  I covered it with the Glue 'n Seal and let it dry.  I wanted to keep the tag as monochrome as I could so the embellishments would stand out more. After another coat of Glue 'n Seal, I used my Distress Marker to smudge the edges of the collaged items.  The I smooshed some Picket Fence paint on my craft mat and used my finger to add some of the paint to various places on the tag.  I ended up using more Pickett Fence after this picture was taken, but I didn't take another picture. Sorry! 

The LOVE Charm

I don't have the frame stickers t!m used on his tag, so I cut one out of silver paper using the Spellbinders die.  I was pretty stoked that I had a "frame" that fit on the tag. I also improvised on the arrow and the heart charm. I went through my stash and found and old hoop earring; I bent it straight and I knew I had these love charms, so I got one of them out and improvised.  Not bad!  I had to cut the earring down a bit, but all in all, I think it looks pretty good.  On to the heart.  I confess, I do have a sewing machine, but I lost the directions to it and I have NO idea how to even thread it.  I used to know how to thread a machine, but apparently that knowledge was deemed unnecessary and pushed out to make room for fun facts about chocolate - you know, the important stuff.  No fear, I turned to my Silhouette Cameo and cut out some hearts - then I remembered I had the stitches stamp from Stampers

Anonymous - perfect! Inked the stamp up with some Snow Cap ink and stamped on the heart.  Well, due to the texture of the paper, the ink wasn't as bright as I'd like, so I touched it up with the Sharpie Pen (if you don't have one of these - make sure you get the WATER BASED one - you are so missing out!).  I put my heart on my frame and attached it to the tag.  I was going to skip the lace, but then I found a scrap, dyed it up, and glued it to the bottom of the tag (the tag was too thick to get a staple through).  I used an awl to punch a hole in the top of the tag, and I added some red glitter fiber to the top.  There you go! Oh, I did find my spritzer (it was missing last month) but I couldn't get it to work, so no spritzing this month.  Here is another look at my final tag:

Ta Da!

I know that was awfully long, I appreciate you hanging in there and reading the whole thing (if you didn't, go stand in the corner until I tell you to come out!).  If you liked what you read, or just want to be a nice person, please consider following me - I am trying to reach my goal of 100 new subscribers this year. Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Tag in the following challenges:
Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 - February
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafting When We Can - #88, Stitching, Faux or Real
Make my Monday - Tags
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes
Not Just Cards Challenge Blog - #13, Anything Goes