Time Flies

My Dad is having his 87th birthday later this month so thought I would make him something fun and full of life's memories.  I started out with an old hard back Reader's Digest book that was in my stash from another project.  Luckily for me the pages were already turning yellow with age so I just went with it.  After the boring part which is folding all the pages in half it started to be fun.  I liked the color of the cover so didn't need to change or cover that.  For the inside covers I used some Craft Resist (from Tim) and lightly inked the edges with some Stampin Up "Night of Navy".  For the lettering I used some Grunge Board Letters, inked with Night of Navy & Glossy Accents on top.  The wings on the Tim Holtz Pocket Watch are cut from Tim's Heart Wing Die using Grunge Board and then covered with black embossing powder.  Inside the pocket watch I put a casino chip because Dad likes to gamble and play roulette.  On the face of the watch are stickers with the # 87 for his age. On either side of the watch, I simply printed the years on the computer and cut them in a circle and glued them between the pages.

I glued a piece of an old "tape measure" on the back cover.

Next I made tags, different kinds, colors and shapes.  All you "Tim" fans will recognize the Old Jalopy , Weathered Clock and Steampunk dies. After inking, stamping - I used all time images to go with my theme. (Stampin Up, Close to My Heart and the new ones from Hampton Art with the Graphic 45 Steampunk images that I just LOVE). embossing, adding embellishments (lots of Gadget Gears from the Tim Holtz line and some from 7 gypsies) and then waiting for glue to dry...............................

I turned them over and added a picture (with my Dad at different time in his life) to each one.

The final step is to place all the tags in the BOOKODEX, a title suggested by my friend Judy Stroh.  They need not be in any particular order as they can be pulled, viewed and replaced & more can be added at any time.  Hope you have enjoyed looking at this project because I had lots of fun making it and it is more special because of my Dad.

Boxy Challenge

A few weeks ago my friend Shirley came over to craft - she brought with her a wooden box that was packaging from a household item she recently purchased.  She gave me the box and said - "I thought you might want to make something out of this".  After it sat around my studio for awhile I decided that I would indeed make something out of it.  I dug around in the old trunk of family treasures and came up with enough stuff to make a memory box of my husbands childhood.  Thanks to his Mother I have a good collection of cherished items.  Sorry to say I didn't think to take a "before" picture of the box but I am happy with the "after".  Hope you enjoy it too.  Would love for you to leave a comment.

The box was not quite square, made of pine. I painted the entire thing with green craft paint.  Then I layered all the goodies from back to front -copper piece that Mac made in Jr. High, an award, his Bible, a picture of him in Jr. High, a cut out from his Cub Scout "Blue & Gold Dinner" (made by him), one bronzed shoe, marbles (that belonged to to him as a child).  The 4 boxes in the corners were left over from a "Configuration Box".  Upper right corner a picture of Mac as a child and a toy truck, below that a game he played with to learn all the presidents names.  In the lower left corner are some old TV tubes (he use to help his Dad with his TV repair business).  Above the tubes is a picture of him sledding and on the very top - View Master Slides. After all items were secured in place I covered the front with a piece of plastic cut to size and held on with 5 small nails on each side. To complete the box I used the Tim Holtz corners on the top, the Tim Holtz legs as a stand and then topped it off with the baby spoon for a handle.

For the sides and back I copied photos & one old report card on white cardstock and tore the edges.  I placed them on the box at random mixed with some Tim Holtz Paper.  When all glue was dry I used the ink blending tool to color all the raw edges.

Birds

Birds are everywhere in paper crafting and after seeing several

I decided to post mine. I was inspired by Shelly Hickox (Stamptramp) blog post

of  her Steampunk Egg.  Mac says it is a very large egg for such a small bird

 but I say.....................  YOU GO GIRL!