Eek! Been busy with not-so-fun stuff!

It's been more than a week since I last posted. I'm sad because I had been being so good about crafting and getting stuff posted here. I was feeling the mojo, but sadly reality stalled that.

Suffice to say last week was a bit on the insane side. Basically, it took five days, four visits by Sears folks, my plumber, and unloading/reloading my refrigerator three times before my new fridge was delivered and made operational.

During that time, a circuit blew, I had to get in an electrician, buy a new light fixture, have the electrician come back to install it, then fix the circuit.

Then the fridge was delivered on Sunday. Yes. Sunday. While I waited the three hours for it to get cool enough to remove the tape and such and load it, I worked in my craftroom. It was storming and there was a veritable downpour.

I went downstairs to pull off the tape and set up the fridge when I noticed water on my hard wood kitchen floor. Now the old fridge was incontinent, which was why we got the new one. But it took me a second to realize that since the old fridge was gone, it was not the culprit. And not only was the floor wet, it had extensive puddling AND the kitchen table (and my two Sunday newspapers) were puddled too. Apparently rain came in somehow, found its way  to a highhat light fixture, onto my floor and table. This isn't the first time we've had leaks, so it might be time for a new roof.

If you've been keeping track, since April we had our HVAC/furnace replaced, the fridge replaced, an electical problem addressed, and now we probably will need a new roof.

Calgon/Margarita/Hot Pool Boy TAKE ME AWAY!!!

So, here's some of what I've been doing on my down time when I unpacking/repacking the fridge, waiting on delivery men, plumbers, electricians, and/or calling to check the status of all that... I love Stampotique stamps and have been making it a point to enter their challenges whenever possible. This week's challenge was a tag challenge and I do like making tags, so here it is:

I stamped Puss-Puss using Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto Neenah cardstock and onto a Post-It note. I fussy cut the Post It note and used it as a mask. A Stamp-a-ma-jig was used to position and stamp Girl with Heart Purse and Cousin Carmine. Copic markers were used to color the images. I kept their skin colors very pale and colored their hair in alternate hair colors so that their skin and hair would reflect their personalities and dress. I decided that Puss-Puss would be a bright marmalade tabby so he was colored accordingly. A dotty background and a floor were colored using a variety of colors.

When I finished the scene, I distressed the image panel using Tim's Tonic Distresser tool thingy, sponged Pumice Stone and Black Soot Distress inks on the edges, and matted it on black cardstock. I set this aside while I worked on the tag background.

I sprayed Funky Fuschia and After Midnight Dylusions sprays onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock by Strathmore. Using my Inkssentials Mini Mister, I sprayed water to help the colors mix and migrate. Then I heat set and repeated the process. When I was happy with the coverage and color patterns, I heat set the inks. Then I grabbed a very old stencil that had a row of stripes and dabbed Little Black Dress Fresco Finish paint by Paper Artsy over the stripes. I grabbed my Layered Beads stencil by The Crafter's Workshop and sponged Snowflake Fresco Finish Paint over it. I was a bit surprised when the ink bled through the white, but decided it was okay. I guess I didn't heat set the ink for long enough. Lesson learned.

I wanted to add some stamping to the painted circles, so I stamped some tiny stamps by justjohanna/Odd Bird Planet using white hybrid ink and Archival Black ink. I added Pitch Black Spica Glitter pen to the skulls' orifices, Pink Spica Glitter pen to the flower centers, Blue Spica Glitter pen to the music notes, and Purple Spica Glitter pen to the hearts.

I used a Tonic punch to create the tag tops and then used the distress tool to rough up the edges. I added some Wink of Stella glitter pen to the distressed edges to give them a bit of sparkle. I found "Purr-fect" and "Together" on two different sticker sheets and used them for the sentiment.

I finished the tag by matting it onto back cardstock, punching a hole, and threading some lace, ribbon, and matching seam binding (sprayed with same colors of Dylusions) through the hole. It still needed a little sumptin', so I added a heart charm (stash) onto a black safety pin!

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this tag into the following challenges:
• Stampotique Designer's Challenge #110: Tag You're It!
• Cheerful Stamp Pad: Make a Tag
• Dragons Dream: Tag It On -- Stencils, Paint, and Ribbon
• Through the Purple Haze Challenges: Use your favorite colors 
• 613 Avenue Create Challenge #30: Anything Goes