My Beautiful Mermaid/Fantasy Fish Tag

YAY ME, I finally got some alcohol markers! I got Spectrum Noir and they colored wonderfully for me! So to show off my new markers I wanted to share my beautiful mermaid tag that I made with two challenges in mind. I have not decided for sure if I will enter the challenges as I've never entered one before, but in case I do I wanted to make my project work for either of them. The first challenge is for the Spectrum Noir January 2014 Animals/Critters Challenge, which to me mermaids are a form of fish. They live in water, have fins, a tail, and scales therefore they are an animal/critter. The other challenge is for Some Odd Girl January Tag Challenge, which you needed to used a tag someway in your project. I also wanted to add some of my of my other favorite goodies that I got for Christmas so in addition to Some Odd Girl and Spectrum Noir, I used items from My Creative Time, My Favorite Things, Stephanie Barnard and Sizzix. All in all I was pretty amazed with how I did on coloring this ADORABLE Some Odd Girl mermaid for it being my very first time coloring with alcohol markers. I was so nervous before I started using the markers but I actually ended up having so much fun and nervous nelly went away within seconds. I have to give all the credit to the amazingly talented ladies on the Some Odd Girl Design Team and the Mrs. Some Odd Girl herself, Kristy, because they have done some spectacular tutorials and they were so gracious answering all the gazillion of questions I have had about coloring with these type of markers. I will list the colors of the Spectrum Noir alcohol markers I used just above my picture. Here are all the other products I used: The mermaid is from the Some Odd Girl Clear Stamp Set called "Under the Sea Mae". The swirls are from the Stephanie Barnard/The Stamps of Life/Sizzix Framelits Die Set w/Stamps called "Swirls". The tab, bow and two of the flowers are from My Creative Time. The bow is called the "Fun Size Scallop Stitched Bow Tie", the tag is the "Stitched Circle Tab Die" and the flowers are the 'Rolled Flower Dies". The other flower is called the "Hybrid Camellia Flower" from My Favorite Things Die-namics. (on this flower though I only used part of it which was the "rolled" flower. Lastly I used Sizzix embossing folders from the Textured Impressions "Summer Set". I added miscellaneous accents like rhinestones, glitter, ribbon and Smooch Pearl Accent liners to make some pearly swirls in her tail which the camera didn't pick up. What do you think?? Doesn't Mermaid Mae look just gorgeous!!! I must say I am quite in awe of myself at this moment, LOL! Just kidding... but for all you newbies out there like me, DON'T EVER GIVE UP because you WILL be just as amazing as those who have been doing crafting for years! I wasn't confident in myself at first but once this project was all done, I couldn't believe how fantastic it turned out! If you haven't already, please go check out these and all the other amazing products offered from these terrific companies and don't forget to check out my other favorites. All the links can be found on the right side of my blog under the heading "My Favorite Sites". Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I greatly appreciate all of your support and kindness!

Spectrum Noir Marker colors: For skin - FS2, FS3 For lips - PP1 Hair - GB8, GB10, EB5, EB8 Eye Color - TB3, TB6 Eye Dazzle - LV3 (and the same glitter I used for tail and fins), Tail/Fins - you LV3, LV2, LV1, PL4, BT1, BT2, BT7 Torso - you BT1, BT2

 www.someoddgirl.com

(Disclaimer: Any supply links listed above are links solely being used as a guide to show you what those items are. Some links may come directly from the manufacturer while others may not. Unless otherwise stated all products were purchased with my own money and in no way am I affiliated with these links nor the businesses associated with them. Please use discretion should you choose to shop from the links listed above. Thank you)

One of my newest projects

Hi Everyone! Now that the holidays are over and I have been dealing with so much over the past couple of months, I decided it was time to get back to my safe place of crafting. I call it my safe place because that is where I can go to relax, create, and just let my mind be free. So while this newest project of mine is very sentimental and gets me emotional every time I work on it, I just knew this was the place my mind needed to be. So I wanted to share this newest project with you. It's a work in progress, but this project is totally worth all the time it will get because it is very dear to my heart, as it belonged to my dad. My dad is a Heavenly Angel now but back in his younger days when he was an Earthly Angel he had many talents, one of them was being a barber. This was his very first barber case that he received when he was in barber school. This case is over 50 years old, as he had it about 40 years and I have had it for over 10. So it's very old and has seen many days, but it's a very lucky case because it's getting a makeover from me :) I struggled a lot on whether or not I should do this as there is so much I can remember about my dad and my childhood all from this case. But since I have all of the original contents such as his scissors, clippers, cape, duster brush, etc I realized that those are what I remember the most. Those are what "make the case" and so by changing the material of the case doesn't mean I am changing the memories. After all of the tools will be going right back into it so in essence so are the memories. For privacy I have blocked out the areas that had his name engraved and I also blocked out another area where he had signed his name. I wanted to remember his signature, which he had signed on the inside of the case, so you will see there is an area that I have cut my paper around. To preserve his signature I put a clear laminate plastic layer over it. I chose papers that I thought would match the brown wood and outside brown covering. I loved the paper that has the sayings!! Every single one of the sayings means something to me so that was a must paper choice for this project. The papers and my over all concept were also to combined a bit of his masculinity along with a bit of my girlishness. I am not worrying to much about certain area seams as I am going to be covering them up with somethings that I want to include. I will be adding a collage of things that remind me of him and yet again combined some things of me, after all he's a big part of the woman I have become. Plus one day this will be passed down to my children and this way they will see that combination of the two of us. I have a ways to go yet on this case to make it just the way I want so I will keep you posted on the journey and final outcome :)

Outside of the case which I am leaving as is for now. I will just cleaned it up. I may decide to color the metal hinges at some point though as I would love to see a rustic hinge look in a gold or copper tone. (The two lighter brown stripes are just in the picture as that is where his name is engraved. I blocked it out for privacy)

This is the top inside of the case before it got overhauled, lol! (On the top left, that is where his signature is, which again for privacy I blocked it out)

Bottom inside of case - before

Bottom inside at mid-makeover status

Inside top at mid-makeover status (The top left again is his signature which-blocked out for privacy-but that is where I took and covered it with a thick clear laminate sheet to protect it so I will always be able to see his actual signature)