#Cre8time for making Underwater Reality... T!m Holtz #12Tags2014 for July

Good morning everyone! July was been a whirlwind and despite my best efforts... my muse commands her Cre8time beauty sleep to recharge. I always plan to play along with the monthly T!m Holtz' 12 Tags of 2014, but sometimes life and other creative projects take precedent. The July tag was summer themed and bits a pieces of this project took me most of the month to MAKE and complete... and I am so thrilled with the results!!!

I am presently on the hunt for a large preserved seahorse to mold/cast in Amazing Crafting Product {that it's beginning to reach obsession status}, and since I don't own the sea life Sizzix dies {and my CuttleBug set is way too small in proportion for this project} I decided to DIY my seahorse. This is a vintage seahorse image from The Graphics Fairy that I printed out on the laser printer and mounted to a recycled piece of chipboard at the end of a notepad {1/4 letter page size}. When the glue stick was fully dry I swiped a few different colors of Ranger Distress Stains to add some color.

**A NOTE of Observation** I printed these images out on the lo-end Dell Laser printer at work... not the big-Elsie Xerox Digital Press and to my surprise - the rubbing of the distress stains dissolved and removed some of the toner. I'm OK with the results as it adds to the DISTRESSED look. Just wanted to point out that little discovery. 

I waited for my stained vintage seahorse to fully dry - then I slathered on the Ranger Rock Candy Crackle glaze and set off on my daily adventures {this stuff takes quite a while to dry}. When dry, I fussy cut using my T!m Holtz Tonic scissors and aged with Ranger Distress inks to bring out the details in the crackle finish. I'm totally loving this look and the subtle details of my original vintage image are still visible.

As you can see in the inspiration tag, the starfish and sand dollar are perfect companions to the seahorse... and mine are resin reincarnations of the real thing. I love using shells in my projects - EXCEPT - they are brittle, fragile and sometimes smelly. Molding and casting them with Amazing Crafting Products is the perfect solution for making a replica that is identical to the real thing.

I also created my own texture stamp and embossing platform for my recycled film {imagesetter acetate} layered in the background. To view how I created the starfish, sand dollar and texture plate please CLICK HERE to jump over to my Mold Rubber Monday feature project. It is truly AMAZING!

This was a lot of work for the end result! I'm so thrilled to paint the papers, make the molds/castings and embossing platform, and hand create all the tiny details for this tag - and this is going to get a proper shadow box home that I will hang on the wall in my studio.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! August is shaping up to be a busy and exciting month right from the get go. This weekend I have lots of wonderful creations to share and I invite you to join me for my Steampunk Edition of "thoughtful abstractions" at Unruly PaperArts on Sunday.

Have a fabulously creative Friday! :) Sb