A Journey of 1,000 Miles Begins With...a luggage tag?

Can you believe it's Monday again?  Where does the time go.  Where did the summer go?  School is back in session here in Miami starting today so I guess summer is officially over.  Too bad hurricane season isn't over too - I'm startin' to get a little nervous about that.  

The bright spot on the horizon today is that it's time for another cool challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  Our theme this week is travel - show us something travel related.  There are so many wonderful ways to create travel art.  I'm sure we are going to see some amazing projects this week.  And speaking of amazing projects - wow!!! The SSSS design team has OUTDONE themselves this week.  You MUST stop by the blog to take a gander!

And since we are talking about Simon Says, I just want to give you a heads up.  For the second year in a row, Simon Says Stamp and Show and The Simon Says Stamp Challenge are joining forces to bring you a SUPER hop and treasure hunt to celebrate the approaching fall and winter holidays.  So next Monday, I won't have a Simon Says project for you.  Be sure to come back on August 31st to start the hop.  It will run through September 5th.  Our ever-generous sponsor, Simon Says Stamp is offering some great prize packages, and there will be other opportunities to win some blog candy too! 

Now, about my project for the week.  I challenged myself to think out side of the travel box this week and do something a bit different.  I've been inspired by my team mate Sarah Engles-Greer with her cool grunge cuff from a few weeks back as well as remembering the iPod case my former team mate Kim Costello made with GrungePaper.   So with those two examples to inspire me, I set out to make a luggage tag  - something that is practical, useful and somewhat unique.  Don't you hate it when you go to retrieve your luggage and everyone has black wheeled bags?  Sometimes the only thing that sets them apart is the luggage tag.  

To start I cut a strip of GrungePaper 4"x12" and folded it in half.  Using the Tag and Bookplates die, I laid the folded GrungePaper over the tag die so the open edges of the GrungePaper covered the top part of the tag die entirely.  That left about 1/2" open, not covered by the folded GrungePaper, at the bottom and ran it through my Cuttlebug to cut it.  Then I folded one of the tops down just a tad over 1".  Next I stamped it with a number of travel icons from the Tim Holtz The Journey and the Crafty Secrets Journey set using Ranger Jet Black archival ink.  When the ink was good and dry (helped along with my heat tool), I sponged it with Rusty Hinge distress ink and again helped it dry with my heat tool.  I cut a 3x4 1/8" window piece for the inside out of GrungePaper, used a die to cut out the inside and sponged it with  Rusty Hinge ink.  I cut a piece of acetate a hair smaller to fit underneath and machine stitched both pieces to the body of the tag, then ran the stitching all around the edges for decoration.  

On the front, I inserted a button magnet and glued the flap down.  Then I cut a smaller piece, sponged, stamped and stitched it and adhered over where the magnet was glued.  I glued a piece of filigree metal to the front of the inside pocket for the magnet to gab onto to close the tag.  A loop was made with GrungePaper and the Hardware Findings die, sponged with Faded Jeans distress ink and affixed with an eyelet so it would stay put.  I glued a Foliage metal piece with a rhinestone over the eyelet.  For a final piece of decoration, I cut two pieces of acetate from some packaging I had saved with the Tattered Florals die and dabbed it with Ginger Alcohol Ink.  I added another Foliage piece and a brad and called it finished, but now that I look at it, I'll glue something over where the brad showes on the inside - probably a soft grungepaper flower so it doesn't scratch up the acetate window.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, before I stitched but after I did all the inking, I ran the whole thing through the Cracked texture fade to give it some texture.  It now has almost a suede feel to it.  

Whew, lots of information here - hope I didn't bore you!  Many steps and it took a number of hours, but all went well and I enjoyed my time crafting it so that's what counts!  Now please be sure to stop by the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge blog to see the other designers' projects.  And then get working on your travel entry so you can play along and maybe win the $50 shopping spree at Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks for coming by.  I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.  See you back here on August 31st for the second annual Simon Says Stamp holiday blog hop.    

P. S.  I'm sharing my project over at Sarah's My Mojo Monthly.  Her theme this month is Muse and Use it and she is inviting us to make touchable and usable art.  I think my luggage tag fits the theme perfectly.