We've had such beautiful weather in the last week, and I knew it was too good to be true. The Indiana freeze came back to visit April 17th and 18th. After being in the 80s in Florida, coming back to chilled Indiana, then enjoying the 80s-get-your-air-conditioner-going of teasing Spring, my joints are protesting loudly. I think it was a gift, though, because on April 6th, we laid our Hunni Pi to rest in her own backyard. It was a very tough promise to keep, but once the Dr saw her and measured her heartbeats, his face said it all. She'd had a painful heart murmur and irregular beat (much like my own), but the pain medication was no longer helping her. Fluid was gathering around her heart and once the Dr gave her a relaxer, my poor Hunni Pi was able to lay down and actually give a huge sigh- as if in relief- for the first time in months. The 'choice' was really hers, and she'd been trying to tell us for some time now. Everyone was surprised she'd made it back alive to Indiana. We think she did just so she could come back to her first home where she'd spent her life. I held her tight and sang her song to her as she slipped quietly away when we gave the nod. It's been a tough couple of weeks for us here, and we both catch ourselves- calling to let her out.... pat her head on the way to bed, wake up to sing her song, or swear we feel her fur run past our legs while walking through the house. Easter was a bit subdued for us, but we did celebrate and gladly worship our risen LORD. If not, what's the point of having hope in those treasures laid up in Heaven? Here's a shoutout of "THANK YOU!" to all those who knew Hunni Pi and sent their sweet condolences. One woman who saw our hurt while waiting on Hunni's body, came out to hug us and walked away in their own tears- no words exchanged. Ditto at the Shelter where I dropped off so many worldly belongings she was blessed to be able to have and now share with others who don't have. It felt good to remember we always have her in our hearts!
April 14th has some famous evenings in history; the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the sinking of the Titanic to name a couple. But the most important evening on that date-to our family- is the birth of our younger Son, Brett. He's accomplished more than most Nuclear Engineers have at 31 years old, but we're simply proud of being a wonderful Husband and Father. Nothing makes a parent feel they've done well at raising their children than seeing them raise their own. We've been blessed twice over in that! Brett was a character & life of the party from 1 year old. He had a rough start with severe asthma (which is no longer an issue as of last year), but by year 5, he was blossoming into a little star. He followed his Big Bubby, Brian, as "Teddy Bear #2" as a gentle giant of the class. And now, it's clear that his own two babies are following that same path: gentle giants who are definitely entertaining! I'll be heading up to NY in just a couple weeks and I can't wait to squeeze the younger 2 Grandbabies & catch them up to the older 2 here, and we've got Easter to finish with them, too.
My Happy Mail came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique
to our Florida house and we left just days later.
Love those little wax envelopes of freebies!
These were the main IdeaOlogy products calling out to me.
(List of products used will come near the middle of this tutorial.)
The first thing was a pull towards my older IdeaOlogy since
the new looked like it was going to marry very well with the old!
I'll give you a rundown on each new product as we go.
I even brought out a couple of new TH Dies;
(Thinlits Sets Postal and Specimen) in case I wanted to add any
die cut elements to my Card File.
I dug through one drawer because "I just KNOW I have some feet that
would look great on the bottom of these and I KNOW they
will match the new Large Word Plaques!"
I was right: I did and they do.
This was last but I'm showing it first because you'll see how the new fits in with this.
I needed a new Vignette Card File for this new project, because I took the old one to
keep in the Florida house. I got out some OLD TH Backdrops Volume 1 (but just ordered
the new Backdrops Vol 4 for more to go along with this later).
I needed to match the Backdrops- no worries for me with either old or new:
Tim keeps "vintage" in vogue with the newer shades matching this older tape
and blending everything perfectly!
Here, I am showing how I make sure to clip the corners of the (older) Tissue Tape
so it will fold down completely flat. I wanted to show that because
on my first Vignette Card File, I painted the inside and all the edges.
I did the Paula Cheney 'thing' to age everything by smashing my
Ground Espresso Oxide Pad onto my TH Glass Craft Mat,
spritzing the ink with water, and then dragging all the measured-twice-cut-once
pieces through the droplets on the glass mat. I heat dried everything,
and then gave all the edges a workout of the same Ground Espresso,
but with a Blending Tool all around the edges only, then heat dried again.
I'm not sure how "dry" others do, but I like to dry BOTH sides of
the papers I ink. My reasoning is that it not only gets the edges, but also
dries any Distress Ink/Oxide that may have been on the glass mat and
transferred to the backside unknowingly.
Then I adhere all the papers to all the faces of the wood.
I actually heat dry again, just in case any of it came into contact with water,
since the Distress Inks and Oxides are water reactant.
The last touch on my now-decorated Vignette Card File
was to add a brand new IdeaOlogy element to it: Large Word Plaque,
by using my finger to add TH Distress Paint in Salvaged Patina
to make that cool font pop with color!
Now it was ready to hold a few new IdeaOlogy makes.
After getting home and unpacking all my craft bags, I found a nice
stack of Tags I'd die cut but didn't put to use yet.
I like to double up my Tags as it gives a stiffer Tag to work with,
so I used some score tape to put 2 (cut edges facing in towards each other) together.
Since I always cut the reinforcers at the same time I cut Tags,
I already had everything I needed- just to do the "Paula Cheney smoosh thing"
again and Ink up the edges with a Blending Tool.
Heat drying after each step, of course.
I found some pieces of ribbon and lace I'd hurriedly stuck into that bag,
and the light neutral coloring of the IdeaOlogy items matched with them.
The fun began: tearing up and smoosh/blending tool inking up photos
from the TH Snapshots 2 pack, and picking through
TH Ephemera Snippets Number Strips.
and TH Clipping Stickers for sayings to match the Snapshots 2.
I had some TH Tiny Clips that looked great on the new Snapshots!
There's more to choose from in the Snapshots 2 that are more
geared towards vacation, which I really like.
I got extra lucky here: Snapshots 2 has a boy with a dog!
Next up was the new Collage Paper Photgraphic.
My thoughts on this?
AWESOME!
There are several new "photos" printed on this tissue roll
and they can mix/match/go alone or all together.
The printing is so CLEAR and the photos look realistic.
I especially a huge fan of the near-the-water pics!
You still get a pretty good sized roll that will be enough for many projects-
a great value during a time we need it!
I took another idea from what Paula Cheney did earlier in the winter;
using a Water Detailer Brush to draw a line of water
around my chosen scene, then allowing the water to 'cut' the tissue for me.
This actually works VERY WELL and I find myself doing it
as my go-to way to 'cut' TH Collage Papers since it gives a perfectly torn edge.
I decided to add a detail of my own, since I find that
personalizing a lot of my projects just makes me happy!
I finally purchased a thermal printer and was able to simply add
my own touch to the backsides of my Tags.
It acted like a journal photo instead of writing as journaling.
Here's a helpful list of product links:
And this is what it all looks like put together:
Those little Freebie envelopes just happen to fit inside the
TH Vignette Card File, so I chose not to put a title into the front handle.
Fronts of Tags with Closeups...
LOVE the new shapes and sizes on the Quote Chip Labels!
Backs of Tags with Closeups...
The photo I described in my last post (My Puppi Pi, Hunni Pi)
matched in with the Snapshots 2 pic on the front of this Tag.
I added a bit of Distress Watercolor Pencil in Salty Ocean with a Detailer Brush
just ever so slightly on top of this sealed Tag.
I did use the TH Thinlits Set Specimen to die cut a few plain file folders
that fit inside the Card File, and set them into the middle compartment,
with some leftover Tag bases into the back compartment.
The rest of The Funkie Junkie Boutique's awesome Design Team
has much more to come in the next two weeks!
Be sure to stop back in for more Inspiration Ave,
and click the links in every post to help you find great deals for
the just-released IdeaOlogy!
Until next time...
Stay Safe &
HAPPY BLOGGING!!
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