THe Funkie Junkie Boutique's Inspiration Ave #12; All About Alcohol...All-American July 4th

 

  June brings on the heat and the pool feels so nice with the sun getting hotter and the days longer- for just a couple more weeks, anyway. This is my favorite time of year and I hate it when it almost goes too quickly to enjoy. I'm trying to keep up but got behind when I ended up flat on my back for nearly a week after a Colonoscopy. Good news; only one polyop this time. So I'm good for another 3 years instead of 2. I'm thankful for that because this time literally kicked my butt! I was extremely sore- like they beat my entire spine and back with a hammer. I'm still sore and tired, even now. While I was down, Princess Chloe began her Dance Classes, while Peanut attended his first Basketball Camp. Their Daddy parked his camper out in back for the Grandbabies to enjoy a long weekend of swimming, fishing, sleeping out, and S'mores, before they picked up Mommy and took their yearly Birthday trip to the Dairy Farm for Cole's 7th Birthday. Meanwhile, the younger kids posted Princess Rose already counting to 5! They took a trip to Syracuse for the Zoo there and got to see the baby elephants. What an exciting time for all 4 Grandbabies as they each love animals. When they all got back to their respective homes, everyone geared up for more: Peanut had his Birthday Party on Saturday, after celebrating his Golden 7th Birthday on Friday; June 7th- born in 2017, no less! He was happy to get what he'd asked for: an electric guitar. Princess Chloe got out her Saxophone to chime in with. The younger NY fam packed up and took their camper up to Canada for camping with their Cousins, and from all the pictures sent, I'd say they all had a great time! It feels like they all do so much more than I can keep up with sometimes, but I am thrilled that our Kids stay busy showing our Grandbabies all the same fun things we did with them when they were small. There's so much to see and learn about here in our own USA and we are truly blessed to have the freedoms we have here! My mind, lately, has been on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day; the landing at Normandy, France. I cannot imagine how those men, and so many young men, managed such a feat- GOD surely led them! They- and those who followed - believed in what they were doing enough to volunteer for service, and so many sacrificed so much... too many sacrificed all. There are so few of those men- and women who served as well- who are left to tell the History they made and why they made it. LORD willing; we'll live long, peace filled lives, and pass on the horrible lessons learned from those years. Let us never forget!

It's time for another new theme over at Inspiration Ave! I'm taking you for another journey of inspiring makes for the next two weeks, and this one is something that most everyone enjoys getting messy with: "All About Alcohol"! Owner of The Funkie Junkie Boutique, Linda Coughlin, has been extremely busy setting up CLEARANCE SALES and you can find just about anything you need at a rediculously low price right now, so take advantage of the sales and enjoy and bit of peaceful summer with the bright colors of Alcohol Inks!

Take a load off and I'll show you what I came up with! 

I dug up some of that (retired) Tim Holtz Kraft Core Seasonal stack to use

for this project. I chose an Etcetera Tag and a No8 Ranger Tag also.

Here's your List of LINKS:

 Alcohol Inks & Supplies (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Etcetera Large Tag Thickboards THETC-001 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Strips Large TH94367 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Layer Frames Montage TH94372 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls Poses TH94376 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Photo Booth TH93799 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Salvaged Hearts TH94380 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Stencil Chips Mini TH94383 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Typed Tags TH94382 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Advantus Tim Holtz Idea-ology Thought Tokens TH94024 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tonic Tim Holtz Rotary Media Trimmer 3960E (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tiny Attacher Refills (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer TDA47414 (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Kushgrip Snip - Mini 816E (thefunkiejunkie.com)

Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Black Kushgrip Snip w/Non-Stick Blade & Cap 817e (thefunkiejunkie.com)

I began just experimenting a bit. It's been awhile since I've played with Alcohol Inks.

Grandson Cole is very interested in the Distress Inks and this was his first time seeing me

get out the Alcohol Inks, so I showed him a bit of how-to.

Mine didn't turn out very great looking. Bleah! 

In fact, this wasn't how I remembered it at all.

So I went to Tim's Blog and looked up some of my favorite ever

"The 12 Tags of  (Year):July" Tutorials in his Blog Archives.

Just looking at the phots brought back the memories of How-To, for myself anyway.

Here's where the Alcohol Ink was used, so I took this idea...

... and the stars idea from this Tag...

...and the tearing, sewing, and stamping from this Tag.

First off; re-creating a better AI background with YUPO.

Remember Tim yelling out "Helllo, YUPO!" when he first introduced it?!

I started with Crimson and Sail Boat Blue- just like back then, but added a new-since-then

Mixative of Gunmetal. I popped a few drops onto one side of my overlapped 2 sheets of YUPO,

then used my old Distress Marker blower and puffed on the AI till it ran across the page's width.

 I liked it, but needed a brownish tone too...

... So I popped a few drops of Sepia onto the Gunmetal Mixative area.

Then puffed it across with the blower.

I still didn't think I had all the color tones I wanted, so I picked up some 

Antique Linen Distress Oxide ReInker and blew a few drops of that across as well.

Since the Antique Linen is DO, it needed to be heat dried.

Looking at my new AI creation, I was hit with several thoughts:

1) I should tear it- to match up with my idea for the backside of the Tag, and 

2) I should turn it upside down so the blue is on the top, which led me to think;

3) I should add 3 Adornment Stars onto that blue area.

So I tore it, then I found some (retired) TH sticky-back canvas cloth substrate sheets.

(These were REEEEALLY retired, folks!)

I spaced out the AI pieces and then sewed each to the subrate, with the sticky-back still on. 

Now, it looked like it was taking on the shape of the idea in my mind!

My next move was to use my sets of (retired) fave TH Stamp Sets onto some Clear Dura Lar sheets.

I used Jet Black Archival Ink, but I kind of wavered on it before deciding to go ahead.

I carefully trimmed away only what I needed: I LOVE this old TH paperie and hoard it!

My TH Rotary Trimmer is a DREAM to use- it came in handy for making these edges clean.

I did quite a bit of sanding down the TH Seasonal Kraft Core.

Then gave it some Distress Oxide Vintage Photo inking- the Tag got some, too. 

I had another linen-colored TH sticky-back Canvas substrate,

so I sewed these to match the front side of the Tag.

Distressing some IdeaOlogy... my fave details!

I also got out that roll of wired paper Americana ribbon I've used sparingly on my fave projects.

I added in some more of the trim to the back of cut down TH Collage Strips made a

cute little mini-Tag to tuck inside the ribbon Tag.

Here's the Set of 3 Tags

In plenty of time for an ALL-AMERICAN JULY 4TH!

FRONT of Tag Set

I switched it around because of the middle Tag's star.

I didn't get a closeup of the Americana Ribbon Tag's little add-on:

it's a piece of the Filmstrip Ribbon's packaging sample they gromet to the outside of the pkg.

I added in a "1941" airplane Remnant Rubs (retired Correspondence??).

Closeups of FRONTS... 

The TH Tiny Attacher came in handy for the TH Filmstrip Ribbon.

Here are the BACKSIDES to each Tag:

And some Closeups of the BACKS...

Stacked together.

That's ALL ABOUT ALCOHOL for ya!

Thanks! so very much for joining me for another new theme kickoff!

Oh, but wait; there's more to come from the rest of the amazing TFJB Design Team!

Check back every few days for more Inspiration Ave with Alcohol Ink fun!

Grab some paper and AI and get a little messy with us these coming days.

Be sure to head over to 

The Funkie Junkie Boutique

for Clearance deals you won't see again; at these prices, they'll go FAST!

Until next time...

Stay Safe &

HAPPY BLOGGING!!

The Funkie Junkie Boutique's Inspiration Ave... It's Ideal! (Tim Holtz 2024 IdeaOlogy)... Photographically Ideal!

 

What a month May has been; sometimes a person can be almost "too busy" just living daily life. When you're handicapped, it nearly doubles the time it takes for a "normal" person to do the same things. What makes it hard to get the time to do what I love (inside the house) seems unimportant to those around me. I end up late in everything and going everywhere, and when I took the time to really look at why... it was because I think of others. Really; when you do something, it's because YOU love others- not because THEY love you. And quite often, I feel the need to do everything the very best I can do. That takes time because I'm perfectionist and I don't like letting anyone down. Now here's the thing: GOD always comes first in everything, right? I mean; even scrubbing the tub is for HIM. Truth! We're supposed to do ALL things as best we can because we're doing EVERYTHING for HIM. So, when you think about that; any less than our very best is letting HIM down. We're all going to have days when our very best falls extremely short in everyone else's opinion. But, I'm hopeful because all that matters is that The LORD sees everything, knows everything, and is in all places at once... pleasing HIM and letting HIM justly Judge my "very best" is all that matters. And that goes for each and every one of us. So the next time someone is late (even perpetually late like myself), instead of judging their lateness, be thankful they showed up. When I die, my tombstone will more than likely say "Here lies Lyla- you could depend on her to always be late!", but I'd like to add a but... "But, you could always DEPEND on her!" It'd be nice if the support was reciprocated once in a while, and if it wasn't always just me following everyone else's timelines so that I could make the deadlines I feel are important. I've struggled each time because an artist has to have the ideas and feel the need to work and those times have been put on the wayside for what others want me to do. I've been overly tired and that hasn't helped, but I hoped people would understand. Being a DT for The Funkie Junkie Boutique is one of the best, fun, and greatest learning experiences I've ever had. I wish others could see how important it is to me. And how important the PEOPLE have been to me- especially Linda Coughlin ( TFJB Owner) who has taken time to teach me so much and has given me grace while I've been strugglng with time issues this 6 month term. Here's a HUGE SHOUTOUT for those who have kept coming back to read; you've been my biggest supporters... THANK YOU !!!

The Older Grandbabies are out of school for the summer, after a busy month of May. We watched "the greatest spectacle in racing" during Peanut's Kindy 500 on the 15th. Every kid in that Kindergarten Class just had the most AWESOME cardboard car!! The work that each parent and the Teachers helped the kids put in was nothing short of FANTASTIC! Signs all over saying "WELCOME Race Fans!" The best part- as you can imagine- was watching the heats of races as 4 to 5 of them lined up and raced as fast, and as best as they could... Hilarious and absolutely heroic as everyone clapped for every single student. The top winner overall had everything the Indy 500 is famous for: the huge trophy, the wreath for his body, and center stage! I noticed that they only forgot the MILK!! Of all things to forget for a KINDY 500!! was very blessed to be able to attend their "graduation events" both from Kindergarten and Preschool. Princess Chloe was up first; her Sing and Diploma program was on Monday evening, the 20th- she's always excited about what's next around the corner! The next day, it was our pleasure to take her to her school's "Pond Day" for family fishing. Papaw just happened to know the pond owners (another set of Grandparents) who also just retired from SIA. Princess had fun with her Bestie, Theresa, while Papaw and I caught the same Blue Gill- at least he was a HUGE one! That afternoon, I got a message from younger Son (up in NY) that had me laughing for DAYS- seriously! I posted earlier about our Grandbabies being "total characters" and the things they all think up and say are just TOO CUTE!! 

Little Princess Rose discovered she likes wearing a bycicle helmet- whether she's cycling on her tricycle- or getting ready for bed, lol! Next up, was Cole again; the oldest leads the way for what the others are sure to follow: we knew ahead of time that Peanut was going to be surprised with an award, but we had no idea what it would be. When they called out for kids who were Cougar of the Month, we proudly watched as Cole was among about a dozen and a half kids from K, 1st, and 2nd Grades, who stood up to be recognized. He'd gotten that award in September- being the first of his grade to be awarded so since it was September. Then they began calling names for different awards, and finally got to the last part- which we knew had to be COLE: Citizenship Award. He was surprised, and a bit embarrassed (lol!) to see all of us come down to greet him afterwards. What a treat it was for this Memaw, having worked programs at school and enjoyed watching our Sons get so many awards, to see it come full circle... and it's only beginning!! After sending both older Grands their small Graduation Hat cakes (yes, I fully intend to make one for each one of them!), we took off with a set of Besties to Kentucky for our first time seeing The ARK Encounter, and The Creation Museum! I am simply AWED by The ARK and all there was to see and do there. There is not enough space, nor time, to describe it all, but EVERYONE should go see it. Yes, EVERYONE: Believers and nonbelievers of The BIBLE and Creation. It gives BOTH sides- the scientific views and what The BIBLE says-  and allows the person to decide for themselves. Worth every minute of reading and seeing! Then it was Memorial Day Weekend and I was finally able to get a chance to talk to the younger Kids and Grandbabies after they got back home to NY after spending the holiday in Canada with her Sister's family. It's weird to think I was finally (after so much rain and storming) opening our pool this month "down here" while they were already swimming in theirs "up there".

I'm absolutely thrilled to lead off this newest, most fun, and most looked forward to, of all the Tim Holtz releases: IdeaOlogy 2024! Of course, DT Leader and Owner of The Funkie Junkie Boutique, Linda Coughlin, came up with the cutest title; "It's Ideal!" and I'm all in! I've gotten my goodies and I'm running late (as usual) but I just couldn't help myself: I was struggling with time and yet; still adding to my make on Memorial Day, when I should have been blogging it by then. There were too many ideas coming to me- and it was too exciting!  I've even made up a set of videos, so grab some popcorn and join me for a picturesque scroll!

Here's my Happy Mail from The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

I had to add a second package of the Salavaged Hearts... these are SOOO overdue from Tim!!

Here's a List of LINKS:

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Booklet Folio

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Strips Large

Tim Holtz Idea-ology File Cards 2

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Folio Folders 

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Pocket Folio

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Pocket Folio

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Layers Photo Studio

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls Poses

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Salvaged Hearts

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Screw Heads

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Stitched Scraps Basics

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Transparent Things 2

Various Distress Crayons- too many to list separately!

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Black Soot

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Ground Espresso

Ranger Tim Holtz Oxide Ink Pad - Scorched Timber

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Vintage Photo

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer

Tim Holtz Distress Sanding Disks

Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool + 2 Blending Foams

Scor-Pal Scor-Tape 1/4" x 27 Yards

Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Kushgrip Snip w/Non-Stick Blade & Cap 7"-Small

Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Black Kushgrip Snip w/Non-Stick Blade & Cap 5"

It was a tough choice: I went with the Pocket Folio (at the top and right).

Distress Inking all the front and back along all the creases and edges.

It was much easier when I discovered the covers can be removed: they fell off on me, lol!

I wanted the edges to match somewhat in tone/shades to the other IdeaOlogy paperie, 

so I chose Scorched Timber Oxide for the edges into the middle area

and then went over all the creased edges again with Ground Espresso Oxide. 

I am SO loving that Scorched Timber!!!

Here's where it fell apart and that made it easier to do the covers.

In the video (below), you'll note how I mentioned you can rearrange these Folios.

I cut some of the Backdrops (from Vol 1,  Vol 4,  and Vol 5) scraps for making pockets

out of 2 of the fold-out bottoms. The third would still fold downward.

Some of the IdeaOlogy (older versions) and other stash items.

Some I colored... and some I left plain.

I love the metal IdeaOlogy Findings and Fasteners just as they are!!

Here, I probably had the worst time: choosing from all the new things to go into the Folio!

You can see I started making photographs- "the Grandbabies" were the first to grace one!

There always seem to be perfect little look-alikes in every Paper Dolls package- or maybe it's just me?

Oh my: HOUSES and CARS in the newest of the Paper Dolls!!

Here, I am covering the new File Cards 2 with last year's (hardly used but once)

Collage Paper just because it matched my photographic theme here!

You'll see more of this explained in the video(s).

I'm adding some older Remnant Rubs to make my own "ViewMaster" 

from the (retired) TH Picture Wheel Bigz Die- one of my fave dies!

All the "pages" are done, and the surprises all tucked inside.

Time to do the outside covers...

... first; making use of a rarely-used TH older Stamp Set that I absolutely ADORE!!

If you want to see one of the only other times I've used it:

(CLICK HERE to see "TFJB Challenge: Documented"). 

Old and new IdeaOlogy- for the mix to a great looking cover!

I scratched the Salvaged Heart with my very old TH Scratcher (wire scratcher)

that I still use now and then.

To get the hemp tied around the heart: I used a bit of Score Tape on the back

and it held onto the string while I wrap and tied it,

then adhered it to the cover top Backdrop page with Glossy Accents

and a tiny bit of hot glue from the hot glue gun- just for good measure.

Here's the picture-perfect Photographically Ideal Booklet...

FRONT- with some of my collection of old cameras.

*NOTE* In order to view any of the foldout pages and surprise tucked items,

you'll need to watch the 2 videos! ;)

Closeup FRONT

PAGES 1 & 2

PAGES 3 & 4

PAGES 5 & 6

PAGES 7 & 8

BACK

VIDEOS!!

Part 1 of 2: "It's Ideal; Photographically Ideal!"

Part 2 of 2: "It's Ideal... Photographically Ideal!"

Thanks so very much for joining me on this photographic journey!

I hope you've not only enjoyed the views, but I also hope you're inspired to create your own!

If you're looking for help to get started- there's no better deals to be found than at

The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

Make sure you check back in here at Inspiration Ave every few days as you won't want to miss

more inspirational makes as the rest of TFJB Design team shares their take on our latest theme;

"It's Ideal!"

Until next time...

Stay Safe &

HAPPY BLOGGING!!