A Chief's Wife's Heart's 'aFire: October 2019

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #22 It's Halloween! Just Tell 'im It's PUMPKIN!

Here's the second project for challenge entry on The Funkie Junkie Challenge Blog ,and like the first project; this one is making a bit of fun of our real lives here. It's all good, though, since laughter is the best part of life. And we do a LOT of that here. In this case... it's about food. Now, in our family; we like to eat. And most of us really LIKE to cook as well. Me, I cooked for 26 years with very little eating out while our children were small. Family life is just too busy when school gets into the picture. Add sports, Band, Scouting, and Church (not just on Sundays, you know!)… and we're talking life getting REAL. Raising kids is not just all those activities, though, since it's all about quality time spent with your kids. We just happened to add everyone else's kids along the way when we did things with our kids. For some strange reason, all this can make a family very HUNGRY. And being a Mom at home all those years meant spending a loooooooootta time in the kitchen area of our home. Life for me was more like: make breakfast, then clean up; make morning snacks, then clean up; make lunch, then clean up; make afternoon snacks, then clean up; make supper, then clean up; make evening snacks, then clean up. And you'd THINK it'd be over with until breakfast...AHahahahahahahaha! Right. I'd wake up to find more dishes in that sink AGAIN.

So it's little wonder why: when the ChiefHubby suggested eating out, or eating at the Ballpark stand, or 'grabbing a snack over there'; Momma jumped for it! And further more, my dear little chickadees (I know they all troll on me), I tried very hard to feed you good, healthy foods. And little do you know what is in store for you as your own babies grow. MmWhaHahahahhahaa!! (That evil Grandmother laughter feels so GOOD getting out!)

Giving up that Ruling Spatula was so darned LIBERATING!! Once the chickens all left this coop and bought their own, the ChiefHubby took over the cooking more and more as the years went by. I grew up with my Dad doing most of the cooking, and ChiefHubby's Dad did the same. I was MORE than HAPPY to just do all the cleaning up afterward! Oh, sure; there was a period of time during which I had to actively 'train' him to make LESS of a mess than using every pot and pan in the entire house... and from the camper as well...*throat clearing*, but he eventually got the hang of it. There was one more thing that I no longer need to worry about: sitting on the side of the table or bar that was CLOSEST to the KITCHEN. Moms do not 'sit' at the table. Moms get up and get this or that... CONSTANTLY. And now that it's just the two of us (I like that now, but that Empty Nest thing, while it was happening...really sucks), with a Grandbaby or two at a time- I can handle actually eating and getting the FOOD!! I've been a smaller person for the most part of my life (and getting back to that after the past 3 yrs of gaining) and used to say that it was due to the fact that everyone but me always breathed their food in. I just never got any!! I'm an enjoyer of food. I eat veeery

s l o w l y. I tend to CHEW my food. Ok, so I even chew my ice cream...plain smooth chocolate. Kill me for that; fine.

However it goes in any home, no matter how good a cook you are- whether from practice or talent- you're bound to make a stinker of a mistake. Mine was making chili and accidentally adding the kind of beans you use for baked beans. It would have gone over totally unnoticed ... if only I had tossed out the cans to the recycle bin BEFORE they all came into the door and saw them on the countertop. Too late; the damage was SEEN. So the TASTE was ruined. I learned from that point on- no matter what- DO NOT TELL 'EM WHAT'S IN IT. If you're trying to make PUMPKIN; get rid of all the evidence and...

JUST TELL 'EM IT'S PUMPKIN!

Remember those TH Thinlit Dies Pumpkin that I used for

TFJBChallenge #21 Treats Not Tricks?

(Click Here)

I had extra pieces that I just had some fun building up layers by using pop dots.

That formed the idea in my Pumpkin Head...lol

Started with these papers...

… and added in some TIM STUFF!!!

Making the background to be heavier was simple- double up on

this 2-sided paper from 7Gypsies.

Soooo reminds me of one of my fave old shows: The Twilight Zone!!!

A sheet from Tim Holtz Holiday Stash Paperie (old from years ago)

gave me the basic blue sheet color.

Some serious sanding, then inking up with Distress Inks shown above,

and adhered to the 7 Gypsies backing... Abracadabra! *wink*

Making my own grave stones!

Coming up with the names was fun...

and painting them, then using my TH Thinlits from a Destash Sale

(SHOUTOUT: THANK YOU!!)

make the stones come to life...hehe

There needed to be one tiny detail on one gravestone-

flowers left by a grieving...dead person??

I really WISH that I had taken pics of making the trees from the

TH Alterations Pine Tree Die.

I must've forgotten as I didn't find any in my file.

I'd cut two sets of the pines- one from green,

and one from brown

( all from TH Corestock Paper 8x8).

I used my TH Tonic Scissors to trim the brown trunks of the pines and

ran them through my Big Shot with TH 3D Lumber Impresslit.

Sanded the green pines and fussy cut the trunks out, then

inked them up with Forest Moss Distress Ink.

They made WONDERFUL looking little pines!

While they were meant to be in the background of the cemetery here,

I think I may do them again and use them for a Christmas project!

And here's the result...

FRONT

BACK

Closeups...

The bouquet...before Spidey got to it, anyway.

The... goop... that I'm working myself to the BONE to make and serve...

WITH LOVE, I might add.

He's not scared of all the stuff going on,

Oh, no. He's afraid of what I am feeding him!

Ben Ded 4 Yrs = Been dead for years.

I. RESTING = I'm just resting my eyes!

Undertha Dirt...she was really pretty before that. So I HEARD, anyway.

Hahahhahahaaa!

Later thought made me wonder if I should have spelled her last name as DERT?

Perspective view - from the BOTTOM- of the buildup going on...

… and from the TOP.

The TH IdeaOlogy Moon from the Halloween Ephemera...

YOU'D be mad too,.. if YOU were made to sit in the upper corner with your nose in it!

lol!

While this took time (hence my usual last-minute posting),

it was a lot of FUN to make this work.

Here's why:

Yep: I've gone and joined the WIGGLES COMMUNITY!

Please join in on any Challenge at

The Funkie Junkie Challenge Blog

and take a look at some of the AWESOME TALENT in there!

YOU could be a WINNER- simply by random drawing with YOUR entry!

(Sponsored by the ever-wonderfully-stocked

The Funkie Junkie Boutique

from where you'll find the above

Tim Holtz Pumpkin Thinlit Dies

and the FREEBIES: TH Bat Die Cuts and TH Distress Inked Ribbon

(THANK YOU, LINDA!)

THANKS! for checking in again, and till next time:

STAY SAFE &

HAPPY BLOGGING, &

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #22 It's Halloween...Well Kept in the Pumpkin Shell!

Halfway through October and I am knee deep in things going on and projects. I'd slow down with that last part except my ArtMuse is running on so many ideas I'd like to try out-; you know, those photos of cool things other people have posted that you're thinking look sooo easy to try, but all you've done so far is keep the photos on your phone. *sigh* And, I have no less than NINE Americana Blankets going in some form of finishing, for the nine babies that are popping up all through the many sides of our family. With only one set of twins in there... I think it hadda be in the water. My own kids count for 2 in there, also, so I guess I'll hold the cuteness blame. lol
We just finished with our church's annual Trunk or Treat outreach and fed 580 people during Sunday's event. It takes a few handfuls of people weeks and months to get ready for that. My part is not yet over, as I spent all day uploading the hundreds of photos I took. Never can have too many of any event. And I will burn the midnight oil- as usual- to get them all posted to the site for the families looking to share their photos. I used to do an "Old Time Photo Booth", but as we grew in popularity, it became almost impossible to sit every family, especially the year we broke 800 attendees! Now, I simply use my cellphone and/or my Canon rebel. This year, I had the huge joy of having 2 of my almost-three-Grandbabies there with us, and it was overwhelming for the oldest- 2 yo Peanut. All the games, huge blowup runs, and toys/candy and food (all free to everyone who shows up)… and all he wanted was to be left to play in the 8ft X 8ft Ball Pit. He simply had a ball!!

Selfishly, the best part of this past week, was getting out in my boat for the last sail of the year. Then she got pulled out and winterized- along with everything else that took the better part of 2 weeks for the ChiefHubby and I. When I think of how much work it takes to take proper care of all we have...I remember that we are so BLESSED to have those things, as well as be able to care for them. With that thought, it makes the work go easier and faster. The ChiefHubby just reached the milestone at work; 30 years at Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA) and is about the 50th person from the top as far as seniority list. They were built 31 years ago and the first 30-yr-people just began being honored 10 months ago. So joining him for another luncheon event was nice. (They did the same for his 25th.)
All these things have been on my mind this summer, and it actually led up to the idea for this project. I'm burning my candle at both ends with The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog currently going on- with TWO entries. I know; I'm nuts. And I blame that on the Halloween moon! I can do that. hehe! So let's get down to it... PHOTOS ONLY with a little note here and there! I'm pretty sure you can figure out most of the details by photo.