Tuesday, December 14, 2021

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #19 Yuletide Delights... What if we're wrong; what if the Moon is really made of PUMPKIN?!

It's been a month and a half since my last post/Challenge, and what a trip it's been during that time! Most of it was spent being sick again; with an ER trip tossed in. After being whupped by Bronchitis, I'm trying to make my way back up to par. I'd been run ragged trying to get things finished up in our Indiana house, and we left for our Florida house after the oldest Grandbaby had his first-ever Christmas Program on December 6th. I did manage to spend time with all 3 Grandbabies over Thanksgiving since they all were home for that weekend. We did their Christmas with them; enjoying how they appreciated getting new toys and fun. The youngest- Baby Jamie- is moving to Upstate New York from Minnesota; Daddy having gotten the Nuclear Plant job he's wanted for so long. Mommy's older Sister lives just across the Niagra Falls, opposite of their new area, on the Canadian side. So Wittle Pecan will need his Passport to be able to visit his other Cousins. He finally got to meet all of them in person over Thanksgiving. We adults are having a very hard time with Covid19 limiting what our young Grandbabies get to do now. It feels like they are being cheated out of quite a bit that we did with their parents when they were our little kids. Waiting 2 years to meet your own family members just... downright SUCKS!

I will have more projects to post after this; no matter if they get into a Challenge or not; I've been busy here and there in the Craft Room at home in Indiana, and finally (after a full week of getting the place aired out and settled in again) ready to spend time in the Florida house Craft Room. I'll post some pics of that as I go, in case anyone is interested in ideas of how to make it work in a large camper trailer! Most of Florida- especially retired folks- live in campers like this that are spaced out among others in communities. Ours just happens to be inside Tri-State Christian Camp. I'll be posting photos to their FB page (link given), so feel free to pop in and see what's there!

Meanwhile; back to TFJB Challenge; Yuletide Delights; this make has been worked on for bits of stolen moments in the past three weeks or so. It could have actually gone into several different Challenges that came up in that time, because it was meant to come out between the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays when we are eating the majority of PUMPKIN PIE to our heart's delight! I am admittedly one of those who stock up when all the Pumpkin & Spice stuff comes out. Not everything; I have particular faves, including the Mini Wheats! But the smell and the taste of the blend just drives some family members totally nuts. Our younger Son can put away an entire Pumpkin pie in one sitting. (The kid is 6' 4"... who's gonna tell him NO?? lol) I put away a whole Pumpkin pie within one week, myself, still managing to keep the weight loss down with the help of all the sickness I went through. In any case; this is why my mind was on PUMPKIN. As for the Moon...it has been a beautiful sky with a beautiful shiny Moon- once the rain stopped in Indiana! One evening, on the way home from Wednesday Night JAM (Jesus And Me) for the older 2 Grandbabies, Peanut was saying "The Moon is a banana tonight!" and the next week, it looked like a watermelon. We replied that we thought it was made of cheese. That's when the thought came to me about the Moon looking the color of Pumpkin. And there you have it. So let's see the make....

I wanted a TH Distress Ink Villainous Potion background, as Paula Cheney was challenged

just a few weeks ago. So the shading was going to use blue and black for the sky.

Tools I used...yes; cinnamon stick was a 'tool' !!

Additional Paperie used; TH Classic Stock and I got out some of the precious Grungepaper.

The white is Mat Board.

This is the example I found when I googled images of "purple night sky".

I needed a bit of practice, so I chose a smaller stash piece of the very same 12 x 12

from Tim Holtz's French Industrial Paperie.

The BACKSIDE of the paper was what I was hoping to use- it has very subtle images ghosted in.

Here's my practice take up against my larger piece.

I cut two each of the Pumpkin and Moon shapes, then stuck them together with Glossy Accents.

The stem was cut from Mat Board while an additional cover piece cut for the Pumpkin

as well as both sides of the stem- from the French Industrial.

I burnished the paperie to the TH Etcetera Mini Tag. I just LOVE the Etcetera Tags!!!

I then made up a sample and took a photo so I could look back on the arrangement for later gluing.

Making the shading was the fun part: that TH Villainous Potion PURPLE!!!

I have another use for it for yet another Christmas project in the works.

That shade of purple is so ROYAL looking!!!

I had to use TH Distress Oxide Carved Pumpkin, of course, on the TH Stretch Alphanumeric.

Coloring up the TH Letterpress word "SPICE" used with a "&" sign as another E.

I needed a second E, but couldn't find any out of the 2 sets I had, and the &

("and" key) did look like an E. Strange, yes...but works!

Dressing up the word "SPICES" to look like real spices on it!

Even though my body refuses to properly digest spices... I do love them!

I'm not a fan of spicey as in spicey HOT, but my fave spices are

probably cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Some sparkle, as smaller stars, was all that was left to do.

And here's what I ended up with...

Can you see the left arm (with the Pumpkin lid) goo?

I did color him with TH Distress Crayon in Pumice Stone...

with a little TH Distress Marigold lightly over his tie.

It looks slightly washed out in this pic. I was trying to keep the light from bouncing off the excess

spilled Glossy Accents showing up all over his arm, and just at the side of him- on the Moon.

Here is where you can see the little tell-tale hint of excessive Glossy Accents.

NOT done with my usual 'heavy handedness', but actually done when

I tried to unclog the tip by grappling it off ENTIRELY...

with little string-like sprays ALL OVER MY WORK.

Thus...scroll back up to it....

on the TH Paper Doll guy, you can see Glossy Accents that I tried to get off his left arm

and part of his coat. I was just about ready to CRY.

Being run down and sick for most of those weeks doing this SIMPLE project;

I'm not entirely sure I DIDN'T sit and cry.

The cinnamon stick is an old one I keep in a jar on the kitchen counter as part

of my decor preference (Americana Primitives), but as soon as I broke it; it smelled nicely again!

That littlest TH IdeaOlogy Pumpkin Piece... so CUTE with some TH Stickles on it,

over the Distress Crayons in Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, and Distress Paint Black Soot splatters.

The stem is a tiny piece of real cinnamon stick!

The backside: I left it a rarely-done plain, but scuffed it up a bit.

I'm VERY grateful if any of my Blog Readers are still around after my long absence;

such a long time was not anticipated, but it's been a "sick" year for me and several of my siblings.

Seems I've been sick since the day I got the first Covid19 shot, into the second, and well

through the summer months. Just when I started healing from the Bronchitis, I'm overdue for

the Booster Vax. I'd rather NOT, but dying of the Covid19 is a very real possibility for me.

That's it for this TFJB Challenge; Yuletide Delights

Monday, October 25, 2021

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge; Thinking of You- Week 4 Guest Designer Spot... Warm Quilt Wishes

It's the last new Challenge for October at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, and that means it's the last Guest Designer spot for me at this time. What a huge honor it's been, and what FUN I've had not only creating for inspiration, but seeing all the wonderful makes everyone's been sharing on the board! I want to say a special "THANK YOU!" to everyone who has joined me on this October journey; for taking the time to stop by and find out the how-to on each SSSMChallenge! And here's a very special "THANKS!" to everyone at Simon Says !! When we join in on the Challenges, in any capacity, we not only share ideas; we inspire and lift up everyone else with our art, and that's what makes Crafters such a wonderful community! Guest Designing is always a compliment in just being offered to do so, but just giving the Challenges a try is what it's all about. It's fitting to be ending this GD spot with the Lead Team's choice "Thinking of You" as our theme.

For this Challenge, I'm using one of the newer releases from Tim Holtz that I specifically ordered from Simon Says Stamp a few months ago; Tim Holtz Stacked Hexagon Thinlits . I just knew this set was going to make a fun quilt out of paper and it'd be a sweet Birthday gift for my Bestie- who happens to also be my Cousin, Cindy, Cindy is a quilter, and an extremely talented quilter! She's also been chosen to have a couple of her quilts published in magazines. While I am an ardent admirer of quilting, and I can handle a sewing machine pretty nicely...I'm no good when it comes to long-term sewing

projects. I can hand sew things, but I have no patience for sewing something as large as a bed sheet. I do have a couple of quilts that were given to me by my late MomInLaw, just the summer before she died. They were hand sewn by her Great Aunt (my ChiefHubby's Great Great Aunt) and I just figured out they at least 55 years old now and still in very good condition for heirlooms as she intended. Cindy machine quilts hers, and has often wanted to teach me how to quilt, but my sewing machine (purchased brand new) likes to argue with me so much that I end up spending more time cutting threads and starting over, than I spend on actual sewing. I've basically had it up to *here* and am ready to just give the thing away for someone else to try their luck, and get another one. There are people out there who can make a sewing machine do practically anything like magic. But I am not one of those. Cindy, on the other hand, is! And her quilts not only bring smiles and warmth to EVERYONE (yes, I'd be hard put to name someone she has NOT made a quilt for), but it's also the LOVE she has for making these! Before I show you how I did my paper quilting, here's a few photos of Cindy's quilts she's made for me which helped inspire my own project for her birthday gift...

And now it's time to show you how I created a paper quilt...

I know you're going to want that Grungepaper- from which I die cut my spool pieces-

but you'll need to complain to TIM...it's discontinued. *crying*

First thing: a lot of die cutting from stash papers of Bazzille in red, taupe, and navy blue.

Actually, the cutting is made much easier because the TH Hexagon Thinlits have FIVE sets of

each size. You'll see I am missing one largest, but I still had 4 to cut at the same time.

That 5th is somewhere in the pile on my desk...

I had the hardest time trying to find the word QUILT in a set of lettering that had all the letters.

I finally found the full word out of the TH IdeaOlogy Alpha Tiles.(the older retired set).

And while I knew the background would be quilted paper; I still

had to plan where my IdeaOlogy would go.

Getting the Etcetera Mini Thickboard and Scalloped Shelf pieces sanded down and sides Crayoned.

Here's how I was using the Grungepaper:

Instead of using my sewing machine, I would actually draw each stitch using a ruler.

So the Grungeboard not only became "stuffing" but also the main

base holding the pieces together.

I played around with several patterns.

Each side of each die cut piece needed to be edged/distressed.

To keep it all straight (which is important if you're going to make them fit correctly),

I used my ruler to help start the first row, and used each hexagons' points for the rows.

You'll notice this was not one of the patterns shown above, but it's

the one I finally settled on that would look nice on the front side.

Once all the shapes are dry with Glossy Accents holding them down,

you can turn it over and trim off the excess colors and then fit the covered Grungeboard

to the Etcetera Tag.

Any remaining cracks- just fill them in with Distress Crayon!

In fact; when I got done with the tag, I had alot of Distress Crayon all over my fingers

(Antique Linen), so instead of wasting it, I rubbed it all over the tag- heavier in some places.

I also rubbed the tag onto the TH Glass Mat to pick up more bits of that Crayon

and the distressed look that helped give my finished product was very cool indeed.

I'm going to try that again on another project!

The drawing of stitches took the most time other than Distress Inking, but this was the fun

part and looks really nice when finished.

Oh, yeah: real stuffing! I added a Kleenex in between the Grungeboard and Etcetera Tag

just for the fun of feeling that *poof*! Trimming the Kleenex down just a bit with TH Snips.

Distress Crayons are the MOST FUN way to distress anything!

I used an old Permie Marker I had leftover in my drawer of junk...and made more stitches.

I added TH Distress Paint in that yummy Salvaged Patina for some

"grunge look" on the IdeaOlogy metal.

And this is what came from all that...

FRONT SIDE of TAG

(The Blackboard is just a prop.)

BACK SIDE OF TAG

Now, it's YOUR turn!

It's your chance to join us in the fun at

And maybe YOUR PROJECT will be shown off in a Designer Spotlight!

Each Challenge is Sponsored by:

where YOU could win

But you can't win unless you CREATE and
SHARE your make on the Challenge's page.
So give it a try and come join the FUN!!