The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #13 De-Stress With A Little Distress... Ma Bell's Girls

     September brings a close to 2021's summer months, but my pool is still going strong and warm for now. It's hard to believe it will be time to close it in just a few more weeks, but that's the deal when you live in Indiana; changes, changes, changes! And speaking of which... we just got back from another trip up to Red Wing, visiting with the younger set of kids and Baby Pecan. Talk about changes; Jamie is fast on his way to mastering quite a few things. I'm always careful of their stairs to the Family Room- making sure the gate is closed so Jamie won't fall down the stairs. But this visit, I got a shock: Littlest Man is already going up and down on his own, like a boss! The only thing that kept him a bit down was an RSV (what I still call URI upper respiratory infection). It had already hit here with us and I was still dealing with the same infection going on for the past two weeks after having some kind of regular cold/flu passed around. So we only got in two walks in our 4 days. He showed off his skills at the neighborhood parks, letting me know how much he loves sliding down the circular slides, and swinging on swings. He especially likes to spin on spinning rides! Gets that from me & his Daddy, I think.

     When it comes to September, my mind is always taken back to 2001. As someone who watched it from the very start, and alerted our schools to the awful events unfolding that terrible day, I still find it very difficult to re-watch, re-hash, or even talk of that day. That event brought on a series of life changes to me personally, and the shock of seeing that always precludes the following years of physical & mental hardship. In my eyes, daily life in America changed that day. Our Sons had just begun 4th & 7th Grades as the youngest in both grades at ages 9 &12, and all I could think of was how their world would be a much different one now. And it was.  As a Fire Chief's wife, the WT stories hit  very close to home with us. Now I have Grandbabies, with the 20th September 11th upon us as we finally pulled out of Afghanistan. It's just 'how' we left the situation that concerns me for our country's future safety. Just like 2001; it's all best left in GOD's hands. What is important for this time is we honor those 13 who paid the ultimate sacrifice, joining thousands of their Brothers/Sisters in arms who did likewise in those 20 years. One of our own- from this county- was one of them: Marine Cpl Humberto Sanchez. I have tried to keep up with all those who have sacrificed over the 20 years, and we personally know another young man (grew up next door) whose truck was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq during those years- taking the life of his best Buddy, as well as his own leg. What happened to him & his on-going work with Sled Hockey & Wounded Warriors in Texas, keeps the thoughts always fresh to us, and certainly the prayers going up!

       In tackling De-stress With A Little Distressing, the theme for this Challenge, I was remembering the these things and how isolated I felt while watching September 11, 2001. We'd had our first car phone in the early 90s...called "the Brick"- was pretty much a take off from my fave TV show "EMERGENCY!" with their BioPhone. Didn't get much use as they got smaller and better, but in 2001, most ppl were still relying on what we know now as their "land line". I was fortunate to have had a speaker phone and also a TDD Unit (telecommunications device for the deaf) along with Indiana Relay to help me make phone calls. But during Sept 2001, phone systems went down all over the Midwest and with my ChiefHubby at work an hour away, our kids in school the opposite direction of him but also 45 mins away from me at home,.. for the first time in my life, I realized how being deaf was a terrible thing. I was alone way our here in the boonies.  Being deaf never really bothered me much before that. But during the events of that day, yeah, that was quite a day.

   With all that said, you can see why my background is the way it is. So let's get on with the rest...

You can see here; I got out that old Red, White, & Blue paper ribbon.

The roll is getting smaller, and I've looked for it when I think of it, but so far- nothing found.

I got out one of my collection of Tim Holtz's Movers & Shapers Die Sets for this-

Mini Telephone/Typewriter. This also gave me the first chance to use Tim's new Circuit Stencil.

I started by making a background for at least 2 plain cardstock pieces- tag and full sheet.

I heat dried both, then set aside the larger to work on the Tag.

Adding some Distress Oxide in Ground Espresso to the top inside of the TH Circuit 3D Impresslit Folder (also new to me), I ran the Tag through my Big Shot.

I then lightly used TH DO (Distress Oxide Ink) in Salvaged Patina in just one main area, for an aged look, heat dried, then lightly blended all over DO Vintage Photo & followed it with TH regular Embossing Powder on the rest of the raised areas, and heat dried again.

I also used the ink and powder all along the outside edges of the tag after I first ran

Tim's Paper Distresser over all those edges- gave a more worn look plus helped the embossing to 'stick out' more all along those edges. You'll see this in the next photo below.

I then took some Salvaged Patina Distressed Paint and rubbed it on top of the 

Salvage Patina DO ink already there- using my finger. 

The paint is thicker by far, and a bit brighter than the ink and allows a bit of texture.

Then I set the Tag part aside for now.

I used the TH Circuit Stencil with TH DO in Ground Espresso inked in even lines going up and down,

and used my paper cutter to cut all the sides evenly around just outside of those circuit lines.

And I couldn't resist getting my TH Ranger Crackle Texture Paste onto the top of the circuit lines

with another TH Stencil. I was in a hurry, so I did heat dry this and the crackling was fine!

Taking a cue from Paula Cheney on her One Lucky Day post in July, I got out

the TH Walnut Distress Stain for some color in the cracks of that crackling.

That was a FUN step if there ever was one!!

You see there are spots where I gave the Walnut Distress treatment harder pressing

for more stain to color the inside of a few of the numbers randomly; that's part of the FUN!

The look of it is pretty cool distressing !!

You'll note: after heat drying yet again- I used the Paper Distresser on all of these edges as well.

The third layer would be the RWB paper ribbon.

So I wadded this up (it's wired on both top and bottom, so I left that), crushed,

and crunched at it, then inked it on all edges and randomly over it all

with DO in Vintage Photo.

Lastly, I took TH Black Soot Distress Paint and flicked both backgrounds

and the TH Paper Dolls seperately, then heat dried a last time before putting them onto 

a TH "Blackout" Paperie sheet for the 4th layer. 

                              Results: Simply De-Stressed!

You can see a line of TH Tissue Tape that runs on top of the Blackout (which is sanded) Paper.

TH Blackout stack was in 8x8 and was not long enough for my background square,

so I simply cut another small piece to fit in and used Tissue Tape to hold them together,

adhering the whole piece to the backgrounded Tag.

I love all that yummy TEXTURE!!

Some TH IdeaOlogy came in handy here: a zero Number hanging top center

by a TH Jump Ring, stands for the old way of getting any kind of help over the phone

 - yes, this does date me-

we dialed the Operator with an 0.

A piece of TH Ephemera is held in place by a TH Clip.

(Give me a bit of a break here with the right IdeaOlogy titles because I usually

relied heavily on Tim's old app for my entire list of things I have of his. 

I'm still filling out the new site for my Inventory List. Nope- I didn't get the backup done in time.) 

A TH Numbered Brad sits in the middle of the Mini Telephone M&S die cut our of 

TH Grungepaper that is Distress Painted with Black Soot and Picket Fence- a tiny bit

of Salvaged Patina tossed over in the middle.

Here, you can see the TH Tissue Tape detail- typed keys.

I'll also mention that I have a VERY hard time tossing out ANY of my TH Paper Dolls!

I was crushed when I found just the right girls I wanted and the one on the left had

her ankle folded/torn. They were the only one I had of them, so I just sucked it up and used it!!

                                                               And that's a wrap, folks!

               This make is singly entered in  The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge

                                               Sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique

                      Another Challenge begins tomorrow (Wednesday) and runs for 2 weeks;

                         giving YOU some time to join the fun and share a make of your own!

                           Meanwhile; THANKS for stopping by!!

                   And THANK YOU, EVERYONE, for all the sweet comments!

                                              So, until the next post...

                                          Stay Safe &

                               HAPPY BLOGGING!!