More "Icy and Cold" inspirational makes that fit in with The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #2... Stories of Christmases Past!

   

While it's not 'icy' here on the Emerald Coast of Florida, and it's definitely not as cold as it is in Indiana or New York , where all of our kids and Grandbabies are, it's... brisk... most days. If the rain stops and the sun comes out, it warms up during the daylight hours. Once that sun sinks below the tree line; it's time to head inside or freeze your petunias off. The afternoon of this typing, I headed down to the ocean to get some Bum Time in on the beaches. I spent a good 3 hours in the warm afternoon doing a bit of everything- sitting, photographing, walking, and dipping in at the waterline. It felt really good to be out after the past 3 weeks of cold. 

    Last October, I was busy as Guest Designer for Simon Says Stamp and also 1 GD spot for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog; Fall Gratitude. I took a full month off from anything else just afterward, and spent some time catching up on little things- quite literally! Last year, before we headed home to Indiana from Florida, I'd finally caved and purchased a doll house that had been for sale in a favorite shop here. It took 3 visits over a year and a half to make me say "Ok, if it's still there this time, it's sold to me," and I followed through. It was simple and cute, & just right for 1-3 year olds, of which we had 3 Grands in that bracket. I sent away for simple furniture suitable for the Melissa & Doug dolls and a second set also, just to match what WE all looked like. And yes, I have a couple set aside to match up the newest addition coming in August. They all 3 loved it! I would find the dolls situated in rooms of the house that gave us huge laughs at how cute their little minds think. Memaw and Papaw were often playing with the 3 while the Mommies and Daddies would be hidden in the ChiefHubby's desk drawers. There's a bed for each of us, yet I never did find a toilet yet. I still cannot figure out why Princess always takes the bathtub and sticks it into the barn next to the house- hidden up in the rafters. Fast-forward to this past October, when they put in a white bottle brush Christmas tree; the now 4 yr old Peanut comes to tell me in his serious voice "Memaw, we need PRESENTS under our tree in there," and thus began a 3 week stint of me making little things.... books, boxes. gift bags, etc. Just before we left, I stopped to peek in at the dolls and the scene was: Memaw, Papaw, and all 3 Grandkids were all upstairs in bed. Their 2 sets of parents were all sitting together down in the living room with the 3 tiny "The Christmas Story" replica books I made. The Christmas Tree had all the presents shoved wherever they could fit. And the dog and cat were fed and in bed also. Yep; these kids know the drill.

    Now that you know the background story, it'll be easier to see why I ended up making so many "littles". I needed practice at it once I learned how to do it. I've always LOVED miniatures, so it wasn't very hard to figure it all out. It's just a tad bit rough to do with hands that have RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis). There are a lot of ways to make little books, but I wanted REAL books that you could open and actually read the story. So my computer and printer came into use, along with a few bottles of Glossy Accents. But, it's fun and I'm going to keep on with it. Meanwhile, here's what I had hoped to get posted over Christmas, yet didn't. And then The Funkie Junkie's "Icy and Cold" Challenge came up and it just seems to fit right in.

Making any kind of miniatures is really pretty easy. It's a matter of scale on a good printing

program (I have several I use for my photography), and good printer (I use Canon Pixma and go through a new one about every other year now), cardstock or glossy paper, sharp scissors, 

and glue....LOTS of a good glue. A good scoring board helps for folding.

I've been making miniatures since I was a kid and I made all my own dollhouses.

The things that are out there these days (World's Smallest Toys)... we would have

killed to have back then! I'm still a collector of littles, and it's probably

why I am so stuck on Tim Holtz IdeaOlogy!

I had to make a set of 3 for the doll house. Peanut made sure Baby Jamie got 'pwesants' too. :)

But next year; I'm going to actually FILL them. They all wanted to open the glued-shut

boxes to see what was inside. I'll stick in some of those tiny new toys and surprise them.

I was going to just used paper mache boxes and cover them with Tim paper 

or some kind of paint/inks, but I found these right off and really liked the outside...

... and how the picture is framed to just the right size I wanted to cut my windows.

And I really loved the inside- it already looked like wallpaper. 

It could have been a tad bit smaller print, but the color shade matched spot on.

I'm holding clear plastic in my hand- just out of the trash.

This TH Alterations Die is the old Bigz Window Box.

I still love all my TH Bigz Dies; they cut through so many thicker

materials like this matboard.

Some TH Tissue Tape helped keep the inside cardboard where it was supposed to stay.

Each window has the plastic under the frame- on both sides of the cardboard.

I love doing that- go all out to make it look double pane.

For the line that shows in betwee the two cuts of windows: use your

TH Distress Crayon in Picket Fence (or matching color to material used) and rub it in.

Yeah, I like making my own things with the Etcetera,

and each package comes with plenty of leftover pieces to cut yourself.

I used this TH Paperie on both sides of my shelves and Distress Crayon in Vintage Photo

all around the edges. It looked like painted boards when finished. just like a real shelf.

I dug out a TH Seasonal stack of leftovers from waaaaay back,

and it was a perfect fit for the new TH Curio Frames to make a picture hanging.

Ahh, another problem I had...

Got all the way down to Florida with a special bottle brush tree I'd found a month before

up in MinneSNOWta (our very last trip before the kids moved to Upstate New York) 

somehow DISAPPEARED from my crafting table here. I can only surmise that the bag

fell into the trash and went out the door with.

I was in love with that tree since it was hard to find the perfect size at the time 

I found the boxes on sale during Thanksgiving. And it came from MinneSNOWta.

OoooooooKaaaaaay. A fast find at WalMart came up with this one.

And I actually ended up liking THIS ONE better!

I sewed up the stockings and it brought back memories of making my own

saddles and tack for my Brenda Breyer horses, and clothes for all my dolls.

I took one of the lanterns and carefully pulled it apart. It was easier than I thought it would be.

I cut it as evenly halved as I could and then sanded the rest of it all smooth.

You'll note that the clear piece in the middle did crack a bit, but otherwise stayed together.

This is a knock off lantern because I wasn't ready to 'waste' one

of my Tim Holtz lanterns- in case it didn't work.

Originally, I wanted it to light up with a TH Light Set, but I left several of them at home

in Indiana and didn't have any more at the time.

I later, did order a set of Tim's Light Sets from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and they

arrived quickly- within a few days- but I'd already moved on to another project by then.

These are like the sets I grew up with.

So did Tim Holtz! :)

I made these different and "signed" the Christmas cards since

they needed to look like they'd come from many other friends/family.

The set of cards needed to look like a real set...copies of the same cards and envelopes.

Yes, the cards do slip into the tiny envelopes.

All they need is some grunging up with TH Distress Oxide Ink in Vintage Photo

and Ground Espresso. 

BOOK ONE

BOOK ONE is about vintage Christmas- before (getting all the boxes out)

and afterward (carefully packing it all back up for next year).

And the gifts under the tree that we carefully wrap 

after finding just the right thing that we hope will bring a smile to a loved one's face.

It's warm inside, but fits the description of "Icy and Cold" out there!

Inside the books are real pages. The Christmas Carol is a much smaller one 

like the book that was made for TFJB Challenge "Out with the Old and in with the New"

The Family Album actually has album pages, and Family Tree/Marriage Certificates inside.

These little roughed-up skates are from the TH Movers and Shapers Mini Dies (retired).

The fireplace mantle was made from the TH 3D Impress Folder Brick.

It was supposed to be made with the newer TH Thinlits Fireplace...

but I put the wrong address for shipping and our Son texted to say

it got to Indiana ok. Of course. *sigh*

                                                                   BOOK 2

BOOK TWO has all the usual holiday fare on the shelves.

But we tend to overlook the most important thing....the smallest of all.

Fits the description of "Icy and Cold" out there!

This Book 2 was all about how we get caught up

in all the decorating.

We tend to forget what we're celebrating: CHRISTmas- the birth of JESUS.

Thanks for coming back in and allowing me to share this make with you!

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And a HUGE "THANK YOU!" for all the SWEET comments!

I hope you'll join in on this

 Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge; Icy and Cold

Enter your choice of craft that 'speaks icy or cold to you'-

whatever comes to your mind with colors, embellishments, etc,

and YOU could be chosen as a Top Pick!

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Until next time...

Stay Safe & Warm!

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It's Icy and Cold over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog.... Snow O'Clock Memories!

 

 Time is flying fast as we're already at the end of the first month of 2022. It's been a pretty COLD dip all across the USA as far as temperature is concerned; we spent a couple of nights snuggled under a pile of blankets on our bed here in Florida. But just the day before that drop, we sat on the beach for a bit of 66* sunshine. It felt good to get outside after being stuck in and sick for a full week. We'd both been vaxed with Moderna back in April, and like a few million other people; were told we were "completely covered". I was able to come back from Bronchitis in December and allowed to get the Booster the second week of January, finally. Well; it worked. Got the Omicron Covid not two weeks later. And, man, did that spread FAST! At least a dozen of us came down with it, but surprisingly to us; the ChiefHubby had it worse than I did. I fared better a17thfter the third day while he was ready to go to the Emergency Room from all the pressure not being able to breathe. Since I just got over that type of thing, I could understand how much pain that was causing. As of this typing, he's feeling a lot better. Both of us still feel the fatigue and are trying to get back to being active walking. A few others are still having a bad time with the respiratory part. The younger kids got to New York just in time for the big drop of 1 foot of snow over January 17th. Other than being snowed in, they're settling in fine. The Indiana kids are enduring some deep cold... and I do not miss that! 

   I've spent a few days on a project that I've wanted to do for some time now, and it's a perfect fit for this second TFJB Challenge.  All this cold definitely came at the right time while this project was being worked on, and it brought back a lot of fun memories. The ChiefHubby and I are no strangers to deep snow and below-zero temps. He drove 45 minutes to work and 45 minutes back every day for work for over 31 years (just at the job he retired from) and then some, no matter what the weather. We both are products of the 1960s and lived through the Blizzard of '78. While he was a city kid, I lived out where we are now. School was called off for at least 2 weeks back then, and aside from Covid19, most northern schools only stopped for a couple of days for deep snow or ice. That winter of 1978 was a great time to be a kid, even better when you lived on Lake Cicott, where the ice would be so thick you could drive a car out on top of it; and my Grandfather DID just that in his teens on that very lake! It has the Teays (underground) River running under it, and all kinds of stories to go along with that. Back in the Fall of 1976, a new girl came to our Lake Cicott Elementary. She was allowed to choose a name from the list of girls in our class, for someone to help her around and get to know people. She chose my name, and that was the start of a very long friendship that I will always cherish. We had a lot in common, and we had a lot of fun together during those years we lived next to each other out there; the ice played a big part in that fun: snowmobiling and ice skating on it, walking around to see what the ice-fishers were catching, and dragging each other on sleds back up the hill for another go. She had 3 horses and I was in love with horses. Being outside was a pretty normal thing for us both- summers and winters. We've had our ups and downs, but those few years spent together as Best Friends... I always keep those memories close to my heart. When I was going through my Tim Holtz Paper Dolls (Christmas 2021), my eyes just stopped on the girl with the sled- it stunned me how similar it looked to her back then. And when I got to the next Doll...I knew I had the perfect matching set for this project! So, please, join me for another journey on how I made this...

I take these photos last, but list them first.

These are the paperie and 3D items.

And these are the tools I used.

I tore pieces of the TH Tissue "Yule Tide" roll into smaller bits and modge-podged

the clock surface and again on top of the bits of tissue. It was sort of like making a Pinata.

I covered the clock surface inside and out but left the edge where the back 'lid' would fit.

I also left the legs, the bell stem ringer and handle all plain.

It needed to dry overnight at least.

Then I coated Ranger TH Texture Crackle Paste on all areas of the metal still 

showing and where I layered tissue.

Again, I let it dry at least overnight. The longer it dries, the better the cracking.

After it was completely dry again, I sanded off the edges to get rid of the excess tissue

hanging off, and also make sure the inside edge was clean so the back 'lid' would 

fit back into it for closing.

The back was already punched with a tiny indent with the ring attached.

I simply used my TH Tonic Scissors to snip that into two flaps,

then bent both flaps inside to make a hole needed for the lights.

I love the new TH Pocket Cards (courtesy of The Funkie Junkie Boutique) !

These are Christmas 2021, but there are so many cute ones that can be used for winter

after the Christmas season. The pinecones were a nice look for this.

I used some TH Distress Vintage Photo Crayon to edge each trimmed piece before I

 layered them using Glossy Accents.

I used a sheet protector to make a couple of die cuts from the (now retired)

TH Alterations Die Weathered Clock to form a see-through front piece onto the background I made

from the cards.

I used Sizzix double sticky foam sheets and trimmed just enough to form a rounded edge in

the middle of the clock cut, and before I added the next cut on top with Glossy Accents,

I topped the first cut with Ranger TH Stickles to hide the foam.

Layers: 1 -Background of card cuts

2- double sticky foam sheet

3- Weathered Clock clear die cut

4- Stickles (allow to dry completely before topping with GA and 2nd clear Clock cut)

5- Glossy Accents

6- 2nd Weathered Clock clear die cut (dry brushed on inner side with Guesso

and Picket Fence Distress Paint: see next photo)

Making IdeaOlogy fit your project is one of the reasons I'm in love with it!

It's easy to cut without it cracking and breaking where you don't want it to.

The light set is one of Tim Holtz's regular plain lights. He debuted colored sets

over Christmas, but I felt those were too bright. The lights come in a set of 2 to a pack

and are available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique

Coloring TH Paper Dolls....I know, right!!

All set to just fill everything up from the choices of IdeaOlogy that I love so much!

Glossy Accents and my glue gun helped with setting the TH IdeaOlogy Baubles up next to the glass.

A dot of the GA onto the Snowflakes (retired) and Icicles (both retired and new 2021) to

stay where I wanted them on the inside glass. When it came time to pluck out all the glue strings,

I found myself thinking the strings looked like ice when it forms on spider webs

and encases branches during ice storms. So, I actually tucked some of the strings back inside!

Just in case it wouldn't be fully seen past the Paper Dolls I used;

I took this photo to show the finished background with the new 2021 Tim Holtz Thinlit Set Mr.Frost

holding the IdeaOlogy Journal Flashcard and Heart Gem.

This is what it looks like finished:

I hope her Mom sees this; I really DO think it looks like we did back then!

The icy look of the crackling goes so well with the icicles and (new 2021) Snowflakes.

I actually still have the old Snowflakes- the difference in the two being that the newer ones

have the tiny gems in them and each snowflake in the older set is different

while the newer set is all alike.

I took the top part of the TH IdeaOlogy Pocket Chain off and added a bell that had

been on a gift from Christmas- it just matched the clock's surface metal.

The backside was left plain.

Tip: When using the TH Light Sets, be sure to have the tiny screws face you when

adhering the set to any surface. That way, you can replace the batteries without

having to take the switch off the item- and perhaps pull on the lights inside.

Thank You! to all who come in to see my latest makes,

and I hope you'll feel inspired to come over to 

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog

and join us in our latest Challenge fun!

Each Challenge draws randomly from all entries for a $25 GC,

and you can be sure to always find something NEW at a great price

from our Sponsor.

Here's your 1 minute of SUNSHINE to get you through the cold and ice:

Stay Safe & Warm

HAPPY BLOGGING!