It's November- already the end of the year 2022. October started out great with a month up in New York, staying with the younger kids and helping with the newest Grandbaby. I was treated to a trip into Canada and ending up flying home via NY City- a real treat just in time for my 57th Birthday. But that's when the bottom fell out; just hours before my Birthday, my oldest Sister passed away. In fact, while typing that last post, I had just gotten the message from my next 2 older Sisters. I held it together to get that post out. It's kind of strange explaining that Sharon was not my oldest Sister of all. Actually, my oldest Sister of all passed away a few years ago, sadly without my ever getting to meet her as an adult. And I have one Sister older than Sharon, whom I am pretty close to, and see pretty often since we are members of the same church. You see, I have 14 other Brothers and Sisters- all of whom as "Step" (6 through my Dad who was actually my Stepfather), or "Half" (4 sharing the same Mother as me, and 4 others sharing the same Father as myself). Confused much? Let's suffice to say that I love all of them dearly, and I try to keep up with all of them. I grew up as the youngest of all, yet there is one younger than me (same Mother) who was given up for adoption at birth but found us again as an adult. I was 7 years old when my Mother married my Dad in July 1973, and her 3 girls and 1 boy mixed in with his 3 boys and 3 girls. Two of his were already married (Sharon also had the first Grandchild) and the youngest was only 4 years older than me. My Mother left my Dad when I was just turned 15- not a very happy birthday back then, for sure. I chose to stay with my Dad even though he was not given proper Guardianship, and my siblings
of his came to my rescue in many ways. Their Mom helped get things we needed, and Sharon came over to go through what I had in clothes- buying me my first "young lady" nightgowns, while my next older Sister, Carla, tackled my naturally frizzy, unruly hair. middle Sister, Rose ("Mezzie" to us) kept after me like always about washing my hair and cleaning up- both myself and my room! I babysat all their kids and ran around with my older Brothers's (Tub- who passed last year in September, John, and Tommy) families. That was an extremely tough time, but they helped me through it more than they probably realize. Sharon had been in the hospital during Covid (not due to Covid) and was just lately getting back out again. I thought she was finally getting better, but it was not to be. Her passing marks the 4th sibling gone from me of the 14. Death will come to us all, but I keep praying that I'll be able to see all my siblings in Heaven. Until then, life goes on, GOD willing, and so must we. Thank you so much - to everyone- for all the love shown to our entire family during this time.
The Funkie Junkie Boutique is filling up with new items for Christmas 2022, and I'm going to
give you a taste of what's new in Tim Holtz Christmas Distress- you're in for a treat if you haven't seen it yet! For this inspiration, I chose the brand-new Mica Spray Set from Tim's 2 different sets.
For this project, I'll be using Set 3 (Fresh Balsam, Tart Cranberry and Winter Frost).
Let's get started!
Of course, it starts with Happy Mail from The Funkie Junkie Boutique!
Here's a sneak peak of what Tim Holtz Christmas looks like- with the Mica Spray (Set 3)
near the middle. I'm also using the TH Chapter 4 Die, Layered Plaid.
Now we all need that newly unveiled Distress color, Lumberjack Plaid to go with: IKR!!
I started out by making just an Etcetera Mini Tag.
I covered the Tag and included Reinforcer piece with plain cream cardstock.
I like to make a back Reinforcer, so I always cut layers of plain circle die of same size,
and simply cut a hole to fit.
I burnished all the edges with my TH Sanding Block,
then added a thick-in-some-places/thin-in-some-places layer of
Ranger TH Translucent Crackle Paste. If you haven't tried this product by now:
you surely will want to after you've seen what it can do!
I allowed this to dry overnight.
But I got a bit bored...
So I got out that brand new Skinny Mini Book Box from Eileen Hull,
and after cutting enough for one book box with some cream matboard,
I noticed it looked the same shade as the Mini Etcetera Tag I was waiting on.
Hmmm... I decided to use the Mini Tag as a front for the Book Box.
This was to be a Birthday Gift for one of my Besties who just happens to be family as well- Cousin.
So out came the Crackle Paste again, to do the backside of the Book Box.
Now, if you're like me, and not very familiar with Mica Spray, you'll want to practice a bit.
My only Tim Holtz Sprays are both Metallic Distress Sprays, Tarnished Brass and Brushed Pewter.
I simply thought I didn't need them- I like bottle brush trees plain.
I was in for a bit of reality shocker...
The practice sheet for the first Mica Spray (Fresh Balsam)
was also practice for the Translucent Crackle Paste first.
This gave it texture that I'm already pretty accustomed to with TH Crackle Pastes.
I ended up thinking it was a cute piece to use on the inside of the box-
trimmed with some older TH Tissue Tape.
Note: I did use Score Tape to put the box together, but from here on, my choice will
be to use Glossy Accents for the box construction. Just my own choice.
So I passed the first test and went on to the next Mica Spray from Set 3- Winter Frost.
I wanted the cream of the cardstock to show through a bit,
so I was spraying a bit sparingly.
Those of you who think I chose this Set 3 was because I love Americana colors...
You're RIGHT!
Once this Mica Spray was heat dried... OH, MY; I'm in LOVE!!!
The Mica Spray just made the plain cardstock into feeling just like it was REALLY Mica Paper!
And the color shine.... so YUMMY!
It made me anxious to try the last color...
Tart Cranberry!
Ok, I admit; I'm a fan of TH Christmas Mica Spray Set 3!
I ran it through my Big Shot using 2 of the 3 dies from the Layered Plaid (set of 3 dies),
and set them aside for now.
The completely dried Etcetera Mini Tag was now ready for the cracks to be
inked with contrasting Distress Oxides- in Vintage Photo all over
and Ground Espresso onto the edges and corners.
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I used my TH Vintage Photo Distress Crayon all around the tag onto the side edges
to give it even more depth.
I was finally ready to add my die cut pieces to form a layered plaid look.
I used my finger to lightly spread Glossy Accents onto each back, fully covering it,
and adhered each layer before putting the 4 total pieces all together onto the Tag.
Both pieces fit the entire Mini Tag top to bottom, and it was only a matter of trimming the sides off,
and adding the reinforcers to both front and back...
... and adhering the two large pieces together after running a tying ribbon for closure of the book box.
I cut 2 lengths of ribbon: One about 12 inches that ran from back (tucked under the back reinforcer)
to front (sitting loose up near the glue),
and another length of about 18 inches glued to the back and goes to front through the back reinforcer
and then the front reinforcer, all down the front (embellishments will sit on top),
and all around the book box, to meet the other ribbon at the top.
And I decided I loved that new Winter Frost so much, I used it onto a TH Baseboard Frame,
which came out looking fantastic!
To make a background for the frame inside, I simply used a bit of the leftover
sprayed cardstock to fashion an "envelope" backing.
And I needed to make these Mica Sprays into a deeper Americana shade,
so I simply got the favorite go-tos back out- Vintage Photo Distress Crayon
and Ground Espresso Oxide.
One of the last embellies is a Tim Holtz Adornment of old...
with new Foundry Wax in Statue!
Simply dabbed onto with my fingers and heat it up to shine.
And this is the result:
November is a month of both fall colors AND
Veteran's Day.
Note: the ribbon on the front makes the box look a bit off-kilter in this photo.
I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and want to give these Distress Christmas Sprays a try!
Here's a full list of links to help you find what you need:
Meanwhile, life does go on, especially for all the young ones on all sides of our families. I had the pleasure of traveling up to Michigan with the ChiefHubby for my birthday. The older Son took his family up to South Haven, which is a favorite place we've taken our boys to many times over their growing years. The younger set of Kids even had their Honeymoon there, they loved it so much. So I actually went from one Great Lake (Ontario) with the younger Son's family, to another Great Lake (Michigan) within one month. I got treated to Kilwin's (without any ice-cream-on-the-back-of-the-shirt mishaps that became famous with our family, lol), and supper at their fave restaurant. Then it was back home and back to school and work for the older Grandbabies. We'll be back up in NY for Pecan's 3rd Birthday already coming up in less than 2 weeks! It's so hard to have my 4 Grandbabies in 2 different states, but we are blessed to manage seeing each one of them as much as we do!
Stayed tuned in because I'll be posting more Tim Holtz makes to share!
Stay Safe &
HAPPY BLOGGING!!
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