It's the most wonderful time of the year! I used to want this time of year to hurry up and just get to the Christmas vacation of at least 2 weeks off with my boys and ChiefHubby. It was just rush, rush, rush to do everything before that. While those were wonderful memories, I sure don't miss doing all that and definitely don't have the energy I once did to keep all that up. Getting out over 100 Christmas cards out by November 1st, baking up 5 kinds of over 600 cookies, decorating, entertaining, and getting school programs and work caught up... nope; don't miss all that! But I sure do love taking the TIME in this era of our lives; just by watching our own Kids do it all with our Grandbabies! I've pared down quite a bit, especially since we're now going back and forth to two homes. I'm still keeping the same traditions, just in smaller ways. I had the chance to give Princess Pistachio her turn at sugar cookie baking/decorating. Next year will be Pecan's turn, likely with his by-that-time 1 year old "Sissy", Princess Rose. I kind of waited on the first one- Peanut. He was 4 last year when we did it, with Princess Pistachio doing her best to ice a couple of cookies. I had more green icing on my floors than on the cookies. But I patted myself on the back for having WAY MORE patience with them than I did with my own 2. I really should have done cookies with Pecan because he is now 3 also, but it was very busy this fall with the birth of Princess Rose. So I am taking one at a time and just enjoying being with them and doing these traditions. Right after the Thanksgiving holiday, Peanut and Princess's Mom had to have shoulder surgery. So the older couple of kids took off for a hotel near the hospital to be there at 5 am, while Papaw stayed to help get the kids off to school the next day and then to our house for the remainder of the week to finish out school. It was not to be a quiet night; Princess had RSV and ended up with a seizure. Poor older Son drove back up to take her to the ER, run tests to make sure she was ok and then back to Indy to make sure older Daughter was ok. Febrile Seizures/high fevers are a product passed down from myself to our older Son and now to Princess. Our younger Son dealt with severe Asthma since birth- also passed from myself to him, and I thank The LORD every prayer that both their kids have been totally healthy so far! Unfortunately for me; right after we arrived at our Florida home; the RSV hit me and kicked my butt big time. (That's why this is getting typed a bit late.) I was able to get to Urgent Care last night and get some meds to help get the healing started on infected eyes and lungs. Not a nice way to spend the 1st weekend and all of the 2nd week here. But I'm still alive.
Remember this make from the first make of 2022? CLICK HERE TO SEE
I remembered to replace the boy for the boy & girl set to add Princess Rose with Pecan!
The subject of preparing for the Christmas Holidays is what brings me to this last make for 2022; it's all about Tim Holtz- anything Tim! I was a bit sad watching everyone else put up their tree and get out all the decorations. I'm all decorated down here in Florida, but while still in Indiana, we leave at the first of December and don't really care to have to take down Christmas decor when we get back by April 1st. So I got to thinking of going smaller... and it cheered me up quite a bit! Follow along and this time, it's a bit different: each of these 3 makes goes together, yet the photos take each one separately into the finished project and then they are put together again at the end of the post for a couple pics together. When it comes to Tim Holtz IdeaOlogy, the theme here is "Buy New Tim Stuff, but Use the Old: One is Silver and the Other is Gold"!
Join me as I rehash to you how these were made!
Happy Mail that came back in October came in handy for this one- IdeaOlogy items
didn't all get their chance to shine, so I pulled out the ones I wanted to use...
... and got out some Tim Holtz IdeaOlogy Structures: the smallest and the largest
sizes from the Vignette Box Set and a Vignette Display Panel.
Right away, I changed out the Picket Fence Distress Paint for the Antique Linen.
I first sanded the wood and smoothed out any bumps.
Pleasingly, these structures come pretty well sanded already, but some splinters may
appear after getting bumped along in shipping. That's to be expected.
I gave all the edges and the backside a couple of good coats of the Distress Paint,
let dry fully in between each coat and after the last.
Then I spritzed up the entire backside in the newest Distress Mica Spray
Set #2... Fresh Balsom. What a neat effect that made!
I used up some retired TH Tissue Tape (Symphony) onto all the top edges.
And then got out that beautiful new in 2022 Patchwork Linen Tape!
Check out Paula Cheney's "Small but Bright" post for another idea on this Linen Tape!
A few old wooden gears from my stash made some perfect 'stands' for the back
so that beautiful, glittery Mica Spray job would stay nice and not get scraped up.
And I came up with a tray for my candles!
Now, we head into the 2nd make...
I found these TH Box Tops in my long-forgotten paper filer!
A similar layer of this Box Top can also be found as just a flat layer (no sides) included
in TH 2022 Christmas Layers!
Both will fit the LARGEST Vignette Box.
In this pic, I am copying over the size of the lid with my stylus to the same size in
plain cream cardstock for a bottom to match the top.
And then- just by using a copy of the cream cardstock- I formed another piece
that would fit INSIDE the box. So that made THREE covers for the box:
outside top, inside bottom, and outside bottom.
I then copied the inside bottom, but made it wider so as to double each wall.
I am not a measurer since I learned long ago that when making more than one
structure; they are not always exact in size and I would end up cutting/folding each
differently on measurements. It was just too much work, and far easier to follow
the pre-made fittings sold as Tim Holtz (Layers, Structures, Vignette Boxes, etc.).
Following the pattern of the doubled-up walls of the inside 'tray',
I folded sets of two walls and glued them in between longer cuts of the same.
This was pretty easy if you remember to cut V where the top edges show
(note the little doubler on the lower right).
Now, all that was needed was to simply give it all Distress Oxide in Vintage Photo
for some age.
*NOTE: I did put in trash plastic into the lid AFTER distressing with Oxide Ink!
Do the plastic last because heat drying the Ink/Oxide will melt your window plastic!
All I needed now was some miniature ornaments...
...out came the TH 2022 Baubles...
and a few of the older pearled Baubles joined in on the fun!
Why not make four smaller Baubles coated and heated
with the TH 2022 Foundry Wax? In both Sterling (silver) and Statue (gold).
To make the ornament tops:
1) Use similar sized plain silver paper clips to match the size of what you use.
2) Bend each clip for the smaller rounded end to be used.
3) Clip off about 1/4 to 1/2 inch depending on how tall you want the top to be.
4) Use pliers to pinch the sides a bit closer together. Not all the way!
5) Carefully use your Tim Holtz Sheers to cut lengths of tin foil (half the height of the cut clip piece).
Adhere the cut clip piece to the strip of foil. Glossy Accents dries fast.
6) After winding foil around cut clip piece until it is tight, loosen the wind until it
forms the size of top you desire for the ornament. Glossy Accents to adhere.
Pardon all the glue; I am a bit heavy-handed with mine.
Before I packaged the ornaments up, I added cotton to the bottoms of each
compartment. The smaller ornaments needed more cotton to put them up than the larger needed.
And this is what came from all that tiny work...
Unsealed to show you the detail...
... and sealed up for handling to "see with your hands" from here on out!
Time for the last make...
I'm using the SMALLEST of the Vignette Box Set for this retired Box Top.
And I simply went through all the same steps to make the inside and outside bottoms.
Since this mini was tinsel... tin foil came in handy again.
Don't cut all the way up and down- just halfway is easier to wrap it on the cardstock piece.
A certain Princess's hair tiny hairband helped keep it neat in the box- hidden by the lid cover!
This is what it looked like when finished:
Click on the links to help you find what you'll need to make some decorations like these:
Thanks so much for joining me for this set of projects! Please be sure to check back in over the next two weeks for more INSPIRATION AVE from the rest of our awesome Design Team!
Pine tree scented candlelight crockpot spaghetti supper.
Easy hanging treed is all ocean themed,
With a 3-inch mini book of The Christmas Story (CLICK HERE for recent post)
Who needs lights when you've got SONshine!!
All the sharks (eating stuffed people) were hung by the heater with care...
... because ChiefHubby has already been there!
He helped me get this for a bit more than a song.
Windsurfing is what will fill my New Year!
Have a great Holiday & a very Merry CHRISTmas!
Until next time...
Stay Safe &
HAPPY BLOGGING!!
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