A Chief's Wife's Heart's 'aFire: October 2023

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

The Funkie Junkie Boutique's Inspiration Ave #23 Season of Gratitude... A Clipboard Reminder

October flew by with quite a bit going on- almost overwhelmingly so. We have only 4 weeks left until we head south again, already. We've managed to get most of the outside things done, but with so much yet left to do before we pack up. We did enjoy a spectacular view out here with colors bursting from the trees and some good warm weather as well, which allowed me to get my sailboat out and give her a good run on her way to storage for the year. There was nearly a full month of color until this past week when it 'rained' leaves faster than actual rain! The 18th brought my 58th Birthday and my ChiefHubby planned a nice getaway in Shipshewana (northern Indiana) with a 2-night stay and a Mersey Beatles concert. We've seen all the top Beatles tribute bands but had yet to see this one. And we enjoyed a lot of wonderful Amish-made food as only the Amish can make! This past week has gone especially fast, and we'll be up in New York to celebrate the last birthday of the year- Jamie turns 4 on November 14th, while I am still shopping for him yet! He's the Pumpkin -along with Memaw- and he really LOVES pumpkins and especially Halloween! As I type this, it's still Halloween and all our Grandbabies will be out in their neighborhoods getting their "Boo Bags" filled with candy. It's a fun holiday for them to actually have a reason to play dress up and it's always been a favorite holiday of their Parents as well.

November is the month of Thanksgiving and those of us on The Funkie Junkie Boutiuque's Design Team have quite a lot to be grateful for! Owner Linda Coughlin is challenging us to show just how grateful we are with the newest theme she's aptly titled "Season of Gratitude". From all the photos I share on my blog, it's definitely one of the most important things to me and if you'll join me on this latest tutorial, I'll share with you the perfect sentiment I found- from Tim Holtz!

'Tis the season to start using those NEW TIM HOLTZ DIES!

Let me share my List of Links with you for the products I've used:

Sizzix Tim Holtz Christmas 2023 Thinlits Die Set 23PK - Candle Shop, Colorize

Sizzix Tim Holtz Skeleton Leaves Thinlits Die Set

Tim Holtz Idea-ology 6x9 Kraft Stock, Cool

Tim Holtz Idea-ology 6x9 Kraft Stock, Neutral

Tim Holtz Idea-ology 6x9 Kraft Stock, Warm

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Label Frames

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Long Fasteners

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Clipboard

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips, Labels

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Carved Pumpkin

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Crackling Campfire

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Pine Needles

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Vintage Photo

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Salvaged Patina

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Walnut Stain

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Foundry Wax Kit #2 - Sterling/Statue

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - Set #2

Tim Holtz Distress Sanding Disks

Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer

Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool + 2 Blending Foams

Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Kushgrip Snip w/Non-Stick Blade & Cap 7"-Small

Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Black Kushgrip Snip w/Non-Stick Blade & Cap 5"

The first thing I did was use my screwdriver to remove the Hitch Fasteners that hold the clip to the board. The board itself is an actual clipboard and Tim's right- it's a product that is too underused!

This little board is very cute and versatile too, being 5x7 inches.

I decided to use the retired TH Kraft Core stock paper once again.

I ended up using 2 of the 3 Thanksgiving sheets for the front. It just looked good.

I grabbed a very old, very unused pair of deckle scissors to trim the edges with.

You can see that each page has the very same design, so I kept them lined up in the layers.

After sanding the one on the left, you can see the difference it made.

I finally chose one of the sanded pieces to use as my front side, and used some Glossy Accents

to adhere it to the board. I used my TH Craft Pick to remake the holes for the clip to go back onto.

Time to break out the new TH Candle Shop Thinlits Set!

I always open my dies and count them out to make sure each piece is there.

VERY RARELY, you may find a mistake and you'll be able to catch it before you get going.

In a few instances, you may find an extra piece: and do an extra little happy dance!

This happened to me twice, so far!

Next, I go into my YouTube to find Tim's latest video on the particular die set,

(in this case: Sizzix: How To Assemble Tim Holtz Colorize Die Candleshop 666381)

and after I watch it in its entirety, I replay it to take screen shots of the pieces

and another set of screen shots for the colors. This helps me pick out the right shades better.

Tim Holtz has some great cardstocks that go especially well with this Die Set,

so choosing my own color scheme was easy.

Then simply follow the cutting sequence from the numbers & letters on the backside of the dies.

I made an extra bottom layer cut for each candle- so the backs would be finished like a real candle.

Then I added double-sticky foam in between those two bottom layers and glued all around the edges of each candle. The results were little 'pillows' of each candle. This would stand out more.

I wanted a bit of fall in the background, so I cut some TH Skeleton Leaves

and inked them up with some Distress Oxides.

I did one of my fave techniques: faux rusting...

by adding Distress Paint (Walnut Stain), then sprinkling

some embossing powder (I used Tim's retired Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo)

and heating it till dry. Repeat the process till you're happy with the results.

For the frame (retired, but Tim does have new ones out- which I listed above),

I used Statue Foundry Wax and rubbed some Distress Paint in Salvaged Patina all over it.

If you peel off half the cardboard from the Quote Chip Label, it fits better inside.

I rubbed the Chip with a bit of Distress Crayon in Vintage Photo, first,

and added a couple of Long Fasteners just for looks.

And this is what my cute Clipboard Reminder looks like:

FRONT

The perfect sentiment was inside the TH Chip Quotes Labels!

BACK

This is probably one of my favorite projects I've done this year, simply because it was SIMPLE.

Sometimes, simplicity is what life calls for, and I'm grateful for all those little, simple things...

a few moments watching the leaves turn colors... gliding along in the water- no sound needed here!... the smiles of my Grandchildren... and so much more- each just a simple thing.

I'm mostly and firstly thankful to our Heavenly Father,

through my LORD, JESUS CHRIST, for His perfect creation gifts, and with humility,

I am extremely thankful for the many blessings He's bestowed upon me!

I'm thankful for such wonderful people to work for and with, Linda and the rest of the Design Team, and very humbly honored to be included in such an elite group of fellow Designers!

And finally; I'm filled with gratitude for all the folks who keep joining us over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for more Inspiration Ave makes: you keep US inspired!

Be sure to pop back in every couple of days for more "Season of Gratitude" and don't forget to stock up at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for everything you'll need during the Holidays to come!

Until next time...

Stay Safe &

HAPPY BLOGGING!!

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

The Funkie Junkie Boutique's Inspiration Ave... #22 Mixed Media Madness... A Tim Holtz Fabric Journal!

The past two weeks has kept me almost too busy. We definitely don't have a problem "keeping active" in our golden older years, that's for sure! We helped at the KidFest our church puts on every year in October, then immediately left for some relaxing campout time with some of our Besties. We didn't need to go far- almost right out our back door- to a nearby popular watering hole. But the trip included driving back and forth for all three evenings for activities (Bible studies 2 evenings and JAM with the older set of Grandbabies Wednesday evenings). And this past weekend; a funeral and a wedding in the same day. All the running around, and likely the cold weather added to it; caused an RA flareup on Sunday and I'm still feeling the effects of it even as I type this. Time keeps marching on and our Grandbabies all seem to have the energy that I wish I still had! I kind of wish it would slow down a little bit- I'm almost afraid to blink... and miss out on these milestones they are all reaching. They've all four gotten taller and heavier, with Peanut leading the way. He lost a tooth last month, and a second one while on his first
class trip. While Princess Pistachio is actually 7 months older than Pecan, he's still a bit bigger- even though he still fits into a cooler to help do the grocery shopping. (Order me a dozen of him,lol!) But Princess Chloe is fast growing out of her clothes and it's going to get expensive for her parents if they keep up with her Fashion Passion! Little Princess Rose is taking after the rest of her family with her love of books- even at only age one! We've been extremely blessed in this area with our family; from birth, our boys have loved reading. They've always finished novels in speed-reading time. They each married girls who hold education as very important and each has her Bachelor's degree. I feel so very blessed that our Grandkids all have the "push" they'll need when the time comes- as it will for every kid.

The next two weeks has The Funkie Junkie Boutique's DT on another new assignment to bring you some Inspiration Ave "Mixed Media Madness"! Pushing through this project was actually rougher than I expected it to be. I've actually been carting this around with me in all of my travels since July, and never seeming to get the downtime to take my time with it. So here it is, the week it's due and life tosses everything it can into my path to this finish line. I've pressed on- simply because it was so FUN to make! I've chosen to use Tim Holtz's Fabric Journal and fill it to bursting with lots of mixed IdeaOlogy items. My Craft Room was a disaster area while this was being made, but it was worth all the effort! This is going to be a different kind of posting for me, since I'll be showing a lot of finished photos with a few secret tips mixed in. I'm including as many of the IdeaOlogy items as possible, so be sure to check out the LINKS List. Ready, set... let's go!

Tim's Fabric Journal has been in my stash since January. I got the urge to finally use it

when all the new TH materials started making news. I did get out my old set of fat quarters- jic-

but didn't end up using any of it. The journal has a lot of pages in it and it gave me a lot of ideas!

First up was to alter the journal itself for a "background" to ad everything to.

The journal comes with its own tie/wrap and I inked it up and heat-dried it the same way

as the journal- page by page until it was all distressed.

I spread each page back out and dried it again, while flattening it back out again.

After it was fully dried, and I left it with some heavy books on top for a few hours,

I was able to trim off the excess threads to neaten up the edges.

This is where my normal layout changes: in making this journal, it's basically all the same techniques of choosing a piece, cutting it to fit, inking with Distress Inks and Oxides, and then taping/gluing it to the journal pages. I also used my mini sewing machine to add stitches here and there. The harder baseboard IdeaOlogy items were distressed with various TH Distress Crayons and I've also used a few of the Distress Paints. I basically used for neutral colors: Antique Linen, Black Soot, Ground Espresso, and Black Soot. Glossy Accents was my glue of choice. The rest of the items will be listed at the end.