A New Year, a new Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge, and a new role to play; "Out With the Old & In With the New"... Keeping Faith in 2022

       

      Happy New Year. and welcome back! For those new to my blog; WELCOME! I hope you'll join in with us at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog's 1st Challenge of 2022 ! I have been asked to be part of their Design Team for the first half of 2022! I'm very humbled as well as honored just to be asked. I've been having fun doing these Challenges with this same group for some years now, but as soon as I answered "Yes!" to the offer, I kind of freaked out a bit. Suddenly, it seems I have trouble getting my thoughts in line and making my blog do what I normally make it do. And my computer seems to want to add to the mutiny. So, bear with my excitement as I regain my balance- with a Team of awesome Designers leading the way. I feel as giddy as Grandbaby Pistachio- who, at the tender age of only TWO years old, just attended her first week of Preschool last week! She handled potty training like an old pro, and happily left Daddy at the door of the school- taking it by storm in her too-big-for-her backpack. Peanut already filled her all in about the rule for no running in his Big Bubby role. She's more than ready (obviously, not just her Memaw's opinion as her Sunday School Teacher) and has an amazing hunger to learn!  It's been...BRISK... here on the Gulf Coast, but nothing like the severe cold of the northern states. I do not miss the snow and especially the ice, but our Grandbabies have warm blood flowing through those YOUNG VEINS and they love it! Here's Peanut suited up to go shovel for his Grammy Fasha- yes! He's old enough at 4&1/2! And Jamie was born in MinneSNOWta, so he's born insulated!

   I've been a pretty busy Crafter in the past month, and I'm hoping to get those projects blogged as well as get situated in this side of the fence, so to speak. Starting out the gate with this first 2022 Challenge; "Out with the Old and In with the New", which is prompting us to create a project that has both something old and something new. This can mean an old ribbon used with a cut from a new die set, etc. This theme makes me think of the old year passing and the new year beginning, I chose to make my project from an old story passed down through the years of many Christmases... I'll explain a bit more under each photo. And for this, I have a LOT of photos. So, let's get to them...

                                                       Materials and Tools:

     Most of the tools shown in the following photos can be found at The Funkie Junkie Boutique,  Sponsor of the challenge prizes. Even with newly marketed craft items, owner Linda Coughlin always gives her best to find what you're looking for and get it out to you! I can vouch for being a customer of hers for many years now, and this group of Crafters joining in on these Challenges, are the ones who helped teach me all along the way of this journey! 

This is the latest order of goodies from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Am I the only Tim Holtz Addict who likes to open up new IdeaOlogy- 

just to feel them and ogle the tiny details ?!

The TH Etcetera Tombstone and one package of the TH Paper Dolls Christmas 2022

are scores in pre-Christmas shopping. The second package is NOT a 'mistake'.

I absolutely ADORE these Paper Dolls and you just cannot have too many of them!

The little book is one of the things I spent some crafting time on- I'll be getting

the rest of those items blogged up soon, for viewing. Meanwhile, this one 'larger little' book

was made and set aside just for this very project. The pages can actually turn and are readable.

I'm not a big fan of the scoreboard/cutter shown here, but it's the one I found last year in Florida.

I'm hoping to get Tim Holtz's new 12-inch guillotine cutter for use here.

But we'll see how that goes as I have more work to do than shopping time.

As far as I know: the Ranger TH Distress Embossing POWDER is no longer around.

I totally will be lost when I finally run out of that.... unless Tim Holtz takes mercy on me

and will reintroduce more of it- along with my fave: Grungepaper! (Not shown here.)

Another score: one set was found pre-Christmas shopping and the other was found at TFJBoutique.

       While there was a mention on FB (Tim Holtz Addicts group) of using 'stacks' of paper glued        

           together verses using thin or thick foam for stand-out items, I wondered if doing BOTH would not only give me a clean, 'squared' edge on top, but also have the 'puff' of the foam?? I paired both

(adhered together with Glossy Accents) using some of Tim's new Paperie. 

You be the judge and decide from the end result!

The TH Etcetera Tombstone is easy-peasy to put together- the package shows it on the front.

But I was going full out for a front and backside, so I used the extra pieces from the cutout shapes, as well as a couple of the TH Etcetera Bracket Shelf pieces, to make what I wanted.

This stuff is very stiff and very durable, yet can be cut with your TH Scissors and making

a hole for Jump Rings or say...TH Long Fasteners...is easy to do.

 This stuff is Etcetera stuff is BRILLIANT, and it's my new obsession!

Slipping in a ribbon for hanging- not just for drying all edges at the same time,

but for later display as well.

Glossy Accents is used in all the glue processes. I'm heavy-handed with it, but I've 

got projects that have lasted sitting out (and being handled and dusted) for over ten years.

I'm a firm believer in that glue!!

The main piece is all put together all around.

Here comes the fun part...

This is really the BACK SIDE, but I am showing it got done FIRST.

Because...

As you can see from the slightly-still-there-glue-marks, the LARIMORE lettering

was accidentally placed onto the FRONT SIDE by mistake.

*sigh*

Embrace your mistakes! I did I wasn't happy about it, but I did it.

Don't worry: those glue marks will just disappear underneath the layers I had planned!

After all my lettering was placed and glued, I used my scissors to scrappy-cut some odd ends of the foam to place around the edges of the Tombstone for faux "cracks" in the stone.

Now it's Gesso time! Coat it all over - front and back, sides, top and bottom.

I used a stiff brush to get in between all the spaces in the letterings. It dried pretty quick.

Some Ranger TH Texture Paste in Opaque Matte, which is not transparent, so it

can be used as a good 'filler' for spaces between the two sides that were still showing.

And here comes the BEST PART: Tim's (new to me- FINALLY!) Grit Paste!!

TH had some new extra-gritty Grit Paste come out over the Fall and Holidays, but I was not able to find any when I wanted it, but did manage to find this over pre-Christmas shopping. I grabbed that jar like my poor life depended on it! The only problem was; it was not as gritty as the other newer paste.

I'd brought my 3 precious jars of Distress Embossing Powder with me for this very project, not knowing if I'd find the new Grit Paste or not, so I got it out wondering....

if I could add some of that to the jar of Paste?? I tried it out on paper first.

And it WORKED! So from then on, I scooped out a gob of Paste with my brush, 

put it on my finger and then just gently dipped. The powder and paste just LOVED one another!!

The result was convincing enough to look like the newer Grit Paste, but in Antique Linen spotting.

(My other idea was to go out my front door with a wire strainer and use Florida Gulf SAND 

which is really the same Antique Linen shade inland and on shoreline, white.)

I used the brush to get right in there up against the edge where the lettering met the Etcetera board.

I wanted the lettering to stand out, yet look faded by the years. 

So having it all blend into the board was my main need here, and it did take some patience 

to build that up with the brush without tearing the lettering apart. I hung it to dry a full 24 hrs.

In one of my favorite main inspiration Crafter's blogs, Zoe Hillman - one of Tim's Makers,

her Tombstone had me totally hooked on the idea to do one with this story the main idea.

( Click Here to see Zoe's extremely cool Tombstone Tag.)

While the Tombstone Tag was hanging out in the little Florida Craft Room...

I got busy playing with my TH Paper Dolls.

I colored with Ranger TH Distress Crayons, and the cool thing about these is that you can

color hard on these, wipe it all off with a baby wipe, and use another color, or another media.

These Paper Dolls are so versatile!!  And yeah- I finally stuck with this green on "me".

After smearing the Distress Crayon color, then going over tiny areas with a waterbrush, then the darker Distress Crayon over it's lighter color, I heat dried all of the Dolls between each layer, 

then added edging in TH Distress Oxide Ground Espresso with a Blending Tool.

After the 24 hour drying, this thing really felt like a real Tombstone's surface!

And that's when I looked for my grey-shade of Distress Paint and found I'd packed the METAL

Distress Paint. What's a girl to do?! She bes like TIM: just mix it and play around

till you get what you need and want! So I did and the finished coloring was...

...wait for it...

...PERFECT! (Top part is the final color.)

Time to embellish with the Dolls, book, chain, etc.

I did make a simple pocket for the book to slide right into- easy to get out as interactive!

RESULTS:

Like Ebenezer Scrooge, each year we try to keep our souls fresh with the CHRISTmas spirit.

We are reminded of the world's chains that can hold us down and steal our focus- and our joy.

Spending time with, and teaching my Grandbabies, is VERY IMPORTANT to me- thus "I"

hold the key that unlocks and breaks away the weighted "chains" of the world.

The TH IdeaOlogy gates are pretty OLD,

but The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is much older.

(REQUIREMENT for OLD and NEW)

The TH IdeaOlogy Lock & Key Sets are very new- just out in Fall 2021, but 

I'm just now getting the chance to FIND any. I actually found one package pre-Christmas shopping,

and the other available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I have another use planned for February

as these are the absolute Bee's Knees in cuteness !!!

(REQUIREMENT for OLD/NEW)

Getting TH IdeaOlogy Jump Rings through a board??

If it's an ETCETERA THICKBOARD...it's a can do!!

Of course, keeping faith means having faith that GOD's 'got this': every situation, every circumstance

that comes about in the NEW YEAR 2022. 

We practice our trust and our patience- especially in these days- with those around us... 24/7/365.

The book is easily taken out and read.

But those TH Thinlits Set Alphanumeric Stretch letters!!!

They make the name LARIMORE so realistic looking that I cropped this and am

adding the resulting pic to my FB cover. It's so CUTE!!!

And now, for the best NEW news of all:

Our younger Red Wing, MinneSNOWta Son, Daughter, and Grandbaby Pecan

are moving to Upstate New York! It's a done deal where he will now be a Nuclear Engineer 

at a facility on Lake Ontario. As of this posting (Wednesday; Jan 12), they are in Indiana

for a short visit while waiting on the moving company to get everything to their newly purchased home

in NEW YORK STATE!

As if that's not all...

They called us on Sunday; January 9th to surprise us:

GRANDCHILD #4 is on the way!!!

A Baby made in the OLD year who will be born in the NEW year!

How's that for the final Requirement? :)

Of course, I immediately had to run into my Craft Room to grab my Paper Dolls

to find the more suitable replacement: for Baby Pecan to now be a 

BIG BROTHER with a LITTLE BROTHER OR SISTER!!!

An "old" TH Paper Doll represents a new Baby!

Please join the FUN going on: The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog

where a new theme challenges you to create something artful!

Each Challenge gives you 2 full weeks, and you can enter a photo of your finished piece

which could earn you a blog Badge and some bragging rights!

Each entry is automatically entered for the random draw PRIZE !

Sponsored by 

So...Until next time...

Stay Safe &

HAPPY BLOGGING!!

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #1 Let's Play Tic Tac Toe!...A Merry and Bright 2020!

      Wow, that went fast, huh? January 2020 is already half gone before I'm ready to catch my breath over 2019. There are times when I wish I had the power to slow time down. But then, I'd be temped to make it speed back up for other times. Since manipulation of time itself is not quite in my job description as a mere human, it's gonna hafta be left as one of those things GOD handles. I'll just keep sticking with paper manipulation.(lol)  
      Seriously; my hopes are that all my readers have had the chance to recover from all the gatherings, travel, and food, and especially that each of you have had the chance to make a difference in reaching out to others in sharing the blessings of abundance. We truly are blessed to be able to freely travel, gather, and break bread together- especially here in the USA! I not only got to spend time with our older set of kids and the 2 older Grandbabies, but we were able to get a (way too short) visit up to the younger set and the newest Grandbaby. A chance to hold that BIG Little Man, and touch those adorably awesome huge cheeks that get bigger whenever he smiles! I even got to babysit him while the kids got a chance to have a date (they went to the movies to see the new Star Wars). My youngest Grandbaby was just the bestest behaved Pecan, and spending his first Christmas with him was such a great blessing! He's the little Miracle Man! 
     As soon as we got back to Indiana, I started working on a small winter project. I guess I wanted to make the best of the time I had after we got "pushed" home a day early because of an ice storm front. If we had stayed as planned, the ice storm would have made it rough to get back, since we took the car up instead of the 4x4 truck. And, we'd probably have been late for the ChiefHubby to get back to work on the 2nd. I was angry the entire way back home...at the weather. And, since the industry says he'll be working most Saturdays, a trip back up to Minnesota before April is going to take some serious HOPE. I guess that anger is what lit a fire under me, and I put this little make together in a few hours. It came to my mind on the drive home: the year 2020 looks "merry and bright" for this Grandma of three beautiful, happy Grandbabies. But, I need to remember to take some time out and spend some time with my BESTIES, too. This past year of 2019, we had almost no time together. Sure, we did the camping trips as usual. But during each trip, only part of us could be there, or most of us had to run errands, or had 'home work' to do on the trip, etc. So our time was pretty interrupted. Maybe we're all just getting old....ER. But really; life itself just kind of "butts in" and we have to try harder to carve some time out for EVERYONE.  
    Oh, don't worry; I'm going to bust my fingers to keep new crafted makes posted. My CraftMuse would explode otherwise! But, like anything that is worth having; it's worth the EFFORT. With that in mind, let's get to the first of two makes for this Tic Tac Toe Challenge ! We're instructed to choose one row (strike through it just as if you won the game- across, up/down, or diagonal) choosing the 3 elements your project will have in it. I assumed that you could have more than just those 3, of course, but we were to mention/show what our strike-through choices were and point them out on our makes.
So, while I did craft this first project on New Year's Day, I was happy to find that my choices lined right up-and-down in the middle of the puzzle: Winter, Sentiment, and Silver! (Squeal!) 

I started out with wanting to try out the new (to me) Tim Holtz Alterations Die Trinket Frames.

Not ready to put away the décor in the house yet, I got out the Mind's Eye Yuletide paper

that was a bargain find during my last trip to Tuesday Morning.

Toss in a few green pines and leftover fence piece from my stash, 

some TH IdeaOlogy; Frozen and Paper Dolls, and I was ready to make my head plan a "reality"

inside a TH (Christmas edition) Trinket Tin!

Cutting some strips that would fit into the sides around the inside of the TH Trinket Tin,

I cut a full scene from the paper of the Mind's Eye stack with the die:

(it cuts the middle of the paper out, so you'll need to cut a "pattern" and use that to

pencil around and then cut out with scissors for your full bottom or full top piece),

then put my TH Distress Oxide Antique Linen to use for some depth.

Cutting a frame for both the top and bottom - as well as another pattern to pencil around

for cutting another full piece for the top. 

I chose Distress Oxides in Iced Spruce and Vintage Photo for some depth on these.

I also took the time to sand the TH IdeaOlogy pieces: Typeography numbers and Frozen.

After the numbers were adhered, was when it struck me to use a TH Adornment: Star...

and then use my index finger to rub a bit of TH Distress Pain in Picket Fence

to the point only of the star. 

TH IdeaOlogy (phillps screw headed) Mini Fasteners pierced into the

8 rounded corners, and I layered the top set with popdots.

A bit of cheesecloth for some snow...

...and a couple of Besties to join me;

it doesn't matter which ones these two are who are joining me (I'm in pink- in the middle),

the point is the same: MAKE THE TIME FOR SOME FUN!

As for distressing with TH Distress Crayons: you'll notice that in the 2 projects I have

for this Challenge, both use the Crayons in a "dot and smear" type of technique.

I love how Paula Cheny colors her Paper Dolls with the Crayon/water brush technique,

and I hope to try that soon, but in this set of makes, I was trying for a 'yarn' or 'wool' look.

When I look at my puffy hats and gloves, they look uneven in shade because some

fuzzies stand out lighter-looking. And other parts look darker as the yarn is doubled up in the stitch.

I just kept dotting the Crayon onto the spot and smudge it down onto the surface,

and repeat till it looked 'built up'. The look works for me, anyway.

I decided the girls and I were going to do something we probably WOULDN'T do: go sledding.

Now, I would. Definitely with my Grandbabies. But actually getting out there NOW when the

deep-deep freeze-freeze yyyyour bbbbuns off is going on...

Myehhhhh… *blowing raspberries*

Actually, I found this little sled in my stash while looking for the TH IdeaOlogy Deer.

And I decided sitting the girls down onto the sled was a good way to show more of the background!

The deer was a fun play on my ChiefHubby (my DEAR DEER) who is always checking

in to make sure Chiefy's Wifey is ok. So he's back there doing his "bomb thing" in our frame.

I actually had painted this deer a couple weeks before- for the smaller of the faux book.

( CLICK HERE if you missed it.)

The finished project...

SILVER: The TH Trinket Tin itself is a rough silver metal.  I added a few pinches of

TH Distress Glitter in Rock Candy- which also has some silver in it.

SENTIMENT: "Merry & Bright" for 2020 seems to fit the hope I have for this new year!

WINTER: Umm....pretty obviously; the season here is a given. ;)

Tim's Trinket Tins are just too much fun!

I've always been a big fan of miniatures, and I've got this idea of having 'the perfect' dollhouse

setup for my Grandbabies as they get older. We added a simpler dollhouse under the tree

for Christmas 2019, and it's given me a ton of new ideas. If I get the time...

Meanwhile, don't forget to head over to The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog

to see what others have posted onto the page for this Challenge.

Better yet; join us! You still have until 11:55pm, Tuesday, January 20th.

Who knows...maybe you'll hit the jackpot for a Gift Certificate from

the Sponsor, The Funkie Junkie Boutique !

THANKS for checking in,

and

HAPPY BLOGGING...

for just a bit until I get 

my SECOND project posted next!!