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!

WELCOME! to my new Followers !

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!

For one randomly drawn Winner, there's a $25 Gift Certificate Sponsored by

Until next time...

Stay Safe & Warm!

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!!