It's been a month and a half since my last post/Challenge, and what a trip it's been during that time! Most of it was spent being sick again; with an ER trip tossed in. After being whupped by Bronchitis, I'm trying to make my way back up to par. I'd been run ragged trying to get things finished up in our Indiana house, and we left for our Florida house after the oldest Grandbaby had his first-ever Christmas Program on December 6th. I did manage to spend time with all 3 Grandbabies over Thanksgiving since they all were home for that weekend. We did their Christmas with them; enjoying how they appreciated getting new toys and fun. The youngest- Baby Jamie- is moving to Upstate New York from Minnesota; Daddy having gotten the Nuclear Plant job he's wanted for so long. Mommy's older Sister lives just across the Niagra Falls, opposite of their new area, on the Canadian side. So Wittle Pecan will need his Passport to be able to visit his other Cousins. He finally got to meet all of them in person over Thanksgiving. We adults are having a very hard time with Covid19 limiting what our young Grandbabies get to do now. It feels like they are being cheated out of quite a bit that we did with their parents when they were our little kids. Waiting 2 years to meet your own family members just... downright SUCKS! I will have more projects to post after this; no matter if they get into a Challenge or not; I've been busy here and there in the Craft Room at home in Indiana, and finally (after a full week of getting the place aired out and settled in again) ready to spend time in the Florida house Craft Room. I'll post some pics of that as I go, in case anyone is interested in ideas of how to make it work in a large camper trailer! Most of Florida- especially retired folks- live in campers like this that are spaced out among others in communities. Ours just happens to be inside Tri-State Christian Camp. I'll be posting photos to their FB page (link given), so feel free to pop in and see what's there!
Meanwhile; back to TFJB Challenge; Yuletide Delights; this make has been worked on for bits of stolen moments in the past three weeks or so. It could have actually gone into several different Challenges that came up in that time, because it was meant to come out between the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays when we are eating the majority of PUMPKIN PIE to our heart's delight! I am admittedly one of those who stock up when all the Pumpkin & Spice stuff comes out. Not everything; I have particular faves, including the Mini Wheats! But the smell and the taste of the blend just drives some family members totally nuts. Our younger Son can put away an entire Pumpkin pie in one sitting. (The kid is 6' 4"... who's gonna tell him NO?? lol) I put away a whole Pumpkin pie within one week, myself, still managing to keep the weight loss down with the help of all the sickness I went through. In any case; this is why my mind was on PUMPKIN. As for the Moon...it has been a beautiful sky with a beautiful shiny Moon- once the rain stopped in Indiana! One evening, on the way home from Wednesday Night JAM (Jesus And Me) for the older 2 Grandbabies, Peanut was saying "The Moon is a banana tonight!" and the next week, it looked like a watermelon. We replied that we thought it was made of cheese. That's when the thought came to me about the Moon looking the color of Pumpkin. And there you have it. So let's see the make....
I wanted a TH Distress Ink Villainous Potion background, as Paula Cheney was challenged
just a few weeks ago. So the shading was going to use blue and black for the sky.
Tools I used...yes; cinnamon stick was a 'tool' !!
Additional Paperie used; TH Classic Stock and I got out some of the precious Grungepaper.
The white is Mat Board.
This is the example I found when I googled images of "purple night sky".
I needed a bit of practice, so I chose a smaller stash piece of the very same 12 x 12
from Tim Holtz's French Industrial Paperie.
The BACKSIDE of the paper was what I was hoping to use- it has very subtle images ghosted in.
Here's my practice take up against my larger piece.
I cut two each of the Pumpkin and Moon shapes, then stuck them together with Glossy Accents.
The stem was cut from Mat Board while an additional cover piece cut for the Pumpkin
as well as both sides of the stem- from the French Industrial.
I burnished the paperie to the TH Etcetera Mini Tag. I just LOVE the Etcetera Tags!!!
I then made up a sample and took a photo so I could look back on the arrangement for later gluing.
Making the shading was the fun part: that TH Villainous Potion PURPLE!!!
I have another use for it for yet another Christmas project in the works.
That shade of purple is so ROYAL looking!!!
I had to use TH Distress Oxide Carved Pumpkin, of course, on the TH Stretch Alphanumeric.
Coloring up the TH Letterpress word "SPICE" used with a "&" sign as another E.
I needed a second E, but couldn't find any out of the 2 sets I had, and the &
("and" key) did look like an E. Strange, yes...but works!
Dressing up the word "SPICES" to look like real spices on it!
Even though my body refuses to properly digest spices... I do love them!
I'm not a fan of spicey as in spicey HOT, but my fave spices are
probably cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Some sparkle, as smaller stars, was all that was left to do.
And here's what I ended up with...
Can you see the left arm (with the Pumpkin lid) goo?
I did color him with TH Distress Crayon in Pumice Stone...
with a little TH Distress Marigold lightly over his tie.
It looks slightly washed out in this pic. I was trying to keep the light from bouncing off the excess
spilled Glossy Accents showing up all over his arm, and just at the side of him- on the Moon.
Here is where you can see the little tell-tale hint of excessive Glossy Accents.
NOT done with my usual 'heavy handedness', but actually done when
I tried to unclog the tip by grappling it off ENTIRELY...
with little string-like sprays ALL OVER MY WORK.
Thus...scroll back up to it....
on the TH Paper Doll guy, you can see Glossy Accents that I tried to get off his left arm
and part of his coat. I was just about ready to CRY.
Being run down and sick for most of those weeks doing this SIMPLE project;
I'm not entirely sure I DIDN'T sit and cry.
The cinnamon stick is an old one I keep in a jar on the kitchen counter as part
of my decor preference (Americana Primitives), but as soon as I broke it; it smelled nicely again!
That littlest TH IdeaOlogy Pumpkin Piece... so CUTE with some TH Stickles on it,
over the Distress Crayons in Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, and Distress Paint Black Soot splatters.
The stem is a tiny piece of real cinnamon stick!
The backside: I left it a rarely-done plain, but scuffed it up a bit.
I'm VERY grateful if any of my Blog Readers are still around after my long absence;
such a long time was not anticipated, but it's been a "sick" year for me and several of my siblings.
Seems I've been sick since the day I got the first Covid19 shot, into the second, and well
through the summer months. Just when I started healing from the Bronchitis, I'm overdue for
the Booster Vax. I'd rather NOT, but dying of the Covid19 is a very real possibility for me.
Please join us for the next one!
Meanwhile...
Stay Safe &
HAPPY BLOGGING!!
