The Funkie Junkie Challenge #7 Snarky, Sassy, & Silly Summer Fun.... and... Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge... SUMMER FISH!

       Wow. What a summer this has started out to be; definitely challenging, for sure! When I recieved the COVID19 Vaccine shot on April 1st, I went from being ill from side effects for a couple of weeks, to a really bad cold, to more side effects from the 2nd shot (Moderna), and straight into the "new regular" Flu. It's been a couple of weeks since I've had a running fever, but the cough is still there. I ended up on 2 broad-spectrum antibiotics because both my regular Docs couldn't find out where the infection was. The rest of the family also had it and it ran into our family vacation just a little bit. While I was out (flat in bed with fever) an entire 24 hours during our stay in the rental house up in Wisconsin, everyone else just had stomach flu for 24 hours. Yeah, that was a fun day; NOT! We did manage to have a very good time and the best part was when the Grandbabies all got to see wave water for the first time! (But no thanks to COVID19 for cheating us out of our summer family vacation last year, and getting the babies out to see real waves.) So Peanut- at 4- was just as excited as Princess (26 months) and Baby Pecan (19 months), and they had

this Memaw loving how they reacted! Most importantly; Peanut and Princess finally got to meet Baby Pecan!! To say they got along well is a huge understatement; for the most part, we tore through the house chasing each other and just hanging out and having fun together. We did manage to get a toe-dip into the lake and take in the free (yes- FREE! to everyone!) Zoo up there. That was a nice surprise and it was run mostly by volunteers who were doing all kinds of work while we took advantage of the fun. Back home again, it was back to the coughing fits and fevers, and trying to keep up with things. Seems like I had just gotten back out there after finally getting vaxxed, when I ended up back in bed. Some summer- let alone where did spring go?? I haven't even gotten my sailboat out, yet. Just when we got everything caught up and ready to power wash the boats, the hand sprayer broke. Go figure. And then... We REALLY got a surprise..

       Once we got back in Indiana on April 1st, our top priority- besides getting my medical up to date- was to catch all three of our kitties and finally get them spayed/nurtured. Before I headed up to see the Red Wing Kids/Baby Pecan, I cut to the chase (so to speak) and caught the momma Dodger Kitty and while she was SUPER SWEET with Hunni Pi, she bit my hand through and through trying to get away from me. I used a large fishing net and it finally WORKED! Artful Dodger lived up to her name- was the original kitten someone had dropped out here and she'd come to us in August 2020 and adopted us as her own. In October, we did a double take when our ONE Dodger kitty turned out to be a Momma with TWO BABIES about 6 or 7 weeks old. I named them appropriately- knowing only the grey with the beautiful full eyes- was a girl-  after Mookie Betts (& another kitty my Brother had years ago): Smokie, but we call her Mokie. The other, Chase (after Chase Utley... a Tiger white/grey like Momma, refused to be caught, so we had no idea as female or male. So... we got Dodger in to be fully vetted (spayed, all shots, wormed, etc.) only to find out that she was pregnant AGAIN. They had to take

the kittens out and we were on our way to come get our little Dodger girl (she was still only 9 months old herself!) after her surgery schedule. They came out to tell us that 30 minutes before we got there, our little Dodger passed away in recovery. I was heartbroken. I so wanted that little girl to have a REAL home and a GOOD life. So we brought her home to bury her here where she had a HOME. We still had TWO kittens to catch. While I was in Red Wing, the ChiefHubby set out the trap to get each kitty in it, and lucked out (I think GOD did it...you'll see) by getting Chase first and to the Vet's and came home to find Mokie in the cage, too! Sadly, Chase also a girl and also was pregnant but she turned out ok and is now a playful, healthy kitty who is learning to trust us. Mokie, however...she got spayed just fine. And so our life went with the kittens growing well and learning to trust us S L O W L Y.  Until last week. ChiefHubby thought he saw a little tiny black head pop out from under the front porch while washing the car. He didn't think much of it, but the next day, the neighbor came over to say "I think you've got a
couple of kittens under there", and upon our investigation.... THREE. They're about 4 weeks now, and I've worked with them in this past week, all the while knowing that we were going to have to surrender them. I just can't keep doing this. All we can figure out is that Mokie had kittens before she went in to the Vet for her workup. It's a wonder those kittens survived at all. You can read about it on my Facebook post

HERE, Today, we surrendered them to the County Shelter (no kill- all adoptions). Now I have 2 nearly 10 month old sister kittens who really deserve a good life and am crushed because I SO WANT that for the new babies as well. I only wanted ONE cat...and got at least TEN. All because last summer, one selfish, heartless, low life decided to drop out a helpless kitten to find it's own way. I've done all I can: the best I can. Bless my ChiefHubby who not only shelled out bucks for Chase and Mokie to be fully vetted, but also donated for the 3 babies surrendered today. And Bless our Veterinarian, who didn't even charge us for all the care they gave our Artful Dodger.

     Now you see why I haven't had time to create much of anything in my studio- I've been run ragged trying to keep up with other....little creations. But I've found a bit of time (the past 24 hours to be exact) and gotten out this idea that stuck in my head: the man who was swallowed by a whale...WOW! I would think that since it's been proven to be possible to have happen...there's no denying the story of Jonah from The BIBLE. :)  I took that idea and then IT took ME... 

I had several sheets of Red, Tan, and Blue (for old Americana) in Bazzille.

And the room is much easier to clean now that it's pared down...

but it's still decorated for inspiration.

YES: that sand dollar is REAL!! I found it on a walk on the beach back in February-

Emerald Coast, Florida. It's made it all the way home, courtesy of Glossy Accents.

I used the glue to seal the dollar all over- one side at a time- and then used soft

tissue and careful packaging to bring it back. The other shells didn't need any special 

attention, and I am always on the lookout for the pukka shells (they make their own hole-

the ribbed shell most right in the photo).

I ended up NOT using the french fry box (brought back from Red Wing this trip).

I'll save it for another day.

The photo plastic was a gift from one of my Besties. I REfound it during the 

house overhaul a few months ago.

This is what I came up with: SUMMER FISH!

      Yep- swallowed Ollie Octopus; US Flag and all! Carp in Indiana are known to eat ANYTHING.

Ollie Octopus is back: in Tim's newest Distress Oxide Ink: SALVAGED PATINA !!

Ohmygoodness; I can't wait to make a rusty.....whatever!... with this stuff!!!

(You can find Ollie previously HERE .)

The IdeaOlogy Numeral 7 is for JULY.

My ChiefHubby had a fish holder sitting on the back door peg shelf. It gave me the idea for this.

I used a wound key ring and an IdeaOlogy Pen Nib and some Glossy Accents.

The IdeaOlogy Mini Pocket Watch, Key Chain, Spinner, Mini Gear, Long Fastener,

and Date Dial....shows the date to look forward to (my fave holiday): July 4th!

Another use for that Americana paper roll!

And... I had to do something cute on the backside,

so I added my own "little fishies"....

These three are my Little Fishies!!

They loved the waves as much as they love the pool!

The surprise: I can open up the blue cover and it lifts the lid to the photo holder;

changing out the photo whenever I want to!

I didn't see the need to conceal the lid top where it meets the red inside; it was 

going to add too much between the closing, so I just left it. It closes tightly this way.

I'm entering this into the following Challenges:

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog: Snarky, Sassy, and Silly Summer Fun

Sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique

AND

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge; Red, White, &/or Blue

Sponsored by Simon Says Stamp

Thanks! for dropping by, and a very BIG THANKS!

to all those who have been checking in since I've been AWOL !!!

Crafters are only as good as those folks who are SHARING!!

From ours to yours:

Have a HAPPY JULY FOURTH!

And PLEASE: stay safe around any fireworks!!!

Until next time...

STAY SAFE, &

HAPPY BLOGGING!!!

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #5; Anything Goes.... Eileen Hull Dies; Camping Album 1

                            It's BAAAAAACK!!! 

When The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog decided to take a Spring Break, I chose to do the same. And now that they're back- and BETTER THAN EVER- with new Designers as well as more stock of my beloved Tim Holtz items....I'm back in the game also! April and May took a huge toll on me and at this very writing, I am battling some kind of URI (Upper Respiratory Infection) just as we got back from the first camping trip of 2021. I finally was able to get the COVID19 Vaccine after a long, lonely, 14 months of staying away from others (except my own close family members) and stores, businesses, etc. WOW: does it feel GOOD to get back out there !!!! And since I've been thinking on it for some time now, I chose to really dig deep into the house here in Indiana and PURGE the entire place! EVERY drawer, closet, as well as furniture or knick-knack, received a choice of A) toss to recycle, B) toss to the burn pile, C) give away, or D) refurbish/clean/reuse/rearrange. And it took all of two full weeks. Every single thing got the choices and the ChiefHubby was VERY generous in meeting me halfway by allowing me to purchase whatever was needed to make my dream décor into real Primitive Americana- right down to the window treatments (which I sewed myself from a huge bolt of lovely unbleached muslin. I've always tried to keep the decor to that same line, but you know how it goes...things just end up piled up here and there and before you know it, your style automatically becomes "eclectic" of what you aimed for. It feels SO GOOD to have that all done- but it was VERY TOUGH to do that Craft Studio !!! I had to ask the ChiefHubby to pray for me to have strength during that part- which was saved for last. That room alone coughed up 5 heavy duty large trash bags that got burned in the fire pit. More than 2 steering-wheel-to-tailgate truckloads when to the local donation Christian-run store. And now I can see the floor and have a lot more space. Don't worry- the burn stuff was just piles and piles of keepsake items that never got crafted. No waste there.

      Speaking of cough.... I must get this out for deadline...I must cut to the chase. No "How To" this time because I was actually doing that while camping with all our Besties: showing them how to use the Eileen Hull ( Eileen Hull- Designer ) dies of Folio and Camper. But, I am including a set of front and back photos of their resulting campers following my own make here of the camper into a photo album: my first! So here we go!

                                                     The Besties working...

THANKS to the Besties who crafted with me- especially Susan; I didn't mean to keep us until 8pm!!

                       The best parts are now BACK again: Random $25n GC from

                                                               The Funkie Junkie Boutique

                           

                                  And a chance to be a Guest Designer for TFJB Challenge Blog!

And......just like that:

The Princess turned 2 years old and is deeply dependent on the color pink,

and knows that girls can definitely have- almost a requirement- more than one pair of shoes,

as well as more than one kind of hairpin!

Oldest Grandchild, Peanut, graduated from his first year of PreSchool 

... he absolutely loved getting to dress up on theme days during the last week;

he even shared the spotlight with his Sissy...

Memaw got to finally go back up north to Red Wing and spend 2 weeks with Baby Pecan...

...who also graduated; to the Toddler Class!

And yes, it made this Memaw cry. C'mon, folks, that last baby always rips your heart out

by just getting bigger. And I wouldn't change anything because it means they

are growing! And this youngest one is picking up at the pace of 3 inches from 

the end of January to the middle of April !!

(Have you ever noticed how many Strawberry-Blonde kids have the name JAMIE?!

That's a free plug for ya, Netflix- "Highlander"!!)

That catches us all up from here.

There will be more crafty posts coming this way as Challenges pick up steam,

so I hope everyone will pop back in to take a peek !

Meanwhile, I'll be resting in bed, hopeful that my Doctors will get back to us

with results/meds to get this going away.

*smirk* Figures; beat that COVID19 for over a year only

to get done in by regular Flu/Pneumonia/Bronchitis (I'm putting my bet on that last one).

SEE YOU SOON!

HAPPY BLOGGING!!!

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #4 Mostly Neutral...& Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Textures...The Word is Love!

    This post is finding its way out in time for the SSS Monday Challenge "Add Some Texture" before the deadline in just a few hours. I actually hibernated all evening on Sunday, and that's the reason I am up doing an all-nighter to get this out. At least I will be a full week early for TFJB Challenge "Mostly Neutral" which runs till March 2nd. That'll actually make a lot of people *gasp!* over my being early, lol! I was surprised and soooooo HAPPY to be sporting that coveted badge: being featured by Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Love&Hearts" !!! I am over the moon!!

While the above 2 challenges are combined into this one project, neither was themed about Valentine's Day, which I'm not quite yet 'over' since we have yet to go out on the catamaran 2-hr cruise. The original trip got canceled due to inclement weather, and we are waiting for a new date to reserve 2 spots. I was really looking forward to that, because I am a sailboat owner/sailorgirl myself. But, rather than end up like Skipper and Gilligan (we're both Captains of our boats, depending on which boat we're on) and have our 2-hour cruise hit bad weather in the Gulf waters...I'll hang in there for the clear skies.

   The Grandbabies are all enjoying the deep snow up in Indiana and MinneSNOWta while we both enjoyed National "I Hate Florida" Day down here. We were one of only 6 lower 48 states that didn't see snow over that week, but we did 'enjoy' a low of 21*F chill during one night, with a high of 41*F during that day. Granted, it was not the 30 below that Indiana was feeling. The youngest Grandbaby is officially a walker! He's finally decided that crawling is just not going to get him there as fast as he's

decided he wants to go; very much like his Daddy was as a baby! They had a rough month since they had to help Baxter, our "Little King" rat terrier, across the Rainbow Bridge. I find it so hard to face that, but it's a responsibility of having FurryKids that we cannot walk away from. I will definitely miss him bossing the rest of the dogs around. He was the littlest of all. The Golden Retriever Grandpups are the 2 youngest of the bunch, and Grandbabies Peanut and Princess are old enough to run outside- joining in on the snow fun. We've gotten a lot of texted photos of all three Grands and while it makes me miss them, I really enjoy knowing they have WONDERFUL PARENTS!! It sure brings back a lot of good memories I had when our own 2 boys were that age. I may miss our Grands, and Kids, but I sure do not miss the SNOW. My own Hunni Pi is doing much better now and enjoying the warmer weather walks.

I am catching up with Tim Holtz's many posts- especially with the recent new items out, and that LOVELY heart he made! My favorite new thing of all, however, has to be the new Distress shade;

Kitsch Flamingo! It's so hard to find right now, and I am kicking myself for not pre-ordering. However, I did preorder the Eileen Hull Folio Die, and am waiting on that to finally ship even though the other two dies have gotten here. I still need to catch up on all the social media and there are times when I totally just ditch out on the entire thing because it's so much to keep up with: everyone has something to show or say. While I try to get around to everything, it's impossible to keep up on sm and still just live life outside in the real world. I'm one of those ones who can DEFINITELY leave the phone sit. I do still keep it in hand simply because I have never been without a CAMERA in my hands!

                         Let's get down to the latest make...

I visited my favorite out-of-the-way store in Alabama and found a couple of 

"Valentiney" items that sparked my interest. I've wanted to do a tag with a zipper for some time now.

I ended up ordering a Sunday School Lesson Book (to help me read since I am deaf and

can't follow along like others can), and found several lessons from last fall that we missed.

I thought I could use a favorite set of verses for a Valentine tag.

I used ModPodge to make the paper sturdier by adhering it to a plain cardstock.

I added a top coat as well and allowed it to dry before die cutting with the larger of 

the two TH Faceted Hearts Thinlits Set, and embossing the heart shape with

the TH 3D Embossing Folder Mechanical.

I then used plain Kleenex tissue to 'stuff' the heart while leaving the upper right side of the 

heart open, The Kleenex was allowed to show as if the heart was bursting open.

I cut my own sized tag from matboard and then die cut several gears from the new 

TH Alterations Bigz XL Die Industrial, and cut a load of the "bolts" from the

TH Alterations Bigz Die Voltage to use with the gear pieces.

I  used Glossy Accents to put all the 'bolts' together and then gave all the cut pieces

(including the Tag piece) a coat of TH Distress Pain in Antique Linen

then allowed it all to dry completely.

While everything was drying from the Distress Paint coat, I tore some neutral colored- cardstocks

from large scrap pieces leftover from another project. I then used Glossy Accents to

layer these to the Tag. I was making this Tag a one-sided Tag this time. Rare for me to do! 

I love the feel of plain torn paper and cardstock- the edges are such a soft texture

and you can't go wrong with simply tearing paper!

After the Distress Paint was completely dry, I coated all the gear and bolt pieces with

TH Distress Crackle Paste. This pic shows the paste drying and leaving

all that yummy CRACKLING!! Loads of TEXTURE!

Before doing more to the look of the gears and bolts, I needed to figure out

the arrangement. The shading would depend on where each piece was- I always like

to make sure the "wear and tear" and lighting look as realistic as possible.

While I had this all figured out, I found it better to "flip" it top to bottom.

So I took this photo, flipped it on my camera, and then used the pic to help me

recreate the same pattern after using the Distress Oxide Inks on each piece.

Here is the finished full background: shading all done with Distress Oxide Inks 

in Ground Espresso and touches of Vintage Photo. 

As the Distress Crackle Paste gets rubbed, it cracks even more and that just adds to

the look of the process.

Then, I used PINTEREST photos of so many other awesome tags/books that used zippers in

their designs to get an idea of how I wanted to add mine to the tag. I wanted

the heart to be show partially inside and partially outside of the zipper, while 

also showing the gears all around. So I opted to keep the torn paper look as well- on top.

After cutting the paper to fit the design I wanted the zipper to follow,

I used the Glider Tape Runner to adhere the pieces together,

and then run each 'side' of the pieces through my Big Shot with the Mechanical 3d Embosser.

It was then touched up with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink and  adhered to the zipper itself.

The last part was to add some bolts to make the zipper complete.

The last touches are shown in the end photos.

Basically- the paper materials were scraps, and the rest were all tools.

I also used TH IdeaOlogy: Paper Dolls and Heirloom Roses (cream colored ones).

Here's what I ended up with...

I was thinking of a little girl who first heard about GOD's Word from her Grandma,

who also shared the same middle name.

Her Grandma knew that The Bible (also called The WORD) was all about LOVE;

hence the title "The Word is Love".

The heart keeps The Word in it, shares it, and is guided by it throughout life.

That love blossoms and spills over, and blesses others as well as the heart itself.

The layers of NEUTRAL COLORS and TEXTURES 

fulfill both sets of REQUIREMENTS for both Challenges.

With TFJB Challenge Mostly Neutral, we were allowed to use one color 

or use of metal items; I chose the closest color I could get to the new Kitsch Flamingo-

until I can get some of the real macoy!!

Here, I used just a touch of TH Distress Paint Spun Sugar.

I found this by happenstance at the local WalMart, during a run for a couple things.

It's not only the right shade of matching pink, but it also matches the neutral shades here !

The zipper adds even more TEXTURE!

The backside is just plainly painted over and touched up with TH Vintage Photo Oxide Ink.

THANKS! to all who followed my SSSMonday Pinworthy Feature and all

the congrats that I received: it was definitely a THRILL!!!

( CLICK HERE if you missed it!)

Thanks to the Sponsors of both Challenges;

The Funkie Junkie Boutique

and

Simon Says Stamp

Here's hoping you'll come join in with us!

Until next time...

Stay SAFE, Wash the HANDS, Wear the Mask, &

HAPPY BLOGGING!!