The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge #19 Yuletide Delights... What if we're wrong; what if the Moon is really made of PUMPKIN?!

      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.

That's it for this TFJB Challenge; Yuletide Delights 

Sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique

Please join us for the next one!

Meanwhile...

Stay Safe &

HAPPY BLOGGING!!

The TFJB Challenge Blog Challenge #18; Let's Do It Again!... "Love You To The Moon And Back"

    Oh my goodness; those Grandbabies of ours! I always said that we were blessed with our Sons, and then they in turn, blessed us with Daughters. But Grandchildren just have to be straight from GOD to our heads as crowns of rewards! These first two are just too precious for words, and it's got us looking very forward to adding the third baby come November! I keep trying to think of the words that fit the emotions of love you feel for these tiny humans who seem to just latch onto your hearts even more than your own babies did- IF that's even possible! But, oh, that first time they look straight into your eyes, grab onto your finger, and especially- that first smile and laugh... pure Heaven!
     Honestly, when The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog announced the theme for this one; I knew there would be MANY things I wanted to do - or more aptly put; Redo. After all, everyone just loves a 'Do-Over' and it's only a repeat of previous fun, right? But what if there's something you never seemed to get right, and you just wanted ONE more chance... or two. Or three. I've included at least 2 techniques in this project that I really enjoy doing. And, let's be fair here; the one thing I really hated doing was going to either make- or break- this project with my constant failure to make it turn out right. So lets jump right in and see what happened...

I started by getting out everything I knew I'd want to use for the background

I've been wanting a do-over on.

This time around...I really REALLY worked that ink in!

I took my time and just kept blending the colors I wanted and 

worked in a shape of a highlighted area to look like ground-meets-sky.

Think "Joshua Tree National Park at dusk".

Then I took an old toothbrush and slowly worked on spraying the top to middle sections. 

Next was trimming away the excess to form a large Tag.

Then using a TH Stencil- Dot Fade- to add a little bit of highlights,

and used the TH Spritzer to lightly spray some Distress Black Soot Marker around. 

Edging the Tag with the TH Distresser and then giving it a depth with some

TH Distress Regular Ink in Black Soot.

Some TH Paperie in Correspondence made a good background trim-

as well as support cardstock backing.

A Bestie (who is an extremely talented painter), suggested adding some highlight in white paint,

so I used a bit of TH Distress Paint in Picket Fence with a tiny headed paintbrush.

After Distress Inking and heating, I kept crumpling, sprinkling water, and reinking,

until I got the desired look I wanted- on BOTH sides of the paperie.

This side would be the FRONT trim around the Tag...

...and this was planned for the BACKSIDE of the entire Tag.

I gathered everything I thought out in my head as to what was going to be the theme.

I began with the main feature- the MOON.

Inking, embossing, drying, until it was perfect- in MY eyes, anyway.

Then, it was taking the TH Dolls out to play again.

This is what happens when you put all your TH Dolls away,

and keep feeling throughout the day that SOMETHING is in your shoe,

but each time you take it off, you find nothing.

Because she finally fell off my foot and I was able to catch her and put her back

into the package from which she'd escaped. 

I sincerely hope she didn't get upset at the ones I ultimately chose... & go after them.

Luckily for those chosen; they have copies LARGER than her! lol!!

After putting some sets of TH Transparent Wings to a few 'kids' TH Dolls,

I chose a young couple just married- and added some bits of color to the flowers 

with Distress Markers (Spun Sugar, Peeled Paint, Barn Red, and Mowed Lawn).

And I wanted to use some Flower Soft I got earlier this spring on a Destash.

(THANKS 7 Crafty Sisters !!! LOVE you gals!!)

THEN I finally got ready for the MAIN (dreaded!) EVENT;

Tim Holtz's Chalk Embossing Technique.

CLICK HERE for TECHNIQUE

Back in 2014, during the making of that Tag; I actually gave up

and just used white embossing. But- like any perfectionist- it stuck in my mind.

Starting out, I cut 4 pieces of black cardstock, thinking I'd get a good one by the 4th try.

Hahahahahahahahaha !! Right.

I did this step EIGHT TIMES until I got one I thought was going to work out ok.

Again- I did this step also 8 times...

… and each time, I THOUGHT I got it right.

But along the way, I learned a couple of things:

1) keeping the stamp clean is an easier way to avoid a messy looking blob...

… and much like humans- stamp pads aren't perfect either.

2- A big lesson was learning to LOOK at the shape of my pads in order to make sure the ink

was correctly covering all of the stamp's face. That helped a lot!

It was important to get the right amount of ink in order for the

TH Distress Embossing Powder to stick.

3- get the TIM HOLTZ DISTRESS POWDER!

I found that most of my problem was from the "other" powders- they just weren't the same.

Out of 8 tries, I let the ChiefHubby choose which looked best.

He chose the same one I thought was best- the very last one.

It was time to add a few touches of more Do Over... a leftover TH Faceted Heart

became a faux rusty heart.

And some TH Crinkle Ribbon (SCORE!!) treasure found at Tuesday Morning...

...along with HUGE TREASURES of TH Assemblage (SCORE!!!) found their

way into my cart veeeery quickly!

I had a good idea I was going to use at least one of these on THIS very project!

And lastly; one more Do Over on the backside:

Cutting out a silhouette using a photo. 

I actually found a color cut of one I did earlier and thought I'd go ahead and use it

as a "then" in color up against the silhouette of a black "now". 

The idea came together in a pretty cool way.

The babies have grown- all three with the last in utero-

but this Memaw has managed to lose 25 pounds since this photo.

Doctor's orders, with another 18 pounds to go. Fun. But I feel better!

Here's the end result:

FRONT

BACK

Transparent Wings got them up there!

Rusty faux Faceted Heart...

with that TH Crinkle Ribbon; yesssss!

That Assemblage was perfect to show off

"The Cutest Grandbabies in the WORLD"!

Texture on the moon is dope!

My fave IdeaOlogy: TH Heart Charms.

And a camera charm- clearance deal from The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

That sweet seal again.

Flower Soft just ROCKS!!

Not too shabby a job!

I figured out how to just GENTLY rub the chalk, not SCRUB!

The fun of an interactive flap on a Tag...

And that's a wrap for this Challenge!

Big THANKS to TFJB Challenge Blog Design Team for the

beautiful inspiration they always have, and for the work they put into it all!

Another THANKS to

The Funkie Junkie Boutique

for sponsoring the Gift Certificate drawings each time!

I've been asked WHY I only follow one Challenge Blog/

The answer is simple:

I found it at a time when I was ready to 'go public' with my crafting.

The site was helpful and the people were all VERY ENCOURAGING!

I have since made many friends through The Funkie Junkie Boutique and Blog,

and following just the one has been more than enough for me.

I am very blessed to be able to do just that, and it's been all GOOD!

BE SURE: to check back in on

Thursday; August 29th,

when I will be Guest Designer for 

TFJB Challenge #19!

Until then...

Be Safe &

HAPPY BLOGGING!