Valen-twine

Today is the start of another new challenge at Frilly and Funkie . Pamellia is our host for this challenge and she is calling it Be My Valen-twine. She wants to see vintage or shabby chic projects that can be used for Valentine's Day, an Anniversary or a Wedding but they must include some twine.

I saw this card on Gabrielle Pollaco's blog and decided to CASE it but of course, I gave it my own touches.

I started with some Recollections card stock for the blank and then used a piece of paper from a Maja Designs pad called Coffee in the Arbour for the background.  Next came a square of cheesecloth.  I mounted another piece of Maja Designs paper from the Vintage Autumn Basics pad to a square of Recollections card stock and added that on top of the cheesecloth.

The large heart was hand cut from a scrap of Maja Design paper from the Vintage Autumn Basics paper and I coated it with some Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.  The little heart is hand cut from a piece of Maja Design paper from the Coffee in the Arbour pad and mounted on some card stock.  Some pearls from Dollarama were added to one side.

I put a border of lace topped with some satin ribbon across the bottom and added a frame with a computer generated sentiment.

The large flower that looks like a carnation was made from a strip of white crepe paper and coloured with Victorian Velvet and Milled Lavender Distress Ink.   The Milled Lavender is the most difficult pad I have to work with because it doesn't give off much colour so I had to go over the flower numerous times to get the depth of colour but I am really happy with the end result.  The best part was that my husband's first reaction when he saw it was to say "That looks just like a carnation."

The large rose came from a wholesale shop in England and I coloured it with a Maroon Promarker.  The other flowers are from Wild Rose Crafts.  I added a flourish that Pamellia gave me and made a stick pin from beads in my stash.  Finally I added some burlap twine and little lock and key charms.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes with Optional Create Your Own Challenge (1. Patterned Paper, 2. Charms, 3. Solid Colour Paper, 4. Flowers, 5. Square Card)
That Craft Place - Love/Valentine
My Sheri Crafts - Valentine's Day
Time Out Challenges - Valentine's Day (optional twist of hearts)
The Crafting Cafe  - Lots of Layers
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge Blog - Anything Goes (twist to add layers)
Creative Card Crew  - Shabby Chic

The following products used in the creation of this project came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

I Love Blue Denim

I had a chance to play just for fun in my craft room this weekend and here is the card I came up with. 

I started by making my own background.  First I painted some chipboard with Paisley Blue Acrylic paint from Folk Art.  Then I covered it with Lake Wanaka Fresco Finish Paint from Paper Artsy and using a technique that Sue Carrington showed recently on Paper Artsy, I dried it slightly with my heat gun and then wiped some back with a baby wipe.  I repeated the process with a coat of Antarctic Fresco Finish.

I added some Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste through a Chevron stencil from Prima and then used Faded Jeans Distress Ink from Ranger through a Dylusions stencil called Letter Jumble and through a Wendy Vecchi stencil called Polka Dotty.

Next I added a bit of stamping using the harlequin square from Wendy Vecchi's Large Collage stamp (I have chopped my stamp up to make nine little stamps).  At this point I changed my mind about what I wanted to do and covered the background with a layer of crumpled up tissue paper.  Then I went back and did more stamping with three more of the sections from Wendy's stamp.  I used her Watering Can Archival Ink with no block.  So now there is some stamping under and on top of the tissue.

The next step was to make the heart, which was hand cut, covered with Wendy Vecchi Crackled Texture Paste and then inked with Fired Brick Distress Ink when it was dry.

I made the flowers from some denim fabric that I bought to make a skirt for my Granddaughter but before I could get it done, she decided that Grandma's hand made clothes were not cool anymore - LOL.  The large flower is made from a 1" strip of denim that I folded in half and glued on the long edge.  The folded edge was then cut every quarter inch or so.  Using my hot glue gun and starting on the outer edge, I glued the strip to a circle of card stock spiraling in towards the centre.  I added a button for the centre and a hand cut denim leaf.  It is hard to see in the photo but the flower is quite frayed.  The other two flowers were just strips that were rolled and glued to card stock circles with little hand cut leaves.

I cut a couple of flourishes from some scrap Recollections card stock using a Spellbinders Venetian Motifs die and then made a sentiment from one of the stamps in Wendy Vecchi's The Beauty of Art set.  I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of white card stock with Versamark and then embossed it with Wendy's Watering Can Embossing Powder.  The next step was to hand cut around it and ink it with some Stormy Sky Distress Ink.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Artist Trading Post Exchange - Flower Power
Try it on Tuesday - Add Some Fabric
The Stamping Boutique - Make Your Own Background
The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Something New for the New Year (I have never tried making the large flower style and never used denim for flowers before)
Make Art Challenge  - Embossing Paste

Congratulations

I made this very masculine card recently to congratulate my Son-in-Law on a special achievement and thought I would share it with you today.

I started with some Recollections black card stock for the blank.  The background is a piece of paper from a Prima pad called Printery.  I used a TCW stencil called Harlequin with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger and a Wendy Vecchi stencil called Checkmate and Walnut Stain Distress Ink to add a bit of interest.  It was then distressed around the edge with my scissors.

The image is from a Tim Holtz stamp set called Time Travellers and was stamped on a scrap of card stock with Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger and then fussy cut.  The clock is from a stamp set called Vintage by 7 Gypsies and the sentiment is a stamp from a set called Greeting Words by Stampabilities.  Both these sets are new and I picked them up on a trip to the US - best of all they were both on sale.

I painted a strip of metal foil with Black Metal Paint by Deco Art and added it along with torn strips of corrugated cardboard, drywall tape and a couple of papers from my stash.  Finally I added a key, button, washer and screw head from my stash of bits and pieces.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments - For A Man
Vintage Stamping Challenges - New Year, New Stash (Clock and Sentiment stamps)
Fashionable Stamping  - Something New (Clock and Sentiment stamps)
Robyn's Fetish - Vintage Look
The Artistic Stamper - New Beginnings (Clock and Sentiment stamps are new and I began to use them - LOL)
Sweet Stampin - Masculine

Gift Card Tin to Sewing Kit

For Christmas, my daughter gave me a gift card from Michaels and it came in this little tin.

I decided to try something new and alter it so I took the little felt card holder out of it and got to work changing it into this sewing kit.

I started by painting the whole tin inside and out with No Prep Black Metal Paint from Deco Art.  Once it was dry I coated the outside with Folk Art Crackle Medium - something I bought a whiole back but had not used. Once that was dry I mixed Clear Blue Acrylic Craft Paint from Accent and Seafoam Acrylic Craft Paint from Folk Art into some Liquitex Gesso and covered the outside. I painted all my embellishments with the black paint and then set everything aside to dry overnight.

The embellishments are a flower brad (back removed) from Making Memories, a large metal flower, filigree corner, metal scissors and metal leaf from The Funkie Junkie Boutique,  rose from Wild Orchid Crafts, paper flowers from Recollections and WalMart, metal ruler from Bead Landing, metal heart from Dollarama, mini clothespins from Recollections, lace and a small metal flower from my stash.

The next day I painted the outside of the tin and all the embellishments with another coat of Crackle Medium and let them dry thoroughly.  Then I painted everything with a coat of the Seafoam paint and again let everything dry overnight.

To make the inside I cut two pieces of paper from a My Mind's Eye paper pad called blush and rounded the corners.  Next I took some Broken China Distress Ink from Ranger and inked through a stencil from TCW called Ledger.

Next I used Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger to stamp a number of sewing related images from a TPC Studio set called Vintage Threads, another TPC Studio set called Vintage Crafting and the HP1213 set from Paper Artsy. Finally I distressed the edges with my scissors and some more Broken China DI.

Finally I gave everything some highlights with some Aquamarine and Classic Treasure Gold wax paste and then glue all the embellishments down.

This was a super fun project to make even though it required lots of hand washing/scrubbing and my nails look horrible.  Note to self:  wear latex gloves next time. :)

I am going to enter this project in the following challenges:

Artist Trading Post Exchange - Fresh Beginnings
Craft Hoarders Anonymous - Choose Your Challenge (I chose 1. paint, 2. lace, 3 stamping, 4. metal and 5. flowers)
Our Creative Corner - Christmas Leftovers
The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Something New for the New Year (I have never altered a tin)
Fan-Tastic Tuesday - Anything Goes with a Twist - Use Something Recycled (The gift card tin is my recycled item)
613 Avenue  - 1001 Techniques
Country View Challenges - Use Something New To You (Crackle Medium)

Winter Reading

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie.  Our hostess this time is Nancy and she is calling the challenge Winter Wishes and is asking us to make projects that remind us what we like about winter.  Don't forget your project must be vintage or shabby chic.

The winner will earn a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

The guidelines for entering are simple and are shown on the challenge post at Frilly and Funkie so make sure you check them out before you enter.

Now on to the challenge and to be perfectly frank, there is nothing I like about winter.  I live in a climate where we get cold and snow usually from early November to late March and I feel every bit of it so I just want to stay indoors and cocoon.  I do read a lot and it is especially nice to read in front of the fireplace so I decided to go with a reading theme for my inspiration.  I have made a bookmark and a co-ordinating book cover.

To make the bookmark, I cut a piece of chipboard and covered both sides with papers from the Autumn Basics paper pad by Maja Design and then punched a hole in the top.  I created a sentiment on the computer and then fussy cut a woman from the paper pad and added her beside the sentiment.  Next I cut them out and inked the edges with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

I dyed some seam binding with more of the Tumbled Glass DI and added it along with some pink eyelash yarn through the hole in the top.  Next I added some little dew drops to a safety pin,made a bead charm and a little tag charm that was punched from some plastic packaging material, added to some of the Maja paper and topped with some pearls.

To make the book cover, I measured a book with 375 pages because this is roughly the size of all the books I get from the library.  I made sure I had enough length to wrap around the book and create 3" pockets on each side of the inside.  When I determined the width I added 1/2" on each edge so that I could sew a 1/4" seam and still have enough slack for the book to fit easily in the pockets.  The base of the cover is made from felt and is fairly thick.  Since I was going to be putting books in and out of the inside pockets, I sewed the cover to make make sure it would stay together.

Next I made the front panel.  Now I have to say up front that this is an homage to a crazy quilt and that all the stitching is wonky because I wanted it to be that way - I do know how to sew a straight line - LOL.  I also wanted all the pieces to look rough so I tore them and let them fray.  When I started to put this together I had to buy the felt and chose this happy blue felt that would co-ordinate with the Maja papers and then went to my two cupboards full of fabrics and wouldn't you know only the blue floral and polka dot fabric worked so back to the fabric store I went and the pink floral and white (actually white on white) fabrics are new.

The background is a plain pink piece of broadcloth sewn to some fleece to give it some body. Then I created fun sections and embellished them to make the plain background more interesting.  The blue floral piece at the top has some sections from venise lace added to it.  To the right is a little piece of ric rac.  The pink floral section above the closure has three fun buttons sewn on with embroidery floss.

Under the blue section on the left is a piece of twill tape to which I sewed some beads.  Under that on the polka dot fabric is a little flower I created with two layers cut from crinoline using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and edged with some Victorian Velvet Distress Ink.  A tiny button from my stash acts as a centre.

The white section on the bottom left has some trim that I found in my stash.  The second blue floral section has another fun button added to it and the pink section in the centre bottom has another piece cut from venise lace added to it.

The polka dot section on the bottom right has two rows of venise lace added to it back to back with a strip of satin ribbon on top and a couple of tiny flower appliques.

Once all the sections were added to the background and the whole thing added to the book cover, then I could fasten down the closure with velcro and decorate it by adding a little felt flower cut with the Tattered Florals die with a tiny button for a centre.

I am going to enter this project in the following challenges:

Crafting When We Can - Anything But A Card
Country View Challenges  - Use Something New To You (some of the fabrics, the felt and the fact that I have never made a book cover before)

The following products used in the creation of reading set can be found at The Funkie Junkie Boutique: