Sewing Collage

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time the talented Suzz is our hostess and is calling it All in the Family.  She describes it this way:

"Whether it is your ancestors, a favorite family memory or family outings, create a vintage or shabby chic project reflecting your family."

So when you look at my very busy collage card I imagine you are scratching your head wondering what this has to do with family.  Well, I was very fortunate to have a very creative and very handy Mother who taught me all sorts of wonderful things - baking and cooking, gardening, crafting of all sorts and of course, sewing.  When I was looking through my papercrafting supplies and saw the Graphic 45 collection called A Ladies Diary I realized that the fashion images would make a vintage collage paying homage to sewing and to my Mother.

She once made the most gorgeous summer robe for me from a piece of white eyelet fabric that had come from her Great-Grandmother's trunk.  When my daughter was born she ripped it apart and made a christening gown from it.  There was a small stain on the fabric by then and she bravely dumped it into some water with bleach and amazingly it didn't fall apart, which was expected considering how old it was.  I also remember her staying up until the wee hours of the morning after she started working outside the home to make clothes for all three of us kids and one of my most prized possessions from those late-night sessions was a jacket made from a traditional wool Hudson's Bay blanket.  Sadly it disappeared in one of our moves but I will always remember how special I thought it was at the time.

This card also brings up memories of my late Mother-in-Law who was also a fantastic seamstress and worked as an alterations person in a ladies dress shop before my husband came along.  She could make something for a man or woman out of next to no fabric and without a pattern to boot. When we cleared her room at the nursing home after she passed away, we were amazed at how little came from a store and how many little details she put into blouses and skirts - very fashionable things like three rows of little pin tucks up the side of a pencil skirt.

To make the card I started with a piece of cardstock from Staples for the blank and then added a panel of striped paper from the collection.  I cut a quartet of ladies in their finest dresses and added that followed by a strip of ladies in their lovely hats, both from the collection. 

I stamped the vintage dress form from Tim Holtz Haberdashery stamp set on a piece of dotted paper and added it next topped by a lady in her fancy hat from the collection.  The sentiment was found online as was the vintage seamstress but they have been in my files for so long, I don't have the credit - my apologies.

The collection has some chipboard and adhesive elements so I added a few of those along with a postage stamp.  The flower is cut using the new floral dies from Tammy Tutterow and sits atop a piece of crochet ribbon.

I added a few pearls, a floral button tied with some burlap string, a pair of bronze scissors and a replica of the top of a spool of thread that I picked up from the clearance section at Hobby Lobby when I was visiting in Virginia a couple weeks ago.

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

Morgan's Artworld - Use Patterned Paper
Crafty Cardmakers - Shabby Chic

The following items used to create this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Frilly and Funkie Friday Focus

I am presenting the Friday Focus at Frilly and Funkie this time and it is all about Heartfelt Creations.

Here is a peek at what I have created but to get all the details (and there are lots), please click here to be taken directly to the Frilly and Funkie blog.

Pastels and Pearls

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time the talented Nancy is our hostess and wants us to create with Pastels and Pearls. She describes it this way:

"Create a vintage or shabby chic project that features a pastel color palette and includes pearls."

I started with some white card stock from Recollections and used the Maja Designs Vintage Spring Basics and Coffee in the Arbour paper pads to add a couple rectangular panels and a couple of tags.  Everything was distressed with my scissors and the edges were inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I added some burlap string and some pearl swirls from Prima to the tags.

Next I added a vintage image from The Graphics Fairy and a strip of venise lace with some Kaisercraft pearls.

I altered a filigree medallion  by painting it with DecoArt Chalky Finish Paint called Everlasting and when it was dry I pounced on a mixture of Wild Plum and Snow Cap Mixative Alcohol Inks.  Once that layer was dry I painted it again with Craftsmart Blush Pink Pearl Acrylic Paint.  Finally I topped it with a faux pearl ring.

I created a bouquet of flowers using some new and recycled blooms from Wild Orchid Crafts.  There is also a little recycled stick pin in there.  I recently sorted through the major box of handmade cards sitting in my craft studio and any that were a little damaged from sitting in the box were stripped of anything useful before I tossed them and all the small flowers came from that exercise.

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

Dragonfly Dreams - Say it with Flowers
Corrosive Challenges - Lots of Layers
Let's Craft and Create - Hearts and/or Flowers
Paper Creator's Crafts - All About Flowers

The following items used to create this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Floral Window

The new monthly challenge starts today at Stamps and Stencils and this time our hostess is Ruth who is calling this one "Floral Frenzy".  She describes it this way:

"Hopefully it's sizzling June....when beautiful blooms burst into life. Whether they're stamped, stencilled or handmade we want to see flowers as the main focus of your mixed media project."

I decided to make a floral card for this challenge but in a larger format than I usually do - this is 8" x 8". I started with some white card stock for the blank. Then I layered two background panels of paper from the Maja Designs collection called Nyhavn and to that I added a number of strips of torn paper from the same paper collection along with some from Bo Bunny placing the strips both vertically and horizontally. Once all the paper was adhered I covered everything with a slightly watered down coat of Liquitex Gesso. Then I added some lace from my stash.

I took a TCW stencil called Mini Harlequin and added some Wendy Vecchi Crackled Texture Paste through it.  Once it was dry I used some Wendy Vecchi Watering Can Archival Ink and stamped some dots from the Tim Holtz Utimate Grunge set and some script from a Recollections set called Haunted.

My husband cut the wooden window for me and I coated it with Gesso first and then covered it with the Crackled Texture Paste and inked it with some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.  I used my fingers to smear it on so there are some gaps but I love it because it reminds me of the wooden storm windows that we had when I was a kid.  The paint kept flaking off and it was such a big job to repaint them that my Mother let them go as long as possible before they were repainted.  The house was huge and had a lot of windows so I can't say that I blame her.

Next I made some flowers out of card stock that I cut on my Cameo and then dyed with Dried Marigold, Scattered Straw and Tattered Rose Distress Ink adding pearls for centres.  The leaves were cut from the Tim Holtz Garden Greens and inked with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.

I added a little bit of cheesecloth under the flowers and tucked a few roses from Wild Orchid Crafts and some pearl strand in with the flowers.

The butterflies were cut by my husband, inked with Dried Marigold DI and then I added some pearls for the bodies.  The sentiment was made on the computer and the edges were distressed and then inked with Dried Marigold DI.

Finally I added a filigree corner that was recycled from an old card and truthfully I can't remember how I altered it.

I hope you will think flowers and join us for this challenge - we love to see your creations.

Timeless Birthday

It is time for the next challenge at Frilly and Funkie and the wonderful Sue is our hostess this time.  She has chosen Let the words do the talking! as the name for this theme and describes it this way:

"I love to include meaningful sayings on my projects, sayings that speak to me and inspire me to do the things I do. What I would love to see on your projects for this challenge are the words and sayings that mean a lot to you and inspire you."

For this card I mixed papers from the Graphic 45 collection called A Ladies Diary with a sentiment from Wendy Vecchi and here is how I did it.

I started with some Wassau card stock for the blank.  Then I started to add papers and embellishments, distressing with my scissors and inking with Vintage Photo Distress Ink as I went along.  I added a full panel of the damask side of Timeless Memoir (I pretty well covered it with other stuff but it is there) and then a band from the polka dot side of Afternoon Tea.  Next I cut the gorgeous lady from the paper called Ageless Beauty and added her on top.  The word Timeless came from the sticker sheet in the collection.

I fussy cut two sets of each flower bouquet from A Moment in Time and layered them with foam dots for a little dimension.  I also used a clock face from that page and tucked it behind the bouquet at the top.  Next I added some postage stamps that I cut from the Ageless Beauty page.  Then I added a tiny black brad to the top of the chipboard tag and adhered it to the clock.

I stamped the sentiment from Wendy's True Art set on a scrap of the card stock using Jet Black Archival Ink, added a strip of venise lace and a little chipboard button from the collection.

The following products used to create this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique: