Saturday Step x Step at Frilly & Funkie

It is my turn to present the Saturday Step x Step at Frilly and Funkie.

It is for Christmas but I am sure you figured that out already with this sneak peek but you can find out exactly what I made  and how I did it by popping over to Frilly and Funkie.  I hope I inspire you.

Inspirational Post for Stamps and Stencils

Today I am presenting the inspirational post over at Stamps and Stencils.  Here is a sneak peek at what I have created.  To find out what it is and how I made it, pop on over to the Stamps and Stencils blog.

Christmas Gift Set

It is time for the new challenge at Frilly and Funkie.  It is called Christmas in July and I am the hostess this time.  Here is what it is all about:

You might be experiencing summer heat but let's think cool by getting a head start on Christmas preparations. Your vintage or shabby chic creation could be a card, something to present a gift in or a decor item for the house or tree.

I decided to make a gift bag and then thought I would add a card to go with it. I thought this would be a good project to use all my bits and pieces of Graphic 45 Christmas themed papers. Let's start with the bag:

1. Start with a plain bag. (This one was a sample from a packaging supplier and is 5 1/4"x8 1/4")
2. Cut a panel of patterned paper from Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol, distress the edges with scissors or a distressing tool, ink with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and add to the centre of the side of the bag that doesn't have the bottom fold

3. Dye a strip of venise lace with Vintage Photo Distress Ink by pouncing the ink pad on your craft sheet, spritzing with water and dragging the lace through the puddle
4. Dry the lace strip and add to the bottom of the centre panel

5. Cut three strips of patterned paper and notch out one end to make a chevron
6. Distress and ink the edges of the chevrons and add on top of the centre panel

7. Die cut a poinsettia from plain card stock or heavy paper, emboss the veins and shape (I have a die from Marianne Creatables but Linda carries a great one from Tim Holtz and I will share the link to it below)
8. Brush the poinsettia with Gold Luscious powder from IndigoBlu, layer, add seed beads to the centre using Glossy Accents and add to the bag
9. Fussy cut some of the ephemera from the paper pad, distress and ink

10. Create a tassle with floss and add to the book excerpt ephemera
11. Finally, add all the ephemera to the bag

Using many of the same products as the bag, here is how to put the card together:

1. Cut kraft card stock to create the card black (this is a 6"x6" card)
2. Cut three panels of patterned paper, distress, ink the edges and add to the card
3. Add dyed lace to the patterned paper
4. Add some ephemera to the centre panel
5. Create poinsettias in the same manner as the one for the bag and add to the card
6. Dye some seam binding using Aged Mahogany and Fired Brick Distress Ink
7. Alter the colour of a little charm using Gold Mixative Alcohol Ink
8. Create a loopy bow from the seam binding and tie together with a bow made from burlap string to which the charm is added

I am going to enter these projects in the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
Die Cut Divas - Christmas in July
Christmas Card Challenges - Christmas Cards

The following products used to create these projects came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Floral Canvas

It is time for a new challenge at Stamps and Stencils and this time our hostess is Ruth who calls it Colour, Texture, Shape and describes it this way:

This month it's almost anything goes as I have a picture inspiration board for you.

Maybe it's the colour palette ranging from cream and peach through to gold, warm browns and soft greens that inspires you...or you want to use different colours and use fabric, lace or metal in your project as texture? As for shape, what about flowers, leaves and architecture or the design elements that are gothic, steampunk or romantic? Whether your inspired by one or all of the pictures, please share your mixed media creations with us, the only restriction - you must use a stamp or stencil somewhere in your project. Can't wait to see what you're inspired to create!

I decided to make a display in a frame and incorporate a little bit of everything from Ruth's description.  Here are the steps to make this project:

1. Grab a frame with a deep back and take it apart.  Set the glass and mat aside for a future project.  Remove the easel stand from the back of the MDF panel that comes in the frame.  Note:  The frame has a short part on the front where all of the mechanics are but the project will be built on the deep back part of the frame. 

2. Cover the MDF panel with old book paper using Mod Podge and then give it a light coat of Liquitex Gesso with a dry brush.

3. Add some stenciling with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink (Tim Holtz for Ranger) and Dylusions Dotted Flowers stencil.

4. Add some stamping with Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger) and a variety of stamps - Circles, Collector's Edition #2 and #4 (IndigoBlu) and Honeycomb (Tim Holtz).
5. Give the panel another light coat of Gesso with a dry brush.
6. Add a strip of lace across the panel and then glue the panel back into the frame on the deep side.

7. Use a palette knife and some Light Molding Paste (Golden) to give the frame some texture inside and out being careful not to get the paste on the panel insert.

8. Paint the texture with Butter Pecan Acrylic Paint (DecoArt).  Note:  Sorry that there is no photo but at this point I added a dry brush coating of Gesso because I thought the paint was too dark.

9. Make the flowers from scraps of white card stock cut with dies or punches (mine were laser cut by my hand husband on his fancy machine) and dye the petals using Distress Inks (Tim Holtz).

• Gerbera Daisy - one dyed with Abandoned Coral and one with Dried Marigold, add pearls (Recollections) to centre of both
• Lacy Zinnia - dyed with Dried Marigold and then painted with Abandoned Coral, add microbeads (Recollections) to centre
• Rose and Rose Bud - dyed with Antique Linen, calyx from green card stock

10. Die cut leaves from scrap card stock using Garden Greenery Die (Tim Holtz), ink with Peeled Paint and Forest Moss DI and cut into pieces.

11. Ink a plain and filigree butterfly (laser cuts) with Tea Dye and Tumbled Glass DI (Tim Holtz).  Add pearls to body (Recollections & The Paper Source) and layer the filigree butterfly on top of the plain one.
12. Add all the flowers and leaves to the panel, tucking a few tiny sweetheart blossoms grouped in threes (Wild Orchid Crafts) among the paper flowers.  Add the layered butterfly.

There you have it - a very floral canvas.  Now if I just had those lovely blooms in my garden.   I hope I have inspired you to come and join us in Ruth's fabulous challenge.

Ice Cream in the Summer

It is time for the new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time Kathy is our hostess and is calling it In the Good Old Summertime.  She describes it this way:

It's time for those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. Whether you vacation at the beach, in the mountains, or enjoy a relaxing "Staycation" in your own back yard, your challenge is to create a vintage or shabby chic project that shows what you love best about summer. Use summer colors in your project, and be sure to tell us in your post what you love about summer, and how you've represented that in your project.

We don't usually go too far from home in the summer and prefer to do our vacations in September.  One thing we do though is have our Grandchildren for one week in July and one in August although this year summer camps proved more interesting for July so we only will have them once.  Usually that August week is called Camp Grandma and has a theme.  We will be planning this year's theme soon.

Last year they had swimming lessons in the morning and then we did lots of afternoon trips during the July week.  On one of those outings we stopped at a little General Store that is famous for its LARGE ice cream servings.  Both my husband and I had their smallest offering - two scoops in a bowl that was called Little Baby and was almost too much for me.  The kids ordered the four scoop cones and they were called Baby.  I don't remember what came after that but I do remember it was ginormous.  To this day I do not understand why they weren't sick after eating that much.

For this challenge I have made a layout in ice cream colours to remember the day.  There was a pair of wooden ice cream cones outside the store where the kids could put their heads in the holes and have their photos taken.  I took lots of photos with my phone but most of them are from a distance because I couldn't figure out how to zoom in - dah!  That has been resolved and I know what to do now.  I should have asked one of the kids because they are great with technology.

Here are the steps used to make this layout came together:

1. Cut a 12" x 12" piece of corrugated cardboard and rip the top layer off to create an irregular border.

2. Coat with white Gesso.

3. Give the centre of the cardboard a coat of Buttercream acrylic paint from Folk Art.

4. Randomly spray with Worn Lipstick, Twisted Citron and Mustard Seed Distress Spray Stain.  Note:  I used paint block masking tape to cover the border because I did not want the coloured spray on that part.  Because the edge was wavy a little line of colour was left in spots where the tape came in contact with the part I was spraying but it was easy to blend using a damp paint brush.

5. Add some stenciling with Wendy Vecchi's Crackled Texture Paste and the Tim Holtz Harlequin Stencil.

6. Randomly stamp over the cardboard using Watering Can Archival Ink.  I used a Tim Holtz set called Ultimate grunge along with a Recollections script stamp and a little FUN stamp from Prima.

7. Make the ice cream cone using scrap pieces of card stock.  Emboss the scoops with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder called Divine Swirl and make the waffle cone lines with a scoring tool.  Ink all the embossed pieces with Distress Ink - Scattered Straw, Spun Sugar and Frayed Burlap.

8. Cut a butterfly shape and stencil with Bundled Sage Distress Ink and the Wendy Vecchi Checkmate stencil.  Add pearl stickers for the body and a stamen coloured with Bundled Sage DI for the antennae.

9. Create a variety of flowers and leaves and add some Gesso to the edges of the flowers.

• white daisies were cut on the laser cutter, shaped, layered and seed beads were added to the centre
• pink flower was die cut using Tammy Tutterow's Shabby Posies die, inked with Spun Sugar Distress Ink, shaped, layered and seed beads were added to the centre
• green rose was cut from patterned paper (Maja Designs Coffee in the Arbor) using the Tammy Tutterow die
• peach flower was die cut from plain card stock using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die, inked with Dried Marigold Distress Ink, shaped, layered and stamens added to the centre
• yellow dotted flower was cut from patterned paper (G45 A Ladies Diary) using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die
• leaves were cut from from scrap card stock using the Tim Holtz Garden Greenery die and inked with Bundled Sage Distress Ink

10. Cut panels of patterned paper from Prima Sweet Peppermint and G45 Precious Memories, emboss plain paper, round the edges and distress the edges.
11. Change colour of photo to greyscale using photo editing software and prepare in same manner as the patterned paper panels.
12. Die cut a fancy scalloped circle from G45 A Ladies Diary dotted paper using Spellbinders Ironw
13. Paint wooden words (cut with the laser cutter) with Moss Pearl Metallic Acrylic paint from Deco Art.
14. To finish, add some lace and adhere all the papers and embellishments.

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