Grungy Tree

The new challenge starts today at Stamps and Stencils and Julia is our hostess and she is calling the theme Grungy Christmas.  She describes it this way:

"I love Christmas but I'm a little shy when it comes to the bling, glitter and tinsel bit. We'd like to see you step away from the normal Christmas colours and create a mixed media piece which has a real touch of grunge. Think alternative colours, layers, antiquing and all things which are not pristine red and green! Remember to add in some stamping or stenciling too!"

This is also my first challenge as a new member of the Stamps and Stencils team and it tested me - a lot.  First of all, grungy doesn't really fit my tree and home decor, which are in beautiful sparkly red and gold with a few touches of white.  Then I had a couple of fails along the way, which I will tell you about as I go along but I did discover that I am not a quitter and you might learn from my mistakes.

I started with a 7" x 9" flat canvas from the dollar store.  The next step was to lay out all the elements I had collected to make my tree, which I love by the way.  I have used some wooden bits and pieces cut for me by husband on his new laser cutter, gears, buttons, screws, charms, electronic parts (also provided by husband), nuts, washers, flowers, soda pop pull tabs, etc.

Once I had a design I was happy with I took a photo of it with my phone.  Why you ask - because I never seem to remember where I intended to put things when I take them off to get ready to glue them on and of course then nothing fits so the photo solves that problem.

I took everything off and gave the canvas a coat of Liquitex Gesso.  Then I added a layer of crumpled tissue paper with Mod Podge.  The next step was to use some Golden Light Molding Paste through a snowflake stencil.

Then I glued all my bits and pieces down with Liquitex Matte Super Heavy Gel.  I covered everything with another coat of Gesso followed by a coat of Champagne Gold Metallic acrylic paint from Deco Art.  Since Julia doesn't want traditional red on our projects, I added some coppery highlights with some Rose Quartz Treasure Gold wax paste.

So now here is where the first fail comes in.  Despite the fact the texture snowflakes in the background looked OK before I started to paint, they didn't show through with all the gold paint.  Since I could see them (barely), I laid the stencil over them and added some silver metallic paint but they didn't take the paint evenly.  Since this is a stamping and stenciling challenge blog and I couldn't see my stenciling, I decided to go to bed and sleep on it.

When I got up in the morning, I made the decision to take whole background off.  I grabbed an X-Acto Knife and very carefully made a cut all the way around the tree because remember, I love the tree.  Then I proceeded to take off the tissue paper and was happy to discover that it was almost like rubber from the Mod Podge and I was able to peel it off in sections - whew.

Now I had a white background that still had a bit of texture so I painted it with some Bleached Sand acrylic paint from Deco Art using a tiny brush to get next to the tree elements.  Then I covered the tree with a paper triangle and splattered some Gun Metal Grey Metallic paint from Folk Art and some of the Champagne Gold on the background.

The next step was to stamp snowflakes from a Recollections set randomly over the background using a Versamark embossing pad and then covering them with Stampendous Detail Gold embossing powder and heating them. 

Then I decided it needed some snow so I took a palette knife and spread some of the Golden Paste on it and when it was dry, I painted it with Pearl White Metallic acrylic paint from Deco Art.  I decided to have more snowflakes on the ground so they were stamped onto card stock and fussy cut.

So this was the next fail because after I took a photo of it I looked at it online and it didn't really make me happy - in truth it made me downright grumpy.  I slept on it for many more nights and then decided the background was still not right so I came up with version 3.  It is a good thing I still like the tree or by now this would be resting in the circular file marked "G".

I painted the whole background with Liquitex Black Gesso and then took a sea sponge and dabbed on some Deco Art Gun Metal Metallic acrylic paint.  Then I took some Wendy Vecchi Crackle Texture Paste and did the snowflakes through that same Mini Snowflakes stencil from The Crafter's Workshop.

Now I think I have a grungy tree with all its eclectic bits and pieces and I have a grungy background with grungy cracked snowflakes so I have decided to quit here and call this my Night Tree.

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

Mixed Media World - Anything Goes
Altered Eclectics  - 25 Days to Christmas

Ye Olde English Christmas Card

The new challenge starts today at Frilly and Funkie and Nancy, our hostess this time is calling it Tis the Season.

"Create a vintage or shabby chic holiday themed project - whatever winter holiday you celebrate!"

I recently picked up the Graphic 45 paper pad from The Funkie Junkie Boutique called A Christmas Carol along with a smaller pad of coordinating papers so I decided to use them to make a card for this challenge and add it to my stash for this year.  I must say that this went together pretty quickly with very few steps.

As always, time is running short so I know that soon I will be making a series of mass-produced cards.  One of these days I will learn to start in January and set a monthly goal for myself - maybe in 2016.

I chose 4 papers and used one for a background, one for a panel and 2 for tags.  All the papers and images have been inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I dyed some seam binding with a mixture of Aged Mahogany and Fired Brick Distress Ink and added it to the top of one tag along with some fibre from my stash.  I added a button with some burlap string to the other tag.

Then I set about fussy cutting two copies of the tickets in the upper left corner and popped them up with foam dots.  The other images were all fussy cut and added.  To finish off the card I added the mini poinsettias from my stash and some Kaisercraft green pearls.

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

A Snowflake's Promise - Anything Goes with a winter or Christmas theme
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes with a twist of Christmas
Get Creative Challenges - Holidays
Card and Scrap - Anything Goes
My Sheri Crafts - Christmas Spirit

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

Altered to Ornament

The new challenge begins today at Frilly and Funkie and I am hosting it this time and decided to call it An Altered State.

It is time to transform something you have sitting around or can pick up for a song and make it one of your works of art. It could be a frame, a bottle, an old cigar box, a discarded CD - the list is endless. Just make sure your final transformation is vintage or shabby chic.

Since I have started my Christmas preparations, I decided to make some ornaments.  The first one (and my personal favourite) started as a wooden snowflake that my husband designed for me and cut on his laser cutter.

I coated it with a layer of Gesso and then with some Champagne Gold acrylic paint from the Deco Art Metallics line.

Once I got it painted I realized that there was no hole at the top to hang it with or at the bottom to add the bead chain so I asked my handy husband to drill the holes and his drill slipped and one of them was off centre.  He drilled another pair and will change the design file so the laser cutter will do the holes in the future and they will be perfect.

In the meantime I had to come up with a solution for covering the pair that didn't look good.  I tried just filling them with more paint but that didn't work so I coated the whole thing with a mixture of course sand and texture paste.  I expropriated the sand from the bag we keep in the garage for filling in between our interlocking bricks.  Once this layer was dry, I just repainted it with the metallic acrylic paint and I love the effect.  Tip - to keep the holes from getting filled with texture paste, just stick a toothpick in them while you are working.

Next I created and attached two bead chains made from a variety of beads in my stash from Arton Bead Supply and from Michaels. The small chain at the top has a jump ring at the end so it can be attached to the tree. I wire everything to my tree but the jump ring would also be needed if you use a metal ornament hangers.

I found some free Christmas sheet music online, changed the colour to red and printed it on each side of some heavy paper. Then I cut small squares and inked them all over with Antique Linen Distress Ink and the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The squares were then formed into cones and the point was nipped off so they would not overlap in the centre when they were attached to the snowflake.

Next I altered the colour of a filigree flower using a mixture of Cranberry, and Poppyfield Alcohol Ink blended with some Gold Mixative. The filigree flower was attached to the centre. I used some pearl stickers to create a circle on a piece of transparency and added it with a bead in the centre.

My next ornament started life as a used CD.

I printed some more of the music paper, cut two circles slightly larger and attached them back to back after I inked them all over with Antique Linen DI. Tip - In order to find your hole (I only used one this time), just attach one circle, re-punch the hole and then add the second circle and re-punch the hole again.

I made a bead chain to hang the ornament with and attached it next. Then I cut a mat from some gold card stock in my stash using Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares die. I fussy cut an image from the Graphic 45 paper pad called Christmas Carol and added that on top of the mat.

Next I used a poinsettia die from Marianne Creatables to cut a poinsettia from some the Graphic 45 papers. Because my poinsettias hang over the edge and the back of the paper was patterned, I just painted it with some Dark Scarlet acrylic paint from Deco Art. I added some shimmer to the petals once they were shaped by mixing some red glitter with crystal glitter paint from Craftsmart and painting it on. A few flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Excelsior Wholesale were added along with some pearl stickers from Kaisercraft.

The final ornament, which is designed to fill one of those pesky long spaces on my tree started with three wooden circles that were leftovers from when my husband cut beer paddles.

I coated them with Gesso and then glued some crumpled tissue paper to them with Mod Podge. Then I rubbed them with some Red Geranium Archival ink and gave them a spritz with some Cherry Pie Dylusions.

Once they were dry I dabbed them randomly with a mixture of Cranberry, and Poppyfield Alcohol Ink blended with some Gold Mixative and then lightly inked over them with some Black Soot DI. Finally I added some gem strips from Recollections that have been hanging around in my stash for ages. The circles were attached to each other with screw eyes that I also altered with the alcohol ink and some beads from my stash.

I am going to enter the first ornament in the following challenges:

A Snowflake's Promise - Anything Christmas/Winter
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Music Paper
We Love 2 Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
Allsorts Challenge - Anything But A Card
Altered Eclectics - Anything Altered/Mixed Media Goes (No cards or ATCs)

The following products used in the creation of these ornaments came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Exciting News

Just wanted to pop in to tell you some exciting news.  I have been selected to be on the Stamps and Stencils Design Team and I couldn't be happier. 

This is a very talented team of ladies led by the wonderful Sue Carrington, who has been my personal inspiration since I first met her four years ago.  I remember spending the day with her and learning all sorts of techniques, which was so much fun since I don't have access to any classes where I live.  I wasn't a very quick learner because it took me a couple more years to get enough supplies assembled and the courage to move into more mixed media but I am here now and love it.

My first inspiration piece for Stamps and Stencils will be for the December challenge but in the meantime there is a great challenge there now called Remember, Remember that you should check out.  You still have time to create something and enter the challenge. 

While you are there take a look at the fantastic frame that my friend Pamellia of My Little Craft Things created as their Guest Designer for this month.

It's Ornamental

It is time for a new challenge at Anything But Cute and this time I am the hostess and am calling the theme It's Ornamental.

Since the holiday will be coming up pretty quickly, we want you to create a mixed media ornament for your Christmas tree or a Christmas decor item for your house or table.

About 4 years ago I decided it was time to hand over the tree with all the kid-friendly and kid-created ornaments to my Grandchildren and get a new tree that I could decorate in a more adult fashion - besides I was tired of stringing all the lights on it and wanted a pre-lit tree.  I really want it to be chock full of ornaments so I decided this was a perfect time to make more.  My tree is red and gold with touches of white.  For this challenge, I stuck with the red and gold.

This ornament started as a wooden tree cut by my husband on his laser cutter - I am loving his new toy.  I coated it with gesso and then covered everything with some Golden Light Molding Paste that I dabbed on so it would be bumpy.

Once the this was dry I added some other wooden shapes cut for me by my husband and some lace strips.  I have discovered that Liquitex Matte Super Heavy Gel makes a terrific adhesive for this sort of application.

Everything was then given a good coat of Deco Art Champagne Gold Metallic Acrylic paint and then dabbed lightly using a sea sponge and some Dark Scarlet Acrylic Paint from Deco Art and some Antique Gold Acrylic Paint from Folk Art.

Then I added lots of beads and gems from my stash.

I made a second ornament and this time after the Molding Paste was dry I added some chain, nut covers stolen from my husband's work shop, buttons, bead caps and wood shapes.  Then I painted everything with Dark Scarlet Acrylic Paint from Deco Art.  The next step was to add a bunch of gold beads from my stash.

To make the base of this tree since it didn't have a base in the raw form, I covered a Styrofoam ball with gold sequins and then used Xmas Red Stickles in the centre of each one.

I thought this one was a bit flat looking so I gave it a spritz of Tattered Angels Pearl Glimmer Mist.  I think I like the gold tree better but both will look good on my tree and fill more spaces so I am happy.

I hope all of you will create something for your holiday tree or home decor and share it with us.  You have until December 4th and that will be just in time for decorating.

I am going to enter the gold ornament in the following challenges:

City Crafter - Getting Ready for Christmas
Altered Eclectics - Anything Mixed Media or Altered (no cards or ATCs)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Mixed Media or Altered (no cards. scrap pages, ATCs)
Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge - Christmas Decorations
Mixed Media World - Anything Goes on Wood
We Love to Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
Allsorts Challenge  - Christmas
Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes

Walking Through the Snow

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time Sue is our hostess and is calling the challenge Let There Be Light.  Here is what she has to say about it:

One of the things I don't like at this time of year is the lack of light to craft by in the evenings. So, for this challenge include something in your project that makes reference to light, this could be a street lamp, rays of light or even gradients of colour that get lighter! 

I decided to incorporate my light element in a Christmas card.  I started with some white card stock from Staples for the blank and then took another scrap piece to create the background.  I inked it with Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood Distress Inks and then flicked some water on it.

The lamp post was cut by my husband on his laser cutter and I coated it with black Gesso, silver acrylic paint and Black Soot DI in that order.  Then I covered a small piece of a transparency with a mixture of Sunset Orange and Lemonade Alcohol Ink and adhered it to the back of the lamp.

The trees were cut with the Tim Holtz Woodlands die and inked with Iced Spruce and Forest Moss DI.  I used some texture paste to create the snow but it sucked up the colour from the DI so I painted over it with White Pearl Metallic paint from Deco Art.  I could not get the shimmer to show in my photos but trust me, it is there.

The snow banks were cut by hand from card stock, covered with texture paste and painted with some of the White Pearl Metallic paint.

The image is from The Graphics Fairy and was printed twice, fussy cut and inked with some Vintage Photo DI before one image was added over the other with some pop dots.

The tiny snowflakes are leftovers from a Martha Stewart border punch and I painted them with some of the White Pearl Metallic paint.

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

A Snowflake's Promise - Anything Goes with a Christmas or Winter Theme
City Crafter  - Getting Ready for Christmas
The Crazy Challenge - Vintage
Card and Scrap - Christmas
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Oh Christmas Tree
Natalie and Amy's Challenge - Winter Scenes
Crazy 4 Challenges - C4310 - Christmas
Allsorts Challenge - Christmas
Moving Along With The Times - Leaves and/or Trees

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

Friday Focus - Graphic 45

It is my turn to present the Friday Focus at Frilly and Funkie and this time it is about Graphic 45.  Here is a sneak peak at what I made but click here and you will be taken to the Frilly and Funkie blog to get all the details.

Halloween Mixology

Another new challenge is starting today at Frilly and Funkie and Shelly, our hostess this time is calling it Something Wicked and here is what she has to say about it:

"With Halloween just a few days away, we want to see your spooky vintage or shabby chic creations."

Linda, the owner of The Funkie Junkie Boutique sent us all some of the best Halloween-themed charms to use for this challenge and when I saw the little ones my brain actually kicked into gear for a change and I remembered I hadn't used one of my Tim Holtz stamp sets yet and it would be perfect to pair with the charms and make a drink set for someone who loves to make cocktails and also likes to throw Halloween parties.  Since that isn't me (I am a red wine or scotch on the rocks gal) and I don't do Halloween parties, I am going to have to search for someone to give/sell it to.  I did have lots of fun making it.

I made the wine glass charms first.  I altered all the charms using alcohol ink, One Step Black Metal Paint from Deco Art, Black Soot Distress Ink and Treasure Gold Pewter wax paste.  I added a jump ring to the top of each charm.  Then I cut a 4 inch length of wire for each one formed a loop at one end and threaded half of the beads, then the charm and the rest of the beads on the wire.  I finished by forming a circle and bending the open end over so it would fit inside the loop.  For the life of me I could not find anything to form the circle around so I had to do it by hand and this time they are not lovely smooth circles.  If you can find something to wrap them around that is the right size, I would recommend going that route.  Of course, I doubt anyone is going to care that my circles aren't perfect after a few drinks.

Now it was time to create my book.  I had a spiral bound notebook from the dollar store in my craft stash and decided to alter it so I removed the spiral first.It has a green plastic cover on the front and I covered that with Chalky Finish paint from Deco Art and used Black Gesso to cover the cardboard back cover.

Next I used some Black Embossing Paste through the Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil on the front cover.  Then I used some ink sprays - Lindy's Stamp Gang Violaceous Violet Moon Shadow Mist, Ramblin Rose Pink Starburst and Blazing Sun Glitz Spritz - on all the covers, outside and inside.   I also dabbed on some metallic acrylic paints - Deco Art Harvest Copper and Folk Art Peridot.

I dyed some cheesecloth in Black Soot DI and glued some on the front.  I thought it needed to be a bit darker so I dry brushed it with some Black Gesso.

The next step was to print some vintage text paper from Creavapeur and stamp Tim Holtz's Chemist on it using Jet Black Archival ink.  I coloured him with Bundled Sage, Rusty Hinge, Scattered Straw and Antique Linen Distress Inks using a water brush.  The edge was torn to give a rough look and inked with Black Soot DI.

I stamped the bottles from the same stamp set onto some scrap card stock with Jet Black Archival ink and coloured them with Rusty Hinge, Dusty Concord, Crushed Olive, Frayed Burlap and Pumice Stone Distress Inks.  I fussy cut the images and created two separate images so I could pop one up with pop dots.  The mortar and pestle have some sand glued to it to give it a rougher stone look and all the rest of the images were coated in Glossy Accents.  It is hard to see how shiny they are in the photos but maybe that is a good thing because I got a couple of bubbles despite my efforts to avoid them.  But wait, vintage glass has bubbles in it so forget that I made some sort of mistake, I was actually creating vintage glass - that's my story and I am sticking to it.

Next I altered some spider charms using Sunset Orange and Rust and Alcohol Inks and then dry brushing some Black Gesso on them.  I added them with some tiny seed beads that were also coated with Black Gesso.  The book title was computer generated and inked with Black Soot DI.

The bookmark is a charm glued to a large paper clip.  The charm was altered with the same alcohol inks but I didn't like it so I added some Pewter wax paste from Treasure Gold and a bit of Black Soot DI.  I wish I had added some Black Gesso to it too but I had already put it away so pretend I wasn't lazy, close your eyes and envision a spookier bat.

Finally I rolled the spiral back into the book and my drink set was ready to go.

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

Try It On Tuesdays - It's Frightening/Halloween
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes (twist - Halloween)
Where The HeArt Is - Anything Goes/Use Some Stencils
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes (must be mixed media/altered, no cards or ATCs)
Country View Challenges - Add Some Texture
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Mixed Media Goes
That Craft Place - Halloween

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

Autumn Leaves

The new challenge begins today at Frilly and Funkie and is hosted by Nancy.  She is calling it Autumn Splendor and describes it like this:

Create a vintage or shabby chic project using the rich colors of autumn. Include an autumn leaf somewhere in your project.

I started by pulling a paper pad from Maja Designs called Nyhavn and chose three papers that I thought had a warm fall feel to them.  I found a complimentary piece of card stock in my stash to use as the card blank and then distressed the edges of the panels and added them.

Next I cut some fancy flourishes from scrap card stock using my Cameo and added it along with a little piece of ephemera that came in a goodie pack from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  I used some Sunset Orange Alcohol Ink to change the colour of a filigree corner giving it three coats to get the depth of colour.

I made the leaves by laying a piece of wax paper on my ironing board (don't forget to put an old towel down first), adding some shavings of wax crayons and then adding another piece of wax paper on top.  Then I carefully and lightly ironed the wax paper to melt the crayons taking care not to let it ooze out the edges and not to leave the iron on any longer than it took to melt and spread the wax.

Once the wax pieces were cool, I cut them into leaves using the Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die for the oak leaf.  The maple leaves were hand cut after I traced around a piece of clip art.

Once the leaves were in place, I added some burlap string and some dyed seam binding that was holding the little goodie package closed (perfect colour, perfect timing).

Then I made some flowers from scraps of card stock using a Marvy Uchida punch in two sizes.  The little flowers were inked with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and the large flower was inked with Aged Mahogany DI.  Beads from my stash were added for centres.

Finally I took the shank off a tiny bee button and added it to one of the leaves.

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

Brown Sugar Challenge - Shabby Chic
Fussy and Fancy  - Autumn Colours
Simply Create Too - Autumn Splendour
Crafting For All Seasons - Autumnal Hues
Creative Moments - Anything Goes/Autumn Colours

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

31 Days of Halloween

It is time for a new challenge at Anything But Cute and this time Sara Emily is our hostess and she has chosen to call it 31 Days of Halloween.

She describes it this way:

If you love Halloween like I do, it's more than just one day out of the year, it's a season! For this challenge I would like you to make a mixed media card or project for Halloween. It can be spooky or not, but you MUST include the number "31" somewhere in your project. We can't wait to see the creative ways you'll be incorporating this number in your mixed media piece! 

I decided to alter a bottle that I picked up at a local thrift store for next to nothing.  Here are some views of the other three sides.

I started by coating it with Americana Decor (by Deco Art) Chalky Finish Paint called Carbon.  The chalky finish paint sticks fairly well to glass and gives a base for adding other materials.  I then added a piece of black lace around the middle of the bottle.

The next step was to print and fussy cut some vintage Halloween labels that I found on the internet (I forgot to write down the sources so I can't give credit - my apologies).  Then I cut a copy of each one from scrap card stock slightly larger than each label.  I temporarily attached the copies to three sides to get an idea of placement along with a rectangle on the front.  These scraps allowed me to work on the bottle without damaging the actual labels but still leaving me with a flat spot to attach the labels when I was ready.

Next I mixed Liquitex Black Gesso with Golden Light Molding Paste and covered the bottle using a palette knife to pat it on so it would be bumpy.  Then I used Mod Podge to glue pieces of cheesecloth randomly on the bottle.  Once these texture elements were dry, I covered the cheesecloth with Black Gesso.

The next step was add different spray inks - Lindy's Stamp Gang Pegleg Pete Purple Moonshadow Mist and Wild Honeysuckle Coral Starburst.  I also dabbed on some Folk Art Metallic Silver and Peridot acrylic paint.

I created the front chevron from some Tim Holtz paper called Regions Beyond and used Jet Black Archival Ink to add a skull from a Recollections stamp set called Witch's Dust Halloween.  The 31 are wooden pieces that I coated with Black Gesso and then with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle.  Once they were dry I dabbed on some Treasure Gold Pewter wax paste.

The front chevron and the other three labels were distressed on the edges and inked with Black Soot Distress Ink and attached to the bottle in the spots that were being saved for them by the scrap pieces of card stock.   If there were any gaps in the texture around the labels where the card stock scraps had been, I used the end of the palette knife and some of my black paste to carefully fill those in.

I wound some black burlap string and some copper wire from Artistic Wire around the neck of the bottle.  Next I used beads from Michaels, Arton Bead Supply and Dollarama to make three charms and hung them from the wire using a jump ring.

Once the bead charms were in place all that was left was to add gems, some black glitter spiders from Michaels and some bead clusters.  The black beads are from Michaels while the coppery beads are from my stash but were leftovers from one of the many bathing suits I decorated when my daughter was a competitive synchronized swimmer.

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

Altered Eclectics - Anything Mixed Media Goes (no cards or ATCs)
Our Creative Corner - Horror
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Mixed Media Goes
That Craft Place  - Mixed Media Anything Goes
We Love 2 Create - Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes

Chalk It Up

The new challenge at Frilly and Funkie begins today and this time Shelly is our hostess.  She is calling this one Chalk It Up and describes the theme this way:

Chalk is such a versatile medium and we want to see how you can use it in your vintage or shabby chic creations. You can choose a faux chalk technique, chalk inks, powdered chalks, or even a stick of chalk - it's up to you!

I created this floral card but that is about all I am going to tell you about it today because I am presenting the Saturday Step x Step feature this week (September 26th) to Frilly and Funkie so if you want to know what I did with chalk, then please pop over there on Saturday and you can get all the details.  I know it is mean but now you have something to look forward to - right? :)

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

Craft-Dee Bowz - Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow
QKR Stampede - Three is a Crowd
Time Out Challenges - Case Tracey (Flowers)

I used the following products from The Funkie Junkie Boutique in the creation of the card:

Friday Focus - Idea-ology

It is my turn to present the Friday Focus segment over at Frilly and Funkie and this time it is about Idea-ology.

Here is a sneak peek at one of the two projects that I made so click here to pop over to Frilly and Funkie and check out what I made and then you can take advantage of the 15% discount on Idea-ology products that Linda is offering at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for the next two weeks.

No Stamps

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time Pamellia is our hostess and is calling it Stamps Be Gone.  She introduces the challenge this way:

"How would you decorate your project if you didn't own any stamps? Embossing folders, stencils, or perhaps a little hand doodling? Well, let's put it to the test for this challenge. Other than a small sentiment, I would ask that you use no stamps at all on your vintage or shabby chic creations."

I don't use stamps as much as many others do so this challenge was right up my alley.  I started with some white card stock from Staples for the card blank and added lovely Maja Designs papers from the Coffee in the Arbor pad that I distressed to create a background.  I added some venise lace to the bottom section.

Next I altered the birdcage, which is my husband's design (he is teaching himself how to use Adobe Illustrator) and was cut from some mat board on his new laser cutter.  I painted it with white paint and then covered it with Picket Fence Crackle Paste.  When it was dry I inked it lightly with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and added some burlap string as a hanger.

The bird was made with some Martha Stewart Crafter's Clay and a Wilton silicone mold.  It was also inked lightly with Frayed Burlap DI.

All the flowers were made from card stock.  The big yellow flower uses die cut petals given to me by Pamellia and was inked with Scattered Straw DI before I started scrunching and shaping the flower.  Since I didn't have another petal to pull the flower in a bit, I just cut a section out of the top layer to make it smaller and then I added some Wilton stamens.

The rose was shaped from petals cut with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and some off-white card stock.  I created it by following Pamellia's video tutorial on her You-Tube channel.  It was inked with some Antique Linen DI.

The purple flower was also made from petals Pamellia gave me (love my visits to her because she is always so generous) and I coloured them with Seedless Preserves DI before shaping them and adding some Wilton stamens that I coloured with Deco Art Wild Orchid acrylic paint.

I added some Stampendous iridescent glitter to the edges of all the flowers.  The leaves were had cut and were inked with Old Paper DI, which looks yellow in the photo but has a green hue in real life.

Next I painted a metal filigree leaf and corner with some white paint and then coated them with Stampendous clear embossing powder.  The final touch was to add some Prima pearl flourishes.

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

Creative Knockouts - Flower Power
Card Mania - Pastel Colours
Crafty Cardmakers - Floral Embellishments
Make My Monday - Something Beginning with F (Flowers)
Sparkle N Sprinkle - Anything Goes - Use loose glitter, embossing powder and/or flocking
Allsorts  - Lots of Layers
My Time To Craft - Flowers

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

Peacock Wall Hanging

The new challenge at Anything But Cute begins today and is hosted by Niki.  She is calling it Mixed Media Makeover and here is how she describes it:

"Pull out an old card, tag, project, masterboard or embellishment that you weren't completely happy with or never completely finished. I want you to recycle it. We all make "mistakes" with our art right? Now's your chance to fix it. Redo it, hide the mistake, make it bigger, make it better, make it more beautiful or rip it apart and use the pieces! Give it a mixed media makeover! For this challenge you will need to include a before picture so we can see what you started with."

A year or so ago and before I got into mixed media I purchased this wooden shadowbox frame with the intention of painting it some lovely colour and filling the inside with mementos of either my grandchildren or perhaps of my daughter.  I wanted the frame to be nice and smooth but after hours and hours of sanding that wasn't going to happen most likely because I was going cheap and got it from the dollar store.  Once I reached my frustration level because it was staying rough, I stuck it in a plastic bag along with the latex gloves and sanding block and shoved it in a cupboard and there it sat until Niki told us her challenge and then I could actually create something with it that I knew I would be happy with. 

I yanked the little hinges off and set the cover aside and perhaps it will be something in the future if I can cut the plastic window out of it - yes plastic, I told you it was cheap.  Then I got to work transforming the bottom.  I decided to make a wall hanging out of it and treated it much like you might treat a canvas.

First I gave it a coat of Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso just to eliminate the chance of giving myself slivers since this thing was so rough.  Next I crumpled up some tissue paper, opened it back up again and glued it all over using Mod Podge.

I used a Prima flourish stencil with some Golden Light Molding Paste and gave the piece some texture on the sides and top.  Then after that was dry I glued cheesecloth all over the top, letting it hang over the edges.  I also added little pieces of an open weave fabric to the sides.  I didn't add any additional texture to the back since you won't see it.

The next step was to dig into my stash and add lots of lace strips and motifs, flowers, buttons, beads and bauble trim using Mod Podge.  Once everything was dry I gave it a coat of Liquitex Gesso to unify the colour since everything was a different colour.

Then I painted the whole project, including the back with some Craftsmart Aqua acrylic paint.  To create the peacock colours I dripped on some FW Silver Moss, Sun-Up Blue and Antelope Brown Inks and spritzed them with water to make them run.  Then I followed with Deco Art Peacock Pearl, Ice Blue Pearl and Purple Pearl acrylic paints that were dabbed on with a natural sea sponge.

Next I created the image by making the background of a free image from The Graphic Fairy transparent and adding it on top of free digital vintage script paper from Creavapeur.com.  Once the image was printed and cut to size I inked it with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and distressed the edges.  I added a piece of chipboard to the backside in order to raise the image up a bit before I glued it to my hanging.  Then I added a few sequins from the dollar store to the image and the background.

Finally I covered a couple of screw eyes and a length of wire with some Ranger Aqua Alcohol Ink and then added beads from Arton Bead Supply, Michaels and Dollarama to create the hanger.  In order to ensure that the beads stayed where I wanted them, I added bead crimps.

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

Altered Eclectics - Anything Mixed Media Goes (no cards or ATCs)
Shopping Our Stash - Put a bird on it
That Craft Place - Mixed Media Anything Goes
Mixed Media World - Gorgeous Textures
We Love 2 Create - #18 - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

I hope you will join us for the September challenge and show us what you have made over.

Golden Sunflower

The new challenge at Frilly and Funkie starts today and Georgie is hostess for this one.  She is calling it A Touch of Gold and describes it this way:

"Metal elements, glitter, embossing powder, paint, ribbon, whatever it is lets see a splash of gold in your vintage or shabby chic projects!!" 

When I was trying to think of what I was going to make I knew from the start that I was going to incorporate some of the Wendy Vecchi Metallic Gold Embossing Paste.  This embossing paste looks like butterscotch pudding in the jar but as it dries it turns a very orange-toned metallic gold so that dictated everything that followed.

I started with some Tim Holtz Color Core card stock for my blank and then used a piece of paper from Maja Designs Coffee in the Arbor paper pad for my background.  I used some Vintage Photo Distress Ink with the Wendy Vecchi Three Flourishes to stencil random flourishes first and then used the embossing paste through Wendy's Checkmate stencil in a couple of corners.

I also used the embossing paste through a Heidi Swapp butterfly stencil on a scrap piece of card stock and once it was dry I fussy cut it and added polka dots with some Tree Branch Archival Ink and a stamp from the Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge set.  I distressed a mini clothes pin with the Tree Branch and added it as the body.

Next I made the sunflower by cutting four petals from crinoline using the Tattered Florals die by Tim Holtz.  The petals were dyed with Wild Honey Distress Stain and they curled on their own as they dried, which was a good thing because that flower shape has a weak spot and it isn't a great idea to handle it a lot.  Once all the petals were dry I glued them in a stack and added a button (upside down) along with a bow made from burlap string.  I also cut a leaf from the Tattered Leaves die and dyed it with some Peeled Paint Distress Stain.  The petals and the leaf were inked on the edges with the corresponding Distress Inks. 

The two banners on the left are from the Graphic 45 Time to Flourish pad (August) and the right one is just a scrap piece of card stock that I ran through the Tim Holtz Honeycomb Texture Fade.  Everything has been distressed and inked with Vintage Photo DI.  The sentiment is from the G45 pad and I just dyed a little piece of seam binding with Wild Honey for the top and added a tiny Making Memories brad to secure it.  The final touch was some pearl stickers that I got from the dollar store.

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

Try it on Tuesday  - Sending You Flowers
Crafty Boots - Fair and Square
The Shabby Tea Room - ABC-123 (Photo Inspiration)
Crafting-with-Dragonflies - Make it Floral
CAS-ual Chic - Pretty Patterns

The following products used to create my card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique, which is a super place to shop and has new products arriving all the time.

Gilded Lily

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time Sue is our hostess and is calling it Stitch in Time.  Here is how she describes the challenge:

"What I love to do is incorporate sewing into projects, this could be real of faux, it adds an extra dimension to your artwork. So, for this challenge we want to see stitching somewhere on your projects, real or faux will do! BUT I would also like to see a timepiece too!"

I decided to use my newest Graphic 45 paper pad called Gilded Lily and make a card.  I thought I would try to make a paper lily and once it was complete it was larger than I expected and with the other elements I planned to use, I knew the card needed to be BIG so this one is 8" square.  Now I will have to make a box for it.  I think this elegant and very vintage couple looks like they are celebrating their anniversary, or maybe their wedding.

I started with some Recollections card stock for the blank and started adding patterned paper, two of which were hand stitched.  Everything was distressed and inked with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.  I tucked one panel that was cut with a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis die in between bottom two layers along with some chevron strips.

Next I cut three images and popped them up with foam dots and added a strip of lace that I dyed with a combination of Tea Dye, Frayed Burlap and Antique Linen DI.  I added a Jolee's Boutique timepiece that has been in my stash for eons, a filigree corner and a crown headed key that I picked up in the clearance section at Michaels.  Both metal pieces were rubbed with some Rose Quartz and Classic Treasure Gold wax paste.

I made the lily out of scraps of white card stock, coloured it with Prismacolors and then sprayed it with Perfect Pearl Perfect Pearls,  The small roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the large flowers  came from Excelsior Warehouse in England but I removed the centre bud-like portion to make them look like wild roses and then coloured them with Tea Dye DI.  The centres are gumdrops coloured with Terracotta Alcohol Ink.  The greenery (brown in this case) was cut on my Cameo and inked with Frayed Burlap DI.  Finally I dyed some seam binding with Tea Dye DI to make the crinkly bow.

I am going to enter this in the following challenges:

Graphic 45 - August Challenge
Card Mania - Anniversary
Through The Purple Haze - Flowers
Glitter n Sparkle - Add Some Flowers
Scrap & Craft - Wedding

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

Making Magic

The August challenge starts today at Anything But Cute and Georgie, our hostess this month and is calling it Making Magic.  She describes the challenge this way:

"Most of us are drawn to the magic of fairy tales and fantasy. The colours are often hypnotic and your mind is free to explore outside the limits of reality. For this challenge, I would like you to create a magical mixed media project strongly inspired by the moodboard. Be inspired by the theme, the colours, the textures or all three. Lets bring a little magic back!"

I decided to try to channel my inner Finnabair or at least to see if her inspiring talent could rub off on me just a little so I made this canvas in her style.  She posted a canvas with a paint brush recently and I used that as my jumping off point but the rest of the layout is mine.  You can click on the image to get a larger view.

I started with a 9" x 12" canvas from the dollar store and covered it with Liquitex Gesso.  Next I added some texture with Golden Molding Paste through a stencil from TCW called Mini Hexagons and a few randomly placed pieces of mesh drywall tape.  I also dabbed some of the paste on for more texture.

Next I raided my sewing stash and added some strips of denim and lace along with a long piece of cheesecloth from my kitchen supplies.  The paint brush that I picked up for a dollar at Wal Mart came next and then I started to add all sorts of bits and pieces from my craft room and my husband's tool shelves - screws, gears, washers, metal medallion, buttons, flowers, beads mini clothes pin, can pull top, wooden shapes, electronic bits, etc.  I used Liquitex Matte Super Heavy Gel Medium to attach everything and found once it was dry, it really kept everything in place.

Originally I had decided on a different way of doing the text but didn't like it and changed my mind after everything was done so in this case the letters, which were cut from wood on our new laser cutting machine were altered after the fact ( what a pain that was since they are tiny).  Normally they would have been added along with all the other bits.

The next step was to give everything a couple coats of Gesso and then a coat of Leaf Green acrylic paint from Delta Ceramcoat.  Once that was dry I went over it with some Hey Pesto Fresco Finish paint.

The next step was to add lots of inks, sprays and more paints.  I used Burnt Sienna Liquitex Ink, Antelope Brown and Silver Moss FW (Dalex Rowney) Ink.  The sprays I used were Lindy's Glitz Spritz Blazing Sun and Lindy's Starburst Jack in the Pulpit Teal.  I mixed some Lindy's Magicals My Mojito Green with water and used my natural sea sponge to dab it on as well as some Folk Art Peridot Metallic and Deco Art Champagne Gold acrylic paints.

Here are a couple of close-up views:

I had a blast making this and hope that I did Finnabair proud.  I also hope that you will join us in Georgie's challenge and make something magical.

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

That Craft Place - Mixed Media Anything Goes
Simply Create Too - Anything Goes
A Sprinkle of Imagination - Anything Goes
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes (must be mixed media or altered items)
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes (must be mixed media or altered items)
Mixed Media Mojo  - Anything Goes (must be mixed media or journaling)
Mixed Media World - Stencils
We Love 2 Create - Anything Mixed Media/Creative/Inky Goes

Mother Love

The new challenge starts today at Frilly and Funkie and this time I am the hostess and I have chosen a theme called Thing With Wings. Use anything with wings as the focal point on your vintage or shabby chic projects this time. Be it of the animal, fantasy or mechanical variety we want your creativity to take flight!

I have had a couple weeks of Camp Grandma (the July edition - another week to come in August) so my creating time has been limited and I must admit that I wimped out and created a little more simple project for this challenge.  I wanted to colour for a change and since I had this sweet image from A Day for Daisies I decided to use it as a focal point for a baby card.  The images was coloured with Prismacolors and blended with Gottrick OMS.  Some Stardust Stickles were added to the wings.

I used white card stock from Recollections for the blank and then started layering on papers from Maja Designs.  The top of two layers were cut on one edge with a Martha Stewart edge punch.

I created the banner and used the punched stars as additional embellishments.  The banner pieces are hanging from some burlap string and the whole banner is attached by a couple of mini clothespins that I painted white.  I added a strip of lace and a computer generated sentiment that has been inked with Scattered Straw Distress Ink.

I also created some word art in Photoshop and made it into a hidden tag that was inked with Scattered Straw DI and has a little piece of satin ribbon at the top.

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

Aurora Wings - Anything with Wings
Crafty Sentiments - Baby
Top Tip Tuesday - Bingo - I used Sparkle (on wings), Sentiment, Ribbon or Twine
Come And Get It - Fairies
Di's Digi Designs - Hand Colored Image
Fussy and Fancy - Things with Wings
Polkadoodles - 2 or More Patterned Papers
Moving Along With The Times - Baby, Baby

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