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