Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Dear Santa Final Week for 12 Weeks of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style


 Dear friends! I want to thank each one of you who sent me such lovely Christmas greetings! I will be e-mailing you personally, but for now I just want to say how deeply touched I am by your thoughtfulness and generosity.

 I am crossing the finish line at Linda's 12 week challenge 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style with my week 12 offering. Linda has done an amazing job of inspiring so many with her tag challenge for years, and each year her shop The Funkie Junkie Boutique generously sponsors the challenge with three random prizes: generous vouchers to the shop. But that's not all! EVERYONE who participates, completes all 12 weeks, and follows the simple guidelines receives a 10% coupon good on their entire order from The Funkie Junkie Boutique placed in the month of January.

You can see Linda's festive tag HERE. At first glance, what first inspired me about Linda's tag was the textural combination of the rustic burlap with the whimsical tissue fringe. When I read her post about finding elements in her craft room left from previous projects to add to her tag, I was so impressed with how perfectly all those bits worked together. Inspired by that idea, and tried to pattern my card along those lines.

The Kraft Stock scrap, the Santa image, snowflake, and berry sprig were all leftovers from previous projects. The red panel in the back right is a side panel from one of the Vignette Box covers from my Vignette boxes HERE. (I cut off the bottom panels of each cover so the boxes would sit flat and so I could easily access the lights. I did not glue my covers to the boxes in case the lights ever needed to be replaced.  I guess I'm pretty optimistic to think my daughter will treasure these little vignettes for years to come!)


If you look closely, you can see that scrap of Kraft Stock tucked under Santa. It was my first try at embossing and sanding the Kraft Stock for this project. I didn't like how it turned out, and I ended up using it as my experimental piece for different mediums and techniques, so it really should have gone in the trash. Just a little more sanding made it usable for this project, but if you were to peek under the Santa panel, you would not be pleasantly surprised.


This was a stamped Santa image left from the first time I pulled out my new Christmas Classic stamps so long ago. (I wish I had taken some in process photos, as this went through a LOT of changes.) The colors were too pink for the project I was working on at the time, but I thought it had potential, so into the scrap bin it went. I know I used Distress Oxides to color it at first, and gave it a coat of Collage Medium (I think) in random thicknesses at one point, but still didn't use it in that second project, so again, back in the bin. I guess I must have tried drying it with a heat gun, because it has crazing in some areas. (I know I didn't use Crazing, because that's mostly all dried up in the jar.)

For this card, I was trying to color match the reds (which were quite pink) to the reds of the Vignette cover panel and fringe. I added Fired Brick Distress ink with a water pen, and as you can see it didn't stay where I put it, because of the sealed surface. I was OK with the "paint outside the lines" look, but the color still wasn't right. Next I used a brush to add some Watermelon alcohol ink, let that dry and dry brushed with chalk paint to add back some white and soften the lines. Finally I splattered with watered down chalk paint which absorbed some of the color beneath. Oh, well.


I had to include this blurry shot to show you the gorgeous shimmer on my snowflake die cut; wish I could remember what I used on it. I think I may have sprayed Perfect Pearls into my Distress Oxides on my craft mat to make a puddle and then dipped my die cut into that.


Well, that's a wrap for this year's 12 Tags of Christmas entries. I had a blast taking inspiration from Linda, and I cannot thank her enough for her hard work and dedication to making this challenge such a success year after year, even when she is at her busiest! Thank you so much, Linda!

I would like to share in these challenges:
Scrapy Land Challenge #80 Anything Goes I used two Sizzix dies and a 

Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year! I will leave you with this quote...

“Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.” -Goran Persson

Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily

I used the following products which can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

20 comments:

  1. Well done on finishing the 12 tags Sara Emily, I love the vintage look you recreated on this card. I do love this Santa image and regret not getting it for this Christmas.
    Best wishes to you and yours for a great New Year.
    Avril xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fantastic card, Sara Emily! I love all the details as well as the imperfections because that's what makes it special and unique. I am always sad to see the 12 Tags of Christmas end. Wishing you all the best in the New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh my word!!!, this is amazing, beautifully vintage,and even more appealing because if its imperfections....of which i wouldnt even have known if i hadnt read your post!! thank you so much for joining in the artistic stamper challenge. x

    ReplyDelete
  4. (the crowd goes wild!!!) Congrats on finishing this fun challenge and man did you ever end with a bang! Woo hoo! This is my favorite of yours all season. Every grungy distressed detail speaks to me!! :) You are an amazing artist and I've so enjoyed seeing you at work with this challenge. Hugs, Autumn

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh I love this, beautiful card, and just perfect for our Christmas challenge. I hope you have a very happy 2018 and thanks so much for joining in with our challenge at Country View Crafts. Sue xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congratulations indeed!
    Is not it amazing and wonderful to see how the scraps take on new life?
    Like ugly ducklings they become beautiful swans! This card is a marvel, I love it!
    Thanks for the nice words on my blog.
    I wish you a happy new year!
    hugs
    Stefi

    P.S.
    Sorry, my English is not that good.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well done for completing the 12 weeks. I love this combination of Kraft, red and white colours and the Vintage feel too! I try to use up some of my scraps and half processed items too, although most don't make it to the finished card! You made me smile with your description of how Santa came about... been there done that! In the end, it worked out beautifully Sara!
    Wishing you a happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  8. However you brought this together it is a real triumph!! The Father Christmas image is so beautiful, he just makes me smile. This is my new favourite of the 12 tags/cards, I love everything about it! Huge congratulations on completing the 12 too, not an easy undertaking at this time of year, so well done you!

    Wishing you all the very best for the New Year my lovely friend, I hope 2018 is a great one for you! Big hugs, Anne xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy Christmas! Amazing card! I love it! Thank you for taking part in Noor Design U.K. December Challenge! Elena DT

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fantastic Sara Emily!! I love the loose water color feel of your Santa - It also gives it a touch of whimsy. The bottom fringe reminds me of an English Christmas Cracker. You are so clever Sugar!!
    sandy xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fabulous Santa card, especially with the vintage look.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congrats on finishing the tag challenge! All of your creations have been amazing, and this is one of my favorites with that awesome Santa image - so glad you saved him from your previous project! Love your embellishments and background and how you've put everything together. Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is gorgeous, and I like your vignette boxes too! Thanks again for playing our HeARTful Stamping Challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  14. So many lovely little textures and details going on here Sara, it sounds like Santa went through a lot to get to where he is now but he looks perfect for your project! Well done for making it to no 12! Lou x

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh Wow!! This is one awesome card! I love everything about it -- the jolly Santa is so cool! Love the vintage feel and all the fun elements you included!
    Thanks so much for linking up to Cropstop -- hope you'll join us again very soon!

    ReplyDelete
  16. WOWSERS what a fabulous project and again just perfect for our challenge over at Love 2 Create challenge. Many thanks for joining in with us & hope to see you again. Lou (DT)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love what you have done with the leftovers, Sara Emily. I really enjoy using them up once in awhile and always smile when it all comes together so quickly and easily Your card is wonderful. I love your Santa, the burlap and the polka dot background. I'm delighted you played along this year. Sorry I'm running a little behind schedule with closing out the challenge. I'll be back tonight with the winners post. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas.

    Hugs,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wow! A stunning final FJ card Sara! Love it!
    Alison xox

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love the texture.

    Thanks for sharing at The Artistic Stamper.
    (Sorry it's a bit late...)
    Lisa - The Artistic Stamper Creative Team

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving your comments...they mean so much to me.