Somewhat Snarky

 

Hello friends! This mixed media card pretty much sums up my creative process in how it came together and quite frankly just how life in general is right now. I was having a play with new to me Folk Flowers Thinlits die and created a panel by using just the inserts (waste) on a piece of medium weight card stock. This was just an experiment, and I didn't use my 'good' cardstock, but I had so much time invested in gluing all those little bits, I felt I needed to use it. Everything else on the card are literally leftovers I had sitting on my worktop except for the Transparent Wings. It can be so much fun to create with just what you have in front of you. You can see another card I made with this die, and some of the bits used here were left over from that play.

This really wasn't as difficult as you might think, although it was time consuming. For the most part, the little pieces stayed in the card. I just used a toothpick to apply collage medium to the bits a little at a time, flipped the die cut over on the plain card and poked them out onto the card with the toothpick and with my pokey tool for the really tiny pieces. I repeated this until I had the entire die cut done.

I really love how the background turned out. After adhering all those little waste bits from the die cut, I gave it a coat of Distress Collage Medium Matte and allowed it to harden a few minutes. Then I gave it a few sprays with Gathered Twigs Oxide spray and wiped with a clean cloth leaving behind just enough color. I blended Walnut Stain Crayon around the edges, adhered to bright yellow card and did some really bad wonky stitching.  

I had the little stars cut from a play with the Funkie Cactus die set that Linda was so generous to give me from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. It's a great die set and still in stock in her shop. The Prima Design Tape butterflies and pieces of Collage Wrap were an afterthought--it just needed something. Now that is really winging it!

My lady was fussy cut from one of the Group Paper Dolls; her 'better half' was used on this tag. I colored her shoes with Crackling Campfire Embossing Glaze and an Embossing Pen. Love those red shoes. Here's a bit of red shoe trivia--our southern town has old local ordinance which states it is unlawful to walk down a certain street in red shoes!

That's it for me today! I see we have a hurricane warning (joy, joy!), so I better get this posted before the inevitable loss of power. 

I would like to share this in the  Snarky, Sassy, and Silly Summer Fun challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog and the challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday We Can See Clearly. Thanks for stopping by! Hugs! Sara Emily

Thankful With Folk Flowers

Hello again, friends! I know it's crazy that I should have two posts in a week after such a long absence. After loosening up my creative muscles a bit with my last card making session (thanks to Autumn's inspiration), I couldn't help but use one of my more recent purchases from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Inspired by Anita Houston's shaker card, I had to add Tim Holtz Folk Flowers die to my crafty stash, and this is it's first time out. I'm working on another that I started using this same die in a completely different way, so stay tuned.

Contrasting with my simple cards in my last post, this one was a bit more time consuming with all the little bits. To make it easier, I started with a background from my stash. To see how I made the Faux metallic background for the die cut, please visit The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog's  Saturday Showcase for a tutorial. This was a fun technique I discovered when I felt more inspired to play. The technique is improved with the die cutting, in my opinion.

I die cut a couple more Folk Flowers from white and silver Metallic Kraft and used some of the bits to fill in random flowers and some of the flower center dots to add even more movement to the background. This is such a happy die cut! I fussy cut a few of the flowers from the die cut to tuck in here and there.

I cut some more flowers and foliage from two older Tim Holtz sets--Funky Foliage and and Large Funky Floral for the arrangement, popped a few of the leaves up with foam dots and tucked in some old black mesh for contrast.

The panel is layered over bright yellow card and matted on black card and a textured metallic panel. A Big Chat sticker is edged in Mustard Seed ink for a simple sentiment on this busy card. I'm so thankful you popped in for a look! Happy crafting to you! Sara Emily

Inspired By...

Hello friends! It's good to be back in the Closet again after a short break. I found myself in need of some quick Thank you cards and without any mojo at all. So I pretty much copied this brilliant set of cards from Autumn--you can see her lovely original cards at her blog-Sew Paper Paint. Thanks so much for your great design and inspiration, Autumn! I even dipped into my old Stampin' Up stamps for the background and sentiment, inspired by Autumn's use of her friend's Stampin' Up set and borrowed her color scheme, too. I did change the focal florals, though, choosing one my favorite Tim Holtz set, Illustrated Garden. I didn't stamp the background images too well, I'm  afraid. These are old rubber on wooden blocks and can't be used in my stamping platform. The images you get with the platform can't be beat.

To give importance to the sentiments, I heat embossed them on old Tim Holtz Thinlits--Stacked Labels and Stitched Rectangles. I'm afraid I didn't do the best job, but I needed to get these in the mail quickly.

It's so fun to fussy cut the flowers to make them unique for each card. The Distress ink colors I used are Mowed Lawn and Mustard Seed. I squeezed a little Liquid Pearls for the centers. That's it for me today! I hope to be getting back into the Closet with a little more regularity soon and to visit the wonderful friends who have left sweet comments recently. Big hugs! Sara Emily

I would like to share this with  the Simon Says Stamp Monday Beautiful Blooms challenge.

A Faithful Friend

Hello and welcome! It's been a while since I've had an opportunity to create something, but yesterday I had a few precious (almost uninterrupted) hours to play in the Closet.  At first, I thought I might try out some of my newer supplies. But as things sometimes happen, I reached instead for some of my old tried and true things, having been inspired by a scrap of metallic kraft stock already embossed and inked on my worktop and a couple of scraps of  inked Ideaology cloth tape that didn't make it onto a past project. My plan:  make something for my friend who had to put her precious furbaby, Zoe, down. May he now be enjoying a joyful, pain free Heavenly life.

 I also was inspired by Stacy Hutchinson's vintage framed artwork and tried the technique she used on an Ideaology Found Relative; click on the link for the details. If you love vintage, you'll want to check out her amazing blog. I chose this obvious choice of girl with her dog for my piece. The paint colors I used are Antique Linen and Speckled Egg,  the collage paper is Typeset, and I found an appropriate Clippings Sticker that describes Zoe. I added a wee bit of color to the girl's cheeks and to both bows with markers.

I didn't have just the right size of Etcetera Tag, so I fashioned one of my own out of a MDF frame backer I had in my stash. I just cut off the corners with my kraft knife. I applied an Ideaology Design Tape to the edges before adhering the background paper (not really seen in any of the photos, but it neatens the edges). I chose a couple of patterns from a couple of  older Worn Wallpaper packs--regular and Halloween--for my background and the Stacked Baroque die cut.  The background was adhered to the board and blended and splattered with Ground Espresso ink. Pardon the glare in the next three photos.

I wanted to represent the heartbreak my friend must have experienced as she made the decision to let her dear friend pass. I had an extra little scrap of the same paper in the pack, so I sprayed it with water, wrinkled and balled it up, tore it, rolled  the edges and left it to dry. Later I stitched the tear and blended it with Ground Espresso.

I die cut two Baroque pieces, and cut the brown one in half and strategically realigning to serve as a mat for the Wallpaper cut, which is blended with Antique Linen and edged in Ground Espresso. Yes, I realize the pattern is upside down, but don't our lives get turned upside down when we lose a faithful friend?

Because my inspiring scrap of embossed kraft stock was too small, I embossed and sanded another and this time, inked it with Speckled Egg Oxide and Rustic Wilderness ink. I edged it with Black Soot paint.

A flower that came as part of a huge crafty gift from my sweet friend and former teammate Suzanne Czosek (Suzz's Stamping Spot -- another wonderful blog you must visit for some great inspiration and techniques) was spritzed with Speckled Egg Oxide and water as was the piece of blue dyed crinkle ribbon that came on the little thank you gift from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I added a little bit of Frayed Burlap ink to the ribbon before allowing it to dry. The Garden Greens die cut was sitting on my worktop, and I inked it with peeled Paint and Bundled Sage. I tucked it under the flower as well as some cheesecloth.

That's all for me! I hope you have a wonderful, crafty weekend! 

Hugs! Sara Emily

I would like to submit to these inspiring challenges:

The Funkie Junkie Challenge Blog Anything Goes (boy, does this feel weird!)

Simon Says Stamp Monday Four Legged Friends

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Use Dies and/or Punches (I used 2 Sizzix dies and a corner punch to round the corners on Found Relative and and the 2 mats.)

These Tim Holtz products were used on my project:

Stacked Baroque Thinlits Die

Garden Greens Thinlits Die

Swirls 3D Texture Fade

Ideaology: Fabric Tape, Metallic Kraft Stock-copper, Found Relatives, Worn Wallpaper, Clippings Sticker Book

Distress Ink: Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness

Distress Oxide: Speckled Egg (Pad and Spray)

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Antique Linen, Speckled Egg

Distress Markers: Evergreen Bough, Spun Sugar

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all those hard working, dedicated Mom's out there! I made this card for my husband's Mom to let her know she is loved and appreciated. My card features Ideaology Botanical Layers over a background created with Tim Holtz Bouquet Thinlits.

The background is die cut from water color paper, and for the most part was able to keep all the little pieces in and adhered it with Distress Collage Medium Matte to another card. I just reinserted those pieces that fell out. I gave it all a coat of gesso and allowed it to dry. I squeezed out a couple drops of Broken China and Mustard Seed paints onto my mat and mixed them with hand sanitizer and used my finger to paint the background. The hand sanitizer makes the paint glide on smoothly and dries super quick. 

All of the layers were edged with Frayed Burlap Oxide, and then I made a little watery puddle of the Frayed Burlap and dipped the pieces in to give them a bit more of an aged look. You can see I added a little Mustard Seed from the background to the large rose.

I stitched around the outside edge and adhered the layers. I had to make this a flat card for ease in mailing. I used my splatter brush and Distress Tarnished Brass paint to add foxing to the card. You can see a bit of the metallic shimmer by tipping the card to the light, but otherwise it looks like brown spots!

I adhered the panel to two old releases of Tim Holtz Paper Stash and to a card blank. So there's my version of a CAS card! I hope you enjoy your week and have a lovely Mother's Day if you are celebrating! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Feminine

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:Anything Goes

If You're Feeling Blue...

Hello friends!  I wanted to make my daughter a graduation card, since her college is finally going to have a  graduation ceremony this weekend for last year's graduating class.  I have nothing in my crafty arsenal for graduations, so I needed to improvise. Since she will be a psychological counselor after finishing her Masters next year, I thought I would make a little play on her profession with my quote. I've had this set of quote stamps for years and have never opened them. I cut the stamp in two, so I could place half the quote at top and the other at the bottom. I don't think she'll be handing out this advice in her office, but it's really good advice, don't you think?

I stamped the quote on a scrap in Archival ink and a couple Glitch 1 stamps with regular Distress, both Faded Jeans. I  added some drips and splats as I was inking other parts of the card. The pink splashes and drips are Oxide spray.

I stamped the circle from Glitch 1 on another scrap and painted in one of the areas with Oxide spray. I love the grid stamp from the set and inked it in Chipped Sapphire, splashing with a little water for some inky washes. Finally, I used the Plus stencil and texture paste to add texture, and when it was dry, replaced the stencil and inked with Faded Jeans.

This Baseboard Doll's dress was colored with Embossing Dabber/Pen and Embossing Glaze, and after heating, rubbed with steel wool to remove the shine. Her cheeks, hair piece and tights are colored with markers. The heart on her dress didn't look too good, so I applied an old Remnant Rub over it and while they were out, added some here and there. Everything is edged with Hickory Smoke ink.

That's all for me! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Add A Quote

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday ChallengeAnything Goes

Tim Holtz products used:

Distress ink - Archival Faded Jeans, Faded Jeans, Hickory Smoke, Chipped Sapphire

Distress Oxide Ink - Faded Jeans

Distress Oxide Spray - Kitsch Flamingo

Distress Embossing Glaze - Kitsch Flamingo

Distress Marker - Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar

Glitch 1 Stamps

Plus Layering Stencil

Baseboard Dolls

See the Beauty Mixed Media Tag

Hello friends and visitors! What do you do with a background that turned out absolutely horrible? Turn it into a tag, of course! (Or ATC's or coins.)

(click on this photo to enlarge)

This actually started a while back with some flowers blended with Wilted Violet through Roses mini stencil. It didn't turn out too well using blending foam--a blending brush works much better with these smaller openings. So into the bin it went to use the other side at a future date.

 So yesterday I was blessed with a wee bit of 'free time' to play in my Closet, and I found this panel. I blended Distress Micro Glaze with a blending tool through the same stencil, placing it over the existing flowers. After spritzing the panel with water, I sprayed with various Distress Spray stains and Oxide (colors in the products list below). I repeated this with different stencils, drying between and finally blending Wilted Violet ink through Floral stencil. Lastly, I sprayed with water and mopped with a paper towel.  It pretty much went from bad to worse when I tried to add some pink to the left side to balance the brightness of the right, but I'm a firm believer in salvation. I decided I could die cut it into a tag using Stacked Tags and try to rescue the better part of the background.

I chose three brightly colored butterflies from two different Botanical packs; one is a little different to the other two, but I used my splatter brush and Picket Fence paint to try and unify them. Each one is edged with Black Soot ink and layered over some die cuts from my stash. 

I found some appropriate phrases in the Clippings Sticker booklet to add, edged the tag in Wilted Violet and matted it on white card. 

 I snipped off some crinkle ribbon seam binding and colored it with Fossilized Amber and Crackling Campfire spray stains, dried and stamped the script from Tiny Toadstools in archival Black Soot ink. I tied it into a little bow as a topper.

All's well that ends well. I hope you get some time to be crafty! Hugs! Sara Emily

Challenge Shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Bright, Cheerful Colors

These Tim Holtz products were used on my tag:

Stacked Tags Thinlits

Tiny Toadstools Stamps

Stencils: Roses Mini Stencil (set 25), Floral, Latticework, Bubbles

Ideaology - Clippings Sticker Book, Botanical Layers

Distress Microglaze

Distress Collage Medium 

Distress Ink - Archival Black Soot, Black Soot, Wilted Violet, Evergreen Bough, Cracked Pistachio; Distress Paint - Picket Fence

Distress Spray Oxide - Cracked Pistachio 

Distress Spray Stain - Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry, Crackling Campfire