Celebrate With Crackle

Hello crafty friends and visitors! I have a mixed media card to share with you today.  I made this especially for my super talented artsy friend Autumn of Sew Paper Paint to help her celebrate her birthday. If you're not already a follower, please be sure to pop over her blog--you will be so happy you did!

If this looks familiar to you, perhaps it's because I made my daughter's Thanksgiving Day card and 7 others patterned after it. I used different products and elements to achieve a similar look, but each one is unique.  I promise you, I won't be posting the 7 others--they are still in the process of being made. 

No time for a full tutorial now, but I have a list of products below. I love the look of an old leather  book I achieved with the Tim Holtz Book Cover Texture Fade combined with neutral Distress inks and embossing powder! I rarely use my embossing folders anymore, and had a blast bringing this one out for my background. Lots of inking and distressing going on here--super grungy!

One of my favorite Tim Holt dies-Ornate Frame was cut from a piece of waste packaging. The slick surface offered a great substrate for Distress paints layered from dark to light. Because the surface is slick , the paints beaded up and gave it a cracked granite appearance. Further subtle crackling obtained from DecoArt Crackle Glaze.

I really love this pumpkin stamp from a set called "Inspired By Autumn"  I picked up at an on-line auction earlier this summer. I knew I would be using this set for Autumn's birthday card as soon as I saw it's name., because I am inspired by Autumn!  It colored up beautifully with Distress paints watered down for a water color effect. Applying Crazing in random thicknesses and then highlighting the tiny cracks with Distress crayon give this an aged appearance.

I adore Crazing, and have even used it on some of my leaves cut from paper colored with Distress inks and cut with a Tim Holtz Autumn Gatherings die. There is even more Crazing on the edges, where I cleaned off my brush. Waste not, want not. I think Autumn would approve of my frugal-ness.

A bit of Thrift Shop Ephemera (I think both Autumn and I enjoy using thrift shop finds in our artwork), some burlap ribbon and twine from my stash, and a Chit Chat simple sentiment finish off my card. It's all mounted on distressed Kraft Core card stock. You'll notice the thread spool label is upside down. I wanted to be sure the word 'sew' showed in my little collage as a nod to Autumn's blog name-Sew Paper Paint. I think I got it all--"sew, paper and paint"--I even 'sewed' the twine using a straight stitch through the burlap ribbon, but it's mostly covered up.

Products used:

The following products can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique: Distress Collage Medium Crazing; Tim Holtz Ornate Frame Die and Core'dinations Kraft Core card stock; Ideaology Thrift Shop Ephemera and Chit Chat Seasonal Stickers; Ranger Jet Black Archival ink and Black Foam Adhesive Roll.

Additional products used: Tim Holtz Autumn Gatherings Decorative Strip die and Book Cover Texture Fade; My Favorite Things stamps,  Emerald Creek Oil Rubbed Bronze Embossing Powder, burlap ribbon and twine from my stash.

Assorted Distress inks, crayons, paints and markers used can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique and Emerald Creek.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

A Vintage Journey November Challenge-Cracking Up!

-Frilly and Funkie-What a 'Mesh'! Not much, but just a little burlap ribbon.

-Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #291-Fall Harvest

Deep Ocean Challenge #141- "Use Die Cuts or Punches" I used 2 die cuts by Tim Holtz/Sizzix.

-Artistic Stamper November's Creative Challenge-Autumnal

Happy Little Stampers November Anything Goes With Dies I used two Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies.

Dies R Us Challenge #60-Thankful For Nature Nature, but this can be a great Thanksgiving card, too! I've made 8 more to send to my friends and family for a Thanksgiving Day greeting.
-Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge-Thanks/Thanksgiving

-Word Art Wednesday Weeks #256-257-Anything Goes
-Crafty Calendar November Challenge-"Autumn Colors" Thanks for the tip, Bev! I couldn't enter with my last card, but thought I would add this one!

Thank you for dropping in and for leaving your wonderful comments! I read and appreciate them all!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily