Friday, June 30, 2017

Christmas Card for June

Hello again! Well, I bet you thought I may have forgotten to make my Christmas card this month! Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute to get it posted!


Quick post today with just a few details. My patterned papers are old K and Company, The bells are from a set of die cuts my friend Autumn (SewPaperPaint) sent me for Christmas last year, as are the poinsettias. I bought a couple packs of the flowers, too, so you'll be seeing more of them.



I used a Tim Holtz stencil and texture paste for my greeting. When it was dry I swiped green metallic wax through the stencil to highlight the words, but this looked a little bland. I pounced embossing fluid through the stencil and heat embossed with holographic embossing powder. Love the subtle shimmer in real life. Cheese cloth is died with Bundled Sage Distress ink. Easy peasy, and one more for the pile! And it's fairly flat for easy mailing come time. I think I'm going to be much happier this November!

(This is one of those cards that looks MUCH better in person.)


I'm entering these challenges:
Thank you for your visit today and for all your kind words.
Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Glittering in the Sun-Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hello crafty friends and visitors! Today is the 5th Friday of the month (well it is across the pond), and at A Vintage Journey that can only mean one thing! TAG FRIDAY! We all love Tag Fridays, because we have free rein at the craft table!


I chose a heavy chipboard tag, coated it with gesso and painted it randomly both thickly and thinly with Prima Light Patina paint. I dried it with a heat tool to make it bubble. Next I used one of Tim's yet unused by me stencils and also unused Viva Croco color for some texture. I blasted it again with my heat tool and then dropped on Snow Cap Mixative here and there. I  quickly spritzed the spots of alcohol ink with water and again heated for more bubbles. It's so fun to see the white ink migrate over the surface. Later I swiped on some more Light Patina for more depth and texture. Lastly I edged the tag with Distress Crayon and smudged it in well with my finger.



My flowers were made with Tim's Wildflower die, and I colored just the blossoms on these. I twisted up some dimensional flowers using some punched flowers (Tim Holtz) gifted to me by my teamie and good friend, Autumn. I gave them just a hint of color with Distress Oxides and ink. Yup! That's my thumb photo bombing!



The butterfly die cuts were colored with Distress Oxide-Spiced Marmalade and Distress ink Wild Honey. I also sprinkled some Burnt Copper Leaves embossing powder on one of them while the inks were still wet. A few Clippings stickers stand in for my quote. The seam binding is from my mother's stash, and although it started rusty orange, I dipped it in a puddle of diluted Spiced Marmalade Oxide before crinkling it up.



Another FUN project! I hope you found at least one bit of inspiration! Please pop over here to see even more tag inspiration from my team mates!

Don't forget our 'Canvas' challenge is open until July 6! I hope you will link up your project for a chance to win a generous gift certificate to Shimmerz Paints or a chance to be chosen as  one of three Pinworthy Guest Designers.

Thank you for stopping in today and for all your wonderful comments!
Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily

Products used: Recollections Chipboard tag, Viva Croco Crackling Color-Sanssouci; Prima Art Alchemy Acrylic paint-Metallique Light Patina:Tim Holtz : Blossom Layering Stencil, Flower punch, Detailed Butterflies, Mini and Wildflowers #2 Thinlits dies, Clippings stickers; Adirondack Mixatives-Snow Cap; Distress Oxides: Spiced Marmalade and Fossilized Amber, Distress Ink; Wild Honey, Distress Crayon: Vintage Photo

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Embossed Wedding Card-Frilly and Funkie-With This Ring

Hello crafty friends and visitors! It's time for the Funkie girls at Frilly and Funkie to present you with their inspiration for Cec's challenge theme 'With This Ring'. I'll give you the details in just a minute, but first I'd like to share my embossed wedding card with you.


It is wedding season so let's create vintage or shabby chic projects that celebrate the big day.  Your creation might be a card, a gift, a decor item or something to keep the memories of the special occasion.

I don't know about you, but I am a sucker for a wedding!  I have watched Princess Diana's wedding and all four of the Dugger weddings so far on TV, and I love going to every wedding I can afford and am able to travel to!  I need lot's of wedding cards for my stash, and thanks to Cec, I've got one more!



I started by making the background panel, and I was going for a vintage flocked wallpaper look. I used a Wendy Vecchi Art and You stamp, Distress Oxide, crayon, and ink and embossing powder. In the top photo, you get a feel for the subtle shimmer. It's very hard to photograph the 'flocked' appearance, and of course you can't feel it, but the finish on this is so silky to the touch. Perfect for a wedding card! I hope to be doing a step by step tutorial on this technique next month at Frilly and Funkie...stay tuned.


I backed this with a panel that I heat embossed with a mixture of several powders, just around the edges to conserve my stash. My mixture includes 2 parts  Ranger Frosted Crystal Antiquities, 1 part Ranger silver, and 1 part Emerald Creek Hammered Metal embossing powders. The Frosted Crystal gives it a nice matte finish with some of the silver glimmer peeking through. Love this recipe! Yum!


My happy couple come from Tim's Paper Dolls, and I colored them with Distress markers. I think the groom looks a little nervous--what do you think? A die cut doily (Tim Holtz) and some delicate flowers from Tim's Botanical Layers give them a soft background for their matrimonial photo shoot.


The die cut heart is Spellbinders Vines of Passion. I colored the background using the same stamp I did on the 'wallpaper', but stamped bits of it randomly to fill the heart with the design. I inked the stamp with Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide and spritzed it with water before making my impressions. I dried it and blended with Hickory Smoke Distress ink. For the filigree part of the heart I dabbed on Ranger Emboss It Dabber and heat embossed using my concoction of powders listed above.



A few white roses and a Clippings Sticker on chipboard and inked with Frayed Burlap finish off my vintage wedding card.


Now it's over to you! We hope you'll join our challenge for a chance to win a generous $25 shopping spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique! The team will also be choosing  their top four picks. I hope you'll take a minute to hop over to Frilly and Funkie to see all the wedding inspiration my talented frilly and funkie team mates have made for you!

I'll be sharing with these challenges:
Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #37 – A Year of Choices I chose #33 'Sweet Inspiration' inspired by the graphic-hearts and pinks.
Deep Ocean Challenge-Challenge #158: "Lots of Layers" Although it's a flat card there are 6 layers!
Dies R Us-Challenge #75 - Celebrations- I used Sizzix and Spellbinders dies.

Thank you for dropping in today and for leaving your wonderful comments! I read and appreciate them all! 
Hugs and Blessings! 
Sara Emily

The following products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Oh, How I Love Todays!

Hello crafty friends and visitors! I had a rare afternoon the other day where everyone was out of the house, and I had a little "free" time on my hands. So I chose to have a little fun in the Closet and make something just for the fun of it--no deadline's, no rules, no themes and no preconceived ideas. This is what I ended up with.


What's more, I got to use up some of those things in my stash I've been hoarding but have been kind of feeling guilty about letting them take up valuable space, like some thick cardboard packing (my 'canvas'), heart shaped doilies, K and Co.layered heart die cuts I've had for 100 years, some kid's jewelry and little wooden hearts.


The stencil work is done with Tim Holtz Hearts and Stripes Layering stencils and some new light modeling paste I picked up at a yard sale recently. I blasted it with my heat gun until it bubbled up. The doily is barely visible with a layer of thick gesso, the stenciling, Art Stones and microbeads. But a little of the texture peeks through here and there which I love.








 The quote is from Tim's Ponderings set stamped on a Spellbinder's circle die cut colored with Dylusions Fresh Lime spray and Peacock Feathers Distress ink, layered on top of Seth Apter's Broken Maze. I popped it up on a couple of pieces of cardboard packing. I really felt the quote suited the occasion. If you peek under there you can see I was covering up an undesirable result of stamping on Tissue Wrap. The color really took to the edge of the wrap and it just didn't look good at all. 



The background color is compliments of Dylusions sprays (Fresh Lime and Vibrant Turquoise) applied with a brush over a gessoed surface and chased around with my water spritzer and heat tool. I think it's so cool how you can get so many shades of color out of one bottle of spray! I added some high lights with gesso and DecoArt Brilliant Turquoise Metallic Lustre. I pretty much let my canvas do what it wanted to, and I have to say I'm quite pleased with the bright colors and overall outcome. It's good to just have a good play every now and then! I hope you are finding some time to just play, too!

I'm entering these challenges:
Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #37 – A Year of Choices I chose #35 What's Your SuperPower. I truly believe it's being able to create what most appeals to me without any agenda or plan in mind; I'm an intuitive artist.
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Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-Let’s Take A Vacation I've taken a vacation from crafty deadlines, themes and planned out projects and just went with the flow.

Thank you for your visit and for your lovely comments!
Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily