Found Curiosities Vignette

Happy Halloween, friends! It's time for the Funkie side of the Frilly and Funkie Design Team to share our inspiration for the current challenge, Impress Us! I chose this theme and here are the details:

Who doesn't want to make a great first impression? For this challenge, we would like you to use your embossing folders or any other way you can make an impression on your vintage or shabby chic project. Go ahead and 'Impress Us' with your creativity!

Please stop by Frilly and Funkie to see what my talented Frilly and Funkie teammates have created to impress you. Hopefully you'll be tempted to play along! As always, the Design Team will choose their top four favorites, with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest Designer spot at Frilly and Funkie, and the next three will receive Top 3 badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

My favorite embossing folder is the Lumber 3D Texture Fade by Tim Holtz, and I've used it time and time again in my projects since it's release this year. And you'll see I used it a lot on this project which started with an embossed panel. I coated a kraft panel with Distress Collage Medium Matte and Weathered Wood and Black Soot paints before embossing, then added Distress Crazing. When dry, I used Crayons in various neutral colors and swipes of black crackle paint.

 Initially, I wasn't planning to make another Halloween project, but  this project grew into a Halloween vignette after I made this panel.  I wasn't totally pleased with the wood grain effect on it's own, but I knew it would work as a great background for some of the things I would be covering it with. Here are some shots before I added the boys and other spooky elements.

The 'tree stumps' are leftovers from my Bone Collector project. I shaped them into cylindrical shapes and added thick foam to maintain their shape before adhering with Distress Collage Medium Matte. I bet you didn't know that spooky jack-o-lantern was peeking out between the stumps. I tucked in some bracket fungus from my stash, because that's what grows on damp rotting wood.

On the inner top and sides I used a piece of embossed card I had in my scrap bin. I had loaded it with mixed media products and it really looked bad, but I knew it would come in handy for some future project. When I originally made this, I had swiped on a think layer of texture paste in some areas and made impressions with an art tool (the lines in the photo below). I had also smeared on crackle paste randomly. The embossing folder I had used was a leaf print by Tim Holtz--you would never know it to see it now. All this texture really came to life by applying a glaze of Black Soot Distress paint mixed with Vintage Collage Medium, my go-to Halloween secret recipe. The brush strokes almost look like wood grain.

The box I used was one of four box signs I picked up in the clearance bin at a local craft store. They are about the size of the largest Vignette Box which I am out of right now.  I just gave it a coat of black gesso, followed by a thick layer of Prima Pitch Black Impasto paint on one of the sides. I had previously cut a Laurel branch using the Laurel 3D Impresslit and applied Prima Old Silver Metallique Wax to the raised parts.  I heated the paint until dried just enough to leave a skin. I pressed the laurel leaves die cut into the paint, leaving it for a minute and removed.

I sprinkled with Prima mini Art Stones while the paint was still tacky. Sadly, the little specks started to fall off when I handled it, so I decided to give it a coat of Vintage Collage Medium to hold them in place. Yuck! Shiny was not the look I was going for!  And the medium hid some of the impressions left by the die cut. This hereby became the bottom of my project. Trust me, this is a very flattering photo (below).

 I repeated the paint/impressions on each of the remaining 3 sides, but this time decided to sprinkle the stones before I heat dried. I was hoping the thick paint would act as a glue, but they ended up falling off. They did leave an interesting impression, but barely visible in the photos.

Let's take a look at the details inside the box. The Tangled Twigs die cuts were embossed with the Lumber Texture Fade and tucked in here and there. The boys are cut from one of the Halloween Paper Doll Ancestors. I colored them with Vintage Photo, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade crayons and splattered with Black Soot paint.

I added some more fungus and an Ideaology Zombie Hand wrapped in Mummy Cloth holding one of Mini Pumpkins. In the photo below, you can see the nice texture left by the Impasto paint being scraped over the edges. The texture is brought out with Hickory Smoke crayon.

A bit of yard waste makes the perfect stem and some goo makes for a gross rotting pumpkin.

Oooooh! There's that scary jack-o-lantern from the Halloween Ephemera pack! A bit of Laurel is tucked in among the layers.

And a shy owl peeks out over the boy's shoulders. The brass owl from The Funkie Junkie Boutique's large supply of unique charms was altered by removing the bail, painting with Black Soot paint and a few drops of Teakwood alcohol ink.

BOO!

I used Mega Art Stones painted with Black Soot to disguise the thick black foam I used to hold the trio in place.

And now the finishing details on the front. I painted a Halloween Word Band with Carved Pumpkin and Black Soot paints.

A couple of embossed Laurel leaves colored with Peeled Paint crayon. The Halloween Quote Chip was colored with Wild Honey crayon.

That's all for me! I hope you are inspired to get out those embossing folders or think of another way you can make an impression on your project and share with us at Frilly and Funkie!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Country View Challenges October 2018 - Plant-tastic Laurel, twigs, tree trunks, real twig.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Take Flight (owl)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Halloween/Spooky

Die Cut Divas Halloween or Autumn  I used 4 Sizzix die cuts.

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #142 - ANYTHING GOES

Scrapy Land Challenge #100 Anything Goes I used 4 Sizzix die cuts.

That's Crafty Spookalicious Challenge

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

Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Lumber	Sizzix 3-D Impresslits Embossing Folder - Laurel	Sizzix Bigz Die - Planks by Tim Holtz	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Tangled Twigs by Tim Holtz 663086	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Zombie Hands
Tim Holtz Idea-olog Mummy Cloth	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Pumpkins	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls, Ancestors	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Halloween Ephemera Pack	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Bands, Halloween
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips, Halloween	Set of 5 Bronze Tone Owl Charms	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Black Soot TDF52937	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Carved Pumpkin TDF50629	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Weathered Wood TDF53378
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Ground Espresso TIM43270	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #2 TDBK47919	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #1 TDBK47902	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Vintage TDA47940
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDA47933	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Crazing TDA47957	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Teakwood TAL40743	Prima Art Ingredients - Mega Art Stones	Prima Art Ingredients - Mini Art Stones
Prima Art Alchemy Impasto Paint - Pitch Black	Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabair - Metallique Wax - Old Silver