Happy, Happy New Year!

 Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year! 2020 just seems so exciting, I had to put it on a card. I wish you could see this in person--it's so sparkly, but my camera just wouldn't cooperate.

  I used the snow die from Tim Holtz Winter Wonderland Thinlits set for the background, and gold DecoFoil peeks through. I die cut 2020 from a foil envelope liner and also black card using Classic Lower Alphanumeric Thinlits. I adhered them together, offsetting the gold from the black numbers just a bit. I layered this panel over the foil liner heat embossed with Roman Gold Ancient Gold super sparkly embossing powder by Ranger. I found this in my stash. It must be very old, but I see you can still get it online. I used the same powder to emboss the New Years sentiment, a stamp gifted to me by my friend, Autumn of Sew Paper Paint. She happens to be guest designing at Simon Says Stamp this month. so I'll be playing along in their current Party Time challenge. (Yes, that's Roger's fur under my watermark.)

The Radiant stars reminded me of fireworks, so I cut them from Metallic Kraft Stock to finish off my simple, but sparkly New Year's card. I hope where ever you will be on New Year's Eve there will be a party in your heart. Wishing you many blessings in 2020! Sara Emily

Sharing with:

Simon Says Stamp Monday: Party Time

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Party Time

Scrapy Land Challenge #128 Anything Goes

It's Christmas Time in the City!

Hello friends! Can you believe we are just a few days away from Christmas Day?! I wanted to play along in the current Cityscape challenge at Simon Says Stamp and completed my first Christmas card for 2020!

This really was quite a challenge for me, because I'm a country girl, but I was up for the dare. I pulled out a rarely used Tim Holtz Thinlits set by the name of Metropolis Cityscape (perfect!) and embossed some of the buildings with Prima Old Silver and Brushed Iron Metallique Wax and some new to me chunky Pam Bray powders for some city grunge. Some of the buildings were cut from scraps of old Tim Holtz Paper Stashes and some from scraps of Metallic Kraft Stock.

I layered my buildings over a snowy/starry sky (Tim's Snowy Stars Thinlits and Crackle 3D Texture Fade). Those Deco Sheets sure do make for a dazzling sky, don't they? You might see a little of that shimmer in the sky from more of the Metallique Wax, this time in White Gold. I just gently tapped my finger loaded with the wax on the ridges.

I die cut the wreath/bow with  the Village Christmastime set and colored with various Distress Oxides. The sparkly gold and red garland is from Festive Things. Stickles adds lots of city glam to the windows, spires and trimmings. I wish you could see this in real life!

I used a Christmas Clippings Sticker and Alphanumeric die cuts to spell out my greeting. and that's pretty much that! I seriously doubt I'll be posting anything else before Christmas, so I would like to wish everyone a very JOY-Full and Merry Christmas!

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Cityscape

Country View Challenges December 2019 - Stars

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #62 Anything Christmas Goes

Crafty Cardmakers #247 Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Party Time Although there's no words on here that say party; if you're in the city, you're bound to be having a party!

Scrapy Land Challenge #128 Anything Goes  I used 5 Sizzix dies.

SanDee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenges: Winter Special Challenge

Bleeding Art December Challenge - Anything Goes

Here's what a rainy Halloween night in the city looks like:

Peace & Joy Christmas Cards With Tim Holtz Snowy Stars

  Hello friends! Can you believe I've not finished sending my Christmas cards yet? With the challenge focusing on Stars over at Simon Says Stamp, I pulled out an older Tim Holtz Thinlits die - Snowy Stars to make a pair of simple cards.

Backing the die cut on the first card is the silver Decosheet I've hoarded for quite some time.

I cut the Star of Bethlehem from Metallic Kraft Stock and topped it with a tinier one (Impression Obsession) cut from a scrap of the Decosheet.

I have to say this Impression Obsession die set is my favorite non-Tim Holtz set and helps me focus on the real reason for the season -- our Savior is born! The Sentiment is one from the Festive Overlay set, inked in Black Soot Distress Archival ink, then heat embossed with clear powder. I shortened the sentiment by taping off "In the New year", so everything would fit.

This one is slightly different not only in color but I off set the manger from the Star, and left off the little stars. These cards are so easy to make, and I've got to get back in the Closet and make some more.

I'm wishing you Peace and Joy this Christmas and into the New Year. Hugs and Blessings, Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stars

Country View Challenges December 2019 - Stars

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #62 Anything Christmas Goes

Crafty Cardmakers #247 Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Christmas Card Day

A Retro Christmas Etcetera Tag and Gift Card Holder for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hello and welcome! Today, we are changing things up a bit at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for our regular Saturday Showcase feature. Each Design Team member is presenting a holiday tag featuring some of their favorite  products from The Funkie Junkie Boutique, so you will have plenty of ideas to complete your holiday crafting. I hope you'll pop over to see their holiday themed tags and visit their blogs for details on how they came together.

For my tag, I've used Idea-ology Christmas Worn Wallpaper, Sizzix Radiant 3D Impresslit, and Fanciful Snowflakes Thinlits die set, all by Tim Holtz. Not only are these products perfect for Christmas crafting, I can use them for projects throughout the winter season.

 I'll share some close ups with you and then we'll get to the tutorial.

Here's how it came together; I did manage to snap a few photos before assembling.

1. Apply gesso to small Etcetera tag edges, front and back.
2. Trim white card stock to fit tag and emboss top and bottom with old Tim Holtz Snow Flurries Texture Fade.
3. Swipe gesso randomly over embossed surface with credit card. Dry.
4. Blend embossed card with Shaded Lilac and Stormy Sky Distress ink. Apply Stormy Sky direct to paper, by dragging pad downward over panel. Dry.
5. Apply Distress Opaque Texture Paste through the snowflake stencil from the Mini Layering Stenciling set #45. Do this on random 'empty' areas around the edges of the panel. When dry, blend over the stenciled snowflakes with Stormy Sky. Spritz with water and dry again.

6. Using the Stamp Platform, ink snowflake portion of Holiday Greetings image with Faded Jeans archival. Dry ink and clean stamp, but leave in place on platform. Ink sentiment portion in Versamark and heat emboss with Liquid Platinum embossing powder.
7. Stamp flurries from Into the Woods with Picket Fence ink and heat emboss with Flurries Speckles powder. Heat tag in this area with heat tool and immediately sprinkle very lightly with a mixture of Flurries and Frantage Shabby White powders. The heated surface will allow the powders to stick. Heat just enough to melt.

8. Adhere panel to tag with Distress Collage Medium Matte. (I used this adhesive throughout project.) When fully dry, trim and sand edges. Blend edges with Faded Jeans Distress Archival ink.

9. Adhere Christmas Worn Wallpaper to Collage Frame. When dry, cut oval out with kraft knife and sand all edges. Blend edges with Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap inks and some random areas on the paper to age. Adhere collage frame to tag.
10. Ink deer from Great Outdoors stamp set with Versamark and heat emboss with Liquid Platinum powder.
11. Using stamp platform ink tree from Into the Woods set with Shaded Lilac making impression on a scrap of card. Clean the stamp, leaving it in place on the platform. Re-ink randomly with Stormy Sky and make a second impression. Clean the stamp again, and randomly ink with Faded Jeans Archival, again making an impression. Clean the stamp thoroughly and using Versamarker Pen, apply ink to just the tips of some branches. Heat emboss with Frantage/Flurries powder mixture.
12. Fussy cut tree and deer and blend with Pumice Stone ink.
13. Using the Radiant 3D Impresslit, cut/emboss the large and smaller 'stars' from white card. Color with Frayed Burlap, Hickory Smoke and Pumice Stone inks. Apply HS pad directly to raised areas. I applied Prima White Gold Metallique Wax just to the ridges with my finger.
14. Die cut smaller of the two Fanciful Snowflakes Thinlits from water color paper. Spritz with Faded Jeans Distress Oxide Spray, spritz with water and dry with heat tool, shaping while drying. I love that these snowflakes are dimensional (a surprise to me!); they fold up quite easily using the score lines included on the die. Blend with Shaded Lilac ink and blend edges with Pumice Stone ink.
15. Adhere snowflake to larger star with a foam pop dot to maintain dimension.
16. Color 1/2 pearls with Smolder Alcohol Pearls and let dry. Adhere to star, snowflake and tree.
17. Assemble tag.

Here's the reverse side of the tag. I made a smaller, removable tag that hides a gift card and slides into a pocket. The tag was made from two cards from last year. I glued them together, facing inward and rounded the corners. I dipped each side of this tag into leftover sprays in my spray box (I line my box with waxy palette sheets that I can use over and over again).

 Using Tim's Sparkles & Christmas stamp set, I heat embossed one side of the tag with the sparkle image and white embossing powder. The other side is embossed with the greeting image and Winter's Mistake powder (very elusive from the camera). Using the Radiant Impresslit, I cut and embossed two of the large stars from gold and  silver Metallic Kraft Stock. I glued these together  and to the top of the tag to make a pull for the tag. I used Liquid Pearls to make the center on the silver one and to dot some of the embossed sparkles.

You can see in the photos above I've used Tim Holtz Christmas Mini Paper Stash to back the tag and to create the pocket.  Using scraps to make a V folded hinge on either side of the pocket allows a bit more room in the pocket. Just adhere one side of the hinge to the pocket edge and the other side to the tag.  Glue along the bottom and you've got a nice roomy pocket. Thanks to my good friend Kathy Clement for this easy, handy tip.  Be sure to check out her blog - Kathy By Design; not only does Kathy make the most wonderful cards, folios and journals, but she always gives freely of her useful tips and ideas. I finished off the bottom of the pocket with an old Tim Holtz Industrious sticker updated with Smolder Alcohol Pearl.

I hope this has given you some ideas for using your Christmas papers, die cut sets and embossing folders or maybe tempted you to add one of these products to your Christmas shopping list. Remember, there's still time to play along with our It's the Holidays challenge which is open until December 17th, 2019. Happy crafting! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stars

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Interactive Christmas (pull tag in back pocket)

Country View Challenges December 2019 - Stars

Scrapy Land Challenge #127 Anything Goes I used 2 Sizzix dies.

Do-Al (1) Creative # 36 - Shabby Chic / Vintage

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #62 Anything Christmas Goes

We Love 2 Create at Polkadoodles Challenge #12 - Anything Goes Mixed Media

Crafty Cardmakers #247 Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Christmas Card Day

These supplies were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:
Sizzix Tim Holtz 3-D Impresslits Embossing Folder - Radiant
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Fanciful Snowflakes
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Worn Wallpaper -  Christmas
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Frames
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Into the Woods
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Holiday Greetings
Tim Holtz Etcetera - Small Tag
Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils - Set #45
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads - Frayed Burlap, Hickory Smoke, Picket Fence, Pumice Stone, Shaded Lilac,Stormy Sky
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Faded Jeans,  Wilted Violet
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Archival Mini Ink Pad - Kit #2
Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Matte
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte
Ranger Embossing Speckle Powders - Flurries
Ranger Embossing Powder - Liquid Platinum
Ranger Embossing Powder - White Super Fine Detail
Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Pearls - Smolder
Tim Holtz Ideaology Mini Christmas Paper Stash
Tim Holtz Ideaology Metallic Kraft Stock
Tim Holtz Stamp Platform
VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad
VersaMarker Watermark Pen
Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabair-Metallique Wax - White Gold
Emerald Creek Embossing Powders - Winter's Mistake

Pine Cone Gift Box Ornaments

Welcome! Today we start the new challenge over at A Vintage Journey. Our theme this time chosen by the talented Sandy is 'Holly Jolly Christmas'. Here's what she says:

This month Anything Goes as long as it says Christmas and is in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

Well, I almost goofed, and forgot her brief said 'as long as it says Christmas'. But I managed to get 'Christmas' on there! Let's take a look!

I started with these chipboard pine cone boxes I've had in my stash for years. I painted them with brown acrylic paint and sealed the paint with Matte Medium, before giving them a random coating of DecoArt Crackle Paint. I sealed the crackle with DuraClear Ultra Matte once the crackle had dried and done it's thing. After this layer dried, I wiped on DecoArt Media Antiquing Cream in English Red Oxide and Raw Umber, and wiped it back with a damp cloth. To enhance the cracks more, I used Ground Espresso Distress crayon. I only have one process shot. I think at one point I was thinking I was going to go in another direction and deleted my photos.

Then it was time to decorate the boxes. I used the bough from Pine Branch  and a leaf from Large Funky Floral Thinlits both my Tim Holtz. These were cut from card colored in various green inks and oxides and Antique Bronze Mica Spray. The berries (Tim Holtz Beaded Berries)  and pearls (from my stash) were colored with Deception Alcohol Pearl.

Here's the back side. The boxes halves are each decorated separately, so that the box is functional. We have a tradition in our family to leave a gift on the tree tied on with a yellow ribbon from The Christmas Mouse. I will find a small trinket or perhaps place money inside before hanging these on the tree Christmas Eve.

I made a pair of tags using Christmas Circle Words Thinlits and Metallic Kraft Stock. The crinkle ribbon is dyed with Antique Linen and Fossilized Amber Oxide sprays, Vintage Photo Spray Stain and Antique Bronze Mica Spray.

Everything got brushed with Distress Collage Medium and dusted with Frantage Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter. And finally, I used an old Remnant Rub to include 'Merry Christmas' and 'All I Want for Christmas' on each of the pine cone gift boxes.

There's plenty more Holly Jolly Christmas inspiration over at the blog, where my fellow Creative Guides have displayed their wonderful Christmas makes to tempt you to play along in this month's challenge. Thank you for visiting today and for all your wonderful comments. Hugs! Sara Emily

Challenge Shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Lets Sparkle

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Traditional Christmas

We Love 2 Create at Polkadoodles Challenge #12 - Anything Goes Mixed Media

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #61 Anything Christmas Goes

Do-Al (1) Creative # 36 - Shabby Chic / Vintage

Scrapy Land Challenge #127 Anything Goes I used 3 Sizzix die sets.

Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #448 3,2,1: You Choose I used 3 die sets (Pine Branch, Christmas Circle Words and  Large Funky Floral by Sizzix), there are two types of berries and one ribbon on each pine cone gift box.

Quick Christmas Cards with Tim Holtz and Stamperia For The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hello and welcome! Today we start a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog and this time super talented Maggi is our hostess. She titles her challenge 'It's the Holidays' and here's how she describes it:

This is such a busy time of the year that it's hard to find anytime to pursue our paper passion! With that in mind, I designed a challenge that will hopefully give you some needed crafting time, while making something useful for the holiday season that is upon us! For this challenge, create a vintage or shabby chic card, tag, gift box, bag, anything holiday related, that you can use over the holidays.

As always, the winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team. Please see the blog for details.

Like everyone else,  as we move closer to Christmas I find my time to craft grows more and more limited. So I needed to do some 'assembly line' type cards. I wanted them to be flat for easy and more economical posting. Some gorgeous card backgrounds from Stamperia's 12 x 12 Blue Stars paper pack make fast work of these respectably sized cards--each measures approximately 4 x 6 inches.

Using limited products and following a central theme makes the making go faster; not much thinking involved. I trimmed the cards and added various mediums and stencil work. Most of the mixed media work is already done on the paper, even some stitching. That's such a bonus, because threading my sewing machine is never fun for me. In the closeups, I'll describe what's been added to each.

After that, it's just a matter of sticking the backgrounds down to card blanks and embellishing them with Tim Holtz Christmas Paper Dolls, snowflake die cuts (Flurry #1, Flurry #2 and Mini Paper Snowflakes Thinlits dies by Tim Holtz) and Christmas Clippings Stickers. Each of the Paper Dolls has been swiped with Vintage Photo crayon and a damp finger to age them further.

Here are close ups of each of the cards. The first one has  monoprint stencil work done to the background. I used Tim Holtz Holiday Knit Layering stencil with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Oxides. The two Mini Paper Snowflakes were embossed with Versamark ink and Ranger Flurries Speckles Powder. I smeared Grit Paste at the bottom to give the boy a snowy drift to stand in.

Click on the photos to enlarge.

This second card is so simple and is my favorite. The Flurry # 2 die cut was smeared with Prima White Gold Metallique Wax and then sprinkled with Flurries powder and heated. I did the same to make the icy ground. I love the effect of the speckles melting into the vintage gold wax; a second dip into the powder adds more texture. A Paper Snowflake gives some contrast. I popped up the Paper Doll and Clippings sticker and with foam adhesive.

For this card, I scraped Grit Paste through the Starry stencil, removed and washed the stencil immediately--this stuff dries like cement. I sprinkled with Flurries powder and allowed the paste to dry. Once dry I heated with my heat tool. A few embossed mini snowflakes and a simple greeting complete the scene.

Isn't this girl so sweet? She looks like she's having so much fun playing in the snow! You can just barely see the snow under the runners of her vintage sled, but you can't miss that stunning Flurry cut from Metallic Confections card tucked behind her.

I did some more stencil work on this card. This time I smeared Transparent Texture Paste through the Snowflakes stencil and sprinkled it with Distress Clear Rock Candy dry glitter. When it dried, I blended with Frayed Burlap and wiped the ink from the flakes. I die cut Flurry #1  from more metallic card and this time used some of the waste 'confetti' that looked like stars to make more flurries.

For the final card, I laid down more Grit Paste at the skier's feet, this time sprinkling with Flurries powder while it was still wet.  The photos don't pick up the sparkles, but they are there. More sparkle and texture on the Mini Paper Snowflakes blended with Tumbled Glass ink comes from more of the powder.

My cards gather together once again, never to be seen together again in real life, as they are off to their destinations to wish friends and family a Merry Christmas.

Please pop over to The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog where It's the Holidays! My teammates have created some wonderful Christmas makes to inspire you! Then I hope you will play along for a chance to win one of the wonderful prizes! Happy crafting! Hugs! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Lets Sparkle

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes

Country View Challenges December 2019 - Stars third card only- "Merry Christmas"

We Love 2 Create at Polkadoodles Challenge #12 - Anything Goes Mixed Media

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #61 Anything Christmas Goes

 Do-Al (1) Creative # 36 - Shabby Chic / Vintage
Scrapy Land Challenge #127 Anything Goes I used 3 Sizzix dies - all snowflakes.
Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #248 3,2,1: You Choose 3 die cuts (or 3 embellishments), 2 colors, 1 designer paper.
Simon Says Stamp Christmas Card Day

The following products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:
Stamperia - Blue Stars 12x12 Paper Pack
Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Confections Kraft Stock
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set Paper Snowflakes, Mini by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Thinlits Die - Flurry #1 by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Flurry #2 by Tim Holtz
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls, Christmas
Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Holiday Knit, Snowflakes, Starry
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Grit Paste
Ranger Embossing Speckle Powders - Flurries
Ranger Distress Transparent Texture Paste
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayon - Vintage Photo
Distress Ink Pads - Frayed Burlap, Tumbled Glass
Distress Oxide Pads - Broken China, Tumbled Glass
Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter Clear Rock Candy
VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad
Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabair-Metallique Wax - White Gold