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.