Before I Had My Coffee

Hello! It's time for the Funkie girls to inspire you with our projects for the current challenge at Frilly and Funkie chosen by fellow Funkie teammate, Suzz Czosek. Her chosen theme is August, and here is how she describes it:

 "In doing a little online research I learned that the month of August was re-named for Augustus Caesar. He was the first Roman Emperor and was very proud of the influence he had on the architecture of the country. For this challenge I am asking you to be inspired by marble, arches or columns. You will need to create a vintage or shabby chic project using some type of marble effect, arches or columns."

I'll admit, I was thrown by this challenge at first, and instantly went to Pinterest to find out how to marble paper. Some techniques seemed quite complicated, but the shaving cream technique is so easy they showed kids doing it. So I purchased a can of shaving cream...

I ended up opting out of the messy technique when I saw some beautiful pink marbled papers in my Prima Marketing Love Story and Cherry Blossom paper pads. I had another change of plans, though, because I realized I could get similar results from my crafty supplies in colors I really wanted to use. I reserve pink for special occasions, and this is not one of them.

In the end, I decided to 'marble' my own paper using Distress Oxides. This is really simple, but I don't have any step out photos to share. I was just playing, and ended up loving the result. I found the best results using plain heavy weight (140#) card I had on hand. I tried using Distress Watercolor Cardstock, but didn't get as good of results, probably because the water soaks in too quickly. The cheapo card has a bit of a slick surface, and the inky water puddles momentarily.  I bet Distress Mixed Media Heavystock would work well, too, but I wanted a white background. I applied the oxides -- Iced Spruce and Frayed Burlap to my craft mat, spritzed with lots of water and dipped and dried my paper, repeating until I was happy with the result. I drew the 'veins' in with a very fine watercolor brush, using a dry brush technique and a very light hand.

 I used this card for the background and to stamp my columns with Frayed Burlap oxide. I fussy cut the columns and edged them with Frayed Burlap ink.

I applied Wendy Vecchi Crackle paste through a Tim Hotlz mini stencil and allowed to dry. Once dried, I smudged with Distress crayon. I also did some background stamping with the columns of numbers from Tim's old School Desk set.

I stamped part of an image from Tim's Etcetera set on a scrap of inky paper. I taped off part of the image before inking with Watering Can Archival. I removed the tape and made my impression. In the 'empty' spaces, I stamped in a few of Tim's Ornate Trims using both Watering Can and Cobalt Archival inks. Using Tim's Stamp Platform made it easy to line everything up.

I die cut the arch using Stacked Arches and a cat food box panel. I applied Prima Stone Effect paste in Limestone to the die cut and sprinkled with Dirty Sand Baked Texture while the paste was still wet. I allowed it to dry overnight, and then heated to melt the powder. I colored with Black Soot Distress stain and crayons. I added an Ideaology Index Clip colored with Picket Fence Distress paint to break up the darkness. I like to think the arch looks as if it's been roughly cut from granite.

I paired up a smug Paper Doll with a Snarky Small Talk sticker to finish off my card. I love how these Snarky remarks make me not take my crafting too seriously.

But I would seriously love to see your take on our 'August' challenge, so get our your crafty supplies and play along! The Design Team will choose our four favorites from the entries, and one winner will earn the chance of a Guest Designer spot at Frilly and Funkie. To sweeten the pot, one lucky winner will score a generous $25 shopping spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Challenge shares:

Love 2 Create Challenge #11, Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

Scrapy Land Challenge #95 Anything Goes  I used a Sizzix die set.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Make Your Own Background

The Artistic Stamper August's Creative Challenge - Anything Goes

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #140 - ANYTHING GOES + option LOTS OF LAYERS

CropStop August Link Party - #42

Creative Artiste Challenge #41 Anything Mixed Media Goes

Fashionable Stamping Challenges Challenge #137 – Use Those Inks Anyway You Want

Stamping Sensations Use your 'current' favourite stamp That's not even fair! They are all my favorites! But I do gravitate to the Etcetera set often.

Love to Scrap LTSCB #112 - Old School!

Thank you for stopping by today and for all your wonderful comments!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

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

(MARCH PRE-ORDER) Sizzix Thinlits Set - Stacked Archway by Tim Holtz	(APRIL pre-order) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils - Set 28	(EARLY FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Ornate Trims	(APRIL pre-order) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Etcetera	Art Extravagance - Stone Effect Pastes 3pcs 100ml (February Pre-order)
(MID-JANUARY PRE-ORDER) Seth Apter Baked Texture - Dirty Sand	Wendy Vecchi Crackle Texture Paste	Ranger Archival Ink - Cobalt	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Watering Can	(FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk - Snarky
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #5 TDBK51756	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926 (February Pre-order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #2 TDBK47919 (February Pre-order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Tumbled Glass	(FEBRAUARY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Reinker - Hickory Smoke	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Reinker - Iced Spruce	Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide	(JULY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Black Soot
Tim Holtz Ideaology Adornments Index Clips Fasteners TH93574	Tim Holtz Ideaology Paper Dolls TH93555	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Black Soot	Tim Holtz Stamp Platform by Tonic Studios