Thoughts and Theories on Tangled Twigs

Hello friends! I just pulled out my new Tim Holtz Tangled Twigs Thinlits die right before Hurricane Florence came knocking on our door and knocking down trees and everything else in it's path. For 'just' a Category 1 storm, it sure let it's presence be known here on the middle eastern coast of USA. These photos were taken on our 20 ft. tall pile of storm debris.

My inspiration came from the question of where all the birds, bugs and animals go when there is such a dreadful storm and from the "I Spy Spooky Night" children's book I kept myself occupied with during the beginning of the storm.

I started this project right before the power went out and took photos of my cheapo yard sale find frame and the Tangled Twigs die cuts. How apropos, those tangled twigs! I applied 3 coats of gesso to the frame and cut the frames from the twigs. I left some of the waste pieces in the twigs die cuts, just for fun, but in the end, it gave a sense of those twigs receding into the background.  (I think.) I adhered the die cuts with Distress Collage Medium Matte and gave it all a final coat of Crazing medium.

  I colored the frame front and interior and exterior sides with Pumice Stone Distress paint, and then rubbed the raised areas with Distress Crayons and finally with Black Soot ink here and there to further define some of the twigs.

The 'wood' background was an experiment that was left on my work top. It's Tim's old Ideaology Kraft Glassine paper embossed with the Lumber 3D Texture Fade. Crazing was added in random areas, and I had already colored it. It didn't fully cover the opening of the frame, so I folded it in half and embossed it again to extend the pattern. I tried to match up the colors I used at first, using various Distress paints and crayons.

The Ornate Owl die cut was spread with various thicknesses of Distress Opaque Crackle Paste, and when dry, sprayed with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain. To add more contrast, I used crayons and inks, and drew in the eyes with Sharpie marker. I colored Mixed Media Heavystock with Distress Oxides and traced around the owl and cut it out to back the die cut.

Leaves were cut from Classic Kraft Stock using the Skeleton Leaves Thinlits die, sanded and colored with Distress crayons. Two birds are peeking out from the twigs, waiting for the storm to pass. I had the thought to add them and a butterfly after I adhered the twigs, so the effect of having them peek out from behind the twigs didn't really work. The chickadees are torn from Ideaology Aviary Collage Paper and the butterfly from Botanical Layers. It just so happens, chickadees were the first birds I saw return several days after the storm was over. I chose a Monarch, because my neighbor down the street said the 100 some monarchs she raised in mesh tents, although ready, would not fly the day before the storm. Smart bugs!

The Quote Chip was lightly sanded and colored with Distress inks. Creating this framed owl gave me much joy when things were dismal during and after the hurricane.

I am very grateful to so many of you who have kept the people of Wilmington and neighboring counties in your thoughts and prayers.  

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

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

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Tangled Twigs by Tim Holtz 663086	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Ornate Owl by Tim Holtz 662380	Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Lumber	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5pk - Skeleton Leaves by Tim Holtz 663094	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Paper Aviary
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Botanical Layers	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips	Ranger Opaque Crackle Texture Paste	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDA47933	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Crazing TDA47957
TIm Holtz Distress Mixed Media Heavystock TDA53835	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #2 TDBK47919	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Black Soot TDF52937	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Paint TDF50605
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Pumice Stone TDF53194	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Antique Linen TDF52906	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Weathered Wood TDF53378	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Spray Stain- Antique Linen TSS42136	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot TIM19541
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap TIM21469	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Ground Espresso TIM43270	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Forest Moss TIM27133	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Black Soot	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Frayed Burlap
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Fossilized Amber	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Carved Pumpkin

Eyes Fixed for All Creatures Great and Small Challenge at Frilly and Funkie

Welcome friends! It's time for the Funkie girls of the Frilly and Funkie Design Team to unveil their inspiration for the latest challenge. For this challenge, Maggi has chosen the theme  'All Creatures Great and Small'. 

Here's how Maggi describes her challenge: I've chosen one of my favorite subjects as the focus of this challenge, animals. They delight us in so many ways; perhaps a trip to the zoo with the kids has made you smile. Maybe you have fur-babies that are a big part of your life. My fur-babies are my children and hold the top spot in the hierarchy of my home!

I covered a Jumbo Manila Shipping Tag #10 size with Regions Beyond Halloween paper stash by Tim Holtz, adhering with Distress Collage Medium Matte. I trimmed it and gave it a generous coat of Distress Crazing, then left it to dry. After it dried, I dipped it into a puddle of watery Black Soot Distress ink, dried and then smeared with Black Soot Distress crayon. Aren't those cracks fabulous?!

I stamped a few creepy bugs from Tim's Entomology set in archival ink and cut them out with the corresponding Thinlits die. I colored them with Twinkling H2O's and edged with Black Soot ink. I adhered a pair of them over the bugs on the design paper, and one peers out between the layers of Stitched Ovals. 

I die cut a pair of ovals layering them over top of each other. The top one was cut from Classic Kraft Stock embossed with Tim's 3D Lumber Texture Fade. I sanded it and colored with Wendy Vecchi Sunflower Blendable Dye ink and Black Soot crayon. I painted the bottom oval with Prima Pitch Black Impasto paint. It's not obvious in these photos, but because I layered up the ovals with foam adhesive tape, you can see the layers in real life.

The Ornate Owl is my latest addition to my Halloween dies, of which I have very few. Considering I love Halloween so much, this always comes as such a surprise to me. I also have very few Halloween stamp sets. I like my products to do double duty (or more), so I guess that's why. I stamped it with the script from the Entomology set and Black Soot ink. I quickly blended over with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain inks to blend the script a little. I gave the owl 3 coats of Baked Texture Vintage Beeswax. I colored the branch with neutral crayons after embossing and heated it to melt into the embossing.

I melted Picket fence crayon on the eyes, but it didn't please me. I found these matching tiny pieces in my Tim Holtz Halloween ephemera pack from last year to stand in as eyes and colored them with the Twinkling H2O's.

I searched and searched for THE perfect Halloween Clippings sticker for my sentiment and edged it with Ground Espresso ink.

A bit of dyed seam binding ribbon and cheesecloth finishes off my oversized tag. I really find bugs creepy, but I really LOVE the Entomology set, and feel so blessed that I've been able to get the Framelits to go along with the stamps.

That's all for me today! There's a bundle more inspiration featuring creatures over at the Frilly and Funkie blog. After you're done looking at all of my talented teammates projects, I hope you'll get crafty and play along with our 'All Creatures Great and Small' challenge. 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.

Thanks so much for popping in today and for all your lovely comments. It may be a while before I am able to return the visit. At time of writing this post, we are anticipating a hurricane with winds that are expected to leave us without power for an extended time. Hope to 'see' you soon!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

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

25 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Stash Regions Beyond	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDAK47933 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Crazing TDAK47957 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Antique Linen	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926 (February Pre-order)	(EARLY FEBRUARY PRE-ORDER) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Entomology
(LATE AUGUST PRE-ORDER) Sizzix Framelits Die Set - Entomology by Tim Holtz 663068	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Stitched Ovals by Tim Holtz 661188 (February Pre-Order)	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Classic Kraft Stock	(MAY PRE-ORDER) Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Lumber	(MAY PRE-ORDER) Wendy Vecchi Make Art Blendable Dye Ink Pad - Sunflower
Ranger ADHESIVE - BLACK FOAM ROLL 1/2" X 1/16"x 2.1 YDS.	(AUGUST PRE-ORDER) Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Ornate Owl by Tim Holtz 662380	(MID-JANUARY PRE-ORDER) Seth Apter Baked Texture - Vintage Beeswax	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Halloween Ephemera Pack	(LATE AUGUST PRE-ORDER) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Stickers, Halloween
Seam Binding	(Late May Pre-order) Prima Art Alchemy Impasto Paint - Pitch Black