Adventure Awaits - Spring Renewal

Hello! I'm excited to be guest designing at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog for Lisa's "A Study in Contrasts" challenge. I chose to create a dimensional spring canvas for my contribution. Here are some closeups of my project and following those, I provide a step by step on how my background came together.

At the heart of my canvas, I used a piece of thick bark I found in my yard. It's dark, rough texture contrasts with those soft  fresh colorful spring flowers I handmade and had stashed for years. I think these were made using the old Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Bigz die, or it could be another die I used to have. Either way, I have so many in my drawer and it feels good to finally use them. That gorgeous stamped butterfly was also in my stash, and I just fussy cut him and edged in Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink to offer contrast to his black and white image and the neutral wood he perches on. Adding the yellow ink was also inspired by an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly I spotted yesterday while I was working in the garden--the first of the season! I used the non business end of my awl to shape him in my palm.

In keeping with the challenge theme, behind the floral display you see black geometric numbers on the left and the colorful natural design of the birds nest on the opposing side. The brightly colored foliage unfurls over and around the black, grey and brown decaying leaves and wood.

I die cut the leaves from inky scraps in my stash with Tim Holtz Leaf Fragments. And to differ from the dried rotted leaves, I die cut some other foliage and inked them with Twisted Citron spray stain. I used Bigz L Large Stems (closed leaf at the top) and Skeleton Leaves Thinlits (open leaf design at the bottom). There's also a couple of those long thin stems from the Wildflower Stems #1 set. They remind me of pussy willows. I had the black and bright green smaller foliage pieces in my stash and tucked them in at the last minute.

A Quote Chip embossed with Broken China Embossing Glaze and blended with Squeezed Lemonade ink completes my canvas. 

So let's get started with the how-to: (click on any photo to enlarge)

 I start with a primed canvas, and adhere Tim Holtz Ideaology Collage Wrap with Distress Collage Medium. The best way to get just the prints you want is to outline them with a paint brush wet with water, and then gently pull the pieces apart. This eliminates the harsh edges. I've chosen two contrasting black and white prints; one is an organic design, and the other is an inanimate design. I filled in some areas  with colored scraps to offer contrast to the black and white.

When the papers are in place, and the glue dried, I trim excess with scissors and sand the edges.

I give it a wash of watered down Speckled Egg paint, removing the paint from the colored areas with a damp paper towel. You can see I came back in later and added another scrap of colored collage wrap to the bottom right corner to provide balance to the colorful robin at the top.

To complete my canvas base, I apply Distress Crackle paste through a couple of stencils-one graceful and flowy, the other geometric and linear for contrast. I used TCW's Mini Labyrinth and Tim Holtz Flourish stencils. After the paste was dry and crackled, I applied Walnut Stain crayon with my finger to the cracked areas, rubbing it into the cracks to define them further. I also smeared some of the crayon randomly around the edges. I find it easiest to work this way by scribbling the crayon onto my craft mat and spritzing a little bit of water separately. I dip my finger into the water to moisten it and then into the scribbled crayon.

Thanks for hanging in there with me! I hope you enjoyed my spring renewal canvas. Thanks, again, to the ladies over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog for having me join them as their Guest Designer this week! Hugs! Sara Emily

I would like to include my canvas in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Wild and Wonderful Wild about Wonderful Nature!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes

Country View Challenges April 2022 - Spring is Coming (it's here!)

 

A Little Frilly, A Little Funkie With Tim Holtz Swirls 3D Embossing

Hello, friends and visitors! It's time for a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog. We are going with an ''Anything Goes" theme for the following two weeks and are looking forward to seeing your vintage/shabby chic projects.

The Design Team will choose their four top picks, and the overall winner will receive the $25 gift certificate to go on a spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. All four top picks will receive badges to display on their blogs in recognition of their outstanding contributions. Be sure to stop over to the blog to see all the details of the challenge. While you're there be sure to check out the wonderful creations my talented teammates made to inspire you!

I just cracked open my new Tim Holtz Swirls 3D Embossing Folder and had a little play with it. I tried it out on a variety of papers, and ended up completing two cards totally different from each other. Here's my first which I would say is a little on the funkie side. You might remember The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog used to be called Frilly and Funkie, and we had a frilly team and a funkie team. I was a part of the funkie side, but I always like to get a little frilly from time to time.

I'll just share some close ups today, as I got immersed in the making and forgot to take step by step photos. It should be easy enough to share what I did in the text.

First, I made this deeply embossed background using Tim Holtz Metallic Jewels Kraft Stock . I placed a panel cut to size in the embossing folder with the color side down and spritzed it with water, then ran it through my die cut machine 3 times. I ran my Rustic Wilderness Distress ink pad directly over the raised panel and dried it. Next, I sanded the panel and blended with Wild Honey ink and dried. I love how the areas that are sanded back to the kraft add for even more dimension as the inks soaks in. In my next step, I painted the panel very lightly with my finger and Wild Honey Distress paint. I mostly dried the paint with my heat tool, and watched it pull away from the raised edges revealing the green metallic paper. Very cool and unexpected! Lastly, I blended with Vintage Photo ink.

I die cut an old stamped panel and brown card I had in my stash using an older Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals. I peeled away the outer edge of the stamped oval and adhered it over the brown one. The Tim Holtz Scribbly Butterflies were cut from more brown card and also watercolor paper. After removing the antennae, I dipped the white one into a puddle of watery Wild Honey ink, dried, and layered it over the brown butterfly die cut.

The Wildflower Stems #3 die cut  (now available for March restock pre-order in the shop!) is cut from scraps of water color paper colored with Mustard Seed ink and more of the green Metallic stock and layered. The vintage button is from my stash, and I adhered a green gemstone in it's center (included in Linda's thank you gift from my last order from the shop) using Distress Collage Medium Matte. The ribbon is from my stash and the sentiment is a Ideaology Metallic Quotations sticker matted on a scrap.

The panel was adhered to trimmed white card colored with Wild Honey ink over an old Tim Holtz paper stash inked with Ground Espresso ink, and that, to a card blank, also blended with Ground Espresso. I assembled everything after wadding up some gold thread under the butterfly and making a floppy bow with what was left of my ribbon .

And here is my CAS, frilly version. Slim line cards are making a resurgence, so I thought I would try making one.

I started with white card cut to size. I embossed one end, following suggested protocol, then flipped the card around and stuck just the un-embossed end into the folder before running it through my die cut machine. You can hardly see the line, but it's shown in  the close up below; the die cuts hide it nicely.

For my focal floral arrangement, I used these delicate little die cuts from Sizzix Floral Layers #2 by Jen Long. The foliage from this versatile set made it's debut on my Vignette Tray I made for the last Saturday Showcase. I was a little worried about putting together those tiny flowers at first, because of my poor eyesight, but it's really rather simple with the embossed lines on the die cuts to guide you. I find it's easier to cut the little extra bits and leave them in the card you cut them from, poking each one out as you need it. 

I simply sprayed two pieces of water color paper with water, then Oxide sprays: one Spun Sugar and one Kitsch Flamingo and dried them. Then I cut a set of the roses and the little bits out of each prepared card. I cut the background long stem and the foliage from plain water color paper and used a water brush to color them with green inks. To get a bit more color dimension, I used Worn Lipstick ink and a water brush to add deeper tones to the pink flowers after they were assembled.  You might notice I left part of the larger roses free to give a little extra dimension. I'm looking forward to making some of these flowers using flower shaping tools, but for now I wanted my card to be simple and flat for ease in mailing.

I inked a Crochet die cut with Black Soot Distress and Archival inks. The butterfly was in my stash from a LONG time ago. Sadly, I don't think I have that stamp any longer. Sniff, sniff. I had stamped and heat embossed on cheap purple card stock and fussy cut. I believe I used a Q-tip with bleach on it to remove the color from parts of the wing and brushed it with Perfect Pearls powder. I just added a smudge of Prima Patina Green Matte Wax on making this card to update him a bit.

 

For my sentiment, I cut Joy from black card and Tim Holtz Alphanumeric Shadow Upper dies using just the inside portion of the letters, saving the outer parts for another day. I added a portion of a Halloween sticker  ("You're my favorite monster") to complete the sentiment. The black half pearls were toned down with Prima White Matte Wax. I thinly matted on black card then mounted on a white card blank and assembled.

I was able to show off the simmer of the butterfly and subtle dimension of this simple card in this photo.

That's all for me today, but I hope you will pop over to the blog and see what my incredibly talented teammates made to start you off. And then, I hope you'll join us in our Anything Goes challenge. I can't wait to see what you create! Happy crafting! Sara Emily

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

Sizzix Chapter 1 Tim Holtz Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Swirls

Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Scribbly Butterflies

Sizzix Chapter 1 Thinlits Die Set - Floral Layers #2 by Jen Long

Sizzix Chapter 1 Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Wildflower Stems #3

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quotations Metallic Stickers

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Jewels Kraft Stock

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads -  Rustic Wilderness, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed, Ground Espresso, Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint,  Worn Lipstick, Black Soot 

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Archival Mini Ink Pad - Black Soot 

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint-  Wild Honey

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Sprays - Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo

A Shabby Vignette Tray With Prima and Distress

Hello, and happy Saturday! It's my turn to host the Saturday Showcase feature at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog, and today I'm shining a spotlight on Prima Marketing Paper Collections, along with Distress mediums.  

I hope you'll pop over to the blog to see more photos of  my springtime Vignette Tray collage and learn how I've used Prima's beautiful Pretty Mosaic collection along with Tim Holtz die cuts and used Distress mediums to give it a wonderfully textured, aged, vintage shabby look. Also, be sure to stop by The Funkie Junkie Boutique soon, because All Prima products in stock are 45% MFRP while supplies last! Enjoy your weekend! Hugs! Sara Emily

I would also like to share my tray in these wonderful challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Add Some Texture

Country View Challenges February 2021 - First Signs Of Spring

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Favorite Technique Making new things look old, mainly with Distress products!

Best Day Ever

Welcome! I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Today it's my turn to host the newest challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog, and I've named it "Mostly Neutral'.

"For this challenge, I would like you to use mainly neutrals, but I will allow you one accent color or use of metallic accents. Let's see how you use beige, ivory, taupe, brown, black, gray or shades of white or any combination of these to make any vintage/shabby chic project you would like."

The Design Team will choose their four top picks, and the overall winner will receive the $25 gift certificate to go on a spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. All four top picks will receive badges to display on their blogs in recognition of their outstanding contributions. Be sure to stop over to the blog to see all the details of the challenge. While you're there be sure to check out the wonderful neutral creations my talented teammates made to inspire you!

There's really not a lot to this card, so I don't have a ton of closeups to share or any process shots, but I did take a few extra full on shots. I really love the simplicity of a neutral palette, but it's hard not to sneak in a tiny bit of color. In absence of a lot of color on my card, I've made up for it in textures and patterns, wouldn't you agree?

I started with (--you guessed it!) a background from my stash. It was mainly neutral with what I believe to be a little Iced Spruce mixed in. I really consider Iced Spruce to be an almost-neutral with tendencies toward blue (in my opinion). You might see shades of red and green on the background if you squint your eyes, but that's the magic of Distress at work. The inks seem to take on a life of their own as they blend with those they are next to. The Scribbly Butterfly was already hovering on my desk, so I took a cue from the blueish tint on it and added Speckled Egg to my background and the two circle die cuts I found in my stash. The circles were also blended with Antique Linen, and both the butterfly and circles edged with  Brushed Corduroy. Just the smaller circle is edged with Black Soot.

I adhered the Flowery die cut to the background, wrapped it with a length of dyed seam binding ribbon and layered that panel on a sanded Classic Kraft Stock panel and lastly, to a card blank. The circles are adhered with layers of corrugated card between  each of them and also the background. The butterfly is layered over another I traced on black card with the metal die as my template and fussy cut. The butterfly is adhered to the circle at the body only.

I layered a Metallic Quotations sticker to a scrap of sanded classic kraft stock. With that, my card is complete. So easy!

I hope you will take some time to play along and be in the running for some great prizes! I can't wait to see what you will create! In the meantime, I'll be back this Saturday with our Saturday Showcase feature, and I hope you'll stop back then. Happy crafting! Sara Emily

Challenge Shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Add Some Texture

Country View Challenges February 2021 - First Signs Of Spring

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

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads - Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Iced Spruce, Speckled Egg, Black Soot

Sizzix Chapter 1 Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Flowery

Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Scribbly Butterflies

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quotations Metallic Stickers

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Rayon Seam Binding

Home is Where I Am

Hello and welcome! Today  starts a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog and Jenny is hosting 'Home is Where the Heart Is'. Here's how she describes her challenge theme:

 "What does 'home' mean to you? Maybe it's a place of safety, somewhere you live with family or friends, or a place that holds treasured memories. It may be somewhere you can be yourself or a place from where you can grow and thrive. Whatever 'home' means to you create a project of your choice that represents it."

As always, the winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge 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. While you are there, be sure to check out all the amazing inspiration by my talented teammates.

Home means a lot of different things to me, but mostly I would say home is where I am. It's been different places throughout my life, and I've decided to represent different stages of my life on some wood block house ornaments. I'll start with a photo of the original blocks as I found them at a yard sale followed by closeups of each of the ornaments. Finally, I'll take you through the steps on how these came together. There were lots of steps and lots of photos, so grab a good drink and snack. This will be another long post.

These were hand crafted by a nice old man who seems to have better woodcrafting, than spelling, skills. He insisted the blocks spelled out HOME, while I smiled, handed him my dollar bill, and nodded my agreement. Uh huh. LOL

Let's start with the farmhouse that I called my full time home for my first eleven years and then a few more years on visits. That's me, in pink, with my oldest brother just around the corner. You can see this is the only home with snow, because we lived up north. I've lived in more southern areas in the other stages of my life depicted on the remaining three blocks. We're lucky if we get a little dusting every other year. but we always get a good frost on the roof. 

Some of my fondest and clearest memories of living in this home are the snowy winters, building great igloos and snow forts out of the massive snowdrifts formed after the snowplow had been through a time or two. Winter was a time of fun for us kids, while the more temperate months on our dairy farm were spent working in the fields and gardens--not so memorable. Although building tunnels out of hay bales in the hay barn was pretty amazing! But that was after the hard work of bringing in the hay was done.

My other two brothers, one older than me, and one younger pose around back. I selected the trading stamps from the Christmas ephemera pack, because I do remember pasting those stamps into a book when I was a kid--such fun!

 

Here's my two sisters, both older than me. I still remember a plaid dress similar to these, in green, handed down from sister to sister to sister. Even though there's a 25 on the ephemera, there's no other mention of Christmas on this one, since we did not celebrate Christmas when I was a kid. Sad, yes, but I make up for it now; throughout the year in fact, as I have a small vintage Santa collection I keep out year round.

 I chose this block with the big chimney, as one of the highlights of my childhood is the fire that started from the wood stove in the kitchen, one of two wood stoves which heated the house. My mom didn't live with us then, and my dad was in Europe visiting family. My oldest brothers and sisters had to grow up fast and managed to keep everyone safe and the house standing.

I skip ahead to when I was an adult, living on my own. After a series of other homes, this one was an important one to me, as it was my first home I saved up to purchase on my own. No more crazy roommates or rentals for this girl!

The younger version of myself looks ahead to see what's around the corner. It's 'good will to men' (and women and kids), as a I continue to work on my career as an LPTA helping others rehabilitate after neurological accidents like strokes, spinal cord injuries, and brain/head injuries. What a rewarding career that makes you thankful for your own health.

Here's my current 'home' status: Married with two kids. My kids are grown now, but back under the family roof once again, thanks to all the craziness going on with the pandemic. Nothing says 'home' like arguing over who ate the last of the frozen waffles, the extra clutter of three households now under one roof, or (on the good side) the family dinners we share or the occasional board game marathons we have. 

Around the side I chose the horizontal 'Christmas' from the Collage Wrap, as seen in the final photo below.

Next I take a glimpse into the future, when my husband and I might someday be empty nesters. I visualize a smaller home, and perhaps the kiddos will have families of their own, leaving us to celebrate most of Christmas on our own. Perhaps we might get a letter or card from them (See the letter and stamp ephemera?) and a quick visit, special delivery. 

Now let's take a look at how these little wood homes were made. They really are quite simple with the help of Tim Holtz Holly Ideaology Collage Wrap, a handful of mixed media supplies and very few details. I'm very fond of tiny things, and I was lucky to have enough of the smallest Paper Dolls from last year's Christmas pack to tell my 'home' story on these little blocks of wood. I was a little saddened to see this year's pack didn't cater to my specific wants. (Tim?) On the up side, there's a whole new wonderful cast of characters! I've linked to the new Christmas Paper Dolls below.

I start by applying Dina Wakley's White Gesso over the sides and bottom of each 'house'. The roofs are painted right over the existing color with Distress Paints: Barn Door, Fired Brick and a dry brushing of Black Soot on the red roofs and Black Soot and Hickory Smoke on the other two.

 I painted the reverse side of a couple of lengths of the collage paper, after determining what portions I wanted to show on my houses. I set that aside to dry while I continued to work on the blocks themselves. Some of the photos may seem a little out of sequence (or as you'll see later on--non-existant). I am constantly working on one part while allowing another part to dry, and lots of other business happens around the house between steps, so photos get forgotten, but I believe I can walk you through  the process.

I stroke on one more light coat of Fired Brick paint on the red roofs and sprinkle with Fired Brick Embossing Glaze powder. I dry with my heat tool to melt the powder. You'll notice I also painted the chimney with Black Soot paint at some point. After the roofs are fully cooled, I scuff with steel wool; I want texture but not shine. 

I repeat this process with the darkest roof with Black Soot paint and Walnut Stain Embossing Glaze powder.  I think I used the Embossing Dabber and Walnut Stain Embossing Glaze on the snowy roof. At various points in my process, I smeared on some Distress Grit Paste sprinkled with Distress Glitter to make the snow on the farmhouse roof and in drifts around the base. ( All of these process photos apparently were deleted or not taken--apologies.)

Each of the houses is wrapped in bits of the prepared Collage Wrap, making sure the desired images were in place. I do this by applying collage medium to the block, laying the desired portion of collage wrap over the wet medium and burnishing with my finger, not being particular about any wrinkles. Once the adhesive dries, I trim with scissors then lightly sand the edges to remove excess paper. 

I smeared on Distress Crackle paste randomly on each house and allowed to dry. I later decided to apply some stencil work, using the festive repeat stencil from Mini Stencil set 21 and Candied Apple ink. In hindsight, I should have used archival ink, so my final layer of collage medium wouldn't smear the ink. But I embraced the imperfection...

I decided to break from the red pattern and switched instead to brown for my non-Christmas homestead. Red would be too Christmas-y a color for this home.

After the wrap and crackle was in place and dried, I coated each of the houses with Vintage Collage Medium. When that dried, I smeared with Walnut Stain Crayon to accentuate the cracks. (not pictured) As predicted, the ink smeared under the collage medium, but I decided it lended a vintage quality to these already vintage houses, which I love. You might notice I chipped off the snow on the farm house when it got dirty from my stencil work and replaced it with some new. One thing we did not have on the farm was dirty snow!

At this point, I decided I wanted to 'frost' the three remaining roofs, so I swiped them with the Embossing Dabber randomly and sprinkled with Ranger Sticky Embossing Powder. This powder is heated just until melted and then immediately sprinkled with  Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter. Heat it once again to 'lock in' the glitter. Above you can see what the sticky powder looks like before it's heated.

Here's the drone shot of each of the houses. Brrr! It looks cold from this view!

I chose a scrap of green ink mop up paper from my stash and add to it inks (Iced Spruce, Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide Spray splatters. I used one of the tiny dies from the Sizzix Foliage Wrap set to cut little pine boughs to tuck in behind my paper dolls. Each of the die cuts is then dipped front and back into puddles of watery Pine Needles ink and dried with a heat tool before adhering.

I altered a pair of bow adornments from the Ideaology Ribbon and Bows set, first by brushing with collage medium and then covering with Fired Brick Embossing Glaze Powder. I heat to melt, and when completely cooled, I smudge with a bit of  Prima Metallique Wax. These are adhered to the ends of two of the houses with collage medium.

All of the Paper Dolls are colored with Distress Embossing Glazes: Fired Brick, Tattered Rose, Cracked Pistachio and Speckled Egg were used. I use the embossing pen to apply the ink in one desired area and sprinkle with one color at a time, heating each color before moving onto another area. When they are all cooled, I buff with steel wool. All ephemera and paper doll edges are blended with Frayed Burlap ink.

As you can see from my little ornaments, home will always be where I am. I'm looking forward to seeing how you interpret what home means to you when you enter our challenge! Happy crafting! Hugs! Sara Emily

 Challenge shares:

Bleeding Art October Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Layer It Up

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

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Paper, Holly

Sizzix Chapter 3 Thinlits Dies - Foliage Wrap

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls Christmas

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ephemera Christmas

 Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ephemera Snippets Christmas

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Adornments Ribbon & Bows

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - White Gesso

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze - Tattered Rose, Fired Brick, Cracked Pistachio, Speckled Egg, Walnut Stain

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Dabber

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Pen 2pk

Ranger Sticky Embossing Powder

Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter Clear Rock Candy

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads - Candied Apple, Evergreen Bough, frayed Burlap, Iced Spruce, Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress CrayonsWalnut Stain

Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Barn Door, Black Soot, Fired Brick, Hickory Smoke

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Frayed Burlap

Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste, Crackle

Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste 3oz Opaque

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Vintage

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabar - Metallique Wax - Vintage Gold