Joy--Special Delivery With Tim Holtz Darling Deer

Welcome and Happy New Year! Today starts a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog.  'Put a Good Word In' is hosted by Cec, and here's how she describes it:

'Create a shabby chic or vintage projects that includes a word or words that are positive or happy or uplifting in nature. Single words or sentiments/quotes can be used. Given what we have all been through for the last months nothing sad or negative please.'

Since this is a new year we have decided to change up the prize package slightly. Beginning with this challenge the Design Team will choose their four top picks as they always do but the overall winner will receive the $25 gift certificate to go on a spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. We will not have a Guest Designer going forward; instead all four top picks will receive badges to display on their blogs in recognition of their outstanding contributions.

I made this wintry card to celebrate the addition of a new baby to our family--my niece and her husband are now proud parents to a healthy baby boy! What could be more happy, positive and uplifting than a new baby to snuggle with? 

Further down I'll show the steps I took to create my card, but first, here are a few closeup photos.

Here's how it all came together.

For the background, I sprayed Distress Heavystock with Speckled Egg Oxide Spray, spritzed it with water and laid Tim Holtz Flurries stencil over the wet panel. Using a clean paper towel, I blotted the snowflake openings. I removed the stencil and dried the panel. This mostly leaves a mess, but in the following photos, you might be able to see some of the smaller blue snowflakes that appear after you dry it. Next, I smooshed Antique Linen ink pad on my craft mat and spritzed the ink with water. I dipped the card into the watery ink until satisfied, and dry between dips. 

I laid the Flurries stencil back on the panel and smeared Distress Opaque Crackle paste through stencil  in opposing corners . I stamped snowflakes (old Scribble Woodland stamp set by Tim Holtz) and snow and script stamps from The Poinsettia stamp set, all in Iced Spruce Ink. Ink the stamp and spritz it with water before making impression. Rub Antique Linen and Stormy Sky Distress crayons on crackled snowflakes to accentuate the cracks.  Grit Paste stands in for snow for the pair of deer to stand on. I finished by splattering with Picket Fence paint. I layered this panel on a slightly larger card swiped with Evergreen Bough paint, and then swiped edges with more of the paint (pretend it's a plan).

Finally, I created a mat using watercolor paper. I heat embossed the sparkle stamp (Tim Holtz Spakle & Christmas) with Versamark and Winter's Mistake Powder, just around edges. I sprayed the paper with water and applied inks direct to paper, allowing colors to blend and dry on their own. Sadly, the photos don't show just how shimmery this is.

Now it's time to make the embellishments, and I start with snowflakes. I cut the snowflake with Wreath and Snowflake Thinlits die set numerous times on white card which were layered to make one thick snowflake and once from card from my stash that had been embossed in dots. (Embossing appears to have been done in blue ink and clear powder.) I blended this embossed flake with Speckled Egg and then Iced Spruce ink.  The white card flake was blended with Speckled Egg ink and each point smudged with Prima Old White Matte Wax. The darker flake center was blended with Black Soot, the lighter with Ground Espresso inks.

Two Darling Deer were cut from a scrap of card blended with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain inks and spritzed with water.

Joy, cut from the Alphanumeric Shadow Upper is heat embossed with Versamark and Speckled Egg Embossing Glaze, buffed with steel wool to removed the shine, and blended with Walnut Stain ink. I wasn't happy this looked, so inked it again with Versamark and embossed with White Wonder Molten Dimensions powder by Eileen Hull and blended edges with Black Soot ink. I love how the melted powders mingled, then separated on the letters, giving it a crackled icy appearance.

After everything was glued into place with Distress Collage Medium, I used an old Tim Holtz Remnant Rub to complete my Good Word quote.

That's all for me! I hope you'll pop over to the blog to see all the creative, positive makes from my teammates, and then link up your own vintage or shabby chic project! I can't wait to see what you will make for the 'Put in a Good Word' challenge.  

Don't forget, you can stock up on craft supplies 40% off MSRP at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Check out the shop's Year-End Clearance Section. Be sure to shop early for the best selection, because there are no backorders or rain checks at these prices. Here's to a New Year full of creating! Sara Emily

Challenge Shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Use a New/Unused Product - Darling Deer (die), The Poinsettia (stamps), Flurries (Stencil)

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

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Mixed Media Heavystock

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stencil - Flurries

Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Alphanumeric Shadow Upper

Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste 3oz Opaque

Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste 3oz Crackle

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads - Antique Linen, Black Soot, Ground Espresso, Iced Spruce, Speckled Egg, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain

Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - Antique Linen, Stormy Sky

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paints - Picket Fence, Evergreen Bough

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Sprays -Speckled Egg

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze

Emerald Creek Eileen Hull Molten Dimensions Embossing Powder -White Wonder 

Emerald Creek Embossing Powders - Winter's Mistake

VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad 

Prima Finnabair Art Alchemy Wax Paste - Old White

Mischief -- Three Cards With Tim Holtz Haunted and Abandoned

Hello friends! It's time for the newest challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog, and it's my turn to host. I picked the theme, "Purple, Orange, Green! Eek! It's Halloween!". Make sure you read the full description, because I offer an alternative to play, even if you're not a fan of Halloween.

"I love Halloween, and I would love to see your vintage or shabby chic Halloween creations, whether it be a card, tag, canvas, or any other make! If Halloween is not your cup of tea, simply use the colors purple, orange and green on your project to play along."

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.

I decided to go with both options of the challenge and made purple, orange, and green Halloween cards using Tim Holtz Abandoned Paper Stash and his Haunted Thinlits die set for each one. Here is my favorite...

I cut extra bats and an extra house out of silver metallic kraft stock to provide highlights. I left the little bits in the house and secured them in place with tape on the reverse side of the die cut.

I don't have much in the way of step by step photos for these cards, because they are pretty simple and really are just a matter of assembling the detailed haunted house and gluing. Each of the houses was cut from backgrounds I already had in my stash. I just added different inks to each to make it a bit more spooky: Black Soot, Forest Moss, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain and Ground Espresso. This one is Cracked Leather smeared with matte wax. You might notice I cut the shutter off from the side of the house. That was because my background was just a bit too narrow.

This is the only "technique" I used on these cards, and it's an old favorite of mine at Halloween time. Sand metallic kraft stock and smear it with paint (Black Soot). Spritz the paint with water immediately, and dry with a heat tool. I used this panel to cut the detail bits (shutters, roof, etc.) with. There are embossed lines on the house die cuts to guide you in adding the little bits, but if you look closely, I missed the mark almost 100% of the time. I'm as blind as a BAT, even with my readers on. I should have waited until I had a sunny day to add these, because they sure show up in the sun! LOL

I added a bit of interest to the Abandoned papers with Stitches stamping in Black Soot Archival ink and a couple of old Halloween Remnant Rubs.

The moon is cut using the moon from this year's Gatekeeper set by Tim Holtz and some mop up paper I had in my stash. Anytime I have a puddle of ink, I mop it up with these sheets of paper I keep handy. They are perfect to have on hand for these little die cuts. The bats are also from Gatekeeper set and last year's Bat Crazy. I love how Tim's products work so well with his past releases.

The crescent moon on this card is from Tim's old Haunted House set. An extra mat cut from textured card looks like burnt wood with a direct-to-paper swipe of Archival Black Soot ink pad around the edges. Little details can give simple cards like these a little extra something.

I used some of the text from the Curiosities sticker book as my sentiments on each card

You can see from the weird angle below, that each of the houses was popped up on corrugated waste cardboard to add dimension.

That's all for me today. Now it's over to you! I hope you will get your crafty supplies out and create something for Halloween, or in the purple/orange/green color palette and link it up to the challenge for a chance to win one of the great prizes. Happy crafting! Sara Emily

I'll leave you with a bit more Halloween inspiration, this time from my garden. We were having one of those beautiful rare October morning fogs...

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Spooky! 

Country View Challenges October 2020 - Halloween (Make A Scene)

The following items were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Haunted

Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Die Set - Bat Crazy

Tim Holtz Distress Cracked Leather Cardstock

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

Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Kraft Stock

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Stash - Abandoned 

Tim Holtz Cling Stamps - Stitches

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Sticker Book - Curiosities

Distress Ink Pads - Archival Black Soot, Black Soot, Ground Espresso, Frayed Burlap, Forest Moss, Walnut Stain, Hickory Smoke

Distress Paint - Black Soot

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Prima Finnabair Art Alchemy Wax Paste - Patina Green

Altered Bird House Tutorial

Hello ! As promised, today I have a step by step tutorial for my bird house which is my DT project for the current challenge " Birds" at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog. You can see why I couldn't include the steps in my DT post; this is such a long post by itself. Let's start with the original birdhouse...

It's demo day! I always love this part of these rehab projects because that's when the ideas start flowing. After removing all the bark, nails, most of the glue and a piece of gingham fabric (What??), I ended up with what looks like a band stand. Band stands make for spooky places, and I made another here.

***

I gave it a new rusty, mossy roof. I smeared streaks of Translucent Grit paste down from the top and sprinkled with Chunky Rust powder with a bit of verdigris sprinkled here and there. When it was about dry I hit it with my heat tool to melt the powders and bubble up the paste a bit. The hanger is painted with Black Soot paint. I smeared on thicker blobs of Grit Paste and allowed it to dry. I scribbled the dried paste with Peeled Paint crayon (lost the crayon in the photo when I did the photo collage) and smudged it with my finger. Lastly, I dripped on alcohol inks in Mushroom and Rust and spritzed with water, drying with my heat tool when I was happy with the way it dribbled and ran.

***

Next, time to work on the wood work. I had a vision of a burnt out charred house that has sat empty for years. I painted the wood with black gesso, right over the old glue and bits I couldn't remove. Grungy is good. To add more grunge and icky texture, I smeared the beams, ceiling and floor randomly with grit paste and let it dry. When it was thoroughly dry, I sprayed with Weathered Wood Oxide spray and dried it with my heat tool. Next, I added random patches of Crackle Paste and let that dry. Once more, I heated with the heat tool to make sure it was good and dry, and then smeared all the texture with Distress crayons in Ground Espresso and Peeled Paint.

 I added some dead and diseased rambling roses climbing up the walls by wrapping black string around the beams and securing with collage medium. I also adhered some thorns to the vines (Funky Wreaths) cut from black card.

I elevated the house on a base made from chipboard pieces glued together and painted with more black gesso.I adhered this piece to the bottom of the birdhouse. I die cut and embossed silver Metallic Kraft Stock scraps with the Star Trim Impresslit. I painted on Black Soot paint, sprayed with water and dripped on Mushroom alcohol ink. These pieces were adhered to the edge of the chipboard circular piece.

 I felt like it needed something else, and I found an unfinished wood square plaque in my stash, which I also painted with black gesso, then wrapped with Halloween Design Tape at the very bottom. I coated that with collage medium and when dry, scribbled with Ground Espresso crayon and smudged with my finger. I adhered some fence die cuts from my stash across the back.

I used Brickwork 3D Texture Fade and black paper coated with Distress Collage medium and cut out a section for my brick walkway.  I colored the bricks with Fired Brick and Crushed Olive crayons and adhered the piece to the square base prior to adding the birdhouse and creating the garden.

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I cut a pair of gates using the Gate Keeper dies and old Tim Holtz paper stash glued together, so front and back would look similar. This also makes the intricate dies more substantial and stiff. It helps to use the Chrome Precision Plate to cut these out. Because of the thickness of the papers glued together, I ran it through 3 times to get a nice clean cut. After applying Translucent Girt paste to the gates and allowing it to dry, I scribbled with Rusty Hinge crayon and smeared with my finger. These pieces were added to the two beams at the opening.

***

Now that the house is constructed it's time to add the embellishments.

I cut two panels of mixed media card and spray both with water. I spray one with Distress Spray Stains: 

Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Ground Espresso, spritzing with water to blend further, tilting my paper and allowing to drip onto my craft mat. I use the second panel to blot up the extra stain. When the panels are dry, I spray randomly with Frayed Burlap Oxide spray, activating with water spritzes and drying again. I blot up the extra with the second panel. I repeat on the opposite side of the panels, so there is color on both sides.

I use the darker of the panels to cut three of the thorny Funky Nests and some of the other die set's  accompanying twigs. I cut thin strips from the lighter mop up panel. The strips are spritzed with water, crumpled in my hand and set aside to dry. I cut sections from two of the wreaths and glue the ends to make nests of different sizes, and assembled everything over the crumpled strips within the birdhouse.

I placed some bones (Boneyard) and a skull (Skulls and Pumpkins) in the nest. I did nothing to the skull, but added Black Soot and Ground Espresso paint to the bones.

Next, I cut the spider and web (Spider Web) from clear waste packaging, and a second spider from black card (the spiders were cut off the photo when I made the collage, sorry.) Using a felt applicator I colored the spider and web with Mushroom alcohol ink. I applied Snow Cap Mixative to the reverse side of the spider, as shown above. These were glued into the bird house with collage medium. Because the medium dries clear, the web look like it's been put there by the spider. I applied Translucent Grit Paste and Antique Linen crayon to the black spider, and he's hanging in the eaves out back.

I used the larger of Feathered Friends dies to cut a raven out of chipboard recycled out of my cat's canned food box. I cut two of everything and glued them together, so there would be more substance to them. After drying some throw pillows in my dryer the other day, I found some feathers in my lint filter and glued these around the wings. Everything was painted with Prima's Impasto in Pitch Black. This paint is super thick, and you can achieve some great texture. I sealed with Distress Collage Medium Matte to set down a surface over which to scribble and smear Brushed Pewter Distress crayon, highlighting that texture (not pictured). I finished off the raven with a black half pearl for his eye (also not pictured).

I made a little prop to hold the bird up with a piece of waste packaging. After cutting a rectangle of it, I used my scissors and straight edge to score (but not cutting through) two horizontal lines, and then folded the clear plastic at the lines. I used collage medium to secure the bird to the house. Be sure to leave it sit until the glue dries, and it will hold like cement! (I used collage medium for all the gluing, including securing the birdhouse to the base.) You can see the prop clearly in the photo below.

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I colored an old Halloween Token with Antiqued Bronze and Black Soot paint. I found a die cut dot laying around and used that to cover the hole and adhered this at the entrance. Three Pumpkins of different sizes and a sparkly foam pumpkin from my stash were each smeared with Crackle Paste and when dry, coated with collage medium. I scribbled and smeared crayon in Ground Espresso and Peeled Paint and layered them up at the doorway and placed a single one by the raven's feet.

***

I sprayed a panel of olive card with Ground Espresso Spray Stain on one side and dried. From this panel, I cut some foliage using Garden Greens and Funky Floral #3 die sets. I colored a piece of Mummy Cloth with Bundled Sage Spray Stain and Peeled Paint Oxide Spray. These were adhered in the garden and in and around the pumpkins.

More vines hanging off the front of the house come from my stash left over from this very creepy project combined with  more die cut twigs cut with the Funky Wreaths set. I sure have toned down since then!

So here is the completed bird house. If you haven't seen my original post with all the close up shots of the details, you can pop over here to see it. Thank you for stopping by! Have a great week! Sara Emily

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

 Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Spider Web

Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Gatekeeper

Sizzix Chapter 2 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Feathered Friends

Sizzix Chapter 2 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Funky Wreaths

Sizzix Chapter 2 Tim Holtz 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Brickwork

Sizzix Tim Holtz 3-D Impresslits Embossing Folder - Star Trim

Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste Translucent

Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste Crackle

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings - Halloween

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Skulls & Pumpkins

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Design Tape, Halloween

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tokens - Halloween

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Boneyard

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray  - Frayed Burlap, Weathered Wood, Peeled Paint

Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain    - Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Bundled Sage, Ground Espresso

Tim Holtz Distress Paint   - Black Soot, Ground Espresso, Weathered Wood, Antiqued Bronze

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons  - Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive, Antique Linen, Fired Brick, Rusty Hinge, Brushed Pewter, Ground Espresso

Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink  - Snow Cap Mixative, Mushroom, Rust

Prima Art Alchemy Impasto Paint    - Pitch Black

Seth Apter Baked Texture   - Chunky Rust