A Faithful Friend

Hello and welcome! It's been a while since I've had an opportunity to create something, but yesterday I had a few precious (almost uninterrupted) hours to play in the Closet.  At first, I thought I might try out some of my newer supplies. But as things sometimes happen, I reached instead for some of my old tried and true things, having been inspired by a scrap of metallic kraft stock already embossed and inked on my worktop and a couple of scraps of  inked Ideaology cloth tape that didn't make it onto a past project. My plan:  make something for my friend who had to put her precious furbaby, Zoe, down. May he now be enjoying a joyful, pain free Heavenly life.

 I also was inspired by Stacy Hutchinson's vintage framed artwork and tried the technique she used on an Ideaology Found Relative; click on the link for the details. If you love vintage, you'll want to check out her amazing blog. I chose this obvious choice of girl with her dog for my piece. The paint colors I used are Antique Linen and Speckled Egg,  the collage paper is Typeset, and I found an appropriate Clippings Sticker that describes Zoe. I added a wee bit of color to the girl's cheeks and to both bows with markers.

I didn't have just the right size of Etcetera Tag, so I fashioned one of my own out of a MDF frame backer I had in my stash. I just cut off the corners with my kraft knife. I applied an Ideaology Design Tape to the edges before adhering the background paper (not really seen in any of the photos, but it neatens the edges). I chose a couple of patterns from a couple of  older Worn Wallpaper packs--regular and Halloween--for my background and the Stacked Baroque die cut.  The background was adhered to the board and blended and splattered with Ground Espresso ink. Pardon the glare in the next three photos.

I wanted to represent the heartbreak my friend must have experienced as she made the decision to let her dear friend pass. I had an extra little scrap of the same paper in the pack, so I sprayed it with water, wrinkled and balled it up, tore it, rolled  the edges and left it to dry. Later I stitched the tear and blended it with Ground Espresso.

I die cut two Baroque pieces, and cut the brown one in half and strategically realigning to serve as a mat for the Wallpaper cut, which is blended with Antique Linen and edged in Ground Espresso. Yes, I realize the pattern is upside down, but don't our lives get turned upside down when we lose a faithful friend?

Because my inspiring scrap of embossed kraft stock was too small, I embossed and sanded another and this time, inked it with Speckled Egg Oxide and Rustic Wilderness ink. I edged it with Black Soot paint.

A flower that came as part of a huge crafty gift from my sweet friend and former teammate Suzanne Czosek (Suzz's Stamping Spot -- another wonderful blog you must visit for some great inspiration and techniques) was spritzed with Speckled Egg Oxide and water as was the piece of blue dyed crinkle ribbon that came on the little thank you gift from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I added a little bit of Frayed Burlap ink to the ribbon before allowing it to dry. The Garden Greens die cut was sitting on my worktop, and I inked it with peeled Paint and Bundled Sage. I tucked it under the flower as well as some cheesecloth.

That's all for me! I hope you have a wonderful, crafty weekend! 

Hugs! Sara Emily

I would like to submit to these inspiring challenges:

The Funkie Junkie Challenge Blog Anything Goes (boy, does this feel weird!)

Simon Says Stamp Monday Four Legged Friends

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Use Dies and/or Punches (I used 2 Sizzix dies and a corner punch to round the corners on Found Relative and and the 2 mats.)

These Tim Holtz products were used on my project:

Stacked Baroque Thinlits Die

Garden Greens Thinlits Die

Swirls 3D Texture Fade

Ideaology: Fabric Tape, Metallic Kraft Stock-copper, Found Relatives, Worn Wallpaper, Clippings Sticker Book

Distress Ink: Ground Espresso, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness

Distress Oxide: Speckled Egg (Pad and Spray)

Distress Paint: Black Soot, Antique Linen, Speckled Egg

Distress Markers: Evergreen Bough, Spun Sugar

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all those hard working, dedicated Mom's out there! I made this card for my husband's Mom to let her know she is loved and appreciated. My card features Ideaology Botanical Layers over a background created with Tim Holtz Bouquet Thinlits.

The background is die cut from water color paper, and for the most part was able to keep all the little pieces in and adhered it with Distress Collage Medium Matte to another card. I just reinserted those pieces that fell out. I gave it all a coat of gesso and allowed it to dry. I squeezed out a couple drops of Broken China and Mustard Seed paints onto my mat and mixed them with hand sanitizer and used my finger to paint the background. The hand sanitizer makes the paint glide on smoothly and dries super quick. 

All of the layers were edged with Frayed Burlap Oxide, and then I made a little watery puddle of the Frayed Burlap and dipped the pieces in to give them a bit more of an aged look. You can see I added a little Mustard Seed from the background to the large rose.

I stitched around the outside edge and adhered the layers. I had to make this a flat card for ease in mailing. I used my splatter brush and Distress Tarnished Brass paint to add foxing to the card. You can see a bit of the metallic shimmer by tipping the card to the light, but otherwise it looks like brown spots!

I adhered the panel to two old releases of Tim Holtz Paper Stash and to a card blank. So there's my version of a CAS card! I hope you enjoy your week and have a lovely Mother's Day if you are celebrating! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Feminine

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:Anything Goes

If You're Feeling Blue...

Hello friends!  I wanted to make my daughter a graduation card, since her college is finally going to have a  graduation ceremony this weekend for last year's graduating class.  I have nothing in my crafty arsenal for graduations, so I needed to improvise. Since she will be a psychological counselor after finishing her Masters next year, I thought I would make a little play on her profession with my quote. I've had this set of quote stamps for years and have never opened them. I cut the stamp in two, so I could place half the quote at top and the other at the bottom. I don't think she'll be handing out this advice in her office, but it's really good advice, don't you think?

I stamped the quote on a scrap in Archival ink and a couple Glitch 1 stamps with regular Distress, both Faded Jeans. I  added some drips and splats as I was inking other parts of the card. The pink splashes and drips are Oxide spray.

I stamped the circle from Glitch 1 on another scrap and painted in one of the areas with Oxide spray. I love the grid stamp from the set and inked it in Chipped Sapphire, splashing with a little water for some inky washes. Finally, I used the Plus stencil and texture paste to add texture, and when it was dry, replaced the stencil and inked with Faded Jeans.

This Baseboard Doll's dress was colored with Embossing Dabber/Pen and Embossing Glaze, and after heating, rubbed with steel wool to remove the shine. Her cheeks, hair piece and tights are colored with markers. The heart on her dress didn't look too good, so I applied an old Remnant Rub over it and while they were out, added some here and there. Everything is edged with Hickory Smoke ink.

That's all for me! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Add A Quote

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday ChallengeAnything Goes

Tim Holtz products used:

Distress ink - Archival Faded Jeans, Faded Jeans, Hickory Smoke, Chipped Sapphire

Distress Oxide Ink - Faded Jeans

Distress Oxide Spray - Kitsch Flamingo

Distress Embossing Glaze - Kitsch Flamingo

Distress Marker - Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar

Glitch 1 Stamps

Plus Layering Stencil

Baseboard Dolls

See the Beauty Mixed Media Tag

Hello friends and visitors! What do you do with a background that turned out absolutely horrible? Turn it into a tag, of course! (Or ATC's or coins.)

(click on this photo to enlarge)

This actually started a while back with some flowers blended with Wilted Violet through Roses mini stencil. It didn't turn out too well using blending foam--a blending brush works much better with these smaller openings. So into the bin it went to use the other side at a future date.

 So yesterday I was blessed with a wee bit of 'free time' to play in my Closet, and I found this panel. I blended Distress Micro Glaze with a blending tool through the same stencil, placing it over the existing flowers. After spritzing the panel with water, I sprayed with various Distress Spray stains and Oxide (colors in the products list below). I repeated this with different stencils, drying between and finally blending Wilted Violet ink through Floral stencil. Lastly, I sprayed with water and mopped with a paper towel.  It pretty much went from bad to worse when I tried to add some pink to the left side to balance the brightness of the right, but I'm a firm believer in salvation. I decided I could die cut it into a tag using Stacked Tags and try to rescue the better part of the background.

I chose three brightly colored butterflies from two different Botanical packs; one is a little different to the other two, but I used my splatter brush and Picket Fence paint to try and unify them. Each one is edged with Black Soot ink and layered over some die cuts from my stash. 

I found some appropriate phrases in the Clippings Sticker booklet to add, edged the tag in Wilted Violet and matted it on white card. 

 I snipped off some crinkle ribbon seam binding and colored it with Fossilized Amber and Crackling Campfire spray stains, dried and stamped the script from Tiny Toadstools in archival Black Soot ink. I tied it into a little bow as a topper.

All's well that ends well. I hope you get some time to be crafty! Hugs! Sara Emily

Challenge Shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Bright, Cheerful Colors

These Tim Holtz products were used on my tag:

Stacked Tags Thinlits

Tiny Toadstools Stamps

Stencils: Roses Mini Stencil (set 25), Floral, Latticework, Bubbles

Ideaology - Clippings Sticker Book, Botanical Layers

Distress Microglaze

Distress Collage Medium 

Distress Ink - Archival Black Soot, Black Soot, Wilted Violet, Evergreen Bough, Cracked Pistachio; Distress Paint - Picket Fence

Distress Spray Oxide - Cracked Pistachio 

Distress Spray Stain - Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry, Crackling Campfire

 

In the Garden (With Tim Holtz)

Hello and welcome! Today I have a mixed media panel that has been in the works for some time.

 I'm  saddened by the removal of our little city's annual spring event, The Azalea Festival, from the community's agenda for the second straight year due to the virus. I don't attend most of the festival events, but always go on the Garden Tour associated with it. Each of the gardens on the tour are dotted with high school girls dressed in Antebellum dresses that are passed down year after year. I guess that's a big no-no in the current environment. The Paper Dolls I chose for my panel brought back memories of these by-gone tours, so I prepared a garden for these lovely vintage ladies to walk through. 

My panel started as a Cheerios box, and I believe I first started working on it a long way back when The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge blog had a recycle challenge, but wasn't happy with it and set it aside. I can't remember what I built it up with, but recently I added pieces of Collage Wrap and did some stenciling with Crackle Paste and Kitsch Flamingo Distress Embossing Glaze, regular paste and Distress Rustic Wilderness crayon. I have a list of all the products I used below, more so I don't forget, but hopefully they will be helpful to you, too. In the end, I added smudges of Prima Matte Wax in white to tone it down and to cover the shine  of the glazes. Tim, how about a matte embossing glaze?

I used the Lattice stamp with Picket Fence paint to resist Tumbled Glass ink on the Stitched Oval die cut. The Gate Keeper die cut is colored with inks as listed below. I colored the ladies from the newest Paper Doll release--Groups with Speckled Egg and Spun Sugar crayons and a water brush. I do love my Paper Dolls!

The flowers are die cut from water color paper using Funky Nature and Brushstroke #2 sets. I lightly shaped them with my swizzle stick. My stencil work turned out less than impressive, and these sweet little flowers and foliage help to cover it.

The quote is from the Clippings Sticker booklet, and I covered it with Embossing Dabber and a mix of Tattered Rose and Kitsch Flamingo glazes. I used what was left of my glazing powder mixture on the opposing corner. I spritzed the panel with water and sprinkled with the powder mix, tapping off excess and heating. This and the Clippings sticker were scuffed with steel wool to take back the shine. I added a little shadow under the sticker with Black Soot crayon and my water brush.

I realize there's a lot going on here, but that's exactly what you would expect in a vintage garden, wouldn't you?

That's all for now. I hope you are enjoying these beautiful spring days and finding time to do what you love! Take care, Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Not A Card

 These products all by Tim Holtz were used:

Ideaology Paper Dolls Groups

Sizzix Thinlits Dies - Brushstroke Flowers #2, Funky Nature, Gate Keeper, Stitched Ovals

Stampers Anonymous Lattice & Flourish Stamps

 Stampers AnonymousStencils - Lattice, Floral

Ideaology Collage Wrap - Field Notes, Botanical

Distress Paint - Picket Fence 

Distress Crayon - Abandoned Coral, Rustic Wilderness, Black Soot, Spun Sugar, Speckled Egg

Distress Embossing Glaze - Kitsch Flamingo, Antique Linen, Cracked Pistachio

Distress Inks - Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke (Gate), Tumbled Glass, Speckled Egg (Background Oval and Flowers) Kitsch Flamingo (Flowers) Bundled Sage (Foliage)

Ranger Distress Texture Paste

Ranger Opaque Crackle Paste

Ideaology Clippings Sticker Book

Practice Kindness Mixed Media Tag

 

Hello, happy Thursday! I finally got my hands on Tim Holtz' newest Paper Dolls, and this one is from the Groups pack. I had to separate this handsome guy from his best gal to make him fit my tag.

 I started by making my tag using Tim's Bricks and Digits mini stencils with texture paste, Embossing Glaze, Grit Paste, Crackle Paste, and Distress Spray Stain and Spray Oxides, and crayons all layered to make a grungy chipping brick wall. Glaze is Fired Brick, sprays are Hickory Smoke, Black Soot and Speckled Egg, crayons are Black Soot and Chipped Sapphire. 

I colored the paper doll's pants with Chipped Sapphire crayon and his vest with Distress Embossing Glaze in Speckled Egg using the bullet embossing pen to get the powder exactly where I wanted it. I added smudges of the crayon left on my craft mat.  In the background there's a torn portion from Field Notes Collage Wrap layered with a clock face from an older Curiosities sticker book.

And another piece of the Collage Wrap at this feet. He is sitting on layers of torn and wrinkled ephemera from the Keepsakes and Urban Layers packs.

And to finish my tag, I chose some old  Small Talk stickers. Couldn't we make a difference if we all practiced a little kindness?  Thanks for visiting! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Layer It

Learning to Fly

 

Hello friends and visitors! I hope you enjoyed a lovely Easter! He is Risen! I took a little 'me' time this afternoon and made a spring card to share. I used lots of Tim Holtz products including Sizzix Thinlits: Funky Nature, Funky Wreaths and Feathered Friends and Intertwined 3D Embossing folder.

After loading up the embossed background with a ton of products--Distress Crazing, crayon, ink, and paint  Prima Wax, to accentuate that wonderful deep texture, I tore it in two diagonally, layered the torn pieces and rolled back one edge to show the Wallflower background. 

Nothing says spring like bluebirds nesting. We have so many bluebirds here, and their babies have hatched and will soon be learning to fly.

I cut the bird from watercolor paper and painted it with Distress inks: Salty Ocean, Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain. I used a micron pen for the eye.

There's lots of product on that feather, too, including various paints, inks and crayons.

Learning to Fly is a Clippings Sticker, edged in Ground Espresso ink and mounted on chip board.

The wreaths are dipped in watery Antique Linen ink and the egg--Salty Ocean. And there's one of the 'woody' ones, too, cut from an inky scrap and tucked in to make a little nest. That's all for me today; I do hope you have enjoyed your Easter weekend and will have a crafty week! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Country View Challenges April 2021 - The Birds & The Bees

Simon Says Stamp Monday Easter/Spring

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes