And, for the finale...

Hi everyone, welcome at this busy holiday time!   I'm back with my last entry into The 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie style.   I can't believe it's been 12 weeks since Linda debuted her first tag of this year's challenge.  If you would like to see that tag, or learn what the requirements are for the challenge you can go here.  But, we have come to the last entry and Linda's tag was fantastic!  It was a beautiful ending to the series!  I love it and had much to be inspired by in this tag.  Here is what my piece looks like.

 

 

If you looked at Linda's tag you'll notice that she did a weathered wood background.  I loved that background which was designed by Jennie Marples.  A link to the tutorial is in Linda's blog post for Tag 12.  I'm pleased with the way my background turned out even though I didn't have the colors of reinker that are specified in the tutorial.  I made do with what I had and I think it turned out okay.  Actually, I'm pretty happy with it and I know I'll use the technique again! 

 

 

While Linda's tag represented the side of house with a lovely wreath hanging on a  window with a window box I decided to just do the weathered wood background.   I think of it as a weathered wood fence with a wreath hanging on it.  I cut the wreath with the TH wreath die out of manila CS that I sprayed with a few different green sprays.  I edged it with white flocking and some iridescent glitter.  I used some red gumdrops for berries and seam binding sprayed with Barn Door Distress Spray for a bow.    Under the wreath I used one of the new TH Holiday Sentiments stamps with black archival ink.  Here are some close ups.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that's it for this year!  I hope you'll check out Linda's shop, which is the sponsor for the challenge. 

 

I want to thank Linda for hosting this fun challenge.  Her inspiration is awesome and I love working on this every year. 

 

And, I want to thank all of you who read my blog and comment.  I appreciate it so much.  I wish all of you the most wonderful of holiday seasons.  

 



 



Shiny Bright!

Hello, everyone!  It's so nice to have you here today.  Well, we're into the home stretch with Christmas just a week away!  I hope your preparations are coming along nicely.  I'm whittling down my list with wrapping presents being the last really big thing I need to do.  Fortunately for me, I enjoy wrapping gifts. 

Another thing that is coming to a close is the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style!  It's hard to believe that Linda has posted tag number 12 already!  If you would like to know more about this challenge you can find the details here.  I'm posting my 11th entry today.   Here is what I made inspired by Linda's beautiful tag which you can see here. 

 

 

 

Linda's tag used foil tape over a tag embossed with a snowflake embossing folder. It was so beautiful that I had to do something similar.  I used a Spellbinders' embossing folder that I just love.  It fit my 5x7" page perfectly and I was able to fill the whole page without worrying about covering the areas that weren't embossed.  I used alcohol ink to color the ornaments.  I just used the dropper in the bottle to get the ink onto the paper and then immediately rubbed it off so that only the barest hint of color was left.  I loved the softly colored effect that I got doing that.  I left the background plain and added silver ribbon bows to the tops of each ornament.  I used a Spellbinders die to cut the label and archival ink to stamp the phrase.  Using a glue pen I sprinkled the edge of the label with chunky glass glitter from Stampendous.   I really love this simple page. It's so effective and shiny.

 

 

Here are some details.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm so pleased with the way this turned out.  I wasn't sure of the alcohol ink technique but it worked out better than I thought it would.  And, of course, it is my favorite Christmas decoration, the Christmas ornament!  I'm sorry to see this challenge end.  I always discover new techniques and create great things to use in my Christmas decorations around the house.  The challenge is sponsored by Linda's boutique.  Check it out for great products and even greater prices!

 

 

Thank you all for taking the time to visit me.  I know how busy everyone is and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you stopping by.  Have a wonderful day!





Woodland Christmas

Hello, again!  I'm so happy to have you visit.  This won't be a long post but I'm trying to catch up with my 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style!  I got behind in October and I've had a really difficult time catching up.  But, I'm getting there!  There is only one more tag to go and Linda just posted it.  It's gorgeous!  But, that will come later!  For now, I'm up to tag 10!  And, I really, really like this one.  I called it a Woodland Christmas because of the colors.  They are different for me for this season but I love the way it turned out. 

Let me get the particulars of this challenge out of the way so I can show you what I'm talking about.  Linda Coughlin hosts this challenge every year and you can find the details and rules (there aren't many) here.  The challenge is sponsored by Linda's wonderful shop, The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  You can find it here. 

Now on to what I made for week 10. 

 

 

 

I apologize for the picture.  The color is awful but I was using my phone which usually does a better job but the day was dreary and I couldn't find a good light.  It was the colors of Linda's tag, which you can see here, that I loved.  They were a little different, and to me, a little woodland.  So, that was my inspiration.  I started buy using DI to lightly stencil the holly in the lower left corner. A Prima stencil was used in the upper right corner with heavy body gesso.  I then used Tarnished Brass, Vintage Photo, Crushed Olive, and Peeled Paint Distress Sprays on the background.  I left it rather light in  some areas.  I then used Perfect Pearls Spray in Biscotti all over the entire page.  I used some Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls in the area of the embossing and a few light spritzes in other parts of the tag.  The card with the sentiment was from Kaisercraft.  It was the perfect color and I loved the sentiment.  I cut some gold CS with the holiday foliage die and used a glue pen and Peeled Paint Distress Glitter to create veins.  I glued those down and put the card over them.  I had embossed the edges of the card with Lindy's Stamp Gang's embossing powder, Desert Moon Copper Pine.  The edges of the pages were glittered with the Peeled Paint DG.  Here are some close ups.

 

 



 

 

And there you have my 10 entry into the this fun challenge.  I'm off now to wrap some presents.  I always say I'm going to wrap as they come into the house but I never quite make it! 

 

 

I hope you have a wonderful day.  Thank you so much for visiting at the busy time of year.  



Christmas Elegance

Hello, everyone!  I know you're all very busy right now, so I really appreciate you stopping by to see my next project in the Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style.  Hosted by Linda Coughlin and sponsored by her wonderful shop The Funkie Junkie Boutique, you can find all the details of the challenge here.

Linda's tag for the 9th week of the challenge was so beautiful and elegant.  I loved the black and gold combination.  I'm a real traditionalist with most things, and especially the holidays, but I do like to shake things up a bit within a traditional style.  Here is what I took as inspiration from Linda's tag.

 

 

 

 

 

I started with my usual 5x7" watercolor paper and painted it with Black Soot DP.  Once it dried I used a Prima stencil and embossing ink to make the corner decoration.  I embossed it with gold embossing powder.  I then used another piece of watercolor paper and stamped the sentiment in embossing ink and used the same embossing powder.  I fussy cut it and used foam tape to apply it to the page. The edges of the page were embossed also.  The white poinsettia was in my stash.   Here are some details.

 

 





 

 

 

 

I think this is such an elegant combination.  I was so thrilled when I saw Linda's tag because a few days before I had thought about doing a black and gold tag!!  As I mentioned to Linda in an email, sometime serendipity can be found everywhere! 

 

 

Thank you so much for visiting with me.  We're almost at the end of this challenge even though I'm behind in my posting.  I hope all your holiday plans are moving along smoothly.  Have a wonderful day and enjoy the season!



Ice Skates

Hello, everyone!  It's so nice to have you visit at this busy time of year!  I hope your holiday preparations are going well and you're enjoying the season!

Today I want to share my 8th entry in Linda Coughlin's 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style.  You can find all the details here.  Linda's tag for week 8 had a wonderfully warm homespun feel to it with a Christmas stocking featured.  I saw the stocking and for some reason thought about the ice skate die and how I would love to use that in place of a stocking.  So, that's what I did!  Here is my version of Linda's tag.

I wouldn't call it homespun but I do love those ice skates!  I started out by spraying the background with Brushed Pewter Distress Spray through a Memory Box snowflake stencil.  I cut the ice skates out of grunge board and painted them with Picket Fence Distress Paint.  I used Brushed Pewter on the runners and Black Soot for the heal.    After the paint was dry I sprinkled the shoes lightly with Rock Candy Dry Glitter so they would glisten.  That doesn't really show in the picture, but it's a cool effect.  I "laced" them with bakers twin. The label is from the new TH set of label dies cut from silver card stock.  I embossed the edge with crystal embossing powder and stamped it with a Penny Black stamp.    The snowflakes were a gift from Linda that she tucked into an order (thanks once again, Linda).   I sprayed them with Perfect Pearls Pearl.

Here are some details.

 

 

It's a very simple page for my future book but I thought simplicity was my answer to Linda's homespun! 

 

 

It's hard to believe that we are so close to the finish.  I actually have page 9 and 10 finished.  I just haven't had time to post about them.  Linda is up to 11 and that is really amazing!  Next week will be the end of the challenge, which, by the way, is sponsored by Linda's wonderful shop.  Stop by and take a look around.  The prices are great and the service is even better!

 

 

Well, I'm off to continue checking things off my to-do list.  I hope you have a wonderful day.  Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to visit with me.  I really appreciate it!



Christmas Ornament

Hello, everyone!  I'm in the spirit of the season and busy, busy, busy, as I'm sure all of you are.  But, since I love the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, I'm enjoying myself!  My favorite thing is to decorate my house.  I love getting out all my things, some that I've had for many years.  Some are from childhood, some from my first years of marriage, and some that I add every year.  My favorite thing to do is make ornaments for the tree.  Our tree is a history of our family.  I've made a majority of the ornaments and they reflect my passion for needlework, beading, and now, paper art.  Other ornaments have been collected on travels or given to us by dear friends.  The tree is truly my favorite decoration in the house!  Which is why when I saw the tag Linda Coughlin made for week 7 of her Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style I was thrilled!  It featured a Christmas tree ornament!  What could be better?!

Here is what I did with that inspiration.

I started by cutting an ornament using a Tim Holtz die out of manila cardstock.  I used heavy body gesso and a Prima stencil to emboss it.  When the gesso was dry I sprayed it with Lindy's Stamp Gang Poinsettia Red Gold Starburst spray.  The beauty of the spray doesn't show up well in the picture but there golden highlights mixed in with the red.  The gesso is lighter in color and I highlighted it with some gold Guilders' Paste.  For the hanger I used gold paint and some Ranger Ancient Gold Enchanted Gold embossing powder.

Next I sprayed my paper with Sea Mist Green Starburst spray and let it dry.  I used the heavy bodied gesso again with a Prima stencil and embossed the card.  Once it was dry I used Lindy's Magicals and a water brush to paint the embossing.  Using a TH stamp I stamped pine branches around the top and side of the paper using Frosty Forest Green and Ponderosa Pine Olive Magicals.   I then used the same colors to color some manila card and cut it out with the TH new greenery die.  I attached those pieces with glue and then popped up the ornament making some of the foliage come through the hanger.  Here are some close up photos.

 

 

 

 I'm really pleased with the way this turned out.   I had a lot of fun working on it.  Linda is such an inspiration every week!  If you want the details of how to participate in the challenge you can check it out here.   The challenge is sponsored by Linda's wonderful shop, The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  You really should check it out because she has a wonderful selection of products at great prices.

 

 

That's it for me for now.  I have more decorating to do (almost finished).  Thank you so much for taking the time to visit with me.  I really appreciate it and I hope you have a wonderful day!  

Golden Sepia

Hi, all!  I hope all of you in the U.S. had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  We did, sharing it with family and friends, enjoying good food and companionship for which we are ever grateful!  It's on to Christmas and all the hustle and bustle that comes along  with it.  But, I love the holidays, all of them, and so I embrace the season with joy. 

I want to share the latest entry of mine into The Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style, hosted by Linda  Coughlin at The Funkie Junkie Boutique, her wonderful shop!  As you all know by now, I'm creating pages for a future book I'll put together after the holidays.  My page for this week was inspired by the golden sepia tones Linda used for her Tag #6.  You can see the rules for the challenge here and the tag that I was inspired by here.

I love sepia tones and I think they are especially elegant for Christmas design.  The sepia Linda used was very golden in tone and I loved it.  So, using that as a jumping off point here is what my page looks like, and I apologize in advance for the photos.  I used my phone in a not very good light but I was short on time!



I have been starting with a 5x7" piece of watercolor paper.  Here I sprayed the paper with Tarnished Brass Distress Spray.  When that dried I used Glimmer Mist in Copper for another layer of color.  When the paper was completely dry I edged it with Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals in Golden Sleigh Bells. Magicals are actually dry paint that I use with a water pen.  They are beautiful and fun to use. I stamped the background with a script stamp from one of TH Christmas sets in Sepia Archival ink. 
I then used the Pine Tree stamp from another of TH Christmas sets to stamp a "forest" of trees along the bottom. I used different ink colors and embossed some of them with Ranger Ancient Gold/ Enchanted Gold embossing powder.  I had a chip board tree in my stash that was sepia colored and I rubbed some Guilders' Paste in Inca Gold on it.  The reindeer was a chip board piece that Linda kindly sent in an order I had placed with her.  I painted it with gold paint and when that dried I brushed some Deco Art Interference Gold paint on it.  Then I rubbed some Guilders' Paste on top.  Using a Spellbinders die I cut a label from gold paper and embossed the edge with a Stampendous embossing powder that is a vintage ivory color with flecks of old gold in it.  It's one of my favorite embossing powders!  I attached a sticker to the label and sprayed the whole thing with Tarnished Brass DS.  I attached it with foam tape placing more chip board under it.  Here are some details.

The shadow isn't really there.  That was compliments of the light! 

 

 

 

 

 

So, there is my Page 6.  I'm caught up with the pages but I haven't had time to post them.  So, you'll be seeing more very soon!  I'm just thrilled that I was finally able to catch up with Linda (she's up to 9)!

 

 

I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you so much for visiting!

 



An Art Deco Christmas

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my next installment in Linda Coughlin's The Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style.  If you click on the link it will take you to the explanation of this great challenge and all the rules.  It's sponsored by Linda's wonderful boutique, The Funkie Junkie, which you should really check out if you haven't already! 

Okay, so on to my project for this go round.  I'm up to week 5 and I was thrilled when I saw Linda's tag for this week.  (She's up to week 8, by the way)!  It was very Art Deco. Anyone who knows me or has followed the blog knows that I LOVE anything Art Deco.  When Tim Holtz came out with his Deco Christmas stamp set last year I was thrilled!!  I've used those stamps so many times in creating Christmas tags and paper art.  Well, once again, I put them to good use.  Here is what I came up with.

 

 

I used Linda's design liberally in this page.  I loved the star border with the sun rays stencil.  It really looks very Deco.  So, I cut the stars with a silver glitter card stock and glued it on top of the sun rays which I had stenciled with Wendy Vecchi's silver embossing paste.  The background was done with Distress Stain and some Perfect Pearls spray.  I stamped the Merry Christmas with a stamp from the Deco Christmas stamp set with black archival ink and ran the silver DS around the edge of the page. 

 

I don't have the deco gentleman die that Linda used.  So, I found a lovely flapper dressed in red and ready to go to a holiday party in the Graphic 45 Couture collection of papers.  I fussy cut her and applied her to the page with foam tape.  Here are some details.

 

 

 



 

Isn't she lovely?!

 

 

 

 

I love my Art Deco page!  It was so much fun to plan and when I found the flapper in her red costume I was  thrilled! 

 

 

I hope everyone in the U. S. is staying warm.  I think things are going to warm up a little by the beginning of Thanksgiving week!  And, I wish all my U. S. readers a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!  I'm thankful for you and all the lovely comments you leave here.  Have a wonderful day!

 

My Favorite So Far!

Hello to everyone!  Thank you for joining me today.  I have another entry into the Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style to share with you today.  And, as the title of this post says, it's my favorite so far. 

If you're not familiar with this challenge you can find out all about it here.  Linda really inspires everyone with her tags every year and it's so much fun to play along.  Once you've checked out the challenge rules hop over to The Funkie Junkie Boutique, Linda's wonderful shop.  She has great products and fantastic service and prices.

Now on to this week's project.  You can check out Linda's tag for the fourth week here.  If you've read the challenge rules you know that you have to be inspired by something from Linda's tag.  What immediately inspired me was the homespun, vintage charm of this tag.  I also loved the colors she used.  So, I used both of those things in making my page.  By the way, for those of you who haven't been following along with my projects, I'm using 5"x7" pieces of watercolor paper in place of tags.  I'll eventually gather them into a book.  Anyway,  on to the project.  This is what the finished page looks like.

 

 

 

 

I started by using a Wendy Vecchi stencil and Evergreen Bough DI to create the striped border top and bottom.  Then I used Festive Berries for the polka dot background.  I then stamped the vintage catalog page from Tim Holtz on a piece of white card stock and inked it with Vintage Photo DI.  I distressed the edges and used more Vintage Photo to darken them.  After going though my stash of Christmas things I found several of the items that are featured in the catalog page!  Tinsel, a star, ribbons and little Christmas lights are among the things that I had and so I decided to glue them down along the side.  A little sticker that says "celebrate" seemed appropriate and the color was perfect so I attached that to the top of the page.  Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really love this page.  I love that catalog stamp and I was thrilled to be able to feature it.  And, I was really excited to find the star and the little lights among my stash.  I thought the end result was simple and homespun, just like Christmas should be!

 

 

 

I want to thank you for visiting me today.  I've been so busy with all the Fall activities that I haven't done much in the studio.  But, I enjoy making these projects every week and sharing them with you .  Have a wonderful day and I hope you get to find some time to create!

 





Looking for Frosty!

Hello!  I'm so happy you stopped by today.  It will be a short post but I wanted to share my third entry into The Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style.  If you don't know about this challenge hop over here to find out all the details.  And, then hop on over to Linda's wonderful shop, The Funkie Junkie Boutique and have fun shopping.  The boutique sponsors the challenge.

One of the requirements is that you are inspired by something Linda has done. You don't need to copy it,  just be inspired by it.  You can see Linda's third tag here and then I'll share what I did with my project.

Well, the first thing I saw when I looked at the tag was that fantastic snowflake.  I loved it but I didn't have the die and I immediately thought of a snowman to replace it.  Here is what my project looks like.

 

 

I'm using 5"x7" watercolor paper for all the projects and they will eventually be bound into a book of some sort.  I'm not there yet!  I sprayed the paper with Perfect Pearls Pearl and then with Smoke Blue in some areas.  I then used a Spellbinders embossing folder of wind blown snowflakes and ran it through the machine.  Using my finger I applied Maya Gold in Silver over some of the raised areas.  I die cut the Tim Holtz snowman out of white paper and used Stampendous Spoonful of Snow Embossing Powder and Elements to emboss him.  The "elements" in the chunky embossing powder are flakes of iridescent mylar which melt with the heat.  You need to hold the heat gun under the piece you're embossing.  I put him on foam tape and used pan pastels to create a shadow around him.  The shadow on the right side is not as defined as it looks in the photo but the light created that shadow and I didn't realize it until after I saw the picture on the computer.  But, there is a shadow and it makes a difference on the finished piece.  The banner is from an Authentique cut apart paper that I had and I thought it was fun.  The snowman looks like he's wondering why they can't find him!  I added two little snowflake rhinestones that have an AB finish which looks great with the mylar on the snowman.   The larger snowflake one is one of Tim's and I daubed it with Distress Paint and sprinkled it with clear Rock Candy glitter. 

 

 

Here are two close ups.  

 

 

 

 

 

So, there you have it.  Week number 3.  It's a rather simple project but sometimes simple is nice! 

 

 

Thank you so much for visiting with me.  I so enjoy having you stop by.  Have a wonderful day and do something fun!





Playing Catch Up

Hi, everyone!  So happy that you could visit with me.  I've titled this post Playing Catch Up because I'm trying to juggle my time between Fall gardening and getting the inside of the house ready for Fall.  I love decorating for the seasons and I always put out pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns and all sorts of Halloween things, along with leaves and berries for Fall.  I love doing it.  I got a late start this year because we were away for a week the beginning of the month.  That also put me behind with the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style challenge that Linda Coughlin has going every year.  You can find all the details here.  But I'm on my way and today I'm going to share my second tag.

 

 

As I mentioned last time, I'm doing 5x7 inch pieces that I will eventually put into a book.  When I saw Linda's second tag my eye immediately went to the poinsettia and the checkerboard border.  I knew that would be my inspiration for this second page.  I've been playing with new (to me) products from Lindy's Stamp Gang.  There are sprays, powdered mica paints and embossing powders.  Many of the products are actually two colors combined, a flat and a shimmer.  The embossing powders are basic embossing powder with some iridescence added.   And, the powdered paints have mica in them for shimmer.  I just love all of them.  I don't have many of the colors but I wanted to use them for this piece.  So, I started with one of the powdered paints, called Magicals,  and used a water pen to apply it to the background.  As you can see the color that I used, Ponderosa Pines Olive,  is a yellow green moving into a pine green all with a very light shimmer.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the shimmer to show in the pictures.  Once that was dry I used a poinsettia background stamp to emboss over the background.  I used Deset Moon Copper Pine embossing powder to emboss it.  I know, the color names are swoon-worthy too! The color is a golden copper with a pine green iridescence.  I then stamped a large poinsettia stamp (can you tell I love poinsettias?)  on watercolor paper with Watering Can Archival Ink and used more of the Magicals to color it.  I didn't have a true red so I used Autumn Maple Crimson and a touch of Red Hot Poker Orange with a water pen.  For the leaves I used the same green as the background with a touch of Tibetan Poppy Teal.  I fussy cut it and sponged some Watering Can Archival on the edges and put a Kaiser Craft Sparkle in the center. 

 

 

Here is a close up. 

 

 

 

 

I mentioned that I also loved the checkerboard border that Linda used.  I had just gotten a new die that I thought would work for this design and allow me to have the checkerboard effect.  I cut it out of gold card stock and applied it to the sides instead of the bottom.  I added the Christmas Carol stamped and embossed on the same gold CS to the bottom and a flourish cut from the gold paper behind the poinsettia. 

 

 

Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see some of the iridescence of the embossing powder in the detail photos. 

 

 

So, now I'm feeling better about getting caught up with my chores and with my challenge projects.  The challenge is sponsored by Linda's wonderful boutique, The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Check it out, there are great products at great prices!

 

 

Thank you for visiting with me today.  I really appreciate having you stop by to see what I'm up to.  I hope you have a wonderful day.

 





It's That Time Again!

Hi all, welcome!  It's a beautiful Fall Sunday morning here and I'm happy to be sharing it with all of you.  We are well and truly into Fall now and if the turning leaves and cooler weather isn't a reminder of that, the fact that over at the wonderful blog The Funkie Junkie,  Linda has started this year's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge!  I love this challenge!  Linda creates a tag each week for the 12 weeks before Christmas and to participate you have to find something in the tag design that inspires you.  You can find all the details here.  By creating all of the 12 tags, or whatever you decide to make, you are entered into a drawing for a gift certificate to Linda's wonderful boutique, The Funkie Junkie.  Whether you participate in the challenge or not, you should visit Linda's shop to see all the wonderful products she carries.  Now on to my first entry.



I decided to cut watercolor paper into 5"x7" pieces and use those in place of tags this year.  I'm going to put them all together in a book after the holidays.  So, that is my starting point for this first project.  My inspiration from Linda's tag was the stenciling and using the stencil to monoprint the background.  I started by applying Old Paper, Iced Spruce, and Bundled Sage Distress Stain to my craft sheet and running the paper through it to create a subtle mottled background to knock down the whiteness of the paper.  It's very faint and you can't see it well in the picture but it does provide a nice background color for the stenciling.  I then stenciled along one side of the card with Gathered Twigs, Bundled Sage and Festive Berries DI.  I applied the inks to the stencil again and spritzed it with water, turned the stencil over and monoprinted on the paper.  I love the watercolored effect that happens with this technique.  I edged the entire card with Gathered Twigs DI and stamped the "Handle with Care" stamp with Festive Berries.  I added the die cut banner that was in my stash to the top and used Stickles glitter on the berries.  The "post card" stamp is part of Graphic45's Christmas sets from a few years ago and I used Gathered Twigs for that.  The Holly Boy card is from Kaiser Craft.  I loved his costume and his face and I thought it was perfect with the holly theme. 


Here are some details.



Love that watercolor effect.  And you can see some of the background color here.

 

 

Here is the Holly Boy!

 

 

Well, there is my first entry for this year!  The year is going so quickly, I can't believe Halloween is 3 weeks away and we'll be in the midst of the Christmas season so soon! 

 

Thank you for visiting with me.  I really appreciate that you take time to visit my blog.  Have a wonderful day.

Summer of Color 4: Sea Life

Hello, everyone!  I'm happy to have you join me.  Today I'm going to share my next Summer of Color tag.  I've decided to make tags this year and then bind them together rather than making several different projects like I did last year.  The challenge is so much fun and Kristin does such a great job of coming up with color combinations.  Check it out because there is a lot of great art being created.

This week, week 2, the colors were teal and coral with a pop of white.  So, to me that said sea life and this is what my tag looks like.

 

 

I started out with a number 10 tag and I colored it with Peacock Feathers DS.  Then I used this great new spray that I found at Joggles.  It's from Lindy's Stamp Gang and it's called Starburst.  It's a wonderful spray which has a non shimmery base and a wonderfully shimmery top.  Unfortunately, by the time I finished my tag you can't see too much of that wonderful shimmer!!  Oh, well, I know I'll be using it again.  Anyway, the color that I used is called "Jack in the Pulpit Teal".  Cool name, right?

I sprayed the entire tag and then used a paper from Graphic45's summer paper collection called By the Sea.  It's a wonderful coral color and it has a wonderful overall sea life pattern.  Those of you who follow me and/or Linda from The Funkie Junkie, might think this design looks a little familiar.  Well, that's because I'm playing along at the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog this week.  Linda is the host for this challenge and she decided since it's 6 months since the  12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style challenge, which she hosts, ended perhaps it would be fun to recreate one of the tags from the challenge only with a summer theme.  So, I decided to use tag number 4 for my entry.  You can find out all the details of the challenge here and you can see tag number 4 from the 12 Tags here.   

 

What I really liked about this tag was the linear look it has.  I loved the letters on the burlap squares and I loved the border that balanced it on the other side.  So, I used some teal paper in place of the burlap and I used a die cut white border and a printed border on the other side.  The sea life stamps are part of the Graphic45 collection.  Before I glued everything down I edged the tag in white embossing powder.  Once all the paper was in place I glued a Lucite starfish to the top of the tag, and glued some teal shell sequins and small wooden beads randomly.  Here are some details.

 



 

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So, there you have it.  I really love this combination of colors.  I don't think I've ever used it, at least not together,  but now I love it and that's the great part of the Summer of Color!  Stretching and using colors you don't use, or don't use often. 

 

Thank you for stopping by.  I love having you and I love hearing from you.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend and get some time to be creative.

Thank you #2 and the end of the challenge

Hi everyone!  I'm happy to have you visit.  Today I'm going to share the last tag of the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.   I'm sure by now you all know that Linda extended the challenge so that we have until January 8th to post all our entries.  The last two tags which made up the extension were to be thank you notes.  That way we all got a head start on the holiday thank you notes!  All the rules of the challenge can be found here.  And, Linda's second bonus tag can be seen here.   One of the things I liked about Linda's tag is the way she folded it.   I like the matchbook folded note and I hadn't done one in a long time.  Here is a picture of my tag.

 

 

While my tag is much different than Linda's I did take inspiration from what she did. I loved her  wintery theme and  I used her fold idea.  I also used another of the Clearly for Art foliage from Tim Holtz' December tag technique.  Linda cut a snowflake border, which I want to try sometime.  I love the almost icy look you get from using the frosted film over the clear Clearly for Art.  By the way, that's a product from Wendy Vecchi which you can find in Linda's boutique.  Anyway, on to the details of the tag.  I used Bundled Sage, Picket Fence, and Brushed Pewter Distress Paint to color the background using the marbling method.  I dried it and then spritzed it with Perfect Pearls mist.  Once I had it folded I used clear embossing ink on the edges and embossed it with silver EP.  A cut apart from Authentique's new winter collection seemed perfect to add to the front of the note.  I used Kaiser Kraft Sparkles on the tabs.  I added a larger Sparkles dot to the hole at the top of the tag with the foliage under it.  The gem topped paper clip keeps it closed.

 

 



 

 

For the inside of the tag I stamped the thank you using TH Simple Sayings set and the label stamp that comes with it.  I embossed it with silver EP and cut it out, leaving enough space on one end to punch a hole and thread some vintage look tinsel through it. 

 

I really like the color combination I used for this tag.  I wanted something wintery but I've gotten tired of using blues and silver.   Here are some close ups.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

So, that's it.  I have loved this challenge and I want to say thank you to Linda for hosting it.  I'm looking forward to next year.  And, I want to thank all of you who have stopped by to see what I did and left such wonderful and encouraging comments.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! 

 

I hope you have a wonderful week and for those of you enduring unusually cold temperatures in the US take care and stay as warm as possible.  Thanks for stopping by!

 







Happy New Year and a little more!

Happy New Year to all my blog friends!  I hope you have a wonderful, creative 2014.  I can't thank you enough for all the kind comments and support you all have given me this year.  Reading your blogs and seeing all the fabulously creative projects you've made has been a real joy. 

The "little more" in the title of this post is the first extension in Linda's 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie style.  I was so happy when she decided to extend the challenge.  The rules are the same, take inspiration from Linda's project and create you're own version.  The difference for this extension was that the tags were "thank you" tags.  That served the purpose of getting a head start on thank you notes!  Here is what Linda's tag looks like.   And, here is my tag.

 

 

 

Linda used the technique Tim Holtz demoed for his December 12 Tags of 2013 to make her holly cluster.  I decided to use the poinsettia, as Tim did, because I wanted to use this card stock for the tag.  I had wanted to try making the poinsettia before Christmas but didn't have time.  So, this gave me the opportunity.  It's a fun thing to have in your bag of tricks.  If you check out the link above you'll be able to find out how to do it.  As I said, I wanted to use this card stock and feature the poinsettias so I traced a number 10 tag on it and cut it out.  After punching the hole in the top I folded it into thirds.  I used Tarnished Brass DP along the edges and taped the ribbon around the card bringing it up through the hole and knotting it on the front.  The poinsettia was attached using Glossy Accents.  Here is the inside.

 

 

 

 

The message was stamped on a kraft paper ATC using an old Hero Arts stamp and gold ink.  It was embossed using gold embossing powder.  I used some word stickers from Authentique on the flap. 

 

 

Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, one more to go and then we will be finished for this year.  Linda's wonderful shop, The Funkie Junkie Boutique, is the sponsor of this challenge.  You should check it out because there are wonderful products at great prices. 

 

 

Thank you so much for visiting with me today.  I hope you are having a great day and that you get to spend some time creating!  See you soon.