My second tag for the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style

Hello everyone and welcome to the second installment of my entries in the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Linda is up to week six of her tag challenge and I'm up to number 2!!  Behind, as usual!!  But, the challenge is so much fun.  You just have to be inspired by something Linda does with her tag for the week.  And, it's really easy to be inspired by her work.  So, here is my second tag.

 

 

 

 

My inspiration was Linda's die cut deer which she embossed and then stamped into.  I used the snowman die and embossed it with enamel embossing powder and filled in with white detail embossing powder.  While the embossing was still warm I used the Tim Holtz snow flake stamp to stamp into it.  I put some tinsel around his hat and he's ready for the holidays!

 

 

For the background I dredged a #10 tag through Distress Stain in Peacock Feathers and Evergreen Bough with a few sprays of Turquoise Perfect Pearls spray.  I then used the evergreen bough from one of the Tim Holtz stamp sets and Iced Spruce Distress ink and stamped along the side of the tag.  I stamped a shadow to fill in the area by stamping twice with the same inking of the stamp.  It's a technique that Dyan Reavley uses and I really like the way the shadow fills in and give dimension to the area. Then I took the three evergreens stamp from one of Tim's sets and did the same thing only I used Chipped Sapphire DI.  I used a snowflake stamp and white pigment ink to stamp some snowflakes falling around Mr. Snowman!  While they were still wet I sprinkled them with Rock Candy Distress glitter.  I cut some snowflakes from white card stock and sprinkled them with Rock Candy Distress glitter and glued them down.  The sentiment was stamped on white CS in Chipped Sapphire and was dusted with Rock Candy glitter.  A wrinkled bit of seam binding finished  the tag.

 

Here are some close ups.

 

 

You can see the shadow stamping here.

 

Mr. Snowman's close up!

 

You can see some of the glitter which really adds to the snowy effect.

 

 

 

Well, there is the second of my tags.  I hope you'll visit Linda's blog and see her gorgeous creations. 

 

Thank you so much for visiting me today.  I really appreciate you stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful day!  





 



The 12 Tags of Christmas, Funkie Junkie Style: Tag 1

I'm very late in getting started on this challenge but I really wanted to join in this year.  I first got to know Linda of the Funkie Junkie blog last year after a friend told me about the Twelve Tags of Christmas, Funkie Junkie Style.   I loved Linda's style and decided then that I was going to participate this year!  I also love Linda's boutique, The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  You should check it out.

Well, here I am, late, but here!  The rules are pretty simple.  Here they are in Linda's words.

This is an inspiration challenge. Each week, I will post my tag and you will use it to be inspired to make something. You can enter any sort of craft.  It can be a tag, a card, a home decor project, a scrapbook layout - your choice but please make it winter/holiday related. 

You must take inspiration from something on my tag and tell us in your post what inspired you. You don't have to use my style, my layout, my colors, my theme or anything except be inspired by something on my sample. Your make can be shabby, it can be grungy or it can be clean and simple. I don't mind if you CASE my work, but if you do, please give me credit. 

We will have 12 weekly challenges beginning today, Monday, September 23rd.  You can link your project using the linky provided. If you don't have a blog, you can use another hosting site such as SplitCoast Stampers, but you must provide all required links and information in your posting.

To be eligible for the drawing at the end of the 12 weeks, you must: 1) enter all 12 challenges, 2) provide a link back to this challenge and mention that it is sponsored by my store The Funkie Junkie Boutique, with a link to the boutique. 

You do have to have a blog (or some other way to provide the required links and inspiration information).

All 12 challenges will remain open until December 22nd.  You can play any of the 12 challenges up through that date. To be eligible to win, you must have submitted an entry into all 12 of these challenges by midnight Eastern Time December 22nd.

On December 23rd, from the pool of players who participated in every single challenge and provided a link to the challenge and a link to my store on their post, I will draw three winners. There will be one $50 grand prize gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique given out plus two runner up prizes of $25 gift certificates. 

Additionally, everyone who participated in all the challenges and met the requirements will receive a 10% off coupon good for their entire order at The Funkie Junkie Boutique during the month of January 2014.

So, that's all there is to it.  Seeing Linda's tags every week makes being inspired by them easy.  You can go to her blog and check out every one of them from the links on the side bar.  She's already up to week 5!!  I've got to get moving.  I do have the first two finished.  So, I've made a start.

Here is the first tag.

 

 

I used a regular size 8 tag and Festive Berries Distress Stain to color the background.  Festive Berries is my all time favorite red.  I decided to use the Tim Holtz stamp set, Deco Christmas, because I love anything Art Deco.  I was so excited about this stamp set!  Anyway, I used the poinsettia stamp from the set and white ink to stamp them.  The greeting is also from the set.  I just love that particular stamp.  I then cut a piece of card stock and embossed it with the all over poinsettia embossing folder and then spread some rock candy crackle paint over it.  While the paint was wet I sprinkled some rock candy dry glitter on it.  While that was drying I cut the flourish out of white card stock and covered it with Glossy Accents and rock candy glitter.  When everything was dry I glued the embossed card down and outlined it with a white gel pen.  I wanted to emphasize the Art Deco feel of the tag.  I had the white poinsettias in my stash and I glued them down with the flourish underneath.  Here are some close-ups.

 

 

 

 

 

What inspired me from Linda's tag was her color scheme.  She used a chalk board color scheme of black and white.  As I said before, I love the Festive Berries ink and stain so I decided to use the red and white instead. 

 

 

Thank you so much for joining me today.  I really appreciate your visits and I'm grateful to all my old and new visitors.  

 





Glenda's Spells Book

Hello everyone!  I have a fun little project to share with you today.   I call it Glenda's Spells Book.  As I was working on it I had a little story about a witch named Glenda running through my head!  She's a cute little witch who isn't very neat and makes a big mess while she's mixing her potions and brews!  I had so much fun making this canvas.  It's one of the most fun Halloween things I've ever made.  This is what it looks like.

I  told you she was messy

 

And, this is how I made it.  I sprayed the background with Dylusion sprays in Dirty Martini, Fresh Lime and Black Marble.  It took several applications because the spray beaded up on the canvas.  I then used ultra thick gel medium and a Tim Holtz stencil to get Glenda's splashes and spills on the canvas.  When they were dry I rubbed them with Inka Gold Rub in the green/gold color.  I dry brushed some lavender Silks over the stenciled areas.  Next I made the little book.  I distressed the edges and sponged them with Distress Ink.  Here's a close up of it.

 

 

 





 

  



I used the TH Apothecary Bottles die to cut the bottles.  The packaging the die came in was what I used so that I would end up with clear bottles.  Icolored them with alcohol ink.  Then I brushed rock candy crackle paint on the front. I have found that the crackle paint tends to flake off the acrylic packaging so I sprayed it with a clear fixative.  In one of the fortunate things that happens sometimes the spray wasn't well shaken initially so the bottles have some white speckles at the top which I love because it makes them look really old and messy!!   I picked up a tip from Tammy Tutterow to cut the bottle tops out of cork.  Once everything was dry I glued the tops on the back of the bottles and glued the bottles to the canvas.  The little book was glued to the canvas and the "beware" label was attached to the top. 

 

Here are some other details.

 

 

 

Glenda even managed to spill potions inside the book! 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed my little adventure with Glenda the Witch!  She's the kind of witch who makes you giggle!!  I'm going to enter this in the Frilly and Funkie challenge which is What's your poison.  You have to use green and black, and NO orange! 

 

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I really appreciate it!  I hope you have a wonderful day and you get to do something fun and creative.

 

 



 

 

 

 



October means Fall and Halloween!

Hello everyone!  Welcome!  I meant to post this on October 1st, but time gets away from me.  October has become one of my favorite months.  I love Fall and everything about it.  I love the colors and the cooler weather.  I love the way the light makes everything in the garden look so rich and intense.  I also love Halloween.  Not the gory, horrible Halloween, but the Halloween of yesterday, cute witches and jack-o-lanterns with big toothy grins,  children in cute costumes.  I love making home decorations and I always have a great time adding to my collection of paper art for the season. 

My newest, for the moment, Halloween project is an accordion flip card.  This is what it looks like.

 



I don't remember where I first saw this Sizzix die and it's companion frame and label die, but I fell in love with it.  I finally bought both dies a few weeks ago and I couldn't wait to play with it. I cut the accordion card four times from black card stock.  I used Authentique Halloween papers for the labels and black card stock and orange glitter paper from the stash for the labels.  I love Authentique papers and they do some of the best Halloween papers so I knew I was going to use them for this project.  The little ovals of vintage Halloween children were in my stash of Halloween papers.  They worked perfectly for the labels.  I cut scalloped ovals with a Spellbinders die to back them.  The bare branch tree and the lamp post are Tim Holtz dies and the black cat was also from the stash.  Here are some close ups of the panels.

 

 

 

 

And, the back.

 



 

 

I always like to do something to the back so that it's a little detail that maybe I'm the only one who knows about it!

 

So, there you have it.  My first Halloween project of the year.  Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting.  I really appreciate your visit and your comments.  I hope you have a wonderful week.



Looming

Hi everyone!  I'm happy that you stopped by today.  I'm sure you're wondering what that title means.  It means that I took a bead looming class!  I know that doesn't sound like anything earth shattering to anyone, but it is something I needed to get talked into!  So, for me it was a shift in my thinking.  Let me explain.  I never liked bead looming.  For that matter, I never was very interesting in fiber weaving.  I've done lots of things with fiber and fabric, but weaving wasn't something that appealed to me.  I tried bead looming, but again, it didn't appeal.  To begin with, it's so flat and I love dimension.  It's flatness makes it uninteresting for me to work on.  But, last year I began to change my mind.  I went to a lecture and demo given by a bead looming artist, Erin Simonetti, at Bead Soup.
Erin's work is amazing.  She has been looming since she was a child.  The techniques she has developed are incredible and take looming to a new level.  No more perfectly flat pieces of beaded "fabric".   She creates all the designs herself, so each is original.  The lecture was the introduction to a series of classes she began teaching at Bead Soup.  But, I resisted.  I have so many things on my plate, or should I say on my work table, that I didn't need another one!  So, I watched what others created in the classes and admired the projects but I resisted!  Some of my friends told me I should try it and I resisted.  Finally, I decided to take one of  Erin's classes.  It was a small amulet bag that had a smocked front!  Smocking in beads!!  I used to smock.  I even made a couple of dresses for my daughter when she was a little girl.  But, smocking in beads was so intriguing.  So, I signed up.  This is what we loomed.

 

 

The front.

 

The back.

 

Detail of the smocking and fringe.

 

 

I developed my own fringe design and got to use the fantastic new dagger beads, which I love and have been wanting a project to come along so I could use them.  I replaced the silver chain Erin had used on top of the fringe with a spiral rope of silver beads and the last dagger I had in the middle.  And, I have a beaded chain pattern that I like so I used that for the neck strap.  But, the wonderful smocked beading and the charted flowers are all Erin's! 

 

I enjoyed the class and learning some of Erin's techniques.  I probably will never be a committed bead looming person, but I enjoy Erin's designs and so tomorrow I'm taking my second looming class.  We'll be making one of two designs for a Fall cuff.  I'm doing the leaf cuff which has some interesting techniques that only Erin could come up with.   And, I can't resist Fall themed projects of any kind and I love cuff, so I had to do this class!   It should be interesting!  I'll share when it's finished!

 

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 



 



Post #2 of Astrid's ICAD Swap

Hello, and welcome to the second installment of Astrid's ICAD Swap.  Last time I showed you the first card that I made for Margie.   Now I can show you the one I made for Jennie.

 

 

 

I don't often work with blue but I just felt I needed to use blue for this ICAD.  I don't question these things, I just follow along!  First I inked the card with Broken China and Salty Ocean DI and then  I stamped the wild flowers with embossing ink and  used white embossing powder on it.  The quote is from a Tim Holtz stamp set. I glued strips of paper and a butter fly to finish the design.  I used a Wendy Vecchi trick and ran silver Distress stain along the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

For the folder I used kraft paper.  I used silver ink and a stamp I've had for a long time to add a design to the outside and then  I used a Tim Holtz On the Edge die to cut one side. Once again I ran the Distress stain along the cut edge.  I added an eyelet and some baker's twine as a closure. 

 

 

 

 

 

I cut the kraft paper so that the pocket was part of the shape and I scored it and folded it up.  I used another On the Edge die to shape the edge of the pocket and finished with Distress stain. Another wild flower stamp was stamped on both flaps the same way I did on the card and I added a little pocket with particulars of the swap on a tag tucked inside. 

 

 

So, there you have it.  I said in my previous post that this was a really fun swap and it really was!  It was a brilliant idea that Astrid had and I think everyone who participated had a great time.  I received two fantastic ICADs which I will share next time.  Both of them are special to me for different reasons and the interesting thing is that I've never met either of my swap partners.  So, it was karma or serendipity or some such thing, but it was fantastic! 

 

Thank you for visiting with me today.  I'm so glad you spent some of your time with me.  I hope you have a great day. 

 









Astrid's ICAD Swap: Part 1

A few weeks ago Astrid McLean organized an ICAD swap.  ICADs are 3x5" index cards that you use to create a piece of art.  Twenty three people signed on to the swap.  We each were assigned 2 people to make a card for.  If we wanted to we could also make a folder to hold the card.  Every one has been having a great time making the cards and receiving their cards.  Both of mine went to the UK and I was delighted to hear that one arrived today!  Since it's been delivered I can show you what I created and sent off.

 

 

This is the card.  I inked the card with forest green, sage, and brushed corduroy DI.  Then I fussy cut a garden fairy from a Prima paper stack.  The saying comes from the same stack and I cut it apart and inked it with vintage photo DI.  I cut some flowers with the Tattered Florals die and added them  with some sparkle centers.  Some little stick on flowers and a rub on bee completes the card.

 

 

The background you see in the photo is the folder.  Here is a picture of the inside with the card in the pocket.

 

 

 

I used paper from Graphic45's Secret Garden collection for the folder.  I cut it so that I was able to score the center and fold up the pocket.  I added some leaf trim to the top and a die cut medallion with a butterfly in the middle.  Some fussy cut butterflies are attached on each side panel.

 

 

 

 

The outside of the folder has a label I die cut.  It is also from the Prima stack and it says Fairy Whispers.  I put eyelets in the middle and a ribbon to close it.

 

 

I had so much fun participating in this swap.  I'll share my second ICAD when I know it has arrived in its new home!

 

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I welcome all of you with great pleasure.  I hope you have a wonderful day.