Fall is for pumpkins!

Hi everyone!  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I do appreciate it. 

My favorite paper arts store, The Queen's Ink, in Savage Mill, Maryland had a challenge for fall.  We had to create a project that had a pumpkin in it, or be a pumpkin.  Patti, the owner and a good friend, has had these challenges before at Christmas time.  They are really fun and people come up with some great ideas.  She's working on a new challenge for this Christmas and I can't wait to see what she decides on.  Anyway, here is my entry.

 

 

I had a paper mache pumpkin that I wanted to decorate and when Patti sent out the word about this challenge I was ready!  I inked, distressed, stamped and crumpled manila card stock and ran it through the die cut machine with the Tim Holtz tattered leaves die.  I used a punch to cut little daisy flowers out of the left overs from cutting the leaves, and I gathered some paper and velvet leaves from the stash.  I cut a few small flourishes with an old Sizzix die and found a card with a cute little squirrel that just had to be added to the mix.  The squirrel was my husband's idea because he always calls our daughter the little red squirrel because of her red hair. 

 

Once I had gathered all my leaves and other embellishments, I went to work on the pumpkin.  I used a coat of Ginger Peach Silks to cover the pumpkin and the added color with Spiced Pumpkin and Nutmeg.  Once it was all dry I highlighted it with Gold Gilders Paste.  I wrapped the stem in a crinkled tissue paper that I've had for years.  It's copper color and I added some green gold metallic wax paste to highlight it.  When everything was dry I started gluing on the leaves and embellishments.  I had some sticky backed rhinestone flourishes that I scattered around the pumpkin and glued the leaves and paper flourishes over them.  I used some sparkle sticker dots from Kaiser Craft and some other stickers to add dimension to the leaves.  I was really pleased with the way this turned out.  I had envisioned this for a while so I was happy that I was able to recreate what I was thinking. 

 

 

Here are a few details which are self-explanatory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, that's my pumpkin with its garland of leaves!  It wasn't the winner, but the winner was a fantastic Steampunk pumpkin!  And, Patti, who is a very generous friend to all her customers, gave everyone who entered 10 Queen Bucks to spend in the store!  They were presented in the most fabulous envelopes that Patti made out of Authentique Halloween papers.  I love the envelope as much as the Queen Bucks!!  Unfortunately, I haven't taken a picture of the envelope!  I must do that!

 

Thanks again for visiting.  I hope you have a great weekend.  

 



 

 





The Third Christmas Tag Funkie Junkie Style

Hi everyone!  I'm back with my 3rd tag for Linda's 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style.  Even though I'm thoroughly taken up by Fall, I've been having fun getting a head start on Christmas.  The idea that I will have 12 tags made makes me giddy with happiness :)! 

Here is my tag for week 3.

 

 

 

Just as a reminder, the idea behind the challenge is to be inspired by something from Linda's tag for that week.  Well, my inspiration for this tag was the stenciling and the die cut NOEL.  That is one of  my favorite Christmas dies.  I love the vintage font and I love  covering it in glitter!  It's so Victorian looking!  I cut one and made it into an ornament for our tree the year it came out.  I covered it in red glitter and attached a ribbon to the top and hung it on the tree.  I had red glitter EVERYWHERE!!!!  But, I digress.  The details on what I did.  I used a size 10 tag and inked it with Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs and Frayed Burlap DI.  I spritzed it with Perfect Pearls Antique Gold spray.  I then used a music stamp to randomly stamp the background.  I used a

 Michelle Ward stencil and some Ferro Special Effects Paste to add the mini diamonds to the top and bottom of the tag.  I had never used the Special Effects Paste and I found that I really like it.  It's gritty and very stiff so there isn't a lot of running under the stencil.  It's a fun product to use.  When that was dry I stamped the word peace in black archival ink.  I then embossed the edges of the tag with Stampendous  Aged Ivory embossing enamel.  Another new to me product.  I found it at

The Queen's Ink a few weeks ago and thought it would look good on the edges of this tag.  Its an ivory embossing powder with flecks of antique gold in it.  The little flecks you see along the edge are the gold. 

 

I cut the Noel out of chip board and inked it with some gold ink.  I then used Ranger's Ancient Gold embossing powder on it.  I heated it a little longer than necessary to give it an antiqued look and then I inked the edges in walnut stain DI.   The picture doesn't really show the vintage look of the actual die cut.   I glued it to the middle and added a die cut leaf from an old Sizzix die.  The berries come from a little package decoration from the stash.

 

Here are a couple of close ups.

 

 

You can see some of the flecks of gold in the embossing paste around the edges of the tag.

 

The grittiness of the Special Effects Paste show up here.

 

Well, that's my 3rd tag.  I should have mentioned that I've also been inspired by Linda's use of sepia tones in some of her tags.  I love the sepia tones with gold for the holidays so this is my nod to that color combination.   Stop by Linda's blog and please visit her shop, The Funkie Junkie Boutique, who is sponsoring this challenge.

 

Thank you so much for joining me today.  I love having you visit and I want to welcome all the new friends who have come over to see what's going on here. 

 

I hope you have a wonderful week and get to make some art!



 





The Vintage Wooden Spool Rolling Blog Hop

Hello everyone!  I'm so happy you stopped by today.  I hope everyone who celebrates Halloween had a great day yesterday. 

One of the nicest things about blogging is the people you meet and become friends with.  The blog hop I'm sharing today came about because I found a blog friend named Christine.  Christine makes wonderful jewelry and is a very generous caring person.  A few months ago she contacted some of us and told us she was sending us a package.  In it we would find some vintage things she had found at an antiques store and some beads.  We could do whatever we wanted with the beads but we had to use at least one of the vintage items in the package.  It would be  a rolling blog hop so we wouldn't feel pressured to finish a project on a specific date.  We had the option of participating or not.  See, I told you she is a very caring person.  She, like the rest of us, has too many things to do and she didn't want us to feel pressured.  When the package arrived we found that the vintage items were thread spools.  I knew immediately that I wanted to use at least one of them on a canvas with a sewing/thread theme.  Here is what I made for the challenge.

It's called "The Fabric of Life".  I found that phrase on a piece of scrapbook paper in my stash and I knew that was my direction.  The friends we make become a part of the fabric of out lives and I thought this was the perfect project to use it for.   I made this canvas in a class my daughter and I took last month.  The class was taught by Michelle Ward.  Michelle has become another friend because of our blogs.  So another thread in the fabric of my life.  Michelle is not only a great artist but also a great teacher.  This class was called Recess and I knew that this was my project for this hop.  I would spotlight the vintage spool on this canvas.

After covering the canvas with gesso we took an empty match box and positioned it where we wanted it on our canvas.  Then we cut around it with a craft knife.  The match box was inserted into the hole and glued in place.  After applying more gesso we dry brushed the canvas with paint adding layers of paint and wiping some off.  I chose the green paint because the printing on the top of the spool is the same shade of green.  Unfortunately you can't see that in the pictures.  Before I started painting I tore my paper and glued it down.  To make it part of the canvas, and not the focal point, on Michelle's advice I sanded the edges.  I wanted it to be very subtle so that the spool was the focal point of the canvas.  I used a stencil with heavy body gel to add some dimension and lined the matchbox with some old pattern paper from a child's vest pattern I used for my daughter when she was a little girl.  More threads.  Finally, I glued the spool into it's little recess.  When I got home from the class I added the scissors above it.  The scissors was a gift I found in an order from Linda Coughlin, The Funkie Junkie.  Another kind person I met on the blog. 

So, that's the story of my vintage spool gift.  There were more spools in the package and I'll be using them all eventually.  I'll share what I do with them.  For now, here are some details which will speak for themselves.

Thank you all for visiting with me today. You all  are part of the fabric of my life and it has become a very rich fabric indeed!    I hope you have a wonderful day.  





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.