Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas #2

Still catching up but here is my card version of Linda’s second tag for this year. I have not quite cased her tag but it is very similar in colours and other elements she has used so do pop over HERE to see her inspiration and to join in the fun.

I didn’t have frayed burlap distress paint so I used brushed corduroy with the picket fence and perfect pearls heirloom gold. I used a different card and found it soaked up the water very quickly before marbling very well.  However after I had prepared everything for the card I ironed the cardstock to straighten it, which worked perfectly, but it took up some of the embossing powder fragments that were still left on the heat mat and made it more speckly.

I made the stars the same way as Linda did but added rock candy stickles over the top, you can’t really see the glittery effect they have which is a shame.

I always think this deer is such a grand fellow with his nose in the air and he has a scarf to keep him warm on cold, starry nights. This was made with muslin soaked in antique linen distress paint.

Stamps are by Tim Holtz as are the die cut stars and deer.

Linda has the full details of this challenge on her tag 1 post but in essence make a tag or card etc. and take something as inspiration from Linda’s tag for your own make, link this up to her post and enter all 12 challenges by December 22nd to be eligible for the draw. Linda is very generous with her prizes so you could win a $50 or $25 voucher to her on-line store ‘The Funkie Junkie Boutique’ and even get 10% discount over January 2014.

I made two of these cards so my card box is starting to fill up now.

Enjoy your day and creative time.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Creative Chemistry 102 – Day 1

I’ve managed to get all my makes done for this fabulous on-line class by Tim Holtz, and I just love seeing how the distress paints have worked and playing with the techniques Tim is showing us.

All of the techniques together. I love making and keeping the tags as reference points for the future.

#1 – Distress Paint Marbling

#2 – Coloured crackle (the background is another version of #4). Each leaf has a slightly different finish to it.

#3 – Altered Surface (the background is another version of #1)

#4 – Eroded Metallic - I was lucky enough to learn this from Tim himself on the retail day in Coventry.

#5 – Stamping Resist

#6 – Industrial and a bit of a happy accident here. I used a blending sponge that had black soot distress ink on it and when mixed with the DP it seemed to stick more to the metal tape and I got a darker metallic look.

There’s still time to do Creative Chemistry 101 and then join up for 102 if you haven’t already. Details can be found on Tim’s blog HERE and at Online Card Classes HERE. These really are so much fun and you have life long access to keep going back if you want to. I am so looking forward to having 30 tags ringed together at the end to have as a reminder of all the different techniques we will have learnt.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas #1

Last year I aimed to complete Linda’s 12 tags but life got in the way but I am determined I am gonna do it this year if I possibly can. If you haven’t seen this challenge at The Funkie Junkie then start HERE at no:1 which is where I am at, so I already have a bit of catching up to do. Linda has the full details on her tag 1 post but in essence make a tag or card etc. and take something as inspiration from Linda’s tag for your own make, link this up to her post and enter all 12 challenges by December 22nd to be eligible for the draw. Linda is very generous with her prizes so you could win a $50 or $25 voucher to her on-line store ‘The Funkie Junkie Boutique’ and even get 10% discount over January 2014. So that’s a great deal right?

My inspiration comes from the black and white chalkboard style with a little pop of red and green. You might just be able to make out the music score stamped with crystal white pigment ink under the tree image. I also sprayed the background with Dylusions white linen.

The tree stamp is from Paperbag Studios stamped onto dictionary paper painted with white acrylic and I used a tearing ruler on the edges and walnut stain distress ink.

The lampost is a Tim Holtz favourite stamped in clear embossing ink and white EP and the flower is from the TH tattered flower garland die and the little holly leaves are from memory box.

Some snippets of tissue tape, some punched snowflakes and a wooden word painted with festive berries distress stain complete this. My second Christmas card for this year made.

I hope you have a good week, I have cat number 2 poorly this week with what seems to be a cough and maybe a sore throat? I hope it’s nothing more than that anyway.

Take care and be creative when you can, especially if you are taking Tim's Creative Chemistry 2 course. I did manage to dip in last night but need to get cracking today.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Only the moon howls – for Crafty Individuals

It is time for the new Crafty Individuals challenge which Jean has launched on her blog.  The theme is simply 'October'.  That means your project theme can be anything that springs to your mind when you think of the month of October.  It may remind you of Halloween of course, or Autumn perhaps in all its glorious colours, or even simply a time when Christmas preparations begin?  Just follow where your imagination takes you! In return for using just one (or more) CI products you can enter the challenge and receive a 25% discount to the CI on-line store valid until the 10th November, what a bonus.

Quite a simple tag from me today highlighting how versatile the CI stamps are. I have used the silhouette crow and tree from the CI-361 stamp plate, stamping the one tree lots of times to give me the undergrowth feel I wanted.

The background started as a mop-up from a previous project which (I think) used walnut stain and pumice stone distress inks. I then blended shaded lilac and faded jeans over to get that early night time feel to it. The crow is just landing on the top branches of the tree.

The moon is part of a punched circle given the blended spritz and flick treatment. The iron gate is a piece left from another CI project and is an on the edge die.

The quote comes from the internet. I love making myself a page of different quotes and sentiments under one theme – and of course you can guess what I labelled this one as.

Looking forward to seeing your October creation linked up, have a great month.

Enjoy your Sunday and have a creative week ahead.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Believe in the Magic

This is my DT card for Crafts-Too Challenge You (C2CU) and the theme this month is Christmas Festivities and for the first two weeks we would like you to create/depict a scene. I have used a Nellie’s vintage image, Crafts-Too snowflakes die and embossing folder and other dies by Tim Holtz and Memory Box.

I am loving using kraft card and I think this with the sepia tones and reds work really well together.

Christmas is a very important event in our family calendar and we all love this special time of year, particularly as we have children around. This little girl looks as though she is very happy to be playing with a new Christmas teddy bear on a wonderfully snowy day. Just how we wish all Christmas days could be.

I layered up the tree first die-cutting it in brown card and then in white. Small snippets of the white one have been added to the brown one to represent the snow on the branches and I sparkled them up a bit with frosted lace stickles.

The 25 is a movers and shapers die, simply cut in the same red paper as the embossed panel.

A beautiful snowy Christmas scene.

We hope that you will be able to join us in the challenge which is open until the end of October, but remember the twist will change in another two weeks.

I hope you have a great weekend. I am looking forward to spending it in Swanage and being by the sea. What will be very interesting is that it is ‘Blues’ weekend so there will be lots of bands and artists singing and playing in the pubs and clubs, I’ll let you know what it is like next week.

Take care.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Halloween Apothecary for CVC

There are some fabulous Halloween projects out in blogland again this year and I am just loving seeing creations by Shelley Hickox and Richele Christenson. If you haven’t seen Richele’s configurations box, you really should go take a look at the stages she has taken us through to make it, fabulous work.

Halloween Apothecary

Beware a photo heavy post!!!!

So this is my DT sample this month for Country View Challenges where the lovely Danielle has chosen ‘Something Spooky’ as the theme. This is my interpretation of it.

It started with a large 10 x 12 inch canvas.

But I turned it over as I wanted more of a shadow box design. I painted the edges black and added tissue tape to give me the framed effect I wanted.

I then made the background using distress paints, spritzed, smooshed and card dipped into it, drying and dipping until I was happy with it. I then used the paints and distress inks with Tim Holtz masks to give more layers and dimension. If you can see the eye chart I used the bumping method too (learnt at a Lin Brown workshop). I then stamped some stamps from The Chemist set.

Next I set about making a corked dome and as with all the other bottles you will see I smeared matte medium on them, let them dry and then covered with rock candy crackle paint.

This one has a distressed charlotte doll inside.

Here are the bottles and labels, all a mixture of ideaology and 7 Gypsies.

This bottle had a remnant rub label (bone dust) and has some small plastic bones and some glitter inside it.

Wow the crackle really shows on this which has some glitter and re-inker inside it.

Here is The Chemist himself, framed with the new sizzix TH ornate frame die. This was daubed with distress paints and alcohol inks to get the rusted, aged effects.

I started to gather other pieces I wanted to use and rusted them, some naturally with white vinegar and water and some with rusting powder which ...........

..........  included the border and these wings. The number plaque was given the crackle paint treatment

A collection of more spook elements. The bats and cobwebs are TH dies and both given a coat of rock candy crackle paint. The little birds came from a Halloween confetti bad I bought last year (in fact I didn't use them in the end) and the spider and fly are plastic.

The candle stick was rusted and the skull was given a coat of distress paint and rusting powder added in places. The pumpkin is made of foam and has been cut in half.

These are the vintage ephemera, stamped and distressed using TH stamps and you can see the paper clip was rusted too.

These are two pieces of wood I cut down, inked and added rock candy distress paint to these too.

So onto the finished frame.

I added a door bell .....

and also added this at the end as it needed something here for balance. I think it has worked well.

So there we are, hope you enjoyed all the photos (all 26 of them lol), there is so much going on in this piece I just wanted to capture it all.

October already and soon we will be well into our Christmas makes.

Thanks for your good wishes for Cimmie. The vet was very pleased with his paw and took the stitches out which meant he could have that horrible collar off. He's allowed out to play again and was out all day yesterday till late evening, so I think he's happy to be getting back into a normal routine. His brother didn't miss him though, all he did was hiss at him when they came in for supper last night. Brotherly love!!!!

Have a great week.

hugs {brenda} x0x

Tim’s September tag and more .....

Gosh I am right on the wire this month with my contribution to the September tags of 2013. All the details of how Tim made his tag can be found on his BLOG and I have used the same steps but made three projects - one just like Tim’s, one the same but with different colours, masks and stamps and my third a Halloween card and with it being almost October that seemed to fit nicely.

Tag 1

The same steps and supplies Tim used

Tag 2

Distress stains - salty ocean, crushed olive, tarnished brass, mustard seed and peeled paint.

Masks used – splatter, bubble, honeycomb, schoolhouse, dot fade, cargo and measured.

Stamps – Haberdashery set

Distress inks – walnut stain, crushed olive, salty ocean, vintage photo and black soot.

Halloween card

I enjoyed making this in the  same style, using the same techniques as on the tags and was pleased with the colour combination.

I used a leftover frame from my workshop project this week (a post for that soon) …..

and added embellishments from the stamp sets.

The 31 was cut out and covered with glossy accents to give it some shine and make it ‘pop’ more.

Distress stains – pumice stone, antiqued bronze, antique linen, picket fence, brushed corduroy

Masks – stripes, clockwork, eye chart, burlap, schoolhouse

Distress inks – weathered wood. iced spruce, victorian velvet, black soot, walnut stain

Stamps – mini halloween, mini halloween 2, curiosities

My favourite has to be the card I just love the colours and textures.

I hope your weekend went well and that you have a great week ahead. Cimmie is off to the vets tomorrow morning (see my last post for photos). He has been so good bless him, lets hope he can have that collar off and go out to play tomorrow.

Take care.

hugs {brenda} x0x