Fabulous Fall

Hi!  Fall is my favorite season!  I love the crisp air and the beautiful painted landscape of yellows, oranges, reds and brown.  Ginny is hosting the challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge this time and she has challenged us to be inspired by Fabulous Fall!  Here is how she describes the challenge:

"It's the wonderful season where the leaves are changing and the air is crisp and our thoughts turn to pumpkin spice everything.  For this challenge create a Fall inspired project."

I just love playing with leaves.  I created a series of leaf inspired ATC's. 

For my first couple I started with some Silver Embossing Paste and the Leaves Stencil.  I always think of the glorious leaves falling in Autumn!

This one and the next one started with a silver embossing paste on white cardstock.  I heat set this one and kept heating until the paste started to bubble and give it a little extra texture. I added a few drops of glue and a few glass beads for effect.

The background is the new Dylusions ink spray melted chocolate. It has a beautiful sheen and looks like copper. I finished with a remnant rub-on.

For this one I used the silver embossing paste through the mini leaves stencil. While it was wet I dropped a bunch of the glass beads all over the embossed surface.  I pushed them into the embossing paste and let them dry.

After they were dry I rubbed off some of the glass beads to leave pockmarks!  I love how it turned out!  I then sprayed the entire ATC with the distress oxide Iced Spruce spray.  (Still no Hickory Smoke in the house!).  I finished with a splatter of white paint.  This is because we had 3 inches of snow on Halloween!  Our poor fall leaves were buried in snow and ice. :)

The next couple of ATCs are more traditional in colors for Fall.

For this one I used the layering stencil but used the clear crackle paint over a sprayed background.  It gave a soft effect which I amped up with a little white gel pen.  The main leaf is sponged with a mix of dye inks and then painted with the same crackle paint.  I added a remnant rub-on and a few mica flakes and glitter. 

The tiny toadstools popped up on my next ATC. 

The background is sponged with versamark over the stencil and then clear embossed to keep the leaves white.  Then sponged over with reds, orange, and yellow dye inks.  The leaves were coordinated with the background and a few little toadstools popped up in the midst.

Finally some bits and pieces from my Saturday showcase made it into my last ATC.

I used some of the blank media tape to create a strip on one side and some vellum and crochet vellum pieces on the other.  A bit of Iced Spruce splattering on the background and my leaves with a slight sponging of brown around the edges gave definition. 

I think this one was a tie for my favorite with the silver leaves ATC!  I hope this has you inspired to share your Fabulous Fall art with us at the challenge.  The winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz


Products:
Ranger Mini Layering Stencils - Set 22
Dylusions Ink Spray - Melted Chocolate Spray
Sizzix Tim Holtz Chapter 2 Crochet
Stampers Anonymous - Tiny Toadstools
Ranger Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Nordic
Wendy Vecchi - Silver Embossing Paste 
Prima Glass Beads 
Sizzix Fall Foliage
Crackle Paint
Ranger Distress Sprays Inks - Ground Espresso Wild Honey
Ranger Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber, Festive Berries, Ground Espresso
Dina Wakley White Paint
Tim Holtz Remnant Rub-Ons Tiny Text
Ice Resin Glitter Shards Sterling (I substituted this for the glitter on my ATC)
Distress Mica Flakes
Ranger Distress Glitter
White Gel Pen
Stampers Anonymous -  Stuff to Say
Idea-Ology Metallic Quotes

It Looks Real

Hi... I'm back.... In time for the new Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge "It Looks Real" hosted by the talented Cec!

Here is how she describes the challenge:

"There are so many ways to make something look real when it isn't.  For this challenge, make a vintage or shabby chic project with one or more faux elements.  Those elements could be faux rust, leather, stitching - to name a few.  Make sure you tell us what the faux element is and how you made it because it will look real."

You may remember my post from a few weeks ago where I was playing the Decayed stencil, some texture paste and salt.   That immediately came to mind when I saw the challenge.  We have this bench in our yard that we don't use except for decor. 

The moss on here reminds me of the decayed pattern and ended up being my inspiration for my faux lichen.

I started by trying to replicate the colors on the mossy bench:

Unfortunately I realized when I sat down to work on my post that my Hickory Smoke Distress Stain Spray was empty.   I decided to mix up a bunch of different colors to get this:

I took a mix of greens, black, brown, white, to get a variagated color.  I ended up with two backgrounds.  This is the partial decayed stenciled background.  I used the other on my card.

Here are the steps to get to this point:

1.  Spread texture crackle embossing paste over a mixed media cardstock with the decayed stencil.
2.  While it is still wet spray distress inks and oxide sprays over the surface mixing the colors as desired.
3.  While the ink is still wet pour the salt over the surface.  I moved up to sea salt from regular salt. :)
4.  Now the hard part you have to wait until everything dries.  You can speed up the process by using a heat gun but it will still take awhile.  Best to let it dry overnight.
5.  When it is completely dry you shake off the salt and rub it off.  Normally I use my plastic ruler to scrap off the salt.  With the textured paste it might pull off your paste.  (I put my paste on unevenly and didn't scrape off the excess while the stencil was on which left a very cool surface but limited my scraping.)  I used my fingures to rub off the salt bits. 
6.  After that your surface is ready.  I had a few chunks of my embossing paste break off of my background.  I just added a few drops of inks into those areas and they blended beautifully.

When you are done you can choose to leave it muted or you can cover the entire surface with clear embossing powders to give it a geode effect.

My tag was embossed with clear embossing powder which makes the colors really shine.

For this base I splattered with white paint at the end to highlight areas. 

A close up of the clear embossed background and the texture:

Next I painted linen cloth with gesso.  After it dried I cut a series of leaves from the painted cloth.

After that I sprayed with a mist of yellow, orange and red distress inks.  After they dried I stamped some script onto the leaves.  I then versamarked the surface of the leaves and embossed with Frosted Antiquities.

The leaves were cut form cardstock and sponged with brown dye inks.  Then they were also embossed with the Frosted Antiquities.  I finished the forest scene with a mix of tiny toadstools.

I hope this has you inspired to come play along in the It looks Real Challenge at the Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge.

The winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date here at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz


Products: (The Funkie Junkie Boutique)
Sizzix Thinlits Fall Foliage
Stampers Anonymous - Tiny Toadstools
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Decayed
Ranger Distress Stain Sprays - Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Ground Espresso, Crushed Olive, Black Soot, Hickory Smoke, Peacock Feathers, Iced Spruce, Pumice Stone
Ranger Distress Oxide Sprays - Fossilized Amber, Ground Espresso
Ranger Distress Oxide Ink - Ground Espresso
Ranger Distress Inks - Crushed Olive
Prima Art Basics - White Gesso
Wendy Vecchi Texture Crackle Paste
Frosted Crystal Antiquities Embossing Powder
Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
Sizzix Funky Foliage
Sizzix Funky Floral 3 Die 
Salt
Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Word Bands

A Harvest of Gratitude

Happy Wednesday!  Fall has arrived and moved onto the cold temperatures of winter!  I was happy to see the new challenge at Frilly and Funkie called "A Harvest of Gratitude".   The talented Kathy provided us with this challenge and it had me thinking about the beautiful fall leaves, family and how thankful I am to gather around the table with all of our loved ones on Thanksgiving. 

Kathy describes the challenge as:

"There is always something to be thankful for.  In this gratitude themed challenge, we are asking you to create a vintage or shabby chic project that portrays something that fills your heart with thanksgiving.  Use harvest colors and be sure to tell us how your project reflects your thankful heart."

I was thrilled as I love fall with the beautiful colors, leaves, family and thankful for all of these things. 

I am not going to share the details now but will be sharing them later on the Frilly and Funkie blog.

 

I did want to show that I created the card without the acorns and decided to go out looking for some caps to paint in gold and add to the card.  I think it adds a nice layer of texture and fun!

A few close ups of the leaves showing off their beautiful colors!

Please come join us in the challenge! 

The winner will earn the chance of a Guest Designer spot at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. And there are Top 3 Badges for three further outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Wild Honey	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Fossilized Amber	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Fired Brick	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Aged Mahogany	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink Pad - Acorn
Ranger Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black AIP31468	VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad	Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear EPJ37330	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Wildflowers CMS253	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Music & Advert
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves Bigz Die 656927	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 14PK - Fall Foliage by Tim Holtz 660955	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamp Set - Autumn Art	Prima Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint - Metallique Gold Rush	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Jute String TH93139
Prima Art Ingredients - Glass Beads 3mm	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Pitch Black TIM22138	Seth Apter Baked Texture - Large Vintage Beeswax - 120g

Show us Your Stamps

The current Frilly and Funkie Challenge is "Show us Your Stamps" hosted by the super creative and talented Autumn.  She describes the challenge as:

"Our challenge this round can be summed up with one word - STAMPS! We want to see you break out those stamps and get inky. There are so many ways to use stamps, and you probably have a few you have never even used - so come play along! We cannot wait to see your stamped vintage or shabby chic creations."

I was thrilled as my favorite part of crafting is the stamps!  I love images and layering them together and this gave me a chance to ink it up!

 I created two projects with the same concept. I started playing around with the fall leaves and created a tag.  The tag inspired a card using the same elements.

I started with a mix of distress oxides on my craft mat spritzed with water.  I then dragged a few pieces of cardstock through the colors.

Next I dried the cardstock to make sure I could stamp my leaves and heat emboss them.  I stamped the leaves using brown ink and sprinkled them with gold embossing powder.  Some of the leaves dried a bit which I liked as it gave a partially embossed effect.

After that was complete I used gold embossing paste and a stencil to add a smattering of small dots of gold.  I let that dry completely.

I then took a scrap of tissue paper with a gold spray over top and used it to stamp the sentiment with brown ink and heat embossed with brown embossing powder.  I then decoupaged it over the top half of the tag.

I needed one more touch and found the charming dragonflies in a gray metal and I inked them up with versamark and and sprinkled them with the same gold embossing powder and heated them up.

The card was a variation of the tag but I swapped out stencils and the bird stamped with some text.

Come join in and share your stamping with us!

The team will choose their top four picks with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest DT spot here at Frilly and Funkie and the next three will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.


Get inky!

Suzz

Tim Holtz Rubber Stamp Leaf Prints	Ranger Embossing Powder - Gold - Super Fine Detail	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - Gold	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Potting Soil	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Splatters
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Honeycomb	(JULY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Seedless Preserves	(JULY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Wild Honey	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Fossilized Amber	Yvonne Blair Impression Obsession Faith
(AUGUST PRE-ORDER) Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Feather & Ravens 4PK by Tim Holtz 662376	2 Piece Antiqued Bronze Dragonfly Charm	(APRIL pre-order) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Etcetera	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad