SALE***ETSY BOUTIQUE***SALE

All month during November, I am running a holiday craft sale in my Etsy boutique.  Stock up on all your funkie crafting needs for the holiday season and take 10% off at check out by using HOLIDAYCRAFTING10.  Lots of great new stuff and wonderful on-going products.  More new products on order.  Shop today and all month with the 10% discount.  Use it as often as you like - share it with friends!

Brand new - just listed in Etsy Boutique 

Four new colors of May Arts 1.25" wide silk ribbon:  red, ivory, champagne and taupe

White Jute Mesh (burlap) - very cool, stiff and cuts great with your Spellbinders and other dies - here are two examples I cut with those dies

Challenge: 12 Tags of Christmas - Funkie Junkie Style - Week #12

Here is the last of the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie style.  For my last tag, I chose to use Antique Linen and gold tones, stamping the background with the Wendy Vecchi Nature's Art gingham stamp that I love so much.  The birdcage was cut from chipboard, dry embossed for texture and then heat embossed with gold EP.  I used my new Tim Holtz holly leaf die to cut 3 holly leavess.  I gold embossed music on them and then sponged with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo distress inks.  Snowflakes and glitter added another dimension and a champagne bow and stick pin from my Etsy boutique rounded out the embellishments. 

Thank you so much to all who have joined in this challenge.  I have been so inspired by all the fabulous artwork entered into the challenges.  We will have a random drawing on December 16th and the winner will receive a $20 gift certificate to my Etsy shop.  You must have entered all 12 challenges in order to win.  You have until midnight ET on December 15th to complete the challenges.  There is still time so what are you waiting for.  The links for all the challenges are on my sidebar and the rules are found in the first post.  

Christmas Stars

Hello again!  Another Monday morning has rolled around and I am back from the Thanksgiving holiday break, ready to rock on to Christmas.  At least here in the States, the passing of Thanksgiving marks the official start of the Christmas season.  So sadly I will put the colors and images of the harvest, my favorite season, behind me for one more year and dive head first into Christmas.  And darned if it doesn't feel like I just did this!  Where does the year go?  I really need to put crafting on hold for a week while I get organized and decorate for Christmas but somehow I just don't see that happening.  Plus my daughter will graduate college one week before Christmas so that will be a trip out of town right at the peak of the season - yikes!  The pressure is certainly on!

Okay, enough already.  Let me tell you about this quick and easy little "Stars" project I did for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Us Stars challenge.  To start with, I cut a piece of chipboard with the Spellbinders Curved Rectangles Mega Nestabilities plus cut a matching piece from vanilla CS.  I layered them together and used the Tim Holtz Concerto mask to create a vintage style background by misting it with my homemade glimmer mist.  

I covered some chipboard with a vintage Christmas carol sheet and die cut stars from it, then sponged the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.  I resisted buying the Tim Holtz Rosette die for so long but finally caved and bought the Mini Rosette die when it came out.  And I am SO glad that I did.  I really LOVE it.  The rosettes were cut from kraft glassine paper.  Then I layered chipboard stars embellished with vintage glass glitter over the rosettes.  And I had to try out my new Festive Greenery decorative strip die.  It's so cute.  Rather that cut all the die cuts in their natural colors, I opted to gold emboss all of them, keeping my piece in vintage sepias and golds.  I added a couple more glass glittered stars for good measure and topped it with a piece of gold tone wire for hanging.

  

And that was that. It was crunch time the night before I left for the Thanksgiving trip and this whole project probably took less than 2 hours - a record time for me!  And now stop by Simon Says Stamp and Show to see the amazing starry projects offered for your inspiration by my team mates.  This is an easy challenge so I hope to see your entry this week.  Don't forget about the amazing $50 shopping spree at Simon Says Stamp, offered each and every challenge by our generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp!

A quick post update:  A reader asked what is the overall size of the piece and how big are the stars.  The Meta Nestability it is based on measures 4x8 inches.  The stars were cut with a Sizzix die.  The large ones are 3 inches across and the small ones just over an inch.

Oh Christmas Tree

All righty then.  I'm back home using my own internet connection and relieved to be able to create a real post!  Thanks so much to my OCC teamies for helping me to at least post my sample on time!  This week at Our Creative Corner, Wendy Janson is our hostess and she is challenging us to use a Christmas tree on our project.  I have been wanting to use this sweet Victorian style vintage image and thought this was a great match - even though it only has half a Christmas tree - LOL.  I also included a vintage Christmas music sheet image that I downloaded recently and can't for the life of me remember where.  I tried to research it so I could provide a link and came up empty so if you know where it is from, please let me know!

The flower is one of my shabby crinoline "poinsettias".  I'm not usually big on non-traditional Christmas colors, but I really like the way this card turned out.  The color palette is very pleasing to my eyes.  The DP is some old Basic Grey holiday paper from a couple of years back and I found these vintage style tinsel pipe cleaners in the $1 bin at Jo-Ann's a couple of weeks ago.  The pink crocheted lace is available in my Etsy boutique and the poinsettas can be ordered by sending me an email - see Shabby Crinoline Poinsettias in this post for details.  

Now how about hopping over to Our Creative Corner to see the Christmas trees on the projects of my team mates - sure to be some great inspiration for our challenge this week.  

Show Us Tickets

  

Hello!  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today to see what I have to share for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  If you are a regular visitor, you may have wondered why I didn't have a sample for Our Creative Corner on Saturday.  The truth is that I ran out of time and creative mojo.  My job as the manager of a large food pantry is extremely stressful over the holidays, trying to do our best for our clients to make sure their families have food for the holidays.  I coordinated a huge food drive for our parish which, sadly, did not yield the food necessary to provide a holiday food bag for all our clients.  We were blessed at the last minute to receive a large financial donation, but that meant that I somehow had to purchase all the items at the last minute that we were short of.  By the time Friday rolled around, I was exhausted and my brain was fried.  I decided to take a pass on the OCC challenge this week. 

But I was able to come up with a sample for Simon Says Stamp and Show's Tickets challenge.  I decided to make another Christmas ornament.  It was easy and fun and didn't take to much mental focus, just what I needed for this week!  I started by cutting a fancy square with the Spellbinders Labels One die and edged it with some vintage style crepe paper that I gathered and glued to the back.  The star was cut with a Sizzix die and the deer with Tim Holtz's Reindeer Flight die. I covered some chipboard with an old hymnal page prior to die cutting it.  It was sponged with Vintage Photo distress ink and I added a bit of coarse glitter to it to enhance the vintage feel.  I used a Tim Holtz Journaling Ticket and a stamp from the Holiday Minis 3 set which I embossed in bright red.  I cut a flourish out of bright red card stock with the  Elegant Flourishes die and added some pearl "dots" with my Viva Pearl Pen.  A couple of snowflakes, rhinestones and a metal filagree piece, plus some eyelash yarn finished off the piece.  

That's it for me.  How about stopping by Simon Says Stamp and Show and see what the rest of the DC has for your inspiration.  Hope to see you playing along this week.  Don't forget, there is always a $50 shopping spree at the Simon Says Stamp on-line store provided by our very generous sponsor of the same name.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Challenge: 12 Tags of Christmas - Funkie Junkie Style - Week #11

Hello and thank you for stopping by my 12 Tags of Christmas challenge post.  This week brings us to Week #11 - almost finished with this challenge.  The tag I am sharing with for this week's inspiration was originally published on my blog on August 31st for a Simon Says Stamp blog hop.  I made a triptych of Christmas tags and then decided to go for 12.  I was going to save this for #12, but I have been super busy both with my job and with my Etsy shop.  So I decided to bring this one back a bit early.  Also, in light of the Thanksgiving holiday and the fact that I'll be working crazy hours for the next week, I have decided that we'll take a little tag holiday next week and return for Tag #12 on November 30th.  And don't forget, you have until midnight ET on December 15th to complete/enter all 12 tags so there is still time if you want to jump into the challenge.  


On to the details of this tag.  The tag base was covered with a sheet from an old book and then tape was applied and ripped off to remove part of the print .  Then it was masked and misted with the Vintage Photo/Perfect Pearls (that I often refer to as my homemade glimmer mist).  

I used Metal Foil Tape Sheets to cover the GrungeBoard letters.  Check out Day 10 here for the metal technique.  Then I dripped Caramel alcohol ink on the metal and let it run all over it.  I had the brilliant idea of painting the raised letters with the gold mixative, but some of the gold ran off and onto the base.  So I added more Caramel and pretty soon the gold mixative was running all over the base.  I gave up on trying to correct it and decided that I LOVED the way it looked - a happy accident that I couldn't repeat in a million years - LOL.  Then I repeated the same mixing of the caramel alcohol ink and gold mixative on the strip of acrylic that I cut with the On the Edge Snow Flurries die. 

 I added a faux etched fragment done with the pine cone stamp from the Tim Holtz Mini Holidays 3 set, some corrugated cardboard stars that I also brushed with the gold mixative.

That's all I have to offer for this week's tag.  Hope you can find some inspiration in it somewhere!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you will play along with us this week.

A Vintage Christmas Paper Crafting Collection

 I have to apologize for the length of time it has taken me to design my Christmas collection but unfortunately the holidays coincide with my busiest time of the year at work.  Here it is finally, loaded up with some of my favorite supplies and embellishments to use in Christmas crafting.   

My Vintage Christmas Paper Crafting Collection includes:

• Four (4) shabby crinoline "poinsettias" - one bright Christmas red, one a red-burgundy Victorian Christmas shade, one pink and one white
• A coordinating mailing/presentation gift box that will fit a 5.5x5.5 heavily embellished card
• Red and white vintage style crepe paper (9.5x11" sheet of each color)
• Three (3) kraft and three (3) white corrugated cardboard snowflakes, lightly ink distressed
• Six (6) kraft and six (6) white corrugated cardboard hearts, lightly ink distressed
• Four (4) kraft and four (4) white corrugated cardboard stars, lightly ink distressed
• Four (4) ivory felt stars
• Two (2) ivory felt hearts
• Three 2-yard pieces of scrunched seam binding, each wrapped on a sweet vintage-style card.  The seam binding is red, green and my fun peppermint pop (variegated red/white) style
• 18" of yummy 1 3/4" wide Venise lace dyed a vintage gold
• Three (3) digitally altered vintage images (totally adorable and perfect for the front of a card)
• Three (3) mini wooden clothes pins, hand distressed.  One is embellished with tiny glittered snowflakes, the other two are plain.  You can use them like that or with your choice of embellishments. 

The cost of the kit is $22.50 plus $2.50 shipping in the US.  I will ship internationally and will quote a shipping charge when I know what country it is going to.  Pre-orders are being taken at this time.  I anticipate being able to turn out 20 kits, the first 5 will ship no later than November 21st.  To reserve a kit, please email me at thefunkiejunkie@gmail.com.

Add-on Samplers:
I have put together two samplers of items from my Etsy shop that I think coordinate well with the Christmas collection.  I did not include these items with the main collection as many of my customers already have some of them.  The samplers are a great way to try some my products.  They will give you a nice amount to try and you should be able to use them all up and not have anything left over after Christmas, collecting dust in your stash - LOL!

Holiday Embellishments Sampler - $8

18" of red and white paper twist ribbon

18" of red burlap ribbon

9x14" rectangle of white burlap mesh

2 yards each of red, white and evergreen burlap string, wound on a vintage style wooden spool

20" strip of white border doily

3 filigree metal snowflakes

Ivory and Gold Lace/Ribbon Sampler - $5.50

1 yard of ivory silk ribbon

18" metallic gold mesh ribbon

18" gold mesh

18" champagne mesh ribbon

18" gold crocheted lace

Individual prices are shown.  If you would like all three sets (the Vintage Christmas collection, the Holiday Embellishments Sampler and the Ivory and Gold Mesh/Ribbon Collection, the combined price is $32.50 (savings of $3.50).  Please note, these items are not included in the 10% November discount in my Etsy store.  

Shabby Crinoline Poinsettias - $6.50
Includes 4 crinoline "poinsettias" one in bright Christmas red, one in reddish burgundy, one in pink and one in white.  Or you can choose your preference of colors.  Each flower measures 2.5 inches across.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these items, please email me at thefunkiejunkie@gmail.com.  I will send you a PayPal invoice which you can pay with any major credit card.

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a look at my Christmas collection.

Just a Little Vintage Ornament

Greetings!  So glad to have you visit me today.  I have a little tag/ornament to share with you today.  Every Monday is a Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge day for me.  This week we want you to show us something with a theme of "Women Only".  It should have been easy peasy for me with my love of lace and all things vintage, but I did struggle with a concept and finally ran out of time.  

I have actually been thinking about making a series of these little ornaments, but only had time to make one this week.  Humm, maybe when I finish up with the Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas, I should start on ornaments.  I'll have to think on that idea awhile.   

Here is the vintage inspired Christmas ornament I made featuring a sweet Victorian angel. I started with a heart shaped piece of white corrugated cardboard and die cut it with the largest of the Spellbinders heart die set.  Then I cut two long 3/4 inch wide strips of that wonderful Melissa Frances vintage style crepe paper then trimmed it to just over 1/2 inch with my pinking sheers.  I ran a basting stitch along one edge of each strip and gathered it.  I needed two separate strips because the paper wasn't long enough.  No worries, you can't even see where they are joined.  I sponged just a tad of Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the outer edge of the heart and also on all the pinked edge of the crepe paper.  Then I ran a gold acrylic paint dabber across the high points of the corrugated paper.  A felt snowflake was cut with a Cuttlebug die and I took Antique Linen distress stickles and dabbed it on the felt with my finger.  The Antique Linen distress stickles have such a pretty gold look to them - perfect for any vintage project that needs a bit of gold bling.  I cut a couple more snowflake layers with a Spellbinders snowflake die and made the smallest rosette with the new  Tim Holtz mini rosette die.  It's hard to see, but I took the Tim Holtz music stamp and stamped notes on the rosette in Antique Linen.  Then I distressed the edges with my gold paint dabber.  I affixed a tiny gold embossed snowflake to the center of the rosette, but didn't like it so put a beige/brown tri-bud applique there.  The sweet angel is from my Luna Girl holiday images CD.  

Now it's time for me to run you off so you will stop over at the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog check out what my team mates have made - lovely stuff, all of it!  And don't forget about the random prize for winning.  Our very generous sponsor is giving a shopping spree for $50!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope like my little ornament.  

My Attitude of Gratitude

This week at Our Creative Corner, Wendy Jensen is our hostess and she has a yummy challenge for us - celebrate the season by making something featuring a pumpkin or using the color Pumpkin Pie.  It's no secret that the harvest season is my favorite time of year.  It seems like it has flashed by this year and I really haven't had much of an opportunity to celebrate by making seasonal projects.   The rich abundance of the harvest season is always a sharp reminder to me of all my blessings - my family, my health and the good health of all my family, the opportunities I have had in my life for an education and a good job, my husband's successful career.

As you can see, I am still pretty hooked on the corrugated cardboard.  The rugged feel of it just seems to fit with the earthiness of the fall season.  I wanted to do something with a totally rustic feel to it and the corrugated cardboard and ripped paper seemed the way to go.  And of course, I had to play a little bit more with that cool new burlap mesh I just added to my Etsy boutique.

I was able to find a dictionary page with the definition of gratitude on it and overlaid the sweet vintage graphic. I used an old Spellbinders die to cut the tag.   To get me started, I followed this week's Mojo Monday sketch, added a bit of distressing and my obligatory crinoline flower with a small resin flower in the center and I was good to go with this one.  

I hope you will stop by Our Creative Corner to see the other wonderful samples.  Plus this week, we welcome back Silke Ledlow as our guest designer with a gorgeous sample to inspire you.   

Challenge: 12 Tags of Christmas - Funkie Junkie Style - Week #10

Welcome friends and visitors!   This week brings us to Tag #10 and I am happy to see you back to check out my Tag #10 of the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie style.  I'm here with a new tag each Wednesday until we complete all 12 tags.  You are challenged to find at least one thing on my tag that will inspire your tag or holiday project.  We hope you will join in the fun.  All the rules can be found in this post.

I decided to build upon an embossed surface this week and used the poinsettia embossing folder from Stampin' Up.  I inked the tag a bit with Vintage  Photo Distress Ink and then went around the edges with Alcohol Ink Gold Mixative.  With that awesome new white burlap mesh I found to carry in the Etsy shop, I cut a heart with a Spellbinders die.  This is some really cool burlap fabric.  It is stiff, like it has a major amount of sizing in it.  It die cuts easily and doesn't easily unravel.  I went around the outer edge of the heart with a Versamark marker and then gold embossed the edge with Judi-Kins Egyptian Gold EP.  I did the same on the strip along with lower edge.  I made one thin line top and bottom with the Versamark Marker and then embossed the line with the gold EP.  The burlap strip was overlaid over a couple of rows of Tim Holtz's music note tissue tape.

The skaters and the Santa Post seal are from the Winter Post set from SU.  The holly leaves, also embossed with Eqyptian Gold EP and the Merry Christmas are from Inkadinkado.  The seam binding was dyed with a few drops of Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the tag was cut with a Spellbinders die.

That about does it for Tag #10.  If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and then come back here to see the updated post.    I hope you will decide to play along.  In any event, thank you so much for visiting and for any comment you wish to leave.

I Love a Green Challenge!

 

Good morning, friends!  Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you all had a great weekend.  The weather here in Miami was beautiful and it's great to be able to be outside again!  Unfortunately, I worked all day Sunday and part of Saturday on getting the church's Thanksgiving food drive kicked off so I didn't really have any leisure time.  I did manage, however, to get my Simon Says Samp and Show project finished and photographed to share with you.  This week, we want you to show us your Recycled or Upcycled Project.  Here's what I did, which I believe is considered upcycling.  I took some old family photos out of an old frame (not old enough to be considered vintage - LOL) and decided to cover it and use it with some sort of stamping project.  Here's the result.  

I took torn strips of homespun-type fabric and wrapped the frame with it.  You probably recognize the crinoline chrysanthemum from a tutorial I did last week, so I already had it made as well as some of the leaves.  I cut and stamped a couple more leaves with the Tattered Leaves die and a Tim Holtz Sheet Music stamp.  Once the leaves are stamped and sponged with distress inks, I spritz them with water from a Mini Mister and crumple them slightly.  Then I dry them with my heat tool and sponge some Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges.  Some of the leaves were cut from acrylic packaging and colored with alcohol inks.  The frame holds a background stamped with the Tim Holtz Book Covers stamp and embellished with the heart from Wendy Vecchi's Love to Make Art.  I love the way it came out!  I was so happy to actually be able to use the leaves on something so practical.  

Hope you are planning to stop by the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog.  We've got some great inspiration pieces on display.  The designers are always giving us great eye candy to gaze at.  And then go upcycle something and share it with us.  You just might be the winner of the weekly random prize - a $50 shopping spree with our lovely sponsor SIMON SAYS STAMP. And believe me, that's a great prize.  They have EVERYTHING a crafter could want, and more!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for your lovely comments.  They really give me encouragement!

The Dreaded Man Card

That's right...comin' atcha from Tui Nathan, hostess of Our Creative Corner this week, is the dreaded "Man Card" challenge.  And she seemed so nice - LOL, but she zapped us with this challenge.  at first, it was even harder.  She initially wanted it done in non-masculine colors, but we all whined so much about it, that she took pity on us and made the colors an optional extra.  But I took a shot at doing mine in non-masculine colors.  After I whined with the rest of the team, I decided I should suck it up and embrace the spirit of Tui's challenge.  So here's my attempt but I'm not sure if orange and turquoise are non-masculine colors.  I actually think they are sort of gender neutral.

I just got my hands on Tim Holtz's fall seasonal distress ink pads and wanted to try them out.  So I cracked open the Ripe Persimmon and sponged it on the corrugated cardboard.  Why I thought I needed three more colors of ink pads I can't say, but everybody was getting them and I was feeling left out so when Simon Says got more in stock, I had to grab them.  I was pleased with the color, at least on the cardboard it looks like a nice orange.  Then I ran some vellum through the Cuttlebug Perfectly Paisley Embossing Folder.  For some reason, whenever I do anything with a Western theme, I have to use that paisley EF!  I sponged it with Broken China DI.  The cowboy image is a Tim Holtz stamp from the Wild West set, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Flourishes CS and colored lightly with Copics.   The sentiment is also from Tim Holtz (Stuff to Say).  The next panel down was stamped with the paisley stamp from the Wild West set and clear embossed.  Did you know that you can heat emboss with the Ranger Distress Inks?  They are thick enough and stay wet long enough to be a substitute for Versamark.   All the edges were scissor distressed and sponged with Vintage Photo distress ink.  The brads are from Stampin' Up, retired of course!  Have you checked out the rest of the masculine cards over on the Our Creative Corner blog?   You will surely find something there you can take away for inspiration.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Have a great weekend!

Challenge: 12 Tags of Christmas - Funkie Junkie Style - Week #9

Good evening or good morning - wherever you are, I hope you are having a good one!  I'm back to share my Tag #9 for my 12 Tags of Christmas - Funkie Junkie style.  If you are here for the first time, welcome!  There is still time to jump into the challenge and complete all 12 tags by December 15th.  You can complete them in any order, at any time.  You just have to post them all by December 15th to be eligible for the prize.  You can find all the challenge details and rules here.  So why not find some inspiration in each of my tags and join in the fun?  Tags are quick and easy to make and oh so fun!  I'm so glad I decided to do this because I have really enjoyed making these tags.  And I have a gorgeous line up of nine tags now marching across my desk that I see and enjoy every day!

Here, for your inspiration, is Tag #9.  I am trying not to repeat any background techniques, but there are some I like so much that it's hard to resist using them again.  The background here was first stamped in versamark and clear embossed.   Next I spritzed a little homemade VP glimmer mist and wiped it off the embossing.  After that, I stamped the music sheet from the Tim Holtz Mini Holidays 3 set in Frayed Burlap.  Then I went to work on the numbers.  They are the puffy metal numbers from the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Numerals set originally aluminum colored.  I first tried painting them white with the Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber, but the paint didn't want to stick.  So I wiped it off and then mashed them face down in the Versamark pad and white heat embossed them.  That worked fantastic - they looked like enamel - really pretty but too white.  I tried mashing them down into a Antique Linen stamp pad and that was okay, but didn't have much impact.  So I went to my gold acrylic paint dabber and lightly painted over the white enamel.  I let it almost try and the burnished off most of the gold.  They don't show up great in the photo, but IRL they look elegantly grungy (is that possible???)  Craving more gold, I took the Tim Holtz  Speckled stamp and went around the edges with gold acrylic paint.  I also hit the star corrugated high points with the gold paint dabber and colored the teensey snowflakes with it.  The star die is from Sizzix and the white corrugated cardboard is from my etsy shop, as is the burlap string.  (In case you missed it, everything in my shop is 10% off during the month of November.  Use coupon code HOLIDAYCRAFTING10 when you check out.

So that's it.  Check Tag #9 off the list!  Hope you will play along.

November Etsy Sale

Good morning to all my bloggy friends!  The skies have finally cleared here in Miami and we are at the start of a beautiful day! Now that November has rolled around, many of us are turning our hands to Christmas crafts. It's a great time to stock up on all the items you will need for your holiday crafting. I decided it was a the perfect time for a sale in my Etsy boutique.  Throughout all of November everything will be 10% off.  Please use coupon code HOLIDAYCRAFTING10 when you check out of my boutique and you will receive your 10% discount.

I have so many wonderful craft items in the store including seasonal items.  But I don't have large quantities of anything so if you see something you like, grab it before it sells out!

I have over 100 items in the boutique - things that I use personally in my crafting and have available to share with you.  I hope you will have a little browse in my shop.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!