A Country Christmas

Happy Saturday!  Welcome to my Saturday post.  Over at Our Creative Corner Lili Inguanti is our hostess and she has the cutest challenge for us this week.  She is calling it a Howdy challenge and the theme is country or western with the requirement that you have to use some sort of plaid or gingham on your piece.  Well, I love country and since I'm now in my holiday groove, I decided on a country Christmas slant and here is the result.

I was visiting with my friend and SU demo Stasia yesterday and was casually flipping through a pad of designer paper she had on her table when I came across this wonderful red plaid.  And right behind it was the beautiful red polka dot.  BINGO!  Stasia generously shared it with me and my plaid Christmas card was borne.

I broke out my new Tim Holtz Christmas Background and Borders texture fades, embossed and sponged a piece of CS with Vintage Photo DI.   Then  I used the new Sticky Embossing Powder on the high points and applied the new Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter - I am totally hooked on this new glitter.  The reindeer was glittered too, but for adhesive, I used Glossy Accents.  The reindeer was cut from white chipboard and edged with Vintage Photo DI before I glittered her.  I had some fun with two different rosette dies to make the double rosette and then adhered a rusty star which had been dry brushed with gesso.

A little burlap ribbon, some of Tim's new tinsel twine and some rusty bells made a little cluster embellishment.  The tinsel twine is great - very flexible, not wired like a pipe cleaner, but more like string (guess that's why it's called Tinsel Twine) and it easily tied in a bow.  I dyed a clothes pin with Cherry Cobbler reinker and the words are from the new Seasonal Chit Chat stickers.  The greenery is from the Festive Greenery decorative strip die and colored with Bundled Sage.  The holly leaves were also painted with Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

And that's it for this card.  The supplies used are listed below and are available at great prices at The Funkie Junkie Boutique (Ranger products are 20% below MSRP).  If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or email me at thefunkiejunkie@gmail.com.

Reader Question:  How did I distress the bells?  They come already rusted (see set below) and I dry brushed them with a tiny bit of gesso to give the white washed look.

Hope you will be stopping by Our Creative Corner to see the rest of the wonderful Howdy cards!

Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Paper Rosette Die	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Mini Paper Rosettes (2 sizes) Die	Rusted Metal Embellishments - Hearts, Stars, Bottle Caps, Bells	Claudine Hellmuth Gesso	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Christmas Background and Borders Set
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Reindeer Flight BIGz Die	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chit Chat Stickers - Seasonal	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tinsel Twine - Winter	Micro Dark Red Clothes Pins - 1" - Set of 12	Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter Clear Rock Candy
Ranger Sticky Embossing Powder	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Festive Greenery Die	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Bundled Sage	Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy
Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy 4 oz size	Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Baroque Die

CC2C #22 Winner

Hello,

I'm back today to announce the winner of Linda Ledbetter's Compendium of Curiousities 2 #22 challenge which was riveted metals.  Wow, there were some stunning pieces submitted for that challenge.  My Funkie Junkie Boutique was the sponsor and with the assistance of Random.org, I have picked a winner for the $25 gift certificate to shop in my new boutique.

Congratulations go out to Alison from Craftytrog's Inky Adventure as she was entry #11.  Alison, please email me at thefunkiejunkie@gmail.com for your gift certificate code.

Again, magnificent work to all who played along and thank you to Linda Ledbetter for allowing The Funkie Junkie Boutique to sponsor this seriously cool challenge!

A Haunted Halloween Hop

Hi folks!  Thanks so much for coming back by today to check out the Artistic Outpost monthly blog hop.  This month our theme is Halloween.  I chose to use the Haunted Halloween plate (on sale at Artistic Outpost) and as you can see, I had a bit of fun with it.

But before I go into a long schpiel about how I made my card, let me first give you our blog hop line up and links.  Here are the designers for Artistic Outpost and their blog links.  Hope you will stop by to see the wonderful artwork they have to share.

* Gerrie Johnnic * Lisa Somerville * Suzanne Czosek * Tracy Evans *

All righty then, here's the scoop on my card.  I cut a square panel of Ranger manila card stock and did a technique similar to the  Dylysions Perfect Splatter technique that Anita Houston shows in this video. Instead of using the Dylusions sprays, I used Black Soot and Picket Fence distress stains and Pewter Perfect Pearls Powder.  That technique and those colors are so perfect for Halloween cards.  The bats were stamped with Jet Black Archival ink and clear embossed.   Mr. Bones was then stamped in white craft ink and white embossed.

I created a frame for this house photo stamp using the Ornate BIGZ die and the matching Ornate Mover and Shaper die to cut the inside.  The house was stamped in black archival ink and sponged with Vintage Photo DI.  The frame and the picket fence were painted with Black Soot Distress crackle paint.  The Happy Halloween seal and the Tattered Banner sentiment were each sponged with Dusty Concord and Dried Marigold DI, then given one coat of UTEE which was flicked off pretty aggressively and once heated on, then sponged with Vintage Photo DI.

Before I adhered the main panel, I took the Brushed Pewter DS and ran it around the edge.  It looks almost like it was silver embossed.  The next panel was sponged with Dusty Concord and the spoder web was stamped in Jet Black archival and clear embossed.  The back panel was sponged with Dried Marigold DI.

That's it - hope you like it.  It's very 3-D with the fence and Tattered Banners sentiment bowed out.  I also shared this on Sizzix I Spy Saturday.









Here are all the products I used to create this card.  They are all available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Black Soot	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Black Soot	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge On the Fence Die	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Tattered Banners Die
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Dusty Concord	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Dried Marigold	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Picket Fence White
Ranger Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder - Pewter	Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Ornamental Die	Mini Ornamental Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers by Tim Holtz

Simple Beauty

It's time for week 2 of the Frilly and Funkie Fall Into Fall challenge.  That means it's the Funkies' turn to provide you some inspiration.  And they certainly did that with a capital I.  Be sure to stop by and drool at the beautiful fall offerings. 

I decided to have another go at the blended stains technique that was the challenge technique at the Compendium of Curiosities 2 challenge a couple of weeks back.  I didn't have particularly good luck with this technique the first time.  But I saw some beautiful examples of using the technique, particularly Donna Gibson's beautiful tag, and was inspired to try again.  I definitely had better luck this time.  Last time I used more browns and also used some Picket Fence DS added in and it was very muddy and muted looking.  These colors are vibrant.  I used the Old Girst Mill set from Artistic Outpost, which should be in my shop soon.  I love it, such wonderful fall images and wonderful sentiments!

After doing the blended stains technique, I stamped the leaves in Vintage Photo DI, misting the stamp slightly before each stamp to give it a softer look.  My main focal image of the mill was stamped in Coffee archival ink and cut with the Mini Ornate Movers and Shapers die.  I edged it with a home made concoction of UTEE and gold EP.  The main sentiment was stamped on a scrap cut with the Ticket Decorative Strip Die.  

My corner embellishment was made with leaves and a flourish from metal foil tape.  I covered some chipboard with it and then die cut and embossed it.  My bronze flowers were painted with the Vintaj patina paints as were the flourish and leaves.  My corrugated cardboard butterfly was painted with Rusty Hinge DI and then swiped with Tarnished Brass DS.  If you haven't gotten your hands on the metallic distress stains yet, you should.  They are absolutely marvelous and with the glitter time of year coming, they will fill many crafting needs!  They are on sale for $3.39 at The Funkie Junkie Boutique through Thursday and I do still have a limited number in stock.  

Listed below are all the products I used to create this tag.  They are all available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. 

25 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12	Mini Ornamental Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers by Tim Holtz	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Ticket Die	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Elegant Flourishes BIGZ Die	Sizzix Alterations - Mini Tattered Leaves Movers & Shapers by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Die - Mini Butterflies	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Bubble and Honeycomb Set	Ranger Vintaj Patina Kit - Rusted Hardware	Ranger Vintaj Patina Kit - Retro Highway	Ranger Vintaj Patina Kit - Weathered Copper
Natural Jute Twine	May Arts Metallic Gold Mesh Ribbon - 1.5"	Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Rusty Hinge
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Mustard Seed	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Dried Marigold	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Wire Pins	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Jump Rings	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Findings Philosophy Tags
Natural Jute Mesh (Burlap) Ribbon	Corrugated Cardboard (6 sheets)	Bronze Metal Daisies for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media