Talk about challenges...

wow, does Buttons ever have one for us this week at Frilly and Funkie...and I still don't know if I hit it or not!  Her challenge is inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement and in particular the work of the designer William Morris. This group of artists and craftspeople believed things in their lives should be well made and hand-crafted. So for this challenge we want to see:

• muted colours (for example, the original Distress colours are perfect)
• natural elements (like flowers and foliage)
• and you must include an animal of some kind.

Patterned backgrounds are also a great idea if you fancy having a go. Avoid using lots of embellishments and cute images this time. Here are a few pictures to get your creative juices flowing.

Okay, so how did I get started with this one?  One of our team members mentioned damask and I thought that sounded like a starting point.  So I grabbed a jumbo tag and the damask texture fade and ran the tag through it.  Then, in keeping with the well-made, hand crafted theme, I carefully embossed the high points with Enamelware embossing powder, then sponged it with Vintage Photo.

After embossing the raised points with Enamelware, I rubbed embossing ink over the entire tag and embossed the whole tag with clear EP.  After that step, then I went over the entire tag with Gathered Twigs Distress Stain then blotted off the excess.  I love the rusty distressed look it gives.  

Okay, base finished, on to the design elements.  I had to have an animal and not many embellishments so I went with the Caged Bird die, cutting both from gray chipboard.  The bird was covered with white cardstock and stamped in black archival.  The cage was painted with Tarnished Brass Metallic Distress Stain.  I created the flower with UTEE in my melting pot using white cardstock cut with the Tattered Florals die.  Love these "porcelain" flowers - scorched my fingers a bit but it came out great - even impressed the heck out of my DH!  (He was like "you made that??" - LOL!)

The sentiment is a Tim Holtz stamp as is the "ticket" stamp it's stamped with as well as the die it was cut with.  See thumbnails below for product info. 

All righty then, that's about as simple and unembellished as I can manage.  Check out the Frilly team's makes on Frilly and Funkie for some additional inspiration for this challenge.  I am also going to enter this into tim Holtz's Tattered Florals challenge.  

All these products are available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

50 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Damask and Regal Flourishes Set	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Ranger Embossing Powder - Enamelware	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Gathered Twigs
Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Caged Bird BIGZ Die	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Long Fasteners	Bronze Metal Mini Keys Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die
Mini Tickets Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers by Tim Holtz	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Odds & Ends	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Good Thoughts	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo