Many Blessings

I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend.  It's been beautiful here in Gainesville, Florida, cool nights and warm sunny days.  So I decided to build a spring card with a bit of grungy vintage look to it.  I'm in the groove with kraft and cardboard this week as it is on sale at The Funkie Junkie Boutique (still time to order before I have a 7-day closing from 4/29 to 5/8).  Since it's time for my weekly Artistic Outpost DT make, I focused on using Artistic Outpost stamps, combining Flower Market & Paris Exposition.  I wanted to it to have a shabby chic feel so I used the Pion Design Fairytale of Spring paper along with the distressed doily die and a bit of coffee stained Venise lace.  A couple of bronze filigree embellishments furthered the SC feeling.

Using a mini kraft sleeve, I stamped it with various stamps from the Flower Market plate, then cut three tags with the largest tag die on the Tiny Tags and Tabs die.  The tags were stamped using Jet Black archival and heavily sponged and distressed with Vintage Photo DI.  The small tags were stamped and sponged the same way, using a lighter application of Vintage Photo DI and all were strung together using Idea-ology Ball Chain.

And that wraps it up.   Maybe you could make a spring card with Artistic Outpost stamps and enter it into our April referral challenge.  The theme is Anything Goes and there are still a couple of days to play.

These items used to make this card are available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Artistic Outpost Paris Exposition Unmounted Rubber Stamps	Pion Design Paper - Fairytale of Spring 12x12" Scrapbooking Paper	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge Die Distressed Doily Die	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black Reinker
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tiny Tabs & Tags BIGz Die	Dark Brown Mini Kraft Sleeves - Set of 10	Mini Kraft Envelopes and Sleeves - Set of 10	Corner Filigree Metal Pieces - Scrapbooking - Mixed Media	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ball Chain
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Venise Lace Trim - 1/2 inch wide

Our Creative Corner

Hello all you wonderful friends and followers!  Thanks so much for stopping back by today to see what I have made for Our Creative Corner.  That's right, every Saturday for more than three years I have been posting my weekly make for Our Creative Corner.  For the last year I have been blessed to be the owner of the challenge blog.

But I guess all things must end and my personal situation right now is such that I couldn't handle all the requirements of being the blog owner, even though I had a fabulous team and a wonderful ad hoc team leader in Sue Butler.  However, at this time I felt the need to hand the blog off to someone who would embrace the history of this challenge blog and steer a new exciting course for it.  That someone is Laura from Laurart and as of today, Laura is the new owner of Our Creative Corner.  Laura is super excited about this opportunity and had exciting plans for the blog.  She has really remade it from top to bottom. I hope you will stop by Our Creative Corner to get Laura's take on the changes coming as well as stop by to see the first challenge kick off on May 1st.

Love Me Some Kraft

Hello freinds, I was in charge of Friday Focus this week over at Frilly and Funkie so this is basically a repeat post, but I know some of you might not be readers of that blog and didn't want you to miss out.

I really love the warm country feel that projects made with kraft paper gives me, from corrugated cardboard all the way to the more sophisticated feel of Tim Holtz's kraft core and kraft resist papers.  Here's a little wall hanging I created using the corrugated cardboard that I sell in the boutique as a base.
I used the Butterfly On-the-Edge die as well as the Distressed Doily die to make the top edge and the free hanging bottom section.  Everything was given a brush of Picket Fence crackle paint. The flower was cut from the kraft colored corrugated cardboard plus one layer from the white corrugated cardboard.

The flower sections were cut using both the Tattered Florals and Mini Tattered Florals movers and shapers and were sponged on the edges with Vintage Photo DI and then coated lightly with Enamelware EP.

The backing for the floral resin medallion was also sponged with Vintage Photo and embossed with Enamelware EP.  The "enjoy the journey" was cut with the Artful Stacked Words decorative strip die from Kraft Core paper and lightly sanded with my Sanding Grip to reveal the kraft core.

I've provided thumbnail links to The Funkie Junkie Boutique for all the products used here that I sell.  And be sure to check out our Friday Focus section.  The kraft paper products will be on sale for one full week from Friday through the following Thursday.  PLEASE NOTE, HOWEVER, THAT I WILL BE TAKING A FEW DAYS OFF AND WILL NOT BE SHIPPING ORDERS FROM APRIL 29TH THROUGH MAY 7TH so order soon if you don't want to wait until I get back.

                                        

                                        

Available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

$11.99 Core′dinations Kraft Core By Tim Holtz - Shattered Collection 12 x 12	Mini Kraft Envelopes and Sleeves - Set of 10	Corrugated Cardboard - Mixed White and Kraft - 6 Sheets	15 Corrugated Cardboard Sheets - Mixed White and Kraft	Dark Brown Mini Kraft Sleeves - Set of 10
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge Die Distressed Doily Die	Ranger Embossing Powder - Enamelware	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Rayon Seam Binding	Floral Decorated Wooden Buttons - 15/16"
Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Picket Fence White	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die	Sizzix Alterations Die - Mini Tattered Florals Movers and Shapers Die by Tim Holtz	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Artful Stacked Words
Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Postcard and Sheet Music Set	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Stuff to Say	Bronze Jump Ring Set	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge Butterflight Die	PInk and White Resin Floral Oval Charm
Mini Tickets Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers by Tim Holtz

Say "Pepsi, please"

and then you can use the cans to make art :)  Yep, I've been at it again, using those Pepsi cans to make die cut butterflies.

I'm back again with week two of our Frilly and Funkie Upcycle for Earth Day challenge.  For the Funkie week I decided to make a little wall decoration out of die cut butterflies and wire.  I've been to a few craft fairs lately and have been looking for metal work to decorate the walls of our new home but haven't seen exactly what I have been looking for.  This piece is fairly small, only about 12 inches high but it was a fun make and has me thinking about trying something larger.  I did find a place for it on the wall and it looks really nice.

I started by cutting the top and bottom rims off two Pepsi cans and also made a cut from the top to bottom, giving me two sheets of aluminum.  The sheets still want to curl in the shape of the can, but it's not a problem.  I used an old Cuttlebug butterfly die to cut the larger butterflies and the smaller ones were cut the the Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Butterflies.  Next I sorted through my Texture Fades and pulled out a few that I thought would make attractive vintage type texture and ran my butterflies through.   A couple of cautions - be careful because the metal edges will be VERY sharp.  Also, when embossing, I put a sheet of copy paper over the top of the metal to diffuse some of the pressure on the metal because sometimes the metal will crack when embossed.  

I used 12 gauge black wire that I purchased at Jo-Ann's for the main wire and then thinner copper wire for the curling wire.  I painted the butterflies and the black wire with Vintaj Ancient Coins patina paints.  Most everything was painted with Aged Bronze but the butterflies have Antique Copper blended in also.  The Black 12 gauge wire was painted with the Aged Bronze.  The thinner copper wire was dry brushed with paints from the Vintaj Weathered Copper paint set.  I know I always say this, but I just love these Vintaj patina paints for altering metals.  I'm out of stock with the Ancient Coins set, I'm sorry to say, because I really sold on how they altered the Pepsi can and the heavy black wire.  I'll be restocking with my next Ranger order!  And the copper wire was really shiny and new looking before I took the Weathered Copper paints to it.  E6000 glue was used to glue the butterflies onto the wire.  I stuck it onto my wall with giant glue dots and that is a wrap for this week's Funkie upcycle project.  Please stop by Frilly and Funkie to see what the other designers have created with their upcycled projects - I'm sure you will be inspired to find something that would have been thrown out that can be made into a fun and/or useful piece of art!







These products used on this piece can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Die - Mini Butterflies	Ranger Vintaj Patina Kit - Ancient Coin Collection	Ranger Vintaj Patina Kit - Weathered Copper	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Clock and Steampunk Set	Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Postcard and Sheet Music Set
Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Bricked and Woodgrain Set	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Diamond Plate and Rivited	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Damask and Regal Flourishes Set