Oh Yeah, It's Red!

Hello friends!  A warm welcome to my new followers and thanks to everyone for dropping by today.  I have another project for Terry's Lacy Heartsy Valentine challenge over at Frilly and Funkie.  This week I'm leaning toward the Funkie side and also entering Tim Holtz's February tag challenge.  You might want to get your sunglasses out for this one, folks - it's pretty bright.  The hearts of course are evident and for my lace, I used the Vintage Lace decorative strip die to cut a strip of  lacy paper.  

I started by using one of the jumbo manila tags I sell in the boutique, coloring it with Barn Door distress stain and stamping in jet black archival from the Valentine's Blueprints and Ultimate Gunge stamp sets. I stamped another heart and trimmed it out to pop it up, the same as Tim did with his main image.  I used the Iron Gate On the Edge die to cut black Kraft Core paper (love that stuff!) and then I embossed just the VALENTINE from the Valentines Backgrounds and Borders texture fade, not covering the iron gate part with my B plate so it acted like a diffuser and did not emboss that part.  Then it was given a little sanding with my Sanding grip and I added one of those cool enameled Plaquettes. 

The extra heart that I stamped and cut out was first colored with Barn Door distress stain and when dry, coated with Clear Rock Candy crackle paint.  The ticket stamp from Love Struck was stamped in white craft ink on black card stock that had been cut with the Ticket decorative strip die.  

The cupid from the Mini Love Stuck M&S dies and the heart from the regular Love Struck die were cut from white chipboard, the edges sponged with Vintage Photo, then using Glossy Accents I adhered that awesome Rock Candy Distress Stickles Dry Glitter to create my sparkly cupid and heart.  I took a metal Word Stick, painted it black with Vintaj patina paint from Retro Highway and when it was dry, went over the recessed LOVE with a white gel pen.  The rayon seam binding was also colored with Barn Door distress stain.  

I made a string of hearts (thanks to Shelly Hickox for inspiring me and reminding me how much I love making a string of hearts like this) using the heart from the Mini Love Struck M&S set, cut hearts from white CS, colored with Barn Door distress stain, stamped with Jet Black archival the Love definition from the Love Struck stamp set and glazed them with Glossy Accents.  I made additional hearts, colored with Barn Door distress stain to glue to the backs, laying a black burlap string between the heart layers to make my string of hearts.  The black burlap string bows are separate bows that I adhered with a glue dot.  

I know Tim Holtz mixed a couple of reds together when he made his tag, but I wanted that pure bright red so only used Barn Door.  I love the way this came out - red is my FAVORITE color and I adore working with it.  This tag was a total pleasure to make and I hope you enjoyed looking at it.  Be sure to stop by Frilly and Funkie as the designers there have some amazing pieces to share!

 And thanks SO much for stopping by and for your lovely comments.  

The following products used on this tag are for sale at The Funkie Junkie Boutique where Ranger and Melissa Frances products are always offered at 20% below MSRP.

25 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Barn Door	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black Reinker	Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shaperss - Mini Love Struck
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Love Struck BIGZ Die	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Love Stuck	Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Valentine′s Background and Borders	Core′dinations - Tim Holtz Ranger- Nostalgic Kraft Core Cardstock 12 x 12	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Vintage Lace Die
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge Iron Gate Die	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Valentine Blueprint	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Ultimate Grunge	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Ticket Die	Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter Clear Rock Candy
Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy	Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy 4 oz size	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Burlap String - 12 Colors	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Sticks
Ranger Vintaj Patina Kit - Retro Highway	Rayon Seam Binding	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Plaquettes

Wishing You All the Best in 2013

 

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a terrific celebration to ring in the new year last night.  I am excited to be kicking off the new in my new location and my new home in Gainesville, Florida.  Of course, I will miss Miami and all my friends but it is exciting to be starting a new chapter in my life.

I want to thank everyone for all their tremendous support over the past 6 months.  I can't tell you how much it meant to me while my life was in such upheaval during that time.  The whole process of getting the house ready to sell, showing it to prospective buyers and then the endless looking, looking, looking for something in the new area.  And then the tremendous physical work of packing and moving, unpacking and getting settled really wore me down.  At 60 years of age, I am not as spry as I used to be and I've had day after day of aching bones and muscles - LOL!  I am so happy to say that it is almost all behind me now!  We are about 80% unpacked and settled.  Of course, we still have a lot of decorating to do, but most of the house is organized and looks neat and tidy - all except my craft area.  My new craft room is only a couple of feet shorter in each direction than the old one, but my goodness does it ever feel cramped!  I still have stacks of stuff sitting on the floor that I have no shelf space for.  I'm twisting the DH's arm to hang some nice looking wall shelves that I can use to store craft items as well as my own art work.  I got rid of a lot of supplies/stash before I moved, but I think I am going to have to trim down some more.

Here is the first piece I have made in my new space.  I didn't have any particular deadline that I had to produce a sample for so I decided to kick the new year off with something just for fun.  I didn't make any New Year's resolutions this year so I didn't have anything special to shape my piece around.  My goal is really just to settle in and also look after my health.  I have a couple of small health challenges and want to make sure I focus on them and handle them properly.  I am looking forward to getting out to walk more and I have already invested in a bicycle to get more fresh air and exercise.  There miles and miles of walking/bike trails in my new area and I am looking forward to taking advantage of them.

I decided to kick off the new year with Tim Holtz's January tag.  Here is my interpretation of his tag.  I loved that he used the Pocket Watch texture fade as a base.  For my time element, I used the Weathered Clock die, cut a piece of chipboard and embossed it with the Verdigris embossing powder.  The effect wasn't quite coppery enough so I dabbed it with the Antiqued Bronze metallic stain.  I also went a little crazy with the embossing powder, using it on the tiny gear, the long brads and the hinge clip.  The sponging was done with Broken China and Dried Marigold.  Those colors were also used to die the seam binding.  The large flower was cut wit the Tattered Florals die and the small ones with the Tattered Flowers Garland Decorative Strip Die.

Whew, I haven't made anything in a couple of weeks and it was hard to get back into the groove again. But this was fun and I'm happy with the way it turned out.  Thanks so much for stopping by and for all the lovely comments!