Christmas Cookies

Alas! Today is the day before Christmas Eve and nary a homemade Christmas cookie to be found in the house.   Instead I have been funneling my decorating into some Stars for the Vintage Journey "Star Light Star Bright Challenge".

My stars a mix of styles and designs because I had originally just started playing with stamps that I haven't played with in awhile to create a variety of star tags.

I then realized I only had a few days to wish all of you a beautiful Christmas. I decided to create a few stars to use as decoration on my Christmas dinner plates.

 I love this Artistic Outpost Santa and used him with a glaze of Seth Apter's Vintage Beeswax.   He is stamped on some very old ledger pages from a ledger book and glitzed up with some sparkle and gold bells.

I then pulled out one of my favorite Madonna and Child Stamps.  I have two which are both retired stamps.  This one is from Hero Arts.  I adore this stamp and the original artwork it replicates.

I created the same star with some slight variations. I colored them differently and added a different sticker. Both were glazed with the vintage beeswax and edged with gold krylon pen.

I started with this star just playing with the juxtaposition of the stamps and words.   The funny black strips of cardstock are there because I made this a two sided star with this funny fellow on the front:

The next one is just a mix of stamps highlighting happy memories.

 My last star is all about the twinkling and shining our on lights.  I love the look of joy on the little girl's face:

 My wish for you and your family is to have a blessed holiday with someone you love.  A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Suzz

In the Kitchen

Hi!  It is my turn to host the fun Frilly and Funkie Challenge!  I chose the theme of In the Kitchen for the challenge this time around.

Here is why I chose the challenge of "In the Kitchen":

This time of the year we find ourselves in the kitchen either preparing food for family and friends or just gathering around the kitchen table with family. Your challenge is to incorporate the kitchen somehow in your project. You can use an object from the kitchen in creating your project or you can use a sentiment or image that reflects the kitchen. You decide how to represent being in your kitchen in your art.

I love using or re-using items from the kitchen and this had me thinking of salt, recipes, old cookbooks, foil, wax paper, spoons, forks, etc.


I decided to use some beautiful backgrounds I created awhile ago using salt.  I love this technique!

I started with some heavy duty mixed media cardstock.  I laid it out on my desk and then I pulled out a variety of the Ranger Distress Stain Sprays.

I sprayed on a mix of blues, browns and greens.  Create pools of color randomly on the surface.  Next take your salt and liberally cover areas of the paper.

The salt will absorb the ink and create punches of color all over the paper.  Now you have to be very patient and wait for it to dry.  You can use your heat gun to expedite but be careful as you can scorch your paper. (Don't ask this impatient person how we found that out!)

Best to walk away and let this dry overnight.   The next day you can use a plastic ruler to scrape off all the dried on salt from the paper.

After I scrapped off the excess I thought look at all that beautiful color in the salt..... So of course I took that salt and randomly scattered it over the surface of a new sheet of mixed media paper and re-activated the inks with spritzing it with water.  That turned out like this:

(Clear Embossed)

After the pieces dried completely they will soften in color and intensity.  I wanted to bring back that color so I covered the surface with versamark and heate embossed with clear embossing powder.

On another piece I covered it with clear rock candy glaze to see what it would look like:

Glaze (Rock Candy)

I think the clear embossing powder makes it look like a glorious marble tile:

(Clear Embossed)

And my final piece I cut out and embossed:

(Clear Embossed)

I created a tag with the background created from the salt infused with color:

and to finish off my marbleized background I decided to create some roses using wax paper and aluminum baking cups. 

After I created them I frosted them by dipping them face down into liquid glue and then dipping them into glitter.

I repeated the process with the medallions cut from wax paper and the quote chips.  I clear embossed the quote chips to give it a glaze over the shimmer.  

Click to Enlarge

I hope this inspires you to join in the challenge!  The winner will earn the chance of a Guest Designer spot here at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. And there are Top 3 Badges for three further outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Spray Stain TSS44161	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Pumice Stone TSS42426	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Salty Ocean TSS42457	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Broken China TSS42174	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Iced Spruce TSS42327
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Winter Wonderland - by Tim Holtz 662426	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Stickers, Christmas	VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad	Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter Clear Rock Candy 3oz TDR35879
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tattered Pinecones Bigz Die 657492	Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Glitter Glue 1.1oz- TDR35886	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Mixed Media Heavystock 8.5x11 inches - TDA53842	May Arts 1.5 inch Ivory Tulle Ribbon	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Adornments, Pinecones
KAISERCRAFT Pearls - Self Adhesive - Pearl	Sizzix 3-D Impresslits Embossing Folder - Medallion	Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear EPJ37330	Sizzix Bigz Die - Ice Flake by Tim Holtz 663109