A Time to Be Grateful

 Hi! Welcome back. A very Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.  I am hosting the challenge this time at The Funkie Junkie Boutique this time around.  I challenge the team with A Time to Be Grateful.

This is how I described the challenge: 

"Around this time of the year when we start to get into the holidays and the rush of everything it is a good time to reflect on what we are grateful for. My challenge to you is to capture that in your art. Show what you are grateful for in any type of project, it could be a journal page,  a card, or anything else that expresses your gratitude. You choose how to show your thankfulness and share it with us."

 

 

I was inspired by our family gathering on Thanksgiving and how grateful we are all here and healthy.  I decided to create a tablescape using natural bits from outdoors and some fun wood houses from Target.  They were very cheap and  chunky solid unfinished wood. 

They got a lovely coating of white gesso followed by a coat of gold, bronze and a metallique was finish.

Next I went pulled out some paper bags from different shopping expeditions.  They were used to die cut many many leaves. 

 

 

The leaves were sprayed with a mix of shimmery pearl spray and gold mica.  I also made the mistake of grabbing the tarnished brass on some so we got a mix.  The grainy leaves were cut from kraft cardstock and embossed with embossing paste using the wood grain stencil.  They were sprayed with brown inks sprays and finished with a metallique waxy gold rub.  

The sprayed leaves also got some embossed stamped images using a variety of stamps inked in versamark and heat embossed with different gold embossing powders. 

I wanted to share words inspired by my family and us gathering together, so I stamped a variety of sentiments with versamark and heat embossed them with gold embossing powder.

I pulled branches from dried flowers outside and spritzed the ends with the gold mica spray. I sprinkled a charred gold embossing powder on the ends and  heated them up.

I used some metallique wax to add gold highlights to the branches and acorns.

The acorn tops were dabbed with embossing ink and then sprinkled with gold embossing powder. 

I just wanted to show a few different angles of the tablescape because it was hard to get a full shot of how everything came together.

I tried both with a little led lights intermixed and without.  Either way it was fun!

I found it looked better along a white wall to not compete with the neutral tones.

And I took this close up with the flash so you could see the gold embossing on the dried flowers.

Another close up of the pretty lights.

Tablescape from farther away:

Finally all lit up on the Kitchen table.

 Come join us and share what you are grateful for.  The winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date  at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog, 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. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team.

Thanks for stopping by.. Be safe. 

Suzz

Products: 

• Sizzix Autumnal Leaves 
• Seth Apter Izink Antique Pearl
• Ranger Ink Stain Sprays - Tarnished Brass, Antique Gold
• Prima Metallique - Gold Rush Paint
• Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste
• Stampers Anonymous - Tiny Text 
• Stampers Anonymous - Poinsettia 
• Stampers Anonymous - Fragments Rubber Stamps 
• Emerald Creek - Charred Gold
• Ranger Gold Embossing Powder
• Ranger Embossing Dabber
• Versamark Watermark Ink Pad 
• Prima Metallique Wax - Vintage Gold
  

Celebrate

 Hi!  Time for a new challenge!  Cec is hosting this time and she has challenged us to Celebrate!  Here is how she described the challenge: 

"Your challenge is to create a shabby chic or vintage project to celebrate someone or something special. Since celebrations are happy occasions, your project should be made with lots of happy, bright colours. Keep your dull or neutral colours to a minimum please because as winter approaches we will have lots of that naturally so your bright colours must be predominant."

 

I have to admit I struggled a bit with the bright colors.  I finally decided to create a masterboard background with a mix of colors. 

Here is a bit of the background cut to a tag.  I started by applying the embossing paste through the Ironwork stencil.  I then spritzed and sprayed a mix of reds, purple, pink, orange and yellow all together.  I added some shimmery sprays and then finished it with a salt layer to pool the inks. 

After it dried I die cut a large amount of tissue paper tattered florals and gave them the same treatment.  Inky sprays, salt and shimmery spray all over the flowers and then let them dry.  I then took the flowers and double layered them with a glue dot in the center to make them scrunch up like flowers. 

I traced a heart and used it as my guidance to create my floral heart. 

I hope you enjoyed my celebration of love! Come join us and play along!  The winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date here at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog, 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. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team.

Suzz

Products: 

• Stampers Anonymous - Ironwork Layering Stencil
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Bigz Tattered Florals Die
• Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Crackling Campfire 
• Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Mustard Seed 
  
• Dylusions - Shimmer Spray - Lemon Zest
  
• Seth Apter - Izink - Antique Pearl
• Seth Apter - Izink - Pomegranate 
• Ranger Distress Oxide Spray - Picked Raspberry 
• Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Dusty Concord
• Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste
  
• Idea-Ology - Antique Gem
  

An Open Book

 Happy Sunday!  I have a new favorite stamp I have been playing with!  I received this stamp from Darkroom Door awhile ago and just have had an opportunity to play with it! 

I am a big fan of books and spent many a good hour entranced with books.  When I saw this new mini open book stamp I knew I needed to have it in my collection. :) 

The stamp has two blank pages so I immediately made a mask for each page so I could create my own content on the pages.

I was lucky enough to have several of the other book stamps from Darkroom door and created a background of books to go with the cute boy and the sentiment. 

I also created a tag with a variety of pages for the books:

I stamped three of the books and mixed my images on the pages including overlaying some dashing gents onto the pages. 

Each book was hand cut out and folded up to give the appearance of pages.

Then I wanted a bit of color and thought wouldn't it be beautiful to have butterflies floating out of the pages?  I stamped the butterflies and embossed with black embossing powder. I sponged on the pink and cut them out to bend their wings and have them flying from the pages. 

The background was script randomly stamped in a soft gray color and a few sentiment from the same stamp set the butterflies came from. 

I hope you enjoyed looking at my open books! 

Suzz

• Products: (Darkroom Door)
• Darkroom Door - Eclectic Stamp - Mini Open Book
• Darkroom Door - Rubber Stamp Sets - Wings
• Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set - Number Medley
• Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set - Buzzing Bees 
• Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set -  Bookworm
• Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set - Correspondence
• Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set - Dashing Gents
• Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set - Enjoy Life 
• Darkroom Door  Collage Stamp - Flower Boy