All about Love

Hello!  Happy belated Valentine's day!  I am posting about love today for the Funkie Junkie Boutique Inspiration Ave. 

I have the wonderful Tim Holtz Sizzix Stacked Tiles Hearts dies  and they were the inspiration for my art this time.

The inspiration was from over 30 hearts cut from white cardstock.  They were all cut out and then spritzed with a mix of pink, yellow, and cranberry mica stain sprays. 

They originally were sprayed a few at a time with different colors.  But then I thought wouldn't it be fun if I created a background by layering them onto a sheet of cardstock and spraying layers of colors.

That ended up looking like this.  Then I decided to add another layer of texture and used the Valentine's stencil and opaque distress paste to randomly apply words across the surface.  

After that dried, I laid the stencil back over the words and sponged with red distress ink over the letters.

I enjoyed using the hearts in a different way so I created a background using the dies as a mask and overlapped them on each other on a sheet of mixed media paper. 

I spritzed over the dies and captured the layered hearts on the background.  Before cleaning the inky spray off of the dies I laid another sheet of mixed media cardstock on top of the dies and picked up the reverse hearts.

After that I took some of the hearts and used another stencil to add a layer of opaque stars randomly over the hearts.  I let the past dry completely and then used the stencil again to sponge on the contrasting ink colors over the stars to make them pop. 

Using the hearts with various other pieces a few different Valentines cards were created.

Happy Hearts Day to you!

Suzz

Products: 

• Sizzix Chapter 1 Tim Holtz Stacked Tiles Hearts
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Valentine
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Sprakle
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Texture Fade Embossing Folder Dotted
• Ranger Seasonal Mica Stain Sprays #4
• Ranger Seasonal Halloween Distress Mica Stain Sprays #3
• Ranger Seasonal Distress Mica Stain Sprays #3
  
• Stampers Anonymous - Tiny Text Rubber Stamps
• Ranger Distress Ink Pad - Lumberjack Plaid
• Ranger Distress Ink Pad - Mustard Seed
• Ranger Distress Paste - Opaque
• Ranger Rock Candy Distress Glitter 
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Alphanumeric
  

April Showers Bring May Flowers

 Hi!  Welcome back for the next challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!  Janna is hosting and she has challenged us with: April Showers Bring May Flowers

"Spring has sprung and flowers are blooming. Add flowers to this weeks creation. They can be your main focal point or hiding in the background. Let’s get into the swing of spring with flowers. Happy crafting!"

I love the flowery stencil from Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Bouquet and that became the backdrop to my card. 

I paired the stencil with the salt water taffy distress oxide for a soft pink backdrop. 

Then I used some of the pretty Prima flowers to accent a heart doily.  I used one of the bee charms who was dust coated with some white paint and the quote to finish off my simple love note. 

Come play along with us in the challenge for a chance to win prizes and a chance to guest design! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Products: 

• Stampers Anonymous - Layering Stencil Bouquet
• Ranger Distress Oxide - Salt Water Taffy
• Prima Marketing Miel Flowers - Butterfly Dance
• Prima Marketing Miel Charms
• Dina Wakely White Acrylic Paint
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Quotes
• Kaisercraft Pearls
  

Vintage Valentine

Hi!  Welcome back!  Today I am sharing my project for the new challenge "Love is All Around Us" at the Funkie Junkie Boutique hosted by the fabulous Jenny! Here is how she describes the challenge:

" With Valentines Day approaching it's time to share a little love. Create something vintage or shabby chic featuring hearts. Here's a few ideas to get you started;" 

I love hearts on my art and this had me inspired looking for ways to create vintage hearts. 

 I started with a page out of an old ledger book.  It became a masterboard sheet that I cut up into hearts and my background.

I splattered, stamped and stenciled with white embossing pasted.  I added strips of design tape before I stenciled.  I let the embossing paste dry and then sponged over with a layer of gold ink.

I hand cut the hearts out with my scissors and sponged the edges. 

I made some gold roses using the Prima Marketing mould with gold embossing paste.  I let it set overnight and popped out the roses.

I also used newsprint to create a multi-layered heart.

I hand cut a series of hearts from newsprint with the largest being cardstock.  I died them all with distress inks and then embossed them with words and white embossing paste.  Then they were died again with inky goodness. 

I finished by stitching them together with a few cross stitches and a few buttons. 

I hope this has you inspired to get your hearts out and play along!  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!

Suzz

Products:
Ranger Distress Ink Sprays - Antique Linen,  Ground Espresso
Ranger Distress Oxide Ink Spray - Picked Raspberry
Ranger Distress Ink - Ground Espresso, Antique Linen
Idea-Ology - Paper Dolls
Idea-Ology Metallic Quotation Stickers
Ranger Layering Stencils - Sparkle,  Valentine
Wendy Vecchi  Embossing Paste Gold, White
Wendy Vecchi NewsPrint 
Stampers Anonymous - Etcetera 
Prima Marketing Moulds
Delicata Gold Ink
Idea-Ology - Design Tape Salvage 
Sizzix Tim Holtz Chapter 2 Crochet

Pink and Orange Playtime

Well I have been busy playing with some things but not finishing anything. I figured I could share with you some of the samples and techniques that I have been having fun with.

I started with this:

And lots of mixed media and regular carstock pieces to play with. 

 In no particular order.  I started with laying the hearts in different patterns and then spritzing the pink and orange distress stain sprays in random areas.

On this one I sprayed water after the fact to get a dripping of the sprays to the bottom.

I stamped the text with red ink over the back randomly and then I then stamped the sentiment in pink and embossed with white embossing powder.

The next background used the same technique.

 I came back with larger print and stamped it using the same pink dye ink. I added splatters on most of my backgrounds after the fact.

For the following I decided to spritz with water the entire background which bled through my white hearts and softened the entire background.   I had stamped the sentiments with dye ink and they also disappeared with the water. 

 This one was spritzed heavily with the distress stains and I haven't decided what else to incorporate.

 Then I was over at Brenda's blog BumbleeBeesandButterflies  and she was using her watercolor powders on a beautiful project.  That got me thinking about my color bursts and what it would look like if I sprinkled over them with the powder. 

I spritzed them with water and then laid the other paper over top and patted it down until I got a reverse pattern which ended up like this: 

A very graphic effect.  I left  so much of the powder not activated with water that I will have to seal both of these pieces when I am done to prevent any activation later by accident.

Finally I thought why not try inking up the dies and using them with a fine line.  I inked up the hearts with dye ink pads and stamped the hearts randomly in different colors.  

 I still haven't finished this card but will have to shortly so it can go off in the mail. :)  Sorry I had no finished projects but hope that it might inspire you to play with your dies and sprays in a new way.

Suzz

Valentine

I have been busy playing with Valentines.  I have just a few to create which has me thinking of different ways to use my existing supplies.  I was inspired by the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge to Put a Stencil on It.

 I spent some time playing with a die cut out of a heart on a piece of white cardstock. I used a mask and a stencil to sponge on the gold and coral/red combinations on the card face.  I then decided to cut the heart around the edges but leave the center intact so I could fold up the base heart.

 That inspired me to cut out more hearts and layer them with the opposite pattern of colors and stencils. 

The background is stamped with a Verses Rubber Stamp - How Do I love Thee.  I love this script stamp and don't get to use it often enough. It is the full poem and in beautiful script.

The inks are gold and a mix of abandoned coral and a hint of red.  I used the mini harlequin stencil form Tim Holtz Layering Stencils.  I stamped the postal mark and the word Love from Stampers Anonymous.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Love is in the Air

Zoe is hosting the  Frilly and Funkie challenge this week. "LOVE IS IN THE AIR" is the challenge theme. Zoe described the challenge as "Create a vintage or shabby chic project with love as the central theme. Think hearts, cupid, love and romance in whatever color palette your heart desires."

With the idea of Love is in the Air I thought Valentine postcards would be perfect for the challenge.

I have come to realize one of my favorite things is the one layer stamped projects.  This was a fun project for me.

I was able to use a standard size for my postcards and then just add a hint of color with smearing ink on the craft mat and spritzing it with a gold shimmer spray.  I then just dragged the fronts and backs of my postcards through the color.  I ended up with two blue backgrounds and three pink backgrounds.

Next I stamped on all of them the post card image and the stamp placement box.  I embossed that on some of the backgrounds.  The gold shimmer leaves a coat and causes the ink to not take in some places as strongly so in those I would emboss the ink to help make it more pronounced.

I used the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil to add some brown splattering with a sponge and brown dye ink. I also sponged the edges to give a faded look.

The rest was looking through my many stamps and deciding which ones I wanted to blend together to make my postcards.

Then the coloring and shading if I had an outline stamp or adding other stencils with sponged backgrounds or traced hearts for additional details.

I even stamped a few of the backs of the postcards for fun.

I hope you enjoyed my Victorian Valentine Postcards!

The Design Team will choose their top four picks with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie and the next three will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will have a chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

 

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Picked Raspberry	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Salty Ocean	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Splatters	$17.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Bird Feather	$17.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Daydream
$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Correspondence	$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Perspective	$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Flower Garden	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Valentine	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Numbered
Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black Pad #3	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder - Black Soot	Prima Water Brush Pens - 3 Pack 585891 (March Pre-Order)	Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool-With 2 Blending Foams
Crinoline and Rayon Seam Binding Set	Miniature Ivory Sweetheart Blossom Flowers SAA-440		$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Nature Walk