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Thursday, December 24, 2020

Merry Christmas & a Blessed New Year!

 I want to wish you all a very happy holiday!  I am wishing a blessed New Year to everyone in hopes that 2021 will bring us only better times. 


I have had the beautiful poinsettia stamp from Stampers Anonymous and couldn't wait to play with it.  This is a simple embossed image painted with some inky sprays and splattered with some lovely gold spray and white paint. 

In celebration of the babe born long ago.... Merry Christmas! 


Suzz


Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Deck The Halls

 Happy December to you all!  We are celebrating the holidays at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog!  Sara Emily is challenging us to Deck the Halls

Here is how she describes the challenge: 

"For this challenge, we would like to see those vintage or shabby chic Christmas decorations! This is not about Christmas cards this time, but think about tree ornaments, wreathes, vignettes, mantle or table decorations, etc. with a Christmas theme."

 I am currently in the midst of a little home renovation which put my supplies in quite a disarray so I was limited in what I could get my hands on! :) 

It involved a few pads of pattern paper, my big shot and the beautiful elegant poinsettia die.  I sat and cut many many rounds of flowers to create this shabby chic Christmas tree. 


Here is a close up of a few of the flowers.  What you can't see very well is that they are all frosted around the edges with glitter.
The centers are all white buttons from a very big jar of vintage and current buttons.

 The tree was too tall for my regular photo box so outside we went to try to get a picture that showed the tree in it's full glory. 

Please come join in and share your crafted decorations with us in the challenge!  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

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Wednesday, November 25, 2020

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

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Wednesday, November 11, 2020

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

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Sunday, November 8, 2020

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! 

Darkroom Door Eclectic Stamp Mini Open Book


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

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Home is where the Heart is

 Happy Wednesday! It is time for a new Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge!  The talented Jenny is hosting and she is challenging us with "Home is Where the Heart Is". Here is how she describes the challenge: 

"What does 'home' mean to you? Maybe it's a place of safety, somewhere you live with family or friends, or a place that holds treasured memories. It may be somewhere you can be yourself or a place from where you can grow and thrive. Whatever 'home' means to you create a project of your choice that represents it."

For me the home is all about the family.  This inspired me to create a mini village with a house for each person who will join us at our holiday table. I made the village so I can slip a name card into the top of each house.

Sizzix Tim Holtz Chapter 4 Paper Village For The Funkie Junkie Boutique

I loved having the variety of doors and windows to create different effects with each house.   I also started with some beautiful shabby chic paper to give it a soft Victorian effect.

I am not going to share the details as I will be sharing on Saturday at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog.  

I love how sweet the little houses looked when completed and can see creating a Christmas Village with these little houses.  

Please come join us in the fun!  The winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date  at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge 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

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Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Purple, Orange, Green! Eek! It's Halloween!

 Howdy!  It is time for another Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge!  Sara Emily has us creating for Halloween this time around with the Purple, Orange, Green! Eek! It's Halloween! challenge!  Here is how she describes the challenge: 

 " I love Halloween, and I would love to see your vintage or shabby chic Halloween creations, whether it be a card, tag, canvas, or any other make! If Halloween is not your cup of tea, simply use the colors purple, orange and green on your project to play along."

I have anxiously awaiting these flowers from the new Stampers Anonymous Dearly Departed set.  I could envision them cut out and colored.

 I decided to create a Halloween card for my daughter.  I started with stamping the flowers twice in black ink.  I colored with watercolor pencils and waterbrush.  I colored with dye inks on another set which was a softer effect.  

I inked up the background stamp with crackling campfire with a spritz of shimmery pearl and created a background.  I then colored some baubles with copic markers and added them for accents.

These flowers are beautiful and can be used for so many different projects, here is how it looks without the sentiment.

Please come join us in the fun and share your Halloween project! 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

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Sunday, October 11, 2020

Floating in the Clouds

The skies have been changing and we are seeing more clouds along with our cooler weather.  This had be me inspired to play with a new stencil from Darkroom Door  Cloud Set.  

 

 The stencil is fun because it comes with the mask along with the cut out stencil of two sizes of the clouds.  I used the smaller clouds to create a mini card that can be tucked into a gift bag.  


I also used both sizes to create a background of clouds floating behind the flowers:


I created masks of the Thistles to mask them and sponge on the clouds behind the flowers.  I decided to use a mix of a soft pink with brown to create the outlines of the clouds.

My final card used the masking to stamp music in the clouds along with sponged edges.  The bird was colored with watercolor pencils and the flowers stamped in two tones and then cut out to layer with the bird over the clouds. 

Happy Sunday to you! 


Suzz 

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Sunday, October 4, 2020

Gerbera Daisies

 Hi!  I hope you are having a beautiful weekend.  The sun is shining and the air is crisp.  I decided to play with my new Darkroom Door Gerbera Daisy Stamps and share a few cards! 

The flower comes in two sizes and it inspired me to create two variations of the same card using the different size flowers.


I started with stamping the flower multiple times and sponging the color (Distress Inks) and sponging a brown distress ink around the edges.  I then cut them into multiple layers.  The second flower was stamped in a soft orange. 

I stamped the center of the large flower in brown ink. I added glass seed beads which were sprayed with distress ink to color them to coordinate. 

I decided to pair the flowers with stems from another flower stamp set. And ink up the flowers with a vermillion red.  I then colored with watercolor pencils and a water brush. 

A sweet card to bring a little sunshine to someone as the weather changes and cools! 

Thanks for stopping by!


Suzz

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Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Fall Foliage

 The winds have shifted and the cool air has arrived.  The trees are starting to put on their fancy outfits and give us a spectacular fashion show.  This time around at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge Jenny is challenging us with "Fall Foliage"

This is how she describes the challenge: 

"According to most search engines the Fall season has officially begun so we should be starting to see the emergence of all those beautiful Autumnal colours, unless Mother Nature throws us a curve ball! Let's celebrate them anyway by creating a vintage or shabby chic project in traditional Fall shades that includes some form of foliage like leaves, berries and so on."



 
What better way to celebrate fall than to use the new Autumnal Leaves Die cuts and cut some translucent leaves from Yupo paper. 

The leaves were die cut from the Yupo paper and then I happily played with mixing a variety of fall colors form the Alcohol Inks. I used a variety of the colors. 

I stamped over the large leaf with text using a lovely coordinating color.  

The background is a stencil emulating burlap and burlap along with some fine splattering.  The Paper Doll was colored to coordinate.  I couldn't resist the snarky sticker as her expression looks like my kids did when I asked for one more picture. 

Please come share your fall foliage with us!  The Design Team will choose their top picks with the overall winner earning an opportunity to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog and there are also badges for three additional outstanding entries. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 gift certificate to go shopping at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

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Friday, September 25, 2020

Ladies in Hats

 Hi! I am back to share a new filmstrip stamp from Darkroom Door called Ladies in Hats!


The filmstrip contains a variety of fashionable ladies showing off their hats.  

 I paired them with the background stamp of the newsprint which had an ad for the Fashion Academy which I thought was perfect for these fine ladies.  I added a few handmade flowers by twisting up some trim with a few hatpins holding it in place.  I added a vintage button as the centers and some glittery buttons mixed into the background.

I loved the striking effect of the filmstrips in black and white and decided to create a few more cards with no color.  I think it is very elegant using the  black and white combination.

I thought wouldn't it be fun to have some baby cards to give someone as a little tag on a gift or just as a little note of inspiration.



For more inspiration you can visit the Darkroom Door blog.

Thanks for stopping by! 


Suzz 

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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Staying in the Background

 Welcome back to another Funkie Junkie Challenge!  This time it hosted by the wonderful Cec and she is challenging us to Staying in the Background.   This is how she describes the challenge:

"My challenge to you is to create your own background and use it in a shabby chic or vintage project - no pre-printed patterned paper this time. You can create the background in any number of ways and it can be simple or intricate. Using embossing folders. stencils, dies, stamps, washi tape, paints, inks or a gel press are just a few ideas. Make sure you give a brief description of how you created your background in your post."

Well I love a good background either stamped or mixed media. My problem is I never want to cover it up!  

I wanted to try to do something in shades of green and pulled out the gradient square stencil as I have never used it on anything.

I played around with a mix of stamping tiny text as a whole sheet of rubber of different versions of a sprayed/embossing paste mixes of the diamonds. 

For my card I took a remnant of something I was playing with.  I sprayed through the stencil and it was very messy and the squares became indistinct.  I then used another sheet of cardstock to pick up the excess.  

After it dried I then stamped over a piece and cut off a scrap which became a panel in my background. 

I stamped a mix of brown and green ink for the circle and cut it out.  I stamped over that the watch hand in brown.  I then attached my panel and circle together with a bit of design tape and put them onto a white cardstock background. 

Next I stenciled embossing paste over all the layers and waited for it to dry and sponged brown ink over the embossing. 

I added a double flower with some stamping and twine to finish the card. 

Here is an alternative background using the same tools: 



I stamped the circle over the stenciled background and enhanced with some watercolor pencil around the edges.  I layered more design tape over the image. 

I originally started the challenge with the idea to create my own pattern paper.


I stamped a mix of the roses with text on white cardstock.  I colored with watercolor pencils.  I then took the brick stencil and softly sponged brick around the images.  

I added touches of clear embossing on the flower to help with the glossy effects and also added water drops using glossy medium. 

The butterflies were to add depth and make my background a backround. :)  

Come show us your backgrounds!  The winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge 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

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Saturday, September 5, 2020

Saturday Showcase - Feathered Friends

 Hi!  I have a post over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog today showcasing a few cards with Feathered Friends and lots of Idea-Ology goodies.

If you want the details and to see the  other cards in the series please pop over here

Have a beautiful Saturday!

Suzz


Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Birds

 Happy Wednesday!  Time for another fun Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge! I am hosting this time around and I am challenging you to be inspired by the Birds


 

Here is my description of the challenge: 

"For this Challenge I want you to be inspired by our flying friends.  You can take the challenge literally and have images or die cuts of birds on your art, you can be inspired by the words describing birds or even showcase their homes.  Make sure to share with us how you were inspired by the birds"

I was inspired by this lovely stamp from Aall & Create with had me happily coloring and using my waterbrush to create a simple card with lots of color. 


  This was a simple process of stamping the image and I used a mix of plum and black ink for my image.  (Didn't clean the stamp of the black ink and layered on the plum over it) 

I stamped the image and then happily colored with a variety of watercolor pencils and a waterbrush.  I multiple layers of color and shading.  I outlined the images with a soft gray to create more depth. 

After I finished with my coloring and it was dry I used the white gel pen to add highlights and some speckling.  


Then I used an craft knife to carefully cut up the petals randomly and bent them to add texture.  I had some die cut pieces from my Saturday showcase (peek to come) sitting on my desk.  I stuck in pieces of the piney branches behind my cut up flower petals. 

I stamped the bird a second time and colored him.  I then cut him out and popped him up over the original colored bird.  

I then stamped the sentiment and attached it to the bird.  I finished by layering the image multiple times including a watercolored piece to add emphasis. 

Now onto my sneak peek for Saturday: 


If you want to get your grunge on... Fly over to the Funkie Junkie Blog on Saturday and see how the bird flys! 

Come join us in sharing your birds!  The winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date  at The Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge blog, (and the guest designers have been wow!) 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

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