Bee Happy!

Hi!  I have been busy re-working my craft area. In my constant attempt to keep everything organized I am in a bit of a re-org.  I recently received a few new holders for my inks and paints and that has caused me to re-think everything in the craft space.  I cleaned off my desk finally and had a go at a few challenges.

 I am not sure if I like the face in the metal embellishment but the bee needed something and I thought this was an interesting take. :)

The Anything But Cute Challenge is the Birds and the Bees and when I was cleaning up my scraps I realized I had the layered bee and hadn't used it in awhile.  So out came some scraps and the bee die to try to use up some scraps as well as play with the bee.

I also decided to pair this up with A Vintage Journey which is texture or embossing paste this month as with the embossed background and bee I have loads of texture.

I won't cover all the details but a lot of antique linen, ground espresso, Victorian velvet and gold went into the background and bee.

The challenge photo for Anything But Cute:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Bigz Die with Texture Fade - Layered Bee	Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Metallic Gold	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Victorian Velvet	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk
Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear - Super Fine Detail	Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Clear Rock Candy	Copper Keys for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	Copper Keys for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	Prima Marketing Mechanicals: Pocket Watches 2pc. (March Pre-order)

Frilly and Funkie - It's Not Easy Being Green

Hi! I am hosting a challenge in honor of Earth Day, which is April 22nd on the Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog.  The Funkie side of the team is sharing their projects today and you do not want to miss out on what they are sharing!   For this challenge you can create any type of project as long as you UPCYCLE or re-cycle something. Re-purpose an existing item, recycle an element that usually would be thrown away or use your paper scraps in a creative way. 

The winner will earn the chance of a Guest DT 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.


I had an empty Halo box that I thought would be perfect to house a few plants for my MIL for Mother's day.

I am really pleased with the way this turned out.  Here is what I started from:

I had to do some trimming to take of the halo. :)  And then I cut pieces of mixed media cardstock to the shape on the box.

Then I got busy trying to re-create a wood grain on the cardstock.

Pretty cool... I mixed distress stain spray with white embossing paste to tint the paste. I laid the stencil on and put a coat of wood grain on all four pieces.  I had to let them dry in between to cover the complete sides so this process took a few days. (I don't like to wait for things to dry!) After the paste dried I kept applying coats of spray of brown, gray, and orange. I kept misting until I got the color I liked.

  Here is a picture of the finished outside.

With the halo box it had the corners folded back and leaving a weird shape on the corners. I didn't need the extra structural support so I pulled it off the sides and cut out the extra cardboard.

For the insides I wanted the woodgrain but not the texture.  I decided to spray the cardstock with a lighter mix of colors and then sponge a black dye ink over the stencil to create the grain.

After that I just die cut flowers which were misted with yellows and purples. I sponged the edges with brown dye ink and stamped a very fine script in brown over the surface.  I punched a few little birds and layered the flowers across the front and back of the box.

To cover my edges I decided to moss it up!  I pulled out the hot glue gun and covered the edges with moss.

Here is the finished box. 

Here is an angle to show you the finished inside of the box.

The wet spots on the stone are from the puppy running up the steps before I stopped to take my pictures.

Here is a close up of the flowers in their pot.

To finish off her gift I stamped on the newsprint paper a mix of the typewriter, butterflies, wildflowers in a mix of the colors on the box.  I used two sheets to tie around the planter with twine and set them in the box.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Products:

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Woodgrain	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Spray Stain	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Old Paper	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Pumice Stone	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Wild Honey
Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - White	May Arts Paper Cord Ribbon - Brown - 10 Yards	RANGER MIXED MEDIA CARDSTOCK 8 1/2" X 11" 10PK	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Wildflowers by Tim Holtz 661190 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Wilted Violet
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain - Wilted Violet	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Spray Stain - Fossilized Amber	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Fossilized Amber	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Newsprint and Type CMS266 (April Pre-Order)	$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Perspective	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Wildflowers CMS253 (February Pre-Order)	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Newsprint	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator, Stamp Handle and Felt
Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot

Best Friends

Woodn't you like to play in the challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show?  Care to guess what the challenge is?  :)

The challenge this week is to be inspired by the woods. You can be inspired by anything to do with woods. I took my inspiration from wood grain and stamped my main image on a wood panel.

I started with a few things sitting on my desk which I pulled together to create a journal cover.

I stamped the image onto the wood grain background using Versafine Jet Black ink and heat embossed it with black embossing powder.  I then sponged distress stain  over the background.  I highlighted the image with a touch of white gel pen to make the image pop. I added a touch of watercolor pencils over the face and hands. I stamped the sentiment using red and brown ink and cut it out.  I distressed the edges and placed it along the image.

I was at the flea market and this gentleman had a chest full of old soda pop bottle caps.  I wanted a jarful but he wanted way too much money for that many so I bought just a few a for a couple of dollars. It brought back some fun memories going through the bottle caps and remembering an icy cold soda in a bottle at my Grandma's house.

I finished it off with some distressing and a few muslin ties put in the punched holes to allow for rings and multiple pages.

Products:  wood texture paper.,   metallic distress inks,  Stampers Anonymous - Best Friends,  Pink Paislee - Hope Chest, . Black Embossing Powder, Artistic Outpost - Paperboy, Versafine Black, Red Ink, Signo White Gel Pen, Distressing Tool, Stapler

Come play along for a chance to win a gift certificate from the ever generous  Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz