On the Sea for the Funkie Junkie Boutique!

Cec is hosting the current Funkie Junkie Boutique blog (formerly Frilly and Funkie), and has asked us to think "Water, Water, Everywhere!"  She describes it thus:

Often when people go on vacation there is water involved – fishing, cruising, checking out the aquarium, enjoying water sports or playing in the sand at the beach. For this challenge I want you to create a vintage or shabby chic project that reminds you of one or more of these past times.

For some reason, this brought to mind vintage Japanese woodblock prints, including those by the master Hokusai:

And then, naturally, the Japanese reference took me to origami paper, of which I have a lovely collection thanks to one of my former nursing students.... and while looking through my stash I discovered quite a bit of leftovers from this make. The bright and tangled bits of the sash for that journal were what I had, and as an art quilter, that explosion of pattern and color quite appeals.



I had enough to cut out a little boat, and added a mast of gold card stock, to accentuate the little gold highlights in the origami papers.

I placed it in a night sky, created by painting card with Chipped Sapphire Distress Paint, and splattering with a bit of Brushed Pewter Distress Paint.  I then added some stars cut from gold card stock with the Swirling Stars die from Tim Holtz.  I added some Nuvo Worn Linen Expanding Mousse as waves - this stuff distresses quite nicely under heat.  I don't have any closeups, but I quite liked the effect.

I should have just left it there..... but we went camping the next few days and whilst in the mountains, I got in my noggin that I should make this a shaker card, and a double one at that!  Blame it on the thin air.... but many hours later I conceded to a single shaker, as you'll see.

First, though, I decided on a vertical 5 x 7 size, due to the format of my little boat, and the desire to show both the stars and wave sequins (both shakers in my mind).  I taped together a largish rectangle die from the (nested) Must Have Rectangles Set One from Scrapbooking Made Simple and a smaller Rounded Rectangle die from the nested set made by Hero Arts.  I got the taping idea from Jennifer McGuire, who used packing tape; I had no luck with that but the washi tape held up through 12 cuts of rather hefty card stock.

I cut 10 frames from this taped model, in blue card, as well as some "waves" from the older "Scrolls" On the Edge die from Tim Holtz; these were cut from white card and painted with Chipped Sapphire Distress Paint, with a bit of Nuvo Worn Linen expanding mousse to emulate whitecaps.
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I stacked 4 frames, glued them together with liquid adhesive, placed them on my background, and added the star cutouts.  The wave was then placed with lots of foam tape, to keep the stars in the sky as it were, and not the ocean.  Then I place a layer of acetate before continuing with more frames.

And here is where I could not figure out how to keep the sequins in the ocean contained fully.  I tried several configurations of placing a second set of waves with foam, and the boat, but despite best efforts, sequins kept leaping into the sky.  I ended up ruining the first background trying to peel off the frame , and had to start over.... I am sure there is a way to make this work, but it eluded me this time, and thus I decided to simply glue down a generous amount of sequins on the front of the second wave, and place the boat.  Ah well, live and learn....

I place another layer of acetate before putting down the finish frame, to which I had added a Tim Holtz Word band secured with brads from my stash.  The piece was mounted to a white card, and I will make an envelope later.  Forgive the glare - acetate is notoriously difficult to photograph!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and please do leave a comment if you'd like - I love hearing from you!  I am entering this into the current Funkie Junkie Boutique challenge "Water, Water Everywhere".

Tiled Patterns, Infusions and Foil!

I appear to be on a roll in the craft room, making up for lost time, lol!  But truth be told, I am so happy to be back at my craft table after such a long absence - and I have so many ideas, which of course multiply as soon as I start looking online at others' work and challenges.  Today I am aiming for three challenges:  Paper Artsy re "Tiled Patterns", Simon Says Stamp re "Make a Background with Infusions", and Mix it Up re Anything Goes Plus Foil", when their challenge opens Friday.  

I have some other ideas for the Paper Artsy Tiled Pattern challenge, which will be coming soon!

Unlike the past, when I made tags and art journal pages with abandon, this year I am focused on building a portfolio in hopes that I can be juried into the local Winter Market, as a stepping stone for selling my work in several local tourist venues.  So cards and mini albums it is!  And who knows, maybe some wine bottle tags, and other types of gift tags as I get my stride.  We have some fantastic wineries here in Idaho!

I started with some 300 gsm watercolor paper, and applied Paper Artsy Grunge Paste through a brick stencil in my stash - this will be my tiled pattern.  I put it on generously and unevenly, and tapped the paste with my finger to further roughen the surface.  I wanted plenty of places for the Infusions to penetrate with all their luscious richness.

The colors I chose were on the moody side - blue and purple, with a bit of aged green tossed in.  That combo was one of my favorites in a guest post I did on infusions for Paper Artsy some years past.

Once the texture paste dried, I sprayed quite a bit of water onto the bricked pattern, and sprinkled the infusions in various areas.  As the water did its work, I spritzed a bit more onto the piece, so the pigments could roll around and drip into crevasses, as well as penetrate the texture paste.

It started to get a bit too brown in areas, so I dabbed with the edge of a paper towel to lighten it up a bit, and let it dry, impatiently, I might add!  When I couldn't stand it anymore, I applied a heat gun, and got a bit more texture through the subsequent bubbling, which you can just discern in the middle here.

Although Mix It Up does not require one to use the extra technique, in this case foiling, I am a raven and love all things shiny - so of course I was going to add foil!  

Thus, once the piece was truly dry, I took a large nib two-way glue pen, thinking to somehow swipe it over the rough areas.  However, I had stored it with the nib down, and some significant amount of glue had seeped into the cover, which when I removed it, splashed some onto my floor.  Perfect!  Now I knew how to apply this glue.... by dipping my finger into the cap, and swiping that round the piece.  Once the glue was tacky, I took some Ranger foil, and pressed it onto the piece, rubbing hard with the side of my hand to transfer the foil.

I was happy with the result....

and decided to look for a quote as a "sentiment".  Perusing my books, I chanced upon a stanza from one of my favorite poets, Stanley Kunitz.  He was a remarkable gardener, as well as an outstanding poet, and I usually can find something that suits from his work.  This stanza with this image brings to mind the dawn's light on old bricks somewhere, let's say Paris or somewhere else equally wonderful!

Then came the decision of how to place the quote onto the card front.... I tried my beautiful vintage Underwood typewriter, but as it really doesn't like to play with thicker paper, like cardstock, this did not work.

I have applied digital fonts to tissue paper in the past, including a piece with another snippet of Kunitz' work, and thought to do that....even managed to locate my temporary adhesive spray which would make my carrier for the printer.... but then I thought the words would be lost, which is ok for a journal page, but not at all wonderful for a card which is to convey a sentiment!

So I tried printing my stanza in a digital font on my inkjet printer, having changed the font color to a dusky purple.... and breathed a sigh of relief that it worked.  I used one of the smaller dies from Tonic Studios' Layered Rivoli die to cut out the sentiment, trimming the lovely rounded brackets off to match the mood of this piece.  I distressed the edges physically, and with Ground Expresso Distress Ink, and then aged the little thing with Antique Linen Distress Ink.    I then trimmed and rounded the piece, and selected a pale purple cardstock for the card.... not sure how many people would buy this, but I like it, so I guess we will find out, lol!

Thank you so much for visiting, and if you did read this rather lengthy post!  Please do leave a comment if you can - I love hearing from you!

Home Sweet Home Indeed!

Sara Emily hosts the current "Home Sweet Home" challenge at the Frilly and Funkie blog.  After seeing her incredible make and reading the story behind it, I was stumped - home means so many different things to me, after having lived in 23 distinct homes across the US and in Holland throughout my life.  

But on reflection, I realized that at last, I really am home, hopefully my last (and that I will be here many years, might I add!)  As they say in the pet rescue world, I've found my forever home, lol!  

I retired from nursing and teaching last year, moved to my new house in Northern Idaho in summer, and finished the nascent landscaping by the skin of my teeth ... with my new puppy Boo on the case...

before the snows of winter descended.  

In the spring, we sowed a bunch of wildflower seeds, and eventually, they produced a glorious meadow, a joy to behold.  

And this became my "home sweet home" motif!

I have been into pop-ups lately; something about the interactive nature of them has always fascinated me, and having been somewhat successful in my last make with this little gear pop-up, I decided to try something "pop-up" again.

After traveling down the Pinterest rabbit hole way too many times, I found this tutorial, which seemed to lend itself to my idea of re-creating a meadow in my card.  She uses a small hinge mechanism in her card to provide some depth to the pop-ups.

I die cut a full set of each of the smaller Tim Holtz Wildflower sets in Distress Watercolor Paper, and colored with a variety of Distress Ink Markers, by dabbing and swiping loosely on the die cut, then using a water brush to meld the colors.  

I inserted my colored wildflowers into the hinge mechanism within the card, and added a sentiment from an Alexandra Renke die.

For the outside of my card, I cut from Distress Watercolor paper the recent Sizzix/Tim Holtz Organics cover die, and again colored with the Distress markers.  On some areas, I misted the die cut first, and on others, I colored as before.  Note To Self:  Use distress ink pads on your mat, with a water brush, rather than dipping the markers into small pools of water!  Much more effective, and less wasteful of your markers.  Like I haven't seen hundreds of people do the right thing before, lol!

And here is the card in its natural setting:

Thank you so much for visiting, and please do leave a comment if you can - I appreciate them all!  I am entering this into the Frilly and Funkie "Home Sweet Home" challenge.

Thanks,

Lynn

'Tis time for tissue

Now that I am finally back in the craft room, I am actively seeking challenges to get back in crafty shape, and I thought I'd give a go to the June challenge at A Vintage Journey.  Astrid has asked us to incorporate tissue paper into a make, and the Creative Guides have made some fabulous samples which I highly encourage you to view!

After some thought, I decided to make another little book, so I could also put a second entry into the June challenge at Mini Album Makers.  And for good measure, I decided to make my theme about travel/transport, so that I could enter the Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp, the gist of which is "Transport It".

This will be a photo-heavy blog entry, as it is the way I keep track of my crafty journey, so please grab a favorite beverage and take a look!

I started by cutting the new Eileen Hull Note book Die from Sizzix, first out of black mat board for the cover, and then twice more from heavy black cardstock to make the pages.  I was inspired by the technique that Kathy Clements uses for this die, which is to directly glue the pages into the finished cover, rather than using elastic to keep signatures in place.  I wanted to make this a very interactive book, as you'll see!

My first step was to gesso the cover, crumple up some tissue paper, and adhere with Glue & Seal (now discontinued, but I am sure that Collage Medium would work just fine).  After this substrate had dried, I generously sprayed with Dylusions After Midnight, spritzing with water and tipping here and there to get the color concentrated in the various nooks and crannies.  Then I dabbed out some Brushed Pewter Distress Paint on my work surface, diluted with a bit of water, and splattered all over - I was going for a night sky effect.

After this dried, I trimmed off the excess tissue paper, turned the cover over, and applied more tissue paper which had a beautiful script print to it.  This time I cut the paper to size, as I was not crumpling it.

Some ink from the Dylusions spray migrated onto the inside cover, despite the gesso.  So I ended up painting a light coat of Shaded Lilac distress paint over the whole inside cover to make it look coherent.... one of my favorite shades so I was not concerned.

Once this dried, I sealed everything with Glue and Seal (matte medium or collage medium would also work).  Next I applied Emerald Creek Burnt Copper Leaves embossing powder to the edges, to try to cover the "sandwich edges" between outside and inside covers.

In hindsight, I would first apply a narrow washi tape finish on the edges before heat embossing.  Bits and pieces flaked off as I handled the cover to insert the finished pages, and I think having a more solid substrate of tape would have helped.  Also, this embossing powder is quite chunky, so probably not the best selection for this type of treatment.  But it sure is lovely!

I then die cut and heat embossed with a fine gold embossing powder the new Destination die from Time Holtz.  It is too wide to fit on the front cover, so I cut it in half, and matched the two pieces on front and back cover.  

The gold embossing on the globe diecut was a bit too bright, so I knocked it back with some aqua and iron Prima gilding waxes.  I then cut a piece of brown ribbon, and affixed that to the cover with a brad.  Onto the inside pages!

I created an accordion mini-booklet for the first page.  I smooshed some 90 lb. water color paper into Antique Linen and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide Inks that had been spritzed with water, and continued to do so until my entire page was covered and to my liking.  I did this on both sides.

Then I accordion folded this piece, and adhered various images from the Stamperia Fantastic Voyages paper pad, bits of 3D embossing folders from Tim Holtz, and some fabulous stamps I have from Michelle Ward at Green Pepper Press, and from Carabelle Studios.  I embellished a few images with other bits from the paper pad and with various 3D cut and emboss folders from Tim Holtz, highlighted with Prima's gilding wax.

 I was able to use up some bits from my last album as well.

 This little accordion pamphlet is secured into the album by a piece of elastic cording.

                                                                                                   

                                                         
The  second page is simply an image cut from the Stamperia paper, to hide the cord from the first page.  The third page features a small pocket made from the Tim Holtz Gearhead corner die out of black card highlighted with various gilding waxes, and a little card made from the Stamperia paper....



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             




















For the fourth page, I created a pocket made from cream card, embossed with the 3D Mechanics embossing folder from Tim Holtz.  I covered this with Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint, and some iron gilding wax from my stash to age it.  Inside is a little tag cut from the Stamperia paper, with a small bronze eyelet to which I attached some twine....

 The next page has a magnetic enclosure, cut from some map paper from my stash, and further cut with the Ornate On-the-Edge dies from Tim Holtz.  Inside is again a little tag from the Stamperia paper held in place with a gears border from my stash, heat embossed with Stampendous Aged Marine embossing powder.

The next two pages offer a pop-up of gears created from the Gearhead thinlits set.... quite hard to capture on camera, but I must say very fun in real life!  The gears are highlighted with various Prima Metallique gilding waxes.

The final page is a little pocket, again from the Stamperia paper (as well as a leftover from the Alchemy paper used in my last book), and some tags cut from the Fantastic Voyages Stamperia pad.

The booklet itself closes with the ribbon wrapped round....

Thank you so much for stopping by, and for hanging in with me through this long post!  Please do leave a comment if you choose - I love hearing from you!

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