Friday, March 15, 2024

Finish It!

Hi!  I don't know about you but I have many leftovers as I like to call them cluttering up my craft desk, drawer and a few other places.  I start something and lack a finishing focal point, image, or inspiration!  The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave challenged us this time to finish something off that was an incomplete art project. 


I had created these beautiful shimmery backgrounds with mica stain sprays blending the colors to create a gorgeous mix of colors and then failed to use them.

Then Mr. Rabbit hopped into the house and I felt inspired to tag him!  I took one of the pieces created from this masterboard of shimmery sprays and cut it down to a tag size. 

I then stamped Mr. Rabbit using an archival ink and while it was still wet applied black embossing powder to make him really pop and hop on the background.  

Then I decided I wanted to outline and highlight him with a white gel pen.  This helped make him stand out on that strong orange background. 

I wanted to add a little whimsy to the image and decided he needed a fun bow tie and some jewelry on his floppy ear.  

I added some polka dots with some white embossing powder after stamping with Versamark randomly around the background.  

To finish it off a few black gems to his buttons and the background with a sweet sentiment.All in time for the Easter holiday coming up! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Products: 

Friday, March 1, 2024

Hat's Off to Men

 Howdy!  We are celebrating masculine inspired cards on The Funkie Junkie Boutique Inspiration Ave!  I started from some fun Idea-Ology Photomatic images to inspire my masculine card. 

Look at that face!  It is so inspiring and fun.  I created layers of grungy goodness to frame out Mr. Handsome. 

 

 The card base is from a kraft cardstock which was sponged with the lovely new Scorched Timber and sprinkled with the speckled egg distress oxide and water spots. 

The next layer is created with texture paste over a stencil which was spritzed using a mix of the scorched timber and speckled egg distress oxide.  A little water helped blend the two together.

Then a scrap of a backdrop paper sponged with a touch of the scorched timber layered  under the framed photo.

A few touches with the stamped sentiment and the numbers on the photo finished off the effect.  The embellishments of twine, die cut branch and buttons were added to create movement. 

Hop over to the Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave for more masculine projects inspiration! 


Suzz

Products: 



Friday, February 16, 2024

Hearts & Flowers

 Hi!  Time to celebrate Valentine's with some hearts and flowers!  The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave team is showing off their hearts and flowers.  I was inspired by the lovebirds again!  


The lovebirds look so sweet nestled inside of the card peeking out from a larger heart framed with all the little hearts!  

The background of everything is covered with a soft pattern made from the bouquet stencil and some clear embossing powder. 

The images were created by laying the stencil over white cardstock and sponging over the stencil with versamark watermark ink.  Then covering the ink with clear embossing powder and shaking off the excess.  Then heat up the embossing powder until it melts completely.  

After that The hearts and birds were cut from the embossed paper and the card base was formed from the embossed paper.  The heart was handdrawn and cut out from the center of the card front. 

The hearts were layered around the edges of cut out heart and the birds were placed inside.  The single pink heart was sprayed with mica stain spray and placed over their hearts. 

My first heart card started with texture paste and mica stain sprayed over the surface and it was striking but didn't pop with the smaller hearts so this card base will have to wait until I get additional coordinating hearts ready for it!

Next I played with many hearts sprayed in beautiful shiny mica stain sprays and paired them with a pink heart placed on the front of the card.

This was just a smattering of purple and yellow hearts over the pink heart and some sweet lovebirds paired with the hearts.


Three different cards all using the lovebirds and hearts for inspiration!  

Suzz

Products: 

Friday, February 2, 2024

Steampunk Lovebirds

Hi!  The design team at The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave is showcasing the latest Sizzix Release by Tim Holtz called Out of the Vault!  I was lucky enough to receive the beautiful LoveBirds! 

I decided to stamp up my die cuts to add a pop of texture to the surface.  I created a flock of birds before I realized what I wanted to use on my card.

I cut the birds from inky backgrounds and using the Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Backdrops.  I spritzed the backgrounds using the same colors I used on the card.  They were a mix of Seasonal Distress Mica Stains along with a distress oxide. 
The backgrounds were created by first applying a layer of opaque crackle texture paste over the flourish stencil. This was done on the backdrops paper and white cardstock.


 While the crackle paste was wet the sprays were sprayed multiple times along with water to help mix the colors and thin out in areas the density of the color.  Then a heat gun was used to dry out the crackle paste.  There was a mix of some areas crackling and others not because of the wetness when applied. 

After that the background was cut for the card from one of the pieces.  Then the birds were stamped using black archival ink with the various images on some inky remnants.  The birds and feather were covered in versamark ink and then a layer of clear embossing powder heated up.  This made the colors more vibrant and added another pop to the color on the cut out images. 

Happy inking! 

Suzz

Products: 

Friday, January 19, 2024

It's Cold Outside!

We are definitely feeling the cold this week!  We are sitting at -31 degrees with the windchill. Perfect time to sit inside and craft a bit!  The Funkie Junkie Boutique design team is showing off their cold likes and dislikes at The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave.  I was inspired by frosted windows that had such beautiful crystalized designs.  I wondered if I could emulate that with the Frosted Crystal Embossing Medium from Tim Holtz/Ranger. 


To create a frosted pane: 

  1. Start with a heat resistant acetate sheet. 
  2. Sponge over the stencil with Versamark ink. To get your pattern onto the acetate. 
  3. Sprinkle with the Frosted Crystal. 
  4. Heat up the embossing powder until the crystal shows.  (Don't overheat as eventually the crystal will melt and you will just have a clear embossed image) 

The frame on the cardstock was created with the same process. 

  1.  Lay the stencil over the front of the card. 
  2. Sponge on the Versamark ink. 
  3. Repeat pattern until front of the card is covered with inky pattern. 
  4. Sprinkle with Frosted Crystal. Shake off excess. 
  5. Heat up the embossing powder. 
  6. Smear gold wax over surface to create highlights.

Then cut out the inside of the card base and use for the additional layering on top.  I also used a bit of the excess from the middle to die cut the bird to place on the front of the card. 

I loved the effect of the Frosted Crystal and decided to try the same process on white cardstock. 


The tag was created by: 

  1. Sponge versamark ink through the stencil onto the white cardstock. 
  2. Repeat until surface area is covered. 
  3. Sprinkle Crystal Frost Embossing powder over surface.  Shake off excess. 
  4. Heat until the frosty effect occurs. 
  5. Spray with a mix of distress oxide and micas stain sprays. 
  6. Spritz with water to lighten the effect and dab with paper towels to take off excess ink.
 The next panel was made with translucent embossing paste.



To create the snowy effect: 

  1. Lay stencil over heat resistant acetate. 
  2. Use spatula with translucent embossing paste and apply to acetate. 
  3. Repeat until covered with snowflakes. 
  4. Sprinkle Frosted Crystal Embossing medium over surface and tap off excess. 
  5. Some will cling to the acetate.  (I used a fine tip brush to brush off the excess) 
  6. Heat emboss the snowflakes and the embossing paste.  The embossing paste will puff up which gives it an additional layer of texture. 
  7. I wanted a full frosty panel so I took one more step of inking up the complete reverse side with Versamark and applying the Frosted Crystal Embossing Medium over the entire surface and then heated it up. 

This panel looked like a frosted pane of glass and was very cool!  

Keep warm! 

Suzz

Products: 

Friday, January 5, 2024

2023 Favorites!

Hi!  I am sharing my favorite from 2023!  I loved the Floral Trims from Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz and did a series of tags with it earlier this year but wanted to bring it back out and play with it one more time! 

 This is a multi-layered card using the floral trims stamps.  First the stamp was stamped on white cardstock with black ink.

The background was sponged with black dye ink around the images.  Then splatter the background with white paint.  

Stamp the flowers again on tissue paper and white cardstock using black archival ink.

Color the images with watercolor pencils and blend with a water brush on both the white cardstock and tissue paper.  Heat set the colors on the images.


Cover the entire  colored image with versamark watermark ink.  Apply clear embossing powder over the tissue paper and  heat emboss until the embossing powder completely melts.

Cut out the flowers as a complete image from the white cardstock and apply to the black sponged inky background.  Cut out the flower petals and leaves from the transparent colored image to apply over the images on the cardbase.

This will give the card a layered 3 dimensional effect. 

 Suzz

Products: 

Friday, December 22, 2023

Holiday Homecoming!

Welcome to the holidays!  The team at The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave is sharing their holiday homecoming a celebration of the holidays with family and friends.  

I was inspired by wreaths that my mother and I made years ago for holiday craft shows. It was fun picking out different flowers, garland, and embellishments to decorate the wreathes.  

My wreath of joy started from a collection of poinsettias cut from white cardstock.  I started by cutting many different shapes to play with in different mediums and ended up with poinsettias on white cardstock because of how I wanted the colors to saturate and stand out.

Next up was making the beautiful colors on the flowers and branches.  The flower pieces were all sponged with a red dye ink.  After that they smaller pieces received a distressing with a brown dye ink and the larger flowers were sponged around the edges with the brown dye ink.  

The branches were sponged with versamark and embossed with a shimmery silver.  (I am still glittering in random spots on my face and hair!)  

I next cut out a circle to hold onto my wreath from cardboard.

I sponged the front of the circle to match the flowers in case any of the cardboard peeked through the flowers. 

Then I heat set the flowers before attaching the layers as the distress ink can remain damp and cause the tape to not stick properly.  I attached the layers to the flowers petals.  Then the flowers were alternated on the frame of the wreath using tape for the bottom flower and pop dots to create depth on the alternating flowers.


After all the flowers were placed on the wreath the various branches were tucked into the wreath around the edges using tape and glue dots.  Then a lovely little sentiment was placed on the banner on the front with a few extra twigs. 

The centers of the flowers were a mixture of embellishments.  

Have a happy holiday! 

Suzz

Products: