Guest Designer - Morena Hockley

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to welcome Morena Hockley of Morena's Corner, the winner of our recent Chillin' in the Heat challenge.  Morena is joining us this week as our guest designer for our Stamped With Love challenge.  

Ciao amici! My name is Morena Hockley and I'm cackling with joy to be the guest designer joining you today. You can find me at Morena's Corner where I share lots of craft tutorials for a variety of projects. I especially love to work with thrifted items to turn them into something new and fun! I'm tickled that my recycled box was chosen as the winner of the last challenge. That creepy clown box showcases some of my favorite things: upcycling, rustic and shabby design and Halloween! This is my favorite time of the year, and when I was invited to share a new project with you all my mind immediately went to this spooky yet sweet project. 

This 3-D card was made by combining a cut file from Furrow and Feather with a variety of Tim Holtz products. Instead of using the background cut files that came with the project, I used TIm Holtz stamps, distress inks and distress embossing powders to create textured "wallpaper" and the alchemy sign on the wall. I added texture to the cat and the cauldron by using Tin Holtz embossing ink and distress embossing powders. The book cover was stamped with an old Tim Holtz Halloween set I have in my craft stash, and the entire card was grunged up with distress ink. I finished off the piece with some Poly-Fil glued on to make "smoke", a little bit of dried moss and some shrink plastic jars filled with things every witch must have in her kitchen!

A huge thank you to Morena for sharing a stamped project with some of her favorite Tim Holtz stamps!  What are your favorite Tim Holtz stamps?  We would be delighted for you to share your favorites with us.  Our Stamped With Love challenge has another week to run so there is still time to join in our challenge.

Guest Designer - Lia van Bruggen-Vreman

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to welcome Lia van Bruggen-Vreman (Lia's Designs) as our Guest Designer this week. Lia was the overall winner of our Stuck in the Middle challenge recently.

My name is Lia and it's great fun being a Guest Designer this time. During my whole life I am a creative person and I like all kinds of papercraft, like cardmaking, scrapbooking and making crafts for and with kids. As for cardmaking: I don't have a favorite technique, but I prefer making all kinds of sceneries with stamps and diecuts. I am a card designer for one of the most well known Dutch designers for cardsupplies (Leane Creatief) and that's big fun! But I also like cross stitching, reading good books and traveling with our motorhome. I am a textwriter for several Dutch craft magazines and sometimes I make craft projects to be published in these magazines.

Today you see my interactive card for the challenge theme "Moving Parts" which I made with diecuts from Leane Creatief and unbranded stamps. I made the background with diluted Distress inks and colored the stamped images with markers.

I attached the car with big foampads onto the 'pull out' paperstrip and attached the front of this card with foamtape onto a green card. Done that, this has been glued on the front of a double cream card.

Make sure you check out Lia's blog (Lia's Design) to see more of her beautiful creations. Don't forget to share your 'Moving Parts' project with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, May 31st.

Guest Designer - Stephanie Severin

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to welcome Stephanie Severin, the overall winner of our recent "The Music of Life" challenge, as our latest Guest Designer.

My name is Stephanie (aka SmilynStef) from Ingenious Inkling. I've been cardmaking for more than 22 years embracing all types of creative styles and techniques.

For the "Stencil Mania" Challenge, I created my mixed media cards starting with a gorgeous piece of designer paper from the Stamperia Klimt Collection. I covered it with clear Gesso first and then had fun adding on lots of layers.

I started with Dylusions Shimmer Paints and my three Stencils - Tim Holtz Ringer Layering Stencil, Tim Holtz Lace Layering Stencil and the Dylusions Small Martha's Most Massive Mat on my gesso-covered designer paper.. I sponged and painted through the stencils, as well as coating them with paint and using them to *stamp* onto my paper.

Once I was done with stenciling, I decided I wanted to create both a feminine and a masculine slimline card from my stenciled background., I added a few spritzes of Dina Wakley Media Gloss Sprays and some mark stamping with Dina's Archival Inks. I completed my slimline cards using more Klimt papers; embossed, sprayed and painted watercolor paper; Tim Holtz Sickers & Sentiments; Tim Holtz Baseboard Dolls; Prima Gouache flowers; Prima Finnabair Texture Paste; and some Dylusions Washi Tape. I also added a few Japanese Butterfly stickers from my stash.

A huge thank you to the Funkie Junkie Boutique for carrying such great products and the invitation to Guest Design.

Don't forget to visit Stephanie's Blog to see more details about how she created these amazing cards. The Funkie Junkie Boutique hopes that they will inspire you to create an entry for our "Stencil Mania" challenge.

Guest Designer - Linda Coughlin

Hello! Linda Coughlin aka The Funkie Junkie back again as a guest designer for the Stuck In the Middle challenge. We had a gap in our guest designer line up that gave me an opportunity to get back into my craft room. I'm happy to be able to get my fingers messy again.

For my Stuck in the Middle theme, I found a great tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers for a 3-D Frame Display. I made mine larger than the tutorial, using 8.5x11" Distress White Heavystock to give it a nice stiff body. After watching the latest Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous release, I was inspired to use the Floral Elements CMS445 set, but we have sold out our first delivery so I looked around the shop for something similar and found the AALL & Create set Just Grow #270 which has a similar feel to it. I used the Tim Holtz set Field Notes to stamp the background with Hickory Smoke Archival Ink and then stamped the floral stamps in Black Soot Archival Ink over it.

I also had fun using some of the new Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paste Opaque and the Gilded Foundry Wax. The flowers were cut with the old Tattered Florals die and inked with Saltwater Taffy Distress Spray.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. We hope you will play along with our challenges!

Guest Designer - Carol Franklin

Our challenge winner was unable to be a Guest Designer at this time, so instead of going without, we offered Carol Franklin of Customer Service a chance to share a project.

Hello. I'm Carol Franklin, and I've been working at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for quite a while. Like most of you, I've been crafting all my life, and I wish I had the time to create all of the projects that I imagine when when I see the amazing creations from our talented Design Team as new products arrive. I'm honored to share this card I made to go with the current challenge theme: "The Music of Life."

While I'm not much of a frilly girl, I do love paper engineering and getting inky with Distress Inks. I especially love to make 3-D cards, like this Z-fold, and sharing them with friends. As they say, "No one prints an email and puts it on the mantle!"

All 25 pieces of the jukebox were colored with Distress products. I inked various pieces with Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Candied Apple, Prize Ribbon, and Scattered Straw. The feet were embossed with plain old black embossing powder, but I was excited to finally try my collection of Distress Embossing Glazes. I used Prize Ribbon for the window and Antique Linen for the arches. With a little courage from watching our Design Team's work, I tried using the new Sterling Foundry Wax to turn the trim pieces into shiny silver. It was a breeze, and I can hardly wait to play with them again.

Don't forget to share your project for 'The Music of Life' challenge with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, June 14th.

Guest Designer - Michelle McDonald

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to have Michelle McDonald (Michelle's Scrap Designs) as our Guest Designer this week. Michelle was the overall winner of our A Study In Contrasts challenge recently.

Hello. My name is Michelle and I call the beautiful Smoky Mountains in Tennessee home. I began my journey into all things paper crafts, focusing heavily on scrapbooking when my daughter was little. In 2016 we moved and I left my craft supplies boxed up. Between remodeling our new home and working overtime constantly to pay for my daughter's tuition/dorm, I didn't have much free time to dedicate to crafts. She just graduated from university this month. I couldn't be more proud of her accomplishments. Now it's time to finish unboxing my craft supplies. I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm very honored to guest design for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog this week.

One of the first things I always look for when I go thrift shopping is tea cups. I love to collect them and I'm always thrilled when I find them. I also love to check out the old books section. The book page on my layout is from one of the books I've picked up recently from a thrift store near me.

The brown envelope that my photo is on I also picked up there. It was in a gallon sized baggy chocked full of these brown envelopes in various sizes. I had originally got them because I thought they would work well in a junk journal and I've been wanting to make one for a while now. I just haven't started yet...one of these days. I also recycled a Tim Holtz package backing into my layers under the photo.

The tags remind me of the price tags you see at some of the shops. The pearls, watch, and tea cup charm remind me of the costume jewelry typically found in most thrift shops. I distressed everything to give it a worn feeling, keeping in tune with the thrift shop vibes.

Make sure you check out Michelle's blog (Michelle's Scrap Designs) to see more about how she created this wonderful layout. Don't forget to share your 'Reuse and Upcycle' project with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, May 31st.

Guest Designer - Susan Babcock

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to have Susan Babcock (Susanbcards) as our Guest Designer this week. Susan was our Design Team's choice as overall winner of our April Showers Bring May Flowers challenge in April.

Hello, I'm Susan aka Susanbcards. I'm so happy and honored to have been asked back as a Guest Designer for the Funkie Junkie Boutique blog! As long as I can remember, I've always enjoyed arts and crafts. My fondest memories of my mother were the times when we sat and colored or worked on an art project.

When I was told the challenge was "Sunday In The Park", the image that came to mind was of wrought iron gates around a flower filled park. I used the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Gate Keepers die, assorted small floral dies and the Cobblestone 1 embossing folder to make the path.

The Idea-ology Paper Doll of a boy and dog were a perfect, he looks a bit sad as dogs aren't allowed in the park! I placed the panel into a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Vignette Tray to give it a 3D effect. I hope you like it, more details can be found on my blog.

Make sure you check out Susan's blog (Susanbcards) to see more about how she created this wonderful mixed media piece. Don't forget to share your 'Sunday In The Park' project with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, May 17th.

Guest Designer - Sara Emily Barker

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to welcome Sara Emily Barker (sarascloset) as our Guest Designer this week. Her stunning layered tag was the Design Team's choice as winner of the "Industrial Grunge" challenge. Today she shares another amazing project as inspiration for our current "A Study In Contrasts" challenge.

Hi! It’s Sara Emily from sarascloset. I’m tickled pink to be here at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog as this week’s Guest Designer. I enjoy all sorts of arts and crafts, but especially love to experiment with my mixed media supplies to find new ways combine and use them.

My canvas is inspired by the new leaves poking out from under last fall’s leaves rotting over the winter months in my own perennial beds and the fern fronds that are starting to unfurl in the wooded areas around my neighborhood. It all started with a piece of bark I found out in the back yard.

You’ll notice many contrasts in the details of my dimensional project. I’ve used lots of black and white to contrast with the brighter colors and the dark, decaying leaves and wood differ greatly from the fresh spring flowers and greenery.

If you would like to see more close ups of my project and learn about additional less obvious contrasts I’ve used, please head over to my blog. I’ve also got a quick and complete step by step on how my background came together. Thanks once again to Linda, Carol and the design team for inviting me to be their Guest Designer this week! And special thanks to Lisa for such a fun challenge theme!

Don't forget to share your projects for the 'A Study In Contrasts' challenge for your chance to become one of our winners. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EDT on Tuesday, May 3rd.

Guest Designer - Jean Evans

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to welcome Jean Evans (Krafty Jean) as our Guest Designer this week. Our Design Team chose her beautiful journal, created with Stamperia's "Lady Vagabond" paper collection, as the winner of our "Rather Blustery Day" challenge, and she has shared a lovely Victorian Tussie-Mussie for our current "April Showers Bring May Flowers" challenge.

Hi! I'm Jean. I am 52 from Scotland. I have three grown up daughters and three cats! I started crafting 4 years ago, although I always loved upcycling and repurposing things! I am thrilled to be a Guest Designer on the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. It's such an honour to be chosen.

Historically a tussie-mussie was a small Victorian bridal bouquet. In the years that followed, this term also became synonymous with a small cone-shaped vessel to hold a single flower or treat. Tussie Mussies were popular during May Day celebrations and bridal events.

To create a Tussie Mussie, cut a circle shape using double sided paper (this saves decorating the inside). I used a dinner plate. Then curl both ends in (overlap one end) to make a cone shape; it can be a loose or tight cone. Secure with tape/glue. Then decorate as you wish! Lace, ribbon, trims, flowers. If you wish to make it a hanging tussie you punch two holes (on each side or at the back) and thread ribbon/string etc. This was my first tussie and I Loved making it. Lots of tutorials online if you want some inspiration!.

Make sure you check out Jean's blog (Krafty Jean) to see more of her work. And don't forget to share your flower-filled projects for the 'April Showers Bring May Flowers' challenge for your chance to become one of our winners. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, April 19th.

Guest Designer - Katy Drogos

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to have Katy Drogos (I Like to Cut and Paste) return as our Guest Designer this week as the winner of the For the Love of Mixed Media challenge. We know you're going to be as impressed as we are with her inspiration piece for the current Industrial Grunge challenge.

Hi! I'm Katy. I love all the stuff - cardmaking, mixed media, and everything in between. I started off making scrapbook pages. Then I learned about the world of Distress from Tim Holtz. Forever my world was changed! My blog is I Like to Cut and Paste, and I am on Instagram and Facebook.

The story is this fella won first place at the World Fair for his futuristic invention. I am so honored to be the Guest Designer for this challenge: Industrial Grunge. I used a Tim Holtz vignette box and mostly Tim's alcohol inks, foil cardstock, grit paste, paperdoll, sizzix die (gearhead) and 2 embossing folders (mini foundry and circuit), and baubles. I also used clay gears using Finnabair Moulds (mechanica, large gears) and gold paint.

Make sure you check out Katy's blog (I Like to Cut and Paste) to see more about how she created this wonderful mixed media piece. Don't forget to share your 'Industrial Grunge' project with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, April 5th.

Guest Designer - Katy Drogos

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to have Katy Drogos (I Like to Cut and Paste) as our Guest Designer this week. Katy impressed the Design Team with her beautiful heart door hanging for the Funky Frilly Valentines challenge last month.

Hi! I'm Katy. I love all the stuff - cardmaking, mixed media, and everything in between. I started off making scrapbook pages. Then I learned about the world of Distress from Tim Holtz. Forever my world was changed! My blog is I Like to Cut and Paste, and I am on Instagram and Facebook.

For this challenge of using products that I struggle with, I chose the Tim Holtz Village Collection. I had made a couple of houses but I didn't like how they turned out. The windows weren't right or the roof-so I put it away and haven't tried since. I thought this is the perfect time to get this set out. I made a church using the village collection, the small cobblestone and wood grain embossing folders, tiny lights, alcohol inks and distress inks. The difference this time is I took my time and I watched the videos and carefully put things together. Thank you TFJB for letting me be a guest designer today! :).

Make sure you check out Katy's blog (I Like to Cut and Paste) to see more about how she created this wonderful mixed media piece. Don't forget to share your 'Rather Blustery Day' project with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, March 22nd.

Guest Designer - Susan Babcock

The Funkie Junkie Boutique is delighted to have Susan Babcock (Susanbcards) as our Guest Designer this week. Susan was our Design Team's choice as overall winner of our Out with the Old, In with the New! challenge in January.

Hello, I'm Susan aka Susanbcards. I'm so honored to be a Guest Designer at the Funkie Junkie Boutique blog this week. I have always enjoyed arts and crafts but my favorite is papercrafts. A few years ago, I watched some Tim Holtz demos and started experimenting with mixed media and have been hooked ever since.

The project I'm sharing today started out as card but as I worked it continued to grow until it became a decor piece that fit on the back of the large Tim Holtz vignette tray! I sprayed some Distress Mixed Media Heavystock paper with Distress Spray Stains and Oxides, then lightly stamped some script and floral stamps for added interest and texture.

I used the new Tim Holtz/Sizzix Woodgrain die to make a flower bed filled it with diecut flowers and leaves. I completed the panel with some insects and a butterfly.

Make sure you check out Susan's blog (Susanbcards) to see more about how she created this wonderful mixed media piece. Don't forget to share your 'For the Love of Mixed Media' project with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, March 8th.

Guest Designer - Karen Petitt

The Funkie Junkie Boutique welcomes Karen Petitt (karenp.31) - the overall winner of our Icy and Cold challenge - as our new Guest Designer.

I've crafted or created in one way or another since childhood. I have learnt that I have that urge or need to create or make something. These days I love creating cards, home decor, mixed media canvas and journal pages.

Karen created a lovely Mixed Media piece as inspiration for our current challenge: Onto an MDF board I adhered scrunched up layers of plain collage paper deliberately not smoothing out any creases. Once dry, I added pink, purple and blue liquid watercolour paints to the paper. I then applied an uneven layer of white gesso. Once that was dry, I used a Tim Holtz script stamp and Inkon3 black ink pad to add stamping to the background, then I dried the ink. I used a Tim Holtz stencil to apply gold texture paste in each of the corners and when it was dry, I embellished with fabric flowers and leaves, paper flowers and leaves and a chipboard butterfly.

We love the texture and color that Karen was able to incorporate into her mixed media creation. Thank you, Karen, for sharing your inspiration for the "For the Love of Mixed Media" challenge, and for accepting our invitation to be a Guest Designer.

Make sure you check out Karen's Instagram to see more of her work. Then come back and share your 'For the Love of Mixed Media' projects with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, March 8th.

Guest Designer - Linda Coughlin

This is a big HELLO to friends near and far whom I haven’t been in touch with and who haven’t seen me crafting in several years. My craft room, tools and supplies have been gathering dust while I’ve been consumed with running The Funkie Junkie Boutique. From crafter to small business woman…it’s been a journey that hasn’t always been fun but has been interesting.

This week with our challenge blog needing a guest designer, my team has nudged and cajoled me to fill the guest designer gap by creating a piece of artwork. WHOA! That’s not as easy as you would think. First I had to knock down the cobwebs that smacked me in the face when I opened my craft room door (figuratively, but still the first mental hurdle), then to clean up all the junk that I’ve been shoving in here (out of sight…ya know?). I spent two days getting reacquainted with all my craft supplies and filling up three waste baskets as I opened dried out jars and bottles.

After cleaning and organizing, I plopped myself down at the craft table and…ugh, now what? What do I do, where do I go for inspiration? I watched a few YouTube videos and went to The Funkie Junkie Boutique to shop. I messed around and played at my craft table for a couple of evenings, made a couple of tags for fun but threw them in the trash. Finally I went back to my frilly vintage roots and came up with something.

To start with, I wanted to use some sort of medium paste through a stencil. We just received a huge shipment from Prima Marketing with some great Jewel Effect glitter pastes. I wanted red for my Valentine’s make, chose Precious Rubies and used it with the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil THS032 Flourish. The paste is wonderful. It goes on smoothly and cleanly and dried in a couple of hours (even in the cold, rainy north Florida weather this week).

The stencil area only covered 2/3 of the area of my card’s panel, so I needed to fill in the rest. My mind was really trending toward red and black and I decided to coordinate the stenciling with a die cut. One of the great things about using Tim Holtz products is that many of the designs from product line to product line coordinate and work together. Tim’s Sizzix Thinlits Mixed Media #2 has a die that matches the stencil I used.

Using a piece of black card stock, I applied Sizzix Adhesive Sheets #656802 to the back and then ran it through my Big Shot. If you are not using this (or a similar product) when cutting your intricate dies, let me tell you, it is life changing. Being able to peel off the sticker backing and press down the die cut makes it not only effortless but allows for a perfect adherence. The die cut wasn't wide enough to fill the space so I had to piece it.

Now I needed a strip or ribbon to cover where the two panels joined. Searching my stash, I found just what I had in mind. Years ago, there was a Tim Holtz Idea-ology product called Deco Sheets and I found some left over glittery silver plus some glittery red from an unknown source. Pulling out my old Shape Strips Thinlits set 660226, I cut a strip of the silver and then backed it with the glittery red (bonus, a bunch of tiny silver glittery hearts). Digging through some set aside embellishments, I came across a flower that had been cut with the old Tattered Florals die plus a vintage looking sparkly heart that already had the attached “Love” charm in black! Why make something new when just the right thing jumps out and says “hey, give me some love too”?

Next, I needed a sentiment and riffled through all my old stamp sets. The one that really grabbed me was from Wendy Vecchi/Stampers Anonymous SCS131 A Passion For Art: "I never knew how much LOVE my heart could hold until I found YOU." It all seemed to come together with that sentiment.

I felt the card needed one more element, and sticking with the black and red theme, I cut a black heart using the Sizzix Impresslit Lucky Love 665227 (we still have a couple of these discontinued Impresslits left in the shop!). I very lightly burnished it with Prima Metallique Wax in White Pearl to give it the tarnished antique silver look. I'm a huge fan of the Prima Metallique Waxes. I love the way the black cardstock now looks like a heavily tarnished silver piece.

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Flourish THS032
Prima Finnabair Art Extravagance Jewel Effect Texture Paste - Precious Rubies 969042
Sizzix Adhesive Sheets - 6" x 6", Permanent, 10 Sheets 656802
Wendy Vecchi "A Passion For Art" Stamp Set SCS131
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Kraft Stock, Black TH94145
Sizzix Impresslits Lucky Love
Prima Marketing Metallique Wax - White Pearl

I hope you have enjoyed my return to blogging. If so, I have this post over on my blog The Funkie Junkie, where it all started. You can stop by and say hi over there.

Guest Designer - Carole Jones

The Funkie Junkie Boutique welcomes Carole Jones (Craftilicious Creations) as our first Guest Designer for 2022. Carole was the Design Team's top choice for the Yuletide Delights challenge in December.

Hello, I'm Carole from the North West of England. I am delighted to be Guest Designer for the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog Challenge. From an early age, I loved to get messy and make things and so over the years I've tried my hand at lots of different crafts including sewing, embroidery, crochet, knitting, cross stitch, batik and mosaic making. These days, however, I enjoy paper crafting and, in particular, mixed-media paper crafting with all the diverse 'sub-crafts' that mixed-media entails. I can happily spend hours in my craft room, losing all track of time. And, most probably like you, I spend an absolute fortune on craft supplies and yet still have an extensive, ever-growing wish list. I have quite an eclectic taste from cute and whimsical to shabby chic and vintage. I hope you'll pop over to visit my blog to see what I make.

My 'Icy and Cold' project is a pair of tags featuring the beautiful, vintage paper dolls. I made the tag base using PaperArtsy paints, heat embossed AALL & Create stamps and grit paste through a Tim Holtz stencil. I added die cuts, chipboard and Impresslit elements to make a cluster and topped each with a paper doll. You'll find the details on my blog post.

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Aren't these tags wonderful? The details are just exquisite, and we love the die cut and Impresslit snowflakes. Thank you, Carole, for sharing your inspiration for the "Icy and Cold" challenge, and for being our first Guest Designer of 2022.

Make sure you check out Craftilicious Creations to find out more about Carole's work. Then come on back and share your 'Icy and Cold' projects with us. The challenge can be found HERE and runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, February 8th.