Saturday Showcase - Prima Marketing Paper Collections and Ranger Distress Mediums

 Hello and welcome to another Saturday Showcase where the Design Team gets to share creations and tutorials with you featuring products available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. It's Sara Emily here, and I'm sharing a Vignette Tray collage I created featuring one of Prima Marketing's beautiful paper collections and Ranger Distress mediums.

First, I'll share a few photos of my completed project, and then step by step photos, tips and instructions for creating your own tray.

*click on any photo to zoom in*

I've used Prima's Pretty Mosaic A4 paper pad, 6 x 6 paper pad and coordinating ephemera pack. As of the writing of this post the A4 pad and ephemera pack have already sold out, but don't worry, Linda has all of her in-stock Prima products on sale for 45% off MSRP while supplies last! You could  use any one of the other beautiful available collections to create something similar. You will want to hurry over for the best selection, because at these prices, they are bound to go fast.

I love the graphics on Prima's paper collections, and it's these flowers from the Pretty Mosaic papers that tugged at my blossom loving heart and inspired me to make this framed tea cup filled with blooms.

 I used lot's of different Ranger Distress mediums, pastes and colors to create an aged look to the papers. It really is so easy, and I'll explain further down.

Tip: Save leftover bits of foam and cardboard to vary the heights of the stems and blossoms to give dimension to your project.

So, now let's get started on the fun part--the making! To keep the post from getting too long, I've prepared collages of my step by step photos and bulleted instructions below the corresponding photo collage.

Prepare the tray.

1. Paint Idea-ology Vignette Tray with gesso. Allow to dry.

2. Trim papers from A4 pad to fit inner and outer walls and back of tray and cut out tiles from 6 x 6 paper pad that will line the inner back wall of the tray.

3. Adhere A4 papers with Distress Collage Medium Matte, and apply a coat of collage medium to all outer surfaces. Allow to dry until just a bit more than tacky. This is only a few minutes, because this stuff dries fast. Spritz with Frayed Burlap Oxide Spray and spritz lightly with water to activate. Dry with heat tool. Because the collage medium hasn't fully dried, the spray bakes into it as it dries and doesn't smear off.

4. Adhere brown patterned strips to inner walls and using a palette knife, spread with Distress Crazing medium about the thickness of mayonnaise on a sandwich. I find this makes for the best cracks--not too thick; not too thin. Allow to dry completely before smearing with Cracked Pistachio and Frayed Burlap Distress Crayons. I do this by scribbling crayon onto my craft mat and lifting the color with a dampened finger and rubbing it over the cracks.

5. Apply Distress Crackle Texture Paste to spines of tray and in random areas on inner and outer walls. Allow to dry completely. Apply Walnut Stain crayon to highlight the cracks as described above. 

Move onto making the tiled background.

6. Adhere the cut out tile squares to a piece of matboard with collage medium, leaving a small space between each tile. I had to trim a few along the edges after they all were adhered.

7. Using a palette knife, apply Distress Opaque Grit Paste in 'cracks' between tiles. Allow to dry.  

8. Apply a layer of Crazing medium to entire panel as on inner walls above and allow to dry.

9. Apply Distress crayon using same technique as previously described. I later used Walnut Stain crayon to edge the panel and splattered lightly with Black Soot Distress paint (not pictured). This panel is adhered to foam core and that is adhered to the inside of the tray.

Time to make the details!

10. I used an old Tim Holtz die to cut a tea cup from the brown pattered paper from the collection. (You could use Eileen Hull's 3D Teacup and Spoon which I've linked below.) I coated with Distress Embossing Dabber and heat embossed with a mixture of Speckled Egg and Cracked Pistachio Distress  Glazes.

11. After cooling then buffing the shine off with steel wool, I edged the die cuts with Gathered Twigs Distress ink and later scribbled with Walnut Stain crayon to make deeper shadows (not pictured). 

12. Fussy cut some flowers from this paper from the collection. I blended the edges with Gathered Twigs ink.

13. Die cut Wildflower stems from water color paper using Tim Holtz Wildflowers, Wildflowers #2 and his new Wildflower Stems #3 sets (pictured above). I colored them with a variety of Distress Oxide inks (see links below for the colors I used) smooshed onto my media mat and spritzed with water along with a waterpen. I seriously could do this all my waking hours!

14. Select some ephemera from the ephemera pack and fussy cut Beautiful Life from the cut apart page in the collection.

15. Blend edges with Gathered Twigs ink (not pictured). 

From there, it was just a matter of layering and assembling all my pieces! Here's one last look at my completed Vignette Tray.

Thanks for dropping by to see how you can use Prima Marketing's Paper Collections along with Ranger Distress Mediums to make a shabby Vignette Tray. I hope you've been inspired to make some art using a favorite Prima collection and adding a mixed media twist to make them your own.

There's still plenty of time to enter the current Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog challenge 'Mostly Neutral' which runs through Tuesday, March 2nd at 11.55pm. We look forward to seeing all your creative makes! Happy crafting! Sara Emily

These products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Prima Marketing Pretty Mosaic - 6x6 Paper Pad

Prima Marketing Pretty Mosaic - A4 Paper Pad (Link to Prima sale)

Prima Marketing Pretty Mosaic Ephemera Pack (Link to Prima sale)

Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - Cracked Pistachio, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Sprays  - Frayed Burlap

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads  - Gathered Twigs, Kitsch Flamingo

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pads  - Tattered Rose, Kitsch Flamingo, Worn Lipstick, Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Rustic Wilderness, Shabby Shutters 

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze  - Speckled Egg, Cracked Pistachio

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Crazing

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste 3oz Opaque

Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste 3oz Crackle

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Dabber

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Vignette Tray Structures

Sizzix Chapter 1 Thinlits Die Set - Floral Layers #2 by Jen Long

Eileen Hull Bigz L Die - 3D Teacup & Spoon

Tim Holtz Travel Glass Media Mat

Mostly Neutral

Hello and welcome to a new challenge! It's Sara Emily here and I'm calling this challenge 'Mostly Neutral'.

"For this challenge, I would like you to use mainly neutrals, but I will allow you one accent color or use of metallic accents. Let's see how you use beige, ivory, taupe, brown, black, gray or shades of white or any combination of these to make any vintage/shabby chic project you would like."

The overall winner will  receive a $25 gift certificate to go on a spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. And the winner, along with our top three picks from the remaining entries will receive badges to display on their blogs in recognition of their outstanding contributions.

The guidelines for entering are simple; create a new vintage or shabby chic project following the challenge theme, link it below to your post (not just your blog) and also include a link back to this challenge in your post. You can combine our challenge with up to 10 challenges (including this one) to be in with a chance of winning. If you are entering through a public forum (such as Instagram) you'll need to include the words 'Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge'. Make sure you follow these rules as unfortunately, we have had to eliminate entrants from the prize draws in the past.

The Design Team is sharing their mostly neutral creations below to get you started. Click on their blog names to see all the details of their projects.

 Cec Wintonyk - CW Creations

Suzanne Czosek - Suzz's Stamping Spot

Jenny Marples - Pushing The Right Buttons

Sara Emily Barker - sarascloset

After you've checked out all their details, please join us by linking your mostly neutral vintage or shabby chic projects below. We can't wait to see what you'll make!

Saturday Showcase - Tim Holtz Chapter 3 Christmas Thinlits Dies

 Hello! It's time for our bi-weekly Saturday Showcase feature. Sara Emily here, and I will be shining a spotlight on five of the Tim Holtz Chapter 3 Christmas dies. These were released in late summer, but fortunately, are still available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique and shipping now so you can get a bit of a head start on your Christmas card stash.

First, I'll share photos of each of the cards and some tips for making them. Then, I'll take you through the easy steps I took to make the backgrounds. Using limited products and working in a simple palette makes quick work of these cards--just what we need as we head into the busy time of year.

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First, I used the Merry & Bright Thinlits die set to spell out a bold greeting.

Here's an easy tip to prevent tearing delicate die cuts when you are distressing them. After cutting, leave them in the panel you cut them from. Sometime, if they pop out, you may have to reinsert them, like I did here. After sanding and inking them while they remain in the panel, you can remove them and adhere to your card. 

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Next, I paired the little elf from the Thin Ice Thinlits set with a burst from the Ornamental Birds set and an old (but never yet used) Tim Holtz Mini Globe die. In retrospect, I should have clipped the elf's hands and turned them palm up.

A sticker from the new Christmas sticker book makes an easy sentiment.

Just a little pouncing of an alcohol ink blending tool with a few drops of Gold Mixative and Mushroom alcohol ink gives gold metallic kraft stock a vintage look.

***

The Stunning Snowflake Thinlits die set has so many combination possibilities with just 2 separate dies. So simple, yet so effective on this easy card. The snowflake is very elegant; it needs little else in the way of embellishment, but I added a half pearl to the center.

I stacked up the different die cuts from the set in gold metallic Kraft stock and plain white card and colored the pearl with Gold Mixative and Mushroom alcohol inks before adhering. I used another of the stickers for the greeting.

***

For the next card, I sprayed a kraft panel with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Spray, and after drying, cut with the Falling Stars die. (This set also comes with three stars in graduated sizes.) I darkened the sky with Ground Espresso ink and layered over a panel of hoarded Deco sheet. This time I used one of the trees from the Thin Ice set along with a shadowed silhouette elf.  I chopped up a few of the stickers to tell the story.

Tip: Don't be afraid to mix your embossing powders. Here, I've mixed some old Soft Fallen Snow powder with Eileen Hull's White Wonder dimensional powder to get the look of  fluffy, shimmering, fresh fallen snow on the trees. Another tip: the tree bough die cuts have embossed markings on them to guide where to apply glue and then stick on the snow die cut pieces. 

***

For my last card, I chose to use the Ornamental Birds set. I cut the birds and one of the ornament layers from a kraft panel I colored with Distress Oxide sprays: Cracked Pistachio and Faded Jeans. All the other pieces were cut from sanded Metallic Kraft Stock in Confections and Jewels. This kraft background is heat embossed with the sparkles stamp (Sparkles & Christmas), Versamark embossing ink and Princess Gold powder.

The sentiment is a stamp from the Modern Christmas set - one of Tim's last year's releases, inked in Faded Jeans Archival ink. I embossed a panel to frame the sentiment  as well as one of the ornaments in Princess Gold powder.

Tip: I use a ruler to help align the tiny die cut dots that make up the ornament hanger. I just add a dot of collage medium at each of the markings so they are evenly spaced and then drop the die cut dot on the medium with tweezers. Don't touch until it's dry.

And now a quick tutorial on how I made my backgrounds:

I spread Transparent Matte Medium on a couple of kraft panels and Translucent Grit paste on a third panel through the Sparkle stencil and allow it to dry thoroughly.

On one of the Transparent Matte Medium panels, I smear  Prima White Gold Metallique Wax over the raised areas with my finger. One the second one, I replace the stencil and apply the wax through the openings onto the raised areas after spraying with Distress Oxide sprays - Speckled Egg and Cracked Pistachio and drying (see first photo in collage directly below for this step). I used this stencil/wax method on the Translucent Grit paste panel as well.

One of the stenciled panels is sprayed directly with Oxide sprays, while the other two were painted. I poured a little bit of the shaken spray out of the bottle and use a paintbrush to apply in layers around the stars. I did get two different results, because I used two different kinds of kraft paper.

Thanks for taking time to visit today to see today's Saturday Showcase featuring Tim Holtz Chapter 3 Christmas Thinlits dies. I hope you are inspired to make some simple Christmas cards to have some on hand for the holidays.

There's still time to enter the current Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog challenge 'Purple, orange, green! Eek! It's Halloween!' to be in with the chance of winning one of the great prizes. We look forward to seeing your fabulous creations. Happy Crafting!  Sara Emily

These products can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Merry & Bright
Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Thin Ice

Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Ornamental Birds
Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Falling Stars
Chapter 3 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Stunning Snowflake

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Sparkle
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Sparkle & Christmas
Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8x8 Kraft Stock Paper - Gold/Silver, Jewels, Confections
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Sticker Book Christmas
Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste Translucent
VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Dabber
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Mushroom
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Gold Mixative

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap, Ground Espresso

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray  - Speckled Egg, Cracked Pistachio, Faded Jeans

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Archival Mini Ink Pad Kit #2
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Design Ruler

Saturday Showcase - Foliage Wrap Die By Olivia Rose for Sizzix

 Hello and welcome to our Saturday Showcase! It's Sara Emily with you today to shine a spotlight on the wonderful Sizzix Foliage Wrap die set Linda  carries in The Funkie Junkie Boutique. As promised, I am providing a step by step tutorial for this card I made for our current challenge, 'It's a Wrap'. Traditionally, we think of wraps for wedding, save the date and other invitations, but I wanted to show you just how versatile these dies can be.

Since I didn't use all of the dies in the set, I pictured the entire Foliage Wrap set for you below. The set includes the wrap die and six detailed floral and foliage dies that coordinate with it. I love that I'll be able to use these little dies on other projects aside from just with the wrap. When I get a die set, I like to put them on magnetic sheets and tuck them in a sealed bag or their original plastic envelopes before filing them. These are actually vent covers I purchased from a local hardware store that I cut into sizes I need for my dies.

I'm sharing a few different ways you can use this set, so let's get started with the first all purpose card. I'll show a couple photos of the completed card  (you can find more photos in my challenge post HERE), and then take you through my steps.

The wrap flaps tuck under the butterfly wings to keep the card closed. Un-tuck them and lift the top of the top fold card where you can write a personal message.

First, here's how I made the wrap portion of my butterfly card:

Cut 8.5 x 11 card to 5.25 x 11. Measure and mark at 2.25 and 6.25 inches from the left edge at the top and bottom of the card. Line up the straight edge of the die along the marks at 2.25 inches with design portion of die facing left edge, tape as shown and proceed with die cutting. With a die this intricate, it is helpful to use the Chrome Precision Base Plate for cutting and the die brush/pick from the Sizzix Mini Tool kit to quickly remove all those little bits.

Repeat taping the die in place at the second set of marks and die cutting as shown below. (The back side of the card is facing up.)

Although the die does have a scoring line, I find it helps to score it again before folding it 'closed' and burnishing with a bone folder.

To finish the inside of the wrap, I opened the flaps and blended the inside of the flaps with Distress ink and heat embossed just the edges with Embossing Glaze powder. This adds strength to the flaps so it can be handled without tearing the delicate flowers/foliage. You could emboss the entire inside of the flap if you choose, but avoid the score line or it will be difficult to keep the flaps closed.

(You will notice I used Broken China in my demonstration photo; I had forgotten to get a process shot when I was in the process of making this card. I chose another color for a different card I have in mind.)

Next, after folding the flaps back to a closed position, so the unfinished outside is showing,  place a piece of wax paper under the flap. I spread the outside of the flap with a thin layer of Translucent Grit Paste. Remove the wax paper and open the flap back up. Then pour Embossing Glaze powder over the wet paste. Gently shake off and replace the excess powder in the jar. Set this aside to dry. Once it's dry, heat the powder just until it melts.

While the paste was drying, I worked on the top fold card which will fit inside the wrap. Lightly spray a piece of watercolor paper with water and then with Distress Spray Stains, spraying again as needed to blend and then dry with a heat tool.

Ink a script stamp from the Faded Type set with Distress inks and spritz with water before making an impression on the prepared card. I use just my fingers to hold the stamp, so I can get just a partial impression. Repeat, making random impressions, drying between impressions. Splash with water, let it sit a couple seconds and dry again to get those wonderful vintage spots. 

I cut this card to size and adhere to plain white paper to make a top folding tent card. This is glued into the central portion of the wrap.

Because the die is so detailed, I kept the background and the embellishments simple. I die cut a Tim Holtz Scribbly Butterfly from white card and blended it with Antique Linen ink. I traced around the die onto blue vellum and cut a second, solid butterfly. I layered these, gluing just the body down between the layers and onto the prepared card. I topped it with a resin rose.

The next card was so simple to make, yet makes for a very elegant Christmas greeting. I followed the same steps as with the card above to make the wrap;  I just oriented the inserted top fold card horizontally instead of vertically. 

I used Tim Holtz Retro Merry Christmas dies to spell out the greeting and added a couple of die cuts from the Festive Greens set, also by Tim Holtz. Everything was adhered with Collage Medium.

I used the Distress Brush Embossing pen on some of the berries on the die cut and heat embossed with Princess Gold powder. You can see in the next photo how I used a piece of junk mail and the pen to draw a straight line to edge the card with the gold embossing, too. These pens are so handy!

After gluing in your top fold card, just fold the flaps and tie a pretty ribbon and you're done! This ribbon is from my stash, but I've put a link  below to the great selection of ribbons Linda carries in her shop. 

This die does not always have to be the star of the show, but can play a supporting role as on this Christmas card.

This card was inspired by a couple of flaps I cut from black card. I thought they looked like a delicate doily. After auditioning them on a variety of backgrounds, I settled on one from last year's Tim Holtz Christmas paper stash, which I blended with Frayed Burlap and edged with Walnut Stain inks.

I'll share the steps I took to make this card.

I thought the Sizzix Elegant Poinsettia would show beautifully against the black lacy design. My favorite poinsettia is the Wintersun White, and I tried to make mine look like this variety. (They really are ALL my favorite.) 

I die cut some bracts of differing sizes using the dies, and colored some of them with Bundled Sage ink and marker. All of the edges were blended with Antique Linen ink.  I ended up cutting a few more to make the flower more full. I poked holes in the flowers because I was originally planning to use some store bought stamens as the center, but went in a different direction.

I colored a scrap with Crushed Olive ink to cut the flower center with the accompanying die. I used the quilling tool that comes in the old Tim Holtz Tattered Florals set to roll the die cut before gluing it in among the layers.

I cut a pair of green leaves using the leaf die that comes with the Elegant Poinsettia. One is cut from water color paper, blended with Bundled Sage ink and spritzed with water. I inked a Nature's Wonder stamp with the same ink and wiped the ink from the edges of the stamp, so just the veins would transfer. I sprayed the inked stamp with water and made a watery impression on the leaf, drying with a heat tool.

I sprayed a scrap of card with Distress Oxide Sprays, and cut a second leaf and some pine foliage using one of the little dies from the Wrapped Foliage set. I ended up misting the leaf stamp water and stamping the green leaf with it to remove some of the color. While very subtle, you might be able to see this detail on the close up of the completed flower below.

I die cut some of the berry clusters (I guess they could be flowers, too.) from a sanded Metallic Kraft Stock scrap and colored Mummy Cloth with spray stain.

I wanted to show off that gorgeous detail of the die cut. Even though it's an intricate pattern, it works over a busy paper background in black. I just smeared collage medium on the back with my finger to adhere the die cut, but you could always use double sided adhesive sheets applied to your card before die cutting.

I stamped a Christmas sentiment from Tim Holtz Great Outdoors set in Black Soot Archival ink and then in Versamark using my stamp platform and heat embossed in clear. I edged with Antique Linen ink and mounted it on a scrap of chipboard before adhering to the card.

Finally, I had a play with some of those sweet little leaf die cuts to make this fall tag. I am definitely ready for summer to be over and switching over to fall and winter crafting!

I hope you've found some inspiration from my play with the Foliage Wrap die set and are encouraged to see your dies in a new light. Remember, there's still time to join us for our current challenge, 'It's a Wrap!'. I hope to see you there! Happy Crafting! Sara Emily

Here are links to the products I used, which can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Sizzix Chapter 3 Thinlits Dies - Foliage Wrap

Sizzix Chapter 3 Thinlits Dies - Elegant Poinsettia

Sizzix Chapter 1 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Scribbly Butterflies

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Nature's Wonder

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Grunged

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Faded Type

Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Kraft Stock - Gold/Silver, Jewels

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ephemera, Field Notes

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings - Halloween

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clipping Sticker Book

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad  - Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Crushed Olive, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Black Soot, Rusty Hinge, Walnut Stain, Speckled Egg

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Archival Mini Ink Pad - Black Soot

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons  -Vintage Photo, Black Soot

Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste 3oz Translucent

VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad

Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain - Antique Linen, Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey, Speckled Egg

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Speckled Egg, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint

Ranger Embossing Powder - Princess Gold, Clear

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Pen 2pk 

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze - Speckled Egg

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte

Prima Finnabair Art Alchemy Wax Paste - Patina Green

Ribbon

Set of 12 Resin Roses

Sizzix Accessory - Chrome Precision Base Plate for Thinlits

Sizzix Sidekick Accessory - Mini Tool Kit