In Sympathy

Sympathy cards can be some of the hardest to make, but my husband asked that I make one this evening to send to one of his cousins. I find it's always best to keep them simple.

I used Botanical 3D embossing on the frame, inking the folder with Victorian Velvet Oxide on the side with the black print. Before inserting my water color panel into the folder, I spritzed with water to allow the inks to oxidize. After it dried, I blended lightly with Frayed Burlap ink.

I cut the panel with Stitched Ovals die and backed this with a panel I gently blended with Frayed Burlap ink. I spritzed it with a little water and blotted with a clean towel. I used Big Cheesecloth background stamp by Tammy Tutterow, also inked in Frayed Burlap. My Stampendous sentiment is stamped in Forest Moss then Versamark inks using my stamp platform and clear embossed.

The die cut flower is from Wildflowers #2 set and colored with Victorian Velvet Oxide and various green inks and markers.

It's a very simple card, but I hope it brings her some comfort after loosing her brother.

Thank you for stopping by and wishing you a good start to the week. I'll be back Wednesday to share my Design Team project for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. I hope you can join me! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday All Things Pink

Scrapy Land Challenge #124 Anything Goes I used 2 Sizzix dies.

Together...A Metallic Wedding Card for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Welcome friends! It' s time for a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog and our super  talented hostess, Jenny has chosen the theme 'Marvellous Metallics'. Here's what Jenny says about this challenge:

There are so many ways to add metallics to your projects, from embossing powders and pastes, metallic finish cards and foils, metallic inks and paints to metal embellishments. And you can leave them untreated for a touch of glamour or alter them for an aged or more grungy look. Show us how you like to use metals on your vintage or shabby chic projects.


As always, the Design Team will choose their top four picks, and the winner will be invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. The next three will receive Top 3 badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

I always learn so much about language when I'm blogging, and today I learned that there are two ways to spell marvel(l)ous--the English way (marvellous) and the American way  (marvelous). So, no, that's not a typo in the theme title; since Jenny is from the UK, it would be natural for her to use the English spelling.

I made this card for my nephew and his lovely bride's wedding, using the colors of their flowers and wedding party and adding bits of metallic shimmer for glamour and elegance. Their bridesmaids dresses were mauve, which was not easy to replicate, but picking up the hot and soft pinks, lavenders and purples in their gorgeous flower arrangements made it all work.

I knew right away when I saw Stacy Hutchinson's stunning card at Tattered Nest Designs that I would use her gorgeous design as inspiration for Leif and Lynnie's card, and when you visit her blog, you'll see I didn't stray far.

Like Stacy, I used the beautiful Elegant 3D Texture Fade embossing folder, and stamped script onto the flat part of the embossing folder before running it through my die cut machine the requisite 3 times with a watercolor paper panel. The script is from Entomology, and I used  Dusty Concord Archival Distress ink to stamp it.

After embossing, I inked the panel in Hickory Smoke Distress ink and Oxide ink and lightly swiped the raised areas with Black Soot paint, following Stacy's tutorial. It was way too dark for a wedding card, so I went back in with  Brushed Iron Metallique Wax by Prima, just very lightly brushing the raised flourishes with my finger tip. To bring in the wedding party's color, I watered down Victorian Velvet Distress Oxide Spray, and patted some on the panel randomly with my finger. this panel was adhered to a white card blank blended with Hickory Smoke ink.

I really loved Stacy's textured card at the bottom of her card. I choose a pure white stripe textured card from my stash and picked up the texture with more Brushed Iron wax.

I dipped a Crochet die cut in the Victorian Velvet puddle left from coloring the embossed background, dried it and blended with Hickory Smoke ink. I lightly touched the edges with more of the Brushed Iron wax.

I don't have any wedding sentiments, but I thought 'together' worked fine. It is an old Handwritten Love Thinlits die, which I cut one each from grey and black card and a scrap of silver Metallic Kraft Stock. I layered and adhered them with Distress Collage Medium.

I made the trim at the top of the white panel with a scrap of silver Metallic Kraft Stock. I inserted and taped it into the Mini Scallop Impresslit, ran it through my die cut machine three times. When I removed it, I had this lovely piece of trim, which I swiped with Black Soot paint. After allowing it to dry slightly, I wiped the surface with a dry cloth, leaving some of the paint to show off the intricate design.

I inked some water color and mixed media papers and scraps with various inks, sprays and oxides (colors listed below) and die cut flowers and greens from them using Wildflower Stems #1 and #2, Funky Festive, Funky Floral #2 and #3, and Garden Greens Thinlits set. I also cut two Bursts using the Impresslit of the same name from the inky papers. The twigs were cut from plain white card and given a coat of shimmery paste from my stash. I also tipped a couple of the Wildflower Stems with the paste. The purple flower at the bottom of the arrangement was left over from another project, and I believe it was colored with Wilted Violet oxide. Everything was adhered with Distress Collage Medium Matte.

That's all for me today, but if you pop over to the blog,  my talented teammates will inspire you with their 'Marvellous Metallics'. Then it's over to you! I can't wait to see what you will make! Hugs and Blessings! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Bright and Cheerful

Scrapy Land Challenge #118 Anything Goes I used 7 Sizzix dies!

Mix It Up MIUCB #27 - Anything Goes + Foiling

Sparkles Challenge # 118 Wedding

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

Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Kraft Stock
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Entomology
Sizzix Chapter 2 Tim Holtz Thinlits Crochet
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Wildflower Stems #1
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Wildflower Stems #2
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 18pk - Funky Festive by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Thinlits Set - Funky Floral #2 by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Thinlits Set - Funky Floral #3 by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 9PK - Garden Greens by Tim Holtz
Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Elegant
Sizzix 3-D Impresslits Embossing Folder - Burst
Sizzix 3-D Impresslits Embossing Folder - Mini Scallop

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Hickory Smoke
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Hickory Smoke, Chipped Sapphire
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Victorian Velvet, Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet, Peeled Paint
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Black Soot
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Archival Mini Ink Pad Kit #2
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte 1 oz Bottle
Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabair - Metallique Wax - Brushed Iron

Trust Your Heart Panel -- Guest Designer with Bleeding Art Challenge Blog

Hello friends! Today I have the honor of creating for Bleeding Art as their Guest Designer where the current challenge is 'Show Us The Love'. I decided to work with my beloved Tim Holtz Sizzix Faceted Heart once again--I hope you aren't getting tired of it! Here is my step by step process followed by closeups of my finished panel.

First, I used the Paint Resist technique for my background panel that will later be adhered to a 5 x 7  wood panel. For a complete tutorial on this technique, I'll refer you to the master--Tim Holtz. I used Picket Fence Distress paint to stamp the Ornate stamp from his Ornate & Lace set. My ink colors are Victorian Velvet and Frayed Burlap. There might be a bit of Seedless Preserves at the center where I  tested my colors.

Next, I cut the Faceted Heart from some textured thick vellum I had in my stash and folded it up. This was really difficult material to work with, but I find that if I give the crease lines an extra score and then fold the creases back and forth a couple times, it gets a little easier to assemble. After it was assembled, I painted it with Brushed Pewter paint and Caramel alcohol ink. While I had the paint and ink out, I colored just the edges of a black card stock panel in the same way.

I worked on another panel here, which is a wooden panel from my stash. It had an original oil painting on it and it was somewhat warped. I didn't enjoy the painting or the fact that it was misshapen, so it went into the bin to be altered at some point. I smeared DecoArt Crackle paint through a Tim Holtz mini stencil and allowed it to dry. Then I applied DecoArt Media Antiquing Cream in black and brown one color at a time in this fashion: apply, dry, wipe with damp cloth. I wet the back of the wood panel with water and pressed it for several days under a stack of books and other weights to flatten it back out.

In the meantime, I created another panel by embossing a piece of thick canvas with Tim's Botanical 3D embossing folder. I pulled the threads from the edges to fray it a bit and colored it with Distress Oxide Victorian Velvet and then just the raised portions with a skim of Prima Metallique Waxes in Brushed Iron and Rose Gold. Addendum: I prepared the canvas so long ago, but I'm pretty sure I gave it a coat of Prima's sculpture medium to give it extra body, because it was a little stiffer than my other pieces of canvas in my stash.

Even though I stamped with my Stamp Platform, my images turned out blurry, because I had to keep reapplying paint and stamping repeatedly, and I'm afraid I gave my stamp CPR. It's all good, though, because I know this will be mostly covered up with the additional panels.

I adhered the Paint Resist panel to the wood panel, sanded the edges and inked them with Frayed Burlap. Then I flipped it over and adhered, sanded and inked a panel of design paper from my stash.

I needed something to provide contrast to the heart and stenciled panels, but didn't need anymore pattern in my design. My solution was to cut a Stacked Baroque panel and match the colors.

Now here are some close ups to show the detail of how it all came together. 

Thank you to Cathy and the Bleeding Heart Design Team for inviting me to create with them this month. I hope you'll pay a visit to this  mixed media challenge blog where there's a ton of inspiration to be had and a fun challenge to play along with! Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and blessings, Sara Emily

Challenge shares:
SanDee&amelie's February 2019 Steampunk Challenge Please delete if it's not industrial enough.
Card Mania Challenges CMC#113 Love is in the Air
Double D Challenges 'HEARTS'

Scrapy Land Challenge #107 Anything Goes  I used 2 Sizzix dies; I'm not sure of the maker for the greens; the cuts were a gift.
More Mixed Media Challenge - Anything Goes with optional Red I did not do the option.
Love 2 Create Challenge #2 Anything Creative Mixed Media Goes
Artistic Stamper February's Creative Challenge - Heart it! Stamping in paint on my first layer.
Crafts Dreamy February Mood Board Challenge

Also playing along in Tim Holtz Addicts Facebook group Current featured Tim Holtz technique: Paint Resist

Links to products used stocked by The Funkie Junkie Boutique:
***Remember to use coupon code DIEDISCOUNT to receive 20% off MSRP Tim Holtz newly released dies!***The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Tim Holtz Sizzix Faceted Heart Thinlits

Sizzix Thinlits Set - Stacked Baroque by Tim Holtz	Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Botanical	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils - Set 27	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Ornate & Lace	Tim Holtz Stamp Platform by Tonic Studios
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence TDF53170	Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Brushed Pewter TDF52968	Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink - Caramel	(LATE OCTOBER PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Victorian Velvet	Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Distress Ink Pad - Victorian Velvet TDP40255
Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap TIM21469	Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabair - Metallique Wax - Brushed Iron	Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabair - Metallique Wax- Rose Gold	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDA47933
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quotations Metallic Stickers	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Bouquet Findings	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Bundled Sage	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Crushed Olive

A Gleam In His Eye

Happy Saturday afternoon! Yikes! I haven't had a chance to use Mr Bones yet, so I just had to squeak in one more Halloween project.

I made the background a while ago by embossing Ornate from Tim Holtz' Ornate and Lace set. I just swiped it with shimmery layers of Prima paste wax. This goes from being grungy to glamorous depending on how you turn it in the light. Use your imagination here; I couldn't get it on camera.

I love Mr Bones all decked out in his moldy but shimmery top hat. I randomly heat embossed with clear powder, then Seth Apter's Dirty Sand. The actual skull is colored with Distress Oxide ink.

His one good eye gleams with DecoArt Liquid Glass.

I love all this texture! Great texture from Tim's Laurel Impresslit and some char on the stamped document from Crackle Paint.

I added some faux stitching to the distressed background panel. And that concludes the Halloween crafting for this year!

Happy Halloween!

Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Halloween/Spooky

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Halloween/Spooky

Country View Challenges October 2018 - Plant-tastic Laurel is a plant!
Die Cut Divas Halloween or Autumn I used a Sizzix die cut.
Let's Craft and Create Challenge #142 - ANYTHING GOES
Scrapy Land Challenge #100 Anything Goes I used a Sizzix die.
That's Crafty Spookalicious Challenge
Creative Artiste Challenge #43 "Anything Mixed Media Goes"
Dies R Us Challenge #107 - Anything Fall  I used Sizzix 3D Impresslit die.