Inspired By...

Hello friends! It's good to be back in the Closet again after a short break. I found myself in need of some quick Thank you cards and without any mojo at all. So I pretty much copied this brilliant set of cards from Autumn--you can see her lovely original cards at her blog-Sew Paper Paint. Thanks so much for your great design and inspiration, Autumn! I even dipped into my old Stampin' Up stamps for the background and sentiment, inspired by Autumn's use of her friend's Stampin' Up set and borrowed her color scheme, too. I did change the focal florals, though, choosing one my favorite Tim Holtz set, Illustrated Garden. I didn't stamp the background images too well, I'm  afraid. These are old rubber on wooden blocks and can't be used in my stamping platform. The images you get with the platform can't be beat.

To give importance to the sentiments, I heat embossed them on old Tim Holtz Thinlits--Stacked Labels and Stitched Rectangles. I'm afraid I didn't do the best job, but I needed to get these in the mail quickly.

It's so fun to fussy cut the flowers to make them unique for each card. The Distress ink colors I used are Mowed Lawn and Mustard Seed. I squeezed a little Liquid Pearls for the centers. That's it for me today! I hope to be getting back into the Closet with a little more regularity soon and to visit the wonderful friends who have left sweet comments recently. Big hugs! Sara Emily

I would like to share this with  the Simon Says Stamp Monday Beautiful Blooms challenge.

Vintage Pink Inspiration

Hello, again! It's time for a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. This time Maggi is up as hostess, and she chose the theme, Tickled Pink. Here's how she describes it...

Design a vintage or shabby chic project using the color pink. You may use other colors as accents, but, pink must be predominant. There are many shades of pink ranging from fuschia to soft baby pink so let your pink imagination go wild!

 As always, the winner will earn a chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the draw for the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team. Please see the blog for details.

'Tickled pink' is an expression I often use, but I rarely use pink when I make, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. I can't begin to tell you how many failed attempts at backgrounds I made! I had quite a time trying different techniques using the pink inks and sprays I have, but not a one tickled me pink. I did manage to salvage a mop up panel after adding this and that to it. I'm afraid I have no process shots, but I managed to take a few photos before I added my collage to it.

  Basically I used this card to clean up puddles left after my other trials. The purple looking blotches are left from cleaning off a stencil. After determining it would work as my background, I did some multi colored stamping using one of the Faded Type stamps and Oxide ink pads: Pumice Stone, Tattered Rose and Aged Mahogany.

 I added Opaque crackle paste through the Vintage Wallpaper stencil by Prima. While the paste was still wet, I randomly sprinkled with Antique Linen Embossing Glaze. When the paste had dried, I heated the glaze powder to melt and added two tone vintage shimmer here and there with Ranger Foil Transfer Sheets.

I finished off the card with splatters of Walnut stain ink and Abandoned Coral and Walnut Stain Crayons. I adhered with foam tape and layered this over sanded Classic Kraft Stock, scuffed Metallic Kraft Stock and old Distress card blended with Walnut Stain ink.

 I love this little butterfly from the Field Notes Ephemera pack. I gave the Found Relative even more age with help of Embossing Glazes and crayon.

A pair of Field Notes tags were stamped on inky scraps and tucked around a torn scrap of one of my pink technique trials. We don't like to waste a thing in the Closet.

The flowers from Illustrated Garden were stamped in Archival inks--green and brown on another of the attempts at a pink background. Sometimes these failed attempts are the perfect thing to stamp something else on or perhaps use for die cutting. I colored the flowers and stems with crayons. Scribble them on your mat, and use them like watercolor with a water brush. I tucked a Wildflower Stem die cut from set 2 for contrast.

 Love you (Tiny Text) is stamped on yet another unsatisfactory attempt to do pink. I stamped it and edged the tag in Ground Espresso Archival ink and layered it over a scrap of dyed Mummy Cloth.

So that finishes off another card for my Mom--I hope she likes it. Now it's your turn! Let's see those vintage or shabby chic projects that are sure going to tickle us pink! But before you get started, be sure to visit the blog; you will be 'Tickled Pink' by my teammate's diverse pink inspiration! Happy crafting! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday We’re Going Around In Circles I hope this is ok; I took this from a figurative view as I went around and around in circles, trying out different techniques to make my background.  But I did include a circle tag, too, for the literal view!

Creative Artiste Challenge #60
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Recycle I recycled all my failed attempts to make a pink background and even used my cleanup paper to make the actual bakcground.
Crafty Cardmakers #257 Butterflies
Bleeding Art May Challenge - Anything Goes

These products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Classic Kraft Stock
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Metallic Confections Kraft Stock
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Wildflower Stems #2
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Faded Type
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Tiny Text
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Field Notes
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mummy Cloth
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ephemera, Field Notes
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Found Relatives
Ranger Foil sheets -vintage
Prima Stencil - Vintage Wallpaper
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Pen 2pk
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glaze Weathered Wood, Antique Linen
Distress Ink  -  Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap
Distress Archival ink - Peeled Paint, Ground Espresso
Distress Oxide ink - Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet, Aged Mahogany,  Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo, Twisted Citron
Distress Crayons - Crushed Olive, Vintage Photo, Black Soot, Spun Sugar, Abandoned Coral, Walnut Stain, Twisted Citron
Distress Oxide Spray - Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet
Distress Opaque Crackle Paste
Distress Collage Matte Medium

Distress Micro Glaze Resist Framed Vintage Garden

Welcome! Today the Funkie half of the Frilly and Funkie team get to present their inspiration pieces for the latest challenge theme  'Dare To Resist', chosen by the super talented Autumn. Please be sure to pop by the blog to see all of the ir-resistable projects by my Frilly and Funkie teammates!

Autumn says: "For the next two weeks, as we break away from our Valentine creations, we'd love to see you incorporate a favorite resist technique in your vintage or shabby chic project. There are so many options, perhaps you will try something new. Whether it be gesso resist, Vaseline resist, alcohol resist, embossing resist, or watercolor resist, we dare you to resist!"

Since Distress Micro Glaze  is the perfect water resistant sealer for Distress products, I thought I would use it as a resist. I made a sample on water color paper dipping my paper into light Distress Oxides, and drying. When was happy with the colors, and the ink was dry, I laid Tim's Flourish stencil over the panel and applied the micro glaze through the stencil with an ink blending tool and wiped with a soft cloth. I removed the stencil and dipped the paper once more into a watery puddle of Distress Oxide, this time in Walnut Stain for contrast. I dried the panel with my heat gun, and was very pleased with the resist result and those tiny droplets, but the colors were a bit dark to do an entire background with them. I blended with some more ink and added stamping with Potting Soil Archival ink and set it aside to do the same technique in some lighter colors.

For my large back ground panel, I tried the same resist using Peacock Feathers as my final dipping after blending the Distress Micro Glaze through the stencil over a lighter background. I wasn't happy this time, because there wasn't enough contrast, but did some stenciling with the Flourish stencil in the corner, this time blending with Distress ink. I also did some stamping using both images from the Lattice and Flourish stamp set.

I used the micro glaze as a resist over a stamped and colored flower image. I stamped Tim's Illustrated Garden image in Watering Can Archival ink and colored with Distress inks and markers using a water brush. When dry, I applied the glaze with my finger, wiped with a soft cloth and dipped the panel in Broken China Distress Oxide. It's not so dramatic but it allows the Oxide to form droplets here and there. I fussy cut the flowers and gave it a vintage look by blending with Frayed Burlap Distress ink.

Another resist technique I used involved splattering Gloss Mod Podge on my baseball stats page, allowing to dry and blending with Ground Espresso Distress ink. I wiped with a damp cloth, allowing the splatters to peek through the ink.

I tucked in a Tim Holtz doily die cut, and layered the panels with some lace from my stash, a Found Relative, some wadded string, and hand died Little Birdie and Tim Holtz Bouquet flowers. The bright blue flowers are made with Tim's Tiny Tattered Florals Thinlits die and colored with Distress Spray stain. The sweet butterflies are from the Botanical Layers.

I used a wax crayon, Distress Oxides and chalk paint to alter a Quote Chip. I wiped diluted Oxides on randomly with my finger, dried, and then applied wax crayon over top. Then I painted with chalk paint, allowed it to dry, and wiped vigorously with a clean cloth to remove most of the white paint, giving the quote a shabby look.

Finally I crackled my frame (resist technique) using a crackle glaze and then painting with a contrasting chalk paint. I gave it two coats of Vintage Distress Collage Medium to protect the crackle.

Now I dare YOU to resist! You are invited to play along in this “Dare to Resist” challenge by simply creating a vintage or shabby chic project following the challenge theme and guidelines.  Then link your project up at the Frilly and Funkie  before midnight on Tuesday, February 27th.

The Frilly and Funkie team will choose four favorites from your entries, and our favorite artist will be invited to join us as a Guest Designer  at Frilly and Funkie. The next three winners 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'm sharing with these challenges:

Country View Challenge February 2018 - Anything But Cute

Creative Artiste Challenge #35 "Anything Mixed Media Goes"

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Grunge It Up
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday February 2018
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Add A Die Cut

Love 2 Create - Challenge #5 - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

Crop Stop February Challenge – Link Party #37

Thank you for your visit today! If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily

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

Ranger Distress Micro Glaze	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Vintage TDAK47940 (February Pre-Order)	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Fossilized Amber	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Cracked Pistachio	(JULY PRE-ORDER) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Peacock Feathers
(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Broken China	(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Peeled Paint	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Botanical Layers	Tim Holtz Ideaology Paper Dolls TH93555	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Crocheted Doily 1 by Tim Holtz 661497 (February Pre-Order)	Sizzix® Thinlits™ Die Set 15PK - Tiny Tattered Florals by Tim Holtz®	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Spray Stain - Mermaid Lagoon	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Lattice and Flourish CMS257 (March Pre-Order)	(March Pre-order) Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Illustrated Garden
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Flourish	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool - With 4 Blending Foams	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool Replacement Foam	Little Birdie Calleis Fleurs Color Your Own	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Bouquet Findings