I Surrender

The new challenge at Frilly & Funkie starts today and will run for the next two weeks.  Sue is our hostess and she wants to see vintage or shabby chic cards or other projects with lots of STENCILS AND TEXTURES. So, for this challenge let's see you use your stencils on your projects but also lets see some texture too ! This can be embossing, texture paste or even fabric.

I created this card after I couldn't get a good layout on another attempt no matter how hard I tried.  And then there was all the sickies in my family that I have been looking after as well as trying to deal with my poor Mother-in-Law who will be 92 next week, lives in an assisted living facility 2000 miles away and has dementia and now has the worst case of shingles.  Finally there is the SNOW, which never seems to end along with the brutal cold so I just decided to SURRENDER and make a winter card with some stenciling, some stamping and some texture with the embossed panel and the laces and ribbon.

I started with some white card stock from Staples for my card blank and then created a background by sponging Broken China, Weathered Wood and Faded Jeans distress ink all over another piece of white card stock.  Then I did a little flicking with some water and once it was dry I used a Dylusions stencil to add the dots on either side with the Faded Jeans distress ink..

Next I stamped the snowflakes from the Artistic Output stamp set called sleigh ride with Jet Black Archival Ink.  I wanted them to be white but they either came out very pale when I used a white stamp pad or not very crisp when I used paint so I opted for black and they stamped beautifully and the contrast is interesting.

Next I made an embossed panel using some Maja paper and a snowflake stencil from Cuttlebug.  After I did the embossing I sanded down some of the embossed area, distressed the edge and inked it with some Faded Jeans distress ink.

I made the stamped panel next with some white card stock, the image from the Artistic Outpost stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink, a distressed edge and some more inking.  The silver bow is some lacy crochet ribbon.  I added some venise lace and pleated some satin ribbon that was in my stash.

The snowflake was sponged with Snowcap Adirondack alcohol ink mixative blended with silver Adirondack Silver alcohol ink mixative and once dry I sponged on some Sail Boat Adirondack ink.  Finally a few little silver snowflakes cut from card stock and some white pearls were added to finish this card off.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Everybody-art Challenge - Ribbon or Lace
2 Sisters Challenge - Embossing
Inkspirational Challenges - Designer's Choice (Embossing, Ribbon or Lace, Metal or Charms)

The items shown below came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique where the prices are always less than the manufacturer's suggested retail price:

Dreaming of the Beach

The new two-week challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow is called DREAMING OF THE BEACH.  We want to see vintage or shabby chic cards or other paper-crafted projects that depict the beach or seaside.

Since we have had one of the most brutal winters where I live, I love this theme because it lets me think warm, even if only for a few moments.

We have a talented Guest Designer joining us for this challenge and I hope you will feel Marie Svensson (a.k.a. Primia) feel welcome and pop over to her blog and check out all her vintage beauties.

From the bottom up, here is how I made this card:

I started with some Staples card stock for my blank and added some patterned paper from Far Far Hill for my background. The paper edges were distressed with my scissors and inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger.

Next I took some white corrugated cardboard that I bought from The Funkie Junkie Boutique, tore the edges a bit and inked them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  On top of that I added a piece of burlap from my stash and a fish charm from Arton Bead Supply that has been inked with Sail Boat and Meadow Adirondack alcohol ink from Ranger.

I found the wonderful image somewhere online and distressed the edges and sponged them with Vintage Photo Distressed Ink before it was popped up with some foam dots.  The sentiment on it made me smile.

To finish I added a bow of crinkly dyed seam binding that was a gift ages ago and a tiny shell from Michaels.

Beautiful Blooms

The challenge for the next two weeks at Frilly and Funkie is called BLOOMIN MARVELOUS and it is all about adding handmade flowers to your vintage or shabby chic project.

I decided to alter something for a change and found a cigar box in my craft cupboard.  It was paper covered and UGLY.

I was going to do a paint/stencil/stamp treatment on it but changed my mind when the paint wouldn't stick to it without looking streaky so I went with plan B and decided to tear paper and decoupage it on, inside and out.  The yellow and blue toned papers come from Far Far Hill and Paper Peonies.  The text paper is from my scrap bin and I also used some Tim Holtz Melange Tissue Wrap. 

Once everything was glued on and given a coat of Glue and Seal, I took some Broken China Distress Ink to it, which just highlighted some of the torn edges.  I thought it could use some little feet so I took acrylic paint to some wooden pieces I picked up at Michaels.

Then I added a row of venise lace around the edge with a narrow strip of satin ribbon from my stash.  I added pearls to the lace, half of which were coloured with a Copic marker.

Next I started on the flowers.  All of them were made using the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die but using different mediums.  The teeny flower was made with crinoline dyed with some Wild Honey Distress ink, the blue paper flower was made using some Far Far Hill paper, inked with Broken China Distress Ink and with some beads from my stash for a centre.  The big yellow flower was made from some yellow handmade paper from Dollarama that I stamped with a text stamp using Coffee Archival Ink.  A coconut button turned upside down acts as a centre.  Finally I made a flower from some Wendy Vecchi Clearly for Art Modeling Film that was coloured with Terra Cotta and Sail Boat alcohol ink and has a dew drop for a centre.

The metal leaves were coloured with Meadow and Sail Boat alcohol ink and I tucked a paper doily underneath.  The flourish started life as a piece of white card stock that I spritzed with some Vibrant Turquoise Dylusions spray ink before I cut it with the Venetian Motifs die from Spellbinders.  The tiny butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch and I added a row of teeny pearls to make the body.  Finally I made a couple of bead charms with a brad from Dollarama on top so there would be something to open the box with.

My seven year-old Granddaughter is madly in love with this little box and wants it so badly but I can't imagine what she wants to put in it.  Besides it would look very out of place in her modern IKEA bedroom.  I will have to think about this.

These supplies came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique where prices are always discounted from the manufacturer's suggested retail price:

Show Me Thursday at Sassy Cheryl's

I don't often get a chance to do a post for Show Me Thursday at Sassy Cheryl's but I just had to this week.  I have been trying to get my Sassy friends (or anyone for that matter) to take some of my snow but to no avail - go figure :)

I know this isn't craft related but today I thought I would give you a little glimpse of what we have been dealing with and why I have been trying to give it away.  This shot was taken from our front door but if I had put my boots and coat on and taken a photo from the end of the driveway, you would have seen just how high some of the piles are.  To add to the copious amounts of snow we have been experiencing some brutally cold weather - as low as -35C at one point this winter so I opted for just opening the door.

 Because of my bad back, I can't help shovel so my poor husband has had to do this all by himself and we don't have a snow blower.  The pile at the end of the driveway on the right side as you look from the doorway (just beyond the shorter tree) is over 8 feet high and he is only 5' 7" tall so you can imagine how difficult it is for him to throw it now.  Apparently we are supposed to get another 3 or 4" tomorrow and he has no idea where he is going to put it.

Notice the stick figure person drawn in the snow.  My seven year-old Granddaughter did that the other day and she is just 3 feet tall, which gives you some perspective of the height of that particular pile.  On a more serious note, these piles are everywhere and it is dangerous trying to back out of the driveway or turn a corner at an intersection where there are no traffic signals because you can't see oncoming cars.

Another 6 weeks of winter - say it isn't so :(

Love and Adore

It is time for a new two-week challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow and we are calling it LOVE AND ADORE.  This time we want to see vintage or shabby chic cards or other paper-crafted projects that depict love and this could be for Valentine's Day if you wish or it could be something for an anniversary or wedding.

From the bottom up, here are the details of my card:

I started with a piece of cream card stock from Staples to make my card blank.  Then I added a piece of patterned paper from Far Far Hill for my background. 

Next came some crochet lace from my sewing cabinet and cream coloured satin ribbon from Fabricland.  I used a Martha Stewart Edge Punch to cut a border on one edge of a rose pink piece of card stock from my scraps and on the off cut from the beige card stock.  Both were sponged with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink from Ranger.

Next I added a vintage image from Vintage Feedsacks, which was also inked with Distress Ink.  Paper flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts were added on the side some of which had some Stardust Stickles from Ranger added to make them sparkle.  The little heart stick pins came from Maya Road.

I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the large heart from some scrap red card stock and then spritzed some pearl Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels on it before I added a pearl sticker from Recollections.  The little hearts were treated the same way but we leftovers from an attempt to create a heart background on my Cameo.  I thought I had it welded together but when it cut, it all fell apart so I have a bag of big hearts and teeny hearts.  I will definitely have to revisit that design.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Divas By Design - Vintage with Lace
Sweet Stamps - Lace and Hearts