Journey vs. Destination

The new challenge is starting today at Frilly and Funkie and this time Nancy is our hostess.  She wants us to make vintage or shabby chic projects that depict Vintage Travel. 

I decided to make another page for my art journal.  If you recall my New Year's resolution was to get to Paris this year so that is what my page focuses on.  I actually made this a few weeks ago at a time when my husband was on strike (certainly not his choice) so now because of the lost income and the horrible exchange rate this vacation has been put on hold.  I guess I will have to make that resolution again next year.

In the meantime, here are the details of my page:

I started by inking the page with Wild Honey Distress Ink and then adding some images from The Graphics Fairy and a few torn pieces of music paper from My Mind's Eye.  Then I dry brushed it with some Gesso and inked again lightly with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

The next step was to stencil the dots with some Olive Archival Ink through a Dylusions stencil.  Next I used some white Embossing paste with a Wendy Vecchi stencil to create the stripes and they automatically picked up some of the Wild Honey colour where the Gesso didn't completely cover it - unexpected but I love what it did.

The lady and her bicycle is from Indigo Blu and I stamped it with Jet Black Archival Ink and then inked with some Old Paper Distress Ink.  The Paris and Eiffel Tower images are from Stampabilities and were stamped with more Jet Black Archival Ink.  The sentiment was done on my computer and after I doodled some boxes around each word, I also inked them with Old Paper DI.

The chipboard Fleur de Lis was a gift and was coloured with Olive Archival Ink.  The large rosette was made with some Melissa Frances ribbon and a pearl brad that I coloured with a Copic marker was added as a centre.

The flowers were made with a punch from Marvy Uchida, stamped with the Wendy Vecchi Vintage Wallpaper Background Stamp using Orange Blossom Archival Ink and then shaped before I added some Making Memories brads for centres.  The leaves were cut with my Cameo.

The filigree flower motif was bronze but I coloured it with a mixture of alcohol inks - Meadow, Honeycomb, Gold Mixative and Snow Cap Mixative.  Finally I added a Prima button and a couple strips of venise lace.

I am going enter this project in the following challenges:

Tuesday Throwdown - Other Than a Card or Tag
Card Mania - Vacation/Travel
Ooh-La-La-creations - Vintage
Crafting When We Can - Make Your Own Background
Open-minded Crafting Fun - Vacation

The following items came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique - a great place to shop with supper pricing and wonderful customer service:

Vintage Travel

The new challenge is starting today at Sugar Creek Hollow and we are calling it On The Road.  We want to see vintage or shabby chic projects that depict vintage travel so please make sure any image that you use is vintage.

I made this flat card a couple weeks ago when my husband was on strike (not one he supported either) and quite frankly I was feeling a bit flat myself.  He is back to work after 3 weeks of walking a picket line and losing significant income so you can bet my spirits and my crafting have had a lift.

This is a small card with some Recollections kraft card stock for the blank.    The background panel was a scrap of cream card stock that I embossed with the Tim Holtz Postcard texture fade and inked with some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink from Ranger.

The auto image is from Indigo Blu and was stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink also from Ranger.  The suitcases are Stampin Up images and have been coloured with Prismacolour pencils and blended with Gotrick OMS.

The two travel words are from some My Mind's Eye paper and the hotel ads are from Ephemera Society.  Finally I added some black brads from Making Memories.

Cool Water

 The new challenge at Frilly and Funkie is hosted by Rebecca and she wants us to create vintage or shabby chic projects depicting Cool Water.  Use an image of water in your creation. It can be anything from droplets to the ocean! Keep yourself cool, just thinking of water...

I decided to make a canvas with this mermaid image from Vintage Moth as the focal point.  She was distressed with my scissors and then inked a bit with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 

I started by working on the background.  First I glued some torn pieces from an old book and some tissue wrap on a 7 x 9" canvas as well as a few pieces of drywall tape for texture.  Then I dry brushed it with a light coat of Gesso.

The whole canvas was then sprayed randomly with Vibrant Turquoise, Dirty Martini and Lemon Zest Dylusions spray ink.  I then dry brushed it with some acrylic craft paint, wiping it back with some baby wipes.  It was still a bit too bright so I gave it a spray with White Linen Dylusions spray ink.

Next I coloured some white embossing paste with acrylic paint and added some dots with a Wendy Vecchi stencil called Poka Dotty.   Then I rubbed some Rose Quartz Treasure Gold Wax Paste and some Blue Jaquard Lustre Paste randomly over the canvas.  Finally I inked the sides and edges with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The next step was to colour the filigree corner, which was a bronze colour and the fish charm from Arton Bead Supply, which was silver.  I used a mixture of Lemonade, Terra Cotta, Pool, Meadow and Gold Mixative Alcohol inks to dab on them.   After I got them the colour I wanted, I rubbed them with a wee bit of the Wax Paste.

Then I coloured the flowers.  The small flower on the bottom was a bronze metal flower.  I painted it with some Gesso and once it was dry, I mixed some Perfect Pearl, Forever Green and Blue Patina  Perfect Pearl Powder with some Winsor & Newton Gum Arabic and painted it again.  The fabric flowers are both Prima flowers and the little one was bright royal blue while the large one was a bright turquoise so I painted both of them with the Perfect Pearls mixture. The tiny flower has a Prima paper flower for a centre and the other two have gems from Dress It Up for centres.

The Venise Lace was coloured with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink and I added some burlap to the top right corner and tied the fish on with some burlap string.  The starfish that I stole from a shell collection in the downstairs bathroom was bright orange so I rubbed some of the Rose Quartz paste on it to calm it down a bit.  I added some more little shells that came from Michaels, some gems and pearls from Dollarama and Recollections along with a few beads left over from my days of making head pieces and jazzing up bathing suits for my daughter's synchronized swimming competitions.  The button came from my stash and I found the earring in my Mother-in-Law's sewing room stash and just removed the back.

The text was made from Grunge Paper and cut with my Cameo.  I coloured it with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink and then edged it with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I started this canvas before I went away in June but finished it after I returned.  Just as I finished it I received a post in my reading list from Such A Pretty Mess and wouldn't you know she had done a mermaid canvas. She has always been such an inspiration so it wasn't any surprise that my canvas had some similar elements even though I had not seen hers when I made it.

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

Creative Card Crew - Sea/Beach
Craft My Life - Anything Goes but No Cards
Crafty Cardmakers - Under The Sea

The following items used in the creation of my canvas were obtained from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Notepad Holder

The new challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow is called It's Charming.  We want you to create vintage or shabby chic cards or other projects that have a metal charm or other metal on them.

Provided we have at least nine entries in the challenge we will choose one random winner who will receive a little piece of word art along with a winner's badge to display. The Design Team will choose their Top Pick and that creator will receive a winner's badge and also be in the running for a monthly Guest Designer spot.

As I mentioned last time, I was in Virginia visiting Patti Painter and on one of the days that we crafted we made these really cool notepad holders.  The template was Patti's but when we started to create I suggested that we tweak the inside to include a pocket so that the notepad could be replaced once it was empty of useful pages.  She liked that idea so between the two of us we came up with new measurements and it worked beautifully.

Here is how mine came together noting that Patti let me use all of her supplies and she has some beautiful things to work with:

For the outside, I started with a piece of Stampin Up card stock and then added some patterned paper from K & Company.  The opposite side of the paper was used to make the panel and I used a Martha Stewart edge punch to make the border.  The lace is from a fabric outlet mall in Fancy Gap, Virginia that we went to.  The pearls are from Want To Scrap.

The flowers were made with card stock scraps using the Peonies die from Spellbinders and have brads from Making Memories as centres.  The branch is a Sissix Die.

The sentiment is from Stampendous and has been stamped onto a Spellbinders Labels 18 die.  The little butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch and was stamped with a script stamp from Gina K. Designs.  Patti wasn't sure where the gorgeous metal heart came from but it makes a lovely frame for the butterfly.

The edges of all the card stock and paper pieces have been inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger.

Next I worked on the inside.  I added a strip of the floral patterned paper to the top of the notepad to make it prettier.

Finally I decorated the pocket with more of the patterned papers and some pearl flourishes.  That is the back of the notepad that you see inside the pocket.  The pads came from WalMart and are roughly 5" x 8".

This was a super fun project to make and would make wonderful gifts for teachers, service providers and of course, friends.  I gave this one to Patti to keep once it was done.  By the way, Patti made a gorgeous one too with a beach theme and did hers in half the time I took to make mine - I am such a slow crafter.

Summer Heat

The new challenge at Frilly and Funkie starts today.  Sue is our hostess and she wants us all to think SUMMER HEAT.  Now that isn't difficult in my neck of the woods with temperatures at 40C (104F) if you factor in the humidity.  Seriously though, Sue wants you to make vintage or shabby chic cards or other projects that make you think of the vibrant colours associated with summer and she wants to see at least one bloom on your project.

The challenge will run for two weeks and at the end one random winner will be awarded a $25 gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique and the Design Team will choose their Top Pick and that person will have the opportunity to be a Guest Designer.  A couple of reminders - your projects must fit the challenge theme as well as the style, your entry must link to your post, your post must contain a link to Frilly and Funkie and you may only enter a total of 10 challenges, one of which is Frilly and Funkie.

Here is how I made my card:

I started with some card stock from Recollections to make the blank.  Next I put some Orange Blossom and Red Geranium Archival Ink on my craft sheet along with a drop of Gold Mixative Alcohol Ink and spritzed it with some Rubbing Alcohol.  Then I dragged a piece of Specialty Stamping Paper through it until it was covered - spritzing along the way with more rubbing alcohol to make sure it was runny enough.  I used my heat gun to make sure it was dry before I carried on.

Once dry, I used a natural sea sponge to dab a bit more Red Geranium on.  Then I did some stenciling using Orange Blossom Archival Ink with Wendy Vecchi's Polka Dotty stencil, Cornflower Archival Ink with Wendy's Dots and Stripes Border stencil and Olive Green and a Heidi Swapp stencil to make the branch.

The filigree metal corner started life as a bronze colour so I coated it with Picket Fence Distress Stain, dried it with my heat gun and then dabbed on some Lemonade and Terra Cotta Alcohol Inks before I dried it again.

The bird was part of the Heidi Swapp stencil but I made a paper pattern of him and then cut him out of Grunge Paper.  I decided he needed a wing so that was just hand drawn and cut.  I covered both the bird and his wing with Faded Jeans Distress Ink and then inked the edges with some Vintage Photo DI.  The gem for his eye came from Dollarama.

The Venise Lace was dyed with Vintage Photo DI and the panel it is attached to was some cream card stock from my scraps that I inked with Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey DI and then ran through the Tim Holtz Honeycomb Texture Fade.  After I distressed the edges with my scissors I highlighted it with some Orange Blossom Archival Ink.

The image is from the True Art stamp set by Wendy Vecchi.  I stamped it with Jet Black Archival Ink on Specialty Stamping Paper, fussy cut it and then painted it with Scattered Straw, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Ripe Persimmon and Festive Berries DI.

The bow is some organza ribbon I picked up at a great outlet store in Fancy Gap, Virginia (love that name) and then I added a floral button and some burlap string.

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

House of Cards - Add a Bow
My Besties UK - Anything Goes/Summer
Timbro Scrap Mania - Summer (must use stamp - flower is stamped)
Vintage Stamping Challenges - Summer Blooms (must use stamp - flower is stamped)
Catered Crop - Summer Lovin
Fashionable Stamping - Flowers (must use a flower stamp)

The following items used to create this card are available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique: