The Flowers are Coming!

The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave is blooming with inspiration!  The team is highlighting flowers in anticipation of the flowers bursting open for spring!  

I wanted to play with my new watercolor pencils in Scorched Timber, Jet Black and White.  I decided to play around with limited color and just highlight the neutrals with the flowery images. 

I love the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz set Floral Trims.  They let you color away with the beautiful lined flowers. 

My goal was to see if I could use the brown, black and white watercolor to highlight the flowers and just use accent colors in the background and leaves. 

For my circular image I stamped the image using a distress ink in soft gray. I was hoping to highlight the image using watercolor pencils and shading. 

After stamping the image I used the scorched timber to add a touch of color around the petals of the flower and the green watercolor pencil in the leaves.  I then used a water brush to soften the edges of coloring. I came back with a yellow watercolor pencil to add a touch of yellow to the center of the flowers.  I used the water brush to blend that and soften the edges.

After I finished with my coloring and blending I decided to come back with the black watercolor pencil and add the lines again to the image to really make it pop.  I also shaded around the outside edges of the images with a hint of gray and blended with the water brush. 

Sometimes when I finish a project and the colors are softer and don't really pop out at me I will clear emboss the entire image.  This will make the colors richer and more intense.  I did that with this image. I sponged the entire surface after it was completely colored and covered it with clear embossing powder. I then heat set the embossing powder. Sometimes this takes two coats to get a clear finish. 

I then mounted the circle image on several circles before placing it on a black cardstock base and adding the coordinating butterfly and stamped sentiment. 

For my next experiment, I stamped the floral image with black archival ink on white cardstock.

Then I shaded and blended with the watercolor brush inside the flowers using the black watercolor pencil. I added a bit more shading with the brown watercolor pencil.  Blending each time with the water brush.  I came back and added a  heavier shading of black around the inside of the image.  

For the leaves I used the green watercolor pencils and colored around the inside and blended with the water brush.  

Next I decided to bring in pink around the outside of the flowers and a golden brown around the leaves.  I colored on the outside of the lines and then used a water brush to soften the edges and blend the color out. 

I finished the image with a black cardstock base and a stamped sentiment. 

I really wanted to use the white watercolor pencil and I tried a few different ideas and this was the one that worked most successfully.  I started with stamping the image using versamark and clear embossing powder to create an outline of the image on black cardstock.

After that I took the white watercolor pencil and shaded and blended the white inside the flower.  This made the white disappear into the black cardstock.  I came back and colored again with more pressure and further out to add more shading.  I didn't use the water brush as I wanted the white to pop off the black background in my second round of coloring.

To make the flowers really pop from the background I came back with a white gel pen and outlined the image to make is move and stand out.

Then the sentiment was stamped with Versamark watermark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I mounted the image on white and then a black card base. 

Not your typical spring flowers but I had fun exploring the use of white, black and browns with the flowers. 

Suzz

Products: 

• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz - Floral Trims
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Tiny Text
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz  Love Notes
  
• Ranger Tim Holtz Watercolor Pencils Black Soot & Picket Fence 
• Ranger Tim Holtz Watercolor Pencil - Scorched Timber 
• Ranger Tim Holtz Watercolor Pencil Set #1 
• Versamark Watermark Ink
• Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
• Ranger White Embossing Powder
• Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black 
• Ranger Distress Oxide Ink - Hickory Smoke
  
• Black Cardstock

Hat's Off to Men

 Howdy!  We are celebrating masculine inspired cards on The Funkie Junkie Boutique Inspiration Ave!  I started from some fun Idea-Ology Photomatic images to inspire my masculine card. 

Look at that face!  It is so inspiring and fun.  I created layers of grungy goodness to frame out Mr. Handsome. 

 

 The card base is from a kraft cardstock which was sponged with the lovely new Scorched Timber and sprinkled with the speckled egg distress oxide and water spots. 

The next layer is created with texture paste over a stencil which was spritzed using a mix of the scorched timber and speckled egg distress oxide.  A little water helped blend the two together.

Then a scrap of a backdrop paper sponged with a touch of the scorched timber layered  under the framed photo.

A few touches with the stamped sentiment and the numbers on the photo finished off the effect.  The embellishments of twine, die cut branch and buttons were added to create movement. 

Hop over to the Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave for more masculine projects inspiration! 

Suzz

Products: 

• Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz Layering Stencil- Measured
• Ranger Inks Tim Holtz - Scorched Timber Distress Ink, Scorched Timber Distress Stain Spray
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Photomatic 
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Backdrops Volume 4
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Tiny Clips
  
• Stampers Anonymous - Correspondence
  
• Ranger Ink - Tim Holtz Speckled Egg Distress Oxide 
• Ranger Ink Archival - Jet Black 
• Ranger Ink - Texture Paste Opaque
  

Steampunk Lovebirds

Hi!  The design team at The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave is showcasing the latest Sizzix Release by Tim Holtz called Out of the Vault!  I was lucky enough to receive the beautiful LoveBirds! 

I decided to stamp up my die cuts to add a pop of texture to the surface.  I created a flock of birds before I realized what I wanted to use on my card.

I cut the birds from inky backgrounds and using the Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Backdrops.  I spritzed the backgrounds using the same colors I used on the card.  They were a mix of Seasonal Distress Mica Stains along with a distress oxide. 

The backgrounds were created by first applying a layer of opaque crackle texture paste over the flourish stencil. This was done on the backdrops paper and white cardstock.

 While the crackle paste was wet the sprays were sprayed multiple times along with water to help mix the colors and thin out in areas the density of the color.  Then a heat gun was used to dry out the crackle paste.  There was a mix of some areas crackling and others not because of the wetness when applied. 

After that the background was cut for the card from one of the pieces.  Then the birds were stamped using black archival ink with the various images on some inky remnants.  The birds and feather were covered in versamark ink and then a layer of clear embossing powder heated up.  This made the colors more vibrant and added another pop to the color on the cut out images. 

Happy inking! 

Suzz

Products: 

• Sizzix Tim Holtz The Vault - Lovebirds 
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Backdrops 4 
• Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Crackle
• Ranger Tim Holtz Halloween Mica Stain Set 1
• Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Spray - Mermaid Lagoon
• Versamark Watermark Ink
• Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Flourish Stencil
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Eccentric
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Correspondence
  
• Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black

It's Cold Outside!

We are definitely feeling the cold this week!  We are sitting at -31 degrees with the windchill. Perfect time to sit inside and craft a bit!  The Funkie Junkie Boutique design team is showing off their cold likes and dislikes at The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave.  I was inspired by frosted windows that had such beautiful crystalized designs.  I wondered if I could emulate that with the Frosted Crystal Embossing Medium from Tim Holtz/Ranger. 

To create a frosted pane: 

1. Start with a heat resistant acetate sheet. 
2. Sponge over the stencil with Versamark ink. To get your pattern onto the acetate. 
3. Sprinkle with the Frosted Crystal. 
4. Heat up the embossing powder until the crystal shows.  (Don't overheat as eventually the crystal will melt and you will just have a clear embossed image) 

The frame on the cardstock was created with the same process. 

1.  Lay the stencil over the front of the card. 
2. Sponge on the Versamark ink. 
3. Repeat pattern until front of the card is covered with inky pattern. 
4. Sprinkle with Frosted Crystal. Shake off excess. 
5. Heat up the embossing powder. 
6. Smear gold wax over surface to create highlights.

Then cut out the inside of the card base and use for the additional layering on top.  I also used a bit of the excess from the middle to die cut the bird to place on the front of the card. 

I loved the effect of the Frosted Crystal and decided to try the same process on white cardstock. 

The tag was created by: 

1. Sponge versamark ink through the stencil onto the white cardstock. 
2. Repeat until surface area is covered. 
3. Sprinkle Crystal Frost Embossing powder over surface.  Shake off excess. 
4. Heat until the frosty effect occurs. 
5. Spray with a mix of distress oxide and micas stain sprays. 
6. Spritz with water to lighten the effect and dab with paper towels to take off excess ink.

 The next panel was made with translucent embossing paste.

To create the snowy effect: 

1. Lay stencil over heat resistant acetate. 
2. Use spatula with translucent embossing paste and apply to acetate. 
3. Repeat until covered with snowflakes. 
4. Sprinkle Frosted Crystal Embossing medium over surface and tap off excess. 
5. Some will cling to the acetate.  (I used a fine tip brush to brush off the excess) 
6. Heat emboss the snowflakes and the embossing paste.  The embossing paste will puff up which gives it an additional layer of texture. 
7. I wanted a full frosty panel so I took one more step of inking up the complete reverse side with Versamark and applying the Frosted Crystal Embossing Medium over the entire surface and then heated it up. 

This panel looked like a frosted pane of glass and was very cool!  

Keep warm! 

Suzz

Products: 

• Ranger Tim Holtz Frosted Crystal Embossing Medium
• Ranger Texture Paste Translucent
• Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Snowflake
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Flourish 
• Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
• Ranger Tim Holtz Halloween Mica Stain Spray Set #1
• Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide - Mermaid Lagoon
• Sizzix Thinlits Tim Holtz Love Birds
  

2023 Favorites!

Hi!  I am sharing my favorite from 2023!  I loved the Floral Trims from Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz and did a series of tags with it earlier this year but wanted to bring it back out and play with it one more time! 

 This is a multi-layered card using the floral trims stamps.  First the stamp was stamped on white cardstock with black ink.

The background was sponged with black dye ink around the images.  Then splatter the background with white paint.  

Stamp the flowers again on tissue paper and white cardstock using black archival ink.

Color the images with watercolor pencils and blend with a water brush on both the white cardstock and tissue paper.  Heat set the colors on the images.

Cover the entire  colored image with versamark watermark ink.  Apply clear embossing powder over the tissue paper and  heat emboss until the embossing powder completely melts.

Cut out the flowers as a complete image from the white cardstock and apply to the black sponged inky background.  Cut out the flower petals and leaves from the transparent colored image to apply over the images on the cardbase.

This will give the card a layered 3 dimensional effect. 

 Suzz

Products: 

• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Floral Trims 
• Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black
• Versamark Watermark Ink 
• Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
• Ranger Tim Holtz Watercolor Pencils
• Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Kraft Black Paper
• Dina Wakely White Acrylic Paint 
• Ranger Distress Ink  Soot Black 
• Tim Holtz Detail Scissors

Holiday Homecoming!

Welcome to the holidays!  The team at The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave is sharing their holiday homecoming a celebration of the holidays with family and friends.  

I was inspired by wreaths that my mother and I made years ago for holiday craft shows. It was fun picking out different flowers, garland, and embellishments to decorate the wreathes.  

My wreath of joy started from a collection of poinsettias cut from white cardstock.  I started by cutting many different shapes to play with in different mediums and ended up with poinsettias on white cardstock because of how I wanted the colors to saturate and stand out.

Next up was making the beautiful colors on the flowers and branches.  The flower pieces were all sponged with a red dye ink.  After that they smaller pieces received a distressing with a brown dye ink and the larger flowers were sponged around the edges with the brown dye ink.  

The branches were sponged with versamark and embossed with a shimmery silver.  (I am still glittering in random spots on my face and hair!)  

I next cut out a circle to hold onto my wreath from cardboard.

I sponged the front of the circle to match the flowers in case any of the cardboard peeked through the flowers. 

Then I heat set the flowers before attaching the layers as the distress ink can remain damp and cause the tape to not stick properly.  I attached the layers to the flowers petals.  Then the flowers were alternated on the frame of the wreath using tape for the bottom flower and pop dots to create depth on the alternating flowers.

After all the flowers were placed on the wreath the various branches were tucked into the wreath around the edges using tape and glue dots.  Then a lovely little sentiment was placed on the banner on the front with a few extra twigs. 

The centers of the flowers were a mixture of embellishments.  

Have a happy holiday! 

Suzz

Products: 

• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Festive Bouquet
• Ranger Distress Ink Lumberjack Plaid 
• Ranger Distress Oxide Vintage Photo  
• Versamark Watermark Ink 
• Ranger Embossing Powder Silver  
  

Mixed Media Madness

The inspiration theme for the Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave this time is Mixed Media Madness.  I was curious what the internet said about mixed media and did a search and captured a few pieces of the results to share. The simple definition of mixed media  "the use of a variety of media in an entertainment or work of art."  Google Dictionary results from oxford languages  Right below that was a few other questions and answers about mixed media which I found interesting as well:  "Mixed media is a type of visual art that combines more than one medium or material. This can take many forms, but the three most common are collages, assemblages, and sculptures. Many mixed media artworks feature different materials such as paint, fabric, paper, and found objects."  - The institute for Arts Integration and Steam

I decided to try to mix up my textures and mediums on my art and go small with my designs. 

I started with leftover backgrounds from an inky mix of mica stain sprays on white cardstock.

On that base of inky backgrounds I layered in tissue tape across the bottom of the atc.  Then stamped over the surface and embossed with embossing powder to make the image pop. 

Then some small dragonflies punched out from an embossed background were added to add a layer of texture.  

Then using the same background the floral trims were stamped and embossed onto that background.  Then watercolor pencils were used to add a hint of color to the flowers and leaves. 

The bottom  have of the atc was painted in brown acrylics and embossed with brown embossing powder.  There were multiple layers embossed to make it thick enough to stamp into.  The script stamp was inked in versamark and stamped into the warm embossing powder to create a reverse image. 

I repeated the effect with different colors and a different embossed background on the bottom. 

After I did my first series I thought about using other bits and pieces to create more texture and different effects.

I again pulled a leftover inky background to start a few of my different pieces.  I had a shimmery metallic silver form the mica stain sprays and cut it up into pieces where I liked the effect of the spray.

Then I used those pieces by pulling out pieces of different embellishments to layer and create an effect.

I had fun trying different embossing and stamping techniques with different mediums.  The background for the in the summer was created with a smeared brown paint with script stamped using a white ink.  To preserve the effect it was clear embossed.   The reset was layered tissue tape with an punched butterfly removed and placed above. 

The background on this was stamped using mica stain spray as the ink and then layered over an embossed gold background.   

For my final piece of tiny art I added some mica stain spray smeared on with a paint brush on the top and bottom.  The feather was in my leftover bin and already had the gold tip.  The heart received a touch of gilded wax to turn it from clear resin to a golden heart. 

I hope this has you inspired to mix your mediums! 

Suzz

Products: 

• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Floral Trims
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Exquisite
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Tapestry
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Halloween The Obscure 
  
• Ranger Distress Mica Stain Sprays Halloween #3 
• Ranger Distress Stain Spray Tarnished Brass 
• Ranger Distress Mica Stain Sprays Halloween #5
• Ranger Distress Mica Stain Sprays  Holiday #3
  
• Ranger Embossing Powder Clear
• Ranger Embossing Powder Gold
• Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Bouquet
  
• Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
• Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Merchant Tissue Tape 
• Prima Marketing Spring Abstract Flowers
• Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Felt Trims Neutral

Make A Scene

We were challenged by the Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave to make a scene this time around.  I was thinking what did I have that represented a vignette or a scene... 

Well.... the beautiful lion from Finnabair's Regal Lion mold was my inspiration.  I was thinking about creating a series of items that would fit in a treasure chest.  I heated up a big batch of gold and black embossing powder and poured that into the molds.  I let them cool off and popped out the pieces.  The embossing powder I had was mixed ended up with more black on the images than gold.  I wanted more gold to prevalent,  so I used the metallique wax to smear over the surface and add the gold highlights.

You can see the various pieces from the molds mixed in with the other treasures.

Then I decided to work on additional goodies to fill the treasure chest.  I pulled out pearls (Tim Holtz's bubbles or baubles work great) and had them ready to put in the treasure chest.   

I also envisioned gold doubloons and decided to create my own.  I started with cut circles die cut  from cardboard.  I covered both sides with versamark ink.  Then they were dipped into the mix of gold and black embossing powder.  Heated up to melt all off the embossing powder.  I repeated this multiple times to increase the depth of the embossing powder on the coins.   You can either re-ink with versamark and dip back into the embossing powder or heat up the coin holding it with rubber handled tweezer and dip it back in again and melt it right away.   Then to add an image to the gold coin you will ink up the stamp you want to use with versamark and then heat up your coin until the embossing powder is molten or soft and then place the stamp into the heated embossing powder.  Press down and leave to cool off.  Once it is cool you can pull the stamp out and have an impression on the embossed surface and your stamp will be clean.  (I only do this with the rubber stamps) 

There also had to be a treasure map!  I cut a piece of scrap paper and spritzed it with the same mica stain sprays used on the outside of my chest.  After it dried I added stamped script on the inside along with picking up some extra inky stains.  Then it was wrinkled and rolled up and tied with some twine. 

The remainder is a mix of shimmery buttons, old fake jewelry and a watch fob to add to my treasures!

To create the treasure chest: 

1. I drew a template for my box along with the circle for the arch on the sides of my top. 
2. I cut all the pieces based on my measurements and template. 
3. I ran all the cardstock through the texture fade cracked. 
4. I sprayed them all with two mica stain sprays (fallen acorn and unravelled)
5. I then assembled my box.  I reinforced the inside with sheets of cardboard that were sprayed to coordinate. 
6. The top was cut in strips to emulate wood strips.  They then were applied to a sheet of cardstock that was attached to the arched ends.   This was also reinforced with a rectangle of cardstock around the bottom.
   

The decorative trim is the lace dies cut from tissue paper and embossed with gold embossing powder.  They made a beautiful decorative edge around the corners.

Suzz

Products:

• Prima Finnabair Mould Regal Lions
• Prima Marketing Art Alchemy Metallique Wax - White Gold
  
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Holiday Baubles
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Vintage Labels Dies (Gold Pieces)
  
• Ranger Mica Stain Sprays Seasonal  #5
  
• Ranger Gold Embossing Powder(I used a mixed gold and black embossing powder)
  
• Sizzix Tim Holtz - Texture Fade - Cracked
• Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz - Exquisite
  
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz - Correspondence
  
• Versamark Watermark Ink
  

How Scary is that?

Back for some scary inspiration?  The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave is focused this time on scary inspiration from the new releases for Halloween!  

The inspiration for me was the spooky skeleton from the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz The Obscure stamp set.  His creepy blank stare had me thinking of ways to showcase him on a few cards.

I decided to cut him out and open up the empty places on the skull by cutting them out with detail scissors.  I then folded the image slightly to give it space behind the skull.

Than it was all about the fun inky backgrounds made from the mica stain sprays.  I mixed a variety of colors together and used them on the background of the card and for the feathers.

The feathers were die cut from the backgrounds and then staggered on the headdress.  The headdress was also bowed outwards to give space to overlap on the skull.

The other background was made with the textured fade cracked embossing folder with a mix of mica stain sprays to give the beautiful golden brown background. 

I hope you enjoyed the scare! 

Suzz

Products: 

• Sizzix Tim Holtz Feathery
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Texture Fade - Cracked
  
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz The Obscure 
• Ranger Distress Mica Halloween Stain #5
• Ranger Distress Mica Halloween Stain #4
• Ranger Distress Mica Holiday Stain #3
  
• Stampers Anonymous - Halloween Tiny Text
• Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
• Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black
• Ranger Archival Ink - Olive
• Prima Marketing Spring Crystal
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Branches and Spiders
  

Fall Colors

Hi!  I love fall!  The colors are beautiful as if the trees were changing their outfits to highlight the weather change.  At The Funkie Junkie Inspiration Ave we are highlighting fall colors. 

When The Funkie Junkie Boutique sends you your goodies, they always include a little packet of something fun!  I love those little surprises and I always keep the glassine bags they come in.  I used those as my starting point for my fall colors inspiration.

I have to admit I am in love with the Mica Stain sprays.  I embossed the glassine bags using the new Tim Holtz Cracked texture fade folder to emboss the bags.   Then I spritzed the bags with a mix of the Mica Stain Sprays #5 (Unravelled, Fallen Acorn) to add my fall colors.  I also used the Mulled Cider in addition to the Fallen Acorn to color the ribbons and twine.

After the bags were embossed,  I took the various bird dies and slipped them inside of the glass bag and put the die cut facing up.  Then I ran the die through the cutting machine.  I ended up with a series of bags with different bird cut outs.  I wanted my bags to still function as a gift bag, so I cut out sheets of acetate to attach to the inside of my bag.   

After the bags were ready then it was a matter of finding other accents to embellish the goody bags.

A die cut wreath spritzed with the mica stains along with various flowers, mummy cloth and stamped sentiments added layers and interest.

I love the shimmer and how pretty the gift bags are and they are ready to be filled with halloween treats! 

Suzz

Products: 

• Sizzix Tim Holtz Cracked Texture Fade
  
• Ranger Distress Tim Holtz Mica Stain Sprays Holiday #5 
• Stampers Anonymous - Tiny Text
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Mummy Cloth
• Idea-Ology - Tim Holtz Wood Slices 
• Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink
  
• Glassine Bags
• Sizzix Dies - Mischievous (the birds dies are out but these cats would be so fun on these gift bags)
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Halloween Bubbles