Home for the Holidays with Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome! Here we are, December has arrived, and we're all now hurtling rapidly towards the festive season. Does the clock speed up at this time of year or is it just me? Anyway, the latest Frilly and Funkie challenge, hosted by the amazing Kathy Clement, is called 'Home for the Holidays!' "Let's get ready to Deck the Halls by creating some home decor for the holiday season. You can make centrepieces, wreaths, banners, ornaments, wall hangings, or little vignettes... basically anything BUT a card for this challenge. If you don't celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, then just make some home decor with a wintry theme."

At the end of the challenge the team will choose their top four picks. Our first place winner will be invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie. Three additional talented participants will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and adheres to the challenge guidelines will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

Having been inspired by Tracy Evans' styling for her decorations this year (elegant, mercury glass ornaments, vintage inspired) I decided to feature my festive Idea-Ology stash in two altered jars with something of this look. The clean jars needed altering and ageing first up so I began by pouncing a mix of Mushroom Alcohol Ink and Gold Mixative around, removing some where I got over-enthusiastic! Next up the base and top were heat embossed with silver powder - have patience when heat embossing thick glass as it takes an age to warm up/melt/cool down! Finally I imperfectly (deliberately!) stamped the snowflakes from the Tim Holtz 'Scribble Woodland' stamp set in Brushed Pewter Distress Paint.

The inside 'snow scene' was created by layering Texture Paste and Distress Glitter (Linda still has a pot of my favourite Pumice Stone version left in stock - yay!) into which I sat Decorative Deer and Small Woodland Trees (sprayed in Iced Spruce Distress Stain Spray and covered in the same glitter). Around the top of the jar I tied a combo of Tinsel Twine, Christmas Jute String and burlap rope (Linda stocks some fabulous natural trims) before adding Christmas Word Keys, Typed Tokens and those fabulous Pinecones. You can also find multi-sized jump ring sets in stock at The Funkie Junkie Boutique which are fabulous value for money and leave you free to make up chains to any lengths you want.

I'm pleased to report the recipients of these vintage style jars liked them, even if they were so 'hot off the press' they required further drying time!!! At least the snow scenes inside will need no dusting and should be easy enough to pack away at the end of the festivities.

They are being entered into the following challenges;
Emerald Creek Dares - Winter Wishes Part 1
Country View Challenges - Christmas

That's my contribution to the Design Team's inspiration for our 'Home for the Holidays!' challenge. Make sure you hop on over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog to see the other fabulous makes from my super talented teamies and find out what they've made to decorate their holiday homes, I'm sure you'll find plenty of inspiration so you'll be ready to join in the fun with us and of course be in with a chance to win!
For now take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Winter Magic with A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone and welcome! Today sees the launch of the latest challenge at A Vintage Journey called 'Winter Magic'. Our host for this challenge is the wonderful Deb Riddell. Here's what she has in mind for this theme; "For us in the northern hemisphere December brings the start of winter and for many that means freezing cold weather and Christmas. But winter is so much more than that and so we ask, how would you interpret the magic of winter? Snow, icicles, colours of blue, silver and white, the festivities of Christmas, misty winter landscapes; show us what your magical focus is for the season and in a vintage; shabby; mixed-media; art journaling; industrial or steampunk style."

This month we are sponsored by Country View Crafts who have generously offered a £20 voucher to their online store for a randomly drawn winner. And three hand picked Pinworthies will be offered the chance of a guest appearance for a later challenge, so there's plenty of reasons to join in.

(click on each image for a closer look)

And now here's my own take on 'Winter Magic' - a canvas celebrating the magic that nature itself creates at this time of the year here in the UK. For me the beauty of this season extends beyond the sparkling lights, trees and tinsel. The last traces of fallen leaves caught beneath a snow/frost laden carpet, and revelation of weather-beaten structures, unburdened by much of the usual floral and fauna, are as magical as any festive decorations.

I started with the base of this deep edged canvas, randomly adding layers of Gathered Twigs, Hickory Smoke, Ground Espresso and Walnut Stain Distress Paints direct to the surface to get a look of dark soil. Next I applied a patchy layer of Texture Paste, leaving some of the 'soil' exposed on the edges, and stamped into it with the Tim Holtz 'Leaf Prints' stamps (mist them with water to ensure they release from the paste). When dry I restamped into the leaf impressions with the same brown shades of Distress Paint to make them stand out, and finally added a thin layer of white gesso to give the impression of frost on top of fallen leaves. With that the background was complete.

The colours mentioned by Deb in her description included blue, white and silver, and as luck would have it I picked up an old blue bottle at a vintage market in Retford recently. It still has the chips and grime of ages past, and with the addition of some Remnant Rubs (from the Elements set) a few dribbles of Ranger's Pearl Alcohol Ink Mixative, some twine and wire wrapping, and Tim's Festive Idea-Ology charms, it was the perfect match. Of course it would have looked weird just sitting in the middle of the canvas so I added chunks of canvas stretcher wood, dowsed in Iced Spruce Distress Paint, dripped with gesso, Pearl Mixative and Espresso Alcohol Ink, and stamped with numbers from the 'Sideshow' set in Cornflower Blue Archival Ink. Obligatory rusty nails, Idea-Ology Nail Heads, and a sentiment from the Small Talk Occasions set adorned the 'fence' beautifully but it also needed a few more leaves. To get that crunchy texture I quadruple embossed some card with Ranger's Snowflake Embossing Tinsel and stamped into it with one of the 'Leaf Prints' using Potting Soil Archival Ink. If you stamp and fussy cut the card first you get the perfect shape too.

So that's where this month's fabulous theme took me. Now I urge you to hop on over to A Vintage Journey to see what my fellow Creative Guides have come up with - it's well worth the visit! Then it's over to you - the challenge will remain open for a month so there's plenty of time to get those creative juices flowing and link up your entries to be in with a chance to win.

I'm entering this canvas into the following challenges;
Anything But Cute challenge #19 - Rustic Glam
Fashionable Stamping Challlenges challenge #117 - Tis The Season
That's Crafty challenges - All Grungy

And how exciting! I've just discovered I won last month's top spot over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge #20 for my vintage lace/rusty canvas!!! Thank you so much to the team for awarding me this honour.

Off now for some Friday fun. Whatever you're up to take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx