The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas - Tag 1

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for all your lovely comments over the past few weeks and months. I try desperately to return the compliment wherever possible, but as my commitments increase so the time available seems to slip away. As I mentioned yesterday, Christmas seems to have snuck up on me this year as well and, three weeks from the big day I'm furiously getting cards done.
One massive source of inspiration for me is always Linda Coughlin, otherwise known as The Funkie Junkie. This year she has done it again with her 12 Tags of Christmas challenge sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I know! This was launched back in September! but it's not too late to join in (as I'm about to prove). You have until December 22nd to get them all done and then there's a draw for the chance to win some fab prizes. Check out the details on Linda's blog HERE. So let's get down to business...

Oh yeh Jen, that looks like a fabulous Christmas tag! Way to go girl!! OK, so it's a step by step leading you through to the finished article as there are one or two ideas I wanted to share. Start with a large tag. Yours may be black, mine was a complete nightmare from a failed attempt a couple of months ago. Cover it with Black Soot Distress Paint and no one's the wiser (except you've just broadcast that publicly now you dosy moo).

Linda's first tag was created in a chalkboard style with snow/snowflakes. I went to town on this one by flicking White Linen Dylusions spray over it with the end of the spray mechanism.

This is one of Linda's jumbo tags and the embossing folder only covers part of it. One tip if, once you've run a project through twice, you've got those bits where the first layer of embossing has been flattened. Put the piece back in the embossing folder and use an embossing tool to manually re-emboss the flattened sections. When you turn it over no one will ever know.

Now, cover the raised areas in embossing ink and then cover liberally with Frosted Crystal embossing powder. Anyone who completed Tim's November tag will know where I'm going next with this.

Heat the powder until it just turns transparent and is matte. It's easy to overheat this and make it shiny, but if you do the surface loses it's 'tooth'. Now rub chalk over the tag and let the embossed areas grab it. I find rubbing my fingers over it helps to fix the chalk in place.

Next, I used a freebie snowflake stencil (given out in a papercrafting magazine years ago now) and pushed white embossing paste through it, making sure the surface was left in peaks to add texture.

Rather than go with the usual clear glitter I sprinkled Pumice Stone Distress Glitter over the wet surface. It has a silvery effect without being too glitzy.

To finish the flake I painted one of Linda's filigree metal snowflakes with Picket Fence and layered it over the glittery base. So, taking that snowflake, the chalky background and some other embellishments it all came together to create...

Totally inspired by Linda's chalkboard effect, snowflakes and Let It Snow sentiment, I love how this card came together.

And now some close ups. Washi tape, Venise Lace and the die cut snowflake border added real structure to the design.

The die cut lettering was covered in Brushed Pewter paint.

What did I do before Tim's Simple Sayings?!

A better view of that Pumice Stone glitter. See what I mean about the silvery finish?

So there we have it. My first entry for The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas.
Number 2 is done, but you can't see it yet, so Number 3 will be along tomorrow.
For now, thank you for dropping by. I'm incredibly grateful to each and every one of you.
Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Black Soot	Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Ink Spray - White Linen	Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Snowflurries and Snowman	25 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Ranger Embossing Antiquities - Frosted Crystal	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - White	Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Pumice Stone	Snowflake Filigree Metals	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence
Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Holly, Beaded & Snowflake Garland	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz WANTED Alphabet Die	PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Brushed Pewter	Venise Lace Trim - 1/2 inch wide	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Simple Sayings	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Archival Ink - Vermillion

A Joyful Christmas with Nicecrane Designs

Hi everyone. Thanks so much for joining me at this busy time of year. 

It's definitely busy if you've still got a ton of Christmas cards to make. Where did October and November go?!

Thankfully it was relatively quick to rustle up this set thanks to a set of digital images from Nicecrane Designs. 

Called 'A Joyful Christmas' you can find these wonderful designs HERE.

They are easy to resize and with a high resolution, each image is beautifully clear when printed.

So here's a flick through the set, combined with a brief description of the elements involved.

The images were cut to fit stamped.embossed apertures and given an inky distressed edge. They were then layered onto the die cut frames.

Have you noticed yourself looking at colours and thinking of them in their Distress form? When I looked at these images I saw Weathered Wood, Bundled Sage, Frayed Burlap and Tattered Rose.
That works when you are talking to someone else familiar with the Distress range, but everyone else tends to look at you rather oddly!

Creating the marbled note page layers was really easy with the Marbled Background stamp from The Artistic Stamper.
You can use coordinating stains on it to get a beautifully blended look.
As I've used this background stamp it seems rude not to enter The Artistic Stamper Creative Team challenge - Anything Goes.

The holly leaves got a little more complicated than initially envisaged. To give them a patina look a blend of alcohol inks was added to metal foil, and then some of the ink was removed using the Dot Fade stencil and Blending Solution. It definitely fitted with the whole vintage feel.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing what can be done with these fabulous images from Nicecrane Designs. There are any number of other fantastic Christmas images available too at a really good price, so it's well worth taking a look HERE.
I'll be back tomorrow with my first entry to a rather special challenge.
Hope you can join me then. In the meantime I'd like to wish you all a happy and productive weekend. Jenny x

ps. in response to a couple of queries, the frames were embossed onto watercolour card in Ranger silver embossing powder using this stamp;

http://www.creative-expressions.uk.com/productcatalogue/detail.php?pid=UMS508

the frame was then cut/embossed using this Spellbinders Nestabilities die set;

http://www.creative-expressions.uk.com/productcatalogue/detail.php?pid=WIZS5-161

Gift Tags and Note Cards at Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone. As it's a Wednesday it's time for the next challenge instalment over at Frilly and Funkie. The latest challenge, hosted by Cec, is 'Gift Tags and Note Cards'. This time we want to see vintage or shabby chic Gift Tags and Note Cards. YOu can make one or the other, or better still, make both!. They should be in high demand over the next few weeks with Christmas and all the related gift-giving and festive functions fast approaching. You could be chosen as our winner and the next Guest Designer at Frilly and Funkie. There is also the chance to win a $25 shopping spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for one winner chosen at random.

So I've combined these ideas and made gift note cards in a vintage shabby chic style. They have been made to pop store gift cards in - so much nicer and more personal than the ones that can usually be bought in the shops to accompany them.

Commercial ones tend to focus on the front cover, leaving the inside rather plain, so I put in more effort with this aspect.

The card wallet itself was pretty straight forward. I simply traced around one that had been used on a card for me in the summer, giving it an inky edge to add the vintage feel. All the papers used are from the Maja Design collection 'It's Christmas Time'; this collection positively oozes vintage shabby chic and even boasts four sheets with matching tags, stamps and embellishments.

In this case the tags have been altered slightly and then left blank to allow each name and message to be added (by the relative who requested them).

The front cover started with torn strips of patterned paper. By attaching them to a piece of card it gave me the opportunity to add a torn edge too. Stamping and stencilling with embossing paste helped to unify this background.

The toppers were a mix die cuts in different materials including vellum, papers and card. Inking all the edges gave each element a feeling of having been finished off (if that makes sense!)

I'm entering the following challenges;

Country View Challenges - Bah, Humbug

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - In The Holiday Spirit

So that's it from me for today. Hope you can go over and see what my fellow teamies have been up to HERE.

Then we'd love to see your own takes on this theme.

Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Maja Design 6x6" Scrapbook Paper Pad - It′s Christmas Time	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - White	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Honeycomb	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Fern Green	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Peeled Paint	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Bundled Sage
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Aged Mahogany	Rayon Seam Binding	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Festive Greenery Die

A Very Vintage Christmas at Our Creative Corner

Hi everyone. Can you believe it's the beginning of December? Where did the year go! Over at Our Creative Corner it's the start of a new challenge. Laura is our host this month and she decided to set the challenge as...

For this challenge we are abandoning traditional Christmas colours and are giving Christmas a Vintage tone. No reds, no greens, just neutrals.

     The challenge here is to use a neutral palette....so think about shades of creamy hot chocolate, glistening white snow, rich dark sherry and mince pies, ivory candles, rustic wooden logs, roasting chestnuts and brown paper packages tied up with string!

    This Christmas we want you to make anything you like - Cards, ATC's, Tags, Scrapbooking, journals, Gifts, Altered art......anything you like....but please use only neutral colours from ice white, through to ivory and cream, beige to dark brown and black. You can also use metal embellishments, metal paints and stains.

Please Note - Your creation does NOT have to be 'Vintage style' - We would love to see Christmas creations in any style, but please keep to a neutral colour scheme.

I wanted to take a much less 'vintage' route with this theme to show that neutrals can be fun and more modern. When you limit your colour palette the focus can be placed more heavily on texture and shapes.

Embossing folders are never far from my side; they add instant interest and depth, especially when you take them a little further. So the snowman was clear embossed to resist the stamping and inking, and the snowflakes were covered in Ranger Snowflake Embossing Tinsel after the background had been treated with gesso.

I piled on the layers by using Maja Design 'It's Christmas Time' papers - these take ink and paint so well. And then to the large snowflakes. Die cut in a mix of materials, some were covered in Rock Candy Distress Glitter, some in Picket Fence Crackle Paint, and some in a mix of Picket Fence and Frayed Burlap Distress Paint.

Now it's time to hop over to see what some of my team mates have been up to HERE, and oh boy are you in for a treat. I love the way we always approach each theme so uniquely and this time is no exception.

That's it from me for now, so take care of yourselves,
Jenny xxx