Friday Focus - Distress

Hi everyone, Buttons here to kickstart your weekend. As you know on Fridays at Frilly and Funkie we always focus on a type of product or range currently being sold by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. You then get a 15% discount on whatever has been put in the spotlight.

Well today you are in for a major treat. Originally Linda asked me to draw attention to Distress Stains (so that's what is in store for you as you read on further). However now she has decided to roll the resultant 15% discount out across the whole Distress range! That means you get a discount off the stains, the ink pads, the reinkers and the individual paints!! And that's on top of the standard 20% discount on these items at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!!!

Surely there can't be a better time to stock up on those colours you've been meaning to get - I know there are lots of you who are building up your Distress Paint collection steadily and some of those 'seasonal' colours may also be missing from your stash. Plus you may have favorite colors of distress stains that are almost empty and distress ink pads that are worn out.  Of course the larger discount means you'll get far more for your money; now how often can you say that these days?!

So on to a few suggestions for using the Distress Stains. I've created a new card for the occasion but will also use examples from previous projects to help illustrate my ideas. Stains are really wet so they are great for colouring fabric, lace, and seam binding. Here I've used a mix of colours to stain the leaves and the different petal layers. If you use one of the Metallics or Picket Fence they make your colouring even more opaque and mottled. Dry each application thoroughly if you want to stop the colours bleeding into each other too much.

They are great for less floral, delicate items too, like cogs and gears. If you start with a black base and dab on first Brushed Pewter and then Tarnished Brass it looks very realistic.

Originally Distress Stains were created to enable us to cover large areas more rapidly by making use of the wet formula and the dabber container. You can see on the next photo that I've coloured the background with  a mix of Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen and Tarnished Brass to give a slightly mottled/aged look.

It also means you can cover more awkward surfaces (corrugated ones or those which have got gesso/texture paste on them) with an extra layer of colour, in this case Picket Fence.

And if you've got Distress Paint leftovers on your craft mat, mop them up with some CS, dry it off, then go to town with Distress Stains (in this case DS Old Paper over DP Victorian Velvet/Picket Fence).

Stains will work so well over a stamped Distress Paint resist too - again, don't forget to dry the paint fully.

Now back to that card. The next step was to use my Distress Stains to paint in some light and shade to the Archival Inked image. I don't profess to be a talented artist but I can follow what others have done.

On this card I took inspiration from Brett Weldele to paint in this Time Traveller gentleman and his background.

And here's a tip. If you distress the edges of your CS and then want to colour them you can dab Stains onto them - it stops you wrecking your ink pads and allows the more liquid formula to be drawn into the card.

And so finally you get to see the finished card in all it's glory, and I'm not done with the uses for Distress Stains yet! Mounting your creations onto printed CS is great but sometimes the pattern can be too overpowering or just the wrong colour. Wipe Distress Stains over some/all of it and you can alter the look in an instant! In this case it was back to that Picket Fence again. Hmm, which reminds me, I'd be at a loss without it and could do with having a replacement bottle in to hand...

So get hold of your Distress Stains at The Funkie Junkie Boutique while they are at such good price and add an extra dimension to your crafting. And while you are there grab a bargain or three from the rest of the Distress Range. See you there! Hugs, Jenny xxx

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Brushed Corduroy	Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Stain - Tarnished Brass	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Antique Linen	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Old Paper	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Picket Fence White	Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee
Cotton Crinoline	Corner Filigree Metal Pieces	Embroidered Sheer Lace - 1/2 Inch Wide	Ranger Embossing Powder - Verdigris Antiquities	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence	Ranger Tim Holtz Faded Jeans Reinker