Friday Focus - Filigree Metals

STOP PRESS; The new Winter 2014 CHA releases from your favourite designers are now available to pre-order at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Check out the great deals/discounts HERE.

Hi everyone and welcome to the second Friday Focus for 2014. It's time to take a closer look at the filigree metals and metal charms that Linda sells at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. They may be keenly priced but they can make a big impact on your projects. I've selected a few of my favourite pieces to show how they could work for you.

Proving that you don't have to put corners in the corner! As they are lightweight they can be cut with scissors and glued on with clear drying wet adhesives.

As you can cut these filigree metal pieces them so easily it means you can have fun looking for the alternative shapes to be seen in the originals. A corner? No! A window box of course (if you chop off the bottom).

I know the festive season is now over, but this shows that you can make them even more beautiful by adding Ranger Stickles or Distress Glitters (with a dab of Glossy Accents).

This next festive project combines these ideas by cutting into the metal flowers and adding sparkle to the centres. These even had some Brushed Pewter Distress Paint added to tone down the brass colour.

Carrying on that theme of adding Distress Paints to these metal embellishments, you can really change the colour and look easily in this way. Remove a little of the paint with a soft cloth as it starts to dry to reveal some of the original metal colour underneath for a more vintage/shabby feel.

And don't just stick to one colour of Distress Paint. My latest project for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge shows that by mixing blues/greens you can add a patina feel to the metal.

You can achieve a similar effect by dabbing your filigree metal with Alcohol Inks too.

The fun doesn't stop there either. You can use the chunkier metal charms on home decor, jewellery and other decorative items. Taking inspiration from a Tammy Tutterow tutorial HERE, I created some bag charms a few months ago and just couldn't bear to part with this one!

I had immense fun using Tammy's ideas, stamping, inking and die cutting some shrink plastic shapes.

Having overlaid and glued some of these inked/stamped shapes together they were ceremoniously 'dunked' in my Melt Pot to cover them in clear UTEE. Suggestion; add holes to your shapes 'pre-shrink' or, if you forget, 'pre-dunk'. Trying to do it afterwards is really hard.

You can also add other beads and Idea-ology charms (in this case coloured with Alcohol ink and then sanded back). The large 'faux leather' heart is actually made by die cutting two pieces of grunge paper, embossing and inking them with Distress Inks and then sewing them together with contrasting thread. Finally I added in the large brass key charm, giving it (and the UTEE pieces) a quick brush with some gilding wax.

I'm hoping that by now you can see the versatility of the filigree metals and charms sold at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. They cost very little already, and with the additional Friday Focus 15% discount for the coming week, Linda is almost giving them away. Pop them into your basket when buying those larger purchases and you'll soon have a collection of fabulous items which can be used/altered in so many ways.

Have a great weekend everyone and take care of yourselves,

Jenny xxx

4 Piece Antiqued Copper Triangle Filigree Pieces	4 Piece Antiqued Copper Triangle Filigree Pieces	4 Piece Antiqued Bronze Filigree Pieces	Bronze Metal Daisies for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	6 Piece Bronze Leaf Embellishments
6 Piece Bronze Leaf Embellishments	Corner Filigree Metal Pieces - Scrapbooking - Mixed Media	Bronze and Copper Metal Keys for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Muse Tokens	Ranger Inkssentials Shrink Plastic
Ranger Inkssentials Wonder Tape - 1/8"	Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - Love to Make Art	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Red Pepper
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Stream	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Grunge Paper	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Heart Wings BIGZ Die	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Wild Honey	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap