Friday Focus - Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Paints (part two)

Hi everyone and welcome! It's Jenny here with the second part of the latest Friday Focus - this is where we take the opportunity to shine a spotlight on a particular product or range currently in stock at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. For the next week Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Paints will have the special extra 15% discount applied so if you're already a fan or want to try them out now is the time to give it a go! There are smaller 1oz bottles as well as the larger 2oz tubes if you are just trying them out.

As a lover of all things painty I was excited to try these paints for the first time and find out what made them different from those I use regularly. And since there are lots of card-makers out there who may feel paints are just for canvases I decided to create two cards and experiment with a few techniques. Today I'll share the first second of those and show you how it came together - here's the first tutorial if you missed it last week.

The second card I created has more of a journal style feel to it, a bit more abstract and 'arty'. Here's how it came together (if you click on each photo you'll get a closer look at them).

I started by swiping an uneven layer of Vintage Distress Collage Medium over a piece of white card using a spatula.

Once dry I repeated the process with Blushing Heavy Body Paint.

To get more texture into the design I mixed Ruby Heavy Body Paint with some water and swiped it over the top with an old brush (to get the distinct bristle marks).

For a touch of drama I used the same Ruby paint, this time undiluted and in larger amounts, applying it with a smaller brush. The heavy body nature of this paint means it keeps it's dimension when dry.

I used the group of smaller blooms from the Abstract Blooms stamp set with the Evergreen Heavy Body Paint (picked up directly from my craft mat) and stamped them randomly over the background.

To brighten the design I repeated this process with the Lime Heavy Body Paint.

I added lines by dragging my spatula through Umber Heavy Body Paint and pressing it on to the card edge side down.

To finish the background I blended Old Paper Distress Ink over the card. The ink was resisted on the areas covered in paint and Collage Medium to give an uneven look. The card was then cut so that one part would fit a square card blank. The extra piece was added as one of the layers on my first card (from last week).

To finish I stamped one of the heads from the Homage To Frida stamp set on thin tissue with black archival ink and added it to the background with Matte Distress Collage Medium. Stitching around the edge with black cotton created an uneven border. Then adding a row of white lace flowers and the words bloom and grow (stamped onto white card) created the horizon line, balanced by adding white details to the head dress with a Dyan Reavley paint pen.

Here are a couple of close ups to show the details;

That's it for this week and the second part of the Friday Focus on Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Paints. I hope you feel inspired to give them a go (if you haven't already) and remember, the extra 15% discount will be applied through August 17th.

Make sure you join us here at Frilly and Funkie for a new Saturday step by step. For now have a great creative weekend! Jenny xxx

Friday Focus - Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Paints (part one)

Hi everyone and welcome! It's Jenny here with the latest Friday Focus - this is where we take the opportunity to shine a spotlight on a particular product or range currently in stock at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. For the next two weeks Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Paints will have the special extra 15% discount applied so if you're already a fan or want to try them out now is the time to give it a go! There are smaller 1oz bottles as well as the larger 2oz tubes if you are just trying them out.

As a lover of all things painty I was excited to try these paints for the first time and find out what made them different from those I use regularly. And since there are lots of card-makers out there who may feel paints are just for canvases I decided to create two cards and experiment with a few techniques. Today I'll share the first of those and show you how it came together - you'll have to tune in next Friday for the second card/tutorial!

Here's the first card I created - it may look complicated at first glance but you're about to find out that it was easy and fun to do! And if you click on each photo you'll get a closer look at them.

The initial layer was created in the same way as a recent journal cover (instructions/pictures here). Briefly, this comprised taking a piece of black card, randomly brushing White Gesso over, adding pieces of sewing pattern with Matte Distress Collage Medium and adding a little more White Gesso. I stamped blooms over this with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink (drying with a heat gun) then painted them in with Ruby and Evergreen Heavy Body Paint, loving the fact that this paint is so opaque that you only need one layer! Plus, since Distress Inks are water reactive, that dark grey colour disappeared into the paint!!

I stamped one of the ladies from the Homage to Frida set on thick white card using the same ink as before and painted her. Now I'm no portrait artist so I took Blushing paint, added some White to it and went over the lines across the face. By adding a slightly darker shade (less white) around the edges and on her cheeks it gave the face a little more dimension, and a little Blushing on it's own worked a treat for her lips.

I mixed Umber and Elephant to create the hair colour, then went back to Ruby and Evergreen to colour the flowers, dress and earrings. They don't take long to dry and I suggest making sure each section is dry before you start the next to prevent blurring the lines.

To add highlights I added a quick C shaped swirl of the Blushing shade over the flowers.

The Lime shade was perfect for adding highlights to the leaves and for finishing the earrings. If this all looks a bit technical and 'arty' bear in mind I didn't try to be careful or accurate with any of this because the stamping that came next hides a multitude of sins!

Here's that stamping stage - I find adding paint to sponge one of the easiest ways to apply a controlled layer of paint to stamps, using it in the same way you would an ink pad. Using the Umber shade I stamped the same flowers over the original ones, deliberately offsetting them from the originals for that 50's look. I did the same with the face stamp, again offsetting it from the painted version.

To finish the background I applied White paint through the Jumbled Numbers stencil using a stencil brush.

Here's that finished stamped face. I tore away the edges before blending Old Paper over (the paint will resist the ink) and adding Walnut Stain to the edges.

To finish I added the floral/stencilled background to a card blank and stitched around the edges. Then it was a case of grabbing lace trims, paper offcuts (including some from next week's card!) and layering them all under the face. The sentiment was stamped with black archival ink onto white card and added on top.

Here are a couple of close ups to show how I piled up the layers;

That's it for this week and the first part of the Friday Focus on Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Paints. I hope you feel inspired to give them a go (if you haven't already)  and remember, the extra 15% discount will be applied through August 17th.

I'll be back next Friday with the second helping of inspiration so I hope you can join me for that. For now have a great creative weekend! Jenny xxx

Saturday Step by Step - Dwell in Possibility

Hi everyone and welcome! It's Jenny here with a fun tutorial for a framed picture based on the new Distress Oxides and Sizzix Cityscape dies.

I started with a Tim Holtz Framed Panel and having given it a base coat of black gesso, moved on to cover it in a patchy dry-brushed fashion first with Ground Espresso Distress Paint, then Frayed Burlap Distress Paint using my Collage Brush.

The layers continued with a lighter coat of Iced Spruce Distress Paint and finally Antique Linen Distress Paint.

I have an absolute love affair with the new Tim Holtz Paper collection 'Memoranda' and selected a piece from the back to cover the frame base; I went to the trouble of stitching around the paper patchwork before adding it with the Crazing Distress Collage Medium.

Once dry I added some Ground Espresso Distress Crayon into the crazing to emphasise it before adding a little Evergreen Bough Distress Paint to the frame to coordinate it further.

Having put the frame together and created the scene inside I realised it looked a little too bright and clean, so added a layer of Vintage Collage Medium over the frame edge and base. In hindsight it would have been much more sensible to do that at this stage in the process rather than waiting to the end - hence my reason for including it here!

Now I got to play with those new Distress Oxides. I smooshed the Iced Spruce pad onto my craft mat, spritzed it with a little water, mopped it up with two thirds of a sheet of Mixed Media Heavy Cardstock and dried it with my heat gun. That process was repeated using the Vintage Photo pad, after which I spritzed and dried the card to get a beautiful mottled look.

The card was die cut with the two Cityscape Skyline dies (you need one and a half of each to fit the length of the frame) and the building portions of the Cityscape Suburbia dies. I edged each one with Walnut Stain Distress Oxide using a blending tool before covering them with Distress Glaze to fix the colour in place. Having applied the first Skyline towards the top of the frame (the one with the thinner bottom edge) I layered the second over it using Ranger Black Adhesive Foam to add dimension.

To add even further dimension (and fit with our current challenge theme of using folds) I folded a strip of the mottled card to create foam tape supported mounds onto which I added the Suburbia buildings.

Using the final third of the Heavy Cardstock I created smaller coloured pieces using a combination of Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink first with Fossilized Amber ink, then with Fired Brick ink, then with Faded Jeans ink and finally with Peeled Paint ink. As before I spritzed each with water to mottle them before adding a coat of Distress Micro Glaze.

With the main Suburbia building portions already cut I used these coloured pieces to cut the roofs, window frames, balconies, trees, washing etc, gluing them in place before adding the finished buildings to their mounts.

To finish I added words from the Metallic Quotations Stickers, supporting them with more of the Black Adhesive Foam. I also glued the new Mini Foundations on the corners of the frame. And with that my framed vintage scene was complete! Here are some close ups to show the details;

I hope you've enjoyed seeing one idea for using the new Distress Oxides and Cityscape dies. You'll find links to all the products used below, now available to order from The Funkie Junkie Boutique for a permanently discounted price.

Remember our current challenge 'You've Got to Know When to Fold 'em' runs for another week and we'd love to see your folded creations. I'll be back with the rest of the Funkie side of the Design Team next Wednesday to unveil our inspiration for you.

Until then have a great weekend, take care of yourselves and have fun!
Jenny xxx

Friday Focus - Prima IOD Moulds and Paper Clay

Hi everyone and welcome! Jenny here with the first Friday Focus of 2017. This time we are throwing the spotlight on Prima IOD Moulds and Paper Clay. These are available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique and will be reduced an additional 15% through January 19th.

I adore these moulds; not only are they beautiful and intricate designs, they are also very easy to use (particularly with the paper clay) being deep and flexible enough to release moulded pieces. And the pieces they create are perfect for a huge range of projects as you'll see below.

First up a brief step by step for an altered notebook I completed this week using one of the new Object Label designs as a focal point. Having covered the front with texture paste through an old Prima stencil, I pressed the dried moulded Label into the paste and surrounded it with other bits of ephemera (including some of the filigree metal pieces Linda stocks in the Boutique HERE).

Once dry I added black gesso over the design elements in order to unify the base colour and prepare the varied surfaces for the next step.

At this point I got carried away, adding small amounts of metallic acrylic paints (which can be sourced from the Boutique HERE) working from the brightest upwards and making sure each layer was dry before adding the next. I finished with copper and gold colours to highlight the details. Then the tiniest amount of black gesso was used to dry brush over raised areas and some dilute black gesso was dribbled towards the edges of the book. A Remnant Rub was added onto the centre of the label to complete it.

Here are some close ups to show you how detailed the moulded design is (click on any of the images in this post for a closer look);

That's just one idea for using one of the moulded pieces but there are many more. As you'll see from the pictures below I've used Prima IOD moulded designs on a number of different projects over the past year;

I glued the freshly moulded swirls and clock face directly onto this canvas and allowed them to dry before adding paint. The swirls provided a fantastic base and guide for showing where to add flowers;

Exactly the same mould designs were used on a home decor project for Frilly and Funkie, proving how well these elements can be moulded to a curved base when still wet;

Being pliable when wet is important when you want to add these moulded pieces onto corners; I wanted to disguise the messy corners created by adding a burlap covering over a deep-edged canvas, so...

When asked to decorate an MDF storage box, the addition of moulded pieces (prior to adding a faux mahogany paint effect) made all the difference, giving the illusion that the 'wood' had been carved;

Finally here's a sneak peek of my DT project for the current New Years Inspiration challenge - you'll see it in full alongside the rest of the creations from the Funkie side of the Design Team next Wednesday (and I'll explain how to make your moulded labels look aged with ease);

I hope you feel inspired to take the plunge and play with these fabulous Prima IOD moulds and the Paper Clay (if you haven't already done so) and take advantage of the extra 15% discount at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for the next two weeks. And if, like me, you are already hooked it's a great time to stock up on those designs you don't have yet!

Thank you for joining me today. Have a great weekend and take care of yourselves xx

Friday Focus - Distress Paints

Hi everyone and welcome! Jenny here having all sorts of fun with the latest Friday Focus products (with a post delayed from last Friday). This time we are focusing on Tim Holtz Distress Paints. All of the Distress Paints at The Funkie Junkie Boutique will be reduced an additional 15% through November 24th. With the normal 20% discount, that means you can (almost) steal these goodies for 35% off list!

So let's get started with those yummy Distress Paints (with a reminder that you can click on any of the pictures for a closer look!) Here's a reminder of my challenge piece from last week (there's just time to enter HERE!) - you'll be able to recreate it when you follow my instructions below;

Start with a piece of Distress Woodgrain Cardstock and use a brayer to cover the raised areas with Picket Fence Distress Paint. Dry it out thoroughly with a heat gun.

Blend Ripe Persimmon, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Broken China and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks over the card with a mini blending tool.

Wipe a damp piece of paper or cloth gently over the raised areas of the card to remove any ink traces and reveal the white paint beneath.

Using the Woodland Mini Layering Stencil apply Black Soot Distress Paint with a stencil brush. It's important to use paint for this as it will stop the ink below bleeding through to the next layer.

Now apply Wendy Vecchi's Crackled Texture Paste through the second layer from the same stencil and allow to air dry. To finish the background I used the smallest amounts of Distress Paint (in the same colours as the inks) to add splatters over the trees.

Stamp a reindeer from the Tim Holtz Scribble Woodland set onto Distress Watercolor Cardstock using Black Soot Archival Ink, then paint some areas with a diluted mix of Antique Linen Distress Paint. When dry cut out the reindeer.

To finish add some gauze behind the reindeer and mount on a foam pad. Add a strip of Tidings Design Tape underneath the lowest tree and add the reindeer over the trees. Finally add a Christmas Word Band and mount on black card before adding to a card blank of your choice!

So that's it for today... right?... well no, I enjoyed experimenting with Distress Paints so much you've got a bonus tutorial today! Here's what you'll be creating when you follow the next set of instructions;

Cut a piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock 4 1/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches and stamp the log cabin from the Tim Holtz Scribble Woodland across the bottom third using Black Soot Archival Ink (I extended the design with a few lines using a permanent black fineliner pen). Use some washi tape and scrap paper to mask off the design below the snow line. Spritz the uncovered part of the card with water and begin by adding dilute Iced Spruce Distress Paint to most of the background, concentrating particularly around the trees and along the washi tape. Dry with a heat gun.

Repeat the application of watery Distress Paint, using the following colours from light to dark, and layering them in smaller and smaller areas so that it looks like the colour has faded around the edges and concentrated around the trees; Evergreen Bough, Weathered Wood, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, and finally Pine Needles. Make sure you dry thoroughly in between each layer of colour - as it's acrylic paint it will fix when dry. With the watery background complete splatter a little dilute Festive Berries Distress Paint over the image.

When dry add more splattering with the Fossilized Amber and Picked Raspberry paints. Remove the tape and paper to reveal the contrast between the coloured and white areas.

To finish stamp on your sentiment of choice from the set before layering over coordinating card. Stitch around the edge and add some of the green Deco Tape from the Tidings Design Tape set at either end of the design. Finally add Mirrored Stars and mount your design onto a card blank of your choice.

So that really is it for my Friday Focus. I hope you play along and make yourself a couple of colourful Christmas cards using those wonderful Distress Paints. Make sure you stop by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and grab those colours you know you need while they are discounted so much. While you are there check out the Clearance section as well as Christmas and New Arrivals section. There are lots of goodies there to tempt you :)

For now take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx