Friday Focus - Buttons, Buttons, Buttons!

Hello friends of Frilly and Funkie!  Welcome back to our weekly Friday Focus column where we focus on one product or group of products sold in The Funkie Junkie Boutique, give you some fun inspiration for using the products and discount the products 15% for an entire week.  Check out this week's Friday Focus category in the boutique for an awesome selection of buttons, all 15% off.  

I don't know too many female crafters who don't love buttons.  I certainly am partial to them and love purchasing unusual ones for the boutique.  My recent purchases have ranged from bright and cute to vintage and grungy with girly and shabby in between.  So I made a few tags for to showcase the variety that is now available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  

Let's start with shabby and girly.  For this tag, I fashioned a little garland using Venise lace and embellished it with these darling floral wooden buttons.  I started with one of the jumbo manila tags sold in the boutique and stamped it using my all-time favorite Wendy Vecchi gingham background stamp from the Nature's Art set using Victorian Velvet DI.  And of course the edges were all sponged with Vintage Photo DI.  I broke out one of the new Wendy Vecchi archival inks - Potting Soil - to stamp the sentiments.  The die cut was done from chipboard covered with Sticky Back Canvas using the Sewing Room die, then run through the Damask texture fade and sponged with Victoria Velvet DI.  The skirt is made from one of the border doilies sold in the boutique, the waist band is coffee dyed Venise lace and the necklace is a corner filigree also sold in the boutique.  Love that butterfly diecut with the tiny sewing spool body wrapped with burgundy burlap thread.

Next I created a vintage button card to showcase these lovely vintage style silver tone buttons.  You could use this button card as the focal piece on a card or a mixed media project.  If you would like to print this card, here is a link to the website where I found it (scroll down a ways).  

I was in Pier One yesterday and they had a ton of the cutest Halloween decorations which really put me in the mood to start creating some Halloween crafts.  Again using a jumbo manila tag, I created a dark and stormy night feeling by spreading some Black Soot distress stain on my craft sheet, sprinkling Pewter Perfect Pearls powder over it and dredging my tag through it until coated - love the silvery shine it results in!  I sponged the tree with Peeled Paint to give it some whimsey, coated it with Rock Candy distress crackle paint and embellished it with black polka dot buttons with tiny purple burlap thread bows. The Graveyard On the Edge die was used for the tombstones, cut from plain brown chipboard and painted with two coats of metallic silver distress paint.  I heat dried each coat and it resulted in cool bubbling and pitting on the surface.  Core'dinations Kraft Core was used for the vintage lace topper and the RIP, both sanded with a sanding grip to reveal the kraft core.  The bat and the 31 were also cut from chipboard and painted with Black Soot distress crackle paint.  The Halloween ticket stamp is from the Odds and Ends set and cut with the ticket decorative strip die.  Everything was adhered with Claudine Helmuth Multi Medium Matte.

And finally, just a very simple tag done in Wendy Vecchi's style with some of her products.  I first made a puddle of Frayed Burlap DS and Picket Fence DS, and dredged my jumbo manila tag through it to coat it.  I used the Lovely Leaves stencil to sponge the leaves with Peeled Paint DI.  Then, using the new Potting Soil archival ink, I randomly stamped the script stamp from the Live and Make Art set, then did second generation stamping with the flowers from Daisy Art.  The sentiment, stamped with Potting Soil ink, is also from the Live and Make Art set, overstamped with the flowers from Daisy Art and sponged with Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo.  The flowers were cut with the Tattered Flowers Decorative Strip die and I honestly don't know what colors they were sponged/dyed with.  They were in my stash, left overs from a prior project.  The button centers are the carved coconut shell buttons carried in the boutique.  I loved their grunginess and just had to buy a bunch to carry in the store!

Hope you enjoyed my button extravaganza.  Hop on over to The Funkie Junkie Boutique to check out the Friday Focus sale, running now through next Thursday.  Most of the products used to make the three tags can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique where most name brands are sold at 20% below MSRP.  Check out our great selection and pricing!

25 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - Nature′s Art	Floral Decorated Wooden Buttons - 5/8"	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - A Form of Art	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Victorian Velvet
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Paper Lace Doily	Venise Lace Trim - 11/16"	Venise Lace Trim - 1/2 inch wide	Mini Wooden Spools - 3/8" Tall
Mini Wooden Spools - 3 Sizes	Sewing Themed Embellishments	Mini Sewing Room Dies - Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers Magnetic Die by Tim Holtz	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky-Back Canvas - Natural	Burlap String - 12 Colors
4 Piece Bronze Floral Corners	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Die - Mini Butterflies	5 Piece Antiqued Silver Buttons	Black Patterned Resin Buttons - 15mm	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Black Soot
Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Black Soot	Ranger Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder - Pewter	PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Brushed Pewter	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge Die Graveyard	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Branch Tree BIGz Die
Tim Holtz Mini Bat and Skull Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers Dies	Tim Holtz Mini Spider & 31 Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers Dies	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Peeled Paint	Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy	Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy 4 oz size
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Odds & Ends	$11.99 Core′dinations Kraft Core By Tim Holtz - Shattered Collection 12 x 12	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Vintage Lace Die	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Vintage Market (alphabet) Die	Tim Holtz Ranger Idea-ology Sanding Grip
Tim Holtz idea-ology Refill Pack for Sanding Grip (4 sheets)	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Ticket Die	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Frayed Burlap	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stencil - Lovely Leaves
Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - Daisy Art	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - Live and Make Art	Sizzix Alterations Die - Mini Tattered Florals Movers and Shapers Die by Tim Holtz	Carved Coconut Shell Buttons - 1/2"	Carved Coconut Shell Buttons - 7/8"
Carved Coconut Shell Buttons - 5/8"	Carved Coconut Shell Buttons - 5/8"	Rayon Seam Binding	Natural Woven Jute Ribbon 3/8"	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Potting Soil
Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Matte	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stencil - Dots & Stripes Borders

Step x Step - Accordion Card

Hello and welcome to today's Step x Step ! It's Sue here and today I'm sharing my first experiment making an Accordion Card. As the current challenge theme is Any Way you Fold it my thoughts were still on different folds and I've been itching to have a go with this die, so here we go.

I started by cutting 4 panels and then blending Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks over both sides.

Then I used the gorgeous background stamp from the Wendy Vecchi Heirloom Art set and stamped over all 4 panels using Coffee Archival ink.

 I cut 4 smaller panels using a Nestability and used more Distress Ink with some of the fabulous Wendy Vecchi's stencils. I love the check pattern you can create using the Yikes Stripes stencil.

 I then  cut some strips of DIY masking tape and painted them using Spiced Marmalade Distress Paint.

Using an ordinary pencil with a rubber on the end I dipped it into some brown acrylic paint and dabbed it onto the painted masking tape.

I then started to stamp the images for each panel. I used the above stamp from the Artistic Outpost Paris Exposition set and used a smaller Nestability to cut out part of the image. I blended lots of Distress Ink around the edges, which you'll see in a later photo.

I used the Movers and Shapers Mini Stamp die and the stamps from the Artistic Outpost Paris Exposition set. I quite liked not having the complete image on the stamps. Again, you'll see in a later photo I used lots of Distress Ink around the edges of the stamps.

For one of the panels I've used this beautiful stamp from the Artistic Outpost Flower Market set and I've used Distress Markers and stamped onto watercolour paper.

I then used 2 different sizes of flower dies and cut out the stamped image and also cut 2 flowers from brown tissue paper which I then stamped over with some text. 

I made a smaller flower using the Tim Holtz Tattered Flower strip die. I cut several flowers from an old book page, layered them and then rubbed some Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the edge of the petals. 

Here are the four finished panels, I also added some ripped pieces from an old book to some of the panels and I've stamped on them with a script stamp. For the 'Joie de Vivre' panel I've used the Artistic Outpost Flower Market and Paris Exposition sets again. I cut the girls face out using the Mini Bottle Cap die and cut the text into separate words.

Here's the final card, which was really tricky to photograph ! I've blended more Distress Ink around the edges of the panels to age them.

 I've taken some close ups of the finished panels so that you can see the details. I stamped some acrylic paint dots on a piece of book page for the background on the above panel.

 Here you can see the girls face a little better on the bottle cap and also the finished flower.

I layered the above image on some more book paper and rubbed some Distress Ink over the edges of the paper flowers.

I've added some May Arts crocheted lace to this panel.

I hope you've enjoyed today's step x step and you've still got time to show us your different folds !

Sue
x

Friday Focus - Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die

Cec here and this week on Friday Focus I am going to show you just a few of the many of materials that you can turn into flowers using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die.  This will be another photo heavy post, a few of which were taken on my craft sheet - wish it wouldn't give a moire effect sometimes.

In the current challenge I have a fun fabric flower on the front of my project and it was made with this die.  To make it I used three fabrics that will melt - polyester shantung, organza and tulle.  I cut 4 of each fabric from the largest flower.  TIP:  The cuts will release more easily from the background if you sandwich the fabric between 2 pieces of copy paper to cut it.

Once they were all cut I melted each petal over a candle to make it curl - yours will have a flame :). This is a bit time-consuming because you need to take care not to burn yourself - or the fabric.  I held the petal (shiny side down if there is one) with the thumb and forefinger of my dominant hand and tucked all the other petals into my palm so they were out of the way.  Then I waved the petal over the candle taking care not let the flame touch the fabric and let it curl as much as I wanted it too.  Don't worry if the fabric looks a bit creased from all the manhandling because it will just give the finished flower some character.

Once all the flowers are curled I stacked them - the more layers you add, the fuller the flower will be.  Then I sewed the centre to hold the layers together, adding a button for a centre.  By the way, cutting the largest flower makes quite a large finished product and the smaller 6-petal flower is too small to hold over the candle without burning yourself so if you need your flower to be a bit smaller, don't be afraid to take your scissors and cut about 1/4 each off each petal before you curl them.

Here is another fun little flower that I made by cutting 4 of the small six-petal flower from a cone shaped coffee filter. For this one, I mixed some paint with water and sprayed each flower, let them dry and then inked the edges with some Fired Brick Distress Ink.  Then I scrunched each flower up and layered them using glue dots.  So far I haven't added a centre - perhaps a brad or pearl.  Next time, I think I will mix some Perfect Pearls, Reinker and water together in my mister to get a flower with a bit of sheen.

For my next flower, I used some inexpensive handmade paper from my stash, cut 4 of the 9-petal flower and then inked each with some Wild Honey Distress Ink. To get a bit of curl on the petals, I rolled them around a wooden skewer.  TIP:  Hold the petal between your thumb and forefinger of your non-dominant hand right at the base to ensure that you don't tear the petal off as you are curling it.  I stacked the flowers and added a black button for a centre.

This flower is made from pink organza and white corrugated cardboard that has been lightly inked with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.  I wanted the larger organza layer a bit smaller than the large corrugated layer so I cut it down with my pinking shears.  A lovely floral button made a perfect centre.

Here is the simplest of all flowers but it can be so effective.  I just cut a variety of the flower shapes and sizes in coordinating patterned paper, curled the petals, layered it up and added a black gem for a centre.

This flower was cut from vellum that I embossed and then inked with some Worn Lipstick Distress Ink before I curled the petals a bit, stacked it up and added the big button for a centre.   TIP:  To make the buttons look like you actually sewed them on, take a few strands of embroidery floss and "sew" in the holes, knotting at the back.

For the next flower, I started with some paper-backed metal foil tape that you can buy at the hardware store.  It is used for the heating and air conditioning industry.  I took the paper backing off and folded it over onto itself before I cut it.

Once it was cut, I needed to give it some texture and I happen to have some Walnut Hollow metal working tools but you can use your embossing stylus and the tip of a bone folder.

The next step was to paint it all over with some dark coloured acrylic paint (I used dark brown) and then immediately wiped the paint off with a baby wipe leaving paint in the depressed areas of the flower.  I am sorry there is no photo of this but someone called just as I was ready to do that and then I just plain forgot.

Once the paint was dry, I inked it with a variety of colours of alcohol ink.

I cut between the petals of one of the larger flowers, going part way into the centre.  All three flowers were then given some curl using just my fingers since the metal is so malleable.  Finally I stacked the flowers and added a gem for a centre.

Finally, I created a card for my first challenge as a member of the Frilly and Funkie Design Team that featured flowers cut from crinoline using this die and here is a close-up of one of the flowers.  The crinoline is white but is easily dyed using some Distress Ink and Linda has a wonderful tutorial that you find here so I won't give you all the details here.

I have also used card stock that I have embossed for texture and even a transparency that I coloured with Alcohol ink (sorry no photos).  I hope this has given you some ideas of the versatility of this die and all the different materials you can use with it to make your flowers.  I am sure you have used something different so please share with us.

Linda will be putting the BIG Z dies on the Friday Focus sale this week for 15% off the already discounted price so grab the Tattered Floral die and others while you can.  Don't forget to have a good look around the store because there are lots of other wonderful goodies I am sure you will want to have.

The following items used to create these flowers are available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Summertime Challenge Winners

Hi everyone, Linda here, back from my quick summer get-away.  So sorry to be late getting our Summertime challenge winner post up!  We had some absolutely gorgeous pieces submitted for this challenge.  Thank you to everyone who shared their beautiful creations with us.  We were awash in beautiful flowers and hot summery colors and had such fun visiting everyone to get a better look.   As usual, it was a tough choice to come up with our Funkie Favorite, but we have a winner and it is Asia King with this stunner:

You really must visit Asia's blog Under a Creative Spell to read about how she created her gorgeous summertime piece.  We were all drooling over the way she created that magnificent background!  Her color palette and those leaves are lovely too!  Congratulations Asia!  We have a Frilly and Funkie winner's badge for your blog.

And our random winner of a $25 gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique this time is entry #12 - Maryanne Gross.   Congratulations Maryanne!  I know you are going to have a blast shopping again at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Congratulations again to both of our Summertime challenge winners.  Please email me at thefunkiejunkie@gmail.com for your prize codes.  

Our current challenge is Any Way You Fold It and we've had some wonderful entries so far.  We still have almost a full week to go (closes August 6th) and we hope you will join in the fun with us!