Friday, March 11, 2016

Friday Focus - Ken Oliver Color Bursts (Part Two)

Hello and welcome everyone. It's Jenny here, it's Friday and it's time for a Friday Focus! This our opportunity to share with you ideas, tips and techniques for using a specific product or range currently available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. And even better news, that product then has an extra 15% discount added!

In the spotlight this time are Ken Oliver Color Bursts, and if you were here last Friday you'll have seen Part One of my focus. Having got totally carried away with these wonderful little bottles of color I split the post in two and today share Part Two with you. A quick recap; Color Bursts are a finely granulated powder watercolor medium which come in easy to handle bottles with small nozzles(that's important). They are concentrated pigments so a little truly goes a very long way.

I kept it relatively simple last week but now it's time to get funkie and add in the Liquid Metals too. First off let's have another step by step tutorial to show what can happen when you are less 'controlled'. Remember the spare background from last week? I grabbed a piece of Ken Oliver Mixed Media Art Board, heat embossed a script background using fine white embossing powder and then spritzed all over with water.


So now when I tapped the Fushia Color Burst powder onto the board it immediately began to spread.


I added in the other colours from last week too.


And to make it run and blend I added even more water - see the embossing resist and appear!


I dabbed away the excess water for a watercolour background effect.


Since I was working towards matching up with the spare background from last week it needed more green. Simple, tap on a little more colour, mist on a  little more water, pat dry and hey presto!


To create a border I dabbed Picket Fence Distress Paint around the edges, sprinkled on more white embossing powder and heat set.


A layer of Texture Paste was applied through the stencil.


I then added vellum embossed doilies, decided they'd covered the stencilled flowers too much, and re-stencilled them for even more impact.


That spare background was die cut and embossed to create coordinating butterflies, and a little Picked Raspberry Distress Ink packed a real punch on the edges.


With some Chit Chat words, brass corners, design tape and Liquid Pearls the mini canvas was complete...


And here's a couple of close ups;



And so to finish, here's what is possible when it all goes wrong, you turn over, start again and use the techniques you've learned along the way...


This is the flip side to one of my first cityscape card trials - I used the colours that had bled through to the reverse, painted on some more water, applied more dilute Color Bursts, dripped Platinum Liquid Metals down the stitching, added a few die cuts and pearls and the look was changed.



And here's a second trial cityscapes card flipped and redone...


I spritzed the whole background and dripped and flicked Color Burst all over, allowing the colours to combine and run with more Liquid Metals down the centre. A little stamping, die cuts and wings coloured wings to match and any 'mistakes' were gone!



Thank you for indulging my over-enthusiastic experimentation over the past two weeks and for your lovely comments. I hope you've enjoyed this week's ideas and feel even more ready to play with your Color Bursts too. Remember, with an extra 15% discount applied to Color Bursts for the next week at The Funkie Junkie Boutique it makes sense to stock up now.

Who spotted I used three butterflies on my canvas? With those it fits perfectly with our current challenge 'Let's make it a trio!' Make sure you join in the fun and link your own creations for a chance to win one of several prizes.

We'll be back tomorrow with a Saturday Step by Step from my Funkie team mate Zoe Hillman so make sure you come back for that.

For now take care of yourselves,

Jenny xxx



Thursday, March 10, 2016

Current Guest Designer - Sara Emily

It is time to introduce you to our Guest Designer for the current challenge.  Please say hello to Sara Emily of sarascloset who was the Design Team's Top Pick from our Embossing challenge.


"It's an honor and a joy to be asked to join the talented Frilly and Funkie team as Guest Designer today! I have enjoyed a variety of crafty endeavors over the years from upcycling yard sale finds to stain glass to working with paper and everything in between. I will try anything once--twice if I like it!"


"When I heard Sue's theme was "Make it a Trio" my mind went directly to birds! I love birds, and I can sit and watch them and listen to them for hours. I found these long forgotten bird themed papers and chipboard cages in my stash and decided to make it a trio of birds, birdcages and panels. I'm so inspired by both the Frilly and the Funkie sides of the Design Team, but this time I wanted to try my hand at Frilly. I used inks, texture paste, Frantage, embossing powder, glitter, markers, paint and a few die cuts to make my shabby card. You can visit my blog for details and additional close-ups."

"I would like to thank the entire Design Team for having me here as Guest Designer for this challenge! I hope you will be inspired to Make it a Trio, too!"

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Sara Emily, thank you for sharing your gorgeous Frilly card and we encourage everyone to pop over to your blog and check out all the details about this beauty.  When you are finished looking at all her eye candy come on back and share your creation with us here.  You have lots of time to make a trio project - the challenge doesn't end until March 22nd.


Friday, March 4, 2016

Friday Focus - Ken Oliver Color Bursts (Part One)

Hello and welcome everyone. It's Jenny here, it's Friday and it's time for a brand new Friday Focus! This our opportunity to share with you ideas, tips and techniques for using a specific product or range currently available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. And even better news, that product then has an extra 15% discount added for the coming two weeks!

In the spotlight this time are Ken Oliver Color Bursts, a product totally new to me so this is post will show my first efforts (be gentle!!!) OK, bit of name dropping here; I got to meet the man behind the brand again at this year's UK trade show and he gave me the lowdown on Color Bursts.

Having had a quick bash I was keen to experiment more, but let's just explain what they are if (like me) you are unfamiliar with them. Color Bursts are a finely granulated powder watercolor medium which come in easy to handle bottles with small nozzles(that's important). They are concentrated pigments so a little truly goes a very long way.

Now I'm going to break this focus into two parts, as you'll have seen from the title, basically because I got carried away! Today, let's start basic... you'll need your choice of Color Bursts, a stencil, watercolor paper, a water spray and clean tissue, oh and grab a large coffee to sustain you...

(click on each image for a close up)

Lay your stencil over one piece of paper and sprinkle tiny amounts of dry powder over; it's seriously concentrated and you'll want to put it in the right areas on your design, so that's why the fine nozzle is important.


Spray a fine mist of water over the stencil and lift it away.


With one gorgeous pattern revealed lay your stencil ink down on another piece of paper.


Dab your tissue over the stencil to push the color onto the paper and lift away.


I got greedy and repeated this process on a third piece of paper. As you get the smallest amounts left you can help the color spread by misting it with water.


Heat all three pieces with your heat gun and voila! Three fabulous backgrounds ready to go.


Want to see what I created with the first two? Unusually, I came over all CAS on these!!!...



On this second one I added some of Linda's Venise Lace, and yes, you can color the lace with Color Bursts to match your background!!!



So that's the basic 'sprinkle and spritz' technique in action. Now for some watercoloring. I'm no artist and I'm a bit of a control freak so I went with stamped images (Archival Ink as it's waterproof) and machine stitching to control the color this time. Start by 'drawing' lines of water along the stitching with a paint brush.


I diluted my Color Bursts by putting a small amount of each onto a daisy palette and adding water. Paint lines of each chosen color onto the wet lines, allowing the colors to bleed together a little before drying with your heat gun. I went with too similar and one contrasting color to prevent muddying.


Now add water to the stamped areas, drawing the brush outside the stamped lines.


Paint your three colors onto those stamped wet areas, working from the bottom up and again, allowing them to bleed together a little. When you're happy with the finished look dry again and add a sentiment if required.


Here are the finished cards (with close ups) and you can see they required little work to finish off.








I got very carried away and there's more to show but you'll need a break, so I'll be back next week for Color Bursts Part Two. Meantime I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and give the ideas a go. Remember, with an extra 15% discount applied to Color Bursts for the next two weeks at The Funkie Junkie Boutique it makes sense to stock up now.

And of course there's still time to link your own layered creations to the current 'Layer it Up!' challenge for a chance to win one of several prizes.

For now I hope you have a wonderful weekend and, whatever you're up to, take care of yourselves.

Jenny xxx



Wednesday, March 2, 2016

'Layer it Up' Challenge!

Hello and welcome to my crafty friends! It's Nancy today, sharing our next challenge!

Our theme for the next two weeks is 'Layer it Up'. Let's add dimension this time around. Simply create any type of vintage or shabby chic project featuring multiple layers.

At the end of the challenge the team will choose their top four picks. Our first place winner will be invited to join us in a Guest DT spot here at Frilly and Funkie. Three additional talented participants will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and adheres to the challenge guidelines will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

The guidelines for entering are simple; create a new vintage or shabby chic project following the challenge theme, link it below to your post (not just your blog) and include a link back to this challenge in your post. You can combine our challenge with up to 10 challenges (including this one) to be in with a chance of winning. Make sure you follow the guidelines, as unfortunately we have had to eliminate entrants from the prize draws in the past when they have entered too many other challenges. If you are entering through a public forum please use keyword F&F. Also, please be sure to turn off your Word Verification so our design team can leave comments on your blogs.

The Funkie team now share their wonderful inspiration for this challenge (click on each photo for a closer look);

Jenny Marples - Pushing The Right Buttons

Suzanne Czosek - Suzz's Stamping Spot

Zoe Hillman - iGirlZoe

Sue Carrington - Stamping Sue Style


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WEEK ONE

The Frilly team kicked off the challenge with some fabulous inspiration (click on each photo for a closer look):

Kathy - Kathy by Design
Now we're turning it over to you. It's time to head to your cozy craft space and and let your creativity flow. We get really excited about your beautiful entries, and can't wait to see what you have in store for us!

Thanks so much for visiting today! You'll want to be sure to check back to see what our latest Guest Designer has in store for you and in a week when the Funkie team will unveil their gorgeous projects.

Hugs,