Saturday Step by Step: Wildflowers in Winter

Hello, friends! It's Nancy here, and I'm excited to share a new flower tutorial for our Saturday Step by Step. Just because we're in the midst of winter doesn't mean we can't be surrounded by lovely blooms, right?   

I love handcrafting my own flowers. It goes a long way in achieving a perfectly coordinated look. These blossoms are actually quite large, measuring in at around 3.25 inches, and are sure to make an elegant statement on your projects. They're super easy as well! 

Maja Design Papers are the perfect weight and durability for creating flowers. The colors in the different collections work together so well. You'll find it's easy to mix and match from what you have on hand. I'm using Vintage Autumn Basics and a little bit of Vintage Summer Basics today.    

Select your papers and cut four each of the two largest petal styles using the Tim Holtz Bigz Tattered Florals Die. This die is extremely versatile. It can be used for almost any flower you can dream up. 

Mist your petals with water using a Tim Holtz Mini Mister. You'll want to get them fairly moist (but not drowning in water) before you go to the next step. 

Now it's time to twist, scrunch, and roll. That sounds a little bit like a dance or an exercise routine, but you're prepping for the shape of your petals here. 

Once you've scrunched up every petal put them on a baking sheet in a 250 degree oven until dry, checking often. It takes me about 5-10 minutes depending on how moist the petals are. 

While your petals bake you may begin gathering what my mom called 'bits and bobs'. Here I have burlap, twine, lace, buttons, and cheesecloth.  

Once your petals are finished in the oven you will carefully unfurl them. Don't be concerned if a couple of the more delicate pieces fall off. It happens. You can adhere them back in when you assemble your flowers. 

Below are stacks of my unfurled petals. The larger petals form the base. The smaller, more delicate petals form the center. They'll be all twisty. This is exactly what you want.    

Adhere each stack of petals together being certain to stagger each one for a more full appearance. 

Below demonstrates just one way to embellish your flower. I'm adhering burlap and twine to the base of this one. A button is adhered to the center of the flower.  

Join both stacks to form a completed flower. 

I'm adding in a few burlap strands. It didn't look quite finished the other way. 

Below are additional embellished flowers. You'll find a full supply list (with links) at the end of the post. Everything you need to make these can be purchased in Linda's shop.  

The flowers below are embellished with lace and cheesecloth.  

The final flower is in a completely neutral tone. You can never have too many of those. 

Thank you so much for being here with me today! I send wishes your way for a wonderful weekend. Hopefully you'll be able to spend some cozy time in your craft area! 

Hugs,  

Ranger Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet	Tim Holtz Tonic Studios 9.5" Titanium Scissors	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Kushgrip Snip w/Non-Stick Blade & Cap	Ranger Inkssentials Wonder Tape - 1/2"
Little Birdie Printed Florence Petals Grey	Prima Memory Hardware Pearls	CutterPiller Pro Precision Paper Trimmer- 12"	Sizzix® Accessory - Cutting Pads, Standard, 1 Pair	Sizzix® Accessory - Precision Base Plate for Wafer-Thin Dies
Embroidered Sheer Lace - 1/2 Inch Wide	May Arts Crocheted Lace - 5/8" Natural	Natural Jute Twine	Natural Jute Mesh (Burlap)	Carved Coconut Shell Buttons - 1/2"
Carved Coconut Shell Buttons - 5/8"	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die	Maja Design Scrapbook Paper - Vintage Autumn Basics	Maja Design 6x6" Scrapbook Paper Pad - Vintage Autumn Basics	Maja Design Paper - Vintage Summer Basics (Full 30 sheet set)
Maja Design 6x6" Scrapbook Paper Pad - Vintage Summer Basics	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Mister	Prima Soft Matte Gel

New Years Inspiration

Hi everyone and Happy New Year! Jenny here with the Frilly and Funkie Design Team back after our break for the holidays and ready to share lots of exciting challenges and projects with you all. We begin with some news; our longest serving DT member, Sue Carrington, has made the difficult decision to leave us as her life and creative journey take a new path. We all want to thank her from the bottom of our hearts for everything she has shared and done for the team over the years and are sure you'll all join with us in wishing her every success for the future.

Now for our first challenge of 2017; at the start of each New Year so many of us make plans and set goals for the futures. So for this challenge we want you to create a vintage or shabby chic project depicting what you are inspired to do/achieve this year.

The team will choose their top four picks with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest DT spot here at Frilly and Funkie and the next three will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance 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 also 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. If you are entering through a public forum (such as Instagram) you'll need to include the words Frilly and Funkie Challenge. Also, please be sure to turn off your Word Verification so our Design Team can leave comments on your blogs. Make sure you follow these rules as unfortunately we have had to eliminate entrants from the prize draws in the past.

We begin the second week of this challenge with some amazing inspiration from the Funkie side of the Design Team;

Suzanne Czosek - Suzz's Stamping Spot

Jenny Marples - Pushing The Right Buttons

Linda Coughlin - The Funkie Junkie

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WEEK ONE

Let's start this first challenge of the year with some wonderful inspiration from the Frilly side of the Design Team;

Kathy Clement - Kathy by Design

Nancy Dynes - Tattered Treasures

Cec Wintonyk - CW Card Creations

Pamellia Johnson - My Little Craft Things

Now it's your turn! What are you inspired to do/achieve in 2017? We'll be back tomorrow with a fabulous project from the latest Guest Designer and the Funkie side of the team will share their take on this theme next Wednesday.

Until then take care of yourselves,

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

Guest Designer - Jennie Atkinson

It is so nice to say hello to our first Guest Designer of the year.  Please welcome Jennie Atkinson of Live The Dream who was the winner of our What a Mesh challenge.

Frilly and Funkie has always been one of my favourite challenges so I am thrilled to be here as Guest Designer. The DT are always so inspirational and talented and many of my favourite techniques have been learnt here over the years.

I live on Shetland, a remote Scottish island nearer to Norway than the UK where the weather can be wild but the scenery and wildlife stunning. We have been here for 37 years and I cannot imagine living anywhere else. I am very lucky to now be retired and spend my days doing all the things I love - messing around in the craft room mostly but I also have a great love of textiles (spinning wool and knitting) and in the summer sailing our yacht Mrs Muir. My crafting style is vintage shabby and more on the soft side of the colour spectrum but I do try to experiment with different techniques and colours from time to time.

It is a great honour to be here sharing a project for this great challenge for the New Year.

The challenge theme was just perfect for my 2017 new year resolution which is to tidy up my craft room as I spend absolutely ages sometimes hunting for something which seems to have been put in such a safe place I cannot find it! As I am always making flowers I have them scattered all over the place without a home, so I decided to alter a box which can sit on the shelf in order that all my handmade blooms are in one place.

I used some favourite Maja Design papers but the size of the box meant I had some fun patching pieces together to ensure it was all covered in the same papers! I have also used a couple of old dictionary pages underneath the main top cover and had fun decorating with all my favourite embellishments.

So far the box hasn’t moved from my craft desk (the clean side!) but it is great to throw in flowers as soon as I find them! I am sure it will find a shelf to sit on eventually. What it has spurred me on to do is think about how I can make my craft room look pretty with more altered boxes like this, so now I am on the lookout for boxes!

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To get more details about Jennie's altered box and check out her other beautiful projects, click HERE to be taken to her blog.

Once you have finished taking a look we hope you will come back and share your New Year's Inspiration project.  You have lots of time since the current challenge is open HERE until January 17th at 11:55 pm EST.