Saturday Step by Step: Follow Your Heart

Hello friends and welcome, Zoe here and I'm delighted to be hosting this Saturday step by step. With Valentine's day just days away and our current challenge theme "BE MY VALENTINE" I thought I would share a card that I made for my sweet valentine.

(click on each set of images for a closer look)

Step 1: Blend old paper, frayed burlap and walnut stain distress ink onto distress watercolor cardstock with a mini blending tool.
Step 2: Spritz the back of stencil with water, lay over the inked surface, place a piece of kitchen paper (paper towel) over the top to soak up any excess water. Smooth with your hand being careful not to move the stencil.
Step 3: Lift the kitchen paper and stencil, then dry with a heat tool.
Step 4: Run a paper distressing tool, followed by potting soil archival ink, along the edges of the distress watercolor cardstock.

Step 5: Cut a piece of black idea-ology classic kraft stock 6.5x6.5 inches and a piece of idea-ology metallic kraft stock 6x6 inches.
Step 6: Using a sanding grip, sand the classic and metallic kraft stock and blend in a little vintage photo distress ink.
Step 7: I used a little piece of the now discontinued copper metallic kraft core and as you can see, I'm a bit precious sparing with it! I used the stitched rectangle die to remove the middle portion and set aside for later.
Step 8: Layer up the cardstock and adhere with strips of scor-tape.

Step 9: Die cut hearts from scraps of cardboard using the heartfelt bigz die.
Step 10: Adhere tissue wrap to the top of the hearts with collage matte medium.
Step 11: Once dry cut roughly around the hearts.
Step 12: Using a sanding grip, sand the excess tissue wrap, it comes away really easily leaving you a nice neat edge.

Step 13: Ink up a background stamp, place the heart face down onto the inked up stamp and press firmly with your finger.
Step 14: Carefully lift off by the edges with your fingers or you could use a craft pick to help lift and flip the heart over and dry with a heat tool.
Step 15: Cover the hearts with collage matte medium and set aside to dry, (it's fast)!
Step 16: Scribble a little mahogany distress crayon into the hearts and blend with your finger.

Step 17: Run gathered twigs distress crayon around the edge of each heart, blending into the sides with your finger.
Step 18: Cover the hearts with a layer of glossy accents.
Step 19: Set aside to dry.
Step 20: Stamp the bowler hat and bow tie onto distress watercolor cardstock with black soot distress archival ink and fussy cut. Blend in vintage photo distress ink.

Step 21: Add 3D foam to the back of the stamped images and place on the background. Adhere the hearts with glossy accents.

Step 22: Stain an adornment arrow with potting soil archival ink to age. Place on top of the 3 mini hearts and secure in place with glossy accents.

Step 23: Die cut gears from metallic kraft stock using the gear head thinlits die set... remember that piece of metallic copper kraft core cardstock I saved? 
Step 24: Once you have a nice pile of gears, run each one over your sanding grip. Press the gear between your thumb and the base of the sanding grip and move it gently back and forth. I find there is less chance of the gear ripping. Blend in vintage photo distress ink to the exposed kraft core.
Step 25: Adhere the gears in layers using glossy acents. Try to just adhere the center of the gears where possible to give a more dimensional layer.
Step 26: Using the same die set, cut some larger gear heads from white substrate. Blend in vintage photo and walnut stain distress ink.

Step 27: Add the substrate gear heads over the top of the metallic layer attaching with a hex fastener. Add a thin layer of glossy accents to random parts of the gear heads to give a faux rust effect. The glossy accents make the distress ink pop.

Step 28: Blend in a little old paper distress ink over an idea-ology quote chip and edge with potting soil archival ink. Adhere the quote chip and mini gears with glossy accents. Add a game spinner to one of the mini gears with a hex fastener.

You could punch a hole in the top corners and add ribbon for a wall hanging or add to a card... there are no rules. ;)

I hope you have enjoyed the step by step. If this has you in the mood for some valentine themed inspiration, pop over and take a look at the current "BE MY VALENTINE" challenge. 

Have a great weekend.

Zoe x

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Dapper CMS267 (April Pre-Order)	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Newsprint and Type CMS266 (April Pre-Order)	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Countdown THS058 (April Pre-Order)	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 22PK - Gear Head by Tim Holtz 661184 (April Pre-Order)	Heartfelt Bigz Die
(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Classic Kraft Stock	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Kraft Stock	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Substrate Sheets TH93291 (February Pre-Order)	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap - Plain TH93275 (February Pre-Order)
(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Hex Fasteners TH93268 (February Pre-Order)	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Gears	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Findings Game Spinners	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Adornments - Arrows
Ranger Designer Palette - Tim Holtz AMP47704 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Old Paper	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain
(February Pre-order) Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #10	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDAK47933 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Scor-Pal Scor-Tape 1/8" x 27 Yards	Ranger ADHESIVE - WHITE FOAM ROLL 1/2" X 1/16"x 2.1 YDS.
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool - With 4 Blending Foams	Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Paper Distresser	Tim Holtz Ranger Idea-ology Sanding Grip	Ranger Heat It Craft Tool

Be My Valentine?

Hello and welcome! Zoe here hosting the latest Frilly and Funkie challenge and I have chosen "BE MY VALENTINE?" as the challenge theme. Love is in the air, and with Valentines Day just around the corner, this challenge is to make a card for your sweet Valentine in a vintage or shabby chic style.

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.

For the second week of this challenge here is more gorgeous inspiration, this time 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

Zoe Hillman - iGirlZoe

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WEEK ONE

For the first week of this challenge here is some amazing inspiration from the Frilly side of the Design Team;

Pamellia Johnson - My Little Craft Things

Kathy Clement - Kathy by Design

Cec Wintonyk - CW Card Creations

Nancy Dynes - Tattered Treasures

Join in and share your Valentines cards with us! Enter your cards below and remember to come back next week to see some more Valentines cards from the Funkie side of the Design Team. And of course tomorrow our latest winning Guest Designer will be joining us to share her own Valentines card.

Zoe

Challenge Winners - Winter Hues

Welcome to the beginning of a new week! Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to enter our 'Winter Hues' challenge. The Design Team really enjoyed looking at all the beautiful creations to pick our winners and in the end it was incredibly close!

This time we've chosen Lisa Hoel as our overall winner. Everyone loved the different textures and clever design of her card. Congratulations Lisa on being our favourite for the 'Winter Hues' challenge and winning the opportunity to be a Guest Designer here at Frilly and Funkie for a future challenge.

And now for the three winners of our Frilly and Funkie Top 3 Badges for this challenge; the choices, in numerical order, are... #1 Jane, #19 Trace, and #20 Lucy!!!  And at this point a huge shout out to Lucy who's incredible house also amazed us - it really was a close run thing! Please email Linda at thefunkiejunkie@gmail.com for the codes for the Top 3 badges so that you can display them proudly on your blog.

And finally Random.org has chosen a lucky winner for the $25 gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Our congratulations this time go to #6 Vicki R!

A big thanks from the Frilly and Funkie team to everyone who took part in this challenge and congratulations again to our winners. Once again, please email Linda at thefunkiejunkie@gmail.com for the codes for the winner's badge and to give us your email address for the Guest Designer details (Lisa), for the Top 3 badges (Jane, Trace and Lucy) and for the gift certificate details (Vicki).

Our current challenge, 'Be My Valentine?' runs through Tuesday, February 14th. We hope to see you entering this time around so that you too can be in with a chance to win.

Have a great week everyone!

Friday Focus on Wendy Vecchi/Studio 490

Hello Frilly & Funkie friends and visitors,

Linda here, bringing you this fortnight's Friday Focus. We're excited to be focusing on Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 line of paper crafting products including stamps, stencils, inks, embossing powders and more. And, of course, most* of these goodies will be an extra 15% off our regularly discounted prices (total of 35% off list) through February 15th. You can find all these bargains under our Friday Focus tab at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

*Editor's note:  the newly released products from the 2017 CHA Creativations are not on sale, but we have some great deals on bundles during the pre-order period.  

Double click any image to zoom in for details.

Jenny and I got to meet up with Wendy at CHA and she kindly shared some of her new release products with our team. I used her new Country Garden Art set and her new Mat Minis Flowers and Leaves the create a free standing art piece. It was begun with a base of Ranger Speciality Stamping Paper cut in half to a 4.25 x 5.5 size. I watched Wendy demo her archival ink and rubbing alcohol technique at CHA and she applied the alcohol with a spray bottle. I used to sort of sprinkle the alcohol on the paper, but I tried spraying it this time and like this method better.  I wet the paper thoroughly with the alcohol and then added three small drops of Leaf Green archival reinker, swishing the ink around a bit with a tool, then misted on more alcohol to give it the ability to wash around the paper.  

Then I dried it with my heat tool and watched the magic happen.  I love this technique!  You can push the ink mixture around the paper with your heat tool and somewhat influence how the ink layers develop.  And since I had alcohol in a spray bottle, I couldn't resist giving the dried layers a spritz or two of alcohol which created the dotted effect.

The same technique was repeated at the top to create the sky using Cornflower Blue reinker.

Next the leafy greens were stamped on using Fern Green Archival Ink, the birdhouse post was stamped with Potting Soil and the birdhouse with Red Geranium. I lined it up nice and even and stamped it using my MISTI (or you could use the new Tim Holtz Stamp Platform). Wendy's fabulous Botanical Register stamp was stamped right smack in the middle to give the piece a nice vintage feel.

The inspirational saying was used to make a scroll-type element. It was stamped in Jet Black archival ink onto velum, hand cut and edged with Vintage Photo distress ink. A backing piece was cut from white card stock, just a bit larger, and the Tapestry Background stamp was used to stamp it with Fern Green archival ink. A random key from my stash was embossed with Wendy's Pink Peony embossing powder.  

A flower garden was created with the new Flowers and Leaves Mat Minis set. The leaves were stamped with the Tapestry Background stamp with Fern Green archival ink and the flowers with either the Reverse Dots or the Polka Dot background stamp and Pink Peony archival ink. The flower centers were created with white Enamel Accents. A finishing strip across the top was made with the Tim Holtz Vintage Lace strip die and stamped with the Polka Dot stamp in Pink Peony.  

And now, since nobody can really do Wendy like WENDY, we are excited and delighted that Wendy Vecchi herself has shared a card with us, made with more of her fantastic new release products.

This card features the new Mat Minis Celebrations - such cute cakes, cupcakes and balloons! Wendy has also used her new Circle Grate stencil, Flowers and Leaves Mat Minis, Select-a-Sentiment Stamp-it Stencil-it to stencil Happy Birthday.

We are expecting most of Wendy's new products to arrive at The Funkie Junkie Boutique by February 10th.  You can pre-order them now by clicking on our February and March pre-order tabs.  

I hope you enjoyed our Friday Focus post. Be sure to stop by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and check out the Friday Focus discounts as well as all the pre-order opportunities for the new products released at Creativation.  

Thanks for stopping by!

The products below were used to make these projects and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Ranger Inkssentials Specialty Stamping Paper 8.5 X 11	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Leaf Green	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Cornflower Blue	(February Pre-order) Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamp Set - Country Garden Art	(February Pre-order) Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Mat Minis - Flowers & Leaves
Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Botanical Register Background Stamp	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - Vintage Tapestry Background Stamp	2014 CHA Release - Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Leaf Green	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Fern Green	Brand New Release! Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink Pad - Pink Peony
Ranger Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powder - Pink Peony	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Red Geranium	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - Polka Dot Background Stamp	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Reverse Dots Background Stamp
Ranger Enamel Accents - Glacier White	(February Pre-order) Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Mat Minis - Celebrations	(February Pre-order) Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stencil - Circle Grate	(February Pre-order) Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamp It Stencil It - Select-a-Sentiment	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Mat Minis Have a Heart WVMMPV06 (February Pre-order)
2015 CHA Release - Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink Pad - Sky Blue	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - White

Guest Designer - Elizabeth Robinson

Please say hello and give a big welcome to our Guest Designer for this challenge - Elizabeth Robinson of The Crafty Robin.  Elizabeth was the Design Team's pick from the Home for the Holidays challenge.

My passion for ink and paper stems from my beautiful Mum. She was a printer, so I spent many happy years growing up playing in her print room. That would not be very politically correct today because of Health and Safety rules in the UK (over here there are so many things we can't do any more that years ago we could so me learning to clean Mum's litho printing machine down and working with the printing plates nowadays because of Health and Safely - common sense to us girls - isn't allowed) but hey my love of paper and the smell of ink started there. 

I started teaching and selling my artwork over 30 years ago, and I am just as passionate about papercrafts, textiles and felting as I was then. I am very lucky to have been published in several magazines and I also get to demo around the UK which I love as I get to meet new crafters. I am both Teacher and Student, the day I stop learning is the day I depart the planet!

I started out with a 6" square base card then added layers of Kaisercraft's Cottage Rose Collection the first was 5 3/4" then 5 1/4" and the last layer 4 3/4" all were distressed around the edges for a shabby look, before being added onto the card blank.

I added a doily from my stash over the top followed by tags that had been cut from the Sizzix Framelits die set and a ready made tag from the Kaisercraft paper.

I finished off by fussy cutting some roses from another sheet of paper from the collection and adding them along with some sequins, 3D drops and hand dyed seam binding to co-ordinate with the papers. And how could I resist that heart bling!

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Pop on over to Elizabeth's blog and check out her beautiful work and then come on back and share your special Valentine project with us. The Be My Valentine challenge can be found here and is open until February 14th at 11:55 pm EST.