Funkie Junkie Saturday Showcase – Halloween Journal Cover

Happy Halloween! October is almost upon us and it's time to get crafty. Today you can find a tutorial post for my Halloween journal cover over on The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog. Let's get our creep on! ;-)

Head on over to the blog to check it out and see all the details. Have a great weekend!

New Funkie Junkie challenge – Celebrate Friendship

Hello there, our new challenge at the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog is live and you won't want to miss out! Our hostess is Laura Gilhuly and the theme is Celebrate Friendship. 

I created a birthday card for a good friend of ours. We have known him for decades so he is indeed an "old friend" ha ha. Scroll on to take a peek at some of my design process...

Step 1 - I had some fun creating backgrounds for the various layers. The star layer (which showed through the star cutouts) was Iron Gate Halloween Mica Stain sprayed onto white cardstock. The night sky was an inky combo of Uncharted Mariner Distress Spray (regular and oxide) with a dash of Oxide Villainous Potion spray spritzed in.

Step 2 - I wanted to experiment with using the new Distress Watercolor Pencils for coloring the layers of a Sizzix Colorize Die. I really like the new pencils. I used them to layer on the color and then blended them out with water and a paintbrush. I will definitely be playing more with these great new pencils!

I gave the combined yellow layers a very light mist of Harvest Moon Mica Stain to give it a little glimmer.

Perfect! I'll definitely be using this technique on other layered dies like Otis.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you check out the fun challenges we have on the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. They are always good for sparking your creativity! You have two weeks to join the current challenge so I hope you give it a go.

Supplies used:

Tim Holtz die set - Colorize Otis

Tim Holtz die set - Tree Line

Tim Holtz die set - Swirling Stars

Tim Holtz die set - Alphanumeric Label #664177 retired

Distress Watercolor Pencils

Halloween Distress Mica Stain - Iron Gate, Harvest Moon

Distress Oxide Spray Stains - Uncharted Mariner, Villainous Potion

Distress Spray Stains - Uncharted Mariner

Ranger Archival Inks - Black Soot

Distress Collage Medium Matte

Card Bonanza Month with Eileen Hull

All the month of September we are celebrating those little mailable works of art – greeting cards! Many of Eileen's Sizzix dies are dimensional dies but can also be utilized for 2-D cards. And don't even get me started on her 3D Embossing Folders! (LOVE them!) Thinlits sets and Eileen's Maker Forte stamps are perfect to use too.

Embossed background: I used a blues Gel Press print as the base for the background. I embossed it with the Crochet Mandala 3D Embossing Folder and then highlighted the raised areas with white Picket Fence ink.

Stamping on the layers: Eileen has several stamp sets out now that are perfect for card making! I used her Vintage Damask stamp on the main background layer to add a subtle texture.

Die cutting: I used the Bold Text #1 set to cut the sentiment out of the embossed layer and layered it over the background.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to keep an eye on Eileen's blog for more inspiration from the Educator and Inspiration Teams!

Supplies used:

Eileen Hull 3D Embossing Folder - Crochet Mandala (Sizzix / SB / TFJ )

Eileen Hull die - Journaling Cards Flowers & Leaves #662811, retired

Eileen Hull die - Grass #660326, retired
Eileen Hull Die Set -  Birds & butterflies #661901, retired

Eileen Hull stamp set - Vintage Damask

Tim Holtz Die Set - Bold Text #1 (Sizzix / SB / TFJ )

Gel Press plate

brayer

various blue acrylic paints

Archival Ink - Black Soot

Sizzix cardstock

Distress Oxide inks - Abandoned Coral, Salvaged Patina

Distress Ink - Picket Fence

Some links in this post are affiliate links which do not affect the price you pay but allow me to earn a small percentage of a sale. Thanks! (My husband also thanks you!)

Funkie Junkie Challenge – Back to School!

Hello there, our new challenge at the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog is live and you won't want to miss out! Our hostess is Teri Wilson and the theme is Back to School.

Teri -"Create something with books, alphabets or anything reminding you of learning!"

I used Eileen Hull's new Skinny Mini Book Box Die to create a pencil box to hold school supplies.

It fastens with a little magnetic closure.

I also used some of the new Tim Holtz Halloween Black Two-tone Woodgrain Cardstock for the spine.

Here are some of the how-to steps:

1) The parts, cut twice from the die. I blended with Distress Oxide Speckled Egg ink and lightly spritzed with Pumice Stone Distress Spray.

2) The front piece is a Gel Press print I embossed with the Numbered 3-D embossing folder. I rubbed the inside of the front half with Black Soot archival ink before embossing. The ink then gets deposited into the debossed areas and helps the details to pop.

3) Stamping the parts:

4) I rubbed an embossing ink pad across the top and sprinkled the Glaze Embossing Powder:

5) Assembly, I like to use a strong, quick-grab wet glue:

Box sides glued first and then glued to the back of the box.

IMPORTANT: When using the die to make the box, you must trim off the outer parts of the spine to match the height of the box sides. If you are making a journal cover, you can leave it or trim it depending on how thick a journal you want to make.

4) Bulb for front: The top layer I cut from waste plastic packaging and then sprayed with Distress Resist Spray to give it a lumpy, glossy texture. Back layer is cut from vellum.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you check out the fun challenges we have on the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. They are always good for sparking your creativity! You have two weeks to join the current challenge so I hope you give it a go.

Supplies used:

Eileen Hull die - Skinny Mini Book Box

Tim Holtz 3-D embossing folder - Numbered

Tim Holtz die - Filament

Tim Holtz stamp sets - Ornate Trims, Documented, Glitch 2, Typography

Distress Ink - Black Soot

Distress Oxide Ink - Wild Honey, Speckled Egg

Ranger Archival Inks - Black Soot, Hickory Smoke, Crackling Campfire

Distress Collage Medium Matte

Distress Glaze - Crackling Campfire

embossing ink

Distress Resist Spray

Halloween Black Two-tone Woodgrain Cardstock

Halloween Mica Stain set - (Harvest Moon)