Saturday, September 28, 2013

Saturday Step X Step - playing with Art Parts

Well It is my turn for a Saturday Step X Step and I thought I would show you a piece made with some Art Parts and some Clearly for Art , that hasn't been out to play for a while. I am always inspired by the wonderful rich tones people use for the Art Part pieces but decided to play with softer shades. So here is the finished piece :
So I started by cutting a piece of Tim Holtz paper ( but any of your favourite papers are fine ) to fit my hanging board and when glued on edged with pumice stone distress paint.
I chose this paper because it was fairly neutral, but not totally plain. I then glued an art part vase piece to a piece of paper ( remember to glue it to the reverse! not that I have ever messed it up or anything!?)). Then using a craft knife cut around the shape, the Art parts are sturdy so provide a good guide for cutting.
To make a neater edge I sanded my edges and then added a touch of paint, I also added to the edge of the other vase piece and also a couple of Linda's fab buttons.
Now I added a couple of coats of picket fence distress stain to the paper covered board, just to soften it slightly and then the vase stands out ...hope that make sense and you can see the difference below, it is subtle but worth it I think.
Now for the layers on the background, I smooshed some pumice stone and frayed burlap onto my craft sheet and also splodged some Wendy Vecchi embossing paste in white , to make a coloured paste.
I then applied this to the base, flipping my stencil to create leaves facing different ways.

Then I allowed these layers to dry but you can lightly heat with your heat tool, don't over heat all at once or it will bubble. ( sometimes this is a great effect!)

Now more layers with stamping of text in frayed burlap and applied through stencils, then more stamped leaves. I also added some text stamped in watering can Archival to build up the layers and swiped the leaves with treasure gold.
I also added some vintage photo to the edge of the board and the vase to lift them.

Now the flowers, which  have coloured with pumice stone paint and then over stamped with text in frayed burlap....and just for Anne ...I did it again...stamp upside down!! oops.
I also did this on the vase, using the stamp inked and unmounted allows you to roll the stamp and use just part of the design for a more random look.
Nearly there ! I now drew round my flower piece onto Clearly for Art and cut out two flowers .
I the heated and shaped the petals, the fab thing is ...this can be heated and re-heated ..so if you don't like the petal shape reheat it and then re-shape. You will see when you heat the piece, it goes kind of floppy and softer and can then be shaped. I found it easier to do a couple of petals at a time.

When finished I added glue and seal to the edges and then dipped in glitter.
Now to put the whole thing together...and just a quick note the vase pieces have been designed so cleverly that they come in two pieces and allow you to tuck all your flowers stems and anything else inside, clever.
I added a banner and stamped sentiment (also covered in paper ) and there you have it.

Hope you like it and are inspired to have a play with Art Parts too! You can adapt them to suit whatever colours you love. And The Funkie Junkie Boutique has a great range of Wendy Vecchi products, including Art Parts, all at discounted prices. You can find them HERE.

Have a fun and inky day!
Trace  x

Friday, September 27, 2013

Friday Focus - Melissa Frances

Editor's Note; we are pleased to let you know that many items have been restocked at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Limited supplies of the new products from Summer CHA 2013 are now in stock, including the new Sizzix Framelits Die sets, Texture Fades, Movers and Shapers dies, Bigz dies, and the Coats Eclectic Elements fabric packs. You can see all the latest items HERE.

Hey there guys....it's Terry, and it's my turn to give you a Friday Focus on the fabulous Melissa Frances range.......and Linda has lots of Melissa Frances products in the The Funkie Junkie Boutique... you should really check it out...your really gonna love what your about to see.... Ok, here we go.....
When Linda asked me to focus on the Melissa Frances range at first I did not have a clue what to make....but it did not take me long before the ideas just popped into my head. I really like to work with the products, the lace is completely yummy and the embellishments are fabulous to work with.
I had this nice empty lace package from Melissa Frances and thought that I could re use it...so I took my pencil and drew around the package onto a piece of Pion Design Paper.....cut it out and glued the two pieces together.
I took a paper distresser and worked on the edges and then got the Vintage Photo Distress Ink and gently blended the borders with it.
Then I got the Embossing Paste from Wendy Vecchi and her fabulous diamond stencil and played with it onto the what was going to be a label of some sort.....
Next I took the Ranger Embossing Powder, this time the rust one....and heated it with my heat tool. Did you know that if you use the Embossing Paste from Wendy you get a fabulous result playing with embossing powder on top? 
So this does not look like much....but bear with me you will see the end result pretty soon....after you check out my WHOLE post, lol......well there are just a "few" more pictures, lol......
I took the Dylusions Spray and the Adirondack Colour Wash out and sprayed it onto the heart embellishment.....it comes in the off white colour but for this project I wanted a different colour. The Espresso was a bit too dark for me so I sprayed some white Ink Spray on top......
Perhaps you think it is still too dark....I thought so too so first I played with the embossing powder and after that I worked on it some more...you will see the result shortly......
I did the same with this fabulous embellishment with the white roses on it....sprayed it and played with the embossing powder.....to give it a rusty look....
So here you have it, see the difference.....I think the Rust came out pretty good don't you think....on top I used some more Vintage Photo to finish it..
I used the same routine with the off white roses from Melissa Frances and sprayed it and embossed it.....
This is the way the roses look after they have been "embossed".
The Melissa Frances range has some awesome lace too.....different kinds and you can work with it in so many different ways....I was thinking about a flower....so I took the lace and curled it up and at the end I made a sort of a rose with it......
I think this lace is really wonderful and it was used underneath the rose.....
So this picture lets you see what the end result is...On top a rusty rose for the centre and some underneath the bigger rose that I made out of two sorts of lace.....
So now it was time to place the lace with flower onto the sort of a label and underneath some more lace....it looks a little like a ballerina eh? lol.....
I had a little star in my closet and thought that would look great underneath the rose.....
Remember the heart.......well this is the finished heart with lace underneath, you can do so much with a piece of lace and an embellishment.....on top the diamond and the sentiments to finish.....
I took the "whole" label and wanted to hang it up on the wall, so the easiest way to do that is to use this gorgeous hanger from Melissa Frances...and the fabulous thing is if you want use it for another project, just unclip it and used it for something else....how clever is that eh?

So I hope you like my Friday Focus and hopefully I have given you some ideas for using and altering the products from the Melissa Frances range. And remember, if you have purchased some goodies from Linda's shop, you can re use the package to make something out of that too! Be sure to check out the Friday Focus section at The Funkie Junkie Boutique where for this week only you will find items from the Melissa Francis range are discounted by and extra 15%.

Hope you will have lots of fun. We would love to see what you make.

Hugs Terry 
xxxx