Friday, February 28, 2014

Friday Focus - Stencils

Hi there everyone. Welcome to another edition of Friday Focus, our weekly spotlight on a product or range. This week it's the turn of stencils, one of the most versatile crafting tools we can own. And because they are the centre of attention you'll find a 15% discount on the wide range of competitively priced individual stencils at The Funkie Junkie Boutique this coming week (note - does not apply to pre-orders or stencil bundles).

A noticeable trend in the crafting world at the moment is the ongoing quest to find alternative ways of using existing products. As I'm sure many of you are familiar with using your inks and sprays through stencils it seemed appropriate to tackle a twist on texture paste. Maybe it's down to the legacy of all those Hugenot silk weaving ancestors in my family history that I have a passion for old fabrics, and damask in particular. So how can this be replicated with paper, ink and paste?

Start with Coredinations Kraft Core and part of a technique from the talented Tim Holtz. Spray the kraft side with Ink Refresher and rub it into the card until fully absorbed. The idea is the fibres in the card will absorb it and become more flexible, making it easier to scrunch up and giving it the appearance of suede. When dry turn it over to the non-kraft side and sand lightly to reveal those wrinkles.


Add a layer of white texture paste through a patterned stencil onto the non-kraft side of the card.


Using a small soft brush, sprinkle Perfect Pearls Pigment Powders onto random areas of the wet paste, working from light to dark colours.


Lightly mist the area with ink spray in a coordinating colour (I made mine with some Distress Ink Reinker). This adds a little colour to the paste and 'fixes' the Pigment Powders.


Carefully remove the stencil (don't clean it yet) and gently set the patterned card to one side so it can dry.


Flip the stencil over onto a blank tag, rolling a brayer over the stencil to transfer the remaining paste, powders and ink onto the tag. When you lift the stencil this is what you will be left with. Now you can clean that stencil!!


 Time to see what I did with that original piece of stencilled kraft card...


To fulfil a special card order and keep this elegant I decided to keep it simple when putting this together.


Linda stocks the most fabulous straight edged doily paper rolls which, if applied to card and covered in Picket Fence Distress Paint and Antique Linen Distress Stain, give the look of aged plasterwork. Use the same Distress Stain on some seam binding to cover the join between the two textured pieces.


You can see from this photo how the Pigment Powders add a subtle shimmer to the surface of the paste. Compliment this with your choice of matting and layering card. The sanded wrinkles in the kraft card also make a huge difference (it really doesn't look as vintage without them).


Simple vellum leaf stems, Distress Glitter blooms with pearl centres and a Simple Saying completed the card. As an alternative you could choose some of the fabulous Prima embellishments  or some rhinestone glamour, both available in The Funkie Junkie Boutique.


I promise to show you what became of that 'mop up' tag in the not too distant future. In the meantime don't forget that 15% discount on the wide range of competitively priced stencils at The Funkie Junkie Boutique this coming week (note - does not apply to pre-orders or stencil bundles). And if you do give this a go why not enter it for our current challenge, 'Stencils and texture'!

Have a fabulous weekend. Jenny x



Thursday, February 27, 2014

Welcome to today's Guest Designer, Brenda!

Today we are welcoming Brenda from Bumblebees and Butterflies as our Guest Designer. Brenda was the DT winner of the Valentines challenge.

So, without further ado let's see what Brenda has made for the current challenge, Stencils and Texture.


Hi, it's Brenda here (http://www.bumblebeesandbutterflies.com/) and I was super excited to be asked to be guest designer today after being chosen as the DT choice for Cec's challenge a few weeks ago. I love all things vintage and I seem to be going back to my roots of designing collage pieces, so I combined some Artistic Outpost stamps that I love, with stencils, paper scraps and metal trinkets to create this textured collage piece for a collage journal I am keeping.


I create lots of layers to build different textures and this started with torn pieces of book and music papers and some die-cut borders followed by a coat of gesso to unify it all. I prepared the two main images by stamping and lightly painting the lady and I dipped the sentiment in distress inks to give it a more aged look finishing by edging with walnut stain distress ink.


I had a clear idea of the composition in my head and started to build the blocked background using patterned paper strips again edging each piece with walnut stain. It is at this point I also add some torn tissue tape and texture paste through a couple of different masks.


When the paste dried I chose a different mask and blended distress ink through it, then added some walnut crystal ink and let it drip down the page and around the raised texture, I also splatted some of the ink over the whole area.


I added the focal Artistic Outpost images and added more tapes and some lace where needed and I tucked in two halves of a ticket on either side. Finally I gathered metal trinkets together and lightly painted them with gesso, adhered them into place and brushed over Treasure Gold Whitefire. I stamped and added chatty words and a glass dome to finish it off.


Thanks for having me here at Frilly and Funkie and I hope you'll have some fun with your stencils and textures, perhaps even create a collage. Hugs, Brenda

I'm sure you will agree Brenda's project is fabulous! Loads of inspiration here too for you to join in with the current challenge, 'Stencils and texture'.

If you would like a chance to be Guest Designer all you need to do is join in!

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Saturday Step by Step

Hello everyone. I'm delighted to be presenting today's Saturday Step x Step at Frilly and Funkie. I would like to familiarize you with a rather old card fold that isn't used or seen too often. It's simple to make and extremely versatile. I'm going to share two entirely different versions of the same basic idea and then I will show you the 'how-tos'...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-1bicycle
Bendi cards have two crossing flaps in the front, that bulge away from the back panel. This version uses die cuts and stamps to create a little scene...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-2bicycle
I love the little bicycle, leaning against the white picket fence and the brads holding the wheels on...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-3bicycle
inside, the card is lined with patterned paper, a border of grass and a little cluster of tags that hold the sentiments...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-4bicycle
Another segment of the picket fence and some stamped flowers...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-5bicycle
The opposite side (and shortest flap), have picket fencing that matches up with the fencing on the front along with some more die cut, leafy foliage... My next card is a bendi card with an entirely different mood...

RebeccaDeeprose BendiButterflies-1
This card has a higher back panel and in this instance, it was die cut with Tim Holtz's Alterations die, 'Butterflight'...

RebeccaDeeprose BendiButterflies-2
Along the top, a second set of butterflies top the die cut edge. They are distress inked around the edges and then treated with a thin coat of distress stickler...

RebeccaDeeprose BendiButterflies-3
Each of the edges of the two lower, crossing panels is edged with cut-out butterflies...

RebeccaDeeprose BendiButterflies-4
The inside, back panel of the card has two more butterflies and a whispy, lovely triple bow and trailing tails...

RebeccaDeeprose BendiButterflies-1a
The view from above shows the two 'pockets' that are formed by the two panels that cross at the front. Here's a basic guide to help you create your own Bendi card...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr.1
These are the dimensions of the panels I began with, while making the first card. Curves will be added to the left and right flap later, to suit the particular design...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-2jpg
Score a half inch from the inside edges of the flaps. These half inch tabs will be attached to the back panel and will fold around to the front. At the outside edges of the flaps, draw a line a quarter (to 3/8's") from the outside edge of each flap and cut a tab with sloping sides into each end, cutting away all the paper except for the tabs...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr.-3
Two and a half inches from the flap that will attach the left flap to the back panel, draw a light pencil line. Place the shorter flap on top of the taller flap (right flap over left flap) with right sides facing out, lining up the bottom edges. bring the right panel up to the line with the tab hanging over the pencil line, then make two pencil lines, showing where the right flap's tab will insert into the left. Using a craft knife, cut along the pencil line, just exceeding the marks for the tab, ever so slightly...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-4
Next, draw a light pencil line vertically on the back panel, 1-1/4" away from the right edge. Lay the left flap on top of the back panel, bringing the flap up to the line with the tab over the line and with the bottom edges lining up. Make two pencil marks (shown above) as guides to show you where the tab will be inserted into the back panel. Cut that space open as you did in the previous step...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-6
Now you can attach both flaps to the back panel. I prefer to use a very heavy duty, double sided tape for this job. Then you can insert the tab from the left flap into the back panel...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-7
and then the tab of the right panel into the slot on the left flap. Now you can see your basic card shape. For my butterfly card, I wanted a higher back panel, so I cut the butter flight border using a much longer panel of paper than I needed. This was so that I could adjust the height of the panel after the die cutting. The left flap was cut to 4-1/2" in height x 5-1/2" in width. once the flaps were attached to the back panel, I did some serious cutting, making a curve so that this flap was 1-7/8" high at the point before the tab. The line cutting it down is curving not straight...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-8
I needed lots of butterflies, two for the top edge, that were placed on top of the original die cut to add dimension and then an assortment to cascade down the top edges of the two flaps. Since there are four different styles on this die, I cut out 7 additional die cuts (all at once- this style of die has no problem going through multiple layers) and proceeded to cut out two or three from each die cut. You can see in the photo above, that it is possible to cut into the bottom of the card stock or another butterfly figure, so that you have complete butterfly designs. Usually, I had one butterfly per die cut that had to be cut into in order to achieve whole butterflies...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-9
Using an ink applicator, each butterfly was treated to some rough distress inking. It wasn't necessary to be very careful about the distressing because of the next step...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-10
Place a dab of distress glitter on your finger and apply it over each butterfly. It was necessary to use this amount on each half of a butterfly...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-11
Again, it isn't necessary to be particular in the application. The irregularities that occur were very much to my liking...

RebeccaDeeprose Bendi-instr-12
This is what the card looked like after the initial application of butterflies. If you scroll back up, you will see that each of the panels edges was distress inked. Some additional butterflies were added and then some ribbon and bows. I stamped a sentiment on the back panel, but this card construction is wide open for interpretation! I hope you give it a try some time.

Sending you ((hugs)) and Blessings,

Rebecca