The Sound of Music!

"Musical" is the theme chosen by Esther for the current challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges!  As we are a stamping challenge blog, we need to see some form of stamping on your projects to be eligible for a prize from Cottage Crafts or to make our "Top Three."  My most talented DT Sisters have not missed a beat in their musical performance, so stop by FSC for some sweet tunes and great inspiration!

Before I tell you about my card, I want to give a big SHOUT OUT for my DT Sister, Joanna, who so kindly offered up some help using the Fran-tage products from Stampendous.  Well I don't know how I missed the part about first adding a little clear embossing powder with the mix or on the bottom, but it sure does make the difference!  Thank you, Joanna!  I had just a little of the embossing enamels mixed and after heating from underneath, only a little remained.  As you can see, following directions sure make a difference!  Very cool stuff!  So much fun, I may have over done it with the mix of embossing powders, enamels, micas fragments, glitter, seed beads, etc. 

I have had this musical stamp from Stampin Up for quite some time and have never used it, so what an opportunity this challenge gave me!  The violin was colored with Tim's markers, antique linen and tea die, the flowers, butterflies and bird were colored with Stampin Up markers.  All shading was done with Distress Inks, antique linen and frayed burlap.  The musical print background is a stamp from Stampendous, which I stamped with Black Archival on plain newsprint paper, torn around the edges and shaded.  After I decided how I wanted my background layout, I did the little corner Fran-tage fun stuff.  Had a very hard time looking for an embellishment for the focus panel, but then came across the crystal flower and thought it was just fine!  I so wanted a musical note and I bet if I looked hard enough, I have a die and could have made a shrink plastic note!!  Next time!

Many thanks for visiting me on this lovely Saturday!  Sure hope you can join us at FSC.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Pearls for Christmas!

Moving away from Halloween and getting into the Christmas Spirit with the current CC2 #26 challenge at Studio L-3!  Linda has instructed us to open Tim's CC2 book to page 40, Crumpled Kraft Suede.  The Funkie Junkie Boutique is the fabulous sponsor for this week's challenge and Linda is offering a sweet gift certificate to her store for $25.00!  WooHoo!  I am also linking this tag up to The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas #6, in which I was inspired by Linda's tree and time piece!  Of course I did my own thing!  Simon Says Stamp and Show is also generously sponsoring their challenge of "Just add Pearl."

As with every CC2 challenge, we cannot tell you about the technique out of respect for Tim, so just buy the book!  I will say that Trader's Joe came to the rescue for my "kraft" material!  Love Trader Joe's!  I followed the technique and used Picket Fence and Pine Needles for stains and Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls.  For my chip board cut tree, I used up my excess ink on the craft mat.  Added some lights and garland with a little white dabber snow.  The little gifts are Tim's fragments, covered with paper and decorated.  Added some extra pearl trim and pieces for balance!  The time piece was gold embossed and then the raised numbers sanded, the little Christmas tree was embossed with my own little mix and I added little Red Stickle Ornaments! 

This was a fun project and did take more time than I thought it would.  Lots of drying and decorating.  As always I thank you for taking the time to visit and comment!  Those of you on the East Coast, I sure hope you are doing OK and actually able to read this!   Be safe!

Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tag and Bookplates Die	Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers 2pk- Mini Pine Tree & Holly Set	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Pine Needles	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Picket Fence White
Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Snow Cap White	Ranger Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder - Perfect Bronze	Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Stain - Antiqued Bronze	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Pine Needles
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Timepieces

Umbrella Guy Goes Spooky!

This my Saturday StepXStep project at Frilly and Funkie,  and you can find all the details about the brick walkway, graveyard, etc., there, so fly on over and have a look.  I decided to take Mr. Umbrella Guy out to play, along with his Scary Cat!   I had a pretty good time working on this piece and even came up with a few spare parts to add to that Halloween Spookiness!   BTW, I really love those new Metallic Distress Stains.  It is my new tool for edging tags and adding a nice sheen to backgrounds and the occasional graveyard!  Here we go and again all the details are at Frilly and Funkie.  We are also off to visit Inspiration Journal with our "Spooktacular Decoration" and I Spy Saturday at Sizzix.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend, spooky or not!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Base Tray	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Vintage Lace Die	Tim Holtz Mini Cat and Raven Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers Dies	Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Umbrella Man BIGZ Die
Tim Holtz Mini Spider & 31 Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers Dies	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge Die Graveyard	Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Bricked and Woodgrain Set	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Mini Halloween 3
Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy 4 oz size	Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Stain - Tarnished Brass	Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Stain - Brushed Pewter	Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Stain - Antiqued Bronze
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Pitch Black	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder - Vintage Photo	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Black Soot
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Vintage Photo	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Markers - Set of 37	Ranger Inkssentials Surfaces Tags - #12 Giant Tags - Black	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Grunge Paper
Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ball Chain

Anything But A Card!

Sue, one of the Frilly talents, has chosen the current challenge theme at Frilly and Funkie, "Anything But A Card With A Twist."  Now the twist is to have an area to hide something!  For more details and inspiration from the DT, click HERE.  There will be a $25 gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique and a best in competition Winners Badge, so come on and join in!   Lisa is looking for "Alter It" at Bloggers Challenge, so the tag and snowman should be right at home there!

The Hidden

I decided to go with a Christmas theme on a Giant Kraft Tag, hard to pull away from Halloween!   Used my score blade at 2 1/4" and then cut the edge with the Snow Flurries Die.  Thinned out some white dabber paint with water and slip/slapped the wash on the tag, next I stamped snowflakes with the white dabber paint and edged the tag edges.  The tag edge was painted with the white dabber and when dried I applied a couple of coats of Rock Candy Stickles.   Tickets were stamped with Distress Stormy Sky and clear embossed and then shaded.  The secret pull-out was stamped and glitter embossed to match the blue metallic threads.  The snowman was recycled from the backing of one of Tim's packages, embossed and then the raised snowflakes receive a covering of Rock Candy.  I really liked the subtle swirls in the print for this.  Cut out some extra parts and each piece was frosted with Rock Candy and White Dabber Paint.  I did cut out a second snowman of chipboard for depth and support! 

Once again I want to thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time out of your busy days to leave a commit.  Hope you all are enjoying the week and getting all inky! 

Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Base Tray	Mini Tickets Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers by Tim Holtz	Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Winter Wonder BIGZ Die	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz On the Edge Snow Flurries Die
Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Snowflurries and Snowman	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Vintage Market (alphabet) Die	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Seasons Silhouettes	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Mini Holidays
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Odds & Ends	Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Snow Cap White	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Stormy Sky	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Stickles - Clear Rock Candy
Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink Pad	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Tea Dye	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Antique Linen
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Stormy Sky	Ranger Inkssentials Surfaces Kraft Tags - #12 Giant Tags - Kraft	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Muse Tokens - Christmas