Artist Trading Coin – Frilly & Funkie

5 years ago

Hello! I’m back with a smaller than normal project this week but one that I had quite a bit of fun working on it. We had another cold, snowy weekend here but it gave me time to step away from work and join in on the Frilly & Funkie challenge of creating an Artist Trading Coin. The challenge is sponsored by Linda at the Funkie Junkie Boutique.

This week’s project is an ode to my puppy as this weekend was his anniversary weekend – 2 years with our little family. My beloved, you could say, wasn’t a “dog” guy. He was more of a cat guy but has a heart of gold and even though we had never had a dog before, we took a chance on Sirius. Our little boy came to us having been rejected and abandoned by four other families all before he was 6 months old. A friend of ours asked if we would consider taking him and I’m glad we did. We know very little of Sirius’ back story and every day we continue to work with him – he’s scared silly of kids and bicycles but he loves going to puppy daycare where they use him to introduce the new puppies to the day care pack.

He loves his squeaky toys but thinks the Amazon delivery guy is evil (it’s the “beeping” on the van). He loves to sprint after his chuck-it-ball but will walk a half a mile out of the way so he doesn’t get wet because of a sprinkler. And forget summertime pool fun – simply not happening. He loves riding in the car, running around in his backyard, curling up on his Mutts & Hounds puppy beds, and asking for a tummy rub but he absolutely hates double doors (the ones where you go through one door into a “holding area” before the next door). He is a lovely little pup who runs next to me when I’m out running—his little tail wagging like a flag and his ears bouncing as he prances down the street.

Never in a million years did I think I would need to make sure my running gear has pockets for puppy potty bags but now I have little green bags in my jacket pockets, purse, running jackets, car door pocket, and my desk drawer at work. I’m pretty sure there are probably even a couple laying around in my craft room! He’s a good pup who is now completely loved and has a clowder for brothers (one of which loves him to pieces but don’t tell the other pups at doggy day care…). He is safe, warm, and loved just like his kitten brothers. Of course, his name is not that of a popular book character but of one a bit more celestial – Sirius is the name of the dog star – Orion’s faithful friend. Since all of his brothers have Greek names, so must our darling, handsome puppy. And, my beloved, is the best puppy dad ever!

So with that, I made my ATC coin two sided – one side that Hope is Never Lost and the other side Fresh Start. There really is something about the saying that saving one dog might not save the world but for that one dog his world will change forever. My little pup never lost hope, he kept trying and he made it to us and we gave him a fresh start. I used a Impression Obsession stamp (Abstract Circles) stamped in TH Distress Ink (Vintage Photo) with a smaller circle cut from scrap paper and offset. I cut down a TH Idea-ology Word Chip (which, by the way, is not easy), brushed it with TH Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I grabbed the puppy and little girl from the TH paper dolls and then added a TH Gumdrop Heart that I colored with Terra Cotta alcohol ink.

On the flip side of the coin is the “Fresh Start.” I made a jean pocket filled with flowers. I used the denim piece from TH (I think it was in a textured piece package but I’m not sure). I added the pocket “stitching” with a gold gel pen and used a variety of scrap cardstock for the die cuts from the TH Funky Florals 3 die. I added a Prima Nailhead and found the badge in a container of random one-off pieces. For the main flower, I grabbed Wild Plum alcohol ink for the faceted gem from Prima for the flower center, added some Nuvo Glitter to the edge of the flower center, and added some Wendy Vecchi Red Geranium Blending Ink to make the flower a bit more red on the edges. I had a glitter pen on my craft table and added some touches to the purple flower, used a smidge of glossy accents for the beige berries, and the used Cranberry Stickles for the other flower.

I hope you like my ATC coin – it’s a first. And it is definitely smaller than most of my other projects but it was a good challenge. Thank you to everyone who visits my blog and thank you for the wonderful comments. I truly do appreciate it. I hope everyone has a lovely week. And, I hope, each of you has a furry friend (or two, or three, or ….) that you too have opened your homes and hearts to and that you provide each other with unconditional love, kisses, and cuddles.