It's Time for a Vacation at Frilly and Funkie

Editor's Note: I really wanted you to get the chance to take a closer look at the details on my projects, so rather than sizing all the photos to extra large you can now click on each one to see a close up view instead - hope you approve!

Hi everyone and welcome! It's been busy here again - a demo day on Saturday and some filming on Monday - and with lots of prep to do I was struggling to get my head around this fortnight's Frilly and Funkie challenge theme, 'It's Time for a Vacation'.

Here's what Cec, our host for this challenge had to say about the theme; "If you are like most of us in the eastern half of North America, you are fed up with the brutal cold and snow that has been plaguing us for weeks and you want to get away so the challenge is called 'It's Time for a Vacation' - it could be a warm beach, an exotic locale with lots of sights to see or even in your own back yard".

So why was I struggling with this challenge? Well when it came down to it this was simply a matter of scale and purpose. Many of you who've been generously following me for a while will know I tend to make 6x6 cards which can then be used for family, friends and occasions. So mentally I approached this theme thinking about how to fit it onto a card and make it suitable for one of the many upcoming birthdays. For that reason the original intention was to go down the Parisian route but I also wanted to play with the new Distress colours and some of the new Thinlits dies.

Time to rethink... it feels like a lifetime ago (but in fact was only mid February!!!) that I created an A5 panel as a way of playing with some new Wendy Vecchi goodies (you can see that HERE) so I figured let's just pick some colours and a Found Relative and just play again!

The chosen colours (I used them in paint, ink, stain and stain spray format) were Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean, Evergreen Bough, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Abandoned Coral and Walnut Stain. You'll spot one of my favourite background stamps, IndigoBlu's 'Bubbles Background', at work here. I added Wendy Vecchi's Sky Blue embossing powder and some fine white embossing powder to create the foaming surface of the seashore, then spritzed the blue/green shades of Distress Stain Sprays over the top. Finally I splatted the Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio Distress Stains into a few areas to mirror the die cut splats that would be added over the top.

Turning attention to the 'toppings' I started with a beautiful image from the Occasions Found Relatives set that reminded me of one of my own childhood holiday experiences - I don't like adding personal photos of family members onto 'public' projects but this one reminded me of me and my sister paddling at Seaburn when we went to visit our Nana each year. To create a frame I used the ATC Bigz die on a central section, then set about adding colour to it all. Based on previous experiences I decided to use the blue shades of Distress Paint for this job, dragging/drying the 'frame' and brushing/patting the main image to help the girls stand out even more. This was mounted on more Distress Painted card, embossed and die cut with one of the new Mixed Media dies.

The splatters were cut from card covered with silver gilding flakes (Sheffield Steel Mega Flakes) before being dabbed with a little alcohol ink. You'll also spot a Distress Glitter covered starfish, a painted seahorse (covered in Crackle Accents before being overheated from behind for that bubbled effect) and sea greenery, inked up with Cracked Pistachio and Abandoned Coral. The bubbles were enhanced with a scattering of pearls and Glossy Accents and Remnant Rub Ons completed the panel.

Now, as well as acting as a reminder to my past, this has me dreaming of summer days to come and with any luck a chance to get to the beach again. Hop on over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog and you'll be able to see what my fellow DT members have been inspired to create.

Then it'll be over to you! Remember, the winner of this challenge will earn the chance of a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

For now I hope the remainder of this week is happy and creative. Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx