April Showers at Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome! It's Suzanne Czosek's turn to host the latest challenge over at Frilly and Funkie and she's called it 'April Showers'. Here's what she has to say about the theme; the weather by me is very unpredictable with plenty of wind and rain. The weather had me thinking about showers. For this challenge create a shabby chic or vintage project inspired by the word showers. Think rain, storms, umbrellas, baby showers, wedding showers whatever comes to mind and start creating.

The team will choose their top four picks with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie and the next three will receive badges to display on their blogs. 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, so there are plenty of reasons for joining in the fun.

I created another of my little handmade notebooks to match the theme, though I think the showers turned into full blown rain with this (as is so often the way here in the UK, and by the sounds of it where Suzanne lives too!!!)

When this theme came up I immediately thought of the Seth Apter 'Spot Lights' stamp set with it's rows of uneven dots and splats reminiscent of showers. The intention was to combine them all in some way but things took a different turn. Cutting two pieces of chunky card to 4"x 6" I spread a layer of Ranger Opaque Crackle Texture Paste on the outsides then covered it all with white gesso when dry. Having then given it all a layer of Faded Jeans Distress Paint I waited until it was almost dry before wiping over with a cloth to reveal small patches of the white layer underneath. Then it was time for the stamping. Thankfully I'd treated a spare piece of card in the same way to test out stamping options and discovered that the original plan looked too messy over the distinct crackle texture, so I went with using Seth Apter's French Text stamp with Hickory Smoke Distress Paint. Over the top I added lines of the largest Spot Light strips using offset stamping with Picket Fence and Chipped Sapphire Distress Paints. Finally for the background I used drips of Rust Alcohol Ink over water to make the whole thing more aged and bring out those cracks even more.

To top a busy background I needed to keep it simple, so a double layer die cut Umbrella Man was covered with black gesso before Brushed Pewter Distress Paint was added. I got a great worn effect by adding water and more Rust Alcohol Ink as it reacted when I blasted it with a heat gun - little bubbles appeared and some of the black showed through! I finished him with some gears and found the perfect words in the Idea-ology Clippings sticker set (which were covered with Glossy Accents). To finish I cut the signatures and bound them together with the covers using coptic stitching.

I hope you like how this little notebook turned out. That's it from me for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge "April Showers" Do make sure you hop on over to see how my talented team mates from both the Frilly and Funkie sides of the Design Team have incorporated numbers into their creations. And remember to link your own numerical, shabby chic or vintage projects to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

Behind the scenes I'm so busy with journals and writing, and will have a new video released for you to see very soon. Meantime, whatever you're up to for the rest of the week, take care of yourselves and have fun! Jenny xxx