24 April 2019

Embossed Notebooks for Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome. April is a special month for Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team as Eileen's new Sizzix ScoreBoards L Die 'Notebook' has now been released and we get to share the samples made for the Creativation show at the beginning of the year. Make sure you check out all the samples over on Eileen's website and you'll soon see why you need this die.


I created a set of three notebooks which fit comfortably inside Eileen's Treasure Box as a matching set. The covers are really tactile with fabric, embossing, lace and die cuts included.


Here's how the covers came together;

I started by cutting each Notebook from mount board and covered them with plain cotton calico before embossing each side with one of Eileen's Embossing Folders called 'Eyelet Lace'.


I then went to town with some PaperArtsy paints in shades of purple and yellow/brown, adding less and less of each colour with a spatula to get the splotchy uneven effect.


When the paint had dried I used a sanding block to sand over the raised areas. You can be quite forceful with this as it helps to knock back and blend some of the colour whilst making the fabric feel more soft and pliable.


To add some shimmer to each cover I dabbed an embossing ink pad over the raised embossed areas - you'll see this wasn't an exact science, but that added to the boho chic look! - and sprinkled Emerald Creek Crafts Charred Gold Embossing Powder over before using a heat tool to set it.


To finish the covers it was then just a case of gluing on some lace trim with silver metallic card die cuts using Eileen's 'Floral Arch' and 'Journaling Words' Thinlits Dies.


Inside each book you'll see I included a plain bound text block. There are some fabulous tutorials out there showing how to make text block and how to add them to hard cover journals. Some of my favourites include;
DIY Kettle Stitch Bookbinding - Sea Lemon
DIY Text Block - Sea Lemon
DIY Hardcover Book - Sea Lemon
Instructables - How to Bind Your Own Hardback Book

and you can find a bunch more on my Pinterest board here;
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jennymarples73/book-binding/


And if you haven't seen Eileen's own fantastic Facebook Live video demo for creating a text block for the Notebook make sure to check it out below.


That's it for today. Thanks for taking the time to join me.
Jenny xxx

17 April 2019

Re-Purpose, Re-Use, Recycle for Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome. Over at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge blog we are celebrating Earth Day. It's Kathy's turn to host and she's called her challenge 'Re-Purpose, Re-Use, Recycle'. Kathy says "Earth Day is April 22nd, so let's honor the day with a vintage or shabby chic project that includes an item that would normally land in the recycle or trash bin. You can use an old jar, glass bottle, packaging material or other bits and bobs to create your upcycled masterpiece. Be sure to tell us in your post what your recycled item is and how you used it, as it may not be apparent in the photo."

As ever, the Design 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 Top 3 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.

For this challenge I took Kathy at her word and used some of the packaging material from a Funkie Junkie Boutique parcel along with some other bits and bobs  to decorate an Etcetera Tag.


Let's start with the recycling items chosen for this project; there's the brown wrapping paper and cardboard from one of Linda's parcels, some burlap string from another parcel, the page from an old French book about architecture and some coffee stirrers all washed and ready to go. Whilst you'll spot a used wet wipe on this pile too I chose not to use that in the end.


The piece of book page had a coat of Clear Gesso applied to make the surface slightly less absorbent. This makes it ready to accept the next layers of wet media.


A Stamp Platform was used to stamp one of the images from Tim Holtz Architecture stamp set onto it using Jet Black Archival Ink.


Some parts of the design were covered using White Acrylic Paint and a fine detail brush before being re-stamped to add the detail back in. A White Gelly Roll pen was also used to draw on some of the more intricate lines.


As Seth Apter's new Baked Velvet Embossing Powders are translucent I felt confident to use them over some parts of the image to colour and glaze them. The Dusk green has a cooler tone than was needed - adding the Lime version over the top gave the warmer feel.


After whitewashing with a dilute layer of White Gesso and scrunching when dry, the brown paper packaging was stamped and embossed the second image from the Architecture stamp set. A little colour was then reapplied by dabbing a used teabag over the top.


You'll see from this close up how the top layer of the cardboard was torn away to reveal the corrugated element and dry brushed with White Acrylic Paint. The coffee stirrers were cut in half and embossed with Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder.


The Wildflower Stems were given their pearl metallic finish by being painted first with coordinating Dina Wakley Acrylic Paints. Tim Holtz Alcohol Pearl inks were then added directly from the bottles over the top. The alcohol ink colours mix together beautifully when wet to create a graduated look.


And here are some close ups showing how the finished tag looked when all the elements were assembled together. you'll notice as part of the layering process the architecture theme was echoed in the stencilling of brick using Opaque Crackle Texture Paste;



From this close up you can see how well those Baked Velvet Embossing Powders work when layered over the stamped/painted image. The Transparent Wings add great accents without obscuring the images beneath.


The Alcohol Pearl inks truly do shine here and their added vibrancy gives a pop of much needed colour to the design. And I love that the IdeaOlogy Metal Gate fits perfectly across the bottom of the stamped window, giving it the look of a balcony overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice.



So that's my take on the theme 'Re-Purpose, Re-Use, Recycle' for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge. My talented team mates have created lots more amazing projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE. And remember to link up your own shabby chic or vintage recycling projects to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

All the products used (including of course the packaging!) are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Metal Gates

3 April 2019

March Madness for Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome. Over at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge blog we are taking inspiration from a famous book. It's Suzz's turn to host and she's called her challenge 'March Madness'. Suzz says "I want you to be inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I started from this quote of a conversation between the Mad Hatter and Alice: The Mad Hatter asks Alice: "Have I gone Mad?" and Alice replies "I am afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."

The challenge is to take any idea or concept from this wonderful tale to inspire your project. There are so many wonderful bits or pieces to be inspired by like the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the looking glass, tea party or Alice herself. The possibilities are endless. Anything can be your inspiration but make sure you reference what inspired your art from the story!
"

As ever, the Design 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 Top 3 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.

For this challenge I took inspiration from the first chapter of the book where Alice is feeling bored and drowsy while sitting on the riverbank with her elder sister. She notices a talking, clothed White Rabbit with a pocket watch run past. She follows it down a rabbit hole when suddenly she falls a long way to a curious hall with many locked doors of all sizes. She finds a small key to a door too small for her to fit through, but through it she sees an attractive garden.


The idea sprang to mind to incorporate two of Wendy Vecchi's new stamp sets - Front Door Art and Delightful Art - as one has a door and the other some gorgeous flowers to represent the garden hidden behind it. The Etcetera Tag base was covered with a Gel Plate print using a mix of Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints on it including Sedona, Night, Ancient, Umber, Buff and White. I added to the white ghosted patches with splatters of dilute white paint and used Matte Collage Medium to glue it in place.


Behind the door the garden was 'constructed' with sprays of flowers from the Delightful Art set, stamped and painted on plain card and layered with the matching Mat Mini flower heads from the coordinating set. Opaque Texture Paste was applied underneath using the leaf clusters on the stencil that comes with the stamp set.


The fabulous door from the Front Door Art stamp set also has a coordinating Mat Mini so after painting the outer and inner parts with Umber and White paint it was easy to over-stamp the details with Archival Ink. The key added to the front is from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and I linked it to a a couple of charms from my stash - a heart padlock and frame with white rabbit inside. Linda has lots of charms in stock now including an adorable White Rabbit one! To finish, the sentiment comes from the Front Door Art set.


And here's the finished tag;


So that's my take on the theme 'March Madness' for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge. My talented team mates have created lots more amazing projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE. And remember to link up your own shabby chic or vintage projects inspired by Alice in Wonderland to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

All the products used are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed below.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Links to Wendy Vecchi's stamp/stencil/ Mat Mini sets;

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