Put a Ribbon on It at Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome! I'm back to share my Funkie DT piece for Linda's challenge 'Put a Ribbon on It!' Since Linda had so much fun creating new projects with ribbon for a recent Friday Focus she figured it would be a great idea to challenge you to do the same, especially as there's such a great range in stock at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. The guidelines for entering are simple: create a vintage or shabby chic project following the challenge theme, link it to the challenge post and you will be in with a chance to win! The winner will earn a Guest DT spot here at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

I wanted to incorporate ribbon into a mixed media piece to show that it's not just for wrapping and bows. Even though I had the germ of an idea about what this could look like it took on a life of its own and evolved at every stage. The 8.5 x 11 inch canvas started with layers of gesso, paper lace doily and stencilling with Tree Branch Archival Ink and Black Soot Distress Paint. Some misting with Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain removed some of the stark white areas. To finish the background I added some more stencilling; Picket Fence Distress Paint through the new Wendy Vecchi 'Old Ledger' and Texture Paste through Wendy's 'Vintage Quilt' stencil. And finally splatters of Alcohol Ink - it's not just for metal you know!!!

I love the colours in these plaid design May Arts ribbons and planned the focal point of this piece around them. The lace was died with more Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain and threaded with red twine before strips of the ribbon were layered over it. I deliberately frayed the ribbon edges and removed the wiring so they would lay flat on the canvas. More twine and a selection of brass filigree leaves provided the perfect foil for the rose panels. These were so easy to create thanks to another of Wendy's stencils; having distressed pieces of card with more Antique Linen I used the Rose Stamp It Stencil It to stamp and colour three roses using Archival Ink. I finished them off with some lace stamping from the Art and You set before layering them together and adding an embellished filigree brass piece. Oh, and you may notice the roses are double-layered - I restamped/coloured them onto spare paper, added them to Clearly for Art (with Glue n Seal of course) cut and heat shaped! Hey presto, dimensional roses. A Wendy sentiment completed the design - thank you Wendy!

Hopefully this will have given you some ideas for incorporating ribbon into your projects. For even more head on over to the 'Put a Ribbon on It!' challenge over at Frilly and Funkie where my Funkie team mates are sharing more super designs.
Don't forget, there are some great prizes up for grabs if you enter yourselves!

That's it from me for today but I'll be back on Friday for the launch of a new A Vintage Journey challenge. For now, take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx