Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone and welcome! We are celebrating having a fifth week in the month with a Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey. It's a chance for the Creative Guides to get to play with new techniques and products and this time there's also an opportunity for you to join in the fun. I have not one, not two, but three tags for you this time! And there's a peek at the much larger project they form part of, one which will be revealed in full very soon.

I can't say enough about these new Distress Oxides. The colours are soft and muted, and their ability to layer without muddying is sublime. I used a combination of Iced Spruce, Broken China and Vintage Photo with water to cover the base of each three tags (the new Tim Holtz Distress Heavystock tags) dipping and drying between each layer (the drying is the important bit). Then each one had a combination of stencilling applied over the top.

For this first romantic one I used the Tim Holtz 'Heartstruck' Layering Stencil with Picket Fence Distress Paint, adding some extra detailing with a silver pen. Next came a scattering of flowers using the Tim Holtz 'Roses' Layering Stencil and Fired Brick Distress Oxide, making it a little more aged by dripping water onto the ink before drying. Some splatters of Tumbled Glass Distress Paint completed the perfect background for this romantic couple from Tim Holtz Paper Dolls pack. You'll notice they've been touched up a little with dilute Candied Apple and Chipped Sapphire Distress Paints. And the Metallic Sticker was coloured with the Tumbled Glass version.

This second more whimsical tag was embossed with the Tim Holtz 'Ornate' Layering Stencil before I brayered over it with the Picket Fence Distress Paint to reveal the pattern. I also blended Fired Brick Distress Oxide through the Tim Holtz 'Wildflower' Layering Stencil and splattered a little Chipped Sapphire Distress Paint before adding more Paper Dolls and Brushed Pewter die cut Wildflowers. Again the girls were painted with Candied Apple, Tumbled Glass and Chipped Sapphire.

This third and final tag is something of an ode to the value of education, with an initial Brushed Pewter layer using the Tim Holtz 'Numeric' Layering Stencil. With Tumbled Glass Distress Paint stamping of the Ledger Script design, drips of Picket Fence Distress Paint and Fired Brick Distress Oxide blended through the Tim Holtz 'Typo' Layering Stencil, all that remained was to pick out a few of the numbers with a silver pen for added impact. The little boys would have been lost on the background without a patchwork of Ephemera behind them and again I painted their clothing with Tumbled Glass and Chipped Sapphire to make them stand out more.

And here's a peek at the project they form part of - a Midori/Travelers Notebook sized junk journal, the cover of which I revealed a little while back on Instagram/Facebook. Now it's ready to open, but you'll have to wait a little longer for that...

That's it from me for this Tag Friday - I do encourage you to hop on over to A Vintage Journey to see what my fellow Creative Guides have been up to with their tags, and remember, there's that opportunity to join in too for this one!

It's going to be a busy weekend for me with a trip up to Carnforth in Lancashire for a Rowan Tree Crafts 'Demo Day' this Saturday, 1st April. My buddy Elizabeth Robinson will be there too and Sharon Quinn always organises fun stuff to see, do and buy, so if you're in the area I look forward to seeing you! Whatever you're up to take care of yourselves and have fun xxx

You've Got to Know When to Fold "em" over at Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome! It's Kathy Clement's turn to host the latest challenge over at Frilly and Funkie and she's a huge fan of folded paper! Whether it's a fancy fold card, a one sheet wonder, a rosette or other folded embellishment, folds equal fun! So the theme for her challenge is "You've Got to Know When to Fold 'em." This challenge is all about using folded paper in a way that goes beyond just folding it in half. And as in previous weeks the Design Team is featuring the amazing range of inks, stamps, stencils and more from Wendy Vecchi.

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 thought long and hard about what to create that would include folds and settled on a notebook. This one measures 4"x 6" and is covered in the Tim Holtz 'Memoranda' paper as the base of the design. I love the patchwork of vintage stationary elements and patterns, and it very much influenced the colours that were used for the remaining parts. The paper was glued onto thick board using Matte Collage Medium to create the covers, whilst the signatures inside were cut/folded from watercolour card before being hand stitched together using coptic stitch and waxed cord.

With attention turning to the decoration of the covers I added layers of stamping with archival inks (see that fabulous chandelier and sentiment from Wendy Vecchi's 'Party Art' set) stencilling and Design Tape - all products used are listed below. I covered the finished background with more Collage Medium to make it more hard-wearing and edged it all with Walnut Stain Distress Paint.

Now for the focal point - Mr Valentine makes an appearance again! - I stamped this fella from the 'Party Art' set several times onto card and matboard, coloured him with Distress Oxides/Archival Ink (Tea Rose is great for skin) layered him up and edged him with more Walnut Stain Distress Paint. Who else can't find pens/pencils when they reach for a notebook? I figured a good way to prevent that was to attach one to the book itself; Mr Valentine now takes care of that with a firm grasp (and a hinge clip attached with a Dapper fastener!) The pencil is one of those wooden ones you get from IKEA and stains well with Fired Brick Distress Oxide. An Adornment Star balanced the design and now the book is ready for use.

Here's what the finished notebook looks like in all its glory with both covers displayed;

That's it for my DT project for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge "You've Got to Know When to Fold 'em." Do make sure you hop on over to see how my talented team mates have incorporated folds and Wendy Vecchi's range of products into their creations. And remember to link your own folded, shabby chic or vintage projects to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

Before disappearing a huge thank you to everyone for your reaction to my Cityscapes step by step for Frilly and Funkie. It got quite a reaction on social media (massive thanks to Tim Holtz, Sizzix and many others sharing it with their friends) and now I've got to figure our how to follow it up!!!......

Whatever you're up to for the rest of the week take care of yourselves and have fun! Jenny xxx

Saturday Step by Step for Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome to the weekend! Phew, it's all go here; with last weekend's tv shows finished I've been back in the craft room working on projects for upcoming commitments. And YAY! with the complete set of Distress Oxides now 'in da house' alongside the Cityscape dies, I grabbed the opportunity to play with them for today's Saturday Step by Step over at Frilly and Funkie.

I'm not messing with a sneak peek today - here's my finished framed picture in all its glory!
For the full step by step and list of ingredients make sure you head over to Frilly and Funkie for the lowdown.

I'll be back next week with my latest Frilly and Funkie challenge piece and more besides. In the meantime, have a fantastic weekend whatever you're up to, take care of yourselves and have fun! Jenny xxx

Welcome Spring with Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome! It's Nancy Dynes turn to host the latest challenge over at Frilly and Funkie and for her chosen theme she wants us to 'Welcome, Spring!' Here's what she says about it; "It's fresh, soft breezes and fragrant blossoms have finally arrived. Create any vintage or shabby chic project that welcomes the advent of this glorious season. Think budding trees, birds and nests, butterflies, and beautiful blooms!"

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.

As you may remember we are celebrating all things Wendy Vecchi over at Frilly and Funkie at the moment. This 8" deep canvas (yes, it's a canvas, not a card) came about as a result of one of the 'specimen plaques' I made at the end of last year using Wendy's fabulous tutorial. The image is called 'Freshly Picked' and features two flowers which remind me of the first ones to bloom in Spring here in the UK. They are a sign of optimism, of new life, of warmer and lighter times to come and of the return of brighter splashes of colour to nature's palette. I wanted to build a collage around this plaque but didn't have any fabrics to match. What to do! - cue the calico, burlap and Distress Paints!

The base layer was made from ivory calico, repeat stamped with the Freshly Picked image using Wilted Violet Distress Paint and machine stitched to resemble quilting. The first central band was made from a crisp white muslin stamped with the new Herringbone background using Mustard Seed Distress Paint. The second band was created on a fawn burlap strip stamped with the Ticking background using Peeled Paint Distress Paint.

I layered the 'specimen' panel onto layers of patterned paper (from my stash) kraft card, mulberry paper, book page, a piece of lace handkerchief, white corrugated card and off-cuts of the background fabric. Touches of Venise lace were tucked in between the layers with some sari silk, and I added a piece of amethyst to the bird nest charm (available at The Funkie Junkie Boutique) before surrounding it with coils of coloured burlap string. The wording from the Framed Art set, stamped on the 'antiqued' plaque at the bottom, perfectly sums up optimism that Spring holds,

Here are some final close up photos showing the textures and layers in more details;

That's it for my DT project for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge 'Welcome, Spring!' Do make sure you hop on over to see what my talented team mates have created with their Wendy Vecchi goodies to welcome Spring. And remember to link your own Spring inspired shabby chic or vintage projects to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

I'm off to finish up getting prepped for the upcoming IndigoBlu tv shows this weekend on Hochanda - hope you can join me for those.
Have a great end to your week and have fun! Take care, Jenny xxx