Home, Sweet Home for Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome. Over at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge blog we are embracing the Spring season and all it brings. It's Sara Emily's turn to host and she's called the challenge 'Home, Sweet Home'. Whether your house is grand or modest, neat or messy, there's no place like home. Houses get bought and sold, but home stays with you forever. For this challenge, she would like to see how you interpret what home means to you on your vintage or shabby chic project.

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.

My DT project for this challenge is of course a new book, and this one is perfect for use as an address book. As soon as I saw the theme Wendy Vecchi's Front Door Art sprang to mind and turns out it's a perfect fit for the front of Eileen Hull's Notebook. This one welcomes visitors with beautiful coordinating plant pots.

Here's how it came together. In the tutorial shared over on the Frilly and Funkie Challenge blog HERE I showed how to create a driftwood inspired effect using Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints on mount board. Having die cut some gift boxes I was left with the waste which were too good to bin. So having cut them into smaller strips I embossed them with an older Tim Holtz embossing folder (his Lumber 3D Texture Fades folder would be ideal for this). The raised areas were then highlighted by swiping Wendy Vecchi's Acorn Archival Ink across them before being glued in place over an Eileen Hull Designs Notebook cover.

There is a Mat Minis set that coordinates with the Front Door Art stamp set, so once the leaves on this plant were painted with Lime Acrylic Paint and the pot piece covered in Carnation Red Embossing Powder, the matching stamps could be used with black archival ink to add the details.

The same process was used with the larger pot, this time covered in Tea Rose Embossing Powder before being stamped.

For the flower stem and leaves I used a combination of Olive, Evergreen and Ruby Acrylic Paints before over-stamping them.

For the door I used a mix of Mineral and Sand Acrylic Paints to coordinate with the faux wood planks. There's also a separate lock piece as part of the Mat Minis set which was covered with Ancient Acrylic Paint. A drop of Watering Can Enamel Accents made for the perfect door nob.

Finally I took the word HOME from the Mat Minis set Words and covered it with Leaf Green Embossing Powder.

Before adding the door and plants to the front cover I drew around the inside of the door stencil to work out where to place it. This also gave me the chance to add strips of Wendy's Washi so that they could be seen peeking out from behind the door. With the door, flowers/plants and word glued in place all that was left was to add some burlap ribbon and lace along the spine and attach some tea stained papers inside.

Here are a couple of close ups of the finished book;

For now that's my take on the theme 'Home, Sweet Home' 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 to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

All the products used to create this notebook are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Eileen Hull Designs Sizzix ScoreBoards L Die - Notebook
Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamp Set - Front Door Art
Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Mat Minis - Words and Front Door Art
Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powders - Tea Rose, Carnation Red, Leaf Green
Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Washi Assortment 1
Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Acorn
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints - Mineral, Sand, Evergreen, Olive, Lime, Ruby, Ancient

Field Notes Journal for Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome. Alongside the other members of Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team I have more of Eileen's new products and some coordinating lines to share with you. For this new Field Notes Journal I've combined her new Clearsnap Colorbox Blends 2 reinkers with a fantastic stamp set (also from Clearsnap) some beautiful Thermoweb Deco Foil and Deco Foil Adhesive, and Eileen's new Thermoweb Foam Adhesive.

Here's how this came together. I began with an A4 sheet of watercolor paper, misted with water on both sides and stuck down to the glass mat to prevent it from warping uncontrollably. I then applied Eileen's 'Golden' and 'Sunshine' Colorbox Blends 2 reinkers using first a foam mini blending tool and then a paint brush. The ink takes a little while to dry so there is plenty of time to add or remove colour until you get the balance you want. In this case I used the brush with a little water to remove some of the colour and create uneven vertical 'stripes'.

As these Blends 2 inks are highly pigmented and super concentrated I was then able to stamp over the background using the 'Coconut' ink using a stamp from Clearsnap's 'Butterfly' stamp set. You can see below that there was no 'bleed through' with the white remaining bright and clear. I found it easiest to apply the ink to the stamp by using the foam mini blending tool.

I then used the Deco Foil Adhesive Pen to apply adhesive to the stamped white areas. On reflection this pen probably works better on plain card than on layers of ink, particularly one which isn't fully dry! Now for the one photo I forgot to take... I cut small pieces of the gold coloured Deco Foil, laid it on top of the sticky areas, rubbed them with my fingers to warm them a little, used a bone folder to ensure the foil had stuck firmly and then removed the sheets.

Here you can see where the foil has been applied over the adhesive. I then decided to go for a 'subtle background butterfly' look by stamping over the foiled areas with the coordinating butterfly detail stamp from the set using the ''Sunshine' Colorbox Blends 2 reinker. You can see how well the ink shows up the intricate detail even over the foiled areas.

Using the slower dry time as an asset I created 'watercolour flower stems' using what I think is a cloud stamp from the Butterfly set on its side in conjunction with the new 'Pansy' Colorbox Blends 2 reinker. By using a brush the colour was pulled out from the initial stamping to look like stylised fluffy flower heads. Then to reintroduce more detail I over-stamped them with the same stamp and ink.

Apologies for the ares of glare on the next two photos - the sun chose to make an appearance for once!!! Using a diluted mix of 'Bay' Colorbox Blends 2 reinker I threw caution to the wind and added bold brush stroked from the bottom of the page to replicate leaves and stems.

This process was then repeated, this time using the 'Golden' Colorbox Blends 2 reinker. I love how you can layer up these inks on top of each other with no dilution or alteration of their true colours. To add in some detail to the flowers (which by now were getting a little lost) I used a Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen 08 to add some small circles and dots to one side of each flower stem (a trick learned from my hugely talented friend Elizabeth Robinson).

In a change of heart I decided to make the butterflies more prominent by over-stamping them with 'Ebony' Colorbox Blends 2 reinker. I think this is going to become one of my 'go to' black stamping inks in future because it coped with whatever lay beneath it and gave a very detailed, crisp finish.

With the tape removed here's what the finished 'painting' looked like;

To create the journal cover I cut two sides using Eileen's Sizzix Scoreboards 'Journal' die, cut the spine from the covers and reattached them with sticky backed canvas (in the same way you may have seen me do for the Notebooks). Colour was applied using slightly diluted Colorbox Blends 2 reinkers - 'Ebony' for the spine and Golden for the edges of the covers. I then cut the 'painting' in half and stuck each side to the front covers.

To finish I applied some gorgeous purple Deco Foil to one side of  Eileen's new Foam Adhesive and ran it through my Big Shot with some Thinlits dies to create the lettering for the front cover. Give them a few passes to ensure they cut cleanly through the layers of foil, foam and adhesive.

Here are a couple of close ups so you can see the finished journal cover in more detail;

That's it for this month's Eileen Hull project. For lots more from the Inspiration Team make sure to check out Eileen's website HERE.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Embellishments, Trinkets and Trims for The Funkie Junkie Boutique

Hi everyone and welcome. Over at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge blog we are embracing the Spring season and all it brings. It's my turn to host and I've called the challenge 'Embellishments, Trinkets and Trims'. Linda sells a huge array of beautiful embellishments, trinkets and trims in her store, from metal filigree pieces and charms to buttons, laces and ribbons. They can be the important focal point on a project or the final finishing touches that complete it. However you wish to use them lets see those embellishments, trinkets and trims in action on your vintage or shabby chic entries.

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.

My DT project for this challenge is another notebook this time featuring a new Prima Mini Mould and of course embellishments, trinkets and trims from Linda's store.

Here's how this one came together. In the tutorial shared over on the Frilly and Funkie Challenge blog HERE I showed how to use Eileen Hull's 'Notebook' die as the basis of a bound book, covering the whole book with sticky back canvas. For this version I cut a strip of the canvas 2 3/4 inches wide by 10 1/4 inches long and stuck it to each inside cover edge 3/4 inch in from the edges as shown below. I didn't measure the gap between the covers and the spine piece, just centred it knowing that the size of the strip would ensure a 1/4 inch either side.

To add texture and dimension to the cover and spine I added some burlap ribbon and string, Venise lace, some paper pad ends, Crochet Thinlits die cuts, embossed card (using the 3D 'Elegant' Texture Fades Embossing Folder) and one of the Paper Clay moulds from the Prima Marketing IOD 'Object Labels 1' mould set. A quick hint here - if you stick the wet clay onto your project with glue and push it together a little it dries flatter and doesn't crack as much.

The whole cover was given a coat of White Gesso to even out the finishes and give them more 'tooth' ready for the addition of paint.

A blend of slightly diluted Evergreen, Olive and Turquoise Acrylic Paints were added over the whole cover to create the look of verdigris.

To help highlight some of the detail and add a more vintage look the cover was dry brushed, first with the new Aloe Acrylic Paint, and then with Ancient Acrylic Paint.

At this point a little more of the Olive and Turquoise and some Ocean Acrylic Paint were diluted and reapplied to enhance the contrast.

I used the new Prima Marketing Midnight Garden Mini Mould with more Paper Clay to create two flowers and their leaves - by overlapping the flowers and the leaves whilst wet and marking out the waste with a knife I was able to remove any excess clay so the flowers could overlap when glued onto the cover.

After painting the dry clay flowers and leaves with White Gesso I added dilute Fushia, Evergreen and Peacock Acrylic Paints over the top, allowing them to run into the moulded pieces and dabbing away the excess on top with a piece of tissue.

To finish I removed the dragonfly from an Antiqued Bronze Dragonfly Safety Pin Brooch from Linda's store and glued it in place surrounded by a trail of Brass Liquid Pearl drops and gold Drusy Resin Dome Seals. Inside is a junk journal style tea stained bound text block with lots of different pages. Here are some close ups of the cover so you can see the details more clearly;

For now that's my take on the theme 'Embellishments, Trinkets and Trims' 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 to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

All the products used to create this notebook are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Eileen Hull Designs Sizzix ScoreBoards L Die - Notebook
Prima Marketing Midnight Garden Mini Mould

Sizzix Chapter 2 Tim Holtz Thinlits Crochet

Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder - Elegant

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Aloe

Venise Lace	Venise Lace Trim - 0.75 inches	Natural Jute Mesh (Burlap) Ribbon	Burlap String - 12 Colors	Prima Marketing IOD Vintage Art Decor Mould - Object Labels 1	Prima Marketing Paper Clay 8.8oz.	Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Peacock
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Olive	Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - White Gesso, 1oz Bottle	Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Turquoise, 1 oz Bottle	Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Fuchsia, 1oz Bottle	Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Evergren, 1oz Bottle	Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Ocean, 1oz Bottle	Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Ancient, 1oz Bottle
Antiqued Bronze Dragonfly Safety Pins Brooches 6.9x3cm	Drusy Resin Dome Seals Cabochon Round Gold 8mm- Set of 5	RANGER LIQUID PEARLS 1/2 OZ BRASS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat Stickers TH92998	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat Stickers