Water, Water, Everywhere for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hi everyone and welcome. It's the start of a new challenge theme over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog, formerly Frilly and Funkie (the name and blog design has changed but the bi-weekly challenges continue as usual). It's Cec's turn to host and she's called the challenge 'Water, Water, Everywhere'. "Often when people go on vacation there is water involved – fishing, cruising, checking out the aquarium, enjoying water sports or playing in the sand at the beach. For this challenge I want you to create a vintage or shabby chic project that reminds you of one or more of these past times."

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 The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog 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.

With very few things relating to water in my stash I thought about using the delicate swirls from Tim Holtz 'Scrollwork' stamp set to represent waves when creating background. To make them even more 3D on a notebook cover I decided to give Suzanne Czosek's clever technique from this project a try. Here's how it looked when finished;

The technique worked really well and meant I didn't have to clean much off my stamps (though looking back at Suzz gorgeous tag I may have taken her suggestion of adding a heavy coat of embossing paste far too literally!!!) Once dry the pieces of embossed card were cut to fit the covers of an Eileen Hull Designs Notebook and painted with 'Night' Acrylic Paint. Rather than re-stamp the impressed parts with ink I used 'Gilt' Acrylic Paint to make the scrolls stand out.

With the theme being water related I cut boat shapes from card and painted them with 'Sedona', 'Buff' and 'Turquoise' Acrylic Paints. Once dry I used a couple of antiqued bronze charms from Linda's store to embellish it, snipping off the loop on the ship's wheel before gluing it in place. Needing something to support the boat on the uneven surface of the cover I added 'sea greenery' using dies from Tim Holtz Holiday Greens and Wildflower Stems #2 Thinlits die sets. After testing several brighter colours they were painted with 'Sand' Acrylic Paint so as not to detract from the bright boat or embossed background.

The spine of the notebook was covered with burlap string from Linda's store and I added more of her sea/beach themed antiqued bronze charms using coordinating jump rings. Inside there are tea stained paper pages bound in place to fit with the colour scheme.

Here's a final close up of the detail on the front cover;

That's my take on the theme 'Water, Water, Everywhere' for the current The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog 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
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set - Scrollwork
Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Thinlits Die Set - Wildflower Stems #2
Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Thinlits Die Set - Holiday Greens
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints
Antiqued Bronze 'Seaside' Charm Set
Bronze Jump Ring Set
Burlap String