Lovely Leaves at 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. It's my turn to host and this time the challenge is called 'Lovely Leaves'. "At this time of year leaves take over from flowers as the stars of Nature's display - the deciduous ones take on beautiful Autumnal hues before falling to the ground, whilst the evergreen ones keep our gardens from looking bare as we wait for new flowers to appear in the Spring. For this challenge make sure to add leaves (or even Pine Needles if you like) to your vintage or shabby chic projects."

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.

This DT project features layers of Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint in the background and leaves from Tim Holtz 'Nature's Wonder' stamp set in the foreground, and has an Autumnal colour palette (which seems to have come and gone very quickly this year here!)

I've put together a tutorial for recreating the cover of this Pocket Notebook below.

Tutorial

Having cut the two covers using Eileen Hull's Pocket Notebook die the spine has been cut away and rejoined with a quarter inch space either side using Architape. I've shown this step several times on my blog including here. After covering the covers and spine with a coat of White Gesso follow up with a layer of Dina Wakley Media 'Gilt' Acrylic Paint. Then scrape over random patches of White Gesso on the top.

From here it looks a little scary with some brighter colours in play but fear not, you've seen that it turns out alright in the end. Use a brayer to apply a coat of Dina Wakley Media 'Blushing' Acrylic Paint; you can see below that I left some of the previous layers visible underneath.

Repeat the process, this time with Dina Wakley Media 'Cheddar' Acrylic Paint. As each layer is applied so I use less and less paint.

Again, repeat the process with Dina Wakley Media 'Carnation' Acrylic Paint.

To tone down the bright colours dry brush over it all with White Gesso, taking care to go lightly at this stage - you don't want to lose all the colour that's been lovingly applied so far!

While the covers and spine are still flat trim the spine with ribbon or lace; Linda stocks beautiful ribbon in her store including this Gold Crocheted Metallic Ribbon from May Arts.

To compliment the gold ribbon and protect the edges of the notebook add Gold Tone Corners, altered with first Black Gesso then a little Mushroom and Latte Alcohol Inks. You'll see from the photo below that I used the same paint/inks to alter some of the gold beads on a yarn tassel, attached to the inside of the spine before the text block is added.

As this challenge theme is all about leaves it's time to include some of those; stamp out oak leaves from the 'Nature's Wonder' stamp set on coloured paper/card. Mine was left over from a Gel Press printing session and has many of Dina Wakley's colours on it including Ruby, Cheddar, Sedona and Buff. Cut them out ready for adding to the front cover.

Apply some of the 'Aviary' Collage Paper to a piece of card using Matte Distress Collage Medium and cut/tear to trim the section you want.

To finish I added some torn strips of painted paper (more of the stuff used for the leaves plus some coloured with Dina Wakley Media 'Olive' Acrylic Paint) stitched together with lace trim. With the bird in place I attached a key from my stash (Linda also has keys in her store) wound with burlap string and wire and arranged the stamped leaves around it. For a final detail I added a Drusy Cabochon and small gilt bead before attaching the tea stained paper text block inside.

Here are some close ups to show you the finished notebook in more detail;

Inside are the bound tea stained copy paper pages that can be held open by the beaded tassel;

For now that's my take on the theme 'Lovely Leaves' for the current The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog challenge. My fantastic team mates have created the most 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 featuring leaves to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Products used to create this Pocket Notebook are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Eileen Hull Designs Sizzix Scoreboards XL Die - Pocket Notebook
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gesso
Tim Holtz Stamp Set 'Nature's Wonder'
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Paper 'Aviary'
Ranger Alcohol InksMay Arts Gold Crocheted Ribbon
Drusy Resin Dome Seals Cabochon Round Fuschia - Set of 5
Venise Lace Trim - 2 inches
Burlap String - 12 colours
Metal Keys for Scrapbooking