It's The Holidays! at The Funkie Junkie Boutique

Hi everyone and welcome. It's the start of our final challenge for 2019 over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. Maggi is our host and this time the challenge is called 'It's The Holidays!' "This is such a busy time of the year that it's hard to find anytime to pursue our paper passion! With that in mind, I designed a challenge that will hopefully give you some needed crafting time, while making something useful for the holiday season that is upon us! For this challenge, create a vintage or shabby chic card, tag, gift box, bag, anything holiday related, that you can use over the holidays."

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.

For my DT project I wanted to create a Pocket Notebook to hold all those important holiday lists and menus. There's so much to keep track of at this time of year and with lots of pages inside it's going to be able to be used for several years to come.

This one is relatively plain and simple in comparison to previous notebooks - time is short after all at this time of year! Die cut Pocket Notebook covers were bound at the spine with tape (as I've shown in previous blog posts) and covered in book page (on the spine) and cream coloured muslin. On tea stained copier paper I stamped the largest of the images from the Tim Holtz Yuletide Gatherings set using Hickory Smoke Distress Archival Ink from the #3 Kit. A couple of the smaller sprigs from the same set were added to extend the pattern over the page. You may spot on the spine a thinner strip that was stamped in the same way with the images from Tim's Stitches set, and all the paper sections were inked at the edges with the Vintage Photo Archival Ink from the set mentioned above.

With the paper stamped it was glued in place over the muslin and book page sections. Matte Distress Collage Medium is perfect for this job, and I like to apply a layer of Dina Wakley Media Clear Gesso over the top to protect the surface of the paper. At the bottom of the front page you'll see I've added stamped words; another option is to use one of the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas Quote Chips here as it would coordinate perfectly with the jute string tied to the spine. Also included with the jute string are a bunch of gorgeous silver tone holiday themed charms, attached using jump rings and all available from Linda's store (links below).

After binding the book with tea stained pages I set about adding the robin to the front; using the Tim Holtz 'Patchwork Bird' Die set it's easy to cut the different sections required from oddments of fabric, though as a suggestion it's easier if you add paper or card to the reverse to get a clean cut with thinner fabrics. The edges of each piece were inked with the Vintage Photo Distress Archival Ink and I hand-stitched through some sections with metallic embroidery thread (floss) before sticking it onto the front cover.

That's my take on the theme 'It's The Holidays!' for the current The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog challenge. My fantastic team mates have created the most amazing festive projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE. And remember to link up your own Holiday shabby chic or vintage projects to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes that's up for grabs.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

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

Eileen Hull Designs Sizzix Scoreboards XL Die - Pocket Notebook
Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Bigz Die - Patchwork Bird
Tim Holtz Cling Stamps - Yuletide Gatherings
Tim Holtz Cling Stamps - Stitches
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Jute String - Christmas
Tim Holtz Distress Archival Mini Ink Pad Kit #3
Antique Silver Pine Cone 3D Charms - Set of 3
Antique Silver Snowflake Charms - Set of 6
Antique Silver Tone Let It Snow Charms - Set of 5
Tiny Silver Plated Jingle Bells - Set of 15
Silver Tone Jump Ring Set