April Flowers Bring May Flowers at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hi everyone and welcome. It's time for another challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. Maggi is your host for this one and she's called it 'April Flowers Bring May Flowers'.

"Design a vintage or shabby chic project that incorporates a wet "something" with flowers. Examples: Stenciled or doodled raindrops, water distressed or crumpled paper, Tim Holtz's Umbrella Man, you get the idea, just have something that represents wet. Then, add some flowers to your 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 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.

Today is a special day as it sees the release of a whole host of Sizzix Chapter 2 dies and embossing folders. For this project I've chosen to share with you brand new Sizzix Scoreboards Dies from Eileen Hull - the 'Tiny Book' with it's coordinating 'Tiny Book Case'.

This Tiny Accordion Book and matching Tiny Book Case feature papers, flowers and a mould from a gorgeous Prima Marketing collection called 'Pretty Mosaic' and are enhanced with new stamps by Wendy Vecchi. Here are a couple of close ups of the floral cluster on the closure band for the embossed Tiny Book Case - note the glistening 'raindrops' on the flowers and leaves.

And here's a closer look at the cover of the Tiny Book, holding an accordion pull out inside.

Inside the paper, stamped flowers and trims have been put together to represent the journey along a flower strewn garden path.

Again, here are some close ups to show the details - it's really hard to capture on camera the clear embossed dots representing more pf those raindrops but the stitched rainbows are a little easier to spot;

Now, I've put together a step by step tutorial for recreating this accordion book and case.

The Tutorial

Start by cutting a piece of matboard/mount board 3 1/4" x 5 1/4" and glue to the reverse of one of the double-sided sheet of the patterned paper 13/4" from the left side (as shown below).

Cut around the paper then turn to the front. You'll see the words and flowers are nicely lined up. Run through with the Tim Holtz 'Roses' Embossing Folder.

Run the embossed paper covered board piece through your die cutting machine with the Tiny Book Scoreboards Die as shown below.

Cover the inside of the book with a piece of cloth, trim to fit and fray the edges.

At this point I realised that the frayed edges at the top and bottom were a much paler colour than those at the size due to the two toned fabric I'd used, so I diluted a little Sand Acrylic Paint and coloured them to match. It occurred to me that if you don't have fabric of this colour you could always die yours with the same paint, allowing it to dry before sticking it to the reverse of the book cover.

Next cut a 3" tall strip of the mosaic paper as shown below.

Paint an uneven line along the bottom of the strip using Aloe Acrylic Paint.

On a piece of thin paper stamp and emboss the stylised roses from Wendy Vecchi's 'Rosy Art' stamp set with white embossing powder. I used tea stained paper, but you could easily use paper coloured with a little Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Dilute some Acrylic Paint - Blushing, Eggplant and a mix of Evergreen and Black - with water. Paint the roses and leaves then splatter a little of the green colour over the strip.

Cut around the flowers and stick them over the painted line on the mosaic paper.

Cut a 2" panel from the left hand side of the strip. Fold the remaining strip into more 2" sections as shown below.

Apply Transparent Gloss Texture Paste through the dots stencil in the Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART 'Thank You' Stamp/Die/Stencil Set over each of the panels.

Hand-stitching if you like (mine's a basic running stitch in semi-circular patterns) before adding Tim Holtz Clippings Stickers over the flowers and on the front cover of the Tiny Book. I ran a little edge of dilute Umber Acrylic Paint around them to make them stand out more but would probably use a little lighter shade of grey in hindsight. You'll have seen from the finished book photos at the beginning of this post that I also added lace trim, self adhesive gems and pearls and a few die cut tiny butterflies painted with the Blushing Acrylic Paint and a little White Gesso.

Now for the Tiny Book Case; cut a piece of matboard/mount board 8 1/4" x 6" and stick it onto the same piece of patterned paper used for the Tiny Book cover as shown below.

Run the paper covered board through your die cutting machine with the Tiny Book Case Die to cut out the basic case shape before embossing it with the Tim Holtz 'Roses' Embossing Folder.

Paint the inside of the case with Sand Acrylic Paint and when dry fold in along the scorelines before gluing the case together at the sides.

Press moulding clay into the butterfly shape on the Pretty Mosaic Mould and when dry paint with Blushing Acrylic Paint, highlighting with White Gesso. You'll see here I made two butterflies but ended up only using one and instead moulded some of the small roses from the garland shape.

There are a number of beautiful flower branches in the Pretty Mosaic line and I chose these fuchsia coloured ones as they matched the Eggplant Acrylic Paint but there are also the most adorable peach and mint shades in stock. Add dots of Glossy Accents onto the top three flowers and surrounding leaves, and when dry cut off that top section from the main branch.

Finally cut a strip of wire edged burlap ribbon long enough to wrap around the finished case. Decorate it with the flowers, moulded pieces and a paper covered key using the Tiny Book Die, cut from the waste left over from the case.

And as a reminder here's the finished Tiny Book and Tiny Book Case;

That's my take on the theme 'April Flowers Bring May Flowers'. My hugely talented team mates have also come up with their own floral creations incorporating some form of rain for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check out their gorgeous projects 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 that's up for grabs.

Thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

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

Sizzix Scoreboards Die by Eileen Hull - Tiny Book
Sizzix Scoreboards Die by Eileen Hull - Tiny Book Case
Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folder by Tim Holtz - Roses
Prima Marketing 12 x 12 Paper Pad - Pretty Mosaic
Prima Marketing Silicone Mould - Pretty Mosaic
Prima Marketing Flowers - Pretty Mosaic
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gessos
Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamp Set - Rosy Art
Wendy Vecchi MAKE ART Stamp/Die/Stencil Set - Thank You
Tim Holtz Ideaology Clipping Sticker Book
Ranger Embossing Powder - White
Ranger Texture Paste - Transparent Gloss
Ranger Glossy Accents
May Arts Burlap Wired Ribbon