Birds with The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hi everyone and welcome. It's time for another challenge over at the The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. Suzz is your host for this one and she has called it 'Birds'. "For this Challenge I want you to be inspired by our flying friends. You can take the challenge literally and have images or die cuts of birds on your art, you can be inspired by the words describing birds or even showcase their homes. Make sure to share with us how you were inspired by the birds."

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 three additional outstanding entries 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 a vague idea in my head for how to incorporate a bird into a journal page I began to develop this piece in my new junk journal, making changes and additions along the way and coming up with a method for using a partial die cut piece along the way. Here's the completed journal page;

And before we get started with the tutorial here are a couple of close ups;

Having taken photos along the way here's how the journal page came together;

I wanted to use part of the delicate die cut strip from the Sizzix Chapter 3 Thinlits 'Intricate Corners' set but didn't want to have to spend time piecing the design back together after cutting it apart. To get round this I glued the whole die cut piece to a single ply sheet of tissue by applying adhesive to the reverse side of the die cut. Once dry I was able to tear away the excess tissue around the edges before using a paper trimmer to slice along the design.

Having identified which pages in my junk journal to work on I began creating the layout, adding a line of Seth Apter's Izink Pigment Ink using the handy built in brush before adding the partial die cut strip underneath with a coat of gel mat medium. You'll see how having created a 'carrier sheet' for the die cut piece I was even able to separate the strip into two pieces to go across the two sides.

Above you can see how I stamped Wendy Vecchi's 'Register' Background Stamp over the left side of the design using a pale grey Archival Ink. Prior to this I had also brushed a little White Gesso across both sides and added some watercolour either side of the black line in various shades of brown. Some of that gesso caught the black line which helped to make give it a softer look. Linda's store carries a number of watercolour paint sets by Prima Marketing, listed at the end of this post. The charcoal pencil circle line was smudged to make it less harsh.

I have recently inherited a number of dip pens and nibs and have started experimenting with adding 'scripting' to my art. It occurred to me that Seth Apter's Pigment Ink could work for this. I found adding just a little water to it made it fluid enough to work beautifully for this purpose.

Picking out the neutral shades (plus Sedona) from the Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint range I used my 3 x 5 Gel Plate and a brayer to create a bunch of prints on tissue. On a couple of them I pressed Wendy Vecchi's 'All Scratched Up' Background Stamp into the paint on the Gel Plate to add some pattern to the prints. I removes excess paint from my brayer by rolling it across a piece of brown paper packaging from one of Linda's parcels when making each print, creating another multi layered sheet for use in my journal at some point in the future. Below is a close up shot of the pulled prints; 

Not wanting to add too much 'bulk' to the pages I chose to cut the circle and a bird shape from a couple of the tissue prints, layering them over the top of each other using a gel mat medium.

To echo the lace handkerchief on the right side I added a piece of lace from Linda's store onto the edge of the left side, and then applied some squares of gel printed tissue in a contrasting colour above and below the bird. I then stitched around the bird with some of the embroidery thread (floss) used for the flowers on the journal wrap. It helps to poke your holes around the shape in advance of stitching in order to achieve an even look.

A phrase from Wendy Vecchi's 'All Occasion Art' Stamp Set was stamped onto a piece of crumpled dressmaking pattern tissue before being added to the handkerchief page with gel mat medium. I also began experimenting with adding a touch of watercolour around the larger stitched rectangle on the left hand page.

At this point I walked away and thought about why the finished design didn't look quite right. Having taken some 'time away' from the journal spread I decided to add squares from the mainly Sedona tissue print over the aqua ones, extend the black line across the whole two pages, add Glossy Accents over the bird, apply some Remnant Rubs, a small paperclip and some dots of Wendy Vecchi Liquid Pearls.

And here as a reminder is the completed piece;

So that's my take on the theme 'Birds'. My talented team mates have also come up with their own projects with birds in or on them 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 pieces 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 journal page are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Wendy Vecchi Background Stamp - Register

Wendy Vecchi Background Stamp - All Scratched Up

Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Stamp Set - All Occasion Art

Wendy Vecchi Liquid Pearls - Carnation Red

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Intricate Corners

Seth Apter Izink Pigment Inks by Aladine - After Dark and Thundercloud

Prima Marketing Watercolor Paint Ranges and Sets

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gessos

Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs - Specimen

Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Mini Paper Clips

Venise Lace Trim - 2 Inches