A Time to be Grateful at The Funkie Junkie Challenge 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 with Thanksgiving fast approaching in the US she's called it 'A Time to be Grateful'. "Around this time of the year when we start to get into the holidays and the rush of everything it is a good time to reflect on what we are grateful for. My challenge to you is to capture that in your art. Show what you are grateful for in any type of project, it could be a journal page, a card, or anything else that expresses your gratitude. You choose how to show your thankfulness and share it with us."

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.

Reflecting on the many things to be grateful for I decided to thank and celebrate those people I count as my good friends in my journal.

(click on the image to see this in even more detail)

And here are the individual pages close up;

As ever I took some photos of the process taken to create this journal spread, starting with a session creating Gel Plate prints with Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints. I chose a range of coordinating pastels that included Sand, Heather, Buff, Mineral, Rosy, Elephant and Eggplant (to add to the depth of some of the prints) and pulled a mix of small pieces on white tissue paper.

To add decoration to some of the prints I used four of Wendy Vecchi's Background Stamps. The 'Tiled' stamp was used with paint to imprint on top of pulled prints.

Here I used the 'Register' stamp on some pulls to add text with a pale grey Archival Ink.

The 'Wire with a Twist' stamp was pushed into the wet paint on the Gel Plate before the print was pulled.

The 'Old Quilt' stamp was used with some of the Mineral Paint on top of a pulled print.

Having created a patchwork of tissue prints on the two sides of the journal spread I set about stamping the flowers, using Wendy Vecchi's 'Simple Reality' flower stamp with a dark brown Archival Ink. Some brown watercolour paint was used to add shading to the leaves and I drew over some of the edges with a white gel pen.

After initially considering using a deeper purple shade for the flowers I went with a subtle contrast of pale blue, stamping the flower onto the printed tissue a couple of times with the same Archival Ink as the ones on the page before cutting them out and adding a little white gel pen detail to the centres. These were then stuck over the ones on the page.

With the flowers in place I used coordinating Archival Inks to stamp some of Tim Holtz 'Ornate Trims' across the spread, joining the two parts together and leading the eye across the pages. They were enhanced with more white gel pen highlighting.

The words expressed the gratitude I have for my friends and came from Wendy Vecchi's 'Friends & Art' Stamp Set.

Finally I added a little Venise Lace trim and dots of Wendy Vecchi's 'Cornflower Blue' Liquid Pearls.

So that's my take on the theme 'A Time to be Grateful'. My talented team mates have also come up with their own gratitude 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 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 Studio 490 Stamp It/Stencil It - Simple Reality

Wendy Vecchi 490 Background Stamp - Tiled

Wendy Vecchi 490 Background Stamp - Register

Wendy Vecchi 490 Background Stamp - Wire with a Twist

Wendy Vecchi 490 Background Stamp - Old Quilt

Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Stamp Set - Friends & Art

Tim Holtz Stamp Set - Ornate Trims

Wendy Vecchi Liquid Pearls - Cornflower Blue

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gessos

Ranger Archival Inks