I'm Feeling Like Royalty for The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog

Hi everyone and welcome. Suzz is hosting the latest challenge over on The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog and she's called it 'I'm Feeling Like Royalty'; "On June 2, 1953 the then 27 year old Elizabeth II was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom. I thought why not honor this event by having a challenge that includes inspiration from royalty. Think crowns, castles, elegant and regal patterns, or gilding your project with touches of gold! Create a shabby chic or vintage project inspired by royalty!"

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.

When Suzz picked the theme for this week you would be forgiven for assuming I would honour our Queen whose service to this country has been outstanding, but with gold mentioned my mind immediately turned to the magnificent golden gates outside the Palace of Versailles, Paris. And once through those golden gates you get to enter the incredible Hall of Mirrors where even more 'bling' awaits. We were lucky enough to get to see all of this on a family holiday a few years ago and it has been so special remembering some of that experience as I created a three page spread in a new Parisian themed book.

On the first page is one of our photos inside the Hall of Mirrors, gel transferred onto fabric with a layer of texture paste applied; the Prima Paper one is great for this because it is lightweight and has a paper-like finish. I love the ageing that is achieved as you rub away at the print and remove a little of the original image.

After applying some white gesso and more texture paste to the remaining two pages I drew in a rough sketch of the famous gates and a very basic outline of the palace buildings behind. This gave me a clue about where to place all the other elements on the pages.

Using a gel plate and a combination of the Dina Wakley Media paints listed at the bottom of this post I pulled a few prints onto wet strength tissue (in the US you use deli paper) and stuck a couple of torn pieces to the pages with gel medium. I also stamped some French text over the main area of the gates with permanent black ink (this is an old background stamp from Wendy Vecchi called 'Les Roses') before going over the pencil lines with permanent black and white ink markers.

In the top corner of the gel transfer printed page is a gold (of course!) heat embossed chandelier which comes from Wendy Vecchi's 'Party Art' stamp set. As long as you seal your transfer with a layer of soft gel medium this should be easy to do. It really fits with the opulent feel and style of the Hall. Lace was added to the underside of the page and starts a new page/tuck spot overleaf.

Below you can see how the gates have a raised texture; Dina Wakley's 1oz bottles of paint have a fine nozzle which means you can trace along your sketching with a layer of 'Gilt' paint that then dries firm and dimensional. To make the gates stand out further I used a mix of red and orange watercolour paint (designed to match the 'Sedona' shade in the gel plate print) over the stamping. The black permanent ink pen was used to add a hint of shadowing.

To finish the pages I added a couple of filigree metal corner pieces at either end of the gates - you can change the colour with paint to make them fit with your overall look - and some hand stitching in lines, a nod to the long, long queues of people who lined up patiently outside waiting to enter the main palace buildings on a warm summer's day. Having applied texture paste through the Code Layering Stencil I dabbed a little glue on top in a few places and added gold flakes before sticking bits of lace on top.

That's my take on the 'I'm Feeling Like Royalty' theme. For even more inspiration the rest of the Design Team have come up with their own projects for this challenge so make sure you hop on over and check them out HERE.

For now, thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx

Products used to create these pages are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamp Set - 'Party Art'

Tim Holtz Layering Stencil 'Code'

Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic Paint - Sand - 1oz Bottle

Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic Paint - Mineral - 1oz Bottle

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Ancient, 1oz Bottle

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Gilt, 1oz Bottle
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Night, 1oz Bottle

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Sky, 1 oz Bottle

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Buff, 1oz Bottle
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Sedona, 1oz Bottle

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Lapis, 1oz Bottle

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - Gel Medium Soft Gel, 1oz Bottle
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint - White Gesso, 1oz Bottle

Prima Marketing Art Ingredients Metal Flakes - Gold
Prima Art Basic Paper Texture Paste

Antiqued Bronze Corner Filigree Metal Pieces - Set of 4