Pressed Flowers

Hi Folks,

My flowers have now been pressing for a month and I thought I would write a few lines to let you know how they are doing.

I'm really surprised that they have all maintained their colour and look as vibrant as they did when alive.  I have broken one or two as they are very delicate and great care is required when removing them from inside the book.

I will have to do some more research but next time I think I will try placing a couple of pieces of baking paper under and over them in the book to help with the sticking or perhaps some blotting paper would do the trick and help with the moisture at the same time.

This was just an experiment so I am super happy with the result that I have achieved.  I will be rushing out to my garden in Spring to get the first blooms and next time a bigger book to press them in.  An old phone book perhaps.

The only thing left to do is seal them to preserve the colour and protect them.  I believe hairspray does the trick but I reckon some PVA glue applied with a soft brush would do the job just as well, maybe even better.  Another experiment...

Pressed Flowers

Hello everyone,

Today I'm super excited to show you my new love..........pressed flowers.  I have only recently discovered that when you press fresh flowers, they keep their colour!  This was totally news to me as I always thought that once pressed, they changed to a browny colour.  This was from a memory I had from childhood of when I used to press the leaves of roses in between book pages - they always turned a brown colour so I assumed it was the same for all flowers - not so!!

Two weeks ago I picked some flowers from my garden and decided to give it a go.  I placed them into a book separating them between pages and then carefully closed the book.  At this point you need to add weight so I piled all of my heavy books on top and then just left them to do their thing.

This process takes a few weeks and mine are not ready yet as they have not fully dried out.  However, they are keeping their colour except for one which has browned slightly but I can live with that and it may suit me to have a few brown ones for some of my projects.

I plan on using these flowers on my greeting cards and in my handmade journals and I foresee endless possibilities for their use.  I believe they need to be sealed once dry though and I have read that hairspray is one of the options for this but I need to research this some more and I will post here again once my flowers are fully dried and I have removed them from the book.

Vintage Wedding Journal - The Complete Project

Hello readers,
I am finally finished making my Vintage Wedding Journal and I am very happy with the result.  It is full of vintage style embellishments with plenty of tags and pockets.

It was certainly a challenge to complete this book whilst not having my craft studio to turn to for my tools of the trade but I managed  -  cutting with a scissors instead of my wonderful paper cutter - I did manage to keep the lines straight however!  It's amazing what we take for granted but when it's not there, we do manage.  I suppose life is like this too if you think about it.

I'm happy that it's all done and when I've looked through it a few times (and probably add even more embellishments) I will be sending it off to it's new home and just in time, as my time here in La Belle France has also almost come to an end until next time and I too, will be leaving this gorgeous place for a while.

Below are some photos of some of the pages in the journal.  Don't forget to check out Funky Junk Vintage Furniture Design and Craft on Youtube for my videos and tutorials (coming soon).  You can also find me on facebook by clicking on the tab at the top of the page.

You can click the photos to make them bigger

The Cover

A mini book insert for making wedding notes

Card Pocket and mini bag pocket with tags

Envelope pocket with tags and paperclip heart tag

Decoupaged butterflies and envelope pocket.  Music paper.

Pocket with tags, belly band with heart journal card and doily

A frame to stick a favourite picture

Matching pocket tag and heart with mini bag and tag

Ricepaper pocket and tag and corner stamping

Ricepaper pocket bag and tags

I hope you enjoyed looking, thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Bye for now

Handmade Vintage Style Wedding Journal

Hi Folks,
Today I'm  posting from the South of France where I have started making my first Wedding Journal Book and on which I'll be working for the next number of weeks during my stay here.

This book/journal-making is quite addictive, once you start making them you can't stop and I mean that literally.  You just keep adding and adding until it is bursting with tags, pockets and embellishments.

This one will be no different - I know it - even though I keep telling myself I am going to try not to fill it too much.

Anyway, here is the cover and first pages, hope you like it....let me know what you think by leaving a comment below and don't forget to check out FunkyJunk on Youtube for my videos and tutorials (coming soon).

You can click on the photos for a larger view.

Bye for now

Personalised Wall Plaquette

Hello again everyone,

I have another one of my decoupaged name plaquettes completed and I wanted to show it to you.

Like the previous one, this is also floral themed and depicts a fairy on the right hand side.  It is découpaged with some beautiful rice paper from the Stamperia collection and on this one I have also included some texture by adding some heavy body paste here and there.

The butterflies were made using cardstock to back some ricepaper butterflies that I fussy cut from a sheet and then glued to the plaquette giving it a 3D dimension.

For the letters, I used acrylic paint to fill in a pencil outline, a bit tricky but a super fine brush did the trick.  Finally a pink velvet ribbon was added for hanging.

I hope you enjoyed my post.  You can comment below with any questions or comments or use the form on the right to email me.

Bye for now

Personalised Plaquettes

Hi Folks,
Today I want to share my latest creation with you.  These are personalised plaquettes made using beautiful rice paper and napkins which are découpaged onto wood.  The names are done by painting on to pencil-outlined lettering using acrylic paint.  They are finished off with a matte varnish to protect the découpaged papers and some hanging ribbon added.

I hope you like my new plaquettes, for orders you can contact me by sending me an email using the form on the right hand side of this page.

What do you think?  Let me know by leaving a comment.

Cream Lace Effect Plaquette

I have been meaning to show you this really pretty plaquette which was a recent commission and one which I wanted to keep for myself.

I used a very delicate rice paper from the Stamperia collection which I découpaged onto some painted mdf.  I added some texture with some raised stencils using modelling paste and aged the piece with crackle paste, wax and some sanding.  Wooden embellishments and ribbon finished off this plaquette and as usual I included a peg and ribbon for hanging a favourite photo.  I'm really happy with the result and I hope it will be much loved by it's new owner.

I hope you enjoyed reading my post, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like or order one of my products.

Bye for now

Decorated Easter Eggs

Every year I decorate a few eggs with different patterns and styles and now I have quite a collection of them.

This year I just used the cheap styrofoam kind that you see in most craft stores as I wasn't organised enough to order in the wooden ones which give a nicer finish but hey, these look good enough for the few days of Easter.

If you want to give this a go yourself, it's really quite easy.  I used napkin decoupage to do most of them and then painted around them in a colour that matched up.  I used a stencil on the purple one which was a bit tricky but I managed in the end.

If you are thinking about trying the decoupage, just tear out a flower or bird or whatever picture you want on your egg and glue it on.  I used acrylic paint on mine and then some varnish to seal them.  I screwed a small curtain eye into the top of each egg to feed the hanging ribbon through and then made a matching bow which I glued on to the top of each egg. I'm hoping to hang mine from the tree in my garden in France this Easter - how pretty will that look.

Happy St.Patrick's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day

Hi Folks,

These last few weeks it's all been about Mother's Day which falls on 11th March in Ireland and UK.  I've been busy making some lovely Mother's Day gifts and cards.

Today though, I'm going to talk to you about the cards.  Everyone loves a card - especially one that is hand crafted by a loved one.  It's especially nice to know that someone has gone to the trouble of making something just for YOU.

Here are a couple of my creations which are not marked 'Mother's Day' so can be used for a birthday or other special occasion.  All you need is some cardstock and embellishments, some glue, varnish, and perhaps a stamp.

You can fold an A4 sized cardstock in two to make a generous sized card or if you prefer,  you can cut the card to size if you have a paper trimmer.  Alternatively, you can buy plain white cards with envelopes ready for decorating.  You should get these items in your local craft store.

On this occasion, I used the ready made cards as that's what I had to hand at the time.  So now you just have to stick on your embellishments using your imagination to create a nice layout.  For mine I used a mix of embellishments including fabric, lace, floral paper, handwriting design paper, ribbon, a wooden frame, paper flowers, pearl beads.  If you have a stamp and ink you can add a greeting to your card or you can just write a few meaningful lines.

Don't forget to let me know how you get on.  I would love to hear about your card making experience and remember if you have any questions, you can message me using the email form on the right hand side at the start of this post or comment in the box below and I'll get back to you straight away.

Bye for now

3D Solar System Mirror

Hi Folks,

Today I'm sharing a recent project that I did upstyling an old bathroom mirror for my son's bedroom.  The theme he asked me for was the Solar System - he wanted planets.

As you can see from the photos there is a panel at the top of the mirror which was the perfect place to add something interesting.

I painted on three circles using a cup, a glass, and a small bowl.  Next I used some modelling clay to add texture to the planets.  I glued it down with some general craft glue and smoothed out some parts that were too prominent.  I then used some wood glue to create splashes over the entire area and left to dry.

Next I painted the planets mixing various colours.  Green and blue (earth)  red and blue, and red and yellow (orange).  I painted the background using medium grey and white acrylic paint and I splattered on white for effect and added glitter.  When dry I removed the splashes of wood glue which created a star-like effect.  I then sealed with a coat of varnish.

Give it a go!

Bye for now

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you all have a great day and get at least one nice card x