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

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

Customised Journals

Hello everyone and Happy New Year,

I hope you all had a great Christmas and that 2018 will be filled with wonderful crafting ideas and creations!

For my first blog of the year I am going to talk to you about journaling - my new addiction.  As this is very new to me and I'm only learning it myself, I have started with customised journals rather than making journals from scratch as this is much easier and a great way to get into it without getting in over your head too soon.  It's the perfect way to ease yourself into making handmade journals.

As my customised journals are actually diaries, I wanted to get them done before the end of January so that the owners can get the full benefit of each month.

I used A5 sized day to page diaries with a hard cover but you can use whatever size you wish.  In order to decorate the cover as desired, it first needs to be primed for good paint adhesion.  For this I used Gesso which gives a really good base for the paint and hides any marks or writing that may exist on the cover.  Next, I used one coat of white acrylic paint on the cover once the Gesso was fully dried - depending on the original colour of your cover, two coats may be required.

The next step is choosing a colour scheme and adding your choice of paint to the journal cover before adding your embellishments.  For this I used two watered down acrylic colours and dabbed the paint on using a soft brush.

Journal Front Cover

Journal Back Cover

After the paint is dry the fun begins.  This is when you design your journal using any fancy papers, fabric, buttons, ribbons, lace, paper flowers, stamps and embellishments that you want!  Just layer them on and once you have decided what looks good just stick everything on using a hot glue gun.

You can then seal your project using some spray varnish - this will protect it and ensure the paint doesn't get chipped or damaged.

Below are some more pics of my own creations which I am very happy with.  You can also add some pockets or other additions to the inside on some of the blank pages at the front or back of the diary as per my photo below.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my customised journals and that you try it our for yourself.  I'll be posting more on this topic soon so keep tuned.

Bye for now

Christmas Decoration Sets

Hello guys,

As we are nearing the end of the Christmas decoration-making season I thought I'd post some pics of a few of the Christmas Decoration sets that I made this year  I and I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them.  They are a wonderful Christmas present idea for someone special as you can make each set in a different style and uniqueness for each person.  You can adapt this idea to make gifts for birthdays and other special occasions during the year too.  I do hope that you will join me again soon when I will be talking about journaling and showing you some photos of my recent journal making.  Don't forget that February brings St. Valentine's Day and I will also be posting soon with some great gift ideas for your loved one. So make sure to stop by and check out my posts.

Bye for now

Fabulous Christmas Decorations

Hi Guys,

I've just finished the second batch of these gorgeous clay decorations which are découpaged using ricepaper and napkins.

This time I used a very lightweight clay and of course moulds which made a big difference to the finish as you will remember my last lot were done freehand and were a bit on the rustic side.  For the round decoration I just used the lid of a pringles box as a mould as I couldn't get my hands on a round one anywhere. These are super easy and really fun to make.  I added some bows and glitter and aged the edges a bit with patina for effect.  You can click to enlarge the photos.

There are lots of ways you can finish these off.  You can add flowers, ribbon, use stamps or even a 3D effect - like snow paste or 3D acrylic paint to enhance the finish.  The sky's the limit and you will have your very own unique design.  These lovely decorations make fantastic Christmas gifts for friends and family .....or teachers etc.  Why not try some of your own?  You can even present them in little boxes for a really posh look - even better if the boxes match the decorations, and you can do that using the same paper to découpage them. 

I hope you enjoyed my post, like always if you would like to ask me any questions please do so by emailing me (see the 'Send us a Message' form on the top right of this page) and I will be happy to help.

Bye for now

Gwen 

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