Time Shows Us What Really Matters: TFJB Challenge

Welcome to a new challenge at the Funkie Junkie Blog "Your challenge is to create a vintage or shabby chic project inspired by the quote 'Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters' and it must have a time piece like a clock, pocket watch or photo of a time piece!" 

Don’t forget you can also join the fun through Instagram as well. To enter on Instagram: If you are entering through a public forum (such as Instagram) you'll need to include the words 'Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge'.

For this challenge I decided to make journal spread for the theme "Time Shows Us What Really Matters" Sometimes there are moments in time that I would like to freeze. The day my youngest son was born in 2018 was one of those. Due to unforeseen complications we almost didn't get to meet him, but thanks to wonderful medical care he was born safe and sound. I can not think of another moment in time I have ever been so grateful. So this moment in time inspired this dreamy journal spread. As usual there is a video to go along with this blog post. Click here for the video.

To start a journal spread I always prime the pages with white gesso to give myself a clean background to start on.

Sometimes I will immediately start making the journal background before embellishments, but this time the embellishments are so integral to the spread I decided to work on embellishments first. To start the embellishments I started with some distress ink in vintage photo, antique linen, and pumice stone, along with some black soot archival ink and a stamp from the TH stamp set mini classics CMS062.

Next I dipped and smooshed some heavy whit mixed media cardstock in pumice stone, antique linen, and vintage photo to make a background.

Once I had a speckled distress ink background I cut out circles with the Tim Holtz stacked circle die set,

While die cutting I also cut out some larger circles with Sizzix thinlit circle frames out of some metallic TH cardstock. With circles cut I then stamped using the mini classics stamp set CMS062. To stamp I used an acrylic block and some black soot distress archival ink.

Before creating the background for this layout I spread out my embellishments on the two pages and looked at different layouts. I like to be able to see my layout before committing to a background. Though sometimes the way the back ground comes out changes my layout plans.

To start my large embellishments I die cut some chip board using the Tim Holtz Bigz dies Moon and Stars and Time Keeper. For video details click here for my YouTube video on Clear Rock Candy Crackle Embellishments.

Next I painted the moon white with speckled egg. To start with I wanted the moon to be a light blue, but the distress paint also give the clear rock candy crackle paint something contrast with.

Next I painted a layer of clear rock candy crackle over the moon. When adding crackle paint I spread it like frosting on my substrate. The more crackle paint on the substrate the more dramatic the crackles look when it is dry.

Then I started painting several stars white. Here I used distress paint picket fence.

 The stars also got a layer of crackle paint. I have typically found that crackle pain takes 20-40min to dry. I live in a more humid environment so I typically let them sit over night to make sure they are very dry.

The results the next morning looked fantastic. I love how the crackle past looks over light colors.

Next I added some distress ink vintage photo to a a dome foam and intensified the crackle lines by rubbing in the distress ink.

Now to make the cracks even more dramatic. To do this I used some dome foam and some 

vintage distress ink. 

To start the clock face I added grit past all over it with a pallet knife. The grit past took about 30 minutes to dry after it was applied.

 Once the grit paste was dry I painted on a layer of tarnished brass distress paint.

Bellow is a picture of the clock face fully painted.

Now to make the clock face a bit more grungy. Here I added several layers of distress paint. I used distress crayons to add some contrast. I used ground espresso, walnut stain, and tarnished brass.

After adding the distress crayon I then smudged the crayon over the clock face with my fingers.

With the clock face finished I then cut out a picture to fit the interior of the clock. For cutting I used TH mini snips.

Then I glued the picture to the clock using some distress collage medium.

Now it is time to start the background for this journal spread. To make the background I am going to use a marbling technique with distress paints. I am going to be using hickory smoke, speckled egg, shaded lilac, blueprint sketch, and chipped sapphire. I will also be using the distress spray bottle to get the paint to move around on the page. To get movement on the page I spritzed the page with water first. Then I added little dots of paint all over the page. I then got the paint to move by adding more water before smooshing the two pages together and letting them dry. (with some assistance from the Ranger heat tool)

Once the page was completely dry I got out the TH splatter brush to add some white speckles on the page.

Next I added in some idea-ology pieces. To make a mixed media collage background I used transparent wings, florals from idea-ology, Sizzix wings impresslit, engravings, and the small clock pieces we stamped earlier.

Then I added in the crackled stars all over the page.

The last piece placed was the moon and clock pieces which I glued together to form one center piece for the journal spread.

Thank you for joining me here for some crafty fun. I can also be found on:

Instagram: @treasuresofthesea_jannak

YouTube:  The Crafty Corner with Janna

Facebook: Dunham Treasures of the Sea

Want to check out some supplies from this tutorial? Bellow are some links for inspired shopping at the Funkie Junkie!

Distress Crayon Walnut Stain

Distress Crayon Tarnished Brass

Distress Crayon Ground Espresso

Distress Paint Mermaid Lagoon

Distress Paint Speckled Egg

Distress Paint Shaded Lilac

Distress Ink Vintage Photo

Idea-Ology Engravings

Tim Holtz Palette Knife Set

Ranger Grit Paste

Tonic Snips

Ranger Collage Medium