To Celebrate My (New) Love of Tea ……

It will come as a HuGE surprise to my family and close friends that since Christmas I am often seen with a cup of tea in my hand. At the age of 61 I have finally found a tea which I liked and doesn't leave me shaking my head and gritting my teeth! And what is this amazing brew …… Vanilla Spiced Chai … which Terry got as a Christmas present and sadly hasn't had a look in!

But I digress and should be saying hello and welcome to a new challenge at A Vintage Journey where you might like to raise a glass …… or cup of tea …… as we celebrate our second birthday. Things are changing at AVJ which I am sure will be enjoyed by all of you as we widen our challenges to encompass a broader range of products, genres and artists. There are more details on the main blog post here as well as the details of this month's challenge which we hope will be FuN! 

Destination Inspiration Travel Bag

For our birthday challenge we thought it would be fun to challenge you to use the products in our DI Travel Bag this month.  You’ve seen how the Creative Guides have used the products in the past and you will see how they use them this month too. So join us in using the following  products and enjoy the journey!

Substrate: Board (eg grey board, coaster board, cardboard)

Main Colour: Lilac or Pale Purple

Technique: Rust Effects (perhaps using rusting or embossing powders or rust coloured paints)

Product: Something Metal

With tea on my mind and some beautiful Tim Holtz spoons received in a wonderful box of goodies from a special friend following CHA I just had to use the Travel Bag products to create a hanging celebrating my new love.

I started with my greyboard which got a couple of coats of gesso before I used the DecoArt Crackle Paste through a lovely doily stencil bought following Finnabair's workshop a couple of years ago.

Then everything got a spritz of Dusty Concord and Wilted Violet Distress Spray Stains, but with LOADS of water to keep it pale and in keeping with the colour requirement.

Now I am sure you would not believe that this rusty looking leaf is actually a white paper clay moulding ! I had some great fun using different techniques on paper clay bits and pieces and this worked really well. This post is too photo heavy already but if you pop back tomorrow I'll share a short tutorial on how I did it.

I wanted lots of layers on this hanging so made a tissue pocket which I decorated with a doily and some lace.

When I was sitting with my feet up in the summer following my first foot surgery my lovely friend Brenda sent me a fabulous package of die cut cups and saucers and I have had great fun playing with them. This one got some DecoArt crackle treatment using Weathered Wood Crackle.

And then it was time to start layering everything on my board using the tissue envelope to hold everything together.

Little tickets were tucked into the pocket along with the tags.

The last element I needed to add from the Travel Bag was some metal and so the gorgeous little Tim Holtz spoon was just perfect.

And the arty shot! 

I do hope you will join us in our birthday challenge and find that using the DI Travel Bag goodies is a fun way of putting together a project.  My fellow Creative Guides have come up with some amazing projects which you will find on our challenge blog post here, along with all the changes we are making to our challenges for the coming year.

Thank you for joining me today on this another scheduled post as I am still in Ireland! probably a bit music-ed out but hitting the second traditional folk festival of our stay on the west coast. 

Have fun whatever you are doing!

Jennie x