2021 Topic 5 Find Your Vibe with ESN {by Jennie Atkinson}

  2021 Topic 5: Find Your Vibe

Many of us would immediately recognise Jennie's beautiful style yet for those wanting to explore their undiscovered vibe and try a vintage shabby chic style, Jennie has outlined her process which will be invaluable for those wanting to have a go at it. What might seem at first glance a simple colour combination has much thought behind and you'll come up short if you don't consider texture, proportions and the all important lace! 
~ Keren

 

Hi everyone, it's Jennie (Live the Dream) with you today sharing my very distinctive vintage, shabby chic style. I tried to focus on what really makes my style and as a result this is quite over the top boudoir shabby chic! 

Certain colours really do it for me and so Taupe and Vintage Lace were the focus for my colours and then of course I had to add lots of lace and vintage elements which fit perfectly with Sara's new stamp sets ESN47 and ESN49 where again the focus is on ephemera, a major element of the style. And of course I am always making journals, mini books, wallets.. they seem to be the mainstay of my style too. So this project pulls all of these elements together.

I have used two envelopes to create a small wallet with a few tuck spots for ephemera.

As you open up the wallet you can see these little spaces for ephemera...

and another large pocket on the side of the wallet. I love using large pieces of lace to create pockets and as these are best sewn into place there are always options for adding other strips for tucking in bits and pieces!

I have used two of Sara's new stamp sets and a stencil and added in ephemera from an Ink & the Dog plate (one of my favourites!).

ESN47

ESN49

PS218

EA1

This is where I started, gathering all my favourite colours of Frescos for this style, along with some Infusions, lace, tea dyed ribbon, calico, muslin, buttons, hessian.. just about anything I thought I might use. I knew I would not use all of them, but it is good to start with a wide base.

The two Fresco's that I think really sum up shabby chic are Taupe and Vintage Lace.

The smokey grey really compliments the light pink and works well with the light coloured lace and tea dyed lace and ribbons.

At this early stage I also stamp on different substrates to see the effect. These were all stamped with the same ink, but I got different colours depending on the substrate used: text paper, calico, thick calico and dyed coffee filters. Also at this stage I had no idea of making a wallet from envelopes! However, tidying up the desk.. 

Recently I have been experimenting with different combinations of envelopes and used two for this wallet. It is quite a simple construction and I have used cheap brown envelopes.

The brown paper of the cheap envelopes creates quite a shabby look and I love the addition of the texture paste.

The two pages were created in the same way, layering stamped text paper over the painted cardstock and then adding texture paste through the stencil.

On the second page I have added a deep lace pocket and stitching seemed the best way of adhering it.

I added the same lace to the front but used glue this time as the pocket had already been created.

This is such a perfect quote for the theme !!

I had plenty of scrap pieces left over to create ephemera.

It has been quite interesting looking inwards and trying to focus on the main elements which create one's style. Whilst Vintage Lace has been a favourite colour since forever, I have only just started using Taupe and really love how they work so well together. Starting with a broad palette of items at the beginning did allow me to focus in to what worked rather than starting with a single colour and trying to find something to match. I do generally work that way and am often surprised by the results filtering out what I think will not work and ending up with quite a tight palette.

I had thought I might regret using the cheap brown envelopes as I did have some better quality ones, but again I love the shabby way the paint has adhered to the waxy finish and adds another unexpected element!

I hope this project gives you some ideas even if you are not a lover of shabby chic!

As always thank you for joining me !

Jennie x

Blog: Live The Dream
Instagram: @atkinsonjennie