Sunday 28 February 2010

I've been playing :D

I made two tags in the style of Tim LOL
I used distress inks, distress powders, cosmic shimmer mica powders, Perfect Pearls, Basic grey stamps, Prima stamps and Tim Holtz stamps :D

I'm loving this look :D









I also decided to alter a LO I did for a challenge on the last UKS cyber crop - I never thought it looked finished so I have grunged it up a bit :D I'm much happer with it now :D

Before











After













Thanks for looking,
Hugs'n distressed snogs,
J xx

Interesting finds...

Blog Candy, Blog candy, blog candy!!!!
here at the lovely Prima site :D

and I wonder what is behind these curtains :0 I'm so excited - something new from Prima which I'm sure I will NEED :D



If Basic grey fabric doesn't sound interesting enough how about BG digi ?????
I didn't know it existed :o but I think I might be a regular there LOL

I have been a bit naughty this week after meeting Tim ,Claudineand Suze so it will have to wait until next month LOL

Found a cute flower tutorial here which I'm sure will be popular because of the grungepaper flower frenzy thats going on at the mo LOL

And if you want to stick with the grungepaper ones and have SCAL or a robo visit Dan here for a free flower template

And if you remember the you tube video I posted of Tim using the I-top brad maker and Claudines sticky canvas??? I asked him where he got the fabby vintage images from and it was here - I haven't managed to find them yet but I did buy some fabby Alice in Wonderland ones for a project I have in mind :D

I also found this by Caroline which is exactly what I was going to do but she beat me to it LOL :D

This is a doozie of a blog post re copics:D

And lastly why not join Rebekah for her blog party :D
I will be doing something for this - not quite sure what yet though LOL

Off to play now with my new stuff :D

Hugs'n scrappy snogs :D

Julie xx

Quick, quick, quick!!!

gorgeous blog candy here but it ends today!!!

J xx

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Claudine at work










Claudine Hellmuth was demoing her gorgeous Studio paints at stitches along with her sticky backed canvas.
The paints have a gorgeous creamy consistancy and are translucent. They looked amazing painted over printed papers such as news print, and because they have that translucancy can create beautiful layered effects.
There are only 15 colours in the range but she gave us an easy mixing guide showing 51 different colurs than can be mixed with just two colours and its downloadable here on Claudines website :D
They can be mixed with water to watercolour but still keep their beautiful colours due to the high pigment content.
You can use them on fabric and they will be washable - how amazing is this so far??? :D


The house on the left was Claudines CHA workshop - pretty huh :D
And the project on the right is a photo printed on the sticky canvas, the music paper is also printed on the canvas and has been stitched on to fabric. How cute would that be as a Mothers day project:D




These dresses are photos of Claudines mum printed on to the canvas - they are normally stuffed with padding when hung up but she removed it for putting them on the table :)







She also showed me image transfer using her sticky backed canvas by using a piece of laser printed paper or you could use scrapbook paper (I think you can use magazines and wrapping paper too!!) , but you it won't work with inkjet printers.
The image is stuck face down on the sticky side of the canvas and then burnished with a lolly stick. You then dunk the canvas in water and rub the paper away to reveal the transfered imageObviously because you place it face down you can't use any words but what an amazing effect (thanks for dragging me away from Tim and making me go and look Debbie :D ) If all the paper doesn't come off or you get fed up of rubbing brush some of the Studio gel medium on and the paper will disappear ;)

Its such a shame you didn't get to see her demo on QVC but check out her website and blog for some fab tutorials.

And did you notice the little blue organiser she is using in the first pic??
Its also a water container that collapses so perfect for crafting on the go or for anybody with limited space :D

The flowers in Tims grungepaper wreath also use Claudines gel medium - the printed paper was stuck down with this and then brayered so it was secure. The bonus being its a flexible medium so won't crack when you manipulate the grunge paper.

Check out Moiras HappyDaze shop for all of these fabby products and all Tims stuff too :D

Debbie took loads of notes so I can't wait to hear what she has to say about them :D

Oh and Claudine and many others (including Suze) at the show loved my kilt pin brooch with the buttons etc :D

Tomorrow I will share some of Suze's work :D
Hugs'n'snogs
Julie xx

More from Stitches

ok, I'm sorry to make you all even more jealous but here I am with Tim :D









and Suze with Moira










and Claudine









and here's the tag made especially for me :D





















A pendant made for me by Suze












and a memory glass tile with faux soldering with clear UTEE and red ink












I'll share some of Claudines fabulous examples tomorrow :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Jxx

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Stitches :D

I was so lucky to be invited to Stitches with Moira, Debbie and Carol from Happy Daze and had such an amazing time :D
It didn't start so well due to train issues so we won't talk about Saturday LOL

I have totally turned into a Ranger/Tim Holtz/Claudine Hellmuth/Suze Weinberg LOL
I spent a large chunk of the weekend toally engrossed in watching them demo all of their amazing products :D
I have a few photos to show you from the show of the amazing examples they had on displayBeautiful grunge paper flowers made from Tims new Sizzix die, covered with book paper and inked with gorgeous distress inks. There is a tutorial on Tims blog showing this technique so check it out here :D

Some of Tims tags












This one should have been mine Grrrrrrr, but was claimed by somebody else!!!!
It was created with Distress embossing powders, the new distress ink colours and the ideaology hardware was inked with distress ink and then embossed with the distress powders then a little chipped away.
Tips for using the powders - don't use normal embossing ink or versamark as they are too sticky and the release crystals won't work, leave it to cool as thats when the release crystals become loose, don't put the release crystals back in the pot, discard them or your powder will stop working eventually, shake the pot to mix them up before use, and it Tim is creating you a beautiful tag don't let somebody jump in and pinch it!!!! ( There is a bounty on that finger tip!!! LOL )


A beautiful grungeboard plaque complete with Marios breakfast LOL







Examples on the boards














Ok, thats quite an overload for now LOL
I will share my beautiful items that I was lucky enough to be given with you tomorrow I think, including my tag from Tim :D

Hugs'n'inspired snogs,

Julie xx

Monday 22 February 2010

So much to tell....

...but I'm soooooo tired!!!
I have had a fab weekend with Moira, Debbie and Carol at Stitches and got to meet Linda too :D
I met some other fab people, but I'll tell you about it tomorrow ;)

AND my mini bookpage is featured on the UK Scrappers homepage this week with a pdf file here :D - didn't realise it was going to be on this week :D
Don't forget to come back tomorrow and see the amazing things I saw at Stitches :D

Hugs'n'sleepy snogs,
J xx

Monday 8 February 2010

Beautiful buttons

Well I made my first pair of button bracelets, one in gorgeous vintage pastels and one in mother of pearl and I love them :D Now they aren't as beautiful as these gorgeous bracelets made by the very talented Leigh :D ( and even better she is making one for me :D )








I also made a kilt pin brooch to go with it, now this I'm really pleased with - its so vintage and pretty :D I can't wait to wear it!!!









I love it so much I have ordered bits and pieces to make a fab Alice in Wonderland themed one :D - watch this space!!!


While doing a spot of blopping this evening I have found a fab sitefor anybody with SCAL - have a looksie here for some fabby sets of SVG's.
And thats not all - have a look at their blog here for loads of fabby freebie files :o

If you fancy having a go at some beautiful hand made rolled flowers check out Rhonnas blog for a fabby tutorial - how gorgeous are they!!!
I wonder if they sell that silk anywhere in the UK???? if anybody knows let me know please :D

Hugs'n'buttoned up snogs
J xx

Blog Candy, Blog Candy...

...anybody fancy a cuttlebug?? then have a look here :D
What a fabby prize :D

Julie xx

Saturday 6 February 2010

Playing with a sewing machine













I did this on Monday night but have been under the weather all week so haven't been up to do anything :(
So here it is :D

The photo is printed on acetate and was one I didn't end up using when I made my nieces Christening present .
The wings where photoshopped on by my lovely friend Leanie, and then I added Sakura glitter pen to highlight them.


I bought a little sewing machine from Netto with some of my birthday money and this was its first outing LOL
It takes a bit of getting used to as I have a full size machine which operates very differently ( although this did come with a foot pedal so I might try that next time )
I created a border around the edge of the paper firstly then randomly stitched swirls along the lines of the butterflies



I also bought some Cosmic shimmer Mica powders so gave the whole thing a good spritz with that :D










I cut the butterfly mask from some masking magic sticky paper that I bought years ago when I first started stamping - it did curl a little when really wet but it did what I was looking for.

I tried a pearl acrylic paint round the edge at first but you couldn't really see it on the patterned paper (which is Prima by the way). I then tried a bit of distress ink around the edges, again this didn't really show up so I ended up using Twinkling H2o's in the end.

I also added them to the butterflies I cut out of the PP and the Prima painterly flowers.

I added lots of Prima and Zva bling to finish off

Ok, heres a fabby freebie from Dan for all those with a Cricut and SCAL :D I'm sure that will be very usefull for anybody in to steampunk or grungey work :D

And another fab giveaway on the Prima blog, this time its the gorgeous new release stamps!!! One day I have to win something, surely LOL :D

Hugs'n'snogs
Julie xx


OOooo edited to add this gorgeous tutorial for a really cute button bracelet - I feel these might become a firm fave of mine :D