Textured grid-blocks...lightbulb moment :D

 Do you ever have moments where you think......why didn't I think of that sooner???

Well I found some acrylic tearing templates I bought years and years ago and thought they could work as diffusers with my texture plates???

I still haven't tried them yet because I suddenly had a light bulb moment!!
I thought about using my grid-blocks - I have some of the collage and word type texture fades and had the idea of just using a single word or item from the folder!!

But then also discovered it was quite nice to just emboss random sections.
The embossing only happens around the area the grid-block is placed.

These are my first attempts and defo not perfect  but have possibilities ;-)

I taped the blocks in place and used my base plate and a cutting plate on top of the embossing folder - this way you can place the block wherever you want :D

Here's some piccis of my experimenting....

I think there are more possibilities here, I just need to do a bit more exploration :D

These aren't my normal choice of colours as you know, but I thought they would stand out well in my photos :D

Hugs'n'snogs,

Julie xx
Just a quick edit to add, after watching a tv demo on a similar vein they used the cutting plate at the bottom then the folder and the block on top  which gave a much crisper outline. I will try that next time ;-)

Ellie's canvas...

 Morning everyone, thought I would share the canvas I decorated for my great niece Ellie's christening yesterday.
I had thought about giving a different gift, but having spoken to Ellie's mum she would have been devastated if I hadn't given her a canvas to go with Reece's LOL

To be fair, its hard to go wrong with such a cute pic isn't it LOL :D fairy babes are my fave :D

I started by painting the canvas with 3 different colours of acrylic paint wiped on with a dry baby wipe. i love the way they blend and you don't have such a heavy coat when applied like this.
I searched through my scrapbook papers until I found the perfect combo, I think the shaped piece is Penny Lane by MME and the floral print is out of a baby girl paper stack - possibly DCWV but the front cover was missing LOL. The piece under the name was a very old piece left over from an old project when I first bought my cricut, which just so happened to be perfect for this project :D

They were single sided papers and I didn't really want white edges on my torn paper, so I inked the back first to colour them before distressing them with my TH distresser and more ink :D

The lace is coloured with distress reinker in a mister, then glued on with Claudine's matte medium.

The pretty flowers were a spray I picked up in Dunelm Mill when I bought the canvas and work so well with the colour scheme.

The photo was printed on to canvas photo paper and I tinted the black area with a little acrylic paint just rubbed on so it was light.
I used rock candy distress stickles on the wings and when dry I highlighted the details on the photo with a clear Sakura glitter pen.
Ellie was wearing a flower headband in the photo so I emphasised this by gluing on little paper flowers, 

I used Fancy Pants and Prima stamps with my Victorian Velvet ink pad which I also highlighted with the Sakura pen.

The letters are gorgeous Pink paislee mistables spritzed with Victorian velvet again.

when everything was dry I added lots of distress stickles randomly and to age the lace etc...
Everything was finished off with a spritz of frayed burlap distress reinker in Frayed burlap.

I hope they like it :D

Julie xx

Birdie faux bell jar for Happy Daze

 

Happy New year everyone - better late than never huh :D
The theme over on the Happy Daze blog this month is recycling because I'm sure we all need to be a little bit thrifty after the season of goodwill and long pay months LOL :D

My project is something I have been wanting to do for a very long time but was struggling to find a cloche or bell jar - they have been increasingly popular since TH released his sizzix die, and impossible to find at a reasonable price! (thanks T!m LOL :D )

I found a very clever idea on Pinterest showing a pop bottle transformed in to a bell jar from THIS BLOG so thought I would give it a go.
I am a Pinterest addict by the way, so if you want to follow me or any of my boards click the button on the side bar :D

I have to say its not very easy sawing the top of the bottle off without crushing the rest of the bottle, so after a couple of attempts I enlisted my hubby's help. he found it easier to leave the top on but remove the seal ring, then hold the bottle by the top to saw. Tricky, but he managed it one attempt, and found it pretty funny that the top of a coke bottle was so precious to me LOL :D

The base was made from a ribbon spool from my Christmas wrapping, an old cd and the back of my Tim Holtz paper pad, which I covered with Graphic 45 paper, acrylic paint, and TH crackle paint in Frayed Burlap.

I then tied a piece of ripped Tilda fabric around, glued on some lace and spritzed everything randomly with a distress re-inker mist to age it all.

I painted one of these cute little wooden houses stuck on a mini wooden bobbin in acrylic paint then added paper accents to the roof and back. I stamped the black paper before I stuck it down, with my Picket Fence distress marker to give a chalkboard effect.

I inked the edges with distress ink and gave it all a spritz with the ink mist. The piece of fabric tied around the bobbin was a leftover stamped from a previous project which says May you love... so I pinned on a TH muse token which says FOR EVER MORE.

I added buttons, bling and flowers, and a mini bird nest, and a teeny bird I bought from a florist supplier on e-bay.
I spritzed again with the ink mist and added some distress stickles randomly.

For the bell jar I added a game spinner and a  time piece to a curio knob with the screw and glued them on to the cut off top of the bottle.

Then glued on some lace which also got spritzed with the ink mist. I added distress stickles to the outside of the bottle around the top and bottom and just to make the bottle look more aged I sponged on some brown alcohol inks on the inside of the bottle.
I just placed it over the birdhouse and Voila, a cute recycled project :D

Who would have thought it had started life as a pop bottle, cd, packaging and a ribbon spool???

Pop on over to the Happy Daze blog to see other fabby projects and enter this months comp while you are there - not long left to enter so get recycling quick :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Santas Christmas treat chest for Happy Daze

Well I really need to kick start my Christmas mojo in to gear as I am so disorganised with only being back from my hols less than two weeks!!
I thought I would share this cute idea for an alternative advent calendar which could be decorated to suit all ages.

I have made mine in to a vintage shabby chic style and plan on filling it with little chocolate treats, candy canes and promise tickets - eg. make mince pies, watch a Christmas movie etc...

I used a papier mache chest and covered it with two sheets of Pink Paislee Santas list 12x12 paper.

I started by painting all the edges inside and out with green acrylic paint so that any expose areas wouldn't be left brown.
When dry I painted the edge that is trimmed with red acrylic paint and left to dry again.

I cut the papers roughly to size and then used my nail to give score the paper in to the edges of the box to give me a cutting guide. The boxes aren't exact measurement wise, so make sure your paper is cut to fit the widest points so that you can cut them back to size.I distressed my edges with an emery board and then inked with Broken China distress ink pad then glued them in to place with Glossy Accents - I like to swirl it on then spread it out with my finger so that it reaches all the edges. I like GA for sticking paper on to objects as it grabs and dries quickly.

On the inside of the lid I added a distressed hole in the paper before adhering to the box and stuck a small piece of contrasting patterned paper on to the back to add to the shabby look.

I covered it inside and out and when finished strengthened the hinged section with tissue tape which I also inked with the broken china.

I glued on a piece of vintage lace using Claudine's matte medium - now I have a little tip when using this - make sure you clean the edge of the jar before you put the lid back on. If you don't (like I hadn't) and then don't use it for a while you will have BIG problems getting the lid off!

I also used the medium to stick the charms and prima flower on, as already mentioned its a really good strong glue LOL :D

I embossed some of the pieces with TH alterations embossing folders which I distressed and inked.

My splash of colour on the project is my lovely broken china distress stickles and the distress stain I used on the Adage ticket.

I used some letter stickers I have had for ages on the front of the box and gave them a little bit of dimension with the Glossy Accents. The promise tickets would be a great idea to keep the kids occupied over the Christmas period with ideas like make paper chains, make gingerbread, write a letter to Santa etc...

If you were making it for a crafter you could make little parcels or envelopes and fill them with little embellies - ideaology trinkets would be fabby for anybody taking part in T!ms 12 tags of Christmas. Moira sells fabby taster packs of these too so it needn't cost a fortune.

Or how about filling it with chocolate coins?

If you get cracking you will just have time to make it before the 1st of December :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Curious again?

Moira has kindly sent me pics of the mirror I altered for her as part of this swap :D

This is the back of the mirror - I printed a picture I found on the net on to a piece of canvas paper and coloured it with water colour pencils.
Inked the edges and stuck it down with glossy accents.
The mirror was painted with TH cracklepaint in scatterd straw then distressed with inks, metallic rub ons, distress stickles andanything else I could throw at it LOL
added lots of embellies like scraps of lace and metal embellies from my stash




For the front of the mirror I printed the Alice stepping through the looking glass in mirror image so that it was the correct way round on to acetate.
I tinted it with alcohol inks and found that because it was on a mirror Alice wasn't very clear.
I decided to print the image again on the canvas photo paper then cut her out and glued her on with more glossy accents.
I used loads of GA on all the lace pieces so that it was hard and added more embellies including clock hands, and a red crystal heart.

I used metal punches on the handle of the mirror then rubbed ink in to them to highlight the words "CURIOUS" and "WONDER"
added some more lace, a tassle from a handbag charm and two chess piece charms that I had coated in distress embossing powder :D

I'm pleased to say Moira loves it :D

Hugs'n'curious snogs,
J xx

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