Lush Leafy necklaces

Hi everyone,

apologies for it being jewellery again from me but when I received these lovely leaf Tando chippies from Caroline at Bubbly Funk I just had to do it :D

I was inspired by a necklace I received as a Christmas prezzie which has a lovely sparkly feather hanging sideways with a little dangley section at one end, so thought I would try and recreate it my way with..................UTEE :D

I painted the small chipboard leaves with Jenni Bowlin brown sugar acrylic paint.

I added holes to three of the leaves with a hand drill and smoothed it off with a nail file.

When dry spritzed them with Cosmic Shimmer mist in Golden Mint and left it to dry.

I then wrapped around artist wire creating a loop at the small end and leaving a nice long piece at the other end so I could use it as a handle for dipping in the utee.

I inked a Viva decor swirl stamp with versamark ink and put to one side

I heated some clear utee in my meltpot - you could do this with e foil tray if you wanted but heat from below so that your utee doesn't blow everywhere. When completely melted I added a little bit of Cosmic Shimmer utee in Tropic Pearl and Lapis Jade and swirled together with the end of a brush.

I dipped the chipboard shapes in until completely covered then removed and placed on an acrylic block, while hot I pressed in the swirls stamp to create some texture.

When cooled I created another loop on the end of the leaf and would the excess around the centre of the leaf randomly as I had done earlier (now encased in the utee)

I trimmed the edges of the utee with small sharp scissors and a craft knife until I was happy with the shape then smeared on some Distress Stickles in bundled sage and antique bronze.

I then slid it on to a neckwire I bought in my local craft shop and added more wire to hold it in place, added a few trimmings and some dangley beads :D
The second necklace was exactly the same except I drilled a hole in one end and threaded wire through to create my loop.

I love the texture of the stamped utee and the added sparkle of the cosmic shimmer utee :D

Hope they inspire you to have a go with utee - its so much fun :D

Hugs'n'snogs,

Julie xx

2010 favourites award ceremony starts here ...........NOW!!!

I got to thinking about my crafting year and what teh highlights have been - fave products I have discovered , events, etc...........

So for anybody who is interested this is my top ten of my 2010 crafting journey :D

At Ten...........
discovering utee and all the things you can do with it thanks to Suze Weinberg :D
I have enjoyed experimenting and even the singed fingers when I just 'forget' how hot it is again LOL

At Nine...........
rediscovering my love of stamps thanks to the girlies over at Zuzus and Moiras amazing selection of stamps (which seem to be sneaking in to my home LOL :D )

At Eight...........
Meeting Claudine and falling in love with Sticky backed canvas!!!
Such a cool product if you haven't got around to using it yet!! Check out my post HERE :D
My fave technique has to be the image transfer which works fabby with scrapbook papers :D

At Seven............
Rebekah asking me to design aproject for her Birthday blog hop and having so much fun with everyone :D
HERES my project if anybody wants to see it

At Six.....................
Discovering altered art thanks to Moira, Ginger, Zuzu and Gillian!!!
The car boots and charity shops are my new fave haunts and I love finding unusual things to alter like my alarm clock, pocket watch and bottle - check out my ALTERED ART BLOG TAB to see them and other projects :D

At Five...........
taking part in the Tims 12 tags of Christmas for the first time ever, and learning some fabby new techniques along the way.
CLICK THIS BLOG TAB if you would like to share my journey

At Four...........
Being asked to be a guest designer at the PINK BOOBY 5 CROP and getting to teach and meet lots of amazing crafters.
I had so much fun and can't wait until next year :D
I even had fun when I was thrown in at the deep end to take over Cals class - thanks guys LOL
Lots of money was raised and lots of money spent with worthy causes supported :D (scuse the pun LOL)

At Three...........
Being part of three amazing design teams!!!

Happy Daze
Bubbly Scrumptious
Scrolls Works stamps

All of the teams are amazingly talented and I get the chance to work with fabby new products.
I feel so honoured to be part of them all and would like to say a HUGE thank you for making me part of them :D

At Two............
Meeting Tim Holtz, the lord of all that is grungey and distressed!!!
Huge thanks to Moira for inviting me to Stitches in February :D I had a bit of a trial getting there but it was so worth it!!!
I got to meet lots of fellow crafters in real life, flesh and blood, the works LOL :D
But I also met Tim!!!
I don't think Moira realised what a profound affect it would have on my crafting (and my bank balance to be honest LOL) !!!

I never really 'got' the whole Tim Holtz craziness until I watched him demo - poor Moira couldn't drag me away LOL

So heres the BLOG POSTS which cover the visit to snowy Birmingham and the NEC.

And in First place..........
Creating my own technique :D
I was in love with Viva Decor Croco from the moment I tried it and couldn't help experimenting to see what it could do :D
I was amazed and in love when I realised I could make a piece of chipboard look like dichroic glass :D
I searched the internet for any techniques and couldn't find anything that uses the same technique as mine :D
SO HERE IT IS if you aren't bored of seeing it already LOL :D
and a few projects I have made using it HERE :D

So what have you all been up to in 2010???
Why not share your top ten with us all :D

I wonder what 2011 will bring to my crafting life????

Hugs'n'festive Boxing Day+1 snogs,
Julie xx