"Sing" chunky ATC for Happy Daze

This is my first attempt at a chunky ATC so I hope you like it LOL

I used Artistic Outpoost Serenity stamp set as this months Happy Daze challenge is Music themed items.

I started by colouring the short sides with distress stain and then glued on some lace with multi matte medium.
When dry I added some distress stickles to the lace to give a more vintage aged feel to it.

I drilled tiny holes in the bottom and glued on my feet - I used beads and bead caps on a head pin.

I coloured my Pink Paislee chipboard letters with distress stain and glued them on to a piece of acetate.
When dry I cut the acetate around the letters and added a long piece with DST to make a dangler - no idea what the techy term is sorry LOL :D
I glued it on to the back of my block which was then covered with patterned paper.

I stamped my Artistic Outpost image with coffee archival ink on to a piece of Tim Holtz patterned paper, distressed the edges and glued on to the front of my block.

I coloured my ribbon with the distress stain so that it matched my piece and tied around the edge of the block.

I then bent a metal filigree corner to the shape of my block and glued it down with the matte medium.

I have a feeling these fabby chunky ATC's may become an addiction LOL :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Best foot forward for Happy Daze

As the new month has arrived so has a new challenge over on the HAPPY DAZE BLOG.
The title is MARCH to your own tune so the challenge is to make anything music related, and I really wanted to use these gorgeous Artistic Outpost Songbird stamps.

I decided the best way to March to your own tune was in a pretty pair of shoes, so my old scuffed dancing shoes got a cute vintage makeover instead of heading to the bin :D
This is how they started - poor things :-(I started by randomly covering the sections with TH tissue tape with the music notes on until the areas I wanted were covered. I trimmed away any excess and tucked some sections over the edge.
Once I was happy with them I gave them a few coats of Claudines multi matte medium making sure that all the edges were sealed and smoothed down.
The really fab thing is once dry the tape is now waterproof.

I glued on lace and trim and then smeared on distress stickles in faded denim - I love doing this as any unwanted gluey bits are hidden as well as adding a pretty shimmer and touch of colour :D

Next I made my little frames from Pardo clay using my own mould. Once baked it was a little darker than I wanted so I coloured them with Heirloom gold perfect pearls.

I wanted to use Claudines canvas but couldn't get my image to stamp clearly as it was very detailed, so I stamped on to white tissue paper, coloured with watered down distress ink and then glued it on to the canvas with the matte medium.
I made sure it was really well burnished so that you could see the canvas texture and again this si now waterproof.

Because I used the tissue paper I was also able to reverse my image simply by using the reverse side of the stamped image, once glued you can't see any difference as the paper becomes virtually transparent.

I stuck it on to a piece of grungepaper then glued them on to my frames, then attached them to my shoes with jump rings (I made holes in my shoes with a cropadile)
I added gems and ribbon to finish them off.

I love them, they really suit my vintage style and if I scuff them again I can just add more tape :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Happy Leap day :D

I just thought I would remind you all that as its the last day of the month its your final chance to enter Feb's challenge on the Happy Daze blog HERE
If you want to be in with a chance of winning a £15 voucher with free P&P leap on over and link a project using a technique you love using at least one product from the shop, its that easy :D

The new challenge will be launched tomorrow and I am really excited as I have the launch piece this month :D
I have been busy creating something really exciting so make sure you come back and visit tomorrow to see my project :D
Here's a sneaky peek to get you interested :DCan you tell what it is yet??? (in my bestest Rolf accent LOL)

See you tomorrow,
hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Tim's tags of 2012 - Feb

Well you probably all already know this news but T!m has sadly decided to retire his Twelve Tags of Christmas with very good reason after listening to retailer feedback at CHA last month.
The good news is he has decided to make a monthly tag sharing techniques and tips :D

He launched the first of his tags at the beginning February HERE with the gorgeous Love themed tag below.

Unfortunately I didn't have any of the products T!m used, not even close LOL, so had to make some major improvisations with my tag as you will see LOL.

To start with I didn't have an embossing folder with a matching stamp so had to think of a way I could add colour to my raised image - I could have just swiped over the embossed image with an inkpad but I wanted to try something different.

I decided to try out my new distress markers, so coloured in the debossed images on the folder, placed my tag in, huffed on it to refresh the ink (that seems to be the technical term LOL) and ran it through my big shot.

Voila - once nicely inked raised image :D

In hindsight I wish I had inked my tag first as when I went in with my blending tool the embossed areas picked up a lot of the colour - lesson learned ;-)

As I was going for a sewing theme I diecut a piece of chipboard with the mannequin die and coloured the base and top with my frayed burlap ink pad, then added the same colour distress stickles.

I cut the body section from some of Claudine Hellmuths sticky backed canvas and this time coloured it with my Victorian velvet ink pad (see, I did learn my lesson LOL).

I then followed the same embossing folder technique using the Victorian velvet pen, the attached it to the chipboard base. I added some little stitch details with the fine end of my frayed burlap pen., then stuck it to my tag with glossy accents.

I decided for the lace die cutting to use a piece of glassine paper which I inked once crumpled with broken china distress stain, then attached with staples.

I didn't have any appropriate stickers for the tag so I cut the words from the Kraft 12x12 resist paper, inked it with my distress stain, then added faux stitching with my picket fence pen.

I was going to colour my ribbon with distress stain but didn't really want such a strong colour, so I scribbled on my craft mat with my marker pen, spritzed with water and ran it through the ink, giving it a much softer colour.

I didn't have any charms that worked quite right with my tag so I used my old faithful buttons but it didn't seem enough.

I improvised again and die cut the little cotton reels from clear shrink plastic which I coloured with Snow cap mixative and ginger alcohol ink before shrinking, then wrapped them with thread.

I think they look really sweet :D

Are you all joining in??

I will be trying every month and will be linking it via Mr.linky on T!ms blog for the competition :D

And for those of you wanting to try the distress markers Moira has them on order and I will let you know when they are in stock :D

Have fun,

Hugs'n'snogs,

Julie xx

Sunshine Smile for Happy Daze

I have had my eye on THIS gorgeous Paperbag Studios stamp for some time and when I was browsing them AGAIN this project jumped in to my mind :D

This months theme over on the Happy Daze blog challenge is a little twist on the usual valentines LOVE theme and is techniques you love to use.

I decided to show you my fave technique with one of my fave products Viva Decor Croco which I kind of invented (well I think I did anyway LOL)

I started by by stamping the image in black archival ink on to a piece of white tissue paper and ripped out the image so it had a nice random torn edge. I glued it in place on my canvas with Claudines matte medium.
I painted on some detail to the image with a little bit of wild honey distress stain.

I made myself a shimmer mist by mixing Wild Honey distress reinker and Perfect Pearls in Sunflower Sparkles in a mini mister and spritzed it over a Prima mask
I coloured these lovely Pink Paislee chipboard alphas, which have a fabby resist pattern on them, with Wild Honey distress stain and glued to the top of the canvas with the matte medium.

I tied a piece of white ribbon along the botom edge and knotted it.

I die cut my flowers from chipboard using Tims tattered floral die and coated them with the platinum croco.
When dry I dotted on alcohol inks in shades of yellow and left to dry again, this is important as we want the alcohol to evaporate before we heat them ;-)
When completely dry and alcohol free I squished them on to a versamark inkpad and made sure they were nice and sticky, then sprinkled on UTEE.
The daisy one is coated with pearl (which was a happy accident LOL) for one coat and then clear was sprinkled in while still hot and heated again - it gave it a nice mottled effect.
The other flowers were coated with three layers of clear with a little bit of glitter sprinkled in.

When cool I glued them on to the canvas and added buttons for the centres, then added three little buttons under the word Smile.

To finished it off I added distress stickles randomly in scattered straw to add a lovely subtle sparkle.
I think she is so pretty and definitely makes me want to smile :D
If you would like more inspiration and a tute on my Croco faux dichroic technique please visit THIS BLOG POST.

Hugs'n'smiley snogs :D
Julie xx

Mason's Canvas

This proved a bit of a challenge for me as my niece asked me to make this as a gift for somebody with modern style.
Tricky, because my comfort zone is vintage and grungey.
I spotted a really sweet layout on pinterest by Nicole Nowosad and used that as my inspiration.

I tried to keep it cleen looking but it just didn't work!!
She wanted baby blue and orange with neutrals and I spotted this fabby Authentiqe Gathering collection which was the perfect colours, and double sided so I only needed two sheets to get a nie variey of patterns.

I painted the canvas with acrylic paints and crackle claze.

The photo is printed on canvas paper, and I used the excess paper to cover the chipboard hearts before I painted them..
I really like the mini canvas at the bottom.

Its all spritzed with TH distress re-inker in a mini mister with a little bit of sunflower perfect pearls for some shimmer.

hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Parisian flight for Happy Daze

This week for Happy Daze I decided to decorate one of these fabby WOODEN SHRINES with one of my all time favourites - Crackle :D In particular Viva Decor Croco which has to be the best crackle medium ever!!!

I started by painting the shrine with white acrylic paint and when dry spritzed it with cosmic shimmer mist .
I added some dimension with artists spackle using the Prima Eiffel tower mask from the Parisian set.
When dry I replaced the mask and spritzed again with the cosmic shimmer so that the masked area remained white.

I stamped my images from the Artistic Outpost Paris Exposition stamp set on to white tissue paper with black archival ink and roughly cut out the images and glued in to place with Claudines matte medium. You can't see the tissue when its dry so you don't see the edges.

I gave it all another spritz with a darker cosmic shimmer and dried it off with my heatgun.
I then added the croco roughly with a palette knife, making sure I caught my textured area, then dried it off with my heatgun. I repeated this until the whole piece was coated.
I the used Alcohol inks to add detail to some of my images and to tint the tower and the edges.

I tied a piece of ribbon around one side of the bottom of the shrine and tucked in a little stamped ticket.I love crackle mediums but Croco is my absolute fave, if you haven't tried it you really must :D
The colours are so rich and the lustre is so sparkly and pretty :D
Now then, have you been following the new releases that have just been launched at CHA???
There are some pretty amazing things coming our way soon, and these are two of my faves :D
Vintaj Patinas
Tim Holtz Distress ink pens

AND a little dicky bird tells me that these will be heading to Happy Daze :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Imagine....vintage style wooden box for Happy Daze

This week for Happy Daze I have altered one of THESE little wooden boxes with Mady Scrolls Work stamp image

I started by painting the box with a light green acrylic paint and when dry painted over areas of it with crackle glaze. When the crackle was dry I painted over them roughly with white paint - I didn't want to obliterate the green just make it look shabby.

I highlighted the edges with Inka Gold in ROSE .

I stamped the image in coffee archival ink on to a piece of tissue paper and then glued it on to the lid with Claudines matte medium and then coated the whole box with it to give it a protective coat.
I added some torn pieces of TH tissue tape to the top and sides of the box.

I used Glitz stickers for the word "Imagine" inspired by the tissue tape.

I finished it off with a piece of ribbon and buttons glued on with the matte medium and tied a piece of ribbon around the box in a bow.
Scrolls Work stamps are no longer in production so if you would like any I wouldn't wait to long as when they are gone Moira won't be able to restock them.

Don't forget about this months challenge is to try or to use something new. All the details of the challenge and how to enter can be seen here.

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Polymer clay pendants for Happy Daze

Hi everyone and Happy New Year :D
For my NEW technique this week I coloured white polymer clay using perfect pearls pigment powders.
I used white clay and manipulated it until it was nice and soft. I put my perfect pearls on a piece of clingfilm and squished the clay in to it, then neaded it in.
Polymer clay is much softer than it used to be so is much easier to get to a workable texture.

I added in some clear glitter to see how that would look baked, you can't really see it though on the front of the piece, but I rather like how the back turned out with the crinkles from the clingfilm :DIt could quite easily be made in to a reversible piece by adding detail to the back (which I have just thought of now by the way LOL ).

While the clay was still unbaked I cut it in to the shape, made my hanging holes, then pressed my butterfly stamp in to it.

I baked it according to the manufacturers instructions and left it to cool.

Once cooled I added alcohol inks, I started with greens and blues all over but didn't feel the text stood out enough, so I covered it in black soot.
I then removed the excess by wiping over the surface with a paper towel with a little bit of blending solution on leaving behind the ink in the stamped image.
I added a little bit of perfect pearls to the butterfly.
When everything was dry I coated it with layers of Lisa Pavelka resin.

I tried a couple of other pieces some succesful, others not.
This is the same blue as my main piece but I added beadazzles to it...
This piece didn't work so well as I added the resin just to the indented area first and it puddled the alcohol ink ...And these little birds turned out rather nicely.
The one on the left is just the perfect pearls, the one on the right is swiped over with black ink.

The great thing about this technique is that you only need to buy white clay and colour it any colour with your mica powders.

Whats your something new going to be this month?
Upload it to the launch post on the Happy Daze blog to be in with a chance of winning this months prize :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Edited to add - everybody seems to love that little bird mould so HERE is a link for it. Its only a little mould though probably about 2cm max accross the widest point

Goodbye 2011...

and HELLO 2012 :D

Hope you have all had an amazing Christmas and that you are celebrating in style the arrival of the new year :D

I am having a quiet one with my pooches, until my lovely hubby gets back home from work at 11pm to see in the new year with me :D

All the best to you all,
Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

This week I was inspired by T!ms 12 days of Christmas day 4 tag but made it in to a Santa stop here door hanger.

I started by covering my wooden door hanger with Pink Paislee Santas list patterned paper.
I inked it with and then splattered and spritzed on water to give a nice mottled grungey look.

I used Viva decor Inka Gold on the wooden edges which I found easiest to apply with a semi dry baby wipe.

Th ruffle on the bottom is made with pleated tissue tape - I put a piece of double sided tape on to the base first then pleated the tape along it.

My lace was coloured by putting distress stain on to my nonstick craft sheet, adding a little water to soften the colour and squishing the lace in to it until I was happy with the coverage.
I glued it down with Claudine's matte medium.

I ran a piece of acetate through my big shot with the TH snowflake border embossing folder and cut around the snowflakes.
I attached this with a little DST along the edge that would be hidden by my embellishments.

My snowman and snowflakes were cut from grunge board then painted with pearl acrylic paint dabber.
I coated the snowman with Rock Candy crackle glaze and left it to dry thoroughly , when dry I highlighted the cracks with distress inks.
I added the snowflakes with glossy accents and added buttons to the centres.
I tied some scraps of ribbon and fabric round his neck for a scarf and dangled some buttons strung together with jump rings from it, then attached him to the hanger with foam tape to add some dimension.

My little sign was hand written on to the back of an journalling ticket and pinned on with a memo pin

The last thing I did was smear on lashings of Rock Candy distress stickles to give it a lovely sparkly frosty feel.

Have fun,
hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Time for Tea??

I have just uploaded this really cute Alice themed ear wire in to my Folksy shop HERE

So if you fancy something a little bit different for that special Alice fan in your life why not stop by and get them a treat :D

I have lots of other pretty ear wires in my shop and have just listed some beaded ones without earrings which including postage are only £10!!!

Dare to be different?
Go on, you know you want too :D

hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Naughty or nice???

The challenge this month over at Happy Daze blog is all to do with Christmas. Anything you have made to give as a gift, to wrap your gift in or label your gift.

This will also tie in very nicely with Tim's 12 days of christmas tags, so if you are planning to follow Tim and do the tags this year do check out the shop for many of the must have items you will need. If you do take part in his tag challenge please share them will us by uploading via the linky at the bottom of the POST.

I made a really sweet Nughty or Nice Santa Pin made using Lisa Pavelka Resin Pink Paislee Father Christmas around the world Paper a gold bail like this one corked Vials Christmas muse tokens platinum stickles
I covered the domino in the Around the world paper, add stickles to the edges then covered it in the Lisa Pavelka resin, set for 10 minutes in your UV lamp box, add the bail to the back and there it is a lovely altered domino ready for hanging. Add various beads to a length of chain using jump rings and attach the muse token to the bottom. In the little corked vial add your naughty and nice list and hang this from a length of beaded chain. Hang them along the pin in the order shown, or mix them around it's up to you. A fab pin to brighten up your christmas.

Don't forget to hop on over to the HAPPY DAZE blog to check out the other DT's fabby creations to inspire your Christmas crafting :D

Are you taking part in Tims 12 tags of Christmas?? I had planned to, but haven't even got one done yet!!! :-O

Don't forget to visit the SHOP for all your essentials :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Edited to add - this is now on sale in my Folksy shop HERE if anybody is interested :D

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

Christmas is coming!!!!

It's definitely sneaking up on us now isn't it??
If you are thinking about your Chrimbo prezzies now please come and check out my jewellery for sale at my Folksy shop Vintage Me :D

Or visit me on FACEBOOK to keep up to date with whats new

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Death bangle for Happy Daze

Can't find the perfect jewellery to go with your halloween costume? or do you want something just a little bit different to everybody else's??

Then pick up some of these amazing wooden bangles from Moira at just £3.55 for a set of three!!! :D

They have a lovely smooth surface so are very easy to colour.
I coloured mine by rubbing on Viva decor inka gold and polishing it up.

I then stamped white tissue paper with images from these fabby Pink Paislee Phantom stamps .

I glued them on with Claudine Hellmuth matte medium being careful not to get any on the front of the image as I wanted to tint the images with distress Spiced Marmalade ink pad.

I lightly spritzed patches of the bangle with Cosmic shimmer mist - just a little warning though, the pigment is very strong in these and stains very easily.....I have very purple hands right now!!!

I glued on some little patches of grey lace with the matte medium then when dry smeared on some distress stickles in Spiced Marmalade and Chipped Sapphire.

When everything was dry I sponged on more matte medium to seal everything in place.

You could make bangles to match all your outfits with these very affordable bangles :D
Now for some close ups....


Hugs'n'spooky snogs,
Julie xx