Sunday, 28 February 2010

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

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Special delivery.....


....OMG look at my beautiful cake :D










My lovely friend Karen has made this for me and just dropped it off :D
Its all different flavours, I vaguely remember her mentioning lemon, raspberry and ginger but not sure where LOL

I was too busy staring at the pretty sparkliness of it all :D

Oh I wish it was Tuesday LOL - who would have thought I would be wishing I was 40 LOL



How lucky am I to have such a talented and kind friend :D












Hugs'n'sparkly snogs,
Julie xx

edited to add the top tier is lemon, bottom vanilla and 4 types of muffins - Raspberry swirl, choc and ginger, caramel mudslide and lemon cream cheese!!! Imight be a stone heavier when I go back to work next week LOL hope nobody is expecting me to share LOL

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Scraplift challenge....












...my lovely friend Rebekah posted a scraplift challenge on her blog and seeing as I finally have some snowy pics after our snow hunt I had a go :D

Why not pop over and have a go, theres goodies up for grabs :D

I used a sheet of BG Eskimo kisses, Fancy pants stamps which I embossed with clear powder and the sprayed with cosmic shimmer which I wiped off the stamped image.
This turned out too green so I brushed over with some white acrylic paint and then re stamped the images with charcoal chalk ink ( I love these but am really disappointed that they are all coming off the bases :( )
I then painted a random white line all the way round as a border.
Added Prima Crystals, flowers and other bling embellies from my stash and a K&Co wild saffron journal spot.

How cute is the mutt in this pic LOL - he really likes the snow, can you tell??? :D

We have even had a little bit of snow ourselves today so he has had fun eating snowballs :? I did try to explain that he would have a sore tummy but he sjust wouldn't listen LOL






Hugs'n'snowy snogs :D

Julie xx

Sunday, 10 January 2010

I forgot to show you!!!

Ages ago I took part in an ATC swap on UKS called Winged vintage beauty which I promised to share with you when they had arrived at their destination - I forgot LOL
So here they are now..












Firstly I downloaded the vintage lady image from the internet and printed it twice, once on card and again on to printable acetate.
I used a Paper Artsy stamp for the butterfly wings on to a piece of card.
I cut around the lady on the cardstock image and placed her on the back of the printed acetate picture so that she was more vivid and the stamped image on the background didn't show through. I then attached this to the stamped cardstock with tape where I was going to add the embelishments.I attached this to the back of a playing card which is the lattice background.
I printed a Prima fancies silhouette on safmat and layered this on to the ATC.
I added some lace, mini cameos bought from ebay and Primas with crystal centres coloured with Sharpie markers and then gave a light mist with Cosmic Shimmer in copper.
I created my card details on www.scrapblog.com , downloaded as a jpeg, and then just printed them on a word document.

I received a lovely message from one of the recipients who loved my ATC and was asking me to join the ATC trail on UKS.
I really enjoyed creating them and I'm quite tempted now to join the trail on , when I have a bit more time that is LOL

















Hope you like them after all this wait LOL

Hugs'n' vintage snogs
Julie xx

Monday, 4 January 2010

Ooooo a freebie

check out House of 3 not only for their fabby freebie for all your new year resolutions but also for the gorgeous new vaelntine products!!! Beautiful! I think I need them all LOL

Then if thats not gorgeous enough have a stroll over to Prima and see all the lush stash on its way :o
Oh to be on their DT and receive their lush flowers to play with...... well a girl can dream can't she LOL :D

ooo I love it when all the new releases start to appear - its so inspiring :D

also TOOT TOOT for my lovely friend Chrissy who has recently joined the Kaisercraft DT and has her first featured LO here :D

Its going to be a cold one to night girlies, we are even forecast snow!!! - I'll believe it when I see it LOL
So wrap up warm and stay safe :D

Love'n' lush snogs,
J xx

Sunday, 3 January 2010

Challenges for this year

I enjoyed hopping in and out of Shimelles Scrap Like You Mean It last year especially towards the end of the year and have found a couple of challenges I think I will have a go at this year.

The first being Scrap weekly in 2010 and the first prompt starts today for anybody interested :D

the second one is Dollys 52 in 10 and as Dolly is also celebrating a big birthday this year I think this could work for me :D

The next thing I have chosen is my word for 2010 - see Ali Edwards blog for more info
My word is going to be
Celebrate
The reason being I have so many "big" birthdays to share this year and a wedding and whatever else life brings that I feel celebrate sums it all up :D

So now I just need to scrap :D

Hugs'n' celebratory snogs
J xx

Belated Happy New Year :D

...to you all :D

**waves goodbye to the noughties**
What will this decade be called??? answers on a postcard please LOL

Sorry guys, I forgot to post this earlier - how rubbish am I :o
Well this is the year, and even the month that the big birthday happens :o how did that come round so quickly??? LOL
There are quite a few of us over on UKS who all turn 40 this year so we have our very own social group to inspire us over the year to mark this lovely (?) event.

No projects to share sorry because my stash is still all packed away nice and tidy - but might sneak out later though ;)

I went to a mini school reunion last night, which I only found out about two weeks ago. It was a bit of a rush job I think so not many attended. It was nice to see a few of the old faces and quite funny trying to work out who some people were LOL
Thankfully I wasn't treated to the ussual "we couldn't swim" routine as that particular person didn't come LOL

Hugs'n'HNY snogs
J xx

Thursday, 24 December 2009

Merry Chrimbo....

one and all :D
Hope you have all been nice and Santa brings you lots of nice new toys to play with :D

Short and sweet sorry, as I'm still on the go!!!

Have a good un everyone :D

Hugs'n' festive snogs,
J xxxxxx

Monday, 14 December 2009

Oooo pretty project alert....

here :D
How lovely are they!!! I love the little scene in a glass - might just give that a go :D They would look lovely in a hurricane lamp or vase too and I have a box of snow at work :D
hmmmmm will I have time LOL

Hugs'n'freezy snowy snogs
J xx

Saturday, 12 December 2009

Sorry its very late!!!

From this....












To this....











Here's my Tesco house :D
I love it :D I used BG Eskimo kisses papers and House of 3 digi elements - Christmas countdown and Vintage Christmas brushes .
Fancy Pants bobble trim some cute little mirror reindeers stamped with Stazon and BG stamps :D