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

Love all the days jar for Happy Daze

The Happy Daze current monthly challenge is, inspired by the Olympic rings, so I thought I would alter a cute round glass jar I picked up in Matalan for just £2!!

I used this amazing Paperbag Studios stamp on to kraft cardstock with black archival ink.
The sentiment reads "May you love... all the days of your life" - I stamped the first part on to a scrap of Tilda fabric, then glued it over the stamped image and highlighted with a TH fragment.
I used Picket Fence distress stain and distress marker to grunge it up a little and highlight areas, then added distress stickles and glossy accents to highlight the words.

The lace was stained with a spritz of distress reinker in a mister with water and the TH foliage was coloured with TH distress embossing powders.and I added a small piece of tissue tape coloured with distress stain.

The lid of the jar was coloured with Viva decor Inka gold, alchol inks in willow, pink sherbert and snowcap mixative, then splodged with distress stickles, I then added some fabric, buttons and a Philosophy tag.

I then added some lace and an TH adage ticket to the base in a memo pin.

The lace around the top was also coloured with the distress reinker and distress stickled.
I added some fabric and buttons in to the bottom of the jar, glue a piece of lace to the back of the jar, then added the stamped image.

Pretty cute huh :D
Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx                                                                                                                 

Ikea goodies :D

Oh my ~ how lush are these bottles my lovely hubby got me from Ikea :D
Just needed to share there pwittiness :D

hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Sweet dreams are made of this.... **pic heavy post!!

I finally finished my Victoriana/shabby chic dream catcher and I'm sooooo in love with it:D
I used bits and pieces from all over including ebay, Happy Daze, my local craft shop Crafty Workshop (where I bought the beautiful Tilda fabrics I used through out the project :D The moon face is from Graphics Fairy.
I used a lot of Claudines sticky back canvas, and multi matte medium throughout this project, and lots of beads, buttons and objects I have gathered over time :D
Ok, I will just show you the pics...

I think I might have sweet dreams tonight :D

Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx

Dream a little dream..... for Happy Daze

I have been thinking about this project for a while and it is still on going , so keep watching this space :D
I am using vintage doileys and embroidery hoops to create a pretty, shabby chic, vintage style dream catcher to hang over my bed.
As theis months theme at the Happy Daze blog challenge is Circling the World (olympic ring inspired ;-) ) I thought I would get  it under way :D

The largest frame is 12" and has a doiley stretched over it and buttons sewn on.
The embroidered one is made from tilda fabrics, which are soooooo lush!!! I taped the fabric on to copy paper with masking tape then put it through my printer, then backstiched over the printed words :D

My project section for Happy Daze uses a vintage doiley that had a fabric circle in the centre which had a little hole in. Ir was pretty before, but i love it now :D
I coloured the frame with Inka gold, then stretched the doiley over the frame.
I used Claudines matte medium to stiffen the outer edge.

 I found this gorgeous rose image on the internet and printed it on to Claudines sticky backed canvas. I cut it out, scruffed up the edges with my TH distresser,  inked around the edges with broken china distress ink and added some distress stickles.
I used buttons, press studs,ribbon, lace and  pins to embellish the main part of the frame.

The crystal dangles were edged with inka gold after sticking a section of a vintage sewing pattern to the back with the multi medium.
My other dangles were made with wooden spools spritzed with TH distress re-inker in a mini mister, wrapped in ribbon and fabric scraps, along with buttons and feathers.
I will share more pics when the whole project is complete, but here are a few close ups to keep you going :D

The Olympics are making feel very patriotic, so proud to be British and Gooooo Team GB :D
Make sure you enter this months challenge to be in with a chance of winning to - a £15 voucher.... thats pure gold to me :D


 Hugs'n'snogs,
Julie xx