My Attempt at making the Leandra Bead!!

Hi and welcome, this fortnight over on the PaperArtsy Blog the challenge is 'Beads, Charms and Dangles'. There are lots of wonderful examples to whet your appetite, but it was the video of the Leandra bead that really inspired me to get out the Melt Pot --- ( which when the temperature outside has been in the 30's for the past few days is not normally the first craft I'd jump too!)

To make the beads I followed the video as best I could with what head pins, Utee etc that I had in the craft room stash.

The head pins were only 45mm and having had a go I would now buy some slightly larger ones.

To start with the pan only had clear Utee added but gradually as I popped the growing beads into various shades of blue EP lovely streaks appeared  adding extra pattern and design to the beads.

Then as the contents of the pot got a little muddy I added some Primary Apple Red, Ancient Copper Metallic and the tiniest spot of black. 

Oohh thats yummy! 

These 2 beads were shaped by pressing the round bead onto the sides of the melt pot.

As the Utee level was going down and making the covering of the beads more difficult I decided to pour the remaining contents onto the craft mat and inked up a rubber stamp with Archival Black ink and pressed it into the very hot, molten Utee.

Once cool the stamp was removed and I rubbed in some Treasure Gold in Ruby and Renaissance but ------- was not completely happy with the result so decided to cut my losses and got the heat gun out and melted the piece on the craft mat---(" Is she mad " I can hear you saying!) Well I was very pleased with the end result as the wax melted just on the top and gave a lovely marbled effect. I then very lightly added a little Pewter wax to hi-light the edges of the letters.

When I started to make these lovely Leandra beads I had no idea what I was going to use then for but was itching to make something ----

So I now have a pair of unique ear-rings

and

some lovely beads for future projects.

A big thank you to PaperArtsy for the very inspiring video and I'm now off to order some larger headpins and another pot of clear utee !

Hope you all have a great weekend and if you live in the UK enjoy the Bank Holiday if you're lucky enough not to be working. Bye for now and take care Jane x

'Dream' Tag

Hi, it's been a while since I last did a blog entry but with having a fab week in Cornwall, a few odd days out in the Campervan, lots of gardening and a wonderful few days in Ireland visiting our gorgeous Grandchildren there hasn't been an awful lot of spare time. Ooh and I forgot to mention -  the odd bit of crochet--------

Anyway back to the job in hand! Over on the Creative Carte Blanche Blog their theme for August is Sun, Moon and /or Stars so here is my entry for this month.

I started with a large manilla tag which was coloured with various Pan Pastels, this was then lightly sprayed with Jackson's Pastel Fixative.

Next I stamped the shimmering moon by Clarity Stamps in VersaMark ink and rubbed the stamped image with Pewter Pan Pastels. 

Dream was then stamped underneath in Versafine Onyx Black and then clear heat embossed.

The stars were added using Grunge Paste through a That's Crafty Dinky Stencil, once dry lightly sanded and then the clean stencil was replaced and the stars coloured in the centres using Treasure Pewter wax.

The ivy was stamped using peeled Paint Distress Ink and a Lavinia Stamp. 

Recently we have had some beautiful sunsets and star lite skies and this gave me the colour tones to work with for this entry. Hope you are all enjoying the summer sunshine that we have been finally blessed with as up until now the summer has been rather dull --- so long may it last.

Enjoy the rest of the week and hopefully you too will find some free time to have a 'Play" and maybe join in the Creative Carte Blanche challenge. Bye for now,  Jane X

"If I Had Wings" !

Over on the Creative Carte Blanche blog this month the team are challenging us with a theme titled "Winged Things"which after much thought about fairies, bees, dragonflies, etc, etc I came up with the following tag.

If you have 10 mins do click on the link here and browse through the DT's samples and the other entrants.

I began by painting a large manilla tag with fresco chalk acrylic in Space Cadet, then a coat of Americana Weathered wood and then once dry a top coat of Vanilla paint.

The edges of the tag were then distressed with vintage photo and peeled paint DI.

Below is a photo of the main items used.

Next I stencilled on the roof tops with walnut stain ink and hi-lighted the edges with a fine black pen.

The boy in flight was stamped in verso fine black onyx and embossed with clear powder. The area around the boy was then lightly touched with Treasure Pewter to give the impression of movement.

A cluster of stars were added to the top using a small stencil with scattered straw ink and then brushed with perfect pearls for a light shimmer.

If I had wings was stamped in Archival cornflower blue ink and then clear embossed.

The journey token was from Tim Holtz idea-ology muse token set.

The light was shinning on the embossed parts which made taking photos a little difficult but I hope you can decipher the different textures etc.

Another great challenge ladies, it's great to be able to rummage through ones stash of crafting goodies without worrying about which company or make each item is from -- thanks.

Hope you all have a good weekend and that the sun may shine on you, as here in Kent it's been Very grey and Very wet for far too long! Take care and many thanks for stopping by today, Jane x

Welcome to the House that Nature's got a grip on!

Hi, today I have completed a wooden house that I've been constructing for the Creative Carte Blanche
May Blog Challenge --- titled 'Wood, Word and somethingWild'. Now from the off I knew I wanted to make a wooden house but as I progressed the design gradually altered, 'the creative journey'!

To begin with I rummaged in the shed for some wood off cuts and set to sawing my pieces for construction.

The body of the house measures 10cm x 11.5cm x 4cm and was sanded well and given a coat of white gesso as was the roof.

The roof was then given a coat of titanium white acrylic paint before stencilling the tiles through a Michelle Ward stencil.

The house was painted with Fresco Chalk acrylic paint in Space Cadet, lightly sanded and then given a coat of Stone paint and sanded again.

The windows and door were painted free hand using the titanium white.

Then on one side I stamped a tree from Jofy 29 stamp set and clear heat embossed. This was then coloured in and the grass stamped at the bottom.

Up until this point the plan was a cottagey type house with bunting above the door with the letters Home on and the back of the cottage was going to have a stamped wild meadow,  hmmmm?

Then I went outside to water the plants in the greenhouse saw some dried dead moss on the brick path and hey presto!!!

The ivy was stamped using various DI's and odd patches were clear heat embossed and touches of Treasure gold in Olive Bronze added.

My work bench got messier and messier!

The birds nest was made from dried ivy roots and the bird stamped from Clarity Garden set. The Welcome sign was die cut and tied using invisible thread.

I cut a wooden bench from a piece of old trellis fence that had started to decay. Twigs , dried old leaves, roots etc were added.

A flower pot stamped, coloured and cut out was added.

A brad for the door handle, smudges of pumice stone, walnut stain and peeled paint DI rubbed into the door and finally some fake moss from Hubby's model railway scenery stash was added to the chimney and roof.

Welcome to my Wooden house that the Wild has begin to reclaim.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my creative trip down natures path.

 Take Care, Jane x

Meet 'Mr & Mrs Jolly' !

Hi and welcome, this evening I'd like to share a card I made reversing an image from a rubber stamp.

Over on the Crafty Individuals blog the Challenge this month is titled 'Anything Goes' do pop over and browse the brilliant DTs samples and the other fab entries here.

To begin with I stamped the jolly duck from CI 433 onto some textured yellow card in black ink and then heat embossed the image with clear EP. I stamped the top hat onto some black card with versa-mark and embossed with pewter EP. Both images were cut out and shaped over a pokey tool.

Next I inked up the duck again with black ink ( not permanent ink!) and rolled the brayer over the inked rubber stamp --- then transferred the image onto the yellow card taking care to start at the bottom and roll towards the top. This was then embossed with clear EP as before. The top hat was done in the same way and transferred onto pink card and then embossed. These were then cut out and shaped ready to be stuck onto my card.

The background of the card was lightly brushed all over with Iced Spruce DI and then using a CI mask for the bottom more ink was added. The top stars were inked through the Dinky star stencil with Wild Honey DI and then lightly brushed with Perfect Pearls mica powder.

'You Make Me Smile' from CI 449  was stamped onto white card and then mounted onto some kraft card, twine attached to the back so it would hang like a sign.

The female ducks tummy was lightly rubbed with some Treasure Gold Ruby and a pink bow added for her bow tie.

The reverse image doesn't transfer as boldly as a stamped image but as this is 1 male and 1 female duck I don't think it's a problem, in fact it gives them a little bit of individual character.

Thanks for stopping by and meeting 'Mr & Mrs Jolly', enjoy the rest of your week, hopefully the sun will return!   Take Care,  Jane X

Altered Cigar Box

Well after several days I have finally finished my cigar box for The Creative Carte Blanche Challenge this month titled "Thinking Outside The Box". Do grab a cuppa and have a look at the other entries and the wonderful teams boxes here.

I started with a very traditional wooden cigar box.

Which was given a coat of white gesso on the outside,

but not on the inside as I knew I would line it with paper and black felt.

The outside was then painted with Fresco Chalk Acrylic in Pea Coat and Evergreen, then small areas of Weathered Wood and then Stone acrylic paint.

Then using a Stencil Girl sun burst stencil applied some Grunge Paste that I had coloured with Beach Hut paint. Next I added some letters to the top and bottom using a Dylusions stencil.

The next couple of days I spent undecided on how to proceed ------ spent some tome searching for a clasp/knob ----

This I took off of an embroidery hoop that is designed to be hung to display the embroidery.

Finally I stamped some script to the 4 sides using a stamp from Studio 490 Art from the Heart set in Sepia Archival ink. This I embossed with clear EP.

Next I stamped a page from an old book with flowers from a Heartfelt Creations set in black archival ink and clear embossed these also. They were then painted with various colours of the Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint from the Translucent Range.

These were cut out, shaped and layered to form the 2 flowers on the top of the lid. The swirls and leaves were die cut and before everything was stuck in place the embossed script and the grunge paste were rubbed with small amounts of Treasure Pewter.

I added metal flowers from a jewellery kit to the centres of the 3 sunbursts on the lid.

Buttons were added to the centres of the 2 flowers.

Now I have a box that I am very pleased with !!!

So I've finished just before the closing date for the challenge but I'm glad I didn't rush the last steps as I fell sure I would not have been so happy with the end result.

Thanks as always for stopping by, hope your week has gone well so far and enjoy the weekend when it arrives. Bye for now Jane x

Resists on Backgrounds

Welcome, today I'd like to share with you a card I made using 'Resists' on the background before stamping the main image.

Over on the PaperArtsy Blog there is a wonderful array of examples put together by Darcy, so grab a coffee and click on the link here.

To begin with I cut a stencil using a die from Tim Holtz Alterations Thinlits - Mixed Media collection, covered it all over with versa mark ink and pressed the image down with a clean brayer on 2 opposite corners. These were then heat embossed with clear EP.

The card was then coloured using 2 paints from the Fresco Chalk collection with a brayer. Toad hall was applied first and once nearly dry the card was wiped with a slightly wet wipe to reveal the embossing.

Once the Beach hut was nearly dry I wiped away small areas of paint so the embossed pattern was now 2 colours.

Grunge Paste was applied through a stencil to give small areas of the harlequin pattern. I didn't like the stark white of the gaps in the paint or the grunge paste so applied some antique linen DI with a blending tool. The dry acrylic paint also acts as a resist.

The main image from LPC030 was stamped in versa fine black onyx and just before the ink was dry I sprinkled some clear EP on the pen nibs and heated. These were then touched with treasure gold in Olive Bronze.

The image was cut out, mounted onto cream card, then kraft card and the pen from the stamp set was stamped and embossed using the trimmings from the left hand side. ( really like how the diamond of grunge paste fits in with the design on the pen!)

The pen was cut out and rubbed with treasure pewter and then a twisted cord tied through the top.

Love the textures on this and the squares take on different appearances depending on the angle you hold the card, especially the faces.

Well I hope you all have a good weekend, weather forecast isn't brilliant, but there's always 'a bit of crafting' if it's too wet to go out! Have fun and take care, Jane x