Saturday 28 February 2009

Blog Candy and Challenge..

http://www.objetd-artchallenge.blogspot.com/



I have not long discovered this fab website and as I have been blogging for a few months now,decided it was time to take the plunge and enter my first Blog Challenge! I'm going to enter the Altered clipboard, as I think it fits this challenge perfectly....







there's also a chance of some gorgeous blog candy too........soooo I've decided I'm going to give it a try...who know's?


I've entered this piece for a couple of reasons really....

1.....is the first time I've actually done anything like this...and

2.....I am dead chuffed with the way it's turned out! Hubby was over the moon with it!!! So I'm a happy bunnie!


I'm usually quite reserved when I'm card making, but recently I've felt a need to try some different things, and just fell in love with the Altered Art look. I mean it's not as if it's a 'new' thing really, but it is to me, and I just love the fact that it doesn't matter too much how things turn out, as in if they are 'perfect' or not....you can really get away with sooooo much!

Thanks for letting me ramble on again, and thanks for looking in,

The details on how this piece was put together are in an earlier post, please just check the 'archives' and you'll see how it was all done,

Jackie x

Friday 27 February 2009

Ribbon spool 'book-in-a-box'....





I made this little spoolie book with Joanna Sheen's Floral Fantasy cd rom.

I printed off some toppers and backing papers then set about puting things together.

I made the box by drawing round (onto stiff card) one of those spools that ribbon comes on, the 'sides' of the box are actually made with an empty cellotape roll, and the pages are made by drawing round the lid of those screw together stackable containers (the big fat ones, which I use to store chunky beads and squillions of jump rings!).


Here's what I mean



I just then decorated the pages with some of those gorgeous toppers which were cut out to fit, then decorated the flipside of the pages with the same backing papers and some matching embellishments.

Here's a close up view of one of the pages...




It's turned out really sweet and I must admit to having loads of fun seeing this come together as this was my first attempt at one of these.

I must apologise for the pictures though, for some reason my camera thought that it was bright enough indoors and therefor wouldn't fire the flash! Hmmph!
Still you get the jist of what I've done.

Thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

Thursday 26 February 2009

The other alcohol ink bangle!




Well, here's the 'other' bangle I've done, this one is 'faceted' so would be ideal for stamping on.

This time I painted the inside of bangle with Blonde Moments copper Acrylic paint, then used Gold for the outside, then inked over the whole thing with Alcohol Inks, these inks really do 'pop' with the gold background! They are much brighter, and because the bangle was 'coated' blending the inks was much easier.

Thanks for looking in

Jackie x

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Alcohol Ink Bangle

Before...........



........and after!...







I've just treated myself to my very first set of Alcohol inks and all the bits and pieces to go with them, so I thought I'd have a little play.

I've had these bangles for a wee while and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with them, to be honest I wasn't sure if the inks would work on wood either, but I gave it a try and here's the end result! I love it!! These inks are just great, they are quite forgiving so it doesn't really matter what the end result turns out like, if you use the blending solution you can always change it, I did notice though, because this was done on wood the blending didn't work as well as it would have done if it was done on glossy card, but it did 'soften' the colours slightly. I painted the inside with the Blonde Moments acrylic metallic in black just to finish it off.

I'm really pleased with the end result of this piece, especially as it's my first attempt at using this medium. You can be rest assured I will definately be using them again!!

Thanks for looking in

Jackie x

Sunday 22 February 2009

A Gift for Glenda










This is the reason that I haven't been 'around' much lately. I've been so busy working on this, it is my first attempt at something this involved, and hindsight let me know now how do somethings slightly differently!


I used those gorgeous backing papers which I received with my Graphicus Guild pack, and also used my Elusive Images stamps to try and match up. I had loads of fun making this piece, mainly because the challenge of trying to match what stamps I had to the papers.

It was quite a simple idea, untill I decided on the stamping, then it turned into a labour of love, I'm quite pleased with it, and if I do make another one, there are certain things I would do differently........like....remember the fact that I have a calendar stamp in my collection!!!..lol...

Sadly my photography does NOT do this project any justice at all...in fact...it sucks!!....sooooo for a better look please visit Glenda's Blog....

http://artylicious.wordpress.com/


Glenda is a much better photographer than I am don't you think!

We had a lovely day out yesterday, and had a real hoot with Adrian, spent most of the afternoon chatting to him about music!....told loads of funny 'wild party' stories...and also the antics of some very 'overgrown teenagers'....was a real giggle, I didn't really want to take too much of Glenda's time away, because she was busy with the scrapbook crop, but when I did manage to 'accost' the poor woman, we had a good laugh, and I learned lots!! So left there feeling good, and my mind is now 'replenished with new ideas'....lol..

So a HUGE big Thank You to Glenda and Adrian for putting up with us at such short notice and taking the time out for us.



Thank you for letting me share my lovely day out with you, sadly because everything was a tad hectic I forgot to take some pictures! What am I like!

Jackie x

Thanks for looking,

Thursday 12 February 2009

A special gift from a special friend

I received this very special gift last week, but wanted to clear it with my friend before I posted it on here. Isn't it just great!



The envelope.....





...and inside was this.....



It's an absolutley gorgeous chipboard book! And to think it was especially made just for me! Boy did I feel special when I opened it!.....it has literally dozens of beautifully stamped images on all the pages, sadly there are just too many to show you them all, but I thought I'd show you just some of the beautiful work that has gone into this...


...the inside front cover and first page....



....the inside back cover...




...and....the back cover...




I do adore some of those friendship quotes though....this special gift really did cheer me up and make me smile...so a HUGE big Thank You to my special friend.....she knows who she is...lol...

Altered Art....Anniversary clipboard.

The front.......






I made this for my hubby for our 21st wedding anniversay tomorrow,


Something just a wee bit different! Not your usual card is it?

I bought this 'bare naked' clipboard from one of my fave craft shops, hubby was with me at the time and looked at me as if I was daft! (nothing unusual there then).

To start with, I covered the whole thing with a gorgeous set of 'manly' scrapbook papers that I've had in my craft stash for yonks! Just didn't really have the 'right' occasion to use them! Anyway, I overstamped some of the papers with the numbers and stitches stamps that a friend sent to me ages ago, and as I've not used them, just needed an excuse to play!, the phrases are rub-ons,the hearts, square frame and letters are all chipboard pieces that I have heat embossed in copper and gold, I also stamped into the hot embossing with a crackle background stamp to add a bit of texture.

The small photo frame at the bottom of the front of the board is actually memory glass, now this was a tad tricky as I haven't used this before, but all I did was to sandwich a small photo between two pieces of glass, then 'swipe' the sides through some versamark ink and then some copper embossing powder, heat this and you now have a 'joined' frame, just repeat on all sides, but do beware! It can get HOT so use tweezers!!!...lol...I just added a few 'man flowers', a photo, which I covered in acetate to protect it, and some brass charms to finish things off!


The back.......



again I used the manly scrapbook papers overstamped with the numbers and stitches stamp. The big "D" is done using the Eazy Score alphabet templates, I just added some eyelets, and hung a padlock and key from that.

The copper flower stem is again chipboard covered in copper embossing powder and the 'dots' are in fact the centre of those flowers.

i added a photo which was covered in acetate, which I overstamped with the stitches stamp in Stazon, and used various bits and pieces to stick it down, i.e. little wooden scrabble tiles and some brass charms, some 'man flowers'(flowers in dark manly colours to you and me)..lol... I also added some phrase stickers down the side as well as some rub-ons.

I do hope he likes this rather unusual Anniversary gift, sadly he can't be with me tomorrow as he can't get the time off his work, (he works in Hertfordshire and I live in Scotland), so we will need to celebrate our anniversary a bit later this year.

Thanks for looking in, and I do hope some of you will give this kind of gift a try, I had so much fun puting this piece together,

Jackie x

Funky felted handbag......





.......and matching scarf!

Well here I am again, this time with something completley different!

I have a story to tell about these pieces...you see they started out as a cardigan....but do you think I could get the pattern right.....now I tried and tried and tried...and just could not get it right at all, I don't know if there was a mistake in the pattern or not, but I just got so fed up trying that I gave up with it! And, to be honest, if I did succeed in getting it right, I probably would've hated the darned thing anyway!

So having spent so much on the wool I decided I was going to use it for something, and came up with theses rather funky pieces.

Anyway, the handbag is knitted, and then felted, now felting is really everything you've been told NOT to do with pure wool!! I.E.....washed in as hot a wash as possible...this 'mats' the piece as well as shrinking it, and to be quite honest with you, I was quite surprised with the end result as this is my first attempt.

The scarf is crocheted...now I'm not much of a crochet person as I've just kind of taught myself the basics, but I do love this scarf, it has a very retro feel and takes me back to the days of Tom Baker and Dr Who!!! Now I really do feel old!

Thanks for looking in

Jackie x



Right, I've altered the handbag slightly as I didn't like those naff little tassles on the handles, so I just crocheted a couple of flowers and stitched them on instead, I think it looks much better now and I might even decide to use this one....




thanks for looking in

Jackie x