Altered Heart shaped box!

Evening Bloggers! Yes indeed it has been a 'playday' for me today! And I've enjoyed every single minute of it! Absolutley thrilled with the way this has turned out!! So without further ado here's how it was put together!

Start with one of these.....

It's one of a set of three 'nesting' boxes from Ikea... i bought them yonks ago for the princely sum of a quid!! Just couldn't figure out what to do with them... (the only hearts I'm good with are broken ones!! ) ... lol....anyway...I digress.... the paint job was inspired by a sheet of scrapbook paper from the Basic Grey range...a pack called " Phresh and Phunkey"!! LOVE the 'dirty' muted colours in this pack!

I started off by giving the whole thing a coat of Gesso, then randomly painted some pink 'blotches'...when dry I mixed some green and brown to give me that grungy greeen, not forgetting to 'dry brush' over the pink...when it was dry I gave the whole thing a sanding down then gave it another coat of Gesso to tone it down a little becasue it was very 'new' looking! When dry I then used Forset Moss Distress Ink and stamped using The Artistic Stamper Chicken Wire and Pola Dots Background stamps .


While that was drying I set about doing the embellishments. I used the Alterations Caged bird cut from thick white card, which was then alocohol inked in green, terracotta and gold to give it a tarnished look! The flowers  are done using off cuts of the afore mentioned scrapbook papers  and The Artistic Stamper Flower Power themeplate. I used the Birds and Trees decorative strip for the background trees, a Tim Holzt ticket, and some fancy headed pins along with big brads for the flower centres!

Absolutley pleased as punch with the way this has turned out!! I couldn't have matched it in better with that background paper for the box if I had tried!! lol... Just LOVE it when that happens!! :D

I haven't figured out if I'm going to use the lid or not yet.... Despite the fact that it's filigree it kind of defeats the purpose of showing off what's inside!? I'll make my mind up on that later!

Thanks for dropping by and reading my waffles...

Take care

Jackie x

WOYWW 147 !

Oh my! Wednesday again! It comes around real quick doesn't it?!!

Over on Julia's Blog you can have some fun and take a nosey around what the rest of the world has on ther desks!! Hopefully they will be MUCH tidier than mine!


As you can see I'm working on my Altered book.... got a 'neat' idea..(me neat? nevah!!!) lol ... that I would like to try out and seeing as my book theme is "Techniques" I may as well give it a go! All will be revealed later!!

Keeping things short and sweet this week as I have a few other things that need done as well....yep! MORE phone calls to the lawyer .... *sighs* ....

Bye for now and thanks for dropping by

Take care and Happy WOYWW!

Jackie x

Altered Book pt 4 !

Well, I've finally got around to decorating some pages in my Altered Book that I'm doing courtesy of Elizabeth !! Who is in fact wonderfully helpful and a fantastic tutor! Thanks to her I have the courage to try one of these, and I'm thouroughly enjoying every minute of it!

As you can see by the photos the "Vintage Ecclectic" theme went right out the window!! lol....Instead I just decided on a techniques theme , it came about by accident really  after doing the inside cover pages. I tend to just 'go with it' when doing projects rather than planning, it's just the way i work really. I tend to use what I have because I'm a bit strapped for cash most of the time so will make do with what's there rather than buying if I can gewt away with it!

Anyway... here's a photo the inside cover pages....(please excuse the ginormous bulldog clip, but the page kept closing so I needed somethng to hold it open while photographing it)

I stuck down some thin card/thick paper..... coloured it using Alcohol Inks, Distress Inks and oversprayed with some Glimmer Mists, I then used a stencil from my stash and some Distress ink for the words and just outlined them with a fineline marker. I wasn't really too fussed if I got the letters straight or not... I tend to like the grungy / messy look anyway as I think it lkind of gives it some character!



These are the next two pages....

 These are the "Technique" pages.... This is where I played with Gesso!!! I stuck down the pieces of paper that were cut from the Niche at the back of the book, again wasn't fussed if they were the right way round/up or down!! I used Gesso for glue...not sure if I will use it again for glue or not because the pages are rock solid! We'll need to wait and see how things progress though! I may just end up using it for prepping the pages. I haven't prepped ALL my pages yet simply because I'm not sure what I'm going to do so I will prep them as I go along.

anyway...after using the offcuts and sticking them I coloured them using Distress Stains. I drew 'stitches' with a black Pro marker because I wanted a kind of patchwork look....I just 'filled' each piece with what I'd been doing to the pages if you get my drift! The tag is done using off cuts, distress stains and the 'naff' phrase is written in black promarker!

I think I will go with the techniques theme though, it's kind of fun experiment with things and waiting to see the end results! It's a great way to get practice on certain techniques and also try some new ones

So once again I'd like to thank Elizabeth for her patience in preparing these tutorial for us all, especially as she is having sooooo many problems with Blogger just now!

Take care everyone and thanks for dropping by,

Jackie x

Sunday stampers week 198 " Birds" !

Well, well well, it HAS been a while hasn't it! I must apologise for being AWOL but I have just been busy with 'life stuff'! I've got most of the Lawyer's appointments and college appointments out of the way so now that I have a wee bit of spare time, I thought I'd join in with the Sunday Stampers Challenge over at Hel's place! this week!

Just a very simple project this time. A 'mega' tag, lightly blended with distress inks and then over stamped with Live out Loud themeplate from Chocolate Baroque in black Memento ink! I used some funky fibres for the tie and just added a little wooden bird embellishment at the top!

Very quick and simple but it's turned out lovely! Really like the soft colours in this.

Take care and Thanks for dropping by,

Jackie x

Altered book !

Over on Elizabeth's Blog she is running a fantastic Altered Book online course. On the right hand sidebar she has online tutorials so pop over and have a wee looksee!



This is my first  ever Altered book and I must admit I was a bit daunted to start with.....but I needn't have worried because Elizabeth has been so kind as to use idiot instructions!!! lol i.e. photos!! It make it soooooo much easier to understand if you are not too sure about something! lol Suits me perfectly!!

I sat and read and re read the instructions, took one look at the book I had 'chosen' and thought " nope! Won't be able to do that...or that...or even that because I don't have the supplies" !! Took another look at that poor lost and forlorn looking wee book then said " b*gger that"!!! The only way I'm going to find out if it will work with what I DO have is to give it a go!!!

So I bit the bullet and got tore in!! Literally!! lol..... I followed Elizabeth's second method for removing pages! but i didn't remove too many because there aren't a lot of pages in my book to start with, it only has around 150 odd and I wanted to keep as many as I possibly could incase I wanted to some secret pockets or tag pockets or techniques which use a few pages stuck together!

My 'Niche' isn't too deep but again this was due to the limited number of pages. But I'm quite happy with the way things are going so far.

Now I won't be doing too much with the Glue experiment, simply because I can't....I don't have a lot of 'different' glues due to a lack of funds really so I tend to stick to the same one. Which is of course what's in that rather unsightly 5 litre 'jerrycan'!! Yep! It's your proverbial PVA.... but it's the builders' variety and its fab stuff! If they can use it to help seal new plasterwork and brickwork and stuff.....lol....now I know that this will buckle the pages but to be honest I tend to use a lot of spray inks/paints and stuff so they buckle anyway (most of the time) .... I think though Gesso will feature heavily in this project! The pages are very old and a little brittle and they are also ultra absorbant so I think the gesso may help a little, (not sure yet because I need to wait on my glue drying to find out)!!

I'm not really 'planning' this project as such, i tend to just 'let it happen' so not really sure what the theme for the book will be yet....but it seems to be looking more and more like I will be going with the Vintage Ecclectic feel....got loads of old 'bits and pieces' lying around so may as well get them used up!

Anyway.... enough prattling on.... here's my piece so far!! A bit of an odd looking contraption lol but all those 'clamps' are needed! trust me!!

I soooo wish Glue didn't take so long to dry because I can't wait to start decorating some pages but alas I'll need to wait until tomorrow! *sigh*

So to finish off I would like to say a HUGE big THANK YOU to Elizabeth for taking time out to do these wonderful tutorials!! I am loving every minute of it! :D

Thanks for dropping by

Take care

Jackie x

Workspaces!....

Good Morning bloggers! Not got any crafting to show just now but this post IS related to crafting....

Since joining the WOYWW Ginormous Blog Hop I've had lots of comments about my craft space and certain things I use for storage. Now my wee 5 ft space is certainly NOTHING to boast and brag about but it may give some people some alternative ideas on things that they already have in the house to use as storage or whatever....

1. Take 3 (or whatever you need) bog standard Ikea Kitchen wall units .... ( 2 wide 1 narrow) mount them on the wall and hey presto!! Instant storage for all your scrapbook papers and other stash!!

Sorry about the REALLY NAFF photos! ... David Bailey i am NOT lol!

Here's an inside view ... and YES ! I NEED to tidy them up ... *sighs* ... lol

This is the narrow unit and it holds all my unmounted stamps and various books and mags...

This wide units holds all my expensive card, paper, ribbons embellishments blah blah blah....and of course the jewelerry making stuff on the top shelf....

And finally the messy one lol...guess which one is used the most lol!!! Scrapbook paper packs, card, chipboard shapes and top shelf is glitter and also all the melt pot stuff!



2 :- Take 2 ( or whatever you need)  Bog standard Ikea kitchen drawer base units.... 1 wide and 1 narrow and fill up with stuff!!! lol

top drawer has paper punches and trimmers, middle drawer has Bind it all, Dream cuts, stamp press, glue guns blah blah blah...and bottom drawer is the Big Shot drawer!

The narrow unit is the one i tend to use the most...bottom drawer is embossing boards, box makers, middle drawer is inks, embossing powders , acrylic blocks and the top drawer tend to be my bits and pieces drawer...now we ALL NEED one of those!!! lol


3 :- One cheap kitchen counter top from B&Q sits on top of the base units and bingo!! One instant craft space!!


4 :- Above the 'desk' is a metal pole used for a couple of Ikea cutlery holders and a spice rack, you will get a better look at these in the first photo.....these I use for storing pencils, pens, paint brushes...blah blah blah......the Spice rack is a little shelving unit and holds my alcohol inks, glimmer mists...some paint dabbers and various other bottles of 'stuff'!

Along the wall on the right hand side below/above the narrow units is a magnetic kitchen 'knife' strip, this holds magnetic tins with clear lids which I use for storing all my 'fancy' flower embellishments!

there are a few various other bits and pieces that I have altrered myself that store stuff too...beans cans, peas cans, old  boxes and tins....

I think the whole thing in total cost around £350 ish....sounds a lot but not when you see the price of some of the fancy all singing all dancing crafty units and stuff that is available just now.....I thought it was well worth the investment and it works a treat for me.....all i need to do more often is just to keep the dang thing tidy!!.....but hey!! I'm having too much fun crafting to 'waste' time on tidying up!! lol


I hope all you wonderful people who have left me comments on this little work space of mine can get some handy ideas from it all....


Take care and thanks for dropping by,

Jackie xx

P.S. ...... Please don't ask me about that big black rotary thingie in the corner.....I've had that thing for soooooooo long I just can't remember where I bought it from!! lol... sorry ... :(

WOYWW 146 !

Good morning blogland! Well THAT went quick!! lol Can't believe it's wednesday again!

Got most of my 'appointments' out of the way so now the hard work and stress REALLY begins... never mind, hopefully i can find 'things' to do to take my mind of off it all..... like getting a start made on this Altered Book online course I'm supposed to be doing! As you can see I haven't even started mine yet..... *sighs* .... So that's my task for today! :D

As you can see my desk is full of it's usuall 'stuff and mess' lol and not really a lot going on at the moment... (just wait till you see it AFTER I've started on that book)!! ...

So why not pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what other people do with thier workspaces! It's all good fun and very friendly!

Right, I'm off for some brekkie then going to get some SERIOUS crafting in!!

Take care and Happy WOYWW !

Thanks for dropping by

Jackie x

Journal pages ! "hope" !

First bit of crafting I've done in over a month!! EEKS! Boy did i miss it! I REALLY enjoyed doing these pages today!

I've had this idea in my head for a wee while and that's mainly down to the help and support I've been getting from people regarding my abysmal domestic situation! They kind of symbolise "hope" ! A kind of "no matter how bad things are just now they will turn out ok in the end" sort of thing....

I drew and painted the lady with a mix of acrylics, reds yellows and white, while she was drying I then mixed what was left of all the colours together then roughly painted the background on the facing page! While THAT page was drying I went back to the lady and painted the broken heart. Those yellow 'fluffy' things you see are supposed to be cocoons! It is in fact some Stewart Gill Glitteratti which is unfused!

The Butterflies are from Chocolate Baroque Patchwork Butterfly Themeplate and the phrase and some of the background scrolls are from the Butterfly Whimsy themeplate.

I stamped the butterflies onto some 160gsm paper with black memento ink and then coloured them using The Inktense Pencils!! LOVE these pencils! The colours are just so vibrant! I really must get more!! :)

I just finished off the pages with some curved checks and a few love hearts dotted around the place!

I am REALLY pleased with the way this has turned out, especially since it's been over a month since I have done ANY crafting at all!

Thanks for dropping by,

Take care

Jackie x

WOYWW 145 !!

Well hello everyone in blog land! Remember me?  lol ....  Many many apologies for going AWOL for a few weeks  ....This was due to being sent on a mandatory workplacement with the Jobcentre! I was assigned to a charity shop for four weeks doing 30 hours a week! I really enjoyed it despite the fact that it was extremely heavy going and plan to keep on a shift once i get caught up with some personal appointments and stuff!

Anyway.......this is the state of my workdesk this week! ...not a lot to show you other than the usual state of 'creativity' !lol....Just doing the finishing touches to my art portfolio because I have an interview at college next monday!

I am going to spend most of the day bloghopping and having a nosey around everyone else's crafty spaces.... all thanks to the wonderful Mrs D over here ! So why not join in the fun too. :) It's lovely and friendly and just a great way to spend drinking the longest cup of coffee in history!!!! lol .

Take care everyone and thanks for dropping