Jacqueline's crafty blog

Sunday Stamper week 190 " Bubbles " !

2012-01-29T13:54:00.003Z

Good Afternoon everyone, over on Hel's Blog The challenge for the Sunday Stamper this week is " Bubbles" !!

I decided to do some tags this time....plain white ones to be exact. I stamped and embossed in clear the Bubbles from the " Divas " stamps from Joanna Sheen . Then I coloured them using Faded Jeans Distress Stain, then spritzed with water and left it to dry.

The main image is coloured using promarkers as is the little jar of bubble bath... Added a phrase to another smaller tag then finished off with a couple of matching ribbons.!

Love the way this has turned out, I think it's such a fun image :D

Thanks for looking and enjoy your Sunday everyone

Take care

Jackie x

WOYWW 138 !

2012-01-25T09:13:00.000Z

Lots of "stuff" !! As usual.... *sighs* ONE of these days I WILL get it tidied! ( looking very much like the day that pigs are gonna fly though)!!

Anyway, I'm in the process of altering a cigar tin! So far I've sanded it down and just painted it with cheap whit acrylic paint! If you look carefully you can see how professional my 'artists gear' is!! NOT ! One mucky plastic tub for the water and an old CD for a paint palette lol!!

There's also some finished / unfinished projects I've been working on over the past few weeks!

So if you want to see who's desks are tidier than mine then why not hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and see for yourself!

I'm off to do a ;little catch up on the blogs I've missed over the past couple of weeks!

Take care and Happy WOYWW !

Jackie xx

Sunday Stamper week 189 "Eyes" !

2012-01-23T15:51:00.001Z

Sorry I'm a day late with this, I didn't really feel like crafting much yesterday after the funeral on Saturday, it was a tough day!

Anyway I DID manage something today though!

Over on Hels Sunday Stamper the theme is "eyes" !! And is that a tough one for me!! I have a 'thing' about eyes and they tend to freak me out! Silly I know but if they are 'detatched' in any way I just go cold!!...I'm fine as long as they are on faces!! lol

So without further ado I'll show you what I came up with....

See! The book DOES have something to do with eyes!! lol.... all be it in a round about way...but I got there in the end lol

I've had this Altered Book Stamp from Sunday International for years and only used it once!! How shocking is that cos it's simply fantastic! Absolutely LOVE the 3D - ness (is that a word?) lol... of this piece! And it wasn't hard to do either.....just stamp and cut it out! And then decorate to your choice! The only stamps that aren't in the 'kit' are the Gibson Girl and the phrase....everything else came with it. I coloured all the embellishment lightly with Inktense watercolour pencils but left them dry then Distressed over them with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink to give them an aged look. The cover was done using Versafine Vintage Sepia for the stamp, then distressed with Brushed Corduroy and fired Brick, I used Walnut Stain, for the crackle background stamp and then just sprayed over some Antique Brown spray ink. I added some Glossy Accents to the eye glasses to make them look like glass, then just added some funky fibres to the 'bookmark'!

Really enjoyed doing this piece! And just simply had a blast watching it all come together, Hard to believe it's all done using two sheets of A4 cream card!!

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Groovy Baby part II .

2012-01-19T20:16:00.004Z

I wasn't quite sure what to do with this after inking it, but I showed my son what I'd done so far and he said " looks like flowers " .... referring to the running and bleeding of the ink! ...... Soooooo ......

I just drew some simple style flowers and highlighted them in white pen!! Just added a white leaf to the empty space.

I do quite like this which is surprising because I'm not usually one for bright colours....maybe it has something to do with the 'plum/purple' ..... lol

Thanks for looking in

Jackie x

Groovy Baby !!

2012-01-19T14:21:00.000Z

Woah! Pass the sunglasses!! lol....

I bought these nesting boxes from Ikea yonks ago and came across them again today when I was SUPPOSED to be tidying my craft desk ... *sighs* ....

I have that big canvas box at the back of my craft desk stuffed full of ... ermm ... well ... stuff !! lol... lots of little packs of embellishments and other things and it's driving me nuts looking at it overflowing all the time!! So thought I'd try and find another solution! Not sure if this will be any better but I DID enjoying playing lol !!

Anyway, as you can see, these boxes are just plain, but they are not a 'smooth' finish and are very VERY absorbent! I didn't really know what I was going to do with them but my distress stains were sitting on my desk.... soooo... Too good an opportunity to miss innit!! lol

Sooo I stained the box with Wild Honey, Faded Jeans and Forest Moss randomly on all four sides then spritzed with water! It was great to see all the colours 'bleed' and blend into each other, made it look a lot 'smoother'.... but it just needed something else.... AHA ! WILD PLUM Alcohol Ink !! EEKS !! But just such a strong and luscious colour! So I sprayed close up with water, dripped some ink, sprayed again and just left it to 'spread!! WOW!! Love it!! It has a Tied Dyed look and it's great!! All I need to do now is find some stamps to use on it! That should happen when I'm tidying my desk!! I WILL , honest!! lol....

Anyway here's a close up of the effects on the box ... cool or what!?!

Got another little surprise today too :D My Blog Candy winnings from Hels !! I was a winner in her Give away before Christmas and only found out last weeks! :o ..

I have already got a couple of ideas for a couple projects with some of the pieces in that pack so I will probably start next week, hopefully by then things will have settled down a little. It's my Mother in Law's funeral on Saturday so it's going to be tough.

I would just like to say a big Thank You to Hels for the lovely give away and also for making me smile! :D

Take care all and thanks for dropping by

Jackie x

Altered Picture Frame .

2012-01-18T11:10:00.003Z

Another little plain wooden picture frame that I found in the 'box under the bed'!! lol

This one is slightly bigger than the Black one I showed previously so it gave me a bit more space to play!

I sanded it down and then painted it with Burnt Umber Acrylic paint, let it dry, then mixed up some white with the brown and randomly brushed over the top, then while it was still wet i rubbed it over with a damp cloth, it gave it a slightly 'limed' effect....nice...but not quite right, so, I dry brushed on some Gold Acrylic metallic paint, STILL not quite right lol...so...I sanded it quite roughly to show the wood underneath...looking better but I'm still not happy...so I sprayed over some Tattered Leather Glimmer Mists and brushed it in...ooooh yes!! I just then rubbed a little Fired Brick Distress Ink onto the bare wood that was sanded and THAT'S IT !!! That's the look!! Reeesult!!!

Sooo... after a hot cup of coffee... lol.... I then got to work on the background...Some plain brown Kraft card sprayed with Midnight and Tattered Leather Glimmer Mists, dried with a heat gun (yes I am impatient)! lol. Then sprayed over with an ordinary Antique Brown and Gold spray ink. When dried I randomly stamped The Chicken Wire Background stamp from The Artistic Stamper then heat embossed with Gold powder.

I cut the Alterations Caged Bird using brown Kraft card then sprayed it and distressed it before stamping and embossing with The Dots Background Stamp From The Artistic Stamper. I used the Branches and Birds for the trees (oddly enough) which were then distressed with Brushed Corduroy and Forest Moss inks. I just highlighted the details with a gold marker.

The Flowers were done using The Flower Power them plate and also The Tick Tock Flowers Steampunk theme plate, they were stamped onto some plain and patterned paper then distressed with Fired Brick Distress ink. The big butterfly at the top of the frame was from The Tick Tock Butterflies themeplate and was stamped onto some patterned card then again Distressed with Fired Brick ink. The phrase was stamped using the words from The Rose Stem Script plate from Chocolate Baroque. I just matted it onto some darker card then outlined with Gold marker to give it a nice border.

All in all this was a great wee project to work on and I did have loads of fun just using stuff from my stash! I am really pleased with the way it's turned out too and just love the whole 'muted' feel to this! Not sure if I want to sell now or just keep it for myself !!!

Thank you for bearing with me on the long post,

Take care and have a great day!

Jackie x

WOYWW 137 !

2012-01-18T09:18:00.000Z

Yup! It's me again.... and back as 'creative' (that's messy to everyone else lol !) as ever!

As you can see I DO NOT do well at putting away !!!... *sighs* .. I really must do something about that lol....now if I had a quid for every time I said that!!......

Anyway most of the 'stuff' you see on my wonderful creative messy desk is just from doing a couple of projects this week! So now they are finished it looks like I will have to be a brave wee girl and get tidying! ! !

Please pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and see how much tidier than me everyone else is !!! lol....

Have fun!

Thanks for dropping by

Jackie xx

Sunday Stampers Challenge.

2012-01-15T20:42:00.000Z

Before I go any further I must apologise for my lack of blogging.

I have been sharing hospital duties with my sister in law, her mum took ill just before Christmas and was admitted to hospital, sadly we had the dreaded phone call this morning to say she had passed away in her sleep.

She will be sadly missed by everyone. RIP Margaret.

I had actually started this project yesterday with the intentions of finishing it this morning, but considering the circumstances I had to leave it for a while.

I decided to finish it off after dinner just to take my mind off things.

Anyway , this weeks challenge is " Gold"! So after finding this little picture frame in a box that was 'forgotten about'! lol...I thought I could do something with it! Looking at the finished article I think some of my inspiration has come from Jennie and Hels!! :D

Right enough waffling and lets get on with how it was done!

I painted the frame with Black Metallic paint, let it dry then dry brushed over some Gold Metallic paint, let that dry then gave the thing a rub with some sand paper to 'distress' it! Put it aside and got on with the backing, which is some Tim Holtz paper from the Crowded Attic pad. I distressed it with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, then sprayed some Antique Brown and some Gold spray inks over the top! Put the whole thing aside to dry.

The rose is from Chocolate Baroque an is one of my all time favourite stamps!! It's stamped onto some Tim Holtz paper then coloured using Inktense watercolour pencils. The Pocket Watches are from The Artistic Stamper, one is stamped onto plain card then heat embossed with Gold detail embossing powder, the other is stamped onto a chipboard shape which was distressed with Brushed Corduroy Distress in and then stamped with Black Archival Ink.

The cute wee snail, the Butterfly and the Leaves from the 3D rose are all from The Artistic Stamper's Steampunk Range. The 3D rose was done using The Flower Power plate , again from The Artistic Stamper . It was stamped onto some more of Tim's papers then Distressed with Fired Brick Distress inks.

Here's a close up of some of the details....

Quite pleased with the way has turned out because I wasn't really sure if I could concentrate enough to finish it off.

Thanks for taking time out to read this long post,

Take care

Jackie x

WOYWW 133 !

2011-12-21T09:48:00.000Z

Errrm ... what's NOT on it!! lol ! A bit of a 'mess' this week with a few pressies and 'stuff' ready for either finishing or wrapping for Christmas!!

So the housework can wait until I get this lot sorted! I am about as organised as your proverbial in a brewery this year ... THIS year?!! EVERY year is the same ... *sighs* Oh the joys!! ...

Anyway... Why don't you all pop over to the Lovely Mrs D's Stamping Ground and see what everyone else has on thier desks!!

Have fun and Happy WOYWW !

Jackie x

Sunday Stampers week 185!

2011-12-18T14:45:00.000Z

Over on The Sunday Stampers Challenge there is Blog Candy giveaway! Please pop over for a look :D The theme this week is "Santa Claus".... Well what was I going to do...don't have any Santa stamps at all!! But, I DO have my all time favourite CD Rom by Joanna Sheen called Victorian Christmas! And I LOVE it!! In particular this image!! Isn't he just lovely! Anyway...here's how I made this tag....

It's a plain large Manila tag, I stamped the background with a Christmas text stamp in Brushed Corduroy Distress ink, then distressed the edges with the same and then added a SMIDGEN of Fired Brick just to 'warm it up' a little. I added an Alterations Rosette and a Christmassy embellishment which was from the front of a Christmas cracker!! I just added some ribbons to the loop to finish it off!

Very quick and simple this week.

Thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

Studio 490 Cake Stand part II ...

2011-12-18T12:45:00.002Z

This one is for my sister in law who is an Art Teacher! I had loads of fun putting this one together! So without further ado here's how it was done....

First of all I painted all the parts with Peeled Paint Distress Stain, then over stamped with the Dots background stamp in Forest Moss Distress ink. Put the whole lot aside to dry then started on the embellishments!

The stamped phrase is again from The Artistic Stamper and is stamped onto cream card in Black Archival ink and then distressed with some Forest Moss distress ink. The 'frame' is a bit of a cheat because I didn't have any to fit that phrase, they were either too small or too large, soooo, I made my own lol! I drew around a Distress Ink pad for the outer frame and for the inner I used the lid!! I cut it out and then proceeded to gild it! The word " ART" is an Alterations die which was distressed and stamped over, then stuck down to the frame and the little girl is the Mabel Lucy Attwell Pen and Ink stamp and is coloured using Promarkers! I stuck that to the side of the frame and then mounted the whole thing on a little 'easel stand!

The pencil is one of those little wooden ones from Ikea lol! It fitted the top of the cake stand perfectly so I gilded it!! Added a vintage pen nib and an Alterations mini Rosette which was distressed and stamped using the same two shades of green and the Dots stamp!

Here's a close up of the top....

The base was over stamped with The Ink Blots background stamp in Black Archival Ink. I then added an inexpensive little paintbrush which had a plastic handle. I used my wire cutters and cut it to fit the base, I then Gilded it as it was a nasty shade of purple!! I added another vintage pen nib and then a little butterfly to the 'leg' of the stand!!

Here's a close up of the base (apologies for the quality of this picture) ...

So there you have it! I do love these little stands! There are soo many different things you can do with them!! Had a bundle of fun decorating the pencil and paintbrush!! I think my sister in law will enjoy this piece!

So now I'm off for a coffee break and then partake in a Sunday Challenge, I missed it last week!

Take care and thanks for dropping by

Jackie x

Studio 490 Cake Stand!

2011-12-16T17:52:00.002Z

Well what can I say...Saw Hels Demo-ing these on C=C and just HAD to get some! I LOVE these Wendy Vecchi Art Parts !!

This one is the " Cake Stand"! And it's adorable! I got a couple of packets of these because I am going to use them as Christmas gifts! But I have only completed the one at the moment and it's for my mum!

Here's how this was put together... The top and base were coloured with Wild Honey Distress stain, over stamped with the Dots background stamp from The Artistic Stamper in Fired Brick Distress ink. I also distressed the edges in the same colour to finish it off, put all that aside to dry and then decorated the 'leg' for the stand. Now this is actually a wooden bobbin from a set of five again from The Artistic Stamper. The tiny little bobbin on the top is from the same pack but this time I gilded it! looks cute too lol!

The flowers were done using The Flower Power Theme Plate Again using Wild Honey Distress Stain and Fired Brick Distress ink, over stamped with the The Chicken Wire Background I also used that stamp on the mannequin which is actually an Alterations Die cut, the 'skirt' was made using the leaves from The Tick Tock Flowers I just added a piece of coloured ribbon and a bow to act as a 'waistban'. The Dragon fly is a peel off stuck to some acetate cut out and then alcohol inked from behind!

On thew base I stuck a die cut bobbin which I distressed, wrapped some ribbon around and then added a couple of fancy pis! I just added a couple of buttons that I had in my stash just to finish it all off!

Thrilled to bits with the way this has turned out and I seriously hope the others will be as good! I have an 'Art' theme and something for my mother in law...haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do yet so if I leave hers to last hopefully by then I will have made up my mind! lol.

Thank for dropping by

Take care

Jackie x

WOYWW !

2011-12-14T09:15:00.000Z

OOOH Lookie !! :D See what I've got! Some of Lunch Lady Jan's Gorgeous Christmas bunting which I won in her Blog Candy giveaway! It didn't half make me smile I can tell you! Some beautiful fabrics and it will go perfectly in my kitchen which is Morrocan Red! :D I have two big chunky white shelves above the dining table which usually hold my christmas cards but this year will be an exception!! So a HUGE great big THANK YOU to Jan for cheering me up! :D

Anyway....now for my desk...... hmm not really too much going on just now...just a few hand crafted gifts that I'm getting ready for Christmas pressies for the 'girls' in my family ... I am expecting some more 'crafty stuff' to arrive later today so I have a few others to get on with. This year will be a handcrafted gift for everyone because I'm a wee bit skint!... Dole money doesn't go very far I'm afraid *sighs* Oh how I could really do with a wee job right now...

Right....Just another quick photo to show you then I'm off to get 'sorted'.. lol... Here is a photo of THAT bargain "wee" Christmas tree I mentioned in an earlier post! lol....

Yup! It's THAT big! It nearly touches the ceiling lol....I had to stand on a chair to reach the top of it....must have another look through my deccies for it though because I can't find the star for the top!...anyway...here's a photo of the price tags on the box... I mean I just HAD to show you what I thought was the bargain of the century!! ( the photo isn't sideways the box is)!! So I'm sorry if you all have to try and be contortionists to see it properly lol!!

Right that's me done for the day! Why don't you all pop over to Julia's and see what's on everyone else crafts Desks!

Have a great WOYWW despite the horrible weather!

Take care

Jackie x

Crochet frilly scarf!

2011-12-09T18:50:00.001Z

Finished off this quick little project last night! There's only five rows to this piece and it's just done using double crochet, trebles and double trebles! REALLY quick and easy thankfully because I only have pretty basic crochet skills to be honest! I have another one of these on the go but it's just a plain purple one this time. Great wee gifts for Christmas! :D

I am STILL feeling pretty miserable and in a lot of pain with this abscess but things are getting a bit better each day! Hopefully I'll be back to normal pretty soon. I would just like to say THANK YOU ALL for your lovely comments and kind wishes, it does mean a lot!

Take care and Happy crafting

Jackie xx

WOYWW 131

2011-12-07T16:16:00.001Z

Sorry I'm very late this week :( I have been up most of the night in terrible pain due to a 'dental abscess'!! YUK! Got REALLY strong painkillers to take and I've been so doped up today that I couldn't tell you my ar** from my elbow!! lol...Anyway hopefully Julia over on The Stamping Ground will forgive me for being a little late this week!

I managed to clear my head a little and show you what's sitting on my desk....some bits and pieces of jewellery that I have made waiting for presentation boxes to made for them ... some stamped 'parts' of that 'Girlie notebook' I made and showed earlier, was going to make a few in different colours for stocking fillers but not sure if I will manage now :( and just basically all the bits and pieces that come with the crafting 'thing'!!

Take care everyone

Jackie x

Bright and colourful and "in your face"!!

2011-12-04T18:05:00.001Z

Yup! I kind of went over board with my 'colours' today! lol The Sunday Stampers Challenge this week is Love and or Life....Hmmm sounds fairly simeple huh?! Well just read the wee story below and you'll find out! lol!!

I started out with a mega manilla coloured tag and some alcohol inks! Wild Plum, Pink Sherbet, Lemonade and Pearl mixatives, put a few drops onto a non stick craft sheet, spritzed some water then smooshed the tag through!! ... WOW man...pass those sunglasses!! That Wild Plum is sooooo strong!! EEKS!! Sooo to 'tone it down a little' lol... I brushed a very thin layer of white acrylic paint, when that was dry and applied some Faded Jeans, Forest Moss and Wild Honey Distress stains. When that was dry I used my fave crackle background stamp and Faded Jeans distress Ink to 'crackle', then did the same with the Dots background but only in Forest Moss!

While that was drying I coloured some plain white card with Wild Honey Distress Ink ans stamped out the Flower power stamps and the Tick Tock Butterflies . I over stamped the plain butterfly and the flower with the Dots background stamp using Fired Brick Distress Ink. The leaves were done using Forest Moss and the crackle background stamp and the Steampunk Butterfly and snail were done using Black Archival ink!

The word was stamped using stamps from my stash and I just finished everything off with a bright yellow ribbon coloured with Fired Brick Distress ink.

A very VERY bright piece and to be honest I'm kind of surprised at the way it's turned out! I completely 'freaked' when I saw the colour it was to start with!

Anyway, Take care Everyone and thanks for dropping by,

Jackie x

Girlie Notebook!

2011-12-03T23:48:00.001Z

This was just an 'experiment' if you will...and seeing as it's my first attempt at this piece I now know what NOT to do!! lol

For a start off, I think I will use grey board for the covers, I just used ordinary card but it's not quite strong enough and also I'll do more pages but cut them a bit more 'evenly' ! ... *sighs* Still, the next one will be MUCH better!

Anyway here's how it was put together....The covers were sprayed with Glimmer Mists Pink Ink. Randomly over stamped with Dots background and the Chicken Wire background in Victorian Velvet Distressed ink.

I stamped out the Pen and Ink stamp from Mabel Lucie Attwell and then coloured it using pro markers! I stamped out the Into Each Day... stamp and then just Distressed that using Victorian Velvet!

The inside 'pages' were done as follows....

Only one page was stamped because I left the rest plain, not everyone can write mega small!! lol ...

I used the Notebook stamp and stamped it out using Victorian Velvet Distressed Ink, the Ink Blots Background again stamped in the Victorian Velvet, I also distressed the edge of the page! The other pages were SUPPOSED to be cut the same size as the notebook page..... but you know how it is ... lol...

I just bound the whole thing with 1/2 " Bind It All wires and added some ribbon that I coloured using some pro markers!

NOT a brilliant piece of work but as I said, the next one will be better now I know what I'm doing lol!

I do like this idea and I think I will do a few but different colours and maybe make little stocking stuffers with them for Christmas.

Thanks for looking and take care,

Jackie x

Steampunk Christmas Rose.

2011-12-02T18:26:00.001Z

Another decoration for my Christmas tree! In red this time!

As I said in an earlier post, I bought a couple of these frames a few weeks ago. I'd had a pretty good idea what I wanted to do with them and couldn't wait!

This one was painted in Naphthol Red Acrylic paint!! And RED it most certainly was!! EEK! So I 'toned' it down by rubbing on some black Archival ink, it worked although looking at that picture you wouldn't think so lol!!

I used the Chicken Wire background stamp and stamped over the top using Versamark clear ands then did some 'messy' embossing, I wanted a 'dusted' look so I just didn't tap away the excess powder as I normally do when I'm after a cleaner look!

The background is just an off cut of green card stamped with Small cogs and then embossed (cleanly) with gold powder! The Rose is done using the Tick Tock Flowers. You can tell I LOVE this set of stamps can't you! lol.

So there you have it...quite a quick project really and it's turned out very red, very festive and will very good on my tree lol!!

Take care and thanks for dropping by

Jackie x

WOYWW!!

2011-11-30T03:06:00.001Z

** feels forehead to check for a fever ** !! ..... lol

Yep!! I've had a 'mild' tidy up!! I needed to really because it was getting beyond a joke! That 'stuff' you see on my desk is just a 'worksheet' !! It's actually the instructions on how to fit all those kitchen units together! But because it's shiny I tend to use it for my 'blending'!! The next tidy up task will be that box in the background! It's stuffed full of...well... stuff!! lol.............

Now....I've had a fair few comments on the black thing in the corner holding my scissors......I call it my 'lazy Susan' but that's only because I just can't remember the name of the dang thing! I've had it for absolute yonks! I can't even remember where I bought it from .... It is a handy beastie though, it rotates which gives you access to all those little plastic tubs, which holds anything you would like to put in them....I use it for gems, buttons...etc...blah blah blah!! So for those of you who were asking I do apologise on not being of more help!

Why don't you all pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a wee nosey around other people's craft spaces and join in the fun!

I have a busy day ahead so posting this at silly o'clock in the morning. I have a few appointments to attend today one of them being the hairdressers! :) Nothing like a nice hairdo to make you feel a bit better.

So take care everyone and Happy WOYWW

Jackie x

Christmas tree decoration!

2011-11-27T13:24:00.001Z

I bought these adorable little Papier Mache frames from The Artistic Stamper and couldn't wait to get playing!! This is the 'deep' one , it's 10cm square and just the perfect size!

I started off by painting the whole thing in gold acrylic metallic paint! When that was dry I mixed up some green and black acrylic paint and then painted over the whole thing again! When that was dry I used the Dots Background and then stamped and embossed in clear! I then mixed a paler shade of green and painted over the whole thing again! When it completely dry I then gave it rub with a rough cloth to remove some of the paint from the embossing, because the cloth was very rough I managed to bring through some of the original gold that I first started with! I love this rough and distressed look, gives it a bit of an olde worlde feel!

I had an off cut of sheet music in my stash so coloured that with glimmer mists and then stuck it into the bottom of the frame. I gave the whole thing a spritz with some gold spray ink. I added some sequin stars to the background and then used a hot glue gun to stick down that fancy embellishment which believe it or not came from the front of a Christmas cracker!!! lol.

I really am pleased with this piece! LOVE the way it's turned out and I think it will look great on my tree! And yes... it IS a biiiiiig tree...I got it in a sale last year at a DIY store! It's a 7 foot pre-lit tree and was selling for £199.95....it was reduced to...................wait for it................. a TENNER !!!! Bargain or what?!! :D
So that's why I think these will be great for my 'wee tree'! lol

Take care and thanks for dropping by

Jackie x

Sunday Stampers 182 " Stars "

2011-11-27T13:06:00.001Z

Good afternoon everyone! Well it's certainly the weather for crafting! The weather we had in Central Scotland was atrocious! Very VERY windy and terrifyingly so!

Anyway I digress......over on The Sunday Stampers this week's challenge is " Stars " ! Hmmm not something I really do a lot of or have a lot of for that matter...sooo here's what I came up with this time!

Nothing absolutely spectacular really! It's the Sizzix Bigz Nesting Star ! I've had that die for yonks and just got round to using it today! It's actually alternating green and gold mirri card but sadly the photo doesn't show it very well! I was a tad fiddly stringing it together with nylon thread but I got there in the end! I may just do dome more of these for my tree this year! I really fancy the 'handcrafted' look! I always try and have a different theme each year! I'll see how my time goes and then decide !

Take care everyone and hope your weather has improved a little!

Jackie x

CD Mini memory album!

2011-11-26T01:51:00.001Z

Finished off this piece late last night - this morning for my mum for her birthday next week!

It's a mini memory album made from old Cd's! I covered them in lovely patterned papers from my craft stash and just made up some fun 'pages'!

The COVER is done using some Laura Ashley papers and some sizzlet die cuts that I had in my craft stash!

Here's a few close ups of some of the pages...

The 'photo frame' is actually done using the Eazi-Score Mandala Reflections board ( a great wee cheat if you don't have any nesties!)..just finished it off using a gold marker. The other page is done using the Alterations Winged Heart die, a phrase that I printed off on the computer and a playing card that I Alcohol inked and distressed!

Left page - is a Movers and Shapers Baroque label with a keyhole punched into it, I printed off the phrase on the computer first then ran the whole thing through the big shot! Sprayed and distressed it a little and then added a key!

Right page - is some stampboard! Coloured the background, stamped the rose script, coloured using inktense pencils then triple embossed over the top! I added a chipboard alphabet which I coloured and finished off with a fancy flower.

These two were fairly simple - left page is done using the Reflections score board again, framing a phrase that I printed off, I just added a flower to embellish.

Right page is again the Reflections board. Only this time I sprayed the blue card with some fireworks interference blue ink and finished off with a silver marker.

It's a nice wee project and came out a wee bit better than I thought it would!

My mum will love it! :)

Thanks for dropping by

Take care and Happy Crafting

Jackie x

Jackie x

WOYWW 129

2011-11-23T09:37:00.001Z

Well, cant believe it's wednesday again! Where has my week gone! Been extremely busy finishing off my art portfolio covers, trying to fight off this stinking cold that my teenager kindly shared with me, which means I can't visit my mother in law at the hospital just now.... :(

I have LOADS of crafting 'stuff' to catch up on as well...so looks like any house work I had planned can wait!!!

Anyway over at Julia's you can have a nosy around everyone else's work desks and see if there's are any tidier than mine! I'll bet they are too !! lol

On my desk today is a commission I've just started on! Yup! It's a box shaped like the Tardis from Dr Who ...! God my big buddy REALLY knows how to set a challenge! Also some new backgrounds stamps and to the left of that is all the stuff I moved out of the way to give me more space to work !!!! lol....

Anyway, I'm off for now, got a fair bit of stuff to be getting on with.

Take care all and Happy WOYWW!

Jackie x

Art portfolio cover finally finished!

2011-11-22T18:21:00.001Z

YAY! I have FINALLY finished the covers for my art portfolio!! Soooo pleased to get it all done ! Not really sure if I'm pleased with it or not now because as this is my first attempt there are several things I should have and could have done differently! Still , it's turned out not too bad and I DID enjoy playing around with some new techniques and thought it was a great way to practice!

So without further ado....here's the FRONT cover... (click on the photos to enlarge)

INSIDE FRONT cover....

INSIDE BACK cover...

and the BACK cover..

.

Now it's not brilliant but it WAS my first attempt at something so big (A3) size and I did enjoy just letting my mind 'wander'!

Nothing majorly difficult in the way it was put together really, just painted some grey board with cheap white acrylic paint and then decorated the backgrounds with a mixture of Glimmer Mist spray inks, Alcohol Inks, Distress Inks, some stamping and Die cuts! Lots and lots of different 'layers' colours, techniques and textures as well.

I will keep the pages loose until I get called up for an interview, because I would like to keep adding as much as I can to it, I don't want to put it all together just now only to take it apart again to add something else....

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Sunday Stampers week 181 Snowmen!!

2011-11-20T15:40:00.001Z

This weeks Sunday Stampers Challenge over here is a real fun one this week! Snowmen!! :) Oh and there's a *giveaway* as well so please pop over for a look see!

Anyway , I did yet another tag lol...going to have a nice wee book with all these tags I've done and it's certainly going to be interesting, which was what I was hoping for!

Anyway...I Stamped and embossed the Dots Background stamp From The Artistic Stamper, in clear embossing powder then inked the tag using Faded Jeans Distress Stains!

~The snowman is the Original Red Sizzix die and was cut from some embossed 'Christmas' design card. I coloured the hat, scarf and 'arms' using pro-markers, then distressed the snowman with Faded Jeans Distress ink! This brought up the embossing on the card which sadly doesn't show up too well in the photo but you can just see it! I added some little Christmas embellishments, and some gems for his eyes and buttons and finished off with some coloured ribbons.

I think he's rather cute actually :) !!

Thanks for looking in and take care everyone,

Jackie xx

no crafting...

2011-11-19T11:15:00.001Z

...to show at the moment :( NOT having a very good week this week I'm afraid.

I did manage those sweet wee wooden birdies and have also managed to do the inside back cover of my Art portfolio, I only have the inside front to do and that's it finished! At last! yay!

My Mother-in-law is in the hospital at the moment so things are a wee bit 'all over the place' just now! Just trying to 'juggle' too many things at once and failing abysmally!

Never mind, she's doing fine but because she's nearly 90 they just want to keep an eye on her and make sure she's OK.

So with a wee bit of luck I can get some crafting done today and clear my head a little!

Take care everyone and once again sorry for the lack of blogging and challenges this week.

Jackie x

Steampunk Christmas Tree Decorations!

2011-11-16T16:39:00.001Z

Love love LOVE these wee wooden birdies !! I painted them with Acrylic paint in Eggplant! Then when dry I sprayed them with some Glimmer Mists to give them a wee bit of a sheen. I then over stamped with the Chicken wire background and Dots background stamps then heat embossed in gold embossing powder. The 'feathers' are actually the leaves from the Tick Tock Flowers theme plate ! With those I just sprayed some lilac coloured paper with Glimmer mists, stamped out and embossed the leaves and then cut them out!

The cogs are the small cogs from the Alterations Gadget Gears die! Those were sprayed with Glimmer mists and over stamped using the small flower from the Tick Tock Flowers theme plate! I just attatched them to the loop on the bottom or the ornament with a jump ring!

Here's a close up of one of the birds so you can have a better look....click on the photo to enlarge...

I'm thrilled to bits with the way these have turned out and you can bet your life I'll be doing more!

Thanks for looking in

Take care and Happy Crafting

Jackie x

WOYWW 128

2011-11-16T10:33:00.001Z

Hmmmph! Wednesday again...and as you can see there's not a lot going on! I've been partaking in lots of shenanigans since last Thursday, had a house full of visitors the last of which left on Monday, spent the rest of that day just vegetating and sleeping lol, Yesterday was spent catching up on some household stuff, and hopefully today I'll be able to do SOME crafting! Although not really very sure about that at the moment! You see my teenager thought he's be a nice teenager for a change and decided to share his stinking cold with me! Bleh ...is all I can say to the way I'm feeling just now! Still, it could be worse I suppose, nothing a hot Beechams won't help with!

Anyway....That pile of 'stuff' is for my art portfolio, so hopefully I can get some more work done on it today and get the thing finished! It is taking a wee bit longer than I'd liked but I want to get it as good as I can! Sooo if you pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground you can have a nosey at what's on everyone else's desks!

Right...that's enough waffling on from me...have a happy WOYWW !!

Take care

Jackie xx

WOYWW 127

2011-11-09T08:36:00.000Z

Oh My!! Wednesday already! Where has the week gone! Anyway here's what's on my workdesk this week!

It IS a little tidier than the last time you saw it! I had to! lol....that piece you see there is an A3 sized Portfolio cover so I needed the space!! lol

That was the SECOND attempt because the first one didn't turn out quite the way I wanted so I will use that for the back cover!

Anyway here's a picture of the nearly finished piece, (click the photo to enlarge if you want a better look)...

I just have to decorate the insides then add the pages, but that will have to wait until sunday/monday I'm afraid, because I have a rahter busy 'weekend' starting tonight lol! Got visitors coming! I have one from Royston Herts arriving tonight, one from Birmingham tomorrow, then one from Up North in Scotland on friday and saturday! And all for the sake of a couple of rock concerts! Going to be a tad mental and I'm quite looking forward to all the pandemonium and chaos!

Anyway I digress....lots.... please pop over to Juila's for a nosey around everyon else's crafty spaces!

Have fun and have a great weekend!

Jackie x

Sunday Stamper week 179 !

2011-11-06T15:30:00.000Z

Well it's Sunday and that means it's for the Sunday Stampers Challenge !! And the Theme this week is Christmas!

YET ANOTHER tag.... lol....This time I thought I'd do something completely different and went for a 'Steampunk' Christmas!

A plain whit tag roughly coloured with Wild Honey Distress Stain, I then double stamped the leaves from Tick Tock Flowers Themeplate and heat embossed with gold powder! I Distressed the edges using Fired Brick and Forest Moss then added the red ribbon at the top with some tiny gold brads.

I roughly coloured some white card with Wild Honey Distress Stain and then stamped out The Inspirational Lightbulbs . I clear embossed over the 'cogs' one and put it aside. The 'plain' one was overstamped in Fired Brick Distress ink and a crackle background stamp, then clear em,bossed and then stamped into again with the crackle stamp! The numbers are actually stamped in Green but sadly the green doesn't really show up in this photo and thew whole thing looks very 'yellow/orange'!

Anyway, it was supposed to look like Christmas tree lights hanging from the tree....??.....Never mind...we learn each day by having fun practicing!

Thanks for looking in

Jackie xx

Art Portfolio

2011-11-06T15:29:00.001Z

Good Afternoon blogland! Sorry I've been a bit AWOL for the past few days, but I've been working on my Art portfolio! It's a bit bigger than I would have liked and so it took me a tad longer!

Anyway, here is what I have done so far! Now I'm not too sure whether I'll use this for the front or the back because I'm not very happy with the placement of the letters!

I do love the way this has turned out and I think I pleasantly surprised myself with this piece despite the letters being squint! lol

Anyway It started out as a HUGE sheet of greyboard, which I just cut in half and got an A3 size! (or slightly bigger)! I painted the whole thing with cheap plain white acrylic paint then set aside to dry.

When dry, I just smooshed some different colours randomly over the background, added matching Glimmer Mists, some Alcohol ink drips, spritzed with water then heat dried, Did some faux resist stamping, then over stamped with various background stamps in my stash! The big circles are done using a coffee jar lid! lol...Scribbled round the letters with a black marker and a white writer, then just added a few words here and there along with the big scroll. The letters were done using the Eazi-Score alphabet templates, run through the Big Shot with some texture embossing folders and then coloured and distressed!

Here's a couple of close ups of various pieces from the whole thing...

As I said earlier, I'm, not sure if I will use this as the front or back cover yet, I'll work on the other piece and see how that goes! Artist portfolios are quite expensive so I thought I'd have a go at trying to make my own! Don't know how well it will go down but all we can do is wait and see!

Thanks for looking

Take care and enjoy the rest of your day

Jackie x

Last page from my little 'Inspiration' book!

2011-11-02T16:48:00.001Z

This one is a "Time" themed page and I'll think I'll enter this for a challenge, over on The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog because I'm really pleased with the way this has turned out!

I ran Tim Holtz backing paper through the big shot with an On The Edge Tab die, then ran it through again with the Gearwheels Embossing folder. I roughly coloured the background with Wild Honey Distress Stain ( I do love this colour)! I Distressed the edges and the gearwheels with Brushed Corduroy and Fired Brick Distress Ink. I then stamped the pocket watch stamp in clear Versamark and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder!

I I die cut the Alterations Weathered Clock, distressed it with Wild Honey and Fired Brick then stuck part of it down onto the page. The wings are from the Alterations Winged Heart die which were distressed using Faded Jeans then over stamped with a crackle back ground stamp in Black Archival Ink! I stamped out a Different pocket watch from the same themeplate, distressed it in matching colours and then heat embossed the 'face' with clear embossing powder. The phrase is also from the same themeplate and was stamped using Fired Brick Distress ink!!

I have just really started 'doing' backgrounds so it's not as good as I would have liked but once I get more 'stuff' to help me the better they will become! :D (I hope) lol

Thanks for looking in

Take care

Jackie x

WOYWW 126 !

2011-11-02T09:05:00.001Z

Oh Dear.....lol....5 feet of work desk and I'm down to about 6 inches of space!! lol.....*sighs*...

Anyway... A pile of my craft 'haul' from last week! Some stamps from The Artistic Stamper, Some Alterations dies and embossing folder and some Distress Stains (the dies and stuff were bought when I was at the SECC last weekend)! The 'last' page of my little inspirations book which I'm hoping to finish off today! A 6 x 6 Canvas collage and underneath that is a huge print out of a brief for a commission I NEED to start on today if I can!

So blogland, why not join in the fun over on Julia's and show off your "creative spaces"!

TTFN and have a nice day

Jackie x

Sunday Stampers week 178

2011-10-30T12:29:00.000Z

The Theme this week over on The Sunday Stampers Challenge is Halloween/Bats!

And trust me! This WAS a challenge for me, because, I have nothing remotely Halloween-ie in my craft stash AT ALL!! Simply because I am on such a tight budget that I tend to buy products I can use all year round rather than just once a year, if you get my meaning.

Anyway - to the tag....

A plain white tag distressed with, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Fired Brick and Forest Moss. I over stamped the background with a crackle background stamp using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. The bats came courtesy of google lol I printed them off, cut a couple of them out and then stamped over them with the crackle background stamp and clear embossed over that! The tree is the decorative strip Birds and Branches die, I just cut some of the branches back and cut the leaves off! I then Distressed around the edge of the tag using Black Memento and a bit of a kitchen sponge, I don't have any proper Black Distress ink I'm afraid, so I kind of had to improvise a little! lol

I added some ribbon which was white, coloured it with an Orange Pro Marker and a Black Pro marker!

Improvisation seems to have been the whole story with this tag really but it's turned out ok considering!

Thanks for looking in,

Happy Stamping

Jackie x

Quick Birthday Card!

2011-10-28T20:12:00.002+01:00

Good Evening blogland! I've actually made a card!! My first card in aaaaaaaaaages!! Quite pleased with the way this has turned out actually.

It's a Birthday Card for Cameron's Gran so I wanted to keep it fairly clean and simple!

I very lightly distressed base cream coloured card with Wild Honey and Dried Marigold distress inks, distressed the small mat with the same colour only heavier, then stamped out the phrase which is from The Artistic Stamper in Versafine Vintage sepia.

I stamped the jars which are again from The Artistic Stamper in the Vintage sepia and very lightly distressed them with the Wild Honey and Dried Marigold, I also used a little Forest Moss , I was trying for the 'old green glass' look...it turned out not too bad actually. I just added some Flora Doodles silk flowers and the middle one is just paper, coloured and embossed with clear embossing powder to give it a shine!

Really pleased with the way this has turned out because it's my first card in a long while, I've been to busy doing books and altering 'stuff' lol!!

Thanks for looking in

Have a lovely evening and a great weekend! I'm off to the SECC in Glasgow tomorrow! :D

Jackie x

A Screw loose??......

2011-10-27T21:28:00.001+01:00

Toolbox trash + Tabletop scraps + spare configurations boxes = ....

These were the boxes left over from my print tray project! Now please excuse the quality of the photo but this piece was a bit difficult to capture!

First of all I found what way I wanted the boxes, stuck them all together and then covered them with torn, crinkled and creased white tissue paper! I painted over the whole thing with Black Metallic acrylic paint and then set aside to dry,

The boxes and contents -

Small top box - A UTEE piece and a bit difficult to see the 'contents' - An alan key which is alcohol inked, screws, nails, a safety pin, a paper clip and a little odd shaped wire connector thingie!

Second row left to right -

small box is a simple piece, just a bamboo domino alcohol inked and using a promarker blender pen for the writing!

Large box - background of wire wool! A couple of big nuts and bolts and some off cuts of copper pipe which I alcohol inked!

Bottom row left to right -
The 'copper' box was actually a UTEE'd piece I did at the workshop last week and make a complete pig's ear out of lol, so I left it out of the print tray and decided I'd do something with it when I got home, I alcohol inked up some 160gsm paper with terracotta and gold ink leaving a little bit of white which I then distressed using Forest Moss Distress ink! ( it gave a very cool 'rusty' look which I was after)! I then over stamped using the Artistic Stamper's Tick Tock flowers stamps! I stamped two big flowers, one small one and a leaf which I then made into a 'rose'?!

Tall vertical box -
Is supposed to be 'Mecano pieces lol They are off cuts of grey board really, I just drew round and ice lolly stick, painted them silver, alcohol inked them and then punched holes, I 'screwed' the pieces together to form the letter " A " using brads! Turned out rather cool I think lol!

Small vertical box

Is another UTEE'd piece this time it contains a 'keyhole' bracket which was alcohol inked, and old key and a couple of screws.

Oh ! and the pendant thingie hanging from the space is an old broken key fob which I just obliterated the cutesy image with yet more alcohol ink!

I just added some spare screws a couple of paper clips and that beaded wire thingie was actually wrapped round a candle!

A piece that's NOT to everyone's taste I'll admit but I kinda like it, I has a bit of recycled industrial feel to it! And it's also just a wee bit of fun!

Thanks for looking in

Take care

Jackie x

WOYWW 125

2011-10-26T09:37:00.001+01:00

EEKS!! Very very 'messy' today! I've just finished that print tray that I started at the weekend at Jenny's workshop ! So all the bits 'n' pieces are still lying around from doing that!! Label printer, meltpot, glue gun, headphones for my phone (I like to listen to music while crafting! Nothing like a bit of heavy metal to get the creatitivty running) lol. Oh yeah and I wonder who's spotted my 'snack'! lol! Yep I love my mints! lol

So hopefully Julia will forgive me today! I somehow don't think I am going to get much crafting done today because a good tidy up is needed methinks before I start on a commision I was asked about last week!!

Thanks for dropping by

Take care and have a great day whatever you have planned

Jackie xx

Workshop project finished!!

2011-10-26T00:01:00.001+01:00

YAY!! I finished my Tim Holtz print tray off today! I shut myself away in my bedroom/craft room all day today and just got on with it!

Now I'm HOPING this will post because I've had sooo many problems with Blogger today! It's been deleting comments, not uploading post and just generally being a complete P I T A !! ( pain in the a** ) !!

Anyway, here's the finished project ! Hope you like it because I love it! It's a great way to practice new techniques! :D

I'm not going to go through ALL the techniques used because we will be here for an eternity !! lol but here are a few close ups of some of the pieces!

Thanks for looking in ,

Take care all

Jackie x

Sunday Stampers week 177

2011-10-24T14:48:00.000+01:00

For this weeks challenge over on Sunday stampers I decided to post a piece from the project that I started at Jenny's workshop on Saturday. Here's a box that I finished off today from the Tim Holtz Configurations Print Tray!

Some old music backing paper which I had distressed and stuck down but I thought it was a tad 'bright' so I sprayed some antique brown and gold spray inks over the top to dull it down. Some " porcelain " leaves and a little wooden bird ornament that was painted then over stamped using the 'imperfect' stamping technique! lol...that technique seems to come naturally for me these days!! lol Added some charms of pearl beads, jump rings and paperclips to the bottom of the wee birdie!

Thanks for looking in

Jackie x

Workshop project! (unfinished)

2011-10-23T19:32:00.001+01:00

Well what can I say!! I had a fantastic weekend! Thoroughly enjoyed the workshop yesterday! Learned sooooo many new things, techniques met some wonderful people and just generally had an absolute hoot!

Sadly I didn't get my project finished but I didn't expect to really, because there were a lot of techniques that were very 'involved' which I hadn't done before, but I DID have so much fun learning how to do them PROPERLY! lol

Jenny was absolutely wonderful, put me right as ease and told me to stop panicking! lol....I did struggle with the UTEE porcelain flowers but as I have a metlpot anyway I'm sure I can try again and get them right this time! I must admit though, I just LOVED the gold leafing!! That little lizzard is so adorable! I would never have thought that a little toy rubber lizzard would look so cool! :D Isn't he just sweet! Think I'll call him " Lemmy " !!

I am glad I did this workshop because I was really swithering as whether I should or not because of finances, but I'm glad I finally made up my mind to be 'selfish' for once because it has helped me make up my mind in which direction I want my crafting to go! It was also a bit of a confidence booster as well, because the lovely ladies ALL helped and made me realise that I'm not quite as bad as I thought I was at this crafting malarkey after all!

Here is a photo of what I managed to get done on Saturday, now bear in mind it's NOT finished and no doubt I will probably play around a bit with the layout and add in some extra bits and pieces using the techniques I've learned over the weekend lol....I also want to add some wording to that big empty space........lol....

A MASSIVE big THANK YOU to Jenny and the ladies ( my brain has gone AWOL and I can't think of their names at the moment :o) and everyone at Pickleberry Papercrafts for being such lovely people and making my day very special indeed! :D

So I am now going to have a loooooong hooooooot soak in the bath and rest up! I'm aching lots after a long bus journey from London to Glasgow :(

Thank you for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Strange doodles!?

2011-10-20T17:06:00.002+01:00

I'll say! Think my pen was possessed!

I was just mucking about with a Biro and a note pad! I have NO IDEA where it came from and what it's all about but I think it's a bit different!

I may just try and do some more of these things but on 'coloured' backgrounds....hmmmm...as long as it doesn't involve drawing anything 'lifey'!! lol

I'm nearly all packed and ready for my weekend, just got a couple of bits and pieces to do then an early night for me I think. Got a reeeally long day....I can think of better ways to spend a Friday rather than eight or so hours on a bus! *sighs* Not to worry because it WILL be worth it! :D

Take care and have a great weekend whatever your plans,

Jackie x

WOYWW 124

2011-10-19T09:51:00.003+01:00

Yep! It's THAT time again!! Time for a nosey round other work desks in the land of craft thanks to Julia !

Here's mine this week.... a wee bit tidier than it should be but that was after having a tidy up after finishing off a couple of projects earlier in the week.

Got lots of 'bits' hanging from the handles of the wall units to keep them out of the way lol. My 'Inspirational' book is lying ready for some inspiration! That odd looking bag is holding my 'to do' projects and I made it for a college project I had in graphics earlier on this year(project being to design a logo) . I'm not sure if I'll get anything done today though, I have to dye my hair a lovely shade of purple! (my usual colour! It sure beats white!) lol...because....I'm off on a craft workshop this weekend! :D So need to get some 'stuff' together for that.!

Anyway, Take care have fun and happy crafting,

Jackie

" C " is for........

2011-10-17T20:46:00.002+01:00

Cheeky Teenager!! lol...

I bought this giant papier mache letter C aaages ago! It's my son's first name initial!

I have been planning on doing sopmething with it for a long time but only got as far as painting it!

Anyway! I used Blonde Moment Suet Black Acrylic paint to paint the whole letter. Set it aside to dry while I printed off some images!
I printed off some logos of his favourite band as well as some photos he had taken during a "meet and greet" with them!

I used the logos as a backing paper and stuck them down using pva glue. I then cut out the 'bodies' in the photos and stuck them down on top of the backing papers. Left it all to dry them 'varnished' it with pva glue!

Not my most favourite of craft pieces but needless to say my "cheeky Teenager" loves it!!

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Sunday Stampers Challenge Week 176 !

2011-10-17T11:50:00.001+01:00

This weeks theme over on Hel's Blog is "Leaves"!

For this I have done another tag, now please forgive me but I would like to put together a little 'Tag Book' for my Art Portfolio for college! I applied for a place on an NC Art and Design full time course at the local college, not really sure if I'll get a place though because I don't really "do" drawing! So want to show off what I DO do to it's very best, if you get my meaning.......anyway....I digress.

Started with a plain white tag, stamped the leaves from Tick Tock flowers from the Artistic Stamper in clear versamark and then heat embossed them in white. I then distressed over them using, Dried Marigold , Wild Honey, Fired Brick and Forest Moss Distress inks. Gave the whole thing a wipe down with a tissue and it gave me a 'faux resisit' look. I stamped out two leaves using Archival black then just Distressed them in the above colours. The THIRD leaf is stamped using clear versamark and Copper coloured Embossing powder. I Distressed this one using Fired Brick, Dried Marigold and Wild Honey because I wanted more of a 'red' colour on this!

Just finished it off with a piece of brown ribbon. Sadly the photo of this tag does not do the colours justice at all! It's is a lovely fiery red and orange colour! Very Autumnal indeed!

Thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

Recycled Picture frame

2011-10-14T13:59:00.001+01:00

I found this horrible nasty MDF picture frame in a skip/dumpster!! It has a perspex/plexiglass panel studded to the front and it was very badly marked! (probably why it was getting thrown out) lol

Soooo...... after getting permission to take it, I brought it home and had a wee think! I KNEW I could SOMETHING with it!

I managed to prize the studs off the 'glass' panel and remove it. I then sanded down the whole frame and gave it a couple of coats of cheap white 'mixing' white acrylic paint ( I don't have any gesso) :( I put it aside to dry and then stamped out those gorgeous butterflies from The Patchwork Butterfly themeplate from Chocolate Baroque ! I coloured the images using Inktense Watercolour Pencils!! LOVE these pencils! Such lovely rich colours when they are 'activated'!

Onto the Background!....When the paint was dry I randomly dabbed on some Adirondack Eggplant paint then gave the whole thing another coat of white acrylic, this time it was quite runny so that the colours would blend a bit better. When THAT was dry I randomly scribbled with the Inktense Pencils (Teal Green, Fuchsia and Sea Blue) then gave it another coat or runny white acrylic to blend those in!

When that was dry I sprayed over some Glimmer Mists ( Periwinkle, Spring Mint, Robin's Egg Blue and Wheat Fields) Then set the whole thing aside to dry and nipped downstairs for a coffee!! lol

I Stamped the Butterfly images, The scrolls and the verse is done in Archival Black, onto the background using the Archival Whispers Inks in Rio Purple, I then over stamped them in Clear Versamark and used some Sparkle and Shine Gilded Ivory Embossing powder, slightly offsetting the images. I then cut out and stuck down the Butterflies again offsetting them against the background images.

Now onto that horribly marked 'glass' panel. It didn't seem to matter what I did to 'clean' it you could STILL see the horrible nasty marks....sooooo.... I decided to do an acetate overlay! I printed off the phrase from the Butterfly Whimsy again from Chocolate Baroque . Now as the sheet is slightly smaller than the actual 'glass' I had to find a way to stick it down without ruining the whole thing with glue showing! So I dug out an original Sizzix die (Hinges, mounts, handle and photo turns) I just glued these to the acetate sheet, so that they would reach the holes for the studs when I put the 'glass' back on! A wee bit of a 'cheat' but it worked out well and hid the glue! The Acetate overlay doesn't totally hide the marks on the panel but it does not too bad a job! :)

After the 'glass' was re-attached I 'distressed' the edges using the Archival Whispers inks in Azure Seas and Rio Purple. I thought it was a nice way to finish things off.

It wasn't really a massive project but DID involve a lot of prep work which took a bit of time! Just as well I have a fair bit of patience then isn't it! lol

Anyway, thought you'd like to see a little close up of what the frame looked like BEFORE I got my hands on it.....lol...

Horrible innit!? lol

The photos are clickable if you want a better look.

Thanks for dropping by, take care and Happy Friday! :D

Jackie x

What's on your workdesk?......

2011-10-12T09:56:00.003+01:00

THIS lot !! It's time for WOYWW challenge!! 'Tis a wee bit messy this week, lots of stuff getting prepared for sale (I hope), I'm fed up having no job and no money! Aaaarrggh!! So NEED to try and get some cash flow coming in other than Jobseekers allowance! :( Anyway I digress, there is a project that I 'prepped up yesterday sitting underneath my errmm...'Art Journal'! Yeah that's the words.....Art Journal...lol...but shhh...it's not really, just a place where I try out some ideas, take notes and generally just a 'mish mash' of 'stuff' that's in my head!! lol...

I've got a fair bit going on personally at the moment and just can't quite get into a 'routine'... * sighs*.... but I'll manage!

I have just received my first proper commission and it's an absolute corker! Talk about a baptism of fire!! I have to make three boxes! One has an Iron Maiden Theme, the other is to look like a 'wooden box' AND.....the other has to look like the TARDIS!! They are for my big mate who is an 'analyst' and he knows everything there is to know about Iron Maiden and Dr Who so they had BETTER be as accurate as possible or else I won't get paid! lol....So all projects aside and out with the 'Art Journal' to start playing around with ideas!

Thanks for dropping by and reading my inane rambles lol

Take care and Happy Crafting everyone!

Jackie x

Sunday Stamper week 175 challenge.

2011-10-09T19:35:00.001+01:00

Don't often do challenges but decided to take this one up! The theme is Blue and Orange! I absolutley LOATHE Orange with a passion! I just hate it! lol....Anyway, just did a quick tag.

I distressed the tag in two 'halves' then oversprayed with the respective matching Glimmer mists. The stamps I used are from The Artistic StamperThe Artsistic Stamper and are from The Time and Keys themeplate. I overstamped the background using the small pocket watch in versmark then brushed some Interference Blue perfect pearls, sprayed a little water and then heat set it. I stamped out three keys, distressed them in alternate blue and orange and attatched them to the tag with a humungous brad! I stamped out a bigger pocket watch and distressed that. I didn't have any coloured ribbon so I just used promarkers to colour some white ribbon blue, then orange and just added them to the tag! I stamped the words using Faded Jeans ditress ink and brushed over interference blue perfect pearls...it says "Time is the Key to Life" but as usual it's obliterated with the flash!!! lol...

Anyway, just a quick challenge tonight.....I'm off to chill out then phone my friend! :)

Bye for now and thanks for dropping by

Jackie x

Art Journal.....

2011-10-08T19:08:00.000+01:00

Well, This is my FIRST attempt at Art Journaling, I have seen so many beautiful pages being created so I decided to have a wee look at some videos and see how it's done!

Personally I think this one is just a wee bit 'busy' but it IS my first attempt and I'm quite pleased with it! It's like everything else I suppose, the more you do the better you get.!

Anyway, the background was done using two colours of Glimmer mists, Tattered Leather and Moonlight, I then added a Sticky Fingers spray , Walnut which is not so 'brown'! The stamps are the Live out Loud themeplate from Chocolate Baroque and that's the first time I've used them! Had them in my stash for ages too! I just 'dry' coloured them using the Inktense Watercolour pencils! I think that touch of colour just seems to finish it all off.

I Distressed the edges of the pages using Brushed Corduroy and a smidgen of Faded Jeans!

If you want a better look then click on the picture and it should enlarge! Sadly the light wasn't very good so neither is the photo!! *sigh*

Anyway thanks for dropping by

Take care

Jackie x

Work in progress pt II ....

2011-10-07T20:22:00.000+01:00

Here's a few more pages from my little 'Inspiration book'...

Done using Faded Jeans Distress Ink , THAT crackle stamp(again)! lol An image from Joanna Sheen Victorian Romance cd rom, The winged heart Alterations die and the words are from Chocolate Baroque Rose Script stamp.

Again using Faded Jeans ink only this time I over sprayed with Moonlight Glimmer Mist inks! The image is done on plae grey card stamped and distressed using Faded Jeans ink and then coloured using The Intense Watercolour pencils but left dry! If I had coloured it in it would have 'ran' so thought best to leave it as is. Again the stamps are the Rose Script and to be honest that set is my all time favourite!! I have used that image in loads of different ways for loads of different thing and it's going to be used continually I think! Anyway I just added some little flower embellishments to finish it off.

And now for a 'Steampunk' Style page! Done using Dried Marigold, Wild Honey and a SMIDGEN of Fired Brick! lol... I used the cogs as 'stencils' and distressed over them for the background. The filigree heart is the centre of the heart from the Winged Heart Alterations die and is textured using the Ten Second Studio Dotted Wheel tool as are the Cog and Gears which are also an Alterations die. The Flowers are from the Tick Tock Flowers themeplate from The Artisitc Stamper! A very handy and versatile little themeplate this one and I have used it a lot recently!!

Right., That's me done for the day. I'm off to get tidied up a bit and then sit down to watch a movie.

Take care everyone and thanks for popping by,

Jackie x

A work in progress...

2011-10-07T11:34:00.002+01:00

Before I start I would just like to say a huge Thank You to everyone who left lovely comments on my blog . I do apologise if I seem ignorant in not 'replying' but Blogger seems to be playing up a little and my 'comments' keep disappearing so I have no idea if they have been received or even posted twice! Anyway, Thank you all, it is very much appreciated!

I'm just in the process of making a little 'inspirational' book for myself! It will be full of little quotes, images and techniques done just for me to cheer me up when I'm feeling blue or just to look at for a little inspiration now and again when I feel the need.

Now the cover looks decidedly 'naff' at the moment but I'll wait until I have all the pages completed and then I'll finish it off! I want to cut it down a little so that I can show off the 'tabs' on the pages!

Soo....without further ado.....here are the pages that I have completed so far!

The backing paper is from Tim Holtz Crowded Attic paper pad! And all the pages are done using this one 12 x 12 sheet! I used the Tim Holtz Alterations On the Edge dies to add 'tabs' to each page! It's also done using just two colours! Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink!

The topper is just a plain piece of card, torn and distressed, overstamped with a crackle background stamp and then overstamped again with Black Archival ink. The words and phrases are from Chocolate Baroque and a set which I adore and have used on numerous occasions!

The back of the page is just plain and again done using Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy, this time I overstamped the whole page with the crackle stamp to give it a wee bit of 'texture. The tag was just plain white, again distressed using the same two colours as above, only this time I sprayed some Antique Brown Stain ink and Also some Glimmer Mist, which has picked up the light from the flash and practically obliterated the phrase on the tag!! *sigh* ! Again the words are from Chocolate Baroque . I just added some square gems and a piece of ribbon to finish things off.

THIS page is done using just ONE colour! Fired Brick ! Now be careful with this one because it's such a strong colour and you don't need a LOT of it! I found that out!! lol...anyway it turned out ok so I'm not too bothered really.
The backing is stamped using the crackle background stamp then over stamped with hearts in Black archival ink. The heart image is From Joanna Sheen Victorian Romance cd rom and was left over from the Steampunk Canvas I did earlier. I distress it, overstamped with THAT background stamp lol! 'Swiped' over some Interference Blue ink and then overstamped with words from Chocolate Baroque . The cupid is a Sizzix original diecut (the green one)!

This page is done exactly the same as the previous one. I just added another spare image I had left over from the steampunk project only I cut the edges with the Deckle Edge scissors and distressed it slightly, the Double Heart is again and original Sizzix die, overstamped and distressed, and the words ans hearts are again from Chocolate Baroque.

This is just a quick photo of what the paged looked like BEFORE I got my inky mitts all over them!! lol

I'll keep you updated on how this project progresses as and when I get the other pages done!

Thanks for looking in

Take care

Jackie x

What's on Your Workdesk! Wednesday!

2011-10-05T09:04:00.004+01:00

No Flaming wonder I can't find my 'Mojo'!! Methinks a tidy up is in order!! EEKS!!

I found this challenge through Jennie at over here by accident really but I was always a wee bit embarrased to show my mess off!! So I'm throwing caution to the wind and having a go!

So here's my first entry for the What on your Workdesk Wednseday Challenge . !!

I've been REALLY struggling with 'life' things at the moment and I'm a wee bit 'all over the place' just now! So I've spent most of my time blog hopping and just reading lots of lovely stories and getting some inspiration from all the wonderful blogs I've been looking at.

My desk is still messy after finishing off the project that you see lying on top of my 'sketch' book! I DID start out tidying up yesterday but came across a few things that I'd 'forgotten' about! (or in crafters; terms....lying underneath a pile of stuff)!! lol .... and well...you know how it is....before long you start 'playing'....lol.

Sooo I'm going to leave it at that and head off to get that 'creative mess' in some semblance of order?!

So thanks for dropping by and take care

Jackie xx

p.s. I'll bet I've just made all the 'messy ones' feel SO much better now! lol!!

What to do when your 'mojo' takes a break!

2011-10-04T11:18:00.003+01:00

Well, the 'Mojo' has decided to seriously 'naff orf' this weekend....soooooo...what do I do to get it back??? Other than sitting at my craft desk for aaaaages trying to come up with some ideas....I decided to have a little clear out! To say that it lasted all of about five minutes is an understatement! lol....I had a pile of images that I had printed out at sometime or another for some project or another, that had one cut out for something or other....*rolleyes* (you know how it is) lol ... sooo while I was seeing what was there things just kind of seemed to 'fall together'! I must admit I just LOVE it when that happens!....

Anyway, I digress, The images are from Joanna Sheen Victorian Romance cd rom, so I cut out my favourite ones and put them to one side, while I was tidying away the other pages of images, that done, I came to my 'box of bits'...which was full of diecuts and embellishments...blah blah blah...proceeded to find the Tim Holtz Alterations diecuts of the Winged Heart, The Bird and Cage and the Cogs and Gears, which had been cut from Ten Second Studio Art Metal in copper! I Also found some flowers I was going to use for another project, these were stamped using The Artisitc Stamper Tick Tock Flowers themeplate, and then distressed. I also used the Tick Tock butterflies from the same range (if you look REALLY closely you can see THE most cutest little steampunk snail!) While I was 'rummaging' I came across some little bare chipboard hearts, these were coloured using Twinlking H2o's , overstamped with the tick tock flowers then heat embossed with gold detail embossing powder, some old playing cards, scrabble tiles and some ribbon roses!

Soooo, time to TRY and see what I can come up with this newly 'found' stuff! lol.....

1 blank 8 x 8 deep edge canvas, Which I washed over with water then sprayed using Glimmer mists, put aside to dry while I faff about with the other stuff. I adore that hot air balloon image so because I had a few of those I decided to do a wee bit of decoupage, I had some matching backing paper so I used the Denim blue Distress ink and distressed the edges, I have had those 'bubbles' for ages and because I don't really do a lot of decoupage they were stored away at the very back of the cupboard. I coloured the edge of the bubble using a gold marker, let it dry, 'scratched' it then rubbed over it with Archival black to distress it because it was just too 'new' looking, plus the fact that it would hide the glue when it was stuck down over the decoupage! I just added some ribbon roses and scrabble tiles to the image before it was all put together.

The rest of the piece just seem to fall into place really, i used a couple of fancy shaped metal brads for the flower centres, then stuck them down at the bottom of the bubble. The die cuts were just 'plain' so I used The ten Second Studio 'Dotted Wheel' tool to give them a bit of texture, a small wire brush and some Archival Black ink aged them up a little, The heart was made to look like it was riveted, just using the Ball and Cup tool, ( I was pleasantly surprised at the way that turned out actually)!

I just finished off the piece with the butterfly and the snail which were stuck onto the bubble and i then added some 'steampunk' watch parts here and there to match in with the cogs and gears theme!

Some close ups of the smaller pieces.....

Soooo there you have it.....What i did to find my 'mojo' again!

now this piece may not be to every one's taste but it just simply reminds me of ME and my brain at the moment! Suitably cluttered with a whole load of 'stuff, but I am thrilled to bits with the way this has turned out, seeing as it was an experiment! Mixing the old with new really work with this piece and I think Joanna Sheen's Victorian cd's really lend themselves well to the Steampunk theme!

So Thank you all for reading through this 'novel' of a post lol, and it just shows that sometimes when the mojo DOES take a break then so should you, go and do something else and while you are doing that more often than not other ideas come to mind, if not the don't worry, because I feel the harder you try to get it back the less chance it will do so! A bit like teenagers really, disobediant and defiant!! lol.

Take care everyone and thanks again for dropping by,

Jackie xx

p.s. my craft room seems to be in a bigger mess NOW than what it was BEFORE I started clearing it up ... *sighs*.... lol

Simple knotted cord pendants

2011-09-25T20:50:00.003+01:00

I made these simple glass bead pendants a couple of weekends ago, They are very quick and easy to do .

Just some waxed cord, Glass pendants and some matching glass beads, I tied knots in the cords to keep the beads in place!

It's THAT simple! :D

Thanks for looking in,

Take Care

Jackie x

Reconstructed tee shirts!

2011-09-25T19:09:00.005+01:00

From THIS plain men's XL tee shirt........

To THIS !! .... All very girlie and it WASN'T rocket science either!!

I was finding it increasingly difficult and expensive to source 'girlie' band merchandise and was getting a wee bit fed up having to send to America for some decent quality items, and then again they were items that people had altered so I thought I'd have a bash at some myself! Now I know these won't be to every one's taste but as I'm skint and don't have a lot of money to spend I thought I'd use a couple of tees that I had lying around, they were a 'wrong size' order that I was going to try and sell on.

Soooo.... I cut off the sleeves and neckband, added some black lace to the neckline and used black velvet ribbon with gold 'D' rings for the straps. I structured the sides slightly to give it some 'curves'! I am REALLY pleased with the results for this top!

Here is a close up of the neckline and straps!

Now that I have done one the others won't be quite so bad as I now know what NOT to do!!

Another bog standard men's XL tee ...

This time it's a NO SEW project! That's right, not a stitch was sewn in making this! It's VERY different and funky and not for everyone! (But it DOES look MUCH better worn than in this photo)!!

Again I cut off the sleeves and neckband, made horizontal slashes about an inch apart down the sides of the tee, snipped the joins, stretched the fringes and then tied them all together. i just the same with the shoulders! It sits and fits more like a tunic than a tee shirt, and i love it to bits!

I think these projects are a great way to revamp your wardrobe. They can be done with old tees or even tees that have been bought from charity/thrift shops!

And this last project was just me playing around with what was left!!!

I made a 'scarf' from the sleeves!! lol.....I just cut the joins of the sleeves, then joined all four together to form one long strip. i let the hems on the sleeves because I used that as a guide for the fringing! It's NOT going to keep you very warm in the winter but it certainly is a bit fun and funky.

I did have fun trying out these projects and you can be guaranteed that I'll be doing some more in the very near future!

Thanks for looking in, Take care

Jackie

Butterflies and Flowers!

2011-07-16T21:26:00.002+01:00

Been having a little play with this set of stamps! I bought these months and months ago and just got round to using them! It's the Ruby Tuesday Blooms themeplate from Chocolate Baroque and also the Patchwork Butterfly themeplate! (which I just absolutely adore)!!

Anyway.....I stamped the blooms onto a pack of Elusive Images gorgeous patterned papers Simple Elegance to be exact, then cut them out, layered the centres and embellished them with some Crystal Stickles glitter glue! i then glued them using a hot glue gun onto some curled canes that I received with a bouquet of flowers a looong time ago!

Onto the butterflies - they are just stamped onto 160gsm smooth white paper and then coloured using the ever wonderful idiotproof Inktense Watercolor pencils!

The vase was a little 'bare' chipboard piece I bought a craft exhibition a while ago, i painted it with acrylic paints, just mixed red and blue to get purple, painted it, left it to dry then overpainted with some white. Before the white paint was fully dry I rubbed it down with sand paper to 'distress' it a little, I WAS going to stamp it but I quite like the look of it plain so I think I'll just leave it as is!

Had loads of fun doing this and dead chuffed with end result!

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie

My project for furniture crafts!!

2011-06-03T19:20:00.003+01:00

A very VERY different re-upholstered footstool!

This course was just a basic introduction to Furniture Crafts and just gave us an insight into what the cousre entails! I adored this class and have signed up to go back after the summer.

We already had the frame so the brief was to re-upholster it using traditional techniqes! We were left alone to chose the fabric for finishing ourselves so I just went with the 'old tee shirt' thing!

I painted the frame with black metallic paint, cannibalised an Iron Maiden tee shirt and just added some funky black lace and silver upholstery studs to finish!

The lecturer really loved this piece! thought it was very 'me' and quite unique!
And I'm going to agree with him! I'm REALLY pleased with it myself! It was very satisfying to finally see it all finished and stand back at the end of it all and say " I did that"! :D

Thanks for looking, take care all

Jackie x

Some Tim Holtz style!

2011-05-23T16:47:00.004+01:00

Made this for an Art teacher, Used Tim Holtz "Crowded Attic" Papers, the Alterations Birdcage die, added some charms and then used The Eaziscore large lowercase letters templates for the initial, I used Joanna Sheen's marbled papers for that and just added a few gems to embellish it. I added a 'domino' which was alcohol inked and also a sizzlets 'buttons' die. not the best of photos I'm afraid as my camera is refusing to work properly just now.

This one kind of took a bit of a weird turn! It's for a 'graphics' teacher. She does a lot of work with computer and the likes so maybe that's where the 'cogs' came from....cogs, gears...machines?...Hmmm ...yeah I know....bad huh! Still hopefully you can see where I was going with this piece. She also likes 'vintage' hence the old bike, the little bottle is filled with cogs from old watches to try and match in with the Alterations cogs and gears. Again an initial using the Eaziscore alphabet templates with Joanna sheen's marbled papers, and another domino.

This is the first card made in aaaaages! It's for an "English" teacher hence the bookatrix, caligraphy and printblocks backing papers, I made the paper rose using a stamp from my craft stash, and punched out some tiny flowers and leaves with matching paper. I cut out one of the print blocks with the recipent's initial and then highlighted some of it with a fine gold marker. Finished it off with some gems and some peel offs stuck down and then cut out of matching paper.

Thanks for looking in, and hopefully I won't be gone for soo long this time!

Take care

Jackie x

Art Project

2011-04-26T18:10:00.007+01:00

Many many apologies for the lack of blogging for such a long time, but life and college have just got in the way I'm afraid!

Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying this little access course and so glad I went for it!

Anyway, I digress.

The above piece was a project for Art! I had to design a piece of jewellery which somehow managed to end up as this massive collage! My lecturer knows how 'creative' I am so instead of drawing (which I'm terrible at) she suggested I go the collage route! Didn't expect it to turn out quite so big, but once I got started there was just no stopping! I thought it was a good way to 'tie all the ideas together'!

So here goes with the 'construction'!!

I printed off some clockwork images, cut some of them up and tore some up, then stuck them to the canvas, when dry, I mixed yellow, white and a smidgen of brown acrylic paint and painted over the whole lot! I didn't want to 'hide' the images but didn't want them showing totally. When dry, I used a Clockwork masking set and over prayed with some antique brown spray ink.

I used the eazi-score large and small alphabet templates for the phrase, just cut form plain and patterned paper, over stamped them with the Clockwork Roses stamps set from the Artistic Stamper and then distressed with matching ink.

The cogs and gearwheels are a Tim Holtz Alterations Die and cut from Grungeboard painted gold and Silver. I also used the Winged Heart Alterations Die for the wings on the pocket watch, which comes from the Time themeplate from the Artisitc Stamper.

Again, using the Clockwork Roses themeplate I stamped onto patterned paper and Grungepaper painted silver and constructed the Roses. The butterflies and Snail are also from the Clockwork themeplates from the Artistic Stamper! I just couldn't resist that little snail!....lol!

The 'Door' is actually a movers and shaper die and a keyhole die, I ran it through the big shot with the wood effect alterations embossing folder. The image behind it was to show off the shape that I used to make the pendant wrapped round the letter " O " ! It was made using Copper colour metal sheet from Ten Second Studio, a couple of eyelets, a cord and some watch pieces and jump rings!

The tall roses at the side of the door are from the Elusive Images Rose Script themeplate! (my ALLtime favourite stamp!)and are coloured using Inktense water colour pencils.

The "clear disc" is actually clear UTEE with some watch parts embedded and it actually looks like resin! I just scattered some watch parts around the canvas and stuck them down randomly just to kind of finish it off a little!

I must admit to being rather pleased with this piece because I just wasn't sure about the background colour, but when my lecturer saw it she was thrilled and ordered to me to hang it up in my livingroom because it 'deserves to be seen'! (her words, not mine)lol

anyway, so sorry for the 'novel' of a post but just thought you'd be a bit interested in how it was all put together.

Thanks for looking in and again many apologies for the lack of blogging.

Take care everyone,

Jackie x

more playing

2011-01-18T15:36:00.001Z

Quick play with photoshop!

2011-01-18T15:00:00.002Z

Been having a little play in my graphics class at college today!

First time having a go on a Apple Mac and I love it to bits! Must save hard for one of my own!!

Just a simple go at Photobooth though to get used to things a liitle,

Going to head off now now and will post again later.

Thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

Mahoooooosive Collage!!!

2011-01-07T14:41:00.006Z

It's biiiiig this piece! 18 inches by 24 inches and it's a deep edge canvas!!

I started by dry brushing the blank canvas with two different colours of distressing inks on the two different sides of the canvas, then over sprayed it with some Glimmer mists. Set it aside to dry and got started on the 'prep' work!!

The branches are made using brown craft card and the sizzix decorative strip "Branches and Birds" die, which I then ran through the Big Shot with the Tim Holtz Alterations "Woodgrain" Embossing folder and then oversprayed with some antique brown spray ink.

The flowers are made with the "Flower Power" Themeplate from the Artistic Stamper! I adore this stamp set, you can make soooo many different types of flowers with it, it's beyond belief!! Anyway I digress....I just stamped them out on different patterned papers, distressed them with 'matching' inks and then ran the leaves through the Big Shot with the "Text" cuttlebug embossing folder to give them a bit of texture!

The Butterflies are done using Elusive Images Patchwork Butterfly themplate which is absolutely gorgeous!!! I just adore that 'half' butterfly and have used that a lot!! anyway...I digress...again! lol.....They were stamped and heat embossed with black embossing powder and then coloured using the Inktense watercolour pencils!

The wording is done using the Eazi-Score Large Lowercase Alphabet templates, and it comes from the Elusive Images "Text Rose" themeplate. The word "earth" is edged in gold and then run through the "woodgrain" Embossing folder, I used the "Text" folder for the words " Laughs" and "Flowers" as I wanted to make certain words 'stand out'!

I then went over the flowers, and words with some clear Stickles glitter glue to give it a kind of 'magical look'!

Here's a couple of close ups of the flowers and butterflies...

I really enjoyed creating this piece! It was fun seeing the blank canvas being transformed into this!!

I'm not really quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with an idea sooner or later.

Thanks for looking and take care everyone,

Jackie xx

8 x 8 " canvas collage !

2010-11-11T14:46:00.008Z

Many apologies for the lack of blogging, I've been struggling a bit lately with depression so not really felt like doing too much.

But I've managed to complete this piece! It's hopefully going to be a present for someone and I'm hoping they will like it, because I'm not really sure what I was trying to achieve here and i seem to have got a little 'lost'!

Anyway, I used blue and white acrylic paint to give the canvas a 'wash'! After it was dry I used the Large upper and Lower case Alphabet templates from Easi-score as a 'stencil, then dry brushed around them with Faded Jeans Distress ink. I then distressed the edges of the canvas with the same colour, then oversprayed with a 'Fireworks Blue' spray ink, this gave a gorgeous iridescent finish.

I drew around the plastic letters on some patterned paper and cut them out then embossed them with the Cuttlebug 'Text' embossing folder. I also used the Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles to add some glitter to the letters.

The flowers were made using the Flower Power stamp Themeplate from The Artistic Stamper and also using a technique I found over the Artistic Stamper blog in the videos section. They were then backed by some Stewart Gill Glitteratti.

Here's a closer look

The butterfly is from the Elusive Images Patchwork Butterfly themeplate and is stamped using clear versamark ink and then embossed with black embossing powder, i also used the Clear rock Candy stickles to give it a bit of 'sparkle'!The 'Buttons'and 'Lace' are also an Elusive Images themeplate, 'Collage' i think it's called, I've had that set for so long i can't remember! lol.

I'm not really too sure if I like this piece or not yet, I think because I got a bit lost while putting it together is kind of putting me off it slightly. but I'll just put it aside for the time being. I'll make my mind up later maybe.

For some reason I can't seem to get any 'links' working today so please accept my apologies for not being able to let you see the products I'm talking about.

Thanks for looking in, take care everyone

Jackie x

Grungepaper cuffs!

2010-09-10T11:07:00.004+01:00

I FINALLY managed to get my sitcky mitts on some Grungepaper!! Every time I went for this stuff it was sold out! Like goldust the stuff! Anyway, I've been having a little play and came up with these!

I bought the Tim Holtz winged heart die in a sale! lol..and as soon as I saw it I knew what I was going to do with it!

The cuffs are painted using the Blonde moments Gold acrylic paint (yes again! just love that paint lol) then over stamped using my favourite crackle background stamp with stazon ink. The top heart is stamped using clear versamark ink then heat embossed with black embossing powder, the bottom one is just stamped but the photo sadly doesn't show it very clearly. The wings are overstamped as well, I just added some clear Rock Candy stickles to give them a glitter effect. I added some gems to the crown to give it a wee bit of 'bling factor'!

Really quite pleased with the way these have turned out as it's my first attempt at having a go a these cuffs! Think I'll try and do some earrings and maybe try a pendant to match!

Watch this space!

Thanks for looking in and take care everyone

Jackie xx

Surprise in a suitcase!

2010-06-22T22:33:00.005+01:00

I fell totally and utterly in love with these papier mache suitcases when I was browsing the other day and just had to have them!! They are just adorable!!

I also wanted to try my hand at using some grungepaper,and wanted to have a go at making some flowers. So I decided to just go for it! lol Here's what I used...

Papier Mache suitcases (pack of two) and the Flower Power rubber stamp themplate purchesd from www.theartisticstamper.com/, I also used Elusive Images Patchwork Butterfly stamp. Blonde Moments Metallic acrylic paints in Bronze and Suet Black,Distress inkpad Fired Brick, Distressed stickles Clear Rock Candy and a Black Archival ink pad. Inktenses Watercolour pencils. Some small paper flowers and some silicone glue!

First of all I made the grunge paper flowers following instructions from here http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2010/06/grunge-it-up-jennie.html
Then while they I was waiting for them to dry I painted the suitcase with the Bronze and Suet Black Acrylic paint! I stamped the Burtterfly onto grungepaper and coloured it using the Inktense Watercolour pencils. I just glued them all to the inside of the suitcase when they were all dry! It's truned out pretty nice for my first attempt and I just love it to bits! I was going to give this as a gift but think I'll keep it for myself! lol...how many times has that happened to you?...lol.

Thanks for stopping by, take care all,

Jackie x

Joanna Sheen's Bathtime Diva stamped mirror!

2010-06-19T20:00:00.004+01:00

I bought this mirror from Ikea yonks ago! I've had this idea in mind for it since then, but every time I went to buy Joanna Sheen's Bath time Diva stamp it was sold out! I've finally managed to get a hold of it! Yay!!!!

I painted the plain wooden frame with some white acrylic artist paint, not thin enough for a wash but not thick enough for a full coverage, if you get my meaning! Let it dry, then gave it a good 'scrub' with some fine grade sandpaper.

I stamped the images all over the frame and let the ink dry! coloured them using the Marvy Le Plume Art markers. let them dry a little and then sanded it down again. I gave it wipe with a dry cloth then glazed the images with Glossy Accents! this will make them waterproof when cleaning!!!. I oversprayed with some Glimmer mists just to finish it off a little!

Here are some close ups of some of the 'distressing'

I love this little project, didn't cost the earth to 'make' and will look really good in my bathroom! :D

Thanks for looking in

Take care

Jackie x

A quick little Birthday gift!

2010-05-28T10:20:00.002+01:00

I made this quick little gift for someone whom I don't see very often as they stay a fair distance away, and I usually try and send some recent photos to keep them updated.

Anyway, this was made using the Sizzix XL 'Favour box' die, I just printed out a photo and stuck it inside, I also used a cut off of acetate for the glass. the embellishments are just gold peel-offs and some paper flowers coloured using Pro-markers! Dead quick and simple!

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Tall Stories Engagement card.

2010-05-25T19:50:00.003+01:00

This is the first card I've made for aaaaaaaaages!! It's for my nephew who has just got engaged!

For this I used the the Keepsake Tall Stories (the pink board) and the Celebrations (the white board). I also used the "Cute Wedding" kit from the Serif Digital Scrapbook Artist CD rom! I, printed off an A4 sheet for the background. I used the same background to creat the embellishment, I added the lace frame,text, love heart and the engagement ring, just to finish it off, then cut it out and mounted over a feather, I just added a peel-off to finsish off the corner. The other side is done using the Champagne glasses from the Celebrations board, I just used gold glitter for the champagne, and white glitter for the 'froth', then added a couple of flowers to finsish off. A strip of satin ribbon with some gold peel-off 'waste' is used for the 'bookmark'.

As I said earlier, it's the first card I've made in a long time and I quite enjoyed it.

Thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

Travel memory album!

2010-05-05T14:15:00.011+01:00

Well here it is! All finally finished and bound! I'm not going to go into details about the cover because I've already done that on an earlier post so won't bore you with the details again!

The first page! Now as this album is based on a recent trip to San Fransisco, this song by Scott McKenzie just popped into my head, so i just 'went with it', all very 'hippie' and 'psychedelic'!! Plus it gave me a great opportunity to finally use those Little Claire's VW stamps! The car is coloured using Promarkers. I just embellished the page with some Flora Doodles! The background is sprayed randomly with Glimmer Mist sprays by the way.

This page was done just the same as the previous, again spraying the background with glimmer mists. Only this time I added some views of the city and that gorgeous Camper Van again coloured with pro markers! And some paper flowers added for embellishment to continue the theme.

Now I can't really show you anymore just yet, because the other pages contain photos of my friend and as yet I haven't had the chance to ask permission for them to be shown, He hasn't received this gift as it's on it's way to France, so when he gets it I will hopefully be able to post the other pictures of the pages to let you see the rest of this keepsake.

Thanks for looking in

Take care

Jackie x

***EDIT***

Well! my friend has finally received his parcel! And has given me permission to post the photos on here! It seems that the 'unpronounceable' Volcano in Iceland has a lot to answer for! Hence the length of time in delivery!

Anyway...i digress.........here are the rest of the photos and some info on how it was done!

Just a very plain and simple background here, using colours to tone in the with the photos. The little saying was one I downloaded from the Internet.

These pages are done using Tim holtz 'Timeworks' masks and it is a very poor attempt at some 'Steampunk'! i also used Tim Holtz Gadget Gears sizzix die with some grungeboard painted in various metallic colours! Not brilliant but not too bad considering it's my first go at this kind of thing.

In Jail!!! A visit to Alcatraz! I just couldn't resist this using this photo! I distressed the page then over stamped with the Judikins artifacts cube 'stone' effect to give the impression of the wall. Used the Handcuff from Joanna Sheens 'Policeman Lofty' stamps but made the chain using jump rings! Just added the Key and some 'graffiti to finish off the page.

A very plain and simple page. A visit to the Star Wars exhibition! I just sprayed a few different colours on the page, along with some interference ink to give a 'starry' effect, which sadly the camera didn't pick up. used the sizzix filmstrip die to finish off.

Again another simple page, just prayed with inks to tone in with the photos. Added the brass 'cutlery' tied with black ribbon, the black guitar is a sizzlets die, the gold guitar is actually a wooden button painted gold, and musical notes are from a tiny paper punch and black card.

Now this was a tad more 'involved'. But many apologies for the lousy photography!

I sprayed then distressed the whole page, then overstamped it with the pawprint form Elusive Images 'What Cats Say' themplate. I then used the Heirloom Gold perfect pearls over the paw prints to make them stand out better, I drew round a heart shape and made a trifold base, i stuck down a photo of the cat in the middle, the saying that I 'cropped' from the photo says, "pets leave pawprints on your heart", the other side is the cat's name, done using a sizzix letters die. The tags were done the same way as the page and using the same stamps. I must admit to shedding a wee tear when doing this page because the little cat died/went missing(not sure which and was too scared to ask really) a couple of years ago and this was a kind of 'memorial' page.

And Finally the last page! Now this one i love...love the way the colours have worked on this. The Greeting is actually a Scottish Toast, so I sprayed the paper then printed off the greeting, I also printed and 'English' translation,and slotted it behind the image, as this way heading to France and would have difficult to 'understand' lol. The thistle is one of my all time favourite stamps! It's from the 'Flowers of Scotland' range from Stewart Gill and it's just gorgeous! It's stamped onto a sprayed background then coloured using Inktense Watercolour pencils

When this album finally DID manage to find it's was to France no thanks to an unpronouncable volcano in Iclenad, my friend E-mailed me ans told me how 'blown' away' by it he was. It made it all worth while because it's the first time I've tried creating my own backgrounds!

Thank you all for taking the time out to read this huge posting tonight. I really do appreciate it.

Take care

Jackie xx

More Blog Candy!!

2010-05-03T09:36:00.007+01:00

Been doing some major Blog hopping this past few days and just look at what I've come across!

Over on The Artistic Stamper you will find this! Isn't it just gorgeous!!!! i must get me some of those to try them out! I Love them!!

And I also came across this at Crafty Goings On....Wow! So much in this pack!

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by

Jackie x

No crafting this week :(

2010-04-24T18:31:00.003+01:00

Well I'm sorry, but I don't have much to 'report' this week.

I've been laid up with a rather nasty eye infection, so not really got a lot of crafting done. Just taking a little time out to some blog hopping, although I can't do too much as I'm gradually building a huge 'tissue' mountian because my eyes are constantly streaming!

Anyway, I digress......Check out Glenda's Blog

She has got some absolutley gorgeous Blog Candy on offer!

My brain just went on meltdown and my poor bank balance will be taking a hefty beating soon methinks!

Take care everyone and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Thanks for dropping by

Jackie x

Travel Memory Album cover

2010-04-18T22:19:00.005+01:00

This is the cover for a memory album I'm doing from scratch! EEKS! But if the pages turn out like this I'll be dead pleased!

I sprayed the background with Glimmer mists,then stamped and used some Perfect Pearls over the stamps. Distressed the edges and then added the embellishments to the front. The tag is done the same as the cover, the little globes and sayings are offcuts from some scrapbook paper, and the VW Camper van and bug are wooden buttons coloured with distressing ink and perfect pearls. The Acrylic circle is stuck down over a map of the U K (in particular Scotland) As this album is heading off to France when it's finished.

Here's a photo of the inside cover,

This has just been sprayed,distressed stamped and again dusted with Perfect Pearls hence the rather nasty 'shine'.

I really enjoyed doing this, it's so much fun because you never really know what the end result will look like!

Thanks for looking in

Take care everyone

Jackie x

Altered Mirror - Joanna Sheen style!

2010-03-18T16:23:00.007Z

Many apologies for the recent lack of blogging. I've not really been feeling very inspired these days. I've just been 'pottering' around in my craftroom for a couple of days trying out a few different things to see if I can get my long lost 'mojo' back!

I've managed to actually concentrate on something and finally finished this off!

The mirror frame is from Ikea! and just cried out for 'something' to be done to it!

I painted the frame with the Blonde moments metalic paints in bronze, then decided to be smart and added some crackle accents to parts of the frame, but when I 'highlighted the cracks I didn't like the colour so decided to sand it down and gave it another coat of paint! Oh well, I'll know not to do that again! lol

The rectangle, square, ovals and hearts are all chipboard frames painted with Blonde Moments metallic paints, overstamped with Judikins Artefacts cube stamp (the 'stone' effect) and then heat embossed. It gives a lovely looking texture to the frames. They are filled with clear UTEE to give them a 'glass' look! The other rectangles and squares are stampboard, these were bits I was trying out and made a total mess of! lol, so I just triple embossed and stamped into while the powder was still hot, again using the Artefacts cube. There are a couple of alcohol inked pieces on there as well.
All the images are from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Romance cd rom! I adore that cd! Soooo useful for sooo many things!

Here's the 'before' shot!

Thanks for looking in

Take care everyone

Jackie xx

Mixed media collage canvas.

2010-03-02T18:53:00.004Z

Well what can I say! I've been playing today! Not really sure if I like this or not but I suppose it's not too bad considering it's my first attempt!!

I bought a pack of papers from a charity shop yonks ago and knew they would come in handy sometime! They are great, there's a copy of an old Exchange and Mart, old receipts, cigarette cards, catalogues advertising the mod cons of the day etc! All fascinating stuff!!

Anyway, I tore up the Exchange and Mart, Distressed it using Brushed Corduroy Distressing ink and then overstamped it with a pocket watch stamp from the 'Time and Keys' themeplate from The Artistic Stamper, then brushed over the stamped images with Gold Perfect Pearls. I then stuck the whole thing down onto an 8 x 8 canvas using the Golden range Gel medium!

I tore a couple of pages from the advertising catalogue distressed them using Brused Corduroy ink and Fired Brick, then stuck the little 'family portrait' on top, which is actually a 'cigarette card' and a sizzix diecut frame, which I distressed and the added some Crackle Accents to give it an 'old photograph' look!

The pocket watch is stamped and alcohol inked, then stuck down, I used Glossy Accents to give it a 'glass face'. I cannibalised an old hanging mobile for the chain and added a gold button to finish off! The Tag is just Distressed with Brushed Corduroy and Fired Brick inks, overstamped with a pocketwatch stamp, brushed with Perfect Pearls. I used alchol ink on an old key I had in my craft stash and stuck it to the tag.

The bottom left picture is a cigarette card, distressed and painted over with Crackle Accents. The top card is alcohol inked over but I added acrylic fragments to highlight the tins of 'polish'. The cutlery is actually little brass charms I've had stashed away for yonks!! I alcohol inked over them to tone them down a little and they just match perfectly!

It's the first time I've tried anything like this before and I'm quite surprised with the result! It certainly does have a lot of character though.

Thanks for looking in and apologies for the rather long posting tonight.

Take care

Jackie x

Simple Distressed Tags

2010-02-28T07:49:00.002Z

I Purchased Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities TSV from QVC last week and it arrived on Saturday, so I couldn't wait to have a little play and try out some of his techniques!

This is just a simple set of tags, I wanted to start small incase I fluffed things up!

Anyway, the tags are plain white, which I Distressed with the Brushed Corduroy ink that came in the pack, the stamps are 'What cats say' from Elusive Images and are stamped in Fired Brick Distressed Ink from my own stash. I brushed over the stamped images with Gold Perfect Pearls that also came in the kit!

I must admit to really liking this technique and now I know how to do it properly it will certainly be used more often from now on!

I'm so pleased I bought that book, because even though this style may not be for everybody I'm finding the more I look at what's in my craft stash the more I see that what I do have can be adapted! The book is a wonderfull compendium of ideas and inspiration...and that's the whole point.

So I'm going to have another play today and see if I can put together something a bit more special, I have a couple of ideas that I would try out!

Thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

Joanna Sheen mixed media canvas!

2010-02-27T00:23:00.003Z

This is the first time I've tried anything like this and I'm quite pleased with the end result, the only thing I'm not happy with is the colour! It's too pink! But that's maybe because I'm not really a 'pink person'!

Anyway, I painted the background randomly with acrylic paint, sprayed it with Pink Glimmer mist and then stamped Joanna Sheen's perfume bottles and evening dresses in Red Brick Distressed ink! I stamped the square perfume bottle with Stazon onto acetate and then glittered it from behind! While that was drying I used the Frame sizzix die and stippled it with paint, then sprayed it with glimmer mists, I cut the photo to fit the frame and then stuck it down onto the canvas, stuck the frame on top then just 'dotted' some Clear Stickles Glitter Glue and rubbed it over the frame with my finger.

The little heart in the top corner is done using the 'waste' from the die cut frame, I added some little gems, Flora Doodles and a bow to finish it off. I also highlighted the text and frame using a pink Stardust Sakura pen!

This piece is waaay different from what I normally do and I must admit to having some serious fun doing this! In fact I think I'll give it to my mum for mothers' day as she is the one in the photo with Joanna, it was taken at Graphicus open day in december las year, and I took her along for her birthday! She got to meet Joanna and Glenda so that really made her day!

Thanks for looking in

Take care everyone

Jackie x

Beaded Earrings and matching ring.

2010-02-02T11:42:00.003Z

Just finished these to match the charm bracelet and necklace I did earlier! now I have a complete set!!

The ring was really simple, just beads threaded onto 1" headpins then attatched to the loops on the ring with jump rings.

The Earring were done in much the same way. 2" black Eye pins threaded with various beads and attatched onto earwires with jump rings. The heart charms were actually silver so I coloured them black using promarkers!

It took me half an hour to this little set, so it's very quick and simple, and if you've got the stuff handy, a great idea for that "last minute gift" lol.

Take care and thanks for looking in

Jackie x

Eclectic charm pendant!

2010-02-01T13:16:00.005Z

Here is the pendant that I made to match the charm bracelet! And this has turned out much better than I expected, because I was just experimenting with some ideas and techniques so wasn't really sure what the end result would be.

Anyway, the base of the pendant is a chipboard rectangle which I have triple embossed and while the embossing powder was still hot I stamped into it with a crackle background stamp! The big black coil is just some spare wire I had lying around, I wrapped it loosely around a pencil then joined it by twisting the ends together, making a loop at the end. I made some glass bead charms and attatched them to the coil using some fine garden wire!

I made little coiled springs by just wrapping some black wire tightly round a pencil and looping the ends. I added more charms to the coils to give me more of a 'dangle'! I punched holes and added eyelets to finish off, and then just attatched everything using jump rings and added some faux leather cord.

I am really pleased with the end result of this, it has a slight 'industrial' look to it and it's very VERY different!

Thanks for looking in,

Take care everyone

Jackie x

Eclectic Charm Bracelet

2010-01-30T15:59:00.002Z

I've been playing with my jewellery stash today and came up with this very eclectic charm bracelet! I do love this, just a mix and match of lots of different 'stuff' I had lying around in my jewellery making bag!

I had some spare fine black chain left over from another project, I wove it through the links of the bracelet and and then added some charms I'd made using head pins and some glass beads. I found a couple of charms that I'd bought yonks ago and couldn't think of what to do with, the Celtic knot and the Feather, I also used some 'japanese' coins for charms as well. The big charm in the middle is actually a 'twist off' beer bottle cap, I just put some seed beads and some gems in the bottom then 'filled' it with UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel)melted the UTEE and Bob's your uncle! A funky charm for the bracelet!

It's a bit different, but then that's what I like.

Take care everyone and thanks for looking in.

Jackie x

Inspirational mini book

2009-12-29T12:18:00.010Z

I made this mini book for a friend of mine who is struggling a bit in life just now.
I thought the words of the 'Don't Quit' poem were perfect for this situation.

I used two sheets of Basic Grey scrapbook paper for the backing on all the pages, which are actually the 'backing' from those brown envelopes that contain 'special craft papers'! I then set about embellishing them, I coloured the verses of the poem with Pro markers and then just stuck them down and embellished the corners.

I stamped straight onto the backing papers of the 'inside' pages with some of my favourite stamps, mostly from Elusive Images, except the 'Time' page, these stamps are from The Artistic Stamper. I coloured them using Inktense watercolour pencils.....and I just love the lovely subtle muted effect this had...it's very 'vintage' looking.

Believe it or not but I DID try NOT to make this very girlie, as my friend is a bloke...looks like I've failed a bit in places though .....but I think he will love it because of the lovely words and sentiments.

Thank you for looking in and I hope you all have a safe and prosperous New Year.

Take care everyone,

Jackie x

plain and simple Christmas Card

2009-12-22T10:39:00.002Z

A very plain, simple and quick card here. I do love the 'tone on tone' look.

I used copper coloured card and the lace tree cuttlebug folder, just mounted it onto some copper coloured mirri board and that was it! Told you it was quick and simple. lol.

Anyway, sending best wishes to you all for a wonderful and safe Christmas break.

Take care everyone, and thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

more butterflies.....

2009-12-20T19:10:00.004Z

This is exactly the same as the purple one but only in a different colour. I think this is so 'soft' and elegant and I do love the colour of this.

The butterflies are stamped and embossed in white onto vellum, then coloured from behind using promarkers. I love the effect they have given, very 'transluscent' and quite subtle too.

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Flutterby Butterfly...

2009-12-19T19:53:00.003Z

This is a Christmas present for my sister-in-law who is an art teacher! Eeeks!! I just HAD to get this right! And I must admit I LOVE the end result! Am I pleased with myself or what!

Anyway, I used Elusive Images Patchwork Butterfly unmounted themeplate along with backing papers from the Artylicious Fantasy Floral cd rom. I do adore this stamp set....there is a humongous butterfly on there that will be great done on shrink plastic!! Can't wait to have a play with that one!!

The Butterfies are coloured using the Inktense watercolour pencils, which are a must have! I was really pleased with the colouring on this as I don't really do a lot of watercolours because I tend to struggle a bit, anyway thank you all for looking, and here's hoping my sis-in-law likes this gift!

Take care everyone,

Jackie x

Exploding Blooms box.

2009-11-30T09:10:00.003Z

This is a commissioned piece for one of the ladies at my son's karate club. It's for her mum's birthday. The brief was "something flowery"!

I haven't used these templates for a while so thought I'd do something a little bit different for her. The templates are Wendie Rhodes Exploding blooms, and they are just lovely!

I used Joanna Sheen's Perfume Bottles rubber stamps, and stamped and embossed them in white, and just added a white bow and some peel-offs to finish things off. I think this piece will go down really well, as it is really quite pretty and girlie. I'm really pleased with the end result too.

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Joanna Sheen Decoupage

2009-11-29T10:45:00.002Z

This is a Birthday Card for my mum. I used Joanna Sheen's Decoupage Botanical 1 set for this. I do like this image, very soft and it was also an excuse to do something green, which I very seldom do because I struggle somewhat with Green.

Anyway, I'm not too sure I like it, maybe I should have used the gold peel offs on the decoupage page instead of the small flowers. It just doesn't look 'quite right' to me. Never mind, we live and learn, sadly it's too late to change it now, I've got such a busy week ahead that I just won't have the time to do another one.

I also used the Glitter Girls Tall Stories board for this, which I must admit to having had for ages and seldom used, suppose this card was as good an excuse any! lol.

The 'best wishes' tag was made with the Eazi-Score Mandalla board, which I adore because it has sooo many different uses!
Take care and thanks for dropping by,

Jackie x

2009-11-18T10:46:00.003Z

Apologies for the lack of blogging recently, but life has just got in the way of things just now.

Anyway, I made this ATC gift pack using instructions from the Inside secrets of a Scoreboard book by Eazi-Score Phylis. I also used some of the Elusive Images stamps for some of the phrases and also the decoration on the pack as well as some backing papers from the Artylicious Filgree Fusion cd.

I haven't made atc's in such a long time so I really enjoyed tryoing these out again.

Thanks for dropping by

Take care

Jackie x

Cuddly Buddly Flip Flop Book

2009-10-12T16:20:00.002+01:00

I saw this design on the internet the other night while browsing due to the fact that I couldn't sleep, so thought I'd give it a try. I'm quite pleased with the results and it wasn't quite as complicated as I thought it would be.

Basically, you just punch four sides of the 6x6 cover with the bind it all, then just add the pages so they 'close' on top of one another at right angles instead of like an ordinary book, if you get my meaning. Hopefully the pictures give you an idea of how it's done.

It took me two days but that was mainly due to the colouring and cutting out.

Anyway here's what was used in the making of it:

Giggle Gang stamps, Kyle Emmy and Charley.

Cuddly Bits Daisy Patch rubber stamp.

Large Doily Frame stamp.

Peppy downloadable backing papers in Cornflower/Blue.

Marvy La Plume Brush Markers

Bind-It-All 6x6 cover (1)

Bind-It-All 6x6 pages (4)

White 'O' Wires

Ribbons.

Thanks for looking in,

Take care everyone

Jackie x

Re-Use and Recycle!

2009-10-09T21:06:00.003+01:00

This project started life as a tin of peas!!!

I was getting so fed up of trying to rummage my containers for some of my smaller tools that decided to do something about it instead of buying yet another container!

I measured a sheet of glossy card, then inked it up using Tim Holtz Alcohol inks. The letters you see spell the word 'STUFF' and are from a small chipboard alphabet set, I embossed them with gold embossing powder, glued them around the tin and just added some other bits and pieces I had lying around on my craft table.

I'm quite pleased with this, because now I don't need to go 'a huntin' for the tools I need and can see them at a glance.

Thanks for looking in, take care

Jackie x

Wooden 'Book' Box!

2009-10-08T19:56:00.006+01:00

Another project for Cuddly Buddly! And I must say I had loads of fun with this!

It's a fantastic little wooden box shaped like a book......so it's just perfect for stashing away all those little secret things that us females like to do....lol.

Anyway, I painted the box with Adirondac Acrylic paint in Terracotta, then stamped the Cuddly Buddly Daisy patch corners round the edge in gold, then heat emnbossed. I also distressed the cover with Tim Holtz distress ink in Fired Brick, but sadly the photo doesn't show it very clearly, but it looks like the 'book' has been handled a lot. I painted the 'pages' with a Sakura Chisel point marker in gold to hopefully make them look like they were edged in gold. I turned out not too bad and also looks like it's an old boook and had a bit of a hard life!

I Used the Peppy downloadable backing papers in cornflower and peach for the inside covers and for the sweet little card and ATCs. I stamped the Giggles gang, Kyle, Emmy and Charley then coloured them using Marvy La Plume brush markers, I also used the Daisy patch 'bits' stamp and stamped it multiple times to get the cluster of Daisies. I tied them all up in a little bundle with some lovely ribbon and hid them away inside the 'box'

The alphabet used for the 'title' of the book is one I have had in my craft stash for absolute yonks! In fact I've had it sooo long that I can't remember where it came from or who it's from, but it just seemed to 'fit' the project perfectly.

I modelled this 'book' on one I'm in the middle of reading just now actually, it's an old leatherbound one that I got from someone and it too has had a bit of a hard life.

Take care everyone and Thank You for looking in

Jackie x

Cuddly Buddly notebook mini album!

2009-10-06T09:55:00.005+01:00

This project started out as a bare naked chipboard notebook, but you know me.....I just can't leave things alone and just HAD to do something with it......so....I used the Cuddly Buddly digi download Peppy papers in peach and cornflower to cover the front, back and inner pages.

I used The Giggles Gang stamp range, Emmy sitting, Kyle with flower, and Charley, along with the CuddlyBits Daisy patch stamp and also the Large Doily frame stamp. I coloured the 'kids' using Marvy La plume art markers as I seem to be the only one on the planet that DOESN'T own a set of promarkers yet!

I used some lovely ribbons to embellish the binder and also stamped and coloured the kids onto shrink plastic to make some cute little 'charms'.

I really did enjoy doing this project and as you can see it is ongoing as I can't seem to remember what safe place I put the rest of the 'baby pictures' in....as usual...lol.

Take care everyone and thanks for looking in

Jackie x

My first Cuddly Buddly project....

2009-10-06T09:36:00.004+01:00

I made this dinky little photo frame using the Cuddly Buddly Large Doily frame rubber stamp and the digi download Peppy Backing papers in peach and Cornflower, I stamped onto two different papers and then partially stamped the bow to match the bottom layer, I just cut them out, glued them all together and then added the photo to the back, I then made a little 'leg' for the frame to make it stand up better.

I'm quite pleased with this little project and to be honest it had loads of uses and would make great little gifts.

Oh yes, that little boy is now 15 and standing five foot six inches tall!! He'll be mortified with this photo, but I love it. lol.

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

My first big Crochet piece!

2009-09-28T19:28:00.003+01:00

I've not long learned the very basics of crochet! I bought a book of 'blocks' and I'm so glad i did really, because all the blocks range from the very basic to the very complicated!

This is just a basic 'Granny Square' that just grew and grew! So absolutley nothing complicated about it! I'm really pleased with it becuase it goes with my new bedroom decor perfectly and it'll go on my computer chair to hide the humongous hole in the fabric!!

Thanks for looking in

Jackie x

2009-09-28T18:53:00.005+01:00

I received my very first blog award at the weekend and would like thank Clare for passing it on.

The award comes with the conditions that I reveal five of my favourite things and then pass it on to five blogs that have inspired me.....so if your'e ready....here goes!

Five of my fave things:

1: Watching my teenage son compete in karate competitions! such a difficult thing to do and just so very brave! he's my hero! and he'll be mortified with me for saying that) lol.

2: Crafting of any kind!!

3: Reading! Books, magazines even store catalogues! Anything to get inspiration!

4: My cat!

5: Coffee! I drink waaaaay too much of the stuff!

And now for my five most inspiring blogs.

Wendy

Ali

Suzanne

Cynthia

Jak

I hope you've enjoyed some of inspriational blogs and just having a wee peek into my slightly mad world!

Take care and thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

2009-09-26T21:20:00.002+01:00

I'm in need of some 'techy' help please......I'm trying ti figure out how to post links without having having to post the whole line address....if you get what I mean....any help would be appreciated...Thanks in advance

Jackie x

Wedding card with a difference!

2009-09-12T21:58:00.003+01:00

Again I must apologise for the lousy photography! Sadly the flas bleached out these picutres as well. David Bailey I'm not!!

This is a card for the karate couple I mentioned in my previous post! It's a bit different!

I used the Sizzix Bigz XL Cube die, and cut it out using White tapestry card.

All the embellishments are done using the Keepsake boards.

The Wedding bells are from the Bookatrix board, and I put them through the big shot using the Swirls cuttlebug folder.

The Scalloped heart is from the White Celebrations board, as is the horseshoe.

The top layer is done using the little hearts from the Eazi-Score scoreboard, and I added their initials to the hearts, I also used that handy little book stamp I was talking about in my previous post.

i finished things off with wome peel-offs and vairous other bits and pieces from my cradt stash.

I only hope they don't mind getting a slightly 'different' wedding 'card'.

Thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

Weddings Galore!

2009-09-12T21:42:00.003+01:00

This is a commission for one of the 'karate' ladies, a couple who go to the karate are getting married next friday so this was kind of rushed as Tuesday is the only day we'll see them before the wedding, and there's no karare next friday so my son will be pleased....he can get a friday night in for a change....lol..

Anyway, the flash really 'bleached' out this photo I'm afraid, as the base layer for the bookatrix is actually done with gorgeous white tapestry card, I have made heart embellishments from the keepsake 'tall stories' board using the little scalloped hearts and put their initials on.

The second page is done in a similar style this Time I used the White Celebrations boards wine glasses.

And the main page is again using the Celebrations board for the hearts, which I glittered using clear Stickles, and the 'book' is a rubber stamp that I've had in my stash for ages, and it has come in extrememley handy!

Sorry the picture doesn't really do this csrd justice.

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Chipboard pendant, charm bracelet and earring set.

2009-09-10T18:08:00.005+01:00

First of all many apologies for the quality of the photograph! My flash refused to fire because of the lights on my craft units, and then then the light caught the paint effect on the heart so you can't really see the colours.

Anyway, This is a commissioned piece, and the brief was 'girly pink and lilac'.

I used some chipboard hearts that I've had in my stash for ages, painted it pale pink and then gently sponged the edges with lilac using Twinkling H2Os. I used Clear Stickles for the little heart, and finished off with some pearly doodles. Covered the holes with eyelets and then added a funky bead charm to the bottom of the heart, it's hung on a lilac cord.

The charm bracelet took a wee while as I made all the charms myself, they are just differnt types of glass beads in pink and lilac. The Earrings are again charms I made and hung from Earwires. Quite simple really, but I think I've achieved the 'brief'.

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Alcohol inks!

2009-09-10T18:00:00.004+01:00

As you can see I kind of got carried away with my Alcohol Inks! lol

I decided to give my trusty little heat gun a funky new make-over!

First of all I gave the whole thing a light sanding, then just went nuts with the inks, it's certainly different, and I wasn't really sure what results I would get.

Oh yes! And one other thing.......it matches my newly decorated bedroom! lol

Thanks for looking in,

Jackie x

All out bling!!

2009-09-08T14:01:00.003+01:00

Well this bracelet is really over the top! I originally made this as a christmas present for my niece but I loved it sooooo much that I kept it for myself!! lol.

Anyway, it's a realy fun and funky piece and I just love it! I've worn it a few times and it's always been admired.

Thanks for looking in,

Take care

Jackie x

Funky Jewellery

2009-09-08T13:51:00.003+01:00

I've had the 'stuff' for these pieces for ages and never got round to doing anything with it. It's the first time I've worked with chain so wasn't really sure how it would turn out, so I'm really pleased with the end results!

Here's a close up of the detail....

This set is just for me!! As I adore the 'gunmetal' look, and the colour change beads and crystals really set it alight! I think it has a bit of a 'gothic' feel to it, maybe it's just the colours, anyway, Thanks for looking in.

Take care all,
Jackie

Chipboard 'waste' photo frame!

2009-09-03T12:06:00.005+01:00

From this..........

.....to this....

I've had these chipboard sheets of shapes for a while now so thought it was time I had a play. While I was looking through the sheets some of the shapes were falling out and i thought the sheets had some interesting shapes to play around with.

This is the end result and it happened purely by accident really, I had laid down the 'empty' sheet down on top of some photos I was having a look through....and ...well....the rest is history!

So I got to work playing around with some finishes so here's what I did.

First of all, I painted the whole empty sheet with the Blonde Moments Acrylic paint in Metallic Copper, then I alcohol inked over the top of that, I used my old faithful crackle background stamp to over stamp the whole thing. I quite like that look really, it seems ato add a wee bit of texture.

I then glued around three sides of the frame leaving the top open to be able to slot in the photograph, I painted some of the shapes in acrylic paint and stamped over the top of those with the crackle background stamp.Then glued them onto the spaces they came from slightly mismatching them to add a bit of interest.

Here are pictures of the detail...

I just attatched some ribbons with oversized paperclips and little mini bulldog clips for a bit of decoration.

So there you go....something a tad different for the living room!

Thanks for looking in,

Takce care

Jackie x