A work in progress...

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!

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!

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

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!

 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!

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!!

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