Home sweet home

Ah, the weekend is over, and what a success. Thank you to everyone who came over and said lovely things. It's so nice to meet the people we are constantly chatting to on the other side of the screen. it really does make our job really special.

Thank you.

I'll 

share another project I was working on. I know a lot of you bought the mdf blanks from c&c on Friday - so it was good to demo stuff we have at work - and get a chance to show you my take on them (and actually have a play - not just look on with envy wanting everything :)).

This one is the little bird house. I painted the base a combination of blue/lilac and greens. Dried it off with my heat gun then stamped using one of the wonderful Wendy vecchi stamps (love em!!). I made a mask for the words and covered them so I could use my dotty mask over the top and apply a layer of texture paste. I was working with the cosmic shimmer pearl gold. I put this aside to dry.

And then worked on the top layer. I painted a layer of light blue. Blast it with the heat gun to dry it off, and then use the plaid mask and apply a layer of clear texture paste. Allow this to dry and then apply a layer of the beautiful blueberry paint (these are the Eco paints). I removed some of the paint from the texture paste to allow the base colour to show through. 

I finished the bird house with a flower, and some extra mdf embellishments. 

Ally pally - day one

Well, day one done and dusted. I love doing these shows...yep I'm knackered and my throat feels like I've been gargling drawing pins, but I love these shows. I love demonstrating properly - something I obviously rarely do on c&c. I love working with all my crafty demonstrator friends and seeing everyone for a catch up and a goss. And of course it's brilliant to see the crafters. There's so many people I recognise each year, who always greet me with smiles, hugs or pressies :) There's loads of new people as well....who either already know me off Qvc and c&c, and love seeing that I do actually do crafting and it's not just me blagging it for the shows. And then, of course, there's folk who have never heard of c&c and haven't a clue who I am....but who go away saying they will tune in!! 

Brilliant show.

And I get to play with seriously ace stuff.

Love the mdf pieces, the stamps and the paints. This is another little piece I did for the show, which I was really chuft with. These are part of the Wendy vecchi art parts collection, which are really cool. I used the cosmic shimmer texture paste and the mask, on the top of a painted background. When the clear paste was dry, I applied a different colour of paint over the top, and then rubbed the top layer of paint off the texture paste. This then allows the first colour to show through. 

I used the cosmic shimmer gold texture paste on the painted wings. Stamped the sentiment and added it to my little bird - and off she flew. 

I hope you can come along tomorrow for more mess and fun xx

Ally pally

Well, another fab weekend ahead, the Ally pally weekend is upon us!! Looking forward to seeing the gang again, having a good giggle, and crafting. And I've got some lovely things to play with. In fact, if you saw hels today, the wonderful mdf blanks she was using? Did you see em? Well, that's what I've got to play with. Hooray. I've attached a couple of pics with one of the plaques I've decorated. 

I didn't have any decorative paper - so I've made my own. Paint and stamps does the trick. The bottom half is a mask and cosmic shimmer dimensional paste. 

The background is a layer of light paint, with a couple of different colours sponged over the top. I love the flowers - they are part of the art part range from Wendy vecchi, with the matching stamps.

I'll share more photos of the weekend. 

A little Bazzil Bling...

Home from a busy day at C&C, and I have actually sat to write my blog as I said I would!!  Hooray.  I will post all the photo's from the Bazzil shows, with basic instructions and products used.  I hope you like them.

The first card I wanted to share was my very simple black bling card.  Because bling is coated with that wonderful sheen on one side, yet the other remains matt, it is perfect for matting and layering and ensuring the colours are the perfect match.  Here, I have used the black bling for the main card, and then for the strip in the centre which I perforated around the edge, with the Tim Holtz ruler.  This is such a simple card, as all I needed to do was add an incredible satin stripe ribbon (this is such a beautiful ribbon), and then two stamped tags (the tags where punched using a EK Success punch).  I finished the card with two flowers from Bazzil, one on top of the other.  The top flower I trimmed down so it sat perfectly in place.  In the centre of the flower I placed a large dazzler.

Use your drawing pen to add dots and dashes - and then glossy accents over the word stamps, to give them a glossy finish.

Simple, clean and effective.

Spellbinding jewellery

Now, I can't remember if I've already posted photo's of my spellbinders jewellery - so I'll start by saying sorry if I have.  I did have a look back over some posts, but couldn't find it - so fingers crossed it'll be new and different.

It goes without saying I love the bezels spellbinders brought out recently.  Team these up with the clear drying resin and you have an amazing jewellery making kit (the resin is made easy to handle in the way it's been brought to us - a double barrel syringe with the two part resin in separate tubes, but applied at the same time in the correct quantity).  The resin is known as Ice Resin.

Saying that, when I did my necklaces I didn't have the resin at the time - so used my melt pot. With the flower chain, I made my flower from one of my spellbinders dies and dipped it into my melting pot with clear UTEE.  I placed paper into the bezel, using the matching spellbinders die to cut the exact circle so it fits perfectly.  I used embellishments, and also an chain which were all held into place with the UTEE when I filled the bezel.  

The face was made in the same way, but I made the face first using one of the wonderful silicone moulds.  I added mica flakes and strips of mica sheet which looks brilliant when encased in the UTEE, as it catches the light.  Again, everything is encased with UTEE and held in place.  The UTEE cools solid and makes a really substantial piece.  

All the above is available on my web site, which unfortunately I have had to close at the moment.  I am really hoping to be able to get it up and running again in the near future, but please keep checking.

In the meantime - have a go at making your own jewellery pieces, it's fantastic fun.

Waxed paper

This is a close up version of the card and samples I made for one of the articles in Cardmaking and Papercrafts.  I wanted to pop the photo's on here so you can see properly how the wax paper works.  It really is fantastic for effects.  On the card, look closely.  The background is actually a wax paper print.  I used a rubber stamp and ironed the wax paper on top of it.  I then ironed the wax paper onto a piece of card.  When you go over the card with your distress inks, the pattern appears.  The wax paper picks up the pattern of the stamp, and then when you transfer the remaining wax, it acts as a resist.  The effect is brilliant, it looks distressed and gives a very different effect than if you used the stamp direct.

You may have seen our John and Ali using wax papers for loads of different techniques - which you will find on their blogs.  Definitely worth checking out:

http://gentlemancrafter.wordpress.com/

http://clevercrafter.blogspot.co.uk/

I had to have a go at their techniques, so here you will see what you get when you screw up your waxed paper (good for those angry days), flatten it out, then iron and distress:

Then pop a piece in your embossing folder, emboss and iron onto your paper.  Distress:

And then, one I actually found myself (along with many folk who just couldn't throw away the pretty wax paper left when you had done your die cutting).  Use your die, cut out the wax paper with the die, and then iron the image onto your card and distress.  I love this one:

Dont they just make lovely backgrounds!  That's just a little bit of wax paper - marvellous.  Make sure you get hold of some, and have a play :)

Altered art by Sarah

I had to share these pics with you from the lovely Sarah Hallam. She had a show yesterday on create and craft, using her stencils - but she had created some amazing altered art pieces. I love altered art, it's on the to do list, so really appreciate seeing things up close, as you can see the depth and detail of the pieces. 

Sarah is thinking about running workshops, definitely something worth looking out for. She's such a talented artist.

Anyhow, without any further ado, here's a few of her pieces:

Double, double, toil and trouble......

Sorry, I'll apologise for my picture quality on this one....bit dodgy.  But to make up for it, we have the lovely Dean!!  Hooray. The last Graphic 45 for the mo, this was one made during the show as well, so a quick and easy card.  I decided what part of the double double paper I wanted to keep in my frame, and used the lattice die to cut it out - inking around the edges of the die whilst it was still in place to emphasise the detail.  The rest was so so simple.  Mat and layer your papers, and use the fantastic pad for your toppers.  I again used the really beautiful satin stripe ribbon that I have on my web site to add a touch of class at the top corner, finished off with the chipboard skull and bones.  

Easy peasy.  We then have our Dean modelling the card :)

We also have a picture of Matt in a fetching all in one number for his birthday (nice Matt, nice).  And Jack hiding behind the camera!  There's then one of me and the dirty floor before it was all changed in studio 2.

A bag full of potions!

In my last post I decorated a candle (which I forgot to add I took bag home and lite - without any bits falling off!!). On air I got chance to decorate a bag.  This is a great way of recycling, you can change a bag you have received - or pick up some cheap blank bags ready to decorate.  I love doing things like this, as they are really handy, but look brilliant.

As I was doing this one live I only decorated one side - if I had been giving this away it would definitely have both sides finished.  I simply layered my papers down first, using a plain orange, and then the cogs paper.  I used some of the line paper to pop on a border at the top and bottom of the paper.  Choose two of your favourite postcards and mat and layer them onto orange card so they stand out when placed onto the decorative paper.  I love the two I picked for this one - the lucky spells can be written on, so you can make up your own spell which reflects the contents of the bag.  Dr. Dreadfull is fantastic, so he was a must!

I finished the bag with the ribbon.  I used a piece of wire to clinch the centre of the ribbon, so it was neat and avoided a bulky knot.  I used one of the chip board pieces to sit in the centre of the ribbon, and again would have given this a glaze with my glossy accents given the time! Once steampunk label and viola - your own bag of wonders and delights.

More spooky goings on....

Quick projects are really easy if you have quality products - so therefore it's got to be Graphic 45.  I used a candle (first one I got my hands on!) and simply cut some papers down.  I used papers around the actual glass - stick them on with a good glue.  I went for the red double sided tape as well as cosmic shimmer pva. I layered a second piece of paper, leaving just a slight black border.  Pick one of the fantastic postcards - I really like the Seymour Bones, so he was going to be the star of my candle.  I trimmed the corner off, so I could attach it to the candle at a jaunty angle.

I wanted to decorate the candle lid as well - as I always put this on when I'm not using the candle.  I just used the lovely satin stripe ribbon, and some of the heavy chipboard embellishments.  I must admit given more time I would have definitely popped glossy accents on the chipboard to give it a shine.  I did add some lovely stickles glitter glue in orange, the perfect finishing touch.

The Graphic 45 pad can be found on the C&C website, the stickles, beautiful black ribbon, glossy accents and glue can be found on mine: www.leoniepujol.co.uk

A little Steampunk spookyness....Graphic 45 style

Love Graphic 45.  Love their designs and quality.  Love working with em.....so when we had the new papers on the POD last week, the only disappointment was not getting enough time to work with them as I would have liked.  If you haven't tried Graphic 45 yet, do give them a go.  The papers are all double sided and they smell and feel wonderful.  The images are always so cool - and being a fan of the spooky and scary, obviously the new Steampunk range is completely up my street.

I managed to make one card.  I used acetate as the pockets are double sided, and what I didn't want to do was hide anything, so the acetate works perfectly (I actually couldn't find any, so had to cut up a packaging box).  I made a pocket from some of the papers on the inside of the card, for the wonderful little postcards.  Again, these are double sided, so you can write on the reverse.

Using papers like this means you need little else but adhesive - and maybe a little ribbon.  Soot black distress ink - or a lovely orange works well.

If you would like the papers please check out the Create and Craft website.  On  my website you will find other Graphic 45 paper packs and the lovely stripe ribbon.

Cut, tuck and fold

Yep, the ones you can not say fast on live TV!!  I really like these dies.  I wasn't really a fan of Lace - mainly because of the time it took to do all the cutting - but I always liked the finished results.  Now, with the knife work done for you, I can love them and do them!  This card, dare I say it again, is really really easy.  Choose card/paper that's double sided, so when you fold you see both sides of the paper - this looks really dramatic.  However, John did a card just using white card with similar dies and it looked amazing.  I used the frame created by the die and then simply layered my two die cuts on top.  Honestly, that's it again.  Ridiculous isn't it.  Finishing touches provided by stickles glitter glue.