And finally.....

My final two designs...the method is the same as previously described, one is embossed and sanded back, with the other being embossed with versamark and embossing powder. All the beautiful papers are from the CD's, and work so well with my Eco paints. Adorn everything with ribbons, flowers and gems and you can not fail to make something beautiful.

there's more...number 4

Again part of the little bird embellishments. This one was painted, again with my fav Eco paints, then embossed with the spellbinders embossing folder. I brushed my paint over the image to give it that wonderful aged look. I attached the wing on with Pinflair so I could get a little movement.

You know the rest!! Papers, flower and the lovely ribbons were all via Nikky. A little detail with the drawing pen finishes everything off.

Hope you manage to tune in to see Nikky on Ideal World and C&C - TODAY!!!

and no 3!!

More of those amazing shapes. Again, watch out for Nikky on Create and Craft on Wednesday and Thursday. Lots of idea's and brilliant tips and techniques.

I love these dress making thingies (I'm actually writting this rather late so my brain will not work and I'm not pushing it to!!). Now these are in heavy card so great with the spellbinders embossing folders. I used my eco paints first, then dabbed my embossing folder with versamark. Not heavy, or you'll versamark all the detail, you only want to cover the top of the pattern. Now emboss the image then add clear embossing powder. This should just stick to tbe embossed part of the image, so when you melt the powder you get a variation of glaze and mat. To age my dress I simply used a cheap bathroom sponge and picked up my paint which i gently dragged over the top.

In the sewing pack you get a bobbin, which I painted, embossed then just aged with paint, then wrapped rope round. All my papers and sentiment where from Nikkys CD, and I raided her button box and ribbon stash for the lovely embellishments.

Harrogate samples...2

This time I used Nikkys CD's for the paper and sentiments, but I combined this with an embellishment Nikky has brought in (which you need to keep your eye out for appearing on C&C very soon......maybe!!!).

These are very cool, they are the same as the book I was working with - different shapes and textures in each pack, making you experiment!

This little bird pack has felt, thick cardboard and acetate. I used the Letraset Alcohol Inks to colour the bird and his wing. I heat set the ink and allowed the wing to bend with the heat gun and keep it's shape, which I rather liked with the bird image. I stamped using my staz-on with some of Nikky's word stamps (make sure you stamp on the opposite side to the one you applied the alcohol inks too). Attach the wing with pinflair, and cover the adhesive with a gem.

I used some of the papers from the CD's to do my mat and layering, my flowers and leaves. I used the Weathered Wood distress ink to colour tint, and of course spellbinders to create my shape.

You can visit Nikkys web site for her CD's and the wonderful shapes, and mine for the distress inks.

Harrogate, crafty samples...

Thank you to everyone who came to see us all at Harrogate. I had a great time with Nikky, and of course - as ever, it was such a pleasure to meet everyone. I loved it when someone said, "ah it's our Leonie". It's a very nice feeling. And of course, thank you to all the kind folk who fed us...I only eat cake during the day!! Not sure if that's a recommended diet, but felt damn fine from where I was sitting.

Now then, working for Nikky meant I got to play with nice stuff, and I remembered to take photo's, s so over the next few days I will pop on what I was up to.









This first one is one of the images from one ok Nikky's CDs. When you print them out you have plenty of space to cut out using your spellbinders, which is perfect if you want something that looks good, but easy! The CD's all have a great collection of papers, and I must admit as I was print happy, I mixed and matched over a few CD's (that's the nice thing, you can mix and match pretty easily).

I embossed some one the printed folder using one of the new spellbinders double sided embossing folders (beautiful, coming up on my web site in the next few days). I then sanded this back a little to give it that lovely aged effect. I matted and layered, and used another piece of printed paper, just cut into a strip and scrunched up. I popped a bit on the left and a little on the right, so it acted as a faux ribbon. I placed some real ribbon (this is from Nikky, and very scrummy) next to it for added texture.

Paper flowers are easy, but so effective. Using the same papers I printed off for my mat and layering, I cut circles then inked the back with the Tattered Rose Distress Ink (which I also used to edge my image and my layers). This made the paper slightly wet, and even more effective for making wonderful distressed flowers. I cut my spiral into the circles, then scrunched the circle before coiling it round. I use the Crafty Notions glue in the centre of my flowers - this holds in seconds, so makes the flowers a breeze to complete. The scrunching made the flowers bend and twist a little when I coiled, giving them movement.

More ribbon, again just beautiful (again from Nikky). This time in a big decadent bow. I tied one of the sprigs of gems onto the knot before I tied the ribbon, so the ribbon would hide the wire, then positioned the gems when the ribbon was stuck in place.

Now, I didn't make one "proper" card. These could be toppers of course, but I'm rather getting into framing my work and making them more into home decor gifts rather than cards. When you make something that looks this lovely, with all those beautiful embellishments - get it on the wall!!
xx

Almost time....

for the show at Harrogate. Very excited. I realised when I had sussed out my printer that it is marvellous, and the stuff Nikky puts on her CD's are fabulous - and you can access them if you have a mac. The only problem is I wanted to print out everything, I had to be very good with myself, and show restraint.

Now, I didn't get one third of the stuff done that I wanted to do, it's so frustrating. These few pages took literally hours. I'm happy with them, but I want more!
Nikky has got some brilliant new books and embellishments. The books have loads of different textural pages, so you can get creative. These are a few of the ones I managed to complete:



This is the cover. I simply covered it with one of the papers from the CD, added ink and pearl paint, and the word Joy. Easy start, still took an age!!

The next one was the most fun..the page is a felt, so I sewed my paper pocket to the page (and did the same on the other side of the page so I wasn't just going to see any stitches). I used one of the brilliant embellishments Nikky will have at the show, which I embossed with the new spellbinders embossing folders (soon to appear on my web site, they are lovely), painted it then used gleams to enhance the embossing. I used two layers of Nikky's papers to make the dress. I made a tag, added lots of crinkle edge ribbon, buttons and a little glitter. The scissors are also out of the embellishment packs, and all I added was a little of the gold gleams to give them a shine.

Harrogate at the weekend!!!

And I've not had as much chance to do prep as I wanted. Tuesday was such a frustrating day, it was 4pm before I knew what was happening. However, inbetween my rushing around I wanted to show you this background effect, using the Tim Holtz tumbled glass stain cover the page and dry. Swipe the picket fence stain over the top, then lay a circles mask over the top of this when you have let it dry a little. Dab the blue stain through the mask, then move the mask, allow to dry a little, replace the mask and dab the picket fence through. The colours merge together in a sort of controlled, but free fashion. I really had fun playing with them, really glad I got them for the web site, I had been holding out to make sure I NEEDED them (you know the drill)....I have now concluded I do indeed need them. Phew.

Cardmaking and Papercrafts Magazine...prepping

Every month I do a project for the mag and thought id share my card before it goes in the post.

I love the silhouette figures we have in stock, they are really dramatic, and look brilliant teamed up with acetate.

Acetate only needs a little to make it look good, stamping with white staz-on is the perfect finishing touch. Of course I have all that new ribbon in stock so it means I have to use it on ALL my projects doesn't it!! mmmmm, ribbon......

Phil n me

As promised, the lovely phil with me at the NEC....had a brilliant time, it's just a big social gathering with lots of crafting goodies. How good does that sound. They even have a bar!!! Obviously didn't visit that during our working hours.



- thank you for popping along and having a read, Leonie

Fiskars design team!!

Well, I am hoping that the above card, with instructions, has been posted to the Fiskars blog - I'm very very rubbish on computers and poor Clare will confirm they make me swear. Like, really swear. Once I get the knack with somat, I'm fine, but before that it's computers out the window time!! Anyhow, fingers crossed you should be able to find the full instructions here:

http://www.fiskarettes.co.uk/

And here's a few photo's of the card at various stages. The paint I have used for this and many projects has arrived today and will be on my web site in the next few days. The Tim Holtz ruler, gleams, ribbon and the enamel accents are already there for you to have a look and maybe treat yourself, check those and plenty more out here:

www.leoniepujol.co.uk

here's a few more photo's of the card in stages on assembly:

The GOSH bake off

You gotta do your bit, right!! So today was my first day of juicing, I bought this (and much more!):


....however today at work they have the bake off to raise money for gosh, so of course I had to help out, and bought this:



I'm doing more than my fair share by buying more cakes than humanly possible to devour (puh), and it's so obvious which looks more appealing. Damn those refined sugar chocolatey icing covered wonders.

Juicing, yep that'll be tomorrow!

- thank you for popping along and having a read, Leonie