Christmas decorations

Eeek, we have a tree!! Really excited this year. We're going to have our little decorating evening on Thursday with mince pies, mulled wine and Christmas songs. This year mum has been making little felt Xmas decorations - which she wrapped up all prettily for me, and teela Mai (full name...you know it's bad) unwrapped them with her teeth!! Luckily she didnt damage any of the decorations, just shredded the paper. It's one of her favourite things! 

Look...they all survived:

They've got little pockets in the front - great for little treats :)

Frosty days - and home visits

Evening all. Well, what a marvellous morning we were treated to today, it was nice and crispy - with the leaves looking like they have been outlined with a quickie glue pen and dusted with iridescent glitter. Love it. The dogs were pretty happy with it as well.

Managed to get lots done today, visited gran, met up with one of my buddies for a natter, dress fitting for the bridesmaid dresses, and now it's finish the bags for maz, and get her tags designed. Serif, thank god for serif!! Last minute panics just don't need to happen if you have this little beauty on your computer!! 

The little town I was born and bred in seems to be getting worse. The shops are pretty pathetic, and so many look so mucky and run down. It's such a shame. There are a few really trying though, so tomoz I recon I should help support them and buy some new clothes!! Damn fine excuse to shop.

Right, tag and bag time. I'll share a photo of our lovely walk :)

Cheeky dog!!!

Christmas here we come!!

I can always tell Christmas is really on it's way when everyone slaps on a nightie, rollers and lippy...I say everyone, I just mean Dave! Haha. I'm not letting to much away as yet, all I'll say is wait for the new Christmas video, it should be a bit of a giggle.

I'm gonna pop on my hours for next week, hope you can tune in:

Wednesday: 8am needlecraft

10am tonic

1pm tonic

3pm surprise :)

Thursday

8am surprise

10am needlecraft

11am tonic

Friday

8am papercraft

10am Papercraft

12pm POW

Saturday 1pm POW

4pm surprise

6pm Papercrsft

7pm surprise

Sunday

2pm Papercrsft

4pm pow

6pm POW

7pm papercraft

 

Favour bags and crimbo films

It's Christmas!! I've got Scrooge on the telly, and I'm crafting the favour bags for my sisters wedding, with lovely sticks of cinnamon, so the smell and the films are completely Christmassy. My step dad is even going to get us mince pies and cream!! Whoop whoop. Love it.

I have concluded I should have come up with a quicker design for the bags, they're taking ages. Tell you what, if anyone leaves them at the end of the meal I'll be collecting them back - no way any of these are going to waste.

I've been mat and layering, then tying ribbon, balls and cinnamon onto them. Marianne choose the photos, so they'll act as favour bags as well as place settings.

Love the set up for the dogs as well, looks like Dylan's harem!

Oekaki sewing

Eventually, the machine has been plugged in!! Myself and my lovely friend Dee, had a crafty play day. It was so good to chill out and just play. And gossip, of course!! 

It felt a mission to learn how to get the machine up and going - this is not because the machine is in any way confusing, just simply down to me and my extreme impatience. I'm rubbish at just reading instructions - however when we had got it up and running - what a sense of achievement. 

We had a play, and got used to the feel of the machine with normal stitches, but then got onto the free motion stitching -

which is what I'm really interested in.

It feels really weird at first, and you don't trust yourself. After a while, and just "scribbling" with the machine, your confidence does grow. Need more goes to really master it, but love it!!

Happy workshop days

I'd just like to say thank you to Helen and the lovely ladies who joined me on my workshop at Craftstation. We had a lovely day, and I only over ran by a couple of hours!! Oops. I'm so sad Im not able to do anymore workshops for you ladies, I've loved every single one, and it's really upsets me that I'm no longer able to share my craftyness with you. However, I'm definitely going to come up and visit and attend one of Helen's wonderful workshops...it'll be nice coming along to learn and play for a change :)

For those of you who didn't join us at the weekend - this is the project we got stuck into:

It's a lovely frame from twiddleybitz, which we decorated with Eco paints and then stamped. We stamped in black first, painted the ivy very roughly, and then over stamped using gold glitter embossing powder, this gives a lovely shadow effect, and allowed us to paint the leaves without being to precise or finicky! 

I printed the sentiment from the computer, which we mat and layered up, then used some creative expressions stamps to start to layer up or decoration within the frame. I cut some leaves using a sizzix die, and used beautiful satin ribbon from May Arts. I love the burlap/jute cord, it gives it a real homely touch.

We added gold flakes around the frame.

If, like me, you think this looks a little to much, add more paint which will knock the bling back! 

Finally we added some clear wax from the Annie Sloan paint range, this really gives it a professional finished look.

I hope you like it. 

Okay, off to peruse eBay for some bargains, teelamai needs a new winter coat (bet I just end up with a pair of shoes...for me not the dog :)).

C&c dates and times for the week

Howdy crafters, how are you? Firstly I must thank everyone who came along to visit Debbi and myself at the weekend. We had such an amazing time, Debbi and dave treated me so well, and it was lovely seeing Pam again, and meeting Dawn. And of course, it was great to see the lovely crafters. Brill fun.

Now, so I can organise myself (!!!!), I'm writing up my dates and times for this week, so I hope you can join me. On Sunday I look forward to seeing some happy faces at the dabble day organised by Kim. 

Thursday: 8am - oekaki

9am - 4 day deal

12pm - lili of the valley

 

Friday 

9am - just docrafts

12pm - POW

3pm - POW

4pm - stamps away

Saturday

10am - papercraft

11am - papercraft

1pm - POW

3pm - sewing 

Sounds like a cracking few days doesn't it. Seeya then :)

Workshop dates!!!

Hi folks, just a quickie to let you know I have another fab workshop weekend planned with our Debbi. Places are limited, so early booking is essential.  If you would like to join us for some crafting, and lots of giggles, then please follow the link.  I look forward to seeing you :)

http://www.debbimoore.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=3967

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.