60 DAYS!!! Crafty countrdown....

....60 days!!  Whoop Whoop.  Tonight is a bit of a cheat night - not because I'm off out sipping (!!) the Prosecco - but because I have been mega crafting this week, so fancied a night off, and a dip back into my old craft projects.  I love looking back on my old craft makes, it's reminiscing after all.  Generally we look back at photo's for our memories, but looking back on my crafting definitely reminds of a moment, a place, a feeling.  It's good to keep old craft makes as it also can show you how far you've come - or remind you of a technique you may have forgotten.

Today, I dug out one of my favourite favourites:

I love this stamp.  The first time I used this image, which was basically the same, it was produced by Hampton Arts.  I adored it - and have the wood mounted stamp knocking about somewhere!  It was then reproduced, with a few added bits, by Stampers Anonymous - I think (but don't quote me) it may have been one of the Tim Holtz collections.  I have used it over and over again.

This actual piece was made for one of the demo weekends I did at Ally Pally, with Creative Expressions.  I was demonstrating with Angelina Fibres (again), but wanted to try something different.  Normally the fibres are very shiny - which doesn't appeal to everyone.  I wanted to use the fibres in a alternative way, more grungy.  

I made my sheet of fibres as usual, but then glued it onto my card.  I then used acrylic paint over part of the fibres - making sure I don't cover the full sheet, as I still wanted a bit of that shine coming through.

You get a subtle shine, but you also get the texture.  

Something else I loved about this piece was the flower.  This is made out of grunge paper.  I used a Wendy Vecchi stamp, painted it using acrylic paint, and added to my piece with brads.  It's the perfect finishing touch

I decided to call today "Throwback Friday"....realised it probably should have been Throwback Thursday.....so renamed it Feet-up Friday :)

Have a lovely evening everyone xx

  

Countdown - 69 days to go!

Hooray, day 2 of the countdown, and I've done a post (it would have been bad if I hadn't got to day 2 wouldn't it!).

However, my obsession with Angelina fibres has continued.  Once I get started with them, I don't seem to be able to stop.  And why should I stop, they are fabulous to play with.  

I decided to continue with the technique I showed yesterday, when I made the free standing cone.  This time I dug out a battery operated string of tiny LED lights.  These are already pretty, but I made tiny Angelina cones to fit over each LED light.  I punched two holes in the top of each cone using a hole punch, to thread the wire and lights through each cone.  A twist of the wire at the top of the cone, holds each one in place.  I've had them on a few hours now, and they are perfect:

Angelina fibres only bond to each other, so that means you can "trap" other things in them.  Experiment with this, as it really can change the look of your finished piece.  I created quite a thick sheet of fibres and trapped some silver metal flakes, and some white snow flakes:

Sandwich in between greaseproof paper and iron both sides.

I actually over ironed mine, on purpose of course (!!), you will hopefully see from the photo, the part that isn't burnt shines more than the part that has been over-heated.  However, I still liked the result, so still used it:

I created a thicker sheet as I wanted to die cut the fibres.  If they are fine, a regular die will have trouble cutting them.  The thicker sheet cuts well, but I did add a shim.  I used a lovely die from the Sue Wilson collection, it's the poinsettia collection.  I used the full die set with the angelina fibres, and then with the frame dies I just cut plain white card stock.

Glue them together, and then I popped a brad through the center.  My brads are so old!  These are from a kit I used to have when I worked at QVC.  This is why us crafters don't chuck anything decent away, stuff always comes in handy.  

Cut your ATC card to size, I used red card, then a smaller piece of white card, which I embossed and added a touch of gilding wax.  Glue the poinsettia in place, and then add a little Christmas message.

To finish, I added a little glitter glue.

Two down.......

The countdown!!

70 days to go!! Not that I'm counting - but I've 70 days before I can start work again. February does sound like such a long way away doesn't it...but time does fly, and I will be starting the job before I know it. I thought I would set myself a little challenge and attempt to do a blog post each day - with a finished ATC. At the end of the 70 days I'll give away the ATC's I have made, not sure how yet, but I'll think of something.

I'm allowing myself to "play" with anything. It may be craft stuff that's been in my stash for years, it may be something nice and new. I'll attempt to mix it up.

For my first day I decided to work with wonderful fusible fibres. Angelina fibres have always been a favourite for me, and there's so many ways of using them.

I'm using a pack brought to us by Clarity - look at the big box of colour!!

First take a small amount of the fibres from the box and "mix" them together. Spread the fibres out on a piece of paper - keep it fine to create a delicate sheet

Cover with another piece of paper and then iron. The fibres fuse together with heat - and you don't need too much heat! If you iron for too long you can burn the fibres. A fine layer like this will fuse in a few seconds. Always cover the fibres before you iron, or you'll get a sticky iron! If the fibres arnt fused properly they will still feel "fluffy". Simply cover and iron again.

Sorry about the lighting on my photos, the lighting in my room is terrible!! I had to unplug my daylight lamp for the iron!

Anyway, try this. Create a cone with a piece of card, and wrap the sheet you have created around it

Allow the sheet to overlap, as you are going to fuse this together. Cover the part where the fibres join, with paper, and gently iron. The fibres will fuse giving you a cone shape. I ironed mid air, as it will fuse quickly so isn't to awkward.

This would make a lovely Christmas tree, or, as I did, make a lovely Christmas decoration. I've just added wire and beads

Next, take a rubber stamp, make sure it's one which will with-stand heat. I've inked the stamp up with versamark. You then need a clump of fibres. You will need more fibres for this as you are making an impression, so need depth in order to do this. The stamp I'm using is an old favourite of mine from Crafty Notions:

Pop the fibres on top of the stamp, and cover with paper

Again, apply the iron. You will need more heat this time, and always avoid using steam!

When it is done, the image will be indented into the fibres. I love this look. Some stamps suit this technique more than others. You can use different colour ink to ink up your stamp, use different colour fibres, or even colour the fibres with a permanent pen. If it hasn't fused properly it will, again, feel fluffy and won't have picked up the detail properly. Over heated, and it will have gone a little dull:

I used gold pebeo gilding wax over the top of my fibres, just gently brushing it over the image so it hits the top of the image. I then finished the card by adding it to a black card, and popped on a word stamped topper

One day down....are the bets on for how many I get done!! gulp :)

Xx

Skiving!!

No I'm not skiving - honest!! I'm not in QVC tomorrow with Dawn and the gang, it's Friday so got lots of other stuff to do I'm afraid. Sitting here having a nosey at them on telly instead. I recon I could do with about 20 sets of the storage boxes- love storage, they are fab.

Anyhow, it's been ages since I've written. Had a great time at Dawn's demo weekend, saw loads of familiar faces - I really do enjoy visiting the Studio. We were actually at the Mill, awww, old days. Seemed strange not having the shop to nip to, and didn't even manage to visit the studio!! We were all busy bee's. A big hello and thank you to everyone who came and said hello - especially Joanne, you lovely lady, and her hubby of course. Already planted some of my carrots - they are starting to raise their little heads! Awww.

What else has been going on - man I can't even remember. Had a realllllly good hot chocolate today - there has been more, but it was a particularly good hot choc! We stayed in Brighton last night - we bought a cheap camper van (its hilarious - massive! It takes me two hands to try and heave the stearing wheel to get round a corner, mmmmmm no driving for me then - shame!!). It was good fun, and it's great having room in the van rather than falling over each other and making a nasty mess whilst chopping the onions.

Did I tell you when I was driving into QVC on Tuesday - I realised I hadn't packed my trolley (with all the craft stuff in it!!). So had to turn around and drive home! How sick was I, I'd actually got up and set off on time, even taken getting petrol into account in my schedule! Plus, it was an early 6am start, so I was amazed I got out of bed. Anyhow, drove home, opened the boot, and there were my bags!! No way. Nicky had packed the car for me. I was really happy with him for that, just wish I'd checked before I left the house.

There has to be a whoops moment now and again eh. Hey, Sarah's kits on telly, I worked on this one! Hooray. It's still funny watching your cards on telly - I'm going to have to watch this one eh!

Drove home with 10 bags of manure in the van today - this must mean we are true allotmenters now eh.

Angelina is really easy to punch with (Dawn's showing it now, just in case you don't know what I'm talking about), first time I'd tried it. Make a thicker sheet than normal, and thats it! Punch through. Looks great. Also enjoyed using it with the melting pot to make necklaces. Dawn hasn't showed my favourite one - never enough time to show everything is there. Well done Sarah, really easy to follow DVD with some nice new idea's.

Right, seen a couple of my cards so off to bed!! Haha, only joking I wasn't stopping up just to watch my own cards. Happy Birthday to JJ by the way - in case you pop on here!

Night night everyone, enjoy your crafting
xxx

Fab Friday Challenge

Phew, found the camera battery charger (it was in a safe place, not an obvious one though I'm afraid, under my stand-up mirror!!). Anyhow, I've managed to take photo's of this weeks challenge, which is:

Fibres and Fings

I've used Angelina fibres, mixed with felt and wire. You can use any type of fibres, in anyway - so have fun cutting up your old jeans, or stamping on a serviette.

For my ATC this week I used yellow, green and gold angelina fibres, just a thin layer, then added some dark green felt some of which I left quite thick. I folded over my angelina fibres so they trapped the felt, and then covered the sheet and went over quickly with the iron (always better to do a quick iron then you can check if the fibres have bonded. If you over-iron the fibres will loose some of their sheen). The felt, as it does not bond with the angelina, will be trapped, but not flatten, therefore producing an uneven and textured finish. I folded the sheet in to make a rectangle (of sorts), ironing the folds to bond the fibres.

Once I was happy with the shape I cut my ATC from a wire sheet. I ironed a sheet of angelina to the back of the wire, with the rectangle on the other side. Some of the fibres bonded, but to secure the rectangle properly I wrapped a few strands of the angelina from back to front, and ironed to bond.

I then cut a heart from a tighter knitted wire sheet, and pocked to holes in the top which I threaded a thin wire length through. I covered the heart with Versamark ink then covered with ultra thick embossing powder, three layers of clear then sprinkled a gold then a green Opulent Opals embossing powder and melted. As the heart is made of wire the powder goes through to the back, so both sides look really pretty (good for making Christmas Decorations). Keep adding powder and melting until you are happy with the look.

Using the wire lengths, tie the heart to the metal sheet, allowing it to stay raised. I then picked up the word "friend" from a piece of newspaper using the UTEE, and melting this to the corner of my ATC with a gentle heat gun, so not to burn the angelina fibres.

I hope you like it, if you have any queries drop me a line. Look forward to seeing your ATC's.

xxxxx
Leonie