found a new embelishment site - they happen to be having blog candy at the moment so caught my eye - thought i'd share in case any of you lovely peeps haven't seen what they do xx

http://www.crafty-emblies.com/

Today I have been art journalling again .... this time I started with a face - I used Suzi Blu's technique of adding beeswax to the finished face which I really like - although I think I should of done this before adding her to the page as the wax and spilt over rather a lot - first time/learning curve so fair enough.  

The hair is done using strips of paper bent over to form loops - this was an idea I had seen for a journalling ring ins Scrap 365 magazine. I decided her hair looked funky and had a slight afro look to it - so  felt that doing a tribal necklace was appropriate - I love the colours of the beads - some of those beads were handed down to me from my mother and before her my great aunts - too few to use for a jewellery project but enough to use on this page.  There is something so therapeutic about searching through beads and button boxes.  the paper i used for her clothing just happened to be a freebee from a magazine recently and iIcreated the yoke on the outfit using white card and posca pens.  I put the earrings together using beads and charms on red wire.  


I may add some journalling but at the moment I'm not quite sure.  I am still gaining confidence in drawing faces - and adding colour to the sketched images - this is the third face I have done in recent weeks - and those are the first ones since I left school 28 years ago so I am trying not to be too self critical - I can see areas for improvement (her eyes inparticular on this image) but overall I am happy enough with the finished project.


Happy crafting peeps xxxx

Hello Peeps,  hope you are well and happy.  today I created some new blending tools CHEAP and CHEERFUL - and totally mad :) ..... i used rubber ducks, wrote the names of the inks (i grouped colours together) on each duck, then added a strip of self-adhesive velcro (hook only) which takes the blending foam - no need to keep changing the foam as each piece is for use with one group of colours only - like i said - cheap and cheerful but i think it might just work :)   Happy Crafting xx

Leoni and Sandy workshop March 25th St Albans

Had a fantastic day out in St Albans courtesy of my lovely friend Carole (thanks babe - loves ya xx)  Up early - and God forbid it was clock change the night before - so we were all hanging (Barb came too - hoorah!! xx)

during the morning session we were with Leoni who guided us through two projects

this canvas and frame were painted with black acrylic paint then distressed using gleam glimmer wax - lovely stuff - hadn't used it before.  the Angelina fibres were fused together with an iron over a lovely peacock feather stamp - the sentiment was stamped onto acetate using white Stayzon and the black dots are ranger enamel

this bird house was fun to do - Leoni had pre-cut the pieces for us and run them through the Cuttlebug embossing folders - we painted with acrylic paint then used a sponge to add white paint lightly to give a distressed look - the leafy bit is a bit of ribbon (think  i wish i had chosen a different green) which was snipped into then spritzed with water before being squished with paint (yes I did use rubber gloves!).  the flowers were made using a circle of patterned paper which was cut into a spiral then rolled up - gems added using jewellery findings - love this - definitely want to make this again

The afternoon session was lead by Sandy who guided us through 4 projects 

i adore this card - very 'me' style - the birdcage and bird are Tim Holtz dies - the key and 2 round embellishments are die cuts (sorry don't remember who's) which were cut out of shrink plastic.  White card was stamped and and distressed using ranger distress ink pads, the birdcage was cut out of glossy card which I then coloured using alcohol inks.  lace was coloured using same distress inks, beautiful organza ribbon was added along with flowers made the same way as the morning's project

glossy white card stamped with Stayzon and distress inks and then aged using distress inks.  the dressform was sponged with acrylic paint then stamped using Stayzon.  the die-cut wings were  painted witch white paint and glitter dust added - once dry gold acrylic paint was added to the edge of them. ribbon, doily and shrink plastic embellishments added to finish the card

not sure about this one! - technique was fantastic - learnt how to do checked pattern using alcohol inks onto glossy white diecut dog.  tag and butterfly aged with distress ink and then stamped over using Stayzon, ready made flower added - the black butterfly is my favourite element of this card - it was diecut out of black shrink plastic then shrunk and gold embossing powder added to the edges of the wings - with a flat backed gem added

and finally - a gentle, pretty card.  Spotlight technique used - image stamped onto white matt cardstock using Stayzon,  square of clear shrink plastic was shrunk then part of the image was stamped onto it using black Stayzon - once dry the reverse of the square was inked up using alcohol inks.  the butterfly is a glossy card diecut which was colouring using alcohol inks.  i love this card

The day was absolutely fantastic - i was totally exhausted afterwards but wouldn't swap it for the world - can't wait to practice the new techniques 

take care peeps xxxx

15th March 2012

hello peeps.  i have finished off the card i last blogged about - just added a few punched flowers (punched out of card i had embossed using similar method to the larger flowers) and a bit of bling - oh - and a sentiment - quite like it now.  Number 2 step-sons birthday tomorrow - card and pressie all sorted - must get his big brother's 18th birthday card on the go too - obviously can't share them because my devoted kids all follow my blog regularly PMSL
whatever you do today have a good one xx

how long since i last blogged (hanging my head in shame)

Hey hey peeps - had big large fun at craft club last night (thanks Sue) - and thought i would share what i made .

First up I stamped the leafy image onto white card - then used a versa mark ink pad straight to the image - all over - really felt naughty !! - then gradually added coloured embossing powders - remember to work gradually and think about where the powder you tip off will land - you don't want it migrating across the whole image - I used two shades of green - then heat set.  Following that i stamped the leafy image onto the embossing again (using versafine in black) - and added black embossing powder and heat set.  i used the same process for the flowers - although I accidently used versa mark before the black embossing powder and i think it worked better - gave a sharper image - I am really pleased with this because it has given me ideas of how to use my hoard of coloured embossing powders - the card itself doesn't seem finished to me but i was more interested in the process - it was fun and wasn't going to leave me with inky mitts :)

Try it - see what you think - have fun :)


close up of the flowers - you might see the twinkling of the glittered embossing powder !!!

phew!

that's a looooooooooong day over with thank goodness.  Dad doing well after surgery - so hopefully be home tomorrow.

As soon as i knew he was ok i got busy crafting ..... and made a box of treasures for my sis-in-laws 50th birthday - she will be so pleased i told you her age LOL xxxx