Thursday 27 October 2016

Decadent Drawers!

Hello!

It is day 2 of the Big Score shows on HOCHANDA (9am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm) so I thought I would share another of my design team samples...

 
This was a really fun project to make, and although a bit more time consuming due to the size it is quite a simple construction.  It is also cleverly designed so that you can have as many or few drawers as you would like.
I have used the new Decadence A3 Centura Pearl and chose different patterns to have a variety on my drawers...
 
 
 
Again the card is so beautiful that plain drawers would look lovely but I always like to do a bit more decoration!  The small flowers are from the Country Garden Collection and the flourishes from the Butterfly Lullaby Collection.  The flowers on top are made using Sheenas perfect partners, A Rosy Outlook...
 
 
All the decorations were made using white Sheena stamping card, stamped with Sepia Versafine and coloured with Tea Dye distress ink.
 
I have really enjoyed using the board and DVD to make these projects and am already planning how I can make extra special boxes for Christmas this year.  Hope you enjoy the rest of the shows :)
 
Jane x



Wednesday 26 October 2016

Handbag Gift Box

Hello!

I am posting this evening to coincide with the launch of a new One Day Special on HOCHANDA with shows also throughout tomorrow (9am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm). 
This time the launch is from Crafter's Companion and is the Big Score Board along with a new project DVD.  Also on the show are some totally gorgeous A3 printed centura pearl card packs and having worked with them I can say that they really are luxurious!

I thought I would show my favourite design team sample first as I love anything that involves making handbags...
 
I started by making the handbag in plain card so that I understood how the mechanics worked (I didn't want to waste the lovely printed card!!) I also now have that as a template which will make creating the bag much easier in the future. 
Once I had constructed the bag from the printed card I added a Velcro closure and then could finish off with decoration.
 
The cardstock is so beautiful that you could actually leave the bag plain and it would still look great but I decided to give it a purple flower theme...
 
 
 
I used coredinations card from the pastels and darks range for all my die cutting and the dies from the English Country Garden collection by Sara.  The bag flap is decorated with the floral edgeable die from the collection and some silver Pebeo gilding wax added to the different elements to bring out the embossing detail...
 
 
 
The bag is a fairly reasonable size, and this photo is to try to give some idea of the depth as you could fit a decent sized present in there.  Finally I added more flourishes from the Butterfly Lullaby Signature Collection as well as a sentiment...
 
 
 
The sentiment is from one of the sentimental range clear stamps (Birthday Greetings) also from Crafter's Companion and was heat embossed using silver detail powder from Cosmic Shimmer.
 
I am looking forward to the shows and hope you will get a chance to tune in too!
 
Jane x




Friday 21 October 2016

Go Pink!

Hello!

I have been a bit busy over the last few days so have not managed a post until now, but today I thought I would share this project with you for 2 reasons.

Firstly today is Go Pink for breast cancer awareness, so I thought I would share my very pink plaque to mark the occasion, I would also like to enter it into the challenge at Die Cutting Diva's which is Think Pink.
It is also the start of the Crafter's Companion 11th Birthday celebrations and this plaque has been made using the dies and embossing folder that came with the Gemini die cutting machine...


The background was made by embossing a piece of card before sticking it to a Tando chipboard tag.  I then used Decoart fluid acrylics (quinacridone magenta and tinting base) to add the colour.  Crackle glaze was added, then when dry white antiquing cream...


The hearts were die cut from thin mount board and layered to create thicker embellishments.  The other elements were die cut from card and coloured with distress ink and then gold Pebeo gilding wax added...

 
 
The tag was also from the Gemini dies and was stamped and heat embossed with detail gold powder...
 


Finally a piece of organza gold ribbon was added.

The Gemini is on HOCHANDA throughout today with a special bundle of products and throughout the next 10 days there will be a variety of special offers from Crafter's Companion to continue the birthday celebrations.

I will hopefully see you soon.  Have an enjoyable weekend whatever you are doing,

Jane x

Monday 17 October 2016

Warm Wishes

Hello!

I hope you have had a good weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead.

Today I have a mixed media project for you made using an MDF plaque and the stamps and dies that were free with issue 11 of the Crafter's Inspiration magazine from Crafter's companion.  They are celebrating their 11th birthday and so will be having lots of freebies and special product launches on HOCHANDA over the next couple of weeks so do take a look!

This is the plaque that I made...


The plaque background was created using a technique that Andy Skinner demonstrated when he had products on HOCHANDA a couple of months ago.  After painting the plaque I applied weathered wood (Americana Décor) and allowed it to dry.  Then I added Decoart crackle paste and this almost immediately created large cracks.  When this had dried I used a sealer over the top then painted the plaque using quinacridone gold also from Decoart...


I used the leaf stamps and dies on stamping card and then coloured them using Spectrum Aqua markers.  A touch of gold Pebeo gilding wax was added to each leaf and the edges of the plaque and then glossy accents added to each one...


The sentiment was stamped from the same set and matted and layered onto brown and vintage gold card.  Then all the elements were added using glue gel and some gold wire to hang the plaque with...


A very seasonal creation!

Thank you for reading,

Jane x

Friday 14 October 2016

Butterfly Dream

Hello!

I hope you all had a chance to see Leonie's show last night, if not the shows are on catch up for 2 weeks (I think) at Hochanda.com so you can always check them out if you missed them!
I loved the shows with some really great demos and it made me want to get my masks and stamps out to play!!

Today I am showing you another of my favourite samples from the show made with the 'Dream' mask and sunflower set of stamps...


Anyone who has seen a few of my posts will probably realise that I love butterflies, so when I saw the stamp set that had a butterfly and a dragonfly (a close second to my love of butterflies) it had to be the first set I used!  I chose 'Dream' because I always feel that butterflies have that ethereal quality to them, probably also due to their change from a caterpillar to something so beautiful :)

I started by sticking the mask down with some stick and spray (repositionable adhesive)  then used broken china distress ink to colour the background.  I built up my pattern starting with the larger stamps then using the smaller ones to fill in any spaces.  Once I was happy I removed the mask carefully and then coloured the images using Spectrum Aqua markers.  I decided that I wanted the word to be a bit more defined so used a black fine line pen to add dots...


To make the butterflies stand out more I added some glossy accents, then decided that I wanted to really make a feature of the butterflies so stamped and cut out lots of them, colouring them in rainbow colours then using glossy accents over the top...


I used a black background for the card as I really wanted the colours to stand out and also raised the wings using glue gel to make it seem that the butterflies were flying out from the dream.

I hope you like it and for more demos and inspiration from Leonie here are the details of today's shows...


Please also take a look at the other design team members blogs...

* Katrina: http://cornishkat.blogspot.co.uk/
* Natalie: http://natsplat86.wix.com/splatsplog

Please don't forget that I will also be having a giveaway when I reach 50 followers, so if you are not already following my blog and like what you see do please click the follow box on the left hand side bar!

I will be back on Monday with something a bit more mixed media and autumnal to help celebrate the 11th birthday of Crafter's Companion :)

Have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing,

Jane x


Thursday 13 October 2016

An inspiring plaque!

Hello again!

I am here once more to share with you one of my design team samples for the launch of Leonie Pujol's latest masks and stencils.

These were incredibly popular last time as they are a very different idea to anything else that has previously been seen, and the words this time around are even more gorgeous, right up my street!

I am showing this sample first as I admit it is my favourite.  I love the word and the whole plaque turned out exactly as I had imagined...

 
 
The plaque was created using a Tando mixed media board which was first painted with white gesso then I used Decoart fluid acrylic (quinacridone magenta) with the Decoart tinting base to create different shades of pink.  Then I used some of the stamps to create layers of texture and interest with white, pink and black ink...
 
 
Using the stencil of the Inspire, I used black paint and a stencil brush, then placed the mask over once dry to add the inside parts of the letters...
 
 
 
The other words come from an earlier Leonie stamp set, and were stamped in black then cut out by hand.  The flowers were stamped multiple times then cut into various arrangements before adding the tiniest amount of pale pink aqua marker and then sticking onto the plaque with glue gel...
 
 
There are more ideas for how to use the masks and stencils, as well as the stamp sets, on the blogs of the other team members, so please do pop over for a look...
 
* Natalie: http://natsplat86.wix.com/splatsplog

I will have another project tomorrow morning as well as the continuing shows on HOCHANDA with Leonie at 9am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm and please don't forget to follow my blog if you haven't already so that we can get to over 50 followers!

Have a lovely evening,

Jane x
 
 
 
 





Give Away News!!

Hello!

I hope you are all well and having a good week so far?

The number of my followers has been gradually creeping up and is now so close to 50 that I thought I would announce a little give away for when we reach that magic number!

Here is the selection of crafty products that I will be giving away as a prize...


There are 2 stamp sheets from the latest Leonie release as well as 2 of the mixed media die sets.  3 pots of Wow! embossing powders, an alphabet stencil from Americana Décor and 5 MDF bauble shapes.  I have tried to incorporate a selection that can be used for Christmas and next Valentine's as well as many other occasions!

When we reach 50 followers I will put up a pinned blog post for anyone who would like to enter to post a comment and then on a selected date one comment will be chosen at random to win the prize :)
So please follow the blog and let others know so that we can get to 50 as soon as possible!

One final reminder about the new launch of Leonie's masks and stencils tonight as well...

 
 
I will be posting one of my design team projects at 8pm to coincide with the launch as will my other lovely design team mates whose blogs can be found here...
 
* Natalie: http://natsplat86.wix.com/splatsplog
 
 And even more exciting news is that we will soon have more lovely members creating projects for the design team too!
 
I will be back later so hope to see you then.
 
Jane x
 
 


Wednesday 12 October 2016

Stepper Card for Leonie...

Hello again!

Today I thought I would share a bit of  different card for me that I made using the Leonie Pujol embossing folder with my design team samples. 
I have always tended to make square cards with decorated fronts but not really any speciality style cards.  So this year I have been challenging myself to try out a wider range of cards and boxes etc. that require a bit more 'engineering'.
With that in mind I decided to try out a simple stepper card following instructions that had been in a paper crafting magazine.  Here is the card I made...


I am sure that there are lots of instructions out there in internet land for making a stepper card so I will tell you about how I decorated it instead!  The background for each layer was made from a piece of card put through the 'Baublelicious' embossing folder.  I then used distress ink to colour it (peeled paint) and gold Pebeo gilding wax over the raised baubles.  Using a spectrum aqua marker I coloured in the berries ad topped them with some glossy accents...


The tree sections, baubles and presents were stamped (using versamark and gold embossing powder) with the tree stamp set and then coloured with  aqua markers before being cut out and layered up on the steps of the card...


The sentiment came from the Christmas sentiments set, stamped and heat embossed in gold, and was then cut out with a circle punch...


I really enjoyed trying a different style of card and am going to make sure that I continue to look at new ways of creating projects.

Tomorrow morning I am going to post about a giveaway that I am planning for when I reach 50 followers and then at 8pm there will be a post to coincide with Leonie's new launch.  Here are the details again and one more sneaky peek...



I hope you are able to join me again tomorrow!

Jane x

Tuesday 11 October 2016

Robin Card for Leonie...

Hello!

Last week saw the launch of Leonie's new embossing folders and stamps on HOCHANDA.  I was really proud when Leonie used one of the cards that I made to inspire one of her demonstrations!  So I thought that I would share my card with you today...

 
The background was created by embossing a piece of kraft card in the 'Scribbly Wishes' folder then rubbing over gently with a sanding block...
 
 
The robin was stamped, along with the branch, holly leaves and berries, using brown archival ink and then the pieces cut out and coloured using Spectrum Aqua pens with water...
 
 
I then embossed a piece of acetate using the 'It's Snowing' folder and made sure it was slightly larger than the panel I wanted to cover so that a dome would be formed...
 
 
 
Finally a sentiment was stamped from the Christmas sentiments stamp set and an extra bit of holly added for a finishing touch...
 
 
Excitingly there is another new Leonie launch this week with some new masks and stencils, here is all the info...
 
 
And to finish here is a sneaky peek of one of my design team samples for Thursday...
 
 
 
Thank you for reading and I will be back with another project tomorrow.
 
 
Jane x 







Friday 7 October 2016

Creative Artiste: Live Beautifully!

Hello!

Another exciting announcement from me today as I can now let you know that as of today I am a part of the 'Creative Artiste' challenge blog design team! This is a challenge that I have taken part in a number of times so I am really pleased to now be a part of the team and work alongside all those lovely talented people.  I also hope to see lots of you entering the challenge and sharing your mixed media makes :)

So as it is the first Friday of the month Creative Artiste has a new challenge launching and this month it is being sponsored by Dusty Attic.

http://www.dustyattic.com.au/

Please click HERE to go straight to the challenge.

Here is the piece that I created...



I started with a 5" square canvas to which I added modelling paste through the harlequin stencil by IndigoBlu.  I then stuck my chipboard pieces to the canvas using 3D matte gel from Finnabair.  The words are from Dusty Attic and the honeycomb and circles are from Scrapmatts.  Some art stones from Powertex were also added suspended in the 3D gel again.  When these had all dried I painted white gesso across the whole piece to create a good base for the colour I was going to use...




Using spray inks from Dylusions I spritzed the canvas with Calypso Teal, Fresh Lime and lemon...


To add more definition to the texture I then added gold Pebeo gilding wax across the piece and some yellow gelato inside the circle to create a brighter area...


Finally a butterfly was die cut using Sheena Douglas's perfect pair die and this was coloured using the gold gilding wax to match the rest of the canvas.  Then some teal coloured glitter was added in places using soft gel medium...




I really enjoyed creating this piece and hope that it will inspire you to create something to enter into the challenge.

Thank you for reading!

Jane x 






Wednesday 5 October 2016

Leonie One Day Special Launch!

Good evening all!

Tonight is the night and to mark the start of a brand new collection of stamps and embossing folders by Leonie Pujol I am posting a couple of the projects that I made as part of the design team...

 
 
This first project was made to show that even though this range is aimed at Christmas you can always adapt the products for other occasions!  This plaque was a Tando mixed media board which I covered with a piece of card that I had embossed with one of the folders and sanded back to reveal the pattern and give a bit of a distressed look.  The other pieces were stamped, cut out and coloured with Spectrum Aqua pens.

 
 
This next project I loved as the angel was one of my favourites!  Again I embossed the paper that was applied to the board bunting and this time used gilding wax to bring out the pattern.  The angel wings were made from Angelina fibres and the angels coloured and coated with sparkle pen before cutting them out and sticking them on.
 
The other team members will also have blog posts with more inspiration so do please pop over to them for a look and leave them some lovely comments...
 
 
As well as tonight there are more shows tomorrow at 9am, 12pm, 4pm and 7pm on HOCHANDA...
 
SKY 663 (24/7)
 
FREEVIEW 85 (24/7)
 
FREESAT 817 (24/7)
 
Hopefully you will be able to have a look as I am sure Leonie will have lots of inspirational demonstrations to show us all!
 
Jane x