Best Foot Forward

Hi everyone and welcome to my followers new and old (not in age terms of course!) Well it's been another lovely sunny day here and there are glimpses in the garden that Spring is definitely on its way. Thank goodness for that! Now I know a lot of you plan your projects but I'm a 'go with the flow' gal so things inevitably turn out completely differently to the way I initially expected.

I decided to combine three challenges as in my head they fitted together rather well;

Fun With ATC's - Vintage

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Red/Black/Brown

Sugar Creek Hollow - Vintage Hats, Shoes & Purses

So you can see the ATC's above resplendent with vintage shoes and sewing ephemera.

And now here they are used as card toppers on (unusually for me) a small tri-fold card. I even got the garden to coordinate with it!! Now for some close ups.

A few details for the background - I started by ripping some book pages into thin triangles and added them to the plain white cardstock. This was my little bit of black (the text).

Next I stamped strips of sewing ephemera using WOW white/red pearl embossing powder. This provided a fantastic resist to a couple of layers of misting with Chili Pepper and Walnut Stain inks.

The final vintage trimmings included some ribbon, lace (a huge thank you again Annie) some Mulberry paper backing, die cut lettering and my vintage footwear.

The footwear was created using a die and the faux leather technique from my notebook cover makeover.

The background to the card took some thinking about as I didn't want to overpower the detail on the ATC's. Some of you will have seen me messing with some cardstock yesterday - I used the Tammy Tutterow technique from previous projects and then layered this with pieces of doily and some texture paste flourishes. Hint - if, when you apply paste over inked cardstock, the paste starts to discolour you can use a white Uniball pen to mask it.

The sentiment panel was created in the same way as the ATC's. Another small tip - if you are using foam pads to raise any elements try using your alcohol markers to colour the sides of them in a coordinating colour as this helps to make them 'disappear' from view.

Hope you have enjoyed today's offering and the sun has been shining on you too.

Hugs to you all, Jenny x

WOYWW 195

Woah! Two posts in one day!! Calm down woman, you'll do yourself a mischief!! Truth is I've really missed joining in with WOYWW for the past few weeks but my post op energy levels came crashing down after the initial euphoria (who knew morphine takes a while to get out of your system?!) and made that a challenge too far. However, today the sun is shining, it feels warmer and all is well in the world, so here I am!

As you will spy I am not stood at my normal counter top. Sitting down is an essential at the moment. I'm not apologising for the shadows - it had begun to feel like someone had forgotten to put any money in the meter recently! So what's going on? I've made a couple of ATC's and am in the process of making a background for them - however, by the time they are posted I will have changed direction again! Still, nothing goes in the bin. There's a pile of 'in progress' backgrounds sat behind the butterfly tool box waiting for inspiration to strike. My good crafting friend Patricia has made some fabulous cards recently using bits and pieces that to our joint amazement would have been discarded by others. Patricia, you are not alone! Take a look at the large plastic box by my GC and the little one in front of it full of die cuts and fussy cut elements that need using up! And far right is my version of a spray station - formerly a box containing dog food rolls it now stops said dog getting covered in ink (which pleases her no end:)

OK, enough rambling. I'm off to see what everyone else's desks look like today - if you want to join me (oh, you know it makes sense:) then head on over to Julia's Stamping Ground (the hub for all this excitement and the best place to find out what to do). Here's hoping the sun is shining on you today too. Hugs, Jenny x

Layer it on and share a word

Week two of our latest Frilly and Funkie challenge HERE where Sue wants us to show her lots of layers - paint, paper, fabric or whatever else you have to hand. The twist is the focal point must be a word. This may be the perfect opportunity to use up all those scraps you have on your work desk.

For me it was the perfect opportunity to get my Mother's Day cards done in advance (yep, I made two of these...)

I started with the UTEE stamped image (a Craft Stamper freebie which I adore) which was used on the amber contents of my Melt Pot at the end of a session. I found rubbing gold mica powder inside it and then covering it in Glossy Accents made the image leap out more.

With this done attention turned to what would be added underneath (the layers). Keeping the stamped background paper, embossed/inked cardstock, die cut elements and an embossed/inked book page panel, all in complimentary colours meant that it didn't feel too overcrowded.

Lace, PVA pearls, jute, brads and gold texture paste provided the extra details.

And the word? 'Mum' of course, centrally placed on the card without it seeming out of place.

So that was my take on this fortnight's theme - what's yours? Hop over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog HERE and show us what you've got. There's a fabulous prize on offer to the winner and plenty more inspiration from my amazing teamies. Thanks for dropping by, hugs Jenny x

Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee	Ranger Archival Ink - Sepia	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Fired Brick	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Rusty Hinge	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	White Corrugated Cardboard - 15 Sheets
White Jute Mesh (Burlap)	Embroidered Sheer Lace - 1/2 Inch Wide	Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)	Ranger Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet

Step by Step Grunge Paper Gears

Happy Saturday everyone. Hope this finds you enjoying your weekend. Well it's my turn to host and here's a peak at my Step by Step tutorial over at Frilly and Funkie today.

Oh yes, it's the long awaited grunge paper gears recipe that I finally recorded for posterity. Hope you get chance to pop over and see it. Hugs to you all, Jenny x

Men, Awards and Comments

Hi everyone and welcome. Firstly apologies for not joining in with WOYWW today - it all caught up with me a bit today (I know for those of you who have been nagging me about overdoing it!!!) I am so pleased to have new followers joining in the fun, not least because it's amazing how much time and energy it takes to comment on other people's posts in between real life and crafting time.

There have been a number of lovely bloggers who have said publicly they are going to have to cut back on the amount of time they spend leaving a comment everywhere they go even though they will still visit blogs to take a look. Well I for one have no problem with that whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, it is awesome that so many of you leave me the most wonderful and supportive comments - they give me such a confidence boost every time - but if all you can do is take a flick through my piccies then I won't be in any way offended if that's all you do. The aim here is to inspire others to enjoy their crafting and maybe try doing something or outside their comfort zone. With that said I've got a couple of things to cover in this post so as to cut down on the number of posts. Flick through the pics by all means but please take note of the Liebster Award bit towards the end.

Hurrah! A card at last! (and outdoors a la Butterfly for the light).This is my entry for;

Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper challenge - Man of the World

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge - Metal-ology

Vintage Stamping Challenges - Blues, Browns and Beige

More of the 'pile it all up Finnabair style' of crafting here. It just feels so balanced and strangely less cluttered to me. This shows you how well Picket Fence Distress Paint acts as a resist - this time with Distress Stains and some water spritzing over the top.

Also there is another example of using Crackle Glaze with Distress Paint - the faster you do it the better it works by the way. You can already start to glimpse bits of metal.

More metal and a mini Stampers Anonymous sentiment.

One example of playing with that X Cut Chronology pocket watch die. Another suggestion - cut two sets in contrasting cardstock and then swap elements between the two. Then add Treasure Gold! (not essential:) So there you have it for the piccies bit.

Now for the awards (not a Brit of course!) I was thrilled and grateful to receive nominations from the lovely ladies who are Gita and Keren for the Liebster Award. The what?

About the Award - This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you've been nominated you award it to blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers to encourage new visitors to visit these new blogs.

Rules for Acceptance - Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto yoyur blog. Give the award to 5 bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award. So a big thank you again to Keren and Gita.

Pay it Forward - Here are 5 blogs I think you should check out;

Julie Short at Time to Create Handmade Treasures - this wonderful lady NEVER fails to amaze me with her utterly unique approach to crafting

Diane Hasthorpe at Tawny Inspirations - they must put something in the water in that part of Australia because, like Julie, Diane has posted so many incredible projects

Claudia at Von Pappe II - her work is out of this world and jaw-droppingly amazing

Mo at Almo Craft - she may not have been long in blogland but I happen to know she's been crafting for a while and has produced some fabulous work

Fandhmum at Crafting at SG - she may only have been in blogland for a very short time, but I have the very great privilege of  knowing this wonderful crafter personally. She has a successful workshop business and is uber-talented to boot. You ARE going to see a lot more of her in the coming weeks and months (and not just in blogland either!)

So there you have it. I'll go away now and get on with more stuff and leave you to check out these blogs and hopefully have some enjoyable time crafting yourselves. Take care everyone, hugs, Jenny xxx

p.s. if you need a bit of a chuckle go see Brenda Brown's piccie of me at Stitches - I'm the pale, short one stood next to the glamorous, generous and wonderful Brenda. Now you know who to avoid at shows!

Hearts ruling heads!

Apologies for not having been around again for a couple of days and welcome back to my little patch of Blogland. Your company is really appreciated. Needed to get some crafting done and then yesterday I was lucky enough to go to Stitches courtesy of another crafting genius HERE - hmm,  I know. Everyone thought it was mad to attempt it post-op but the show was incredible and I wouldn't have missed it for the world, especially having been so well looked after.

Highlights? Lots of masks/stencils, paints, crackle and new dies. Mixed media and journalling are definitely huge, as is quilting (I can hear you cheering Sunshine Girl:) And the who's who of people there is way to long to list, but I got to meet up with the incredible Brenda Brown who is every bit as wonderful in real life as she is on-line. And talk about talented - you NEED to see her work HERE. More of that later together with some very special gifts and an honour. Now you have come to see some artwork I suspect, so...

This is my version of Tim's February Tag. Remember, I am doing panels this year. Like everyone else I didn't have most of the elements required but inspiration struck once the background was completed (Jenni Bowlin Chili Pepper mist/DI Fired Brick/DS Tarnished Brass/DI Walnut Stain.)

Without the requisite stamp I turned to one from my stash (containing the image of a male) and so I changed the gender. This made everything fall into place, especially when Tim's Bingo folder came up trumps. Talking of which, a huge thank you Linda Coughlin for including the red felt heart and chipboard crown in my latest order from her fabulous shop, the Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Firstly let me show off these mini hearts. Guess what? Shrink plastic in the Melt Pot covered in Fired Brick Distress Paint, Treasure Gold and Glossy Accents!

The cards were layered a la Tim, coloured with Distress Inks and Markers. The Co-ordinations cardstock was embossed with Fired Brick swiped inside it (letterpress style.)

And who's the king of my heart? My OH of course who has been even more amazing (if that were possible) recently. I'm not telling why this number is significant but it was created from embossed metal foil, Vintaj Patinas and Archival Ink.

Now, I don't want this post to go on for another four hours for your sakes, so can I say to Gita and Keren thank you so much for your award - I will follow the rules on my blog later this week. And now another huge thank you to the following people for being such wonderful, kind and generous friends.

I mentioned Anne's card last time and here it is for you to admire as much as I did.

A stunning card (my parents couldn't believe you'd created every element by hand) a selection of die cuts, a really sweet image and some gorgeous vintage lace arrived today from Annie.

And then yesterday Brenda surprised me with the most beautiful tag, my first Pan Pastels, the new TH die cuts, a mini canvas and a lovely card from Becca who I am thrilled to hear is continuing to improve. Long may that continue and may you get the success you richly deserve when you take your exams.

Yep, I am the luckiest girl in the world and feel truly blessed to have such caring, sharing friends in cyberspace. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now, it remains for me to remind you that there is a new challenge starting tomorrow at Frilly and Funkie so please check it out. That's it from me you'll be pleased to hear so take great care of yourselves you special people. Huge hugs, Jenny xxx

What a week it's been!

Hi everyone. Apologies for an extended absence and very limited commenting. Glad to say I'm in post-op recovery (lots of crafting, not much housework - result!!) Thank you SO much to everyone who has sent kind words and thoughts recently (my DT teamies have been so supportive, and I received a card from my wonderful friend Anne too!) They have seriously lifted my spirits at times. Need to learn when not to overdo it, but every day is much better than the last, and when you have Distress Paints to play with getting back into it is not hard:)

Something rather feminine from me today!! No, they didn't perform a personality transplant (I don't think?!) I just started using paints and followed my muse. Actually this background was the result of mopping up some Victorian Velvet Distress Paint splodges after I started (and didn't finish) something else.

The joyous part is you can dry it off and then go to town with inks and stains knowing the paint isn't going to change colour/move in any way. And as for stamping, well Picket Fence Paint is a dream to apply and easy to stamp with, meaning it can be over-stamped or used for resist work easily. Oh, and yes it will work with PaperArtsy crackle glaze too! In this case the die cut was covered in Peeled Paint, glazed and then over painted with Bundled Sage.

I adore using my Tim Holtz mini collections (Nature's Elements and French Connection). Other additions to the layers include a UTEE heart, buttons (including one coloured with Moss Vintaj Patina) and a vellum butterfly. Of course I couldn't do anything this delicate without including some of Linda's lace and the rose notebook page is one around which she wrapped some seam binding (see below for details about where you can get all of this wonderful stuff).

Now I need to get back into the swing of entering challenges;

Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper 244- Endless Love

The Artistic Stamper Creative Team February Challenge - Hearts and Flowers

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Something Messy (I was COVERED in paint!!)

And don't forget, there are still a couple of days left for you to enter the current challenge over at Frilly and Funkie where hearts and lace are also the order of the day.

That's me all done in for a few hours but I will be surfing blogland later to catch up on all the goss...

Huge hugs to you all, Jenny xxx

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Victorian Velvet	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Bundled Sage	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Antique Linen	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Spun Sugar	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Old Paper	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Peeled Paint
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Bundled Sage	Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee	Ranger Vintaj Patina Kit - Weathered Copper	Venise Lace Trim - 1/2 inch wide	Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Victorian Velvet