Feeling Fit to Burst!

Hi everyone. Wondering why I'm feeling fit to burst?

Well a huge chunk of that has to do with the fact it's time to let the genie out of the bottle, ping, and announce that I am beyond honoured/thrilled/excited to have been asked to join the new line up at Our Creative Corner. You'll see the reason for my excitement when you take a look at the team (on the sidebar) HERE. There are new challenges in store and you may just notice a change in the decor and format when it goes live. We are all ready at the starting gate for the first challenge and look forward to seeing you there.

And now for photos of a new card which prove that the sun sometimes shines on Staffordshire (although you had to be up at 6am to see it!)

I recently got to see some of the fantastic new releases over at Nicecrane Designs and got rather excited when I saw the new Victorian Art collections. The image in this card evoked memories of a fantastic historical TV series in the UK last year called 'The Paradise'. It also transported me to many a happy lunchtime spent browsing around a haberdashery shop in Irongate, Derby.


















I wanted to use the main image as a backdrop and created a frame to add some depth and draw the eye 'inside' the shop.

The paper used for the frame was originally b&w so DS Antique Linen (how appropriate!) edged with DI Victorian Velvet/Vintage Photo toned it to match.

I felt the frame needed embellishing in a way that didn't detract from the image, so I chose to stamp/colour/emboss/fussy cut lots of elements in colours which would blend with the frame and pick out a couple of colours within the image. I love to use the Walnut Stain Embossing Powder to add texture to images and in this case used it on the ball of twine and buttons. The scissors and thimbles were clear embossed to add a shiny 'metallic' feel, and the sewing machine just had to be black embossed. Vellum tape measures stamped in DI Pumice Stone also added some subtle detailing.

Many of the images and the sentiment were stamped onto antique gold cardstock which has a beautiful sheen to it without being too 'bling'. All the stamped images came from two sets;
Indigo Blu - Sewing Mends the Soul
Sam Poole - Vintage Sewing

Bless her, Hels Sheridan picked a time-saver of a theme for this week's
Sunday Stamper challenge - paper
As that is pretty much all I've used on this card I think it qualifies!

OK, time to sign off and get the weekend's domestic duties attended to. Whatever you are up to this weekend I hope you get to squeeze in some time to indulge yourselves.
Don't forget to hop over to Our Creative Corner for a sneaky peek of what is coming up.
Take care of yourselves, hugs, Jenny x

Colourful

Hi everyone and a big thank you for joining me today. Now for something a bit different...

I've been playing with those 'dreaded' alcohol inks and finally come up with something acceptable!

Inspiration initially came from Ashli's sample for the current Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge, although I chose to mix the alcohol inks with mixative rather than paint.

The base of the chipboard puzzle piece got liberal dashings of Picket Fence DP and Crackle Glaze, as well as stencilled texture paste. You'll spot no doubt that the same stencil was used to emboss the background to keep things less complicated and fussy.

The crackes are made more evident by using Old Paper DS, which also helps to dull the brightness of the white paint prior to adding the alcohol inks.

As not one ounce of black used in this I reckon it qualifies for entry into the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge - Color.

As I used a stencil it will also be entered into the Artful Times challenge - Stencils/Masks.

The Country View Crafts' challenge for April is Butterflies, and

the theme at Fashionable Stamping Challenges is Sentimental.

Right, a million and one things to get done (not least of which is to play some more with alcohol inks now I'm starting to get the hang of it!) Take care of yourselves, hugs Jenny xxx

A Box of Tricks

Hi everyone, time to show you my project for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge - Upcycle For Earth Day. Storage is always an issue, especially when your media stash keeps growing! My set of Distress Paints have until now sat in a small cardboard box, but as there is no doubt that the colour palette will grow in due course a larger container is needed.

And so here's what I've come up with...

And the 'back side'...

Here's how the box began its life...

I started by using a mix of Distress Paints, Stains and Inks to create sheets of 'rusted' paper and used these to cover the box. 'Rust spots' were also stamped around the edges in random patches in Archival Ink.

The next job was to reinforce and the corners with more cardboard - yes, that's corrugated cardboard, great for bending around corners! It was die cut, embossed and then covered in a mix of Distress Paints, Stains, Inks and Embossing Powder, with a final touch of gilding wax.

The handles were made from Grunge Paper strips, coloured with Distress Inks and anchored to the sides of the box with 'nail' brads covered in Alcohol Ink. The letters were made from Grunge Board covered in the same ingredients as the paper and again given a touch of gilding wax to highlight them. To highlight both the letters and the corners Black Soot Distress Paint was dry brushed and smudged around the edges. Finally I added a treasured rusted heart and bottle cap which were further enhanced with some old net curtaining cut into flower shapes and coloured with Distress Paints, heated to wrinkle slightly and finished with more gilding wax (you'll have seen some of these on my Tattered Florals bag previously).

This took some time to complete but will be used daily and holds my Distress Stains collection too (until the space is needed for more Paints when they are available/launched of course!) There's a full 'recipe' list below and if you want more details feel free to leave a comment and I'll get back to you. We would also love to see what you have upcycled for the Frilly and Funkie challenge - don't forget, there's a prize draw up for grabs.

For now, happy Wednesday everyone, hugs Jenny xxx

Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Walnut Stain	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Vintage Photo	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Spiced Marmalade	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Rusty Hinge	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Frayed Burlap	Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Stain - Antiqued Bronze	Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Stain - Tarnished Brass	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Tea Dye
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Rusty Hinge	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Spiced Marmalade	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder - Black Soot	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Diamond Plate and Rivited	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Weathered Wood	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Antique Linen
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Black Soot	Rusted Metal Embellishments - Hearts, Stars, Bottle Caps, Bells	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Rust	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Grunge Paper	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Grungeboard Basics Plain	Ranger Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet

Looking for the door...

Hi everyone. A super quick post today as I'm hitting a deadline here in entering the Fun with ATC's challenge - Windows/Doors. Having always had a passion for architecture and a need currently to get some ATC's done this seemed like a no brainer - except I don't have a door stamp!!! There goes that wish list growing again:) So what to do?

Having already made my Distress Paint rusty background and embossed it with Distress Embossing Powder the search was on for something to fit the bill. And then I spied a Michael Powell stamp with a gateway that could double as a doorway. Having stamped it in Archival Ink it got the layered painting treatment with blue and brown Distress Stains/Inks. A spot of fussy cutting, some clear heat embossing, and done! The sentiment was one which I live by. Told you this would be short and sweet. Until next time hugs to you all, Jenny xxx

Step X Step for Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone. For those of you who asked I've done a tutorial on my upcycled flowers for Frilly and Funkie today - you can find it HERE. And to whet your appetite here are some close ups of the project I made using said flowers.

A big thank you again to Tracy Evans for her 'clear out' prize - I was thrilled to find one of the little paper mache bags made an ideal holder for ATC's, so now I can keep a visual check on how many have been completed (and more importantly how many still need to be made!) Given lashings of gesso, book print, stencilled Graphite Ferro, Crackle Paint, Treasure Gold wax and layers of lace it came up a treat and was perfect for attaching flowers to.

Don't forget, to see more hop over to Frilly and Funkie. Thanks for joining me and have a great weekend, hugs Jenny xxx