An Extra Day!

Hi everyone and welcome. Oh boy, is it just me or does the change to BST seem to throw everything out? Having spent the weekend (and then some) beavering away on samples and demos for the April IndigoBlu shows on BCN I kinda gave up on the idea of getting this month's Tim tag done, especially as I got into my thick head that there were only 30 days in March! Imagine the relief to discover there was an extra day!!! So I made a start on it this morning in between writing a magazine article and life's domestic duties. And then a parcel arrived from the States with no end of wonderful new goodies inside, including Tim's new 'Life Quotes' and more Remnant Rub Ons... oh happy days! So I ploughed on in between even more of life's little interruptions (bless her, the dog really did need a walk despite the howling winds outside) and finally finished...

Remember you can click on these photos for a closer look. So where did I start? The tape, of course, and then those poppies again. I stamped and masked them before dipping the card into a mix of Cracked Pistachio, Broken China and Mowed Lawn Distress Paints. To add to the mottled effect I also splattered it with Picket Fence and Evergreen Bough Distress Spray Stains. The stamped flowers would simply have been lost if I'd left them plain so I painted them with Barn Door Distress Paint and offset stamped them with Jet Black Archival Ink. Once again they were masked for the stencilling bit (Doily, Texture Paste, Ranger Verdigris Embossing Powder) and having been dried/heated, the masks were used for a final time to stamp on the stems. You can see the finishing touches (the enamelled tag with rub ons, film strip ribbon, twine and a couple of small gears) that worked perfectly alongside the fabulous sentiment from a set I feel sure will be getting a real workout in the future!

Right, time to link this up to Tim's March '12 Tags of 2015' challenge before ensuring all is in order for tomorrow's Frilly and Funkie 'Put a Ribbon on It!' challenge post. And then I'm back again on Friday with something special for a new A Vintage Journey challenge. It's all go!

Thank you so much for dropping in on my mad world. Hope your lives are far less frenetic and you are taking care of yourselves. Jenny xxx

Pure Peony at IndigoBlu

Hi everyone and welcome to my heads up for another Saturday post over at IndigoBlu this morning. It's a very delicate offering from me this time and I hope you'll enjoy seeing this one in all it's glory.

As for me, I'm busily prepping for upcoming IndigoBlu shows on britishcraftnetwork.tv- speaking of which there's a new one being shown today at 12pm GMT where I take you step by step through the creation of a complete mixed media canvas project.

Don't worry if you miss out today as it's being re-shown at 4pm GMT tomorrow.

Whatever you're up to this weekend take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Ring 'o' Posey at IndigoBlu

Hi everyone and welcome to another Saturday morning! I'm celebrating the start of Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere with a floral card over at IndigoBlu. Hope you can join me over there to take a better look at what I've been up to. This one was inspired by the work of Karen Haylesden  (Kassa - Delight in the Detail) who creates the most beautiful floral rings; I would highly recommend you hop on over and take a look.

Thankfully the nights are getting lighter and the days warmer so life feels better all round. And of course those gardens are now crying out for a bit of attention so I may well be swapping a paint brush for a spade. Maybe see you out there!

Whatever you're up to this weekend take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Bring on the Bling! at Frilly and Funkie (Part 2)

Hi everyone and welcome! I'm currently hosting the latest challenge over at Frilly and Funkie and have chosen the theme 'Bring on the Bling!' Be it diamonds, pearls or even glitter we need to see some sparkle on your projects this time, and remember, it needs to be vintage or shabby chic style. The winner will earn the chance of a Guest DT spot over at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

This week I'm back to being a Funkie team member which meant I could go wild with colour. This was SO MUCH fun to do! Hope you like the results (and remember, just click on the photos to get a closer look)...

A little while ago I picked up a couple of really cheap coloured glass bottles in one of those post-Christmas sales. With this challenge on the horizon I reached for the yellow one and started playing with some of the Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi pastes. Having applied the Gold Embossing Paste down the sides in a random fashion and let that dry I added further lines of Crackle Texture Paste. Since the glass coordinated so well with my choice of colours I wanted to make sure some of it remained visible.

Next came the fun/messy part! I started by blending Red Geranium Archival Ink over the Crackle Paste using a mini blending tool (hint: you can pre-colour your Crackle Paste with Archival Reinkers, but muggins was in too much of a rush to remember to do this!) Next I mixed Orange Blossom Archival Reinker with surgical spirits (rubbing alcohol) and dribbled it down from the neck of the bottle to the base. In places it mixed with the Red Geranium to create an extra colour and also ensured the cracks became even more visible. The final addition of colour came from mixing Aged Mahogany Distress Paint with a little water and once again let it dribble down the sides of the bottle. Another hint here; if your paint stops moving mist it with a little more water to encourage the drips to run further.

I'd already decided to add ornate brass decorative corners around the base of the bottle but they looked a little lost down there on their own. By using the small filigree stamp from the Studio 490 'Art and You' set with Jet Black Archival Ink I was able to add a repeat pattern to the main part of the bottle. If you use the stamp without a block it's easier to push the ink into the uneven surface. Then came embellishments. The card and book page flowers were die cut and coloured with Distress Spray Stains, with the larger ones given alcohol ink altered gumdrop centres. I used the same Cranberry Alcohol Ink to add definition to the brass leaves, the dragonfly, the heart and the tiny jingle bells, whilst the black die cut leaf stems were dry brushed with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. Here are some close ups so you can see more of those details;

So that's my Funkie side well and truly satisfied and lots of bling on show! And there's even more bling over on the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog right now as my Funkie team mates share their own amazing creations. A visit is highly recommended to help inspire you to join in the fun if you haven't already. With those prizes up for grabs there's a great reasons to do just that!

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you get the chance to create and play soon, and whatever you're up to, take care of yourselves. Jenny xxx

Captured at IndigoBlu

Hi everyone and welcome. Hi everyone and welcome. It's time once again for my regular Saturday blog post over at the IndigoBlu blog and this time I'm sharing another 12 x 12 canvas (created for the recent UK trade show) using the new mixed media papers.

You can see the whole piece and more close ups over at IndigoBlu together with details of the products I used. As for me, you'll find me beside the seaside today (though not taking a dip in the sea I think!) demonstrating all that's new from IndigoBlu at The Crafting Lounge, Skegness. 

Hope you have a great weekend and, whatever you're up to, take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Bring on the Bling! at Frilly and Funkie (Part 1)

Hi everyone and welcome! It's my turn to host the latest challenge over at Frilly and Funkie for the next two weeks and I've chosen 'Bring on the Bling!' Be it diamonds, pearls or even glitter we need to see some sparkle on your projects this time, and remember, it needs to be vintage or shabby chic style. The winner will earn the chance of a Guest DT spot over at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Those of you who follow regularly will know I'm officially part of the 'Funkie' team, but this time you'll see I've become an honorary 'Frilly' too! Don't get used to it mind, we'll be back to strength soon... so how have I done channelling my inner 'Frilly'? I'll let you be the judge of that (and remember, just click on the photos to get a closer look)...

Everything for this card needed to be soft and muted so I started the design by heat embossing using the chrysanthemum from the new Tim Holtz Flower Garden set with opaque white powder (both on the background and on some spare card). Next came more stamping with the one of the splatter stamps from the Limor Webber Ink Splats set using Picket Fence Distress Paint and Rusty Hinge Distress Stain. I also added random splatters using a small paint brush with these two media before adding an all over mist of colour with Tattered Rose Distress Spray Stain.

I wanted a contrast with these colours so opted for my favourite Victorian Velvet - using a paint brush and the Distress Stain form I added colour to the flower heads (on the background and on the separate piece of card) before splattering the background again! You can never have enough splatters in my book - lol! To finish the background and add some texture I applied white paste through the new Flourish stencil.

Now for the bling - Rock Candy Distress Glitter was added to the fussy cut flower heads, and having layered die cut leaf stems over the stencilling I spritzed the whole background with some Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mist (that's the bit that it's darned near impossible to capture on photos, no matter how hard I try!) The little pearl clusters look great scattered amongst the 'greenery' and the brass dragonfly got a complete makeover (Cranberry Alcohol Ink followed by some white gesso dry brushing). Even the lettering got a coat of Glossy Accents - can you tell yet what this will be used for?!!!

So, did I earn my 'Frilly' stripes with this make? Those super talented ladies are a hard act to follow so reaching anywhere near their standard will be good enough for me. Next week I'll be back to the comfort zone with something WAY more bright and bold (but still just as bling). Meanwhile I urge you to head over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog to see what Cec and Pamellia have created. Then of course it's very much over to you - we can't wait to see what you come up with for this challenge.

For now, take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Altered, altered canvas at IndigoBlu

Hi everyone and welcome! As promised yesterday, I'm back with a new canvas (well I say new... ) over at IndigoBlu today. It's definitely different for me and there's a bit of a shaggy story behind this one too - I'd love to know what you think.

And if you weren't here yesterday you may have missed out on the prizes up for grabs as part of our birthday celebrations over at A Vintage Journey. Hop on over to join in the fun.

Well the sun is shining here for the first time in a while and those temperatures are finally rising so it looks like it'll be a good weekend! Whatever you're up to, have a great one and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Anything Tim at A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone and welcome to a special post celebrating the 1st birthday of A Vintage Journey. Can you believe it's been going for a whole year already! And there's lots to celebrate - for a start we are excited to announce that Trace 'Inkypinkycraft' is back with us, hurrah! and we have a new Creative Guide joining us, Shari Trumbull from 'Ain't That Artsy Fartsy', brilliant!

More news, the challenge schedule is being changed quite significantly; there will now be ONE challenge per month with the winner chosen by random.org so ANYONE who enters could win. The prize is being doubled by our generous sponsor, Country View Crafts, to a £20 voucher! The Creative Guides will continue to pick a top 3 'Pinworthies' and they, along with our challenge winner, will be invited to join us as Guest Creative Guides. A special guest will join us each month and even the Destination Inspiration posts are getting a makeover (more on that to come... )

To celebrate our 1st birthday the theme is 'Anything Tim' and there are some VERY SPECIAL PRIZES up for grabs, but you'll need to go over to the AVJ blog to find out about those. 'Anything Tim'... means vintage, shabby chic, mixed media and journalling projects that have a Tim Holtz influence. Will it be his techniques, his products, his tags, books or videos that you choose to inspire you? Whatever does it for you remember to link up to the challenge blog to be in with a chance to win!

Now for my Tim thing... this is a bit of a different colour scheme for me isn't it! It looks kinda complicated but in reality it's quite simple to achieve, making use of the new 'Flower Garden' stamps, 'Mixed Media' Thinlits dies and Tim's 'Distress Watercolouring' technique from the Compendium of Curiosities III. So how did I do it... (remember, just click on the photos for a closer look)...

For a long time I've been mentally willing Tim to release flower stamps and this year he seriously came up trumps - these 'Flower Garden' ones are simply perfect - thank you Tim! I stamped the leaves, stems, and flowers in Distress Ink and then watercoloured them following Tim's instructions. You'll notice there are no black lines as I wanted them to be softer and more realistic, and do you like the Abandoned Coral ones? This colour has quickly become one of my new favourites. With the floral bouquet 'painted' and fussy cut I picked out a section from the Wallflower paper stash but it looked a bit too detailed and I realised it was only the flower part that needed to be seen. Bring on the Mixed Media Thinlits. It was great to partially remove sections without simply tearing them away as it allowed me to add a coordinating Distress Coredinations background that wasn't just a matting layer. Of course as it is a birthday celebration a Simple Saying was totally appropriate.

Told you there wasn't much to it! You could of course go mad and add extra embellishments, but for me this felt balanced and complete. Thank you Tim for lots of inspiration, education, great products and sharing your passion for creating. Now it's time to let Tim inspire you. Head on over to A Vintage Journey to see what my fellow Creative Guides have been up to then you'll need to enter to be in with a chance to win one of the very special prizes up for grabs this month.

I'll be back tomorrow with my regular IndigoBlu spot and hope you can join me for that. In the meantime take care of yourselves. Jenny xxx

It's Time for a Vacation at Frilly and Funkie

Editor's Note: I really wanted you to get the chance to take a closer look at the details on my projects, so rather than sizing all the photos to extra large you can now click on each one to see a close up view instead - hope you approve!

Hi everyone and welcome! It's been busy here again - a demo day on Saturday and some filming on Monday - and with lots of prep to do I was struggling to get my head around this fortnight's Frilly and Funkie challenge theme, 'It's Time for a Vacation'.

Here's what Cec, our host for this challenge had to say about the theme; "If you are like most of us in the eastern half of North America, you are fed up with the brutal cold and snow that has been plaguing us for weeks and you want to get away so the challenge is called 'It's Time for a Vacation' - it could be a warm beach, an exotic locale with lots of sights to see or even in your own back yard".

So why was I struggling with this challenge? Well when it came down to it this was simply a matter of scale and purpose. Many of you who've been generously following me for a while will know I tend to make 6x6 cards which can then be used for family, friends and occasions. So mentally I approached this theme thinking about how to fit it onto a card and make it suitable for one of the many upcoming birthdays. For that reason the original intention was to go down the Parisian route but I also wanted to play with the new Distress colours and some of the new Thinlits dies.

Time to rethink... it feels like a lifetime ago (but in fact was only mid February!!!) that I created an A5 panel as a way of playing with some new Wendy Vecchi goodies (you can see that HERE) so I figured let's just pick some colours and a Found Relative and just play again!

The chosen colours (I used them in paint, ink, stain and stain spray format) were Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean, Evergreen Bough, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Abandoned Coral and Walnut Stain. You'll spot one of my favourite background stamps, IndigoBlu's 'Bubbles Background', at work here. I added Wendy Vecchi's Sky Blue embossing powder and some fine white embossing powder to create the foaming surface of the seashore, then spritzed the blue/green shades of Distress Stain Sprays over the top. Finally I splatted the Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio Distress Stains into a few areas to mirror the die cut splats that would be added over the top.

Turning attention to the 'toppings' I started with a beautiful image from the Occasions Found Relatives set that reminded me of one of my own childhood holiday experiences - I don't like adding personal photos of family members onto 'public' projects but this one reminded me of me and my sister paddling at Seaburn when we went to visit our Nana each year. To create a frame I used the ATC Bigz die on a central section, then set about adding colour to it all. Based on previous experiences I decided to use the blue shades of Distress Paint for this job, dragging/drying the 'frame' and brushing/patting the main image to help the girls stand out even more. This was mounted on more Distress Painted card, embossed and die cut with one of the new Mixed Media dies.

The splatters were cut from card covered with silver gilding flakes (Sheffield Steel Mega Flakes) before being dabbed with a little alcohol ink. You'll also spot a Distress Glitter covered starfish, a painted seahorse (covered in Crackle Accents before being overheated from behind for that bubbled effect) and sea greenery, inked up with Cracked Pistachio and Abandoned Coral. The bubbles were enhanced with a scattering of pearls and Glossy Accents and Remnant Rub Ons completed the panel.

Now, as well as acting as a reminder to my past, this has me dreaming of summer days to come and with any luck a chance to get to the beach again. Hop on over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog and you'll be able to see what my fellow DT members have been inspired to create.

Then it'll be over to you! Remember, the winner of this challenge will earn the chance of a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will be entered into the draw to have the chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

For now I hope the remainder of this week is happy and creative. Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx