Exciting News from Eileen Hull and Bella Crafts Publishing!!!

Hi everyone and welcome! I've got some exciting news to share today!!! Recently I was contacted by Eileen Hull with an invitation to submit projects to a brand new e-book. The book, published by Bella Crafts Publishing, contains over 100 inspirational projects including over 40 step by step tutorials for flowers, books, boxes, gifts, layouts, cards, holiday projects and so much more. AND there's a gallery section with over 60 ideas for using Eileen's line of Sizzix dies from lots of your favourite designers.

The book - Die Cutting Magic, is published by Bella Crafts, who produce amazing quality e-books and on-line magazines, and it is being launched today - Black Friday. As a BF offer, the book is available for $2.97 (yes, really!) and will be available at this price until Midnight 28th November (Pacific Time). That is a whopping 77% discount off the normal price of $12.97 - which is still a bargain for a 165 page book, packed with over 60 ideas and step by steps to over 40 amazing projects!

Are you looking for ideas for projects from Clean and Simple (CAS) right through to Mixed Media, with full step by step instructions? Do you need something to kick start your mojo? It would make a great Christmas present for crafty family or friends, and we all need a treat ourselves don't we?!

There are so many of your favourite designers included and it's a massive honour to have been included amongst them. Click on the link on my sidebar to purchase your copy, and remember, that HUGE discount is only available for the launch weekend so grab it NOW!!!!!! (you can't get much for $2.97 these days so it really is a proper Black Friday weekend bargain).

Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Bountiful Harvest for Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome! With Thanksgiving just around the corner in the US and the Autumn leaves falling to the ground here in the UK, the latest Frilly and Funkie challenge hosted by the wonderful Nancy Dynes is called 'Bountiful Harvest'. For this one she wants us all to "create any vintage or shabby chic project celebrating the bounty of the season in the rich hues of autumn."

At the end of the challenge the team will choose their top four picks. Our first place winner will be invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie. Three additional talented participants will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and adheres to the challenge guidelines will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

For me the bounty of this season comes from the array of trees in the park where we walk our dog. After the acorns and conkers have fallen and the berries have all been picked, it's the turn of the leaves to take centre stage; the rich hues dress the branches (and then the floor!) bringing much needed colour to the rapidly shortening days. Hopefully you'll see all of this captured in my card.

I've used Tim Holtz 'Leaf Prints' stamp set extensively for this, firstly in the background layers as a paint resist, then for the second Crushed Olive background with simple inky stamping, and finally for the embossed centrepiece. Contrasting the earthy layers was important for this design; kraft card blended with shades of brown and blue paint made the yellows, reds and greens really pop the way they do against autumnal skies. I also found a coordinating scrap of blue leather and piled ink on a piece of gauze for added texture.

The bottom leafy layer is so easy to achieve - just smoosh the four red Distress Paints on your craft mat, press the leaf stamps into it and stamp onto plain white card. Then when dry spritz over with the Distress Spray Stains and hey presto! autumn has arrived! I added a small sprinkle of black embossing powder to the final layer of heated gold embossing powder to get the aged look before pressing another of those gorgeous leaf shapes into it (cover the stamp in black archival ink first to make the final image stand out even more). The middle layer is a simple case of mopping up the remaining Distress Spray Stains with white card and stamping some of the leaves with Distress Inks (a touch of spritz and flick with the water makes it look as weather-beaten as me after my dog walks!!!)

So that's my contribution to the Design Team's inspiration for our 'Bountiful Harvest' challenge. Make sure you hop on over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog to see the other fabulous makes from my super talented teamies and find out how they've celebrated this season, by which time I'm sure you'll be ready to join in the fun with us and of course be in with a chance to win! For now take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Friday, no make that a Tuesday Focus on Distress Paints!!!

Hi everyone and welcome! With having a Veterans Sale over the weekend, Linda took the understandable decision to delay the latest 'Friday Focus' discount until today. So, at last I'm unveiling my latest tutorial for some of my very favourite paints - Distress Paints from Ranger!!! Linda's got a HUGE deal on them right now with 35% off MSRP!!! You could say she's practically giving them away, but just for a limited time.

To celebrate I'm sharing not one, but TWO ideas/tutorials for festive cards using these little bottles of magic - and hope you can join me over at the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog today to find out more. For now have a great week and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

What a Mesh! at Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome! Thank you for the wonderful response to my last post - it's one of my favourite projects to date and I'm thrilled you all seem to agree. Today I'm back as promised for the latest Frilly and Funkie challenge 'What a Mesh!' hosted by the amazing Pamellia Johnson. For this one she would like you to create a vintage or shabby chic project using any type of mesh (crinoline, cheesecloth, tulle, burlap, canvas etc).

At the end of the challenge the team will choose their top four picks. Our first place winner will be invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie. Three additional talented participants will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and adheres to the challenge guidelines will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

I decided to take a different approach to my Christmas cards this year, avoiding the traditional colours where possible and attempting a 'vintage' feel without the use of browns! You'll not be getting a rundown on this card as I've got a step by step tutorial for it coming this Friday next Tuesday. Needless to say there's mesh involved (I'm sure you can spot the gauze beneath the reindeer) layering and textures.

So that's my contribution to the Funkie side of the Design Team's inspiration for our 'What a Mesh!' challenge. Make sure you hop on over to the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog to see the other fabulous makes and find out how they've used mesh, by which time I'm sure you'll be ready to join in the fun with us and of course be in with a chance to win!

Thank you for joining me today. Remember I'll be back on Friday next Tuesday with a tutorial for this (and another!) card and some fantastic news if, like me, you're a fan of Distress Paints. And a quick heads up - I'll be back on your screens this coming Sunday with three mixed media shows on Hochanda at 2pm, 5pm and 9pm. Whatever you're up to for the rest of the week have a good one and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

See Possibility Everywhere

Hi everyone and welcome! With lots going on here there hasn't been a whole lot of time to share my art on the blog - time to put that right today with my latest canvas using Distress Paints to the max and salvaged finds...

The base of this canvas had a covering of rough texture paste applied unevenly before I started with the paint. It's been a joy learning more about creating depth in colour and pattern with this Seth Apter online course (highly recommended). I took time to get the 12 layers of Distress Paint and gesso - yes, 12!!! - to a place I was happy with, starting (believe it or not) with black and working though to white highlights. Though not immediately apparent, there's almost the entire range of brown and purple shades in there, a couple of which have been used more prominently in the stamping (Ground Espresso) and on the rusty elements (Aged Mahogany and Seedless Preserves).

The lighter Distress Paint colours were also used on some separate paper which was then die cut and layered over similarly cut kraft card, creating dimensional Crocheted Lace onto which I could tie the salvaged rusted pieces. Rust Alcohol Ink and water drips highlighted their design on the finished canvas. The large polished glass stone has been hanging around here forever waiting for a home. This and the smaller glass beads provided a perfect contrast to the aged metal and prompted me to use coordinating burlap string and fuse wire to wrap the metal.

Whilst the stamped numbers from the Tim Holtz Sideshow set added pattern and structure to the design I really wanted something more to add meaning to the finished canvas. Some Remnant Rubs were perfect for the job as they layer beautifully over the most uneven of surfaces and are easily bonded with Matte Distress Collage Medium. Tim is right you know, there really is possibility everywhere...

This fits well with the following challenges;

Anything But Cute Challenge #19 - Rustic Glam

Creative Artiste's Challenge #20 - Anything Mixed Media Goes 

Mixed Media World Challenge #19 - Assemblage/Altered Art

Rhedd's Creative Spirit November Challenge - Altering/Repurposing

SanDee & amelie's November 2016 Challenge - Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #30 Color Inspiration

Hope you've enjoyed seeing my latest canvas. I'm back on Wednesday for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge - hope you can join me for that. Meantime, whatever you're up to this weekend, take care of yourselves. Jenny xxx