Creativation 2017 and new Journal Die!

Hi everyone and welcome! The wanderer returns... back from the US and a fabulous five days at the annual Craft and Hobbies trade show that is now known as Creativation. This year we made our way to Phoenix, Arizona, and for my first time in the States it was an amazing adventure (though as someone who's scared of flying a 10.5 hour flight required wine, movies and a soundtrack to drown out engine noise!)

It was a huge privilege to spend lots of time with Linda Coughlin, the incredibly hard working owner of The Funkie Junkie Boutique for those four days; to finally get to meet this wonderful lady in person after so many years made the trip so special for me from the outset and I am eternally grateful to her. Here we are alongside the amazing Marjie Kemper, another of my creative heroines, attending the education sessions;

(Marjie Kemper, me and Linda Coughlin)

The business sessions were a wealth of information - such a huge opportunity - and I also got the chance to play during a workshop session with the one and only Seth Apter! He's as amazing in person as he is online and if you ever get the chance to take one of his courses grab it with both hands - you won't regret it. Even more wonderful was the fact that I got to share the experience with Linda and two of my AVJ sisters, Deb Riddell and Sandy Diller!!! We just had to capture that moment for posterity - us, trouble? never!;

(Deb Riddell, Seth Apter, Sandy Diller and me)

On Saturday the show floor opened and retailers/designers/buyers from across the globe piled in to see what's gonna be hot in 2017, with many of the top names in the industry sharing their latest releases. Here's my 'imposter' shot stood alongside three legends of the business;

(Marjie Kemper, Rachel Greig, Eileen Hull and lil' ole me!)

I was incredibly fortunate to have been invited to demo myself at the Sizzix booth for the one and only Eileen Hull - she has a brand new Journal die coming out this Spring and I have to say it got me more than a little over-excited when I received some cuts to prep prior to arriving in Phoenix!!! Here is the official Journal photo (I got to see this for real and it's even better in the flesh!!!);

And here's the Sizzix Bigz XL die that makes it;

In a nutshell it will cut you scored, hole-punched, corner-rounded covers for traveler's notebooks, Midoris, planners and mini journals. Want to see how it works? Here's a video taken by Marjie Kemper sharing my demo at the Sizzix booth - thank you so much to her for capturing me and so many of the other designers 'in action' at the show - check out her YouTube channel to subscribe and see more;

Having worked at trade shows in the past I was fully prepared for the fact that as a demonstrator you don't get to complete a great deal what with constantly stopping to run through the product details, answering any questions that the audience may have. So a fair amount of prep had been done before I flew (guess what my carry on bag contained - wasn't losing any of that!) By the end of three days (12 hours) of show and tell I had completed a grand total of three journals. These have now joined all the other gorgeous samples created in advance by Eileen's brilliant Design Team on the road with her as part of the Paper Trail Hopefully she'll get chance to share photos of them all with you when time allows. Before they disappeared I managed to grab some photos of my completed journals (apologies for the quality but the make n take tables weren't designed for this sort of thing!!!)

The 'Alphabet Journal' with some of Eileen's fabulous new flowers;

with inserts including some yummy Tim Holtz papers inserts;

The 'Junk Journal' with a Wendy Vecchi flower cover;

Tags, tuck spots and pockets galore including a new design from Eileen Hull;

Eileen has designed dies to cut words that can be stitched;

Love that Eileen's pocket doubles as a cute little house;

And finally this one's all Wendy Vecchi with stencilling and texture galore;

and more coordinating design paper inserts inside;

Can you see now why I'm so ridiculously excited about the potential for using this die?! I'm thrilled to confirm that my friends in the US can pre-order Eileen's Journal Die at The Funkie Junkie Boutique HERE. For those in the UK the campaign has now begun on Facebook to see how many of us also want to buy this die, as without demand these things don't always reach our shores. So if you, like me, would love the opportunity to place an order with a UK retailer please leave a comment at the end of this post so we can inform them ahead of the UK trade show in February.

With that it's time for me to return to the craft room and get some projects made/deadlines met.
I'm also planning on making a new video with a complete walkthrough of the journal design so if you have any questions please let me know.
Thanks for joining me today - have a great week, take care of yourselves and have fun! Jenny xxx

New Years Inspiration at Frilly and Funkie - Make it Happen

Hi everyone and welcome! It's my turn to host the first challenge of 2017 over at Frilly and Funkie and the chosen theme is New Years Inspiration; at the start of each New Year so many of us make plans and set goals for the futures. So for this challenge we want you to create a vintage or shabby chic project depicting what you are inspired to do/achieve this year.

The team will choose their top four picks with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest DT spot here at Frilly and Funkie and the next three will receive badges to display on their blogs. 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.

My DT project for this one won't make a great deal of sense to anyone without explanation as I've not opted for a sentiment or phrase to sum up my goal for 2017. Instead I've chosen to make something which will demonstrate my determination to make the words "Make it happen" a mantra for the year; it's time to make positive steps forward in life alongside making the most of offered opportunities (those are always welcome of course!) The people I admire most in the craft and hobbies industry are the ones who have made things happen through hard work, commitment and self-belief, and being honest it's that last one that is the most challenging, particularly in a culture which has a tendency to pour scorn on self-confidence.

This portfolio contains A5 replicas of some of my favourite canvases created over the last year to make it possible to physically share my work with people rather than just on social media or in print. Seeing pictures of artwork is always good but you really get the measure of it in real life, especially when there's lots of texture and dimension included. Its first journey will be to accompany me to Creativation 2017 (the new name for CHA) which this year takes place in Phoenix, Arizona; what better place to show people what you can do!

The portfolio covers came from a book salvaged from a charity shop onto which I added a Wendy Vecchi inspired vintage style floral panel bundle and a faux plaster plaque using a Prima IOD mould and paper clay (the tutorial promised  for achieving this look is included at the end of the post). I rebuilt the spine using strong card following an online tutorial by Seth Apter and added sticky backed canvas, coloured with Vintage Distress Collage Medium, to cover it. The filigree metal corners were added to the book covers for decorative purposes and I also 'aged' them further by applying the smallest amount of Distress Paint in patches. Here are a couple of close ups of the front cover;

And here's how I've added the canvases inside - as you can see from the first one they are all as dimensional as the originals, meaning that the finished portfolio measures almost 5 1/2 inches wide! There's also some vintage music score dating back to 1899 added to the inside covers and room for me to include some flat collage work and journalling if time allows before I fly.

As promised last Friday on my Frilly and Funkie Friday Focus post here's how to add a faux plaster/stone look to your Prima IOD paper clay moulded pieces (and remember, these beauties are currently discounted by an extra 15% at The Funkie Junkie Boutique).

Start with a layer of Peeled Paint Distress Paint over the dry moulded object label.

When the first layer is dry use a brush to add an uneven layer of Antique Linen Distress Paint. Some of the detailed areas will have the Peeled Paint layer still exposed.

Ensure the second paint layer is dry before spritzing water over the whole piece. While wet add a couple of drops of Mushroom Alcohol Ink to the edges and allow the ink to run before blotting with tissue to dry.

Finally add a layer of Crazing Distress Collage Medium and allow this to dry naturally to reveal the delicate crazing.

Here's what your 'faux aged plaster' moulded label will look like; you can add stamping or Remnant Rubs to finish.

So that's it for my DT project (and additional tutorial) for the current Frilly and Funkie challenge all about our New Years Inspiration. Please make sure you hop on over to see what my talented team mates have created to represent their goals for 2017 and remember to link up your own projects to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes.

I'll leave you with a list of ingredients used for altering the covers of my new portfolio and a promise that I'll be back with some sneek peaks of something very exciting soon. Until then take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Friday Focus for Frilly and Funkie - Prima IOD Moulds and Paper Clay

Hi everyone and welcome! It's my turn to shine a light on a product range given an extra 15% discount at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for the next two weeks; Prima IOD Moulds and Paper Clay will be offered at an even better price through January 19th so make sure you stock up!!!

To give you some ideas for using Prima IOD Moulds and Paper Clay I'm sharing a few projects made with them over the past year. And I have had another play with the new Object Labels sets this week so there's a brand new altered book, part of which you can see above.

See the whole book over at the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog HERE - I'd love to hear if you've used them or have any questions.

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

Destination Inspiration for A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone and Happy New Year to you all! WOW! Long time no blog. It's been a busy time for us all I guess and getting the chance to sit for any length of time to put together something that makes any sense has been beyond me I'm afraid. Is this why so many of us are resorting to the instant sharing afforded by Instagram, Facebook and the like? Well I'll definitely make the effort to continue to share DT projects, tutorials and other creative 'stuff' here on my blog through 2017 whenever possible.

In that spirit I'm here to share that I have a post going live for the Destination Inspiration series at A Vintage Journey today. Hopefully you can join me to see what I've been up to with the contents of the travel bag; it's a Wendy Vecchi inspired creation and that travel bag really came in useful!

For now I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy, successful and creative 2017. Jenny xxx