Bloom and Grow with Wendy Vecchi

Hi everyone and welcome. Thank you for stopping by to see what I've been up to this time - your visits are always appreciated. Wendy Vecchi is a constant source of inspiration and education for so many of us and she has been sharing lots of new techniques again recently, inspiring a few 'what if' moments in my own craft room.

Whilst creating my 'Plaster and Pots' card I had a go at creating a faux terracotta pots for one of the new mat minis. It was a little too shiny for my liking so I decided to have another go (bearing in mind what Wendy explained about making her embossing powders matte).

Here's the process I came up with...

Dab Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint on a Mat Mini flower pot.

Mix together equal parts of Frosted Crystal and Tea Rose embossing powder and sprinkle unevenly over the wet paint.

Tap off any excess and save for future use.

Heat until the powder is melted. It will turn lighter.

Finally blend Potting Soil Archival Ink over the whole surface to deepen the colours.

Now I had a pot I needed a place to put it! Those of you who have followed me for a while will know I have something of a passion for Venice and it's incredibly beautiful buildings. Having seen Wendy's faux plaster technique in action I figured it would perfectly replicate the slightly crumbling and faded plasterwork so often seen on them. What do you think?...

The ink colours I chose to use for this technique included Tea Rose, Tree Branch and Watering Can. You'll see some Watering Can stencilling (using Add a Stencil) brickwork (using a mix of Tea Rose, Tree Branch, Watering Can and Frosted Crystal embossing powders through the Basically Bricks stencil) Distress Ink blended edges (Brushed Corduroy) brick patterned washi tape (from my stash) stamping (using the border from The Beauty of Art with Jet Black Ink) and some Industrious sticker borders.

With the background complete I moved on to the window. The main window was cut from kraft card and the shutters from corrugated card, all dry brushed with white gesso and blended with Brushed Corduroy. The 'voile' curtains are white embossed vellum using the Vintage Lace background stamp and the faux graniteware pitcher is another Mat Mini using Sky Blue embossing powder and another of Wendy's fabulous techniques. The pot and pitcher were filled with flowers  made using die cut Clearly for Art and more embossing powder (Fern Green, Sky Blue, Red Carnation and Tea Rose); using the heat gun on them gives you the chance to manipulate the shapes. To finish I added Remnant Rub Ons and Alpha Parts to remind me about the things I love about this panel.

I had a ball creating this just for me! Isn't it great to be able to do that once in a while? If you've created any of your own handmade flowers remember, there's a new 'Winter Blooms' challenge started over at Frilly and Funkie. And if you fancy diving into your own Wendy Vecchi stash you'll be pleased to hear there's a new Make ART challenge too! This time the theme is 'Hearts'. Both challenges are sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique so you've got two chances to win a shopping coupon!

That's it from me today. I'll be back (well, in spirit) with a post for IndigoBlu on Saturday (when I'll be teaching a workshop at Byrkley Park, Rangemore) and for those going to Stitches make sure you come see me on the IndigoBlu stand! For now, take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Tuesday's Texture Featured Project

Hi everyone and welcome. Today I am thrilled and honoured to be featured in Marjie Kemper's Tuesday's Texture series. The Tuesday's Texture series on Marjie's blog is of course all about texture, something that I love to incorporate into my cards and other projects. I highly recommend you take a look back through the previous posts and prepare to be dazzled by some incredibly creative designers. Marjie asked to feature a card I created as a Step by Step tutorial over at Frilly and Funkie at the beginning of January.

I hope you get the chance to stop by Marjie's blog and find out more about it. Thank you so much for putting me in the spotlight this way Marjie!

Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

The Beauty of Becca at IndigoBlu

Hi everyone. As promised I'm back to share my one of my latest show samples over on the IndigoBlu blog. Hope you can join me over there to take a look at one idea for using the new mixed media papers and stamp designs.

And it was really exciting this week to see the launch of the shows I've recorded for IndigoBlu now on britishcraftnetwork.tv! They are shown at different times each day and are repeated in case you're unable to catch them at first (see the schedule at the bottom of the home page). The joy of this online tv channel is that it is available around the World (you just need a connection to the web)! There has been a fantastic response to the initial shows and I feel truly humbled by that so thank you.

OK, I'm at Poppy Craft in Wallington, Oxfordshire today demonstrating so if you're down that way it would be great to see you!

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

Playing Tic Tac Toe at A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone and welcome to another Friday post. It's the start of a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey and here's what our host Annie has to say; "With so many Tim Holtz/Ranger and any other similar products we would like you to choose at least three items from the grid below and incorporate them in your projects. You can choose items horizontally/vertically or diagonally, it's your decision. Please, please include the name of the items you are using within your post, not just in the link to the challenge."

Idea-ology or any metal embellishment	Sprays	Ribbon/twine
Paint	Ephemera	Die cuts
Foil Tape	Texture Fades	Stains

Remember, we need to see Tim Holtz' style evident in your finished projects. As always, our winner will receive a £10 shop voucher from our wonderful sponsor, Country View Crafts as well as a blog badge and the opportunity to join us here as a guest for a future month's challenge. We also award 'Pinworthy' badges to three runners up.

If you are a regular contributor to the A Vintage Journey challenges or haven't yet taken the plunge you'll need to keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks; there are major changes afoot! For further details see the new challenge post over at A Vintage Journey.

Sometimes fate plays a hand in what you end up creating and this time was definitely one of those occasions. I'd already made my selection from the Tic Tac Toe grid - Sprays, Ephemera, Texture Fades - and then Tim produced his February 2015 Tag challenge HERE... based on ephemera and my favourite faux quilt look! Well it had to be done, so how did I incorporate Sprays and Texture Fades?

I love Tim's ephemera packs and grabbed a few travel themed ones to start with. They gave me a basic blue, brown, red colour scheme. Next, texture was needed to add some dimension to the 'quilt'. To make a good colour matched card I used spritzes of Weathered Wood, Iced Spruce and Antique Linen Distress Spray Stains, finishing it by mopping up the excess to add blotches of extra colour. Having run three separate pieces through different Texture Fades it was time to assemble the background.

Tim brushed Picket Fence Distress Paint across his tag - I went for the Frayed Burlap version and then used a Frayed Burlap Distress Marker and fine nib water brush to add the shading around each section. To finish the background I machine stitched around the edge a couple of times.

 Rather than use felt I layered some Mulberry fabric and die cut the globe. All the metal portions were die cut, edged with Jet Black Archival Ink and 'rusted' with Frayed Burlap Distress Paint (wiped away after being semi-dried). I used the same technique on the Idea-Ology Word Band, which really helped to age it, and added a line of Film Strip Ribbon.

So there you have it, my Tic Tac Toe project and this month's entry to Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 February Tag challenge. Now I encourage you to pop on over to A Vintage Journey to take a look at the amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new offering for you over at IndigoBlu.
In the meantime have a great end to your week and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Be My Valen-Twine at Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome. It's the second week of the latest challenge over at Frilly and Funkie - 'Be My Valen-Twine'. Here's what our host Pamellia has in store for you; "Pamellia here hosting my very first challenge at Frilly and Funkie! With the most romantic day of the year just around the corner, I thought it only fitting to start working on some some vintage or shabby chic projects for Valentines day...or should I say Valen-Twinesday!! You can make any type of creation you want, but you must include some sort of twine, jute, cord or string somewhere on your project."

The winner will earn the chance of a Guest DT spot here 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.

I've tried to get this design right before but wasn't totally happy with the outcome last time. This version hits the mark! As those of you who are regular visitors will know I love using paints on my cards and this card really relied upon the properties which are distinct to Distress Paints; they are slow drying and reactive with water when wet. You'll see this design is based on a collection of dry embossed die cuts created from white card. Having settled on a basic composition and added some lace and a coat of gesso, I created four distinct areas of colour by applying small amounts of paint and lots of water. The paint pooled and dispersed as I blasted it with a heat gun and dabbed at some places with a clean tissue.

I adore getting filigree metal pieces and Idea-Ology embellishments from The Funkie Junkie Boutique; tucking them in between the layers helps to add little accents and in this case framed the central heart. And that heart... die cut from chipboard it got a good coat of Distress Crackle Paint and then I added Walnut Stain Distress Stain over the top to emphasize the cracks. After adding dabs of Tarnished Brass Distress Paint around the edges I wound some burlap twine around it to finish.

Now I'd love you to hop on over and see the gorgeous Valen-Twine projects created by my fellow team mates over at Frilly and Funkie for some more inspiration, and then we want to see what you can do.

I'm entering this into The Mixed Media Card Challenge - #8 Love

Art with Heart Challenge - Projects to Love

and Simon Says Stamp Monday -  H is for... (heart)

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. I'll be back on Friday with a new project for A Vintage Journey. Until then, take care of yourselves. Jenny xxx

Ripped and Torn at IndigoBlu

Hi everyone and welcome. Once again the week has whizzed by and it's time for me to share another CHA sample over at IndigoBlu today. I hope you get chance to pop over there and take a look at the whole card.

As for me? I'm over at Back 2 Craft in Walsall with the lovely owner Sarah where I'll be leading a make n take session for lots of lovely people. Whatever you're up to this weekend take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Plaster and Pots...

Hi everyone and welcome. Today I played. In between prepping, DT stuff, making samples and forward planning I decided to put the whole lot to one side and just create for no specific reason other than a burning need to try out a technique or two. It was brilliant! 

Recently one of my crafting heroines, the wonderful Wendy Vecchi, shared a new technique she has developed using her Archival Inks and one particular Distress Spray Stain. Find the step by step HERE (trust me, it's a must see!) With a couple of new Archival Inks and a new Embossing Powder in hand it was time to dive in! I followed Wendy's instructions (using Tea Rose and Buttercup) as the basis for the background, then stencilled over with the same colours and some Dandelion too. Having chopped it up to create a layered mosaic pattern each of the edges was blended with a little Tea Dye Distress Ink too.

Then came the toppings; the sentiment was stamped with Jet Black Archival, finished with dots of Antique Bronze Distress Paint; the dotty swirls were layered using the same Jet Black and Tea Rose Embossing Powder; as well as stamping, colouring and fussy cutting the top layer of leaves I stamped and stencilled the lower layer directly onto the background; the flowers were coloured with Dandelion and Buttercup and mounted on Clearly for Art to allow for robust shaping; and the BRILLIANT Mat Mini flower pot.. that's a faux terracotta idea I need to perfect (keep watching future posts for an update and step by step)!!!

So, what do you think? Isn't it fun to just let go and play once in a while? Right, back to it for me.

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