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

Lost in Her Dreams at IndigoBlu

Hi everyone and welcome. As it's Saturday morning I'm back over at the IndigoBlu blog to share another of my CHA 2015 samples. I hope you get the chance to hop on over and take a look at the full card in all its glory.

If you fancy getting to play with some of the new stamp designs using paints and flake I'm teaching a full day workshop at Byrkley Park Garden Centre, Rangemore, Burton on Trent on Saturday 14th February 2015. Contact them directly to book your place by following the link HERE.

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

Winter Wishes at Frilly and Funkie

Hi everyone and welcome. Well, we've already reached the mid-point of the week and I hate to say it, but there's not much of January left now!!! Here in the UK Winter has been bearing her teeth a little with chilly temperatures and frosty mornings and it is beginning to show the first signs of getting lighter. To be honest it's not my favourite time of year so when DT member Nancy came up with the theme 'Winter Wishes' for the latest Frilly and Funkie challenge I really wasn't sure what to focus on. An early morning walk with the dog fixed that! Oh, and you'll notice I abandoned the new light box to get photos of this card - the only way to capture the sparkle was in direct sunlight, and thank goodness we got a bit that day!!!

The trees may be bare but the crisp morning frost makes them magical and that's what I wanted to capture here. Rather than talk you through this creation step by step let's give you a heads up on the ingredients for different elements. The tag includes Crackled Texture Paste and Potting Soil Archival Ink put through the Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Layered Tree Stencil with a spritz of Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain. The background has White Embossing Paste put through the Tim Holtz Woodgrain Layering Stencil before being covered in Black Soot and Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder. After a spritz of Picket Fence and Brushed Pewter Distress Spray Stain I added Rock Candy Distress Glitter with Glossy Accents in a few areas of the 'bark' for some extra glisten.

In case you haven't seen it yet there is a fabulous video HERE of Wendy Vecchi at CHA 2015 talking you through some of the techniques and options available when using her fabulous Embossing Powders. I had to have a go at mixing Wendy's Watering Can option with Frosted Crystal Embossing Powder and figured it would work best here with the License Plate Art words. As you can see there are other stencilled, inked, embossed and stamped elements which add to the 'forest' look to this card.

In case you haven't heard, there is a fabulous new challenge just for devotees of all things Wendy Vecchi; the first challenge theme over at the Make ART Challenge Blog is 'Embossing Paste', so this fits right in!

Fortuitously the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge theme this week is 'Winter Stamping' so it would be rude not to :) and it's been about 4.5 million years since I got the chance to join in Sunday Stamper challenge 'More Than a Feeling' (texture) so let's set that right.

That's it for my 'Winter Wishes' but you can see lots more over at the Frilly and Funkie challenge blog where it's my Funkie team mates' turn to share their ideas. Don't forget, if you then enter the challenge you are in with a chance of winning a Guest Designer spot on the challenge blog, and one randomly drawn entrant will get a $25 shopping coupon at The Funkie Junkie Boutique - see you there!

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

Tag Monday at A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone and welcome to the start of a new week. Thank you to everyone who left such lovely comments about Miss Mannequin - she really is one of my favourite altered pieces to date and it would appear one of yours too! Today I'm back with something completely different, although some sloshing around with paint was required for this too. It's my take on Tim Holtz' January 2015 Tag and as ever I've interpreted it in card format. Over at A Vintage Journey today my fellow Creative Guides and I are sharing our 'tag' makes.

It's always a treat to follow someone else's creative process for once and Tim has a clever knack of putting together a tag to get those ideas flowing each month. I loved that wrinkled tissue look with it's splatters and collection of Chit Chat words, but preferred to adapt it a little.

You can find Tim's instructions HERE so I won't repeat those except to say my Distress Paint colour choices included Shabby Shutters, Broken China and Antique Linen, and the aged look came courtesy of Vintage Photo Distress Stain Spray. To give the main tag more dimension I layered on die cut tags, stamps and tickets before applying the Postale Tissue Wrap. The same technique was used on the matching die cuts too.

Tim used Black Soot to outline and define the words on his tag; I wanted to go down a lighter route, especially after having layered the tag and matching die cuts onto a piece of kraft resist card (coloured with Salty Ocean Distress Stain). Picket Fence Distress Paint is fluid enough that it can give you a less defined edge (always in keeping with the Tim Holtz style) and it was perfect for splattering over the card once the Chit Chat stickers and rub ons had been applied. Final elements included the Simple Saying and Alpha Parts numbers (duly altered with matching Distress Paint).

That's it from me for today but my fellow Creative Guides have a range of tags on show over at A Vintage Journey (not all Tim tags either) so I encourage you to pop on over there to take a look. I'll be back on Wednesday with an altogether chillier offering for you.

In the meantime have a great week and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Little Miss Mannequin at IndigoBlu

Hi everyone and welcome. Gosh, it feels like a lifetime since I've been here! All the excitement of CHA is over and now we wait for the new releases to arrive in the shops. There are a ton of uber-exciting things going on behind the scenes that I'm afraid I can't share at the moment, but what I can share is the first of my CHA samples for IndigoBlu. They've teamed up with the amazing Limor Webber who has designed some superb new stamps.

I'll leave you with a sneak peek here and hope you'll join me over on the IndigoBlu blog to see Miss Mannequin in all her glory.

For now have a great weekend and take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Use a Portrait at A Vintage Journey

Hi everyone and welcome. As promised on Wednesday I'm back with a new challenge post for A Vintage Journey. This time Sandy is our host; Tim provides us with some excellent portraits with his Found Relatives, but, of course, it could be a photo or portrait of your own. Create whatever you like with it - a card, an ATC, a canvas, an altered project, a tag, oh the list is endless and incorporate your choice of portrait! Of course given that this is a Tim Holtz focussed challenge we need to see/know what Tim has inspired in your project. And remember, as this challenge is generously sponsored by Country View Crafts there's a gift voucher for the overall winner. Three 'Pinworthies' will also be featured on our dedicated Pinterest board.

I adore Tim's 'Relatives' but figured you might see a lot of them. On principle I don't add current/recent family photos (having a bit of a thing about safeguarding - a hangover from my days working in education) so that ruled that option out. Time for option 3 - a stamped/inked portrait...

So this is my take on 'new fangled' early 20th Century portraits; in times gone by the rich and famous would be recorded for posterity in a painting, but with the advent of photograph it became possible to capture those faces on plates and then film to make as many copies as you liked. The idea caught on in such a big way that it became an affordable option for the middle and lower classes too. And thank goodness for that! Those of us who love to research our genealogies a picture can paint a thousand words and hold so many clues to the past. Now we take our own portraits, or 'selfies', but back then you had to take a trip to the local photography studio (unless of course you could afford the photographer to come to you)!

Step forward my self-made man and famous US industrialist "Gordon H. Booth"...

You'll see that Mr Booth had several shots taken using the same pose with the intention of selecting the most imposing one. Over the years the reel itself has deteriorated (alcohol inks/Distress Spray Stains on the stamped images) but his Distress Stain painted image remains intact.

Captured for posterity with his image, some of the (Tim Holtz) ephemera retained from his 'journey to the top' - even a hard-nosed industrialist could have a sentimental side - including the stamp attached to the letter confirming his acceptance into the 'City Fathers Guild' and the ticket to the circus show where he took his wife to be on their first 'date'. And now this collage comes together to celebrate the momentous day he was born in 1877...

So how will you 'Use a Portrait'... still not sure? Head on over to A Vintage Journey to see lots more wonderful ideas from some of my fellow Creative Guides. For now I will bid you farewell and hope you take care of yourselves as this weekend approaches. Jenny xxx

All Tim Holtz products available from Country View Crafts.