Exciting News!!!

...cor blimey and thrice!!! I am sooo excited!!! I have been asked to join the brand new Design Team for Jones of Nottingham starting in January 2014.  I will be playing, ahem... working with gorgeous stashly goodies from the likes of Kaisercraft, Graphic 45, Ruby Rocket, Marion Smith Designs... and lots more too!  Also on the team are these illustrious crafty peeps:

Sandra Carey - careyscards.blogspot.co.uk

Clare Charvill - mycreativespirit.blogspot.com  
Lorraine Brown Robertson-craftycoo.blogspot.com
Marion Emberson-sugarandspicecrafts.blogspot.co.uk
Pauline Wheeler -paulinescreativejourney.blogspot.com

How about that for a line up eh???  Please do pop and see the others, take a cuppa and a packet of Hobnobs with you though, you will be gone for a while!!!

I was playing with Kaisercraft papers last weekend when I was teaching my Cardinal Christmas Board class at Birds in the Barn... I LOVE Kaisercraft papers muchly and it just so happens that I have got some brand spanking new ones to play with already... teeeheeee... there's gonna be plenty fun going on in the Room of Stash next weekend :O)  

You know I make no secret of my lurve of paper blocking... all those ickle snips of paper that you cannot bear to part with that go into the Box of Snippetty Doom... you have one, go on, admit it.  You make a card... have a snippetty bit left over and it is just a built in thing in us crafters, you can't physically put said snippetty bit into the bin because "it might come in..."  Well... they never do, do they?  So, this technique uses up all those bits and sometimes, just because I can, I use full sheets and make even more snippetty bits!

Right, I shall away... I am scheduling a few posts at the moment as I have classes this weekend ... and tomorrow night (Saturday) by the time I get home it will be time for Strictly, X Factor, I'm A Celeb... blimey, tellybox at this time of year is soooo consuming of time!  Still, I loves it all :O))  Thanks for looking, have yourself a fabby day!  TTFN

Hels x

I Challenge Thee... A Revisited Recipe!

...cor blimey, it has been toooo long since Ellen and I did a good old I Challenge Thee!  Seriously, the last time was August!  Anyways, we had a proper Skypey sesh on Sunday... and being as Ellen has a bit of a Mojo deficit going on, I suggested we do a "revisit" of an old one to see how differently we would make it now.  The one I chose was from 6th January this year... not that long but enough for styles and preferences to change right?  Well, erm... in my case... wrong!  Cos whilst I did the whole recipe, I still managed to go right OTT with the embellies... nowt new there then eh?  Here's the recipe - please do feel free to use the recipe too, if you do, please show us what you created too :O)

Large Canvas
Scraped Paint Technique
Embossing/Texture Paste
Stabilo ALL Pencil *aka The Magic Pencil*
Word - not stamped
Tissue Paper Stamping collage
Ink Sprays
Drawn border/edging
Embellies of choice *uh-oh, I knew I would go OTT!*

So. My canvas is a 12" x 9" canvas and isn't deep edged, which I do prefer but being as this was the only one I could find, I used it.   The colours are predictable for me aren't they?  Well, if you CLICK HERE you will be transported away on the back of a giant paper flower to see the original canvas I made.   When you get back I will prove that it is different... sort of....  ok, yes, that one is predictable too... brown!  I know, browns, greens, blues... one day I will use bright colours and shock myself stupid (mmm, stupid already so not much shocking needed for that!)

The scraped paint is done with a spatula.  Ellen uses a plastic credit card scrapery thing... I prefer the spatula method as I feel more in control... plus, don't tell anyone but my hands are rubbish and I tend to drop the plastic credit card scrapery thing all over the job... teehee.  Tissue stamping - using Wendy's fabby Watering Can Archival from the Ranger Designer series... that colour makes my heart sing!  It is THE perfect and proper shade of grey to *be there* without *being there!* if you know what I means.  The stamp is the gorgeous background from Heirloom Art from Wendy Vecchi too. And the tissue is always a cosmetic tissue... whilst it is more delicate to work with, to me it kind of dissolves in the Glue & Seal so you can't see the edges so much.   The stencil is from Imagination Crafts and the embossing paste is my fave Wendy Vecchi Dreamweaver Matte Black... this stuff is THE best... like a moussey lushly smoothy bouncy paste.  Perfect.  
  

Once all that dried, I painted a two tone border (yep, predictable... but I loves it...) and then the embellies.  LOTS of them.  I haven't seen Ellen's finished creation... but I kind of know that there won't be many embellies... because that is the massive difference with us.  I go totes over the top with chucking flowers and metal and stuff... Ellen is more restrained... mmm, I needs to try and be more restrained... just to see how I gets on!  The ink spray part of the recipe came in with the coloring of the flowers - check out Kaisercrafts new paper blooms... they are GORGEOUS... and the base colours of the roses are Sage (wish I hadn't gone so mad with the Black Marble Dylusions, over did those a wee bit) and I added some blue Cosmic Shimmer spray for blingyness too.  Then the tonne of embellies... all were tinted with Treasure Gold Pewter and Sapphire to tone them in.  Oh and the leaves... painted with Forest Moss Distress Paint.  Do you like the word???   That is like a big metal buckle.  Dan got me it from Michael's for my birthday... and I been saving it for a spesh project... so thanks Dan, excellent taste my friend!    And there you have it!  So, you wanna see the original one now?  I have to say... out of the two, I prefer the first one... I think it is because the size of canvas is perfect for me. I get a bit scaredy kittycat when I start on a larger size.. but hey, it is a challenge after all!  And I also prefer the colours on the original... and it was a deep edge canvas...

Don't forget to bob over to our Ellen's place for a nosey at her amazing creation.  I am saying amazing even though I ain't seen it finished cos it will be... I just know it.  I saw it after the painty bit had been done and I was a-drooling big stylee. Anyways, I guess that is more than enough wafflingtons from me for one day.   I have class kits to get ready for my classes this weekend at Busy Bee's weekend retreat in Sheffield... and also, my old war wound is really playing up again... grrrrr... so I will be resting up too.  Well, thank heavens for Victor the Vagabond, he die cuts all my stuff so efficiently... saves straining meself lol   Thanks for looking, have a grand day... TTFN

Hels x

Two Little Birds Sitting in a Tree...

...ooooh, tis exciting!  I have just received my latest batch of brand new stamp designs from Darkroom Door and I am in lurves!  Todays post features one of a two volume set of quirky little birdies called Carved Birds Vol. 2 and they have been designed by my teamie Godelieve Tijskens... click HERE for her blog where you can see some fabby things she has made with her new rubber babies.  I regularly get asked about Darkroom Door stamps so HERE is a linky to the store and HERE is a linky to the blog so you can pop over to Australia and visit... oh how I wish it was that easy to pop over to Aus... I neeeed to visit there, it is on the old bucket list you know :O))

Anyways, on with my creation using the cute l'il Carved Birds.  I started out with a plain 5" x 7" canvas and applied some Distress Paints; Broken China, Bundled Sage and Antique Linen... applying them direct to the canvas using the dabber top and then blending the colours through with my favourite applicator... my finger!   Next up I lightly spritzed the paints with water so they moved gently together and then zapped the canvas with a heat tool.  I wanted to add some darker colour to the canvas so chose Peeled Paint and squidged some across the top of the canvas, stood it upright and spritzed water down onto the paint so it dripped down the canvas... another zap with a heat tool and it was nicely blended and dried.   I added some Studio 490 Black Embossing Paste through a stencil and heat set it - I love the way it bubbled a bit to give more texture.  I then decided the background was a bit boring so I added some lines in Antique Linen and Black Soot Distress Paint and then popped some circles over them.  Still looking a bit bland I decided to splatter the same colour paints onto the canvas for a more distressy look.

My birds were stamped using Jet Black Archival onto Grungeboard and then coloured with Distress Markers to add some colour.  I cut a branch using the Sizzix Alterations Branch Tree die, again using Grungeboard... and then coloured with Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain.  The sentiment is made up of letters from the Darkroom Door Alphas 2 Wordstrips - the Wordstrips are brilliant for adding sentiments... loooove them lots!  Finally I added a two tone border around the edges of the canvas and then smudges of Treasure Gold onto the texture paste for a smidge of bling.  And there you have it!  I also made a card which I will show you next week :O)

I am really excited about the new release of stamps and I have some great ideas buzzing in my head for my next projects... they will be coming up in a couple of weeks time.  I shall away now, as ever, thanks for looking... have a fabby day!! TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 272 - Titanium

Gooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Another week has whizzed past and I am a little behind on catching all your entries from last weeks' challenge... apologies for my lateness, I shall be around to visit you as soon as poss!  I do appreciate all your efforts and gorgeous entries!  This weeks challenge is a nice easy one... and it is... USE METAL.   To join in with the challenge is simples:  make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping and then pop back here to leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing  your entry.  If you haven't got a blog/photo-hosty-thingy, worry not, you can also join in via Facebook (just tag my name on your photo upload) or via email by attaching a small size pic (my email addy is found by clicking the pic of me over in the top left hand side bar)  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 31st August 2013.

On with my entry for this week:  As you know, last weekend was a crafty friends weekend away and I did the sum total of.... half a tag!  I know!  For some reason my Mojo has upped and naffed orf again .... probs sunning himself on some sunkissed sand dune whilst sipping Mojito's!  Anyways... this tag took hours to make.  I know, it looks like it took about 5 mins and it isn't my most favourite thing but as I have nowt else to offer... this is it!  Yikes!  Come home Mojo, I NEEEEEED you!

The base of the tag has the Drippy Distress Paints technique (as shown in my Master Class in Sept 13 Craft Stamper)  Once this was dried, I stamped onto cosmetic tissue with my fave Studio 490 background from Heirloom Art using Jet Black Archival.  This was then applied to the tag using Glue & Seal.  I could have stamped directly onto the tag but... I wanted to achieve a more muted look... and I love the way the tissue adds the extra bit of texture.  Once this was dry, I popped some Black Studio 490 Embossing Paste onto it through an Imagination Crafts stencil... I bought that last weekend at the Ross Papercraft show ... (well, I neeeeeeded a new stencil... ahem.... )  Once that had dried, I popped some Treasure Gold onto the paste to emphasize the texture.  And that is as far as I got!   Oh yes, two hours of work to get that... mmmmmmm... 

Next I decided that flowers would be the best way forward, when Mojo naffs orf, I tend to revert to my comfort zone and flowers is tops!  They are pale blue, cream and black and I spritzed with Black Marble Dylusions and Ancient Copper Cosmic Shimmer sprays to add  some sparkle to them.   I also gave the tag a very light mist with the Black Marble so that tied in with the design.  A metal bookplate (maker unknown, it lived in the Bag of Embellishingly Gorgeous Goodies for yonks until I freed it) and an Adage Ticket for the word and voila, one very long and painstakingly made tag... which could have been done in half the time had Mojo been here.... the old cad and bounder!

Right, I shall away.  I am scheduling this post as I will *hopefully* be in the Land of Nod come midnight as I am up early again today.  I was up early today for my teaching at the Busy Bee's Dabble Day in Sheffield (when I say today, I actually mean yesterday as you are reading this today... but I am typing it today so I mean... erm... today?  Confoooosed??? Me too! ROFL)  And today (yes, Sunday lol) I am heading off to Mansfield for the first day of a two day set of classes at the MDF Man's gaff.... so it will be a bright and early start!   So, after all that waffling and confoooosingness... I shall say... Thanks for looking, have a fabby day... I promise I will be catching up with you all soon!  TTFN

Hels x

PS... although I will miss the BTCC races today, Grim will be texting me results... so... GO PLATO!!!!