Grungy Monday At Last!

I've not blogged for a full week - after my promise to myself to try and do a bit every day - life just got in the way! Anyway, today I've done my first Grungy Monday challenge which is being run by Linda at  Studio L3 (www.studioL3.com ) - as I only set my blog up two weeks ago, I've never been involved in one of these challenges before so I missed the Compendium of Curiosities challenge - I think I might do it on my own, just for fun!!

Here's my take on the challenge - it's based on Tag 10 from the 12 Tags of Christmas 2008 Challenge (www.timholtz.com ) and I've followed the format of Tim's original one fairly closely but lost the Christmas theme. I used Barndoor Reinker and Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls to spritz over the mask then used a variety of other Distress Ink Pads which I've blended with the applicator (Wild Honey, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo and Black Soot - I think that was all of them).

The letters are die cut grungeboard which I've embossed using the Brick Alterations embossing folder and coloured with Wild Honey and Black Soot. I've also coloured the Trinket Pin and the heart charm with Alcohol Inks.

I enjoyed that, think I'm gonna like this weekly challenge ...

JulieD

One of My Old Favourites

Good morning. This isn't a new project, in fact I created it about a year ago when some of the elements were brand new! However, as it's one of my favourite pieces, I felt it deserved to be blogged. It's a really inexpensive Ikea mirror with grungeboard, stampbord and fragment tiles carefully arranged to cover the frame. There is embossing, inking, stamping, alcohol inks, Tim Holtz Salvage Stickers, Lost and Found papers, Ideaology embellishments and more going on here. Apart from the large key which is Life's Journey (K&Co), the small key which is 7 Gypsies and the metal flower, I think all of it is Tim Holtz. I LOVED creating it. Hope you like it too!

JulieD

Back from my Crafty Weekend

Been away on the Stamp Pad crafty weekend up at the Huntsman in Holmfirth and thought I'd blog what we got up to! Had a great time, worked on some fab projects, made new friends and ate delicious food.

This plaque was my favourite project of the weekend - it was good fun to make and I learnt to use some products I wasn't familiar with before such as the Terra and Ferro pastes from Viva Decor. Lots of dry brushing, metal embossing and generally getting my hands dirty!

We also made this pretty vintage canvas - quite a different style from the plaque!

We used 7 Gypsies papers, Alterations dies to cut cork and chipboard, buttons, beads and lace.

This next project was our Friday evening project - to ease us in gently. 

  

The box was gessoed, painted with green Eco paint, sanded and inked then we used these great  veg images which were from a CD rom and printed onto canvas. The images on the labels were printed onto self adhesive vellum. 

The fourth project was a Bo Bunny naked binder which we covered and filled with papers and embellishments from the Bo Bunny Shabby Princess range - hot pink, lime green, orange, yellow and red - not my thing at all normally but the colours are perfect for the photos from my youngest daughter's Princess Party so it will be put to good use! It's nowhere near finished - too much chat and not enough crafting went on during that project on our table!! Here's a photo to give you an idea of the colours we were working with.

I'm going to get messy with something a bit more grungy now!

JulieD

Sunny Days Postcard

Here's a postcard I have sent for a swap. I really enjoyed creating this and it makes me look forward to summer! I love these Stampotique girls! I've used Olivia, Sheer and Karin on this one.

The background is created with various blue and yellow shades of Distress Inks, sequin waste, an Art Impressions stamp and some Lakeland background stamps of dots and dashes. I've also used a Viva Decor stamp for the 'Postcard' word, a clarity stamp for the postage stamp and my trusty Hero Arts alpha stamps for the title. The 'beach' is a crumpled piece of sandpaper and I've used some gilding flakes in the corner for a bit of extra detail.

Hope it makes you smile!

I'm off to pack my craft tote for a weekend of crafting and fun on the Stamp Pad crafty retreat.

JulieD

Hope, Heal, Happiness ATCs

I'm back again with another installment from my crafting life!

I only discovered ATCs a couple of years ago and for a long time made them and kept them - hence my husband's terminology, AKCs (Artist's Keeping Cards)!  Last year I started joining in with the Craft Stamper monthly swap and more recently have been involved with the UK Stampers forum monthly swap - kindly organised by Sam!

These are from last month's swap - entitled Hope, Heal, Happiness where the parameters were to use one of the words on each ATC. These were made during a period of intense back pain through a fug of medication so I have kept them very simple this time!

For my first ATC, I used a magnetic rubbadubbadoo stamp from the Classic Impressions set (I need to hone my photographic skills!) on a background coloured with various blue shades of Distress Inks, the word 'hope' stamped and glazed with Glossy Accents and a thin ribbon down the right hand side.

My Heal ATC has a musical notes background created with a Judikins stamp on a card coloured with pale pink Distress Inks and the word 'heal' stamped in black Ranger Archival ink. The flower image is from Paperartsy, stamped in black Archival ink on a background of darker pink/red Distress Ink.

My third ATC for this month is 'happiness' and is created using one of my favourite stamps - she's called Karin and is one of my extensive collection of Stampotique stamps - gorgeous isn't she?! She's coloured  using Distress Inks, and stuck onto a painted red background.

Hope whoever received these enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed the three I got back!

Going to get some beauty sleep - off for a crafty weekend organised by Gwen at the Stamp Pad tomorrow - can't wait!

JulieD x

Welcome to my Crafting World!

As a self-confessed technophobe, I never thought the day would come when I put myself and my creations in cyberspace, but with a little help from my graphic designer husband and my friends on the UK Stampers forum, here I am! I've been crafting for years but the real addiction kicked in six years ago when I discovered scrapbooking, then stamping, then mixed media and now I'm never happier than when I'm chucking paint, ink and matte medium around with beautiful papers, stamps, beads and charms. 

I thought I'd start my journey with a Steampunk box I've recently finished. Most of the materials are from my local craft shop (and therapy centre!) - The Stamp Pad in Greenfield, Saddleworth. This project started out as a plain chipboard box which I painted inside and out with rust red acrylic then dry brushed with a tiny amount of black. The papers are Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante and most of the other elements are Ideaology - with the exception of the large key which is Life's Journey, the Ranger frame and the metal butterfly and beads which are from a jewellery making shop. The elements are stuck down with mosaic glue and matte medium and the frame is filled with Glossy Accents and had microbeads poured in while still wet. The paper butterflies and raven have also had this treatment. 

Now for the inside! I made two trays from very thick card, covered them with the Graphic 45 paper, made dividers from corrugated card and inked until they were thoroughly distressed! I added black velvet ribbon with mini fasteners to lift the trays out of the box.  I then filled them with Ideaology goodies such as fragments, charms, pins, D rings, foundations and lots of findings.

As an extra project I decorated the inside of the box lid with more Graphic 45 paper which I cut out and attached to look as though the man was flying (or falling depending on your outlook!) The hand is folded at the wrist and the man is attached with little mounds of black foam squares to create the 3D effect.

The outside has curtain hanging fabric roughly painted in coordinating acrylics and then more Ideaology items including fragment charms (which I have stuck on Graphic 45 paper with Glossy Accents) and attached to the ribbon with a memo pin and either black elastic or bead chain. It stands on Ideaology Foundations.

I hope you like it!

JulieD x