Something Old, Something New ...

I've been thinking about what to post on my blog as I need something to keep me crafting and wanted a plan to work to - I started looking at some of my random creations from the last couple of years and some of my recent Indigo Blu creations. A plan started to form whereby I would blog something old and something from Indigo Blu each week when this old rhyme came into my head:

Something Old
Something New
Something Borrowed
Something Blue

So I've decided to blog something from each of these categories each week! Ambitious, I know, but it should keep me focussed. For Old I'll blog one of my existing creations; for New I'll blog, well, something I've just made; for Borrowed I'll blog either something I've done when I've attended a workshop, something inspired by someone else's work (eg a project featured in Craft Stamper) or my Grungy Monday submission (borrowed from Tim Holtz!!) and for Something Blue I'll post a picture of my Indigo Blu creations for that week!

What do you think?

Ok, today I'll start with Something Old - I had a box frame with a really dull picture in it which I bought a few years ago because the colours matched our dining room but really it was very uninspiring and I was going to throw it out. Instead, I turned it over and created this collage inside the frame using the Graphic 45 range 'Steampunk Debutante', a lick of gold paint and a few appropriate charms. I've had so many lovely comments about this from the customers at the Stamp Pad where I had it on display for a while and it is a fabulous way of showing off the papers in this pack - I used the same ones in the box in my very first blog post!

There is lots of inking, tearing and layering going on but it's a very straightforward project. Hope you like it!

Back tomorrow with Something New.

JulieD xx

More BitBox Cards

Hi Crafters! Thought I'd blog a few more cards that I've created using oddments from my box of 'bits' - a selection of odds and ends which are left over from other crafting sessions and which for one reason or another I've not used! These three all have the Tim Holtz Sewing Room die at the centre of their design - I'd bought it from the Stamp Pad and had been having a play with it with no particular purpose in mind! Here's the first:

The Sewing Room mannequin is cut from sticky backed canvas - I added a few scraps of leftover papers, the bit that was left after I used the postage On The Edge die, stamped a quote on the back of a journalling ticket (the front had a badly stamped image on from a previous project so I just turned it over!) added a few buttons and an inked adage ticket - that's it!

Quick card number two:

An embossed panel, a strip of Graphic 45 paper, a dotty border sticker and a rub on alongside my inked mannequin finishes this one! And finally:

I stamped over the die cut with a large music stamp, added black paper (leftover from a school scrapbook layout), a piece of roughly painted white card (painted with red acrylic but not the right red for the project it was intended for), black fibres and a Hello rub on and my two minute card was done - I was really pleased with this one, the colour combo is just up my street!

Must do more of these quick posts with some of my 'everyday' creations to keep me blogging! Have a great day. JulieD x

bitbox crafting 1!

I've never been good at throwing things away and have got various boxes full of off cuts of paper and card, tiny bits of ribbon, odd bits and bobs which have been left over from other projects etc. Also, whenever I try out a new technique,  a new stamp, die, embossing folder or other product I throw the results of these experimentations in one of the boxes too as I don't usually have a project in mind - I'm just having a play!! The other things I end up with are loads of  'moppings up' - inks from my craft mat - I usually mop up with an ATC or a plain serviette then chuck them in the boxes too.

Anyway, I felt it was time to get these boxes out and see what I could create - some of the results are completely random where I've closed my eyes and chosen a few items then put them together to make a card which is why some of you will think "I wouldn't have put those colours together" - it was completely spontaneous! At the first 'bit box session' I made seven cards in about 40 minutes which is unheard of for me - I usually procrastinate for hours over colours and styles so it was quite therapeutic for me to do this!! Here are a few of the results - I allowed myself to use bits from my embellishment box that I rarely venture into either and some inks for edging with but not much else:

Above is a kraft card with a Graphic 45 image which was left over from my Steampunk Debutante pad  with a TH ticket which I removed from the packet and then didn't use. I coloured the ticket to match the image and stuck a piece of faux stitching along the bottom - simple eh!

My background for this one was a 'mopping up' and a piece of Retro Grunge paper - I'd been playing with the Sewing Room alteration and had several of these die cuts in various papers. I've added them along with a few buttons, fibres and a rub on - I realised I had a friend's 40th coming up so I've added the numbers and will be sending it soon! 

This is a distress ink blended background with a Non-Sequitur stamped image which I'd created for a card a while ago and then decided the colour wasn't right. I've added a bit of sheer red ribbon and a playing card charm and on a black background I'm really pleased with it! Hope this inspires you to get your bit boxes out - I know you've all got one (or more). Happy crafting. JulieD

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