Blogging IndigoBlu

I've not blogged for ages - been far too busy making samples for IndigoBlu and prepping workshops for The Stamp Pad (new workshop list available!) I can't remember the last time I did any crafting that wasn't for one of those causes but I'm having a day out crafting tomorrow and doing whatever I fancy!! I'm going to a Craft Day at the Stamp Pad - "Complete A UFO" - I was expecting a rude answer when I asked Gwen what it stood for but apparently it's 'Unfinished Object' - so a bit like a crop but take a project you've been meaning to complete and GET ON WITH IT!!! I've got dozens of things I could take ...

Anyway, I blogged two of my samples on the IndigoBlu blog which I created for the Create and Craft show on Wednesday - they didn't get much of an airing - they were on a stand next to the presenter but you can see them here!

I thought I'd show you the two samples I did using the T'wit T'woo stamp as well - it's a beautiful big owl stamp - my next idea is to shrink it, I think it would look great in shrink plastic!

This is the first one:

I stamped him onto white card and embossed him in black then painted him with a variety of brown distress inks and a touch of gold mica powder. The black panel behind him is a die cut Vintage Cabinet Card (using an Alteration's die I bought a couple of weeks ago and now I don't know how I lived without it!!) which I've stamped with the Script stamp in Versamark and clear embossed. For the rust coloured panel I've used the Crackleglaze stamp and the word panel is stamped with the burlap and the word Inspire - both from the Sarah's choice plate. I used two more Alterations dies for the branches - the one he's perched on is the Branch Tree die on its side and the side of the tree is an on the edge die - Twigs!

This is my second T'wit T'woo piece which was shown on Wednesday:

I stamped and coloured the owl in the same way as the first piece but masked him and overstamped with the Jack stamp in FlitterGlu then gilded with Morris Dance flake. I used a piece of corrugated card from an old box (one of my favourite crafting items at the moment!) a chunk of Core-dinations card which I stamped and embossed the words from the Pomp and Pageantry plate onto, then added the butterfly from the Wild Meadow plate.

Hope you like them and enjoy your weekend!

JulieD x

Discover Your Passion

That's the name of one of the new releases from IndigoBlu which I've been playing with for the last couple of weeks - they are beautiful designs and I've enjoyed working with them. I created the following two cards for the Stitches trade show and they were real quickies as I only got my hands on the stamps on Monday night and needed to send the samples by Thursday!! They were slightly different by the time I sent them as I added ribbon down the left side of the card and gems to the corners literally on my way to the post office (I stopped in at the Stamp Pad for the final touches!!) - they were up on the wall when we visited Kay on her stand which was a real thrill for me!!

For this second card I used my distress inks to colour my card background and the top panel with the quote on. Next, I stamped the flourish onto the background using VersaMark - I pounced on a copper coloured mica powder then stamped the two word stamps in FlitterGlu, gilding with MegaFlake. I stamped the dragonfly from the same plate onto grungeboard with Archival black, got hubby to cut out (not my strong point and he's a whizz with a scalpel!!) and added a charm!

This second creation has a sprayed background (ColourWash) and a gilded flourish. The butterfly is again grungeboard which is cut out and inked.

Thanks for stopping by! JulieD

Memories Canvas

I came up with the idea for this canvas months ago for a challenge on Grungy Monday relating to remembering those we've lost, but the idea got bigger and bigger and it's taken me til now to add all the finishing touches.

I covered the 12" box canvas with 7Gypsies printed tissue paper, then added a photo of my grandparents' wedding plus lots of little details which remind me of them - they both died before I was ten so my bank of memories isn't huge but I do remember particular moments and items quite vividly. Some of the embellishments which signify particular memories include: a crown as my Nana was a Royalist; a clock mechanism as my Granddad bought me my first watch when I learnt to tell the time; a teapot as they used loose leaf tea in a pot; a rose charm as I used to make rose petal 'perfume' in jam jars in their garden; buttons as I remember my Nana's button jar (she was a hoarder like me!); a bird charm as I remember watching goldfinches in their garden through the window.

The flowers are die cut with the Tattered Florals die from Glassine paper then scrunched, inked and layered up, the trim has been coloured with Distress Stain and the words are die cut, inked Grungeboard at the bottom and TH Salvage Stickers on GB blocks at the top.

It's quite a personal piece and I've added a tag which slips in behind the photo with all this info on to refer to in later years!

Enjoy! JulieD x  

IndigoBlu - Stitches Samples

I'm not good at this blogging lark am I? I must get more organised and make some time to post ...

I've recently done eight samples for IndigoBlu for the Create and Craft show tomorrow but I'm saving them for next week's blogfest - two are from a new plate which hasn't been seen by the general public yet so I'm under oath not to post those until after the show!!!

However, I did some samples for Kay to display on her stand at Stitches last week - on this occasion, I could use any stamps from her range for two of the pieces so I thought I'd share them today!

I've stamped with the Harlequin on the background with Champagne Encore ink then stamped over with Script in Black Archival. The Map has been stamped in FlitterGlu on black gloss card then gilded with Morris Dance flake. I embossed the quote (from Wild Meadow) with gold embossing powder. I'm not a fan of punches but I treated myself to the Martha Stewart punch you can see under the bird charm then left it in the box for a year - I got it out and used it for the first time on this card and it's really lovely, I might have to change my view on punches!!!

Not a great photo - you can see the camera reflected if you look hard enough ...  I gilded EllaBella on black card then stamped her onto acetate at an angle using black Staz-On and overlaid them, alcohol inked the edges then attached with brads, added a violin charm and a row of flourishes - simples!!

Hope you like them - look out for Kay (and a few more of my creations) on C&C tomorrow! I'm off to the Stamp Pad to treat myself to some of the goodies we ordered at Stitches last week - the Mica Flakes and Colour Fragments from Stampendous which we saw Fran demoing and I fell in love with - it would be rude not to buy some after talking Gwen into ordering them really...

JulieD x

My Drawers!

Having got out of the habit of blogging recently, I thought I'd get some of my many projects on! Last year for my 40th birthday, my friends and I had a Spa and Craft Weekend in Frodsham. I could choose from a number of projects for the craft workshop and requested the Kaisercraft 9 Drawer unit which I'd had my eye on for a while - the day was fab, we had a great time but I decided I wasn't too keen on the papers we were given to cover the drawers with so completed the project at home with my Tim Holtz papers, distress inks and fancy buttons! Here's the finished article:

I love it! Until the new limited edition colours arrived, it fitted my distress ink pads exactly as each drawer holds four inkpads and four sponges perfectly - even with my terrible maths I know that accommodated the 36 colours!!

My mum came on my birthday weekend too and as a non-crafter (she was more interested in the spa and wine...) she decided she would never finish her set of drawers so I'm now working on a second ...

Hope you like it!

JulieD

IndigoBlu Love Is Samples

If you saw the show on Create & Craft, hope you were tempted by some of Kay's beautiful IndigoBlu stamps! Thought I'd post a couple of samples using the Love Is stamp - this is such a lovely stamp, full of intricate detail and the FlitterGlu and MegaFlakes pick this up in an incredible way - none of the detail is lost!

I love working with black and so this week's challenge of using MegaFlake gilding flakes is great as I can use black in a really effective way - the flake looks great against a dark background! I started by creating a background using the Ranger ColourWash sprays and a touch of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls spray. Once this had dried, I stamped the image using FlitterGlu and added MegaFlake, used a bit of Krylon pen round the edge and mounted on a black card with a strip of heavily distressed gold card. I added a key charm - thought it might work as an alternative Valentine Card - Key to my Heart!

My second sample for this stamp was a wall hanging:

For this piece, I stamped the image in FlitterGlu onto acetate, gilded, then alcohol inked with plenty of blending solution. I've stapled the roughly cut out acetate to lilac metallic card, mounted onto black glossy card then added velvet ribbon, bead trim, a fabulous charm (also available from IndigoBlu) and a bead! Hope you like them! More tomorrow...

JulieD x

IndigoBlu on Create & Craft!

I've not blogged for ages and not really crafted much since my last post - that is until the phone call I received from Kay at IndigoBlu last Sunday inviting me to be a member of the IndigoBlu Design Team! I've been doing samples for Kay since last Spring on an informal basis and I was extremely proud and excited to be asked to be on the official Design Team - then the reality hit me - IndigoBlu are showcasing ten of their stamps on Create and Craft tomorrow, Kay needed samples and I only had one of the stamps! So on Tuesday a parcel containing the stamps arrived along with FlitterGlu and MegaFlakes (which Kay will also be promoting on tomorrow's show) ready for samples to be created, so everything else went on hold for two days this week - I changed my hours at the Stamp Pad, hubby's been doing the school/ dance runs and I've been elbow deep in stamping and gilding materials!

Kay will be showcasing the stamps on the 11.00 am show on Create & Craft - here's one of the samples she will be showing!

I've stamped the EllaBella image on black card with FlitterGlu and then used MegaFlake to gild it - it's really straightforward - it takes the whole heating and melting stages out of the gilding process! I then loosely masked it and stamped the Harlequin over half of the image with Versamark which I clear embossed. The Morris Dance MegaFlake has a little copper and turquoise colour in it so I picked out some beads which matched these colours and threaded them onto some wire which I twisted and attached at the back with strong glue.

IndigoBlu will be on Create & Craft again on January 29th so I'm off to start the samples for that show - should be a bit less frenzied if I get on to it straightaway!!

I will be posting the other samples for tomorrow's show over the next few days. Enjoy!

JulieD x