Sepia Tag

Today I am sharing a sepia tag over at Calico Craft Parts using a few of the new MDF tags. Do please join me over there if you would like to see more!  

My sepia mood seems to hanging around a bit and I have not been inspired by any spring colours in the garden yet! Hopefully soon!

Jennie x

Summer Bunting for PaperArtsy

Tonight I am sharing a project over at PaperArtsy for our Banners and Bunting Challenge. I do hope you are able to join me over there to see all the details.

As promised I have detailed below the template for the bunting which I hope will be useful.

Jennie x

Rusty and Crusty ......

... no not me! but our new challenge at A Vintage Journey!

Hello and welcome to yet another month! And I am kicking off my blog posts with this little "slim" which allowed me to experiment with some rusty texture paste I have had for a while, but haven't really used. And our new challenge at A Vintage Journey was a really good opportunity.

The lovely Autumn is our host this month:

Many of us love rust and enjoy looking for new ways to get that authentic look of crusty peeling metal. For this challenge include some rust in your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk project, whether it be the real thing, a faux technique or just a rust colour on your project.

I have got loads of offcuts of board from other projects and often enjoy making a "slim" project. These are 6" x 2", the size of a book mark, but a perfect size to try out new techniques or products.

This is how it started before I started adding the rust paste (I just remembered to take a photograph!). I have used Gesso as the base and also to cover my metal and paper embellishments. I have used ordinary texture paste to add a little interest too. The centres of the metal flowers are pearl embellishments (which I seem to have an abundance of) but when covered with the gesso will take any medium.

There are no photographs of any other part of the process I am afraid as I had no idea where it was going! These are the products I used:

I watered down the Red Texture Paste a little and painted it onto the board and embellishments. I then added the Dark Brown Texture Paste here and there, again watered down. Once dried it really is quite sandy and rough.

I had a little die cut lying on the desk and so used the same texture pastes but splodged them on with a pallete knife to give a heavier covering. 

I decided the whole slim looked rather dark and so I added the Turquoise Satin Wax over the main textures, just rubbing it on with my fingers.  Not quite the verdigris finish I was hoping for but looks nicer than the usual gold or silver I use.

Before adding the micro beads and sentiment I sanded the edges and the bits I could get to. I love the way the white board shows through here and there.

I am so glad to have the opportunity to experiment with these pastes and shall certainly be using them again. I was pleasantly surprised that they did a great job whether watered down or used as it comes out of the pot. 

I do hope you will visit us on the challenge blog (HERE) to see what amazing projects my talented fellow Creative Guides have made. There are so many wonderful rusty ideas. And I also hope you manage to join us with your rusty and crusty project.

As always thank you for joining me and have a lovely weekend.

Jennie x

Romantic Arbour

Today I am sharing another new project over at Calico Craft Parts where I have turned one of the new boat kits into this romantic arbour. 

Want to know more? then join me over there for all the details!

Jennie x

Calico Craft Parts

Shine Brightly

I and my fellow Creative Guides at A Vintage Journey love a Tag Friday - that extra Friday in the month where we basically create something out of whatever is lying around our desk. 

As usual I have had great fun creating this tag from some Tim Holtz goodies which arrived recently: Tissue Collage Paper, Botanical Stampers Anonymous and Tiny Text Remnant Rubs!

I used a die cut to cut an aperture in my tag and then stamped the tag with the lovely Botanical Stamp.  There were so many options for the Collage Tissue, but I chose these two gorgeous birds.

I needed a frame for the aperture, so used the same die cut on a rectangle of plain card and then covered it with these wonderful products:

They really are super easy to use and turn the most ordinary piece of cardstock into something special!

The gold wax just compliments the texture paste perfectly.

After that it was decorating with some of my usual favourites!

Thank you for joining me today and I would suggest hopping on over to A Vintage Journey for some wonderful tag inspiration!

and ..... we have a wonderful new opportunity for you all to join us with your tags. There is no prize and we are not promising any comments but Brenda will choose one of those submitted as a Pinworthy and it will be pinned on our Pinterest Board and showcased in next month's Winner's post. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Jennie x

Beach Hut Blues

Come and join me over at PaperArtsy tonight if you would like to find out how I created these two "beach huts" with a denim and white theme. 

Jennie x

Ribbon and Lace Holder

I am on a bit of a roll at the moment making really useful projects! 

It is my turn to share a project over at Calico Craft Parts today and I have used one of the new  ATC/Tag Display Boxes to make this little Ribbon and Lace Holder.

Do please join me at Calico Craft Parts if you would like to see the step by step.

Jennie x

Rosebud Card

Today I am sharing a birthday card over at Calico Craft Parts making the most of this wonderful MDF Rosebud Stem. 

Do join me by clicking the link below if you would like to know more.

Jennie x

Calico Craft Parts

A Little Piece of Treasure ......

Hello and welcome to a somewhat different project today. It is rather special as it is not just made up of my own bits and pieces but includes a piece of my mother's artwork. 

We have a new challenge starting today over at A Vintage Journey - it is a bit of a celebration as we are celebrating our fourth anniversary. But .... instead of our usual Birthday Celebration Challenge Brenda has got us looking out:

TREASURE

Treasure can be described as wealth or riches we store or accumulate, a collection of valuable, interesting or useful things, bits and pieces we highly value, articles that we hang onto that we've bought or found and might never be able to purchase again. What is in your crafty or artsy treasure trove? Those items we squirrel away to keep for something special? Maybe some elegant embellishments, that hoard of ephemera or memorabilia found in a junk shop, a tin of old buttons, rusty keys or diamente jewels, a paper pad you get out and stroke and then put away again, some beautiful fabric or lace you can't bear to part with. 

We invite you in this challenge to share a project that includes a part of your treasure trove!

My mother was a wonderful artist, self taught, but able to work in all mediums. Towards the end of her life (back in the late 90s) and struggling with cancer which had destroyed her hands, she enjoyed making little sketches and painting on silk which she then made up into cards for us all. This was one she had made up but not sent (I couldn't bear to cut into one she had written on for me!).  

I managed to extract it from the card and although it is rather tatty in terms of glue and bits of paper, I still decided to work with it.

I went around the craft room looking for bits and pieces I think she would have loved. I didn't use them all in the end, but it was fun!

I found an old embroidery hoop (probably one of Mum's as well) and played with bits and pieces. This whole design changed as I progressed but it gave me an idea of what I could fit in.

I made a base from some card and painted it with PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Paint (Chalk) and layered some papers stitching them on with the machine.

Then I had to experiment with the lace to try and hide some of the worst bits!  I really didn't want to cut into the piece to fit a frame as I knew it would probably all go wrong and I would regret it!

It worked quite well stitching the lace and then folding it back over the edges of Mum's painting.

And here are some close ups of the finished project.

I painted the embroidery hoop with the same chalk paint and added a distressed gold edging with DecoArt Gold Metallic paint.

I really love how this turned out in the end and of course it is rather special. I think Mum would have approved! She would have loved all the wonderful paint effects that we use today and I am sure she would have used them in a very artistic way. 

I do hope you will be able to join us in our challenge this month and hunt through your stash to find a little bit of treasure! Do hop on over to the challenge post at A Vintage Journey as my fellow Creative Guides have used some amazing pieces of treasure!

Thank you for joining me today and have a great weekend!

Jennie x

Another Desk Top Tidy!

I have so enjoyed my little desk tidy projects that I decided to make another using some stackable MDF ATB boxes. However, this came out a little posher than I intended, so now has a home on my sewing table.

Please join me over at Calico Craft Parts if you would like to find out more!

Jennie x

Calico Craft Parts

Rose Trinket Box

Rose is a rose is a rose ......

I am sharing a little MDF trinket box over at Calico Craft Parts today.  Do join me if you would like to see more.

Jennie x

Calico Craft Parts

Forever Trinket Box

I am sure it will not have escaped your notice that I am on a bit of a roll with Eileen Hull's new Book Club dies and this latest die arrived a few days ago and I couldn't wait to start working with it! 

It is called Trinket Box and Frame and is a large XL Die so you need extended cutting plates to use it. I used a single sheet of Maja Design 12 x 12 patterned paper to make this project as it is  relatively easy to cut out the individual pieces for decoration after cutting the required pieces from mount board.

In the process of making the box I came up with a few ideas and tips which I will share below but before that here are a few more close ups:

So here are a few details and tips which might help when putting the box together. The photographs were taken on my phone, so not that great! and my desk is a mess as usual and my cutting matt filthy! (and this is the clean one!)

I made the box up and decorated the sides, but thought it would be nice to cover the inside with some lace. So I added a double length of red tape around the inside and stuck the lace to it.

It makes a nice finish to the inside of the box.

The spine is curved so I have cut the individual pieces from my patterned paper into strips so that the board still bends. 

Before sticking the box to the base I trimmed the side of the spine to match the corners of the box so it would sit better when stuck onto the base. 

I found that adding the inside layer to the box next made it far sturdier and easier to stick down onto the base. Now I had fully intended to add a piece of ribbon inbetween the box and the base, but totally forgot!

So I had to cut another base from grey cardstock to cover my ribbon!

I covered my front lid and this is the reverse side with the back of the photograph showing. I caught my other piece of ribbon here and then stuck it to the spine.

I was then able to cover this with another piece of cardstock to hide everything.

Here is the finished box and it all looks very neat inside.

I am not sure what I will use this box for or whether it will be a present for someone but I really enjoyed making it and it came together really quickly. It is a very sturdy little box and was very economical on patterned paper, so ideal for those "specials" which you don't want to cut into! I think it would also make a lovely special birthday card ...... my mind is buzzing as to further projects! 

Thank you so much for joining me today and in case you are wondering I do have another Eileen Hull project in the making! I will hopefully get some photographs tomorrow and share with you soon after.

Jennie x