Thursday, October 30, 2008

Xmas Shimmer tag tutorial

Okay, i know its late but there were a lot of photos to upload and it kept throwing them out!! lol But I think they are all here now, so we can start. This is the tag we are going to make. It has a pearly shimmer background and pearl painted main images , accessorised with hardware embellishments. If you would like to win a pile of goodies then please leave a comment and we will pick one at random on Monday.


Here are the materials that you will need:-



Blonde Moments
Ranger
heat gun
chipboard scrolls
ribbon
off white card
green shimmer card
So now we are ready to go!!
Instructions
1 - ink up the foam of the blending tool with peeled paint distress ink and cover a piece of off white card. Work in a circular motion , starting on the craft sheet for a easier blend.



2 - collect the reinkers, mini misters and pearl pigments that you wish to use.



3 Take 1 dropper of mustard seed distress reinker and add to mini mister.



4 add i scoop of Blonde Moments pearl pigments, and fill with water.



5 shake well immediately to emulsify



Repeat with fired brick reinker and festive bronze pearl pigment, and peeled paint reinker and festive candy pearl pigment .
6 place chipboard scrolls over inked card.




7 spray one colour of inky solution over masks in areas.

8 repeat with the other 2 colours ( always shake before spraying)




9 heat to dry with a heat tool.




10 remove masks to reveal inked areas'




11 cut off top part of card.


12 Ink up Holly stamp (festive fancies) with peeled paint distress ink and stamp down left side of card.



13 ink up holly stamp (just plain xmas) with the same ink and stamp around right side.



14 cut both pieces of card into tag shapes. Ink up pick stamp with jet black archival ink and stamp around edges of both cards.







15 stamp images (treemendous, a little bit of santa )with black perfect medium ink and cover with Blonde Moments clear embossing powder.



16 heat with a heat gun.



17 dip a wet paintbrush into the pearl pigment powder.




18 and mix into a creamy consistency on the craft mat. Blonde Moments pearl pigments contain binders which enable the pigments to mix with water without the need for sealing.



19 paint in the image. Because we have used clear embossing powder the paint will not stick to the outline so there is no need to be precise.



20 whilst the first colour is still wet add a second colour and blend.



21 paint in all images.



22 cut out all images leaving a slight border.



23 stick all images to a piece of green shimmer card.



24 re trim images leaving a small border.


25 outline scrolls with the white gel pen.



26 attach images to tag with d/sided tape.



27 punch a hole in the tag and attach a hinge clip with ribbon. tie firmly in a double knot.



28 attach the metal numerals to the small tag with brads.




29 open the hinge clip and add small tag.




30 Et Voila. A beautiful shimmery Christmas tag with subtle jewel tones. Now its your turn to have a go. But be warned it is extremely addictive!!!lol. Don't forget to leave a comment for the chance to win blog goodies.



Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Old friends

Great day today. Its half-term which means kids craft day. Today we were making and decorating the wooden Christmas tree. The kids ranging from age 6 to 14, first painted the tree and covered it in wrapping papers. We then stamped sheets of Christmas images and water coloured them in. These were attached to the tree with buttons to embellish. Every ones tree looked fabulous and will be a definite talking point over the Christmas period for years to come. Here are some of them . All camera shy today!!



One of my bezzie mates came over from Manchester with her 2 gorgeous kids and 2 friends. It was absolutely ace to see as we are sooooo busy these days that it is hard to make the time. Jayne (or Lisa Tarbuck as we affectionately (oh ok pisstakingly) call her) is hilarious and always makes me laugh. Tena ladies are always required when she comes to stay. When Jayne , Kirsty (Wiseman) and I get together to play and create we end up getting nothing at all done, but we have fabulous stomach muscles from all that laughing till we cry!!!


What lemon drops??





Uurgh did she just kiss me???




I promised that I would show you some more samples of shimmer pearl tags, and here they are. Don't forget that I am going to be doing a step by step tutorial on this tomorrow. I haven't even started it yet so it will be fresh as they come. I hope you will join me in making it. As usual if you would like to leave a comment , there will be a prize draw with goodies for the winner. Not sure what the goodies will be yet, as I have forgotten to mention it to Ben. (Ill wait till hes in a really good mood,dont worry).










This weekend is a paper craft show at the Doncaster Dome, organized by the lovely Paula . Do try to get there as it is a fab little one day show. Our stand is strictly girlies. I will be joined by The Goddess and the Resident bit of Glamour. It will be lovely to see you all and if you read this blog please come and say hello. Maybe you are of of my blog followers!! It is great to see that people are interested enough in what you are doing to follow it. It is greatly appreciated and if there is anything you would like to see me write about then please let me know. I cant remember the times of the show ( I do know we have to leave home at 4.50 am YES 4.30am, so we can set up)but I will check it out and post an announcement tomorrow.

As I am writing this I have just knocked a full can of dandelion and burdock (ooh my fave!!) off the bedside table and it has landed upside down ( of course ) into my handbag. I managed to grab it but not before it had emptied all its contents.Lovely what a soggy mess. Luckily I managed to save the Flip before it got drowned and everything else is drying off as we speak. Hope it doesn't all turn into a sticky mess by morning!!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Bumper shoe watch!!

After rude comments from America (He who should be obeyed!!) about the scruffy boring last two days of shoe watch. Hey when its this cold comfort comes first!!! I have a quality pair to stun you with. These are a couple of years old and I love them soooooo much that I hardly wear them -I just look at them!! Yes I know, you don't have to tell me!! lol. They are made by Irregular Choice and when I bought them they had a large cream paper chrysanthemum attached to the front of each shoe. Fabby, but quickly got ruined.



I just love the rounded toes,


Look at the curve on those statement heels!!




And just look at the inners!!



Ooohhh just luvvly.!!

Shimmer and shine

One of my favourite classes today. The shimmer and shine technique workshop. This is all the techniques you could want to know about the Blonde Moments pearl pigments. W e used them dry , we turned them into shimmery pearly paints and we mixed them with Tim Holtz Distress re-inkers for fabulous backgrounds. Those of you who regularly read this already know how in love with this I am!!! lol, and I just love it when the student s feel exactly the same half way thru the class.







Here are some of the students hard at work!! Can you apot the lovely Elaine aka Cake lady?? Todays cake was shop bought , But we let her off because we lurve her and it was chocolate and fresh cream. Sos forgot to take a photo before it was eaten , and yes I had a good sniff of the chocolate to satisfy my taste buds!!! lol

Here are some of the scrummy backgrounds that they made. I really wanted to collect them all in and not let them take them home , but I think I probably would have been lynched!! lol

Love, love, love these next two.

Tomorrow I will show you some more tags and backgrounds made with this technique and on Thursday I will do a step by step tutorial with it. If you want to play along this is what youll need:-

Blonde moments pearl pigments

Distress Ink pads

Distress reinkers

Mini misters

Black archival ink pad

Black perfect medium pad

Clear embossing powder

White gel pen (this is the best on the market)

heat resistant craft sheet

heat gun

paper towel

off white card

OOh cant wait!!!

Edit - Wow look at all those linky babies!!!!

Quote of the Century


"You are an extraordinary woman.


How can you expect anything ordinary to happen to you"


Louisa May Alcott