I'm fiddling around with the appearance...

Please bear with me! This isn't quite there yet- it is a little too busy, but I like the 3 column look. I have a new header to upload tomorrow, plus I want to change the colours too! I will get it just right in the end... I hope!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Edited to add- nearly there! I am off to have some breakfast, then will do a bit more.

Last of the Christmas Pressies- wax canvases

Well, this is it, the last of my Christmas present photos! (I still have some more photos, but they are not from my mammoth present-making session). This is a triptych of small canvases- 4" x 5" and 5" x 5"- and is my first go with beeswax. I coated the canvases with beeswax and then ironed the image on and added more beeswax to blend. Then I dusted the canvases with a mixture of Perfect Pearls and Cosmic Shimmer mica powders to tint them- the effect reminds me of a picture I had when I was young which seemed to be printed on mother-of-pearl. I am not entirely happy with them as I would probably have added more elements and stamping, but as a first attempt, they are OK!

PS The photo was originally taken a couple of years ago with a dodgy old 1.2mp compact camera, and is of my nearest beach at Hayling Island- here is the original:

I wish we had light like that every day!

Happy new year everyone :D

Stampbord necklace- two techniques!

After I got my lovely new Melt Pot, the first thing I did was go onto Youtube to look for tutorials. I was delighted to find loads from Suze Weinberg herself! This necklace was inspired by a tutorial of hers, showing paper beads dipped in UTEE (different from the Leandra bead which uses lots of layers of UTEE), and another tutorial by Suze Weinberg with Julia Andrus, author of 'Paper Transformed', which showed a way of making faux sea-glass. I used the sea-glass technique to make the pendant, but used Stampbord instead of glass as the base- it still looks good to me! The beads were made using the Melt Pot, but I have in the past used Glossy Accents instead of UTEE, which worked as well but was more time consuming. I love these two techniques, and you will be seeing them again!

Here's Faux Sea Glass:



And here's the UTEE bead:

Another blog to visit for inspiration

My best friend Vicky has at last entered the world of blogging. She is a brilliant cardmaker and scrapbooker, and had a card published in the Reader's Gallery of 'Quick and Crafty' last month. She has only just blogged once, but please go and visit and admire what she made! Her work is lovely.

Here's one I made earlier!

I hope to find the time to do a complete blog re-vamp this week, but bear with me as I don't want to do a rush job! I am starting a new job tomorrow- it's a Saturday job (training tomorrow) with the company I worked for before having Dan. I was there for 12 years previously, but I am actually looking forward to having minimal responsibility this time- it will be a treat to say 'I'll have to ask a manager', hee hee! Wish me luck!

Jambalaya kit

Another pressie, this was a recipe card and the dry ingredients for making Jambalaya- one of our favourite New Orleans' dishes (we had a week there in 2004). All of the herbs and spices were individually wrapped in cellophane and labelled, so all the recipient needs to do is put them in a mortar and grind them up!

Colour: Distress Inks, Versafine, Ancient Page
Stamps: Paperartsy, MSE
Other: gold wire, raffia, stiff card for box, cellophane

PS This is the last time you will see my beloved (and old) MSE alphabet, as I left the word 'spice' on the block after I finished. Paul let me have a lie-in and gave Dan his breakfast, and when I looked at the block later it was empty! I found 2 letters on Dan's place-mat, and one in his cereal bowl, but the other two seem to be gone for good- and there was no way I was going to look in his nappy for them! Farewell, lovely alphabet, I suppose I will need to replace you at last!

Altered wooden box

Apologies for the rubbish photos, I took these on Tuesday, and I don't think it was bright enough for decent photos at any time of day, let alone 9am! I need a light box...!

This was a pressie for my best friend, Vicky. She gave me a beautiful altered triple frame in return- I will photograph it the next time we have good light.

Colour: Nick Bantock dye inks, Anita's acrylic paint, Stickles, Versamagic, Sakura clear Stardust pen
Stamps: All Paperartsy (inside the lid of the box I used tiny flowers from one of the minis, but they are not visible in the photo)
Other: Box from The Range, and tiny handle made using my new toy, the Ranger melt pot, plus a Krafty Lady mould.

I absolutely love my Melt pot, which was my pressie from Paul, and used it a fair amount for the handmade gifts. I forgot to order any more UTEE, though, so must get around to that this week!

Christmas presents- mini-albums

I actually made all but two of my Christmas presents this year- it was time-consuming, but worth it, as the gifts were really appreciated. My family are used to handmade things- I used to make all my pressies from an early age (mostly felt comb-cases and embroidered hankies!)- but I have never made anything for Paul's family before, apart from cards, as I didn't know if they would like what I do! These are the scrapbooking projects, and I will show all of the arty things later!

Stamps by Studio G and Paperartsy. The green concertina album is made using two used gift-cards for the covers.