Tutorial: Wired tissue paper leaves.

Morning all.

I've got a day off work today which I intend to fill with finishing off some crafty bits I've had lingering around for weeks now. But first I need to to move it all away from the rug in front of the fire where I've been huddling on a night after work, and where I'm ever-vigilant about not spray-inking my cream fire surround.

So, bit by bit this morning, I'm hauling it all back to the confines of the desk in my craft room which is no longer virginally white nor ink-free!

One of my first tasks of the day has been cathcing up with blogs and I loved my friend Alexa's post on how she's approaching her gift-wrapping this year ... it really made me wish I had a heart-shaped paper punch! You can check out the post on her beautiful blog 'Trimming the Sails' here.

Inspired by Alexa I thought I'd re-share [which probably isn't a real word!] with you a little paper-leaf gift-tag tutorial I made this time last year:

Also, I've made a compilation of all the festive flavoured projects and photos I've ever uploaded to Flickr. I'll be updating it with each of my 25 advent tags throughout the month too. There's a link to it in my sidebar over there >>>> or you can just click here.

Right then, I must be off ... that pile of paper, pastels and stamps won't move itself upstairs ...

See you soon.

Overheard: Are Santa's Elves in a union?

Hi there.

One reason not to wear ear-muffs despite this wintry weather is that they'd block out all those potentially amusing overheards I like so much!

So, with cold ears, I bring you one stretching back to early 2008 from the first seminar back on campus after the Christmas break.

I was in place, poised to take the usual class notes for a student, when the lecturer welcomed everyone back and posed the following question:

Lecturer: Did everyone have a good Christmas?

Here the look on one of the students faces must have indicated that no, he hadn't ...

Lecturer: No Ben? Why not?

Ben: I had to work Christmas Day didn’t I?

Lecturer: Why? Who do you work for? ..... Santa?

And at that punchline I had another one of my 'hopefully no one can see what I'm actually writing down' moments!

So, while Ben didn't work for Santa after all [apparently he worked in a pub!] ... this little guy certainly does:He's a Sweet Pea Stamp design available from 3DJean and, if you're that way inclined you can hop over now to this post on the Scattered Scarlet design team blog where I've made a few other versions of this card using different colour-schemes.It's a nice stamp to colour-in ... plus he's cute ...and he has a dog .... so what's not to like?

And coming from me ... someone who doesn't usually do cute ... and is terrified of dogs ... then he really must be nice!

If you think you might have missed any of my overheard conversations you can always catch up by clicking on the 'Overheard' tab at the top of the page ^^^ up there!

Thanks for reading today.

Julie

Tutorial: Alcohol Inked tags ... without the alcohol inks.

Hi. So you've come back to see the technique was I was teasing you about in my post yesterday have you? Good,good ... here goes ...

The softly blended background to the Mica tile collage from yesterday:

... and also the background on this acetate tag are both made by sandwiching the same material in between two transparent layers:

And that material? Well, believe it or not that material is inky used kitchen roll!

I first discovered the usefulness of a roll of kitchen paper when spray-inking when I attended Dina Wakley's Art Journaling workshops at Art from the Heart.

She demonstrated how, after spraying, if you gently roll the errrm 'roll' across the area you've just sprayed it removes a lot of the wetness that can crinkle your pages and slow down your layering process. Soon I started to see how beneficial this was but also ... how this often led to interesting colours and designs being imprinted on the kitchen roll, especially after you've rolled it across a stencil or mask before lifting it from the page:

And as I admitted in this post in August, about my Art Journaling workshop experience, Iwas so enamoured with this particular sheet of paper:

I saved it from the rubbish bin and took it home with me to make merry with another day.

And now that day has come!

Here as poomised is the tutorial so you too can make use of your used inky kitchen and, let's not be coy about it, toilet paper too!

Turning inky kitchen roll /toilet paper into alchol ink-esque tags

1. Don't worry if you don't have Mica tiles. While Iused them on my 1st attempt at this technique - the sparrow collage above - after that I've simply used scraps of acetate:

And, if you don't even have any plastic packaging handy ... just wait a few weeks as there's bound to some in amongst your Christmas presents!

2. Whatever type of transparent material you end up using, cut two pieces to the same size before you begin. Next:

I used a gel medium in this photo but have also used Glossy Accents and Anita's 3D Gloss. As long as the glue is one that dries clear it should be OK.

3. Select the specific section of inked-up paper you want to use. It's proabably best if the paper is dry for this part - to prevent tearing before you get it in place: 4. Smooth out the paper as flat as you can. Then:

5.
You only need enough to cover the paper. Any excess will squeeze out the sides at a later stage!

6. Select any images and/or text you want on your tag:
7. Once you're happy with their position:

This will take a little gently wiggling and sliding about but once you've got the sides all lined up, press down on the tag to clear any air bubbles. Have a damp cloth / wet wipe on hand to remove the excess gloss which will escape from the sides.

8. I added some metal tape to one side for a stained-glass type feel, before punching a hole using my Crop-a-Dile.
It's in this sort of light that the similarity between this technique and that of using alcohol-inks comes through I think.

Plus, for someone who doesn't really like getting her fingers stained by alcohol inks ... and who doesn't actually own any anyway ... I think it's a pretty attractive alternative!

You can either leave your tag like that or ...

9. Glue a few embellishments to it:

Select some co-ordinating ribbon and tie on a charm using raffia: And finally ...

10. Add it to a gift for someone special:

Oh, OK then, yes, you can keep it for yourself if you like your finished result that much!

So, what do you reckon? Will you think twice before throwing that sheet of inky paper out now?

For me, it's an exciting new discovery and one which I already have plans for ...

I think it would make the basis for some beautiful unique jewellery. Something based on the shape of the anklet I made in this earlier tutorial but using a thin strip of kitchen-rolled acetate, rather than muslin, and with a hole punched in either end with a ribbon tie through each! And then there's earrings ... and pendants ... and ....

And I'll stop there for one night!

I'd love to know what you think. I know not everyone likes the idea of saving scraps let alone re-using kitchen-roll ...

... but it is very lovely kitchen roll ... wouldn't you say?

Julie.

Experimenting with Mica tiles Pt2

Hi there. How's things?

Me? I went into work for an hour then did a spot of arm-lengthening Christmas shopping. Whether or not I succumbed to buying myself a few things [like a t-shirt, some dark chocolate and wire-bird ornament for example] remains to be confirmed ...

Do you remember my post last month where I shared my first attempts at creating collages trapped between two layers of Mica Tile? [If not you can catch it here] Well I thought I'd update you with another example.

There's birds involved here too. I'm nothing if not predictable:

I cut the two little sparrows cosying up to each other on a branch from a page of an old Edwardian Lady book and added a fragment of an old dictionary page in the top right. You know me .... I've always got to have text on my work somewhere or else it feels to naked ... or rather it feels too quiet. I especially liked how the particular scrap of dictionary began with the word 'fragility' which I felt suited the little birds.

So that's what I used as my foreground 'but what', I hear you ask, 'is that lovely softly blended colourful background?'

That, my friends, is an alcohol-ink-effect technique which I fell upon entirely by chance ... and I love it! It uses up something which would otherwise be thrown away - which is a shame - and it's not only me who thinks that. I've heard several people express much the same thing.

And I'll tell you what that thing is tomorrow when I'll post a full photo-tutorial on a little item I made using the technique and explain everything.

So, how about meeting me back here tomorrow when I'll tell all? Oh, but one last thing ...

... have you got alcohol inks and Mica tiles handy? No? Good! Because you won't need either of them ...

See you then then.

J :-)

My Month in Numbers: November

Hi there.

That noise you hear? That's the sound of November exiting into the chilly air and swishing by ... on skis ... Which can only mean that [a] it's a touch snowy out there and [b] that it's time for another round up of my month ... in numbers, so here goes ...

Minus 5 = the temperature in our garden [in N.E England] last Saturday afternoon: 7 = the number of days in a row ... so far, that it's been snowing, which is why the hills out my window [my 'nab view'] looked rather like a Swiss ski resort yesterday afternoon:
One 4X4 = the vehicle which had to transport the clothing and craft supplies of 3 crafters for a 3.5 day retreat PLUS enough food for 3 meals per day for all 7 crafters attending. With all of that to fit in, is it any wonder that the boot looked like this:
Getting everything in the right place, without crushing anything was like a challenge from the Krypton Factor! However, there is 1 item I wish we'd left behind ...

Somewhere, in amongst all of that luggage there lay, darkly and sharply brooding, an evil smelling cheese. Being in the back seat for the journey, my nose sensed something odd from the offset ... but to be honest, I was too polite to ask the others what the smell was.

Cut to two hours later when, after returning to the car after a break, I was the first to open the door ... which led to my being almost knocked clean off my feet! While we'd all been eating lunch, the car had turned into a missile fuelled by vile gases! It was like a wall of stench.

Inexplicably, once we reached our destination, rather than throw the offending item in the bin, it was left on the window ledge for our entire stay: Perhaps it was to ward off evil spirits? Speaking of which ....

12 = the number of days after Halloween which we were hosting our own Halloween-themed crafting weekend away. Here's a small glimpse of how we transformed the charming cottage interior: And here's what we did to the outside:
What with that banner and the 7 skull embellished goblets we were storing on the inside window ledge ....
... it did cross my mind that the guests in the adjoining cottages, who had to pass by all our ghastly trimmings to reach their front doors, may just have toyed with the idea that they were holidaying in the vicinity of a cell of devil worshippers ...

All-be-it highly creative devil worshippers, here's a sample of what we all made:
2 x '12 Days' = November saw the second time Kirsty [Neale] and I ran our online workshops '12 Days'. And, although it feel like forever ago ... 9 = the page in the newspaper supplement in which 12 Days was featured and 2 = the number of years I've been blogging! All of which I wrote about in an early month-in-numbers post here.

12 weeks = approximately when we'll begin our next class! [Which seems scarily near - I think I really ought to be making samples instead of talking to you about cheese and snow ... but nevermind ...] For a hint at the theme of our Spring class you can have a peek here. We've had lots of guesses as to the theme on the secure 12 Days blog, none of which quite hit the nail on the head, so feel free to speculate!

100 = the number of blog followers I've reached - a kind of 'oh someone out there likes me' - milestone I was hoping to reach! My 100th follower even took time to leave me this lovely comment:I know we shouldn't measure ourselves by things as arbitrary as blog followers ... but we do and I'm grateful for those little signs that I'm doing something right over here some of the time!

So, seeing as how the batteries on my blog-follower-confetti-machine must be flat let me just say thank you to you Irma and to the 99 before you ... maybe this can make up for the lack of confetti:

And, last but not least ....

Tens of 1000s = the number of roosting starlings we saw on a guided walk, offered by our local RSPB reserve, to see the 'murmurations'! Isn't that an amazing word?

The murmurations are where the roosting starlings all flock together and sweep and merge across the sky ... and give you goosebumps and make you grin like a child ... you know the ones:

20 items of clothing = what I bundled myself in preparation in for the 2 hour-outside-in-the-snow escapade! This isn't the most glamorous photo of me I've ever shared here: But I really don't mind. It was necessary. And so worth it, for views like this across the frozen water alone:Even though the extreme weather made the starlings less fond of giving us a full display, we did see thousands of them flocking in, merging and them plummeting down into the same area of the reed beds until you couldn't believe they would take the weight. And the snow made the whole experience extremely magical.
So 'Goodbye November', with your cold,cold days, dark afternoons and freakishly early snow fall and 'Hello December' ... with .... your even colder days, darker afternoons and oh so heavy snow fall [I can hardly hear myself type it's blowing so hard against the window!].

Here's wishing you all a safe and warm run up to Christmas. I'm off out to measure the drifts in the garden ... just getting a headstart on my December Month in Numbers!

Julie x

p.s: As always, do feel free to share your own numbers with me, so I can see how your month added up too. :-)