Welcome Back

Given this month’s theme for The Virtual Crafting Challenge, is ‘Lacquers & Glazes’, I have decided to have a mad professor style play with some products and see what happens.

Experiment 1

What happens if you mix Perfect Pearls with various Golden mediums

Experiment 2

Create my own glitter glue.

I HATE glitter. Well I like the effects people get with it, but it gets me all OCD with clearing up. If you use glitter you have it around forever and a day. You find it on the table MONTHS after you have used it. I can cope with it when its mixed with glue, but don’t want to invest in lots of bottles of it, as I use it so little.

Create some Glazes

Test out Golden products as glazes, coloured and clear.

Results

OK I need to take pictures for next time (DOH) but in the mean time I tried some glazes with Perfect Pearls and was really pleased with the results. I have filmed a tutorial, which I will put on You Tube and on here when I’ve added narration . Haven’t tried the glitter experiments yet

It’s so much fun to experiment and see what you get. You learn so much and discover just how versatile products can be. Have a go, see what you can come up with and share your creative results on here.

Please forgive this less than informative post, I’ve hurt my back and can’t concentrate too well at the moment. I had intended to add pictures to this post, but time got away from me.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

The theme for our Six By Four challenge for November 2009 is;

Winter

Feel free to interpret this in any way you choose. Here are few ideas to get you started

Wintery colour scheme, blues, greens purples,silvers. Any cool colours.

Images used; Wintery trees, seasonal holidays

Create a finished piece on the surface of your choice, the only limitation is the size 6 x 4″, any orientation is fine. You could do this as a journal page, a card, a small scrapbook page, or a painting, even a 6×4″ book, the choice is yours.

Have fun

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

This month the theme for November 2009, for The Virtual Crafting Challenge is;

Lacquers & Glazes

Crystal Lacquers

Crystal Lacquer is sold by various companies. It can be used as a dimensional glue, or on top of images to create a 3D glass bead style of effect.

• Mix with a dry mica product to enable you to use it on a wider selection of surfaces
• Use on top of stamped coloured images to give a dimension to the finished image
• Use coloured lacquers to colour stamped images
• Use to create embellishments for your cards

Glazes

You can create clear or coloured glazes to change the tone or appearance of your original images

• Use a sepia glaze to give a vintage style to your projects
• Use clear glazes to add shine to colours or images
• Mix colour with your glaze for a whole new look.

The idea behind this challenge is to encourage you to use long forgotten products from you cupboard, or to try new ways with them. Try a product for the first time and see if you like it. There is no pressure to create a finished piece at the end of the month, more to encourage you to experiment and play with your products.

Links

This site has tips for using Crystal lacquer
http://www.rubberstampsclub.com/tips/crystal-lacquer.html

Have fun

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

If you have bought Grunge board and don’t know what to do with it, then keep watching. I bought some AGES ago and just left it in the cupboard, until I saw a demo by Sheena Douglass, painting on it and creating bracelets with it. Here is my video version of Grungeboard Bracelets using Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints.

This is part 5 of the tutorial, which shows how to assemble your bracelet.

Links

To help you source the products used in this tutorial, here are links to the manufacturers.

Here is a link to the Golden website.

Here is a link to the Fluid Acrylic area of the Golden Site

Here is a link to the Ranger Website. Ink, Grungepaper.

It took me two months searching to find Golden’s Fluid Acrylic paint in the UK, so in a break from tradition I am linking to a specific store that stocks it in the UK.

Jackson’s Art Supplies. Click on the G on the index and Golden Fluid Acrylics are listed. I use the 1 oz bottles.

To see more of my tutorial videos, please visit my You Tube Channel.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

Today I would like to share a picture of the ATC I created for the Stamping Mad Forum’s ATC swap. The theme for October 2009 was ‘Music’.

'Music' ATC; October 2009; for Stamping Mad Forum Swap

Stamps Used; Crafty Individuals, Katzel Craft

Ink Used; Ranger Adirondack, dye based.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

Once I’ve had more practice with this new tool, I’ll write a proper review. In the meantime I just wanted to show you my new favorite tool.

Ideal 1038 Guillotine

Because of RSI I find cutting book board painful to the point of not possible, as a result the only board I’ve been able to use is mount board. Mount board is ok..ish but not as sturdy as bookboard and much thinner of course. So the hunt for a tool that would help me began. At one stage I was considering a Louete board, but after more practise time with my knife I realised that I just couldn’t hold the knife securely enough and didn’t have the hand strength to press the knife or to hold the ruler still either. This discounted the Louete board.

Much coveting of the wonderful board shears that I’ve seen people use, but they are cost, size and weight prohibitive for the scale I work to. Having seen Peter Baumgartner use an Ideal machine on his tutorial video’s on You Tube, I contacted him and asked which machine he used and how he got on with it for cutting board. Peter said he used the Ideal 1038 and recommended it. Two other friends Sue Bleiweiss and Liesan, use this machine and said how great it was, so this inspired me to get hold of one.

They are a considered purchase, but for anyone with dexterity problems they are such a great help. The 1038 easily cuts book board, even though my own dexterity problems mean I can only cut a few pieces, the tool itself happily cuts the board and leaves a superb clean-cut on 2mm book board.

Links

Here are some links to sites relating to the Ideal machines

Ideal This is the manufacturer’s website

Office Rocker This is where I bought my machine from. If you want a similar spec machine but need A3 length, they recommend me to go for the Ideal 1071. Office Rocker/ guillotine section Here is the page where the you can find the guillotine.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

If you have bought Grunge board and don’t know what to do with it, then keep watching. I bought some AGES ago and just left it in the cupboard, until I saw a demo by Sheena Douglass, painting on it and creating bracelets with it. Here is my video version of Grungeboard Bracelets using Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints. In Parts three and four I’ll show you how to add dimension to your bracelet using paint.

Missed the start? Here is a link to Parts One and Two from last week.

Links

To help you source the products used in this tutorial, here are links to the manufacturers.

Here is a link to the Golden website.
Here is a link to the Fluid Acrylic area of the Golden Site

Here is a link to the Ranger Website. Ink, Grungepaper.

It took me two months searching to find Golden’s Fluid Acrylic paint in the UK, so in a break from tradition I am linking to a specific store that stocks it in the UK.

Jackson’s Art Supplies. Click on the G on the index and Golden Fluid Acrylics are listed. I use the 1 oz bottles.

Billie’s Craft Room on You Tube

To see more of my tutorial videos, please visit my You Tube Channel.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

For those with long memories, you may remember I have made a case bound book a long time ago. This is my first voyage into real book cloth though and I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Case bound book, my first try with book cloth.

The covers are made from off cuts of mount board, the book is A7 in size and has 80 gsm text weight paper. I followed Sage Reynolds instructions for constructing the case and this is my first successful spine gap. I have always struggled to allow sufficient space for the spine. I struggled to hold everything in the right place to measure as Sage showed in his video, but it was well worth the effort.

This book was a triumph of ‘What if…’ I didn’t have mull to line the spine so I used thin cotton bandage turned out ok, I learnt to use a thicker end paper or apply less glue. This was my first book that was sewn onto tapes, or in my case organza ribbon I even had a go at a wrapped endband. I used the method shown in Peter Baumgartner’s video and wrapped book cloth around a cotton cord. This taught me I needed to cut my finished head band closer to the book than I did, but for a first attempt it was worthy

Here is the book with some embellishment added

These A7 sized books are perfect for practicing techniques, they are fast to sew, use minimal resources and you learn a lot in the process. They also will make perfect gifts at Christmas, they are small enough to pop in you pocket, so really useful.

Links

There are a couple of excellent channels on You Tube for book binding that I highly recommend for anyone trying this kind of binding for the first time.

Sage Reynold’s.  Sage’s videos are awesome! He has such an efficient workflow and his passion for the subject shows in the care he takes with his projects. I’m linking to the main channel, but the video’s I used for this bind were the ‘Making a Case’ one’s. There are also video’s on how to sew signatures.

Peter Baumgartner. Peter’s videos show the entire process from start to finish including the sewing, I used the method for the sewing but didn’t have spine cloth so finished my book using Sage’s method.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

Today I would like to share some pictures of the cover that I painted for my art journal. My Journal is A6 in size and made by Daler~Rowney. Originally the cover was black, the paints used were Golden Fluid Acrylic, Ranger Acrylic Dabbers, Daler~Rowney White gesso.

Here is my art journal with painted cover

Decided to add some dimension using grunge paper die cut from a Cuttlebug snowflake die.

Adding dimension with Grunge Paper snowflake

Here is a close up of the painted snowflake.

Here is a close up of the Grunge Paper snowflake.

At some point I will add a title, probably using die cut letters. Not yet decided on a title, so I’m leaving my options open at this stage.  So what do you think? Do you like my snowflake? Let me know your thoughts, a tutorial on how to achieve that painted effect on the snowflake could be arranged

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Welcome Back

If you have bought Grungeboard and don’t know what to do with it, then keep watching. I bought some AGES ago and just left it in the cupboard, until I saw a demo by Sheena Douglass, painting on it and creating bracelets with it. Here is my video version of Grungeboard Bracelets using Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints. Parts three and four will be up next friday and the final part five will go up the following friday. Enjoy

Links

To help you source the products used in this tutorial, here are links to the manufacturers.

Here is a link to the Golden website.
Here is a link to the Fluid Acrylic area of the Golden Site

Here is a link to the Ranger Website. Ink, Grungepaper.

It took me two months searching, to find Golden’s Fluid Acrylic paint in the UK, so in a break from tradition I am linking to a specific store that stocks it in the UK.

Jackson’s Art Supplies. Click on the G on the index and Golden Fluid Acrylics are listed. I use the 1 oz bottles.

The link to the Golden manufacturer is on the right hand side of the blog, under the Art Links listings.

Billie’s Craft Room on You Tube

To see more of my tutorial videos, please visit my You Tube Channel.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie