Monday 22 November 2010

Vintage Christmas Pics

It's that time of year again and I am heading off to spend Thanksgiving (a quaint little American holiday) with my folks in Florida.  This time, however, my daughter will be meeting me there.  I am so excited!  I thought that I would put up a quick post before I left since I am not sure if I will be able to blog once I get there.  My laptop has a mind of its own so it's very up in the air.  The card above is one of the projects we did in my workshop last weekend.  It uses the Eco Green line of paints.  

   Speaking of Eco -Green products, did you see Jo Channon today using them on Create and Craft?  She was fab and the samples were simply amazing.  Such a talented lady! 
The card below was another of the workshop projects.  This one used alcohol inks on dominoes.  Dominoes make such great jewelry pieces like necklaces, earrings and belts, but they are quite fun on a card too.  The background was sponged with distress inks to match the dominoes.  Well hopefully I will be able to put up a few posts while I am away, but if not, I promise you some exciting sneak peeks at the upcoming POTW show that I am preparing for when I return.  All for now, Sue x

Saturday 20 November 2010

New Candy!

Here is a pic of the latest blog candy offering.  If you can get past the glare from the gold leaf, you  will see that there are five rubber stamp sets to keep you busy.  There is some Tim Holtz grungeboard, a maskand a distress embossing powder, a few Cosmic Shimmer products including a Mica set, a mister, film and fibre sets, a watercolour set and an embossing powder.  There is a Spellbinders impressibility as well as a dimensional book to decorate. And finally there is a distress ink, an Adirondack pigment pad, some beads and  a Cosmic Shimmer glue and a large pot of Mica powder.
To the right are two new Particraft demonstrators who came for training on Friday.  Meet Karen (left) and Isla (right).  We spent the day going through different products and showing techniques and ideas and how they can be used.  The girls are displaying their messy fingers to prove that they jumped in and tried everything!  They are raring to go so if you live in either the Rotherham or the Clitheroe area in the North, they would be happy to demonstrate at a party in your home.  Just give us an email at sales@particraft.co.uk for more info.  All for now, Sue x

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Finally!

Whoopee!!!  It is finally time to draw the blog candy winners!  Thank you for putting me out of my misery so quickly!  I have been looking at this candy sitting in my office for awhile now.  I've practically been tripping over it.  Perfect timing as I am having a cleaning day around here so it can finally go to a nice home.

Just to keep you in suspense a tiny bit longer, I am going to draw the THIRD prize, then SECOND, then the FIRST grand prize winner (so you will have to scroll down to see if you have won!)

The THIRD prize winner is ...........................................................................................
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Lorraine (avatar of a dog)

The SECOND prize winner is.........................................................................................
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..... Lynne From Spain

And now, the FIRST GRAND PRIZE WINNER IS......................
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Lelly Jelly !!!!!!!

All three of you need to email me with verification of your postal address before I can send out your prizes to you please.  We will start a new blog candy contest and draw the next set of winners when we reach 1300 followers.  If you are a follower, then you will remain entered in the next contest.  Remember, you get extra entries when you leave comments after each new post.  All for now, Sue x

Monday 15 November 2010

Workshop Pics!

Saturday and Sunday were just spent teaching my Vintage Christmas Postcard workshop. The classes were full up for both days and I really enjoyed teaching new techniques and ideas to everyone both days.  We did four projects during the day and this card is one that we did using the shaving cream technique.  It was a bit messy but I think everyone really enjoyed it. I will try to post the other projects soon (I need to take a few more pictures first).
Here is a pic we took on Saturday while everyone was working on the card above.  Unfortunately, we only got about half the room in the shot.  You can see all the blue cans of shave foam on the table.  One of the attendees asked me if anyone said anything to me when I purchased all the cans of shave cream.  I had to be honest with them and tell them that I was concerned about the reaction I might get buying a dozen cans of it.  So I chickened out and just bought a couple at a time when I was doing my grocery shopping!  I'm a big chicken, I know!  
Not to change the subject, but we are ever so close to another blog candy draw.  I am just itching to give this candy away.  Can we make it happen soon and put me out of my misery?  Please!
All for now, Sue x

Thursday 11 November 2010

Another Button Floral Pic

Here is another of the samples from the Button Floral stamp set. I really like this one as it is quite a different colour palette than what you might expect to see with florals.  It seems fitting for the autumn that has descending upon us here recently in the UK.  I had embossed the houndstooth background paper with one of our embossing folders but it only really shows up when you see the card in real life.  Oh well, I tried! 
I will have to keep posting the last of the Button Floral samples as I work away on the next batch of samples that is for the POTW show which begins on Christmas Eve.  The premiere will be a two hour show that I will be sharing with Jo Channon.  If we can hopefully pull you away from all your family activities that day to watch for a bit, we will have a bunch of great new techniques to show you.  I will be back on Christmas Day (that show will be pre-recorded) and then I will be live again on Boxing Day.  I promise you some sneak peeks of what I've been working on when it is closer to the time of the show.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one.  All for now, Sue x

Friday 5 November 2010

Faux Batik Technique






















I just love this technique!  I think the lines from the faux batik add so much interest to the overall texture of the card.  I thought you might like a close up of one of the cards that I demoed on the Button Floral Stamp shows.  In case you missed it, I will give you a quick rundown of the technique.  You begin by stamping your image all over the background using a clear perfect medium pad.  It helps if you use an image that has a bit of solid area to it also.  Then you will use clear embossing powder over the entire background and heat until melted.  Next step is to fold your card so that there are creases going in all different directions across it.  I think that "mountain" type folds work best with this technique, although it is not essential.  Once you have all your folds in place, spritz your card to moisten it with water.  This will allow the ink the get into the areas right next to the folds.  Using a brayer and a Big 'N Juicy pad (I used the Waterfall Colour), ink your brayer then roll it onto your card in short bursts.  You do not want it to take on the same striped pattern of colour that is in the pad so you need to stop and start from different angles.  This will mix the colour up and blend it a bit.  Allow to dry thoroughly before attaching it to any mat and layering pieces.  Let me know what you think!  All for now, Sue x