TV Samples for Indigo Blu

Hi

I hope you've all enjoyed the early summer we've been experiencing? The hottest two days of the year to date and I needed to get some samples started as Hochanda have asked Kay to do an additional show and as usual that requires samples. It's going to be a full and fun show so if you've nothing spoiling make yourself a cuppa and watch.  There's flowers galore, exceptional quotes and beautiful flutterbies, all delivered just in time for the Summer sunshine. If you're busy you can always watch using rewind online.

I've made a variety of cards, some quick and some more involved. I had planned a number of more detailed projects but due to illness I was unable to complete them in time to get them to Hochanda. I'll probably post them on here instead with details of how they were made.

Anyhow, here's what I've made. For pictures of the design teams samples check out Indigo Blu or Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art on facebook.

So kick start your Summer of crafting and tune into Indigo Blu on Hochanda at 10am and 2pm.

Thanks for taking the time to read and if you'd like to leave a comment, I will appreciate it.

Creative huggles, Julie xx

Indigo Blu Samples

Good morning all

Just a quick post and a sneak preview of some samples done for Indigo Blu. The lovely Kay will be live on Hochanda today at 11am and again at 3pm. As well as new scrummie colours of luscious powders, she has beautiful new collectors stamps which include 2 lovely background stamps, a must have flutterby and a quirky looking hen. The highlight has to be the new ‘think evil thoughts’ quote stamps. Not so much evil as cheeky - tune in for a giggle and watch the presenter blush! The design team have had a ball thinking of innovative ways to use the stamps.

Click here for more details of what’s to come from Indigo Blu on Hochanda 

So here is my small contribution to the show. Unfortunately, the camera hasn’t picked up the wonderful shimmer of the luscious powders, or the beeswax in the first sample. Hopefully you’ll see more detail on TV.

Please be a gem and leave a comment, good or bad. All feedback is very much appreciated.

Caio for now, xx

Long time...

Hello lovelies

It's been a month since I last posted. Lots has happened since then, snow days and Easter... for me illness and being admitted to hospital.

I planned to do so much, creatively speaking, leading up to Easter but to say it didn't go to plan is an understatement! I managed to make a special snuggle blanket and felt bunny for each of my grandchildren and a felt bunny for a special friend and another for my daughter. I knitted Ava and Archie a super soft snuggle blanket when they were new born and they still take them to bed now. Needless to say they were ready for replacements. 

The bunnies each take a couple of hours to make. Although they are made exactly the same each one seems to have it's own personality! As more people have seen them, the more people want them so I think I may be busy sewing bunnies for a while yet!

Whilst recovering at home this week, the postie delivered me a lovely parcel of yummy stamps and colours from Kay and Alfie at Indigo Blu. I'm hoping I will be feeling a little better in the days to come so I can get back to my craft room and create the ideas buzzing around in my head. The samples are for Hochanda on the 12th April and believe me when I say the stamps are something else and certainly worth watching.

I'll be back soon with my latest creations.

Creative hugs for now -x-

Winter Garden

Morning all

How are you bearing up with the Winter weather, or to be more specific - Spring weather?

We’ve had several days of not being able to move due to the amount of snow on the rather steep hill on which we live. That’s fine by me, more time to spend in my work room. Today, I've finally got my youngest son back to school, they were closed the majority of last week due to heavy snowfall, he's less than impressed and hoped the snow would stick around for a little longer!

The garden has looked so peaceful and clean under it's thick blanket of pure white snow. I do hope my poor little snowdrops and narcissus have survived all that weight! The birds have been busy, flitting in and out to my feeding station, they need all the help they can get at this time of year and I love to sit and watch them.

This week I’ve played along with ‘Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge  - My Garden' and originally planned to do a colourful piece, resembling the colourful Spring which is hopefully just around the corner but then chose to celebrate my monochrome Winter garden in all its frozen splendour. Here is my submission...

I chose to work on a large MDF tag which I covered in coordination’s  dark grey cardstock. I then cut a piece of Bo-Bunny paper slightly smaller than the tag. I inked the edges using iced spruce and hickory smoke distress inks to darken the edges before adding texture gel through a flower stencil. In my mind this represents the flowers hid just below the surface, not taking centre stage but waiting patiently. I opted for texture gel rather than paste for its transparent finish, giving the appearing of frozen flowers in the background. Splashes of white and silver acrylic paints were added to the background along with a few random pearls.

While that dried I dug through my stash of fabrics and pulled out some synthetic crushed velvet in ivory. Using an old favourite Paperbag studios stamp, I heated my craft iron and applied the velvet over the versamarked stamp, placing the fabric textured side face down and covering it with kitchen paper before applying direct heat. Don’t move the iron around as this will potentially blur the image and make sure the hot iron doesn’t come into direct contact as it will melt the synthetic fabric.

Once your content that enough energy has been spent, a couple of intense minutes should get the job done, carefully remove the layers and peel the fabric off the stamp. The image should be etched into the fabric, the iron almost melts the texture on the raised bits of fabric leaving a lovely embossed image.

Stamp the flower image onto water soluble fabric using an archival ink pad and cut out. Don’t leave a huge border as it’s wasting the fabric and also you’ll have more to wash away later! Insert a layer of tutu netting in between the embossed velvet and the water soluble paper. Try to match the stamped image to the embossed image on the fabric and tack in place (I used straight pins to match up the corners of the frame and hoped for the best).

Try to avoid the areas where you’ll machine stitch. Load your machine with thread, I opted for grey to reflect my monochromatic palette. Begin to randomly stitch the lines of the image using a combination of straight and zigzag stitch. Sew the outside frame before switching thread to a contrasting colour. I opted for a metallic silver thread to lift the colour and to give the shimmering impression of snow and ice.

Once you’re content with the stitching you can wash the paper away using warm water and a gentle rub. I found the paper didn’t dissolve as well in the middle of the straight stitched frame but I liked the look it left me so didn't worry too much. Allow to dry naturally as the fabric will shrivel under direct heat.

Once the panel is dry take glass and clear beads and add a little detail to the flower head . I also took three beads and added them to a thin silver wire for added effect.

A length of broad white cotton lace and a scrap of pale green crash were added along side the flower panel. The tag was finished off with a leaf of subtle grey/ green floral lace and a pearl flower button. All the flowers are there but subtle in their frozen majesty. A crystal droplet, snowflake and muse token were added and a few words reflecting the serenity which the garden represents to me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed and understood the thought processes behind the making of this tag? What does your Winter garden look like? Are you enjoying this late winter weather or looking forward the warming sunshine of spring?

Creative hugs, Julie xx

Let it Snow...

Wow

What's the weather like? I predicted a cold and snowy winter but didn't expect 4 inches of the white stuff! And it's started again...

I'm enjoying the company of my 14 year old son, that's when he can drag himself away from the Xbox. My older one is supposedly away at University but today he's sledging with his highly intellectual friends on a baking tray!!! Honestly, I am worried, he's studying Geo Politics - scary thought that one day he could have a job of real responsibility. My grandchildren are out building snowmen and snow angels while their parents freeze - it's amazing how you forget that youthful enthusiasm for snow as the years tick by. Meanwhile, my eldest sun is currently in Florida - he's in for such a shock when he gets home Friday, provided his flight can land!

My blog needed a few updates and in between I'm playing nicely in my workroom. Despite living in a relatively new house, my upstairs is considerably warmer than downstairs - my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Today I have some exciting news to share. I've kept a lid on it for a couple of weeks now - since Stitches to be honest. I bumped into an old friend, Kay Halliwell-Sutton of Indigo Blu. I originally designed and demonstrated for Indigo Blu when they first started their business. Now I'm  a lady of leisure and feeling a little more stable health wise, she has asked me to join her design team. I'm rather excited at the prospect and look forward to the motivation to create on a regular basis and being part of a highly creative team.

In the past I have taught, professionally and also mixed media art as a hobby/ part-time business.  After suffering a major adrenal crisis (Addison's Disease) I had little choice but to finish work and so far it has taken four years to recover partially. Part of this adjustment has been struggling with loosing my sense of identity. I loved my job and the motivation it presented. So, designing may not sound like a big deal but it presents so much more to me. Thank you Kay and Alfie for this opportunity.

Right, I think I may go and turn the thermostat up a little higher as it's currently -4 outside and feeling a little nippy inside. Whatever you're doing, stay safe and warm.

Hugs, J xx

How to create...

Hello again

I recently created a small alternative Valentine's wooden plaque. As I mentioned, I'm not a fan of Valentine's day, I honestly feel that love and care should be shown everyday but I decided to do a little something for that particular day.

It wasn't a long process, the football was on so I had a couple of hours peace in which to create.

The base is a wooden icon, approximately 9.5cm squared and the stamp is 'Bubble Hearts' (JGCL549) by Woodware

• Cover the front with old book paper, covered with a thin layer of white acrylic paint - wipe back with a baby wipe to reveal some of the text
• Once dried,  randomly stamp a music script using black archival
• Once again, using black archival, stamp the wing of a butterfly off to one side, apply the ink sparingly to the stamps to avoid the images being too dark
• Once the ink is dry, apply a few coats of soya wax, fusing with a heat tool in between each coat
• Using oil pastels or distress crayons, distress the edges, massaging the colour into the wax surface with your finger
• Add a bold colour through a stencil to add a little interest. Knock back with a darker colour if you feel it is too bold
• Using a heavy weight cardstock or greyboard, stamp your heart image using archival ink. Apply Versamark all over the surface and cover with Platinum UTEE. Heat with your heat tool, this first layer may look pitted but the levels will even out with further layers
• Allow the UTEE to cool and reapply Versamark and the UTEE. Heat again, this layer should self level
• Ink up you heart stamp with Black Archival before repeating the last step of Versamark and UTEE. Once this final layer is melted and still hot (take care as this layer will burn if it touches your skin) stamp the heart stamp into the melted UTEE. Allow to cool before removing the stamp
• Once cooled you can decorate the heart with gems, pearls, glossy accents or glitter - the choice is yours. Stick to the wooden plaque using a strong glue
• Take a small glass vial and add large flake vintage glitter before adding cork to seal
• Print a few words to add to the front - I added 'Be Mine'
• Stick the words to the front and wind a little wire around the bottle neck. Use Glossy Accents or Pinflair Glue to stick it to the front of your plaque
• TO finish, use Alcohol Inks in Rust and Espresso to colour a small knob and a Tim Holtz Arrow Embellishment and stick in place using Glossy Accents

I'm sorry I don't have pictures to go along with this quick tutorial but I hope it all makes sense?

Enjoy the rest of your day, creative hugs xxx

Brrr....

Good morning everyone

I hope this post finds you all well and if you're here in the UK, wrapped up against the Arctic blast which we're experiencing? Here in Yorkshire, we keep experiencing heavy falls of snow, fortunately it isn't sticking around for very long as it melts before the next fall comes along.

It's been a busy few weeks here including my annual trip to Stitches Trade Show at Birmingham NEC. There were many lovely stands and everyone had worked so hard to bring us all new and exciting products to delight our creative senses. Needless to say, I've been itching to get back to my workroom and create!

The highlight of the trip was meeting a long time idol of mine - Kim Thittichai. If you're not familiar with Kim, she is an exceptional textile artist who has inspired many students over her exciting career. You can find her blog here - Kim's Hot Textile's - it's certainly worth a look if you're inspired by anything shiny, textured or textile and have an interest in burning and heating materials!!! We played  with heavy weight Lutrador and Xpandaprint. You can purchase all these materials and more, plus many inspirational, educational books from Art Van Go if you'd like to give them a try.

Basically, Lutrador is a synthetic fabric originally used as an interfacing. It comes in a variety of weights, the most popular being 30, 70 & 105 gsm. It is easily coloured with acrylic paints, dyes and inks but it will take a while to dry, blotting with kitchen towel will remove the colour and heat will create holes so bare this in mind. Furthermore, it can be stitched, stamped and embossed using puff paste to add extra texture and interest. Add heat with an iron, heat gun or soldering iron to create holes - basically experiment as the sky is the limit!

The samples above were started at the show, the blue nautilus shell sample was coloured using spray inks and beaded at home. It isn't finished yet but I'm toying with the idea of including this into a sampler? The cream, green panel hasn't been touched other than adding colour. I'm planning on creating a book cover with this piece eventually. Both panels are on the heavy weight Lutrador with Xpandaprint which will bubble and take on a life of it's own once heat is applied while the Lutrador takes on a lacy effect as the heat creates holes - all very exciting. I found spray inks worked better but watered down acrylics or dyes would work equally well. If you add paint too thickly prior to heating, the Lutrador will not react as well as the paint acts as a barrier to the fabric below. I can't stress enough how necessary experimentation is with these fabrics and techniques. So many variables are possible dependent on the thickness of paint, paste, where the heat gun is positioned and how intense the heat is.... why not give it a try for yourself?

Okidokee... I'm off to do a few chores before coming back as I've been asked if I could explain how the UTEE heart was created in my previous post.

Stay warm, Julie xx