Welcome Back

 

I have been blogging over on Wordress for almost a month, if you haven't seen the new blog yet do come and have a look.

 

 

 

Best wishes and keep on crafting

 

Billie xxx

 

Welcome Back

 

Well I have now got myself a blog on Wordpress, not that I have a clue how to do much on there yet, so there may be posts on both sites for a few days. I have gone over to wordpress as this blog host just doesn't allow for comments from non Windows live customers!

 

 

 

Best wishes

 

Billie xx

Welcome back

 

DH has been doing maintenace on the machine and has more to do so I appologise in advance for any delays in updating this blog

 

This month's theme for The Virtual Crafting Challenge has been embossing. My wonderful friend Lynn from http://craftandwaffle.blogspot.com/ sent me some stampboard as I had never tried it before. I now LOVE stamp board, if you haven't tried it go get some it is fantastic stuff.

 

Having had a play I stamped my design on the board then painted the back and sides of the board in acrylic paint to hide the brown unfinished side. My fab Crop A Dile punched through the board easily and I then applied Versamark embossing ink to the piece followed by clear embossing powder and heated it with the heat tool. I applied more powder, and reheated the piece a total of three times and then let it cool.

 

Inks; Ranger Adirondack www.rangerink.com

Stamps; Crafty Individuals http://www.craftyindividuals.co.uk/

Stampbord; http://www.stampbord.com/about.html

 

Here is a photo of my finished necklace

 

 

Best wishes and thanks for reading

 

Billie

 

Welcome Back

 

I spent yesterday sorting out these pictures, so here you go... detailed pictures of all the panels from the Jacob's Ladder. The stamps are all from Crafty Individuals http://www.craftyindividuals.co.uk/  the ink is Ranger Adirondack www.rangerink.com and the technique I used for the colouring was inspired by Isabelle Norris http://isascrapandstamp.wordpress.com/ 

I think that covers everyone... Now here is what I made

 

   

 

  

 

 

   

 

  

 

Hope you like them, best wishes and thanks for looking

 

Billie

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Back

 

Well I have had a go with Photoshop and here are some pictures of the Jacob's Ladder, they may look familiar from the other day, but I have increased the file size. Now when you double click on the image you WILL get a larger picture  sorry about the tiny pictures before, they will be in this new format from now on so

 

Here goes...

 

 The box   The Ladder

 

 The Floral side  The Bird side.

 

For anyone unsure of how these Jacob's Ladders work, check out the online demo by Tricia Morris on www.tvweekly.com Here is a link to the episode itself  http://sbl.tvweekly.com/player.php?c43eadeae46f61fbecd49bde4356b006w872

 

Of course me being me, I did mine the hard way, I attached all the images to the base card BEFORE I assembled it. I got nice straight images that way but it made for a much more tricky assembley. Without the pictures in place this is a much simpler project, just assemble the ladder then slide your pictures UNDER the ribbons. It is important that your pictures go under the ribbons or the ladder won't 'flip'

 

I am currently exploring Stab bindings with the help of Keith Smith's Volume 1 Non-Adhesive Binding- Books Without Paste or Glue. I bought a Dremmel tool just after Christmas and due to my weak grip I need a drill press to hold it so that I will get accurate holes for the stab bindings. I have already tried the most well know stab bind Japanese 4-Hole Binding otherwise known as Yotsumme Toji  and this went well. Yesterday I had my first attempt at the Tortoise-shell variaty of stab binding known also as Kikko Toji. This was a bit of a nightmare till I got DH who is very clever to read the instructions and we worked it out in the end. Once I understood that a UNIT in Keith's world referred to a group of three holes rather than the total number of holes across the whole bind I got on fine.

 

I would recommend Keith's Books as they are excellent reference books for all kinds of sewn bindings, but for the short of patience they can also be quite hard to get to grips with his style of writing  It is well written just a bit confusing! Still buy the books though as they are worth every penny.

 

I have some book reviews planned so must find some time to get them written. Moo Album tutorial should be up next week

Thanks for reading and see you soon

 

Billie

Welcome Back

 

Let's try again with the long Stitch book, I have resized the pictures so hopefully if you click them they will come up larger ;)

 

Here is my first long stitched book. The cover was inspired by Isabelle Norris class I took back in February.

 

 

 

 

Welcome Back

 

I've been a busy bunny, this morning I took some pictures as I assembled the moo holder so I'll work on the text for the tutorial when it isn't quite so hot. Then I had a go at Long Stitch with Chain, this is a variation of the longstitch book I posted a few days ago but there are two rows of chain stitching on the spine as well. Most of the bind went well by my dyslexia meant I misread some of the instructions so my chain is missing it's middle two links  so I'll have another go at that one.

 

I used my 18/3 thread for the bind and it turned out to be a good weight to use. should be excellent if I ever get the equipment to be able to do the stab bindings  So far I have this 18/3 thread in brown and in black but I want to get some natural coloured in that weight as I can then dye it with the Adirondack inks to match my projects

 

I spent Friday morning in a craft class with Isabelle Norris at the Craft Barn, so a big Billie *wave* to my fellow class buddies, especially Marie and Rachael  those two get special mention as I managed to catch their names. Thanks for a great class Isa. We made two cards using the Kastlekraft stamps with the bird images. I will check with Isa if I can post any pictures of the cards I made during the class. The cards were her design and made to her instruction so it isn't fair just to post a picture without checking with her first.

 

You can buy the Kastlekraft stamps from the Craft Barn follow the link on my blogroll

 

Found this great blog on Kstlekraft stamps

Just have to list that on my blog roll!

 

Best wishes and thanks for reading

 

Billie

Welcome back

 

I will be off for a couple of days, I had a new way of sorting out the pictures for the blog and hadn't realised the problem with the new size. A few people have let me know about this,  so I will need a few days to change what I have done and get some new pics and tutorials ready and up here.

 

Just so you know that I haven't forgotten you and to tease you with what I'm working on here are a few of the things I'm planning

 

Welcome Back

For anyone who would like to make their own version of a Jacob’s Ladder, the instructions I used to make this the first time were on www.tvweekly.com  If you make the basic construction without the pictures in place it is fairly easy to put together. However the first few you make you are likely to want to wait till the family is at school or work so you are not disturbed as you put it together ;)

I am not going to do a tutorial on this project as Trisha did a wonderful job on her demo, from this link, you will be able to watch a video demonstration. If you join up to the site you can also download instructions, which is REALLY handy for the first couple of times you make a ladder.  Here is the direct link to the demo; http://sbl.tvweekly.com/player.php?c43eadeae46f61fbecd49bde4356b006w872

Here are the long awaited pictures of my Jacob’s Ladder.

   The pictures have come out much bluer than expected, the label is purple as is the tissue in the box! I made the box too ;) Well after all the work for the ladder, it needed a good looking box to store and display it ;)

           Side one is all birds side two is floral themed.

These pictures make it look much bluer than it is in real life, it is blue and hot pink on one side and the floral side is blue and purple.

I used Rangers Adirondack inks applied using Ranger’s Cut n Dry foam, see www.rangerink.co.uk

The stamps I used were from Crafty Individuals www.craftyindividuals.co.uk

For my ladder I sponged a background on to the mount board, I then edged the boards in silver metallic marker.  I made life difficult for myself by attaching the stamped pieces to the mount board BEFORE I had assembled the ladder.  This meant that I couldn’t just put the boards together in any order as one side has a bird theme and the other has a different colour way and a floral theme.  After many attempts at assembly my dear husband came and had a look and between us we worked out what order and which way round the boards should be assembled to get the finished ladder to flow properly! Not for the novice! Assemble the boards and put your pictures/stamping in afterwards for a simpler and quicker finish.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie J

Welcome Back

 

Ok here goes, cross everything you have..I'm going to try to post a couple of pictures...

 

 Here is my first long stitched book. The cover was inspired by Isabelle Norris class I took back in February.

 

Stamps used were; Penny Black Warbler, Crafty Individuals C171 and Hero Arts Old French Writing Background.

Inks used were; Ranger Adirondack

 

 Here is a close up of the stitching pattern. This style is called Long Stitch, I have followed the instrutions from Keith Smith's book Volume I Non Adhesive bindings.

 

I haven't forgotten the Jacob's Ladder, there will be LOADS of pictures of it very soon. I am going through them to ensure you get the best views of this project possible.

 

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

 

Billie

Welcome back

 

What a lot of views my little site is getting lately, thank you all you are all most welcome. I am hoping to get some pictures taken today of my Jacob's Ladder. DH is the technie so hoping he can help me sort some of the settings on it so my pictures come up a better colour. They tended to have a strong yellow cast.

 

My hayfever has kicked in massively, Oil Seed Rape is to blame flamin yellow peril!!!! and there is a lot of it around here. It feels lik breathing through a jumper!

 

I got some more thread for bookbinding yesterday I now have brown and also black to add to the natural thread that I dye to required colour myself. I have orderd Volumes 2 and 3 of Keith Smith's books on book binding so can't wait for them to arrive.

 

I you haven't already do check out my bookbinding video links to You Tube, I have updated the list to include the now reposted Part 4 from Peter Baumgarter. Excellent set of videos.

 

I can't post on your blog but I read it most days, Get well soon Suzi Blu sending you Billie kisses and healing thoughts. Would a cool face towel help, worth a try. Cheer up Suzi, everyone click the link in the blogroll to go to her site. Leave her get well wishes.

 

More pictures as soon as I can, thanks for reading and check back soon

 

Billie

Welcome back

 

The good news is that my laptop has been fixed and I'm back, the bad news is I can't do anything with pictures on there just yet so there may be a little delay.

 

I have so much to share. I made my first Long Stitch book on 30th April and made a nice stamped piece for the cover. I've been tripple embossing stampboard. And there is another technique on the way for making your own background papers. I need to arrange for a cameraman as it is another one of those techniques that takes both hands.

 

I'm all excited as I have booked a place on another stamping class with Isabelle Norris http://isascrapandstamp.wordpress.com/ her last class took my stamping to another level, so really looking forward to what we will do on this class.

 

I am still hoping to move this blog to Wordpress at somepoint so that there will be the possibility of leaving comments for all users. But will let the machine recover a while first.

 

Do check out this months Virtual Crafting Challenge, this month's theme is Embossing. Try something new to you or a new way to use the products you have in the back of the cupboard. It's your journey, and this challenge is all about having fun learning new things rather than producing a finished piece by the end of the month.

 

More pictures and tutorials as soon as I can.

 

Thanks for reading and for returning after my enforced neglect.

 

Billie xxx

Welcome back

 

Well the replacement disks have arrived but my computer is still very poorly. This month's challenge is copied from the printed version but I am unable to do the nice layout on this manchine, so apploligies for the layout.

 

EMBOSSING 
 
Dry Embossing

 

You Will need

Stencils, embossing tool, light box or light source (eg window or glass top table with lamp underneath)

You Will need

Emobssing ink or pigment ink, embossing powder and a heat tool to melt your powder. Work on a heat resistant surface! Use a bit heavier card than you would normally use for stamping to ensure it doesn't warp when you heat it.

Single Embossing
Stamp your image using Clear embossing or pigment ink (Versamark is best). Cover this image with embossing powder.Shake off the excess powder. Heat the image to melt the powder.
 
Triple Embossing
Stamp your image and emboss as mentioned above. While the embossing powder is still hot, cover it with another layer of embossing powder and heat again. Repeat this once more for a thickly embossed image. Alternatively, you could stamp your design onto thick card like mount board, let the image dry, cover the entire piece in clear embossing or versamark ink and then in embossing powder. Heat the card piece and repear the above steps to create a thick layer. Your fingished piece will have the appearance of a tile.
 
Intaglio
Start with the tile effect as mentioned above, then press a stamp or textured (heat resistant) object into the embossing powder while it is still hot to a schieve a de-bossed texture in the tile.  
 
Links
You tube demo of triple embossing, this li not the only way to do this technique but it is a good demo;
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y_hIllTPG-A (WARNING turn your speakers down if you click this link, suze weinburg speaks very loudly on this!!!!)
 
Have fun
 
Billie xxx 

 

Normal service will be resumed as soon as my laptop recovers
 

Welcome Back

 

For anyone wondering where I have been, my computer has totally died! Can't even boot from a disk, we are awaiting recovery disks from HP but so far after two weeks no sign yet  they are said to be on their way so in the meantime the only computer access I have is with DH's computer.

 

So until I am back with my machine I can't put much on here . The only upside to all this is that it has given me more time to craft. I have made lots of ATC's and I am currently working on a Jacob's Ladder. Anyone not sure what that is...here is a link to the demo on TV Weekly

I am using the brillient inking and stamping techniques I learnt at the Craft Barn with Isabelle Norris. Will post pictures when my machine is fixed.

 

Not much I can post as without my machine I don't have access to my favorites list and can't put pics on from this machine so demo's are out for a while  I have had lots of ideas while I have been offline though so once I get my machine back there will be lots to share with you all.

 

I'll be posting the latest challenge for The Virtual Crafting Challenge on here in time for the beginning of May, it won't be as pretty as last time as this machine doesn't run Word 2007 so no pretty titles as I'll have to copy from a printed copy.

 

Keep crafting and I'll post again as soon as I can.

 

Billie xxx

 

Welcome Back

Today I will show you how to create your own Mica spray using Perfect Pearls by Ranger.

 If you would like to follow this tutorial you will need.

 

 One set of Perfect Pearls; in the colour of your choice

  One spray bottle; Ranger make small spray bottles perfect for this called Mini Misters

 One non stick craft sheet

 One craft stick (otherwise known as clean lolly stick)

Method

·         Place a small amount of water into your spray bottle; you will only need a little in the bottom of the bottle.

·         Choose a colour from your Perfect Pearls set and using a craft stick ‘spoon’ a little into your spray bottle.

 

   

 

·         Screw the spray top back onto the bottle and shake well.

 

 

·         When you want to use your mica spray, shake well then spray onto your project, then heat set using a heat tool.

 

Result

The spray gives quite a subtle effect; if you have used the Interference colours do try spraying them onto dark card as well as light. The Interference colours look subtle on light cardstock but really pop on dark coloured card.

Here are some examples that have been sprayed with mica spray that I have created as shown above. They really catch the light, but are not so easy to photograph. For the best results, use sprays of contrasting colours to your project.

 

 

 In person this card has a pearlescent sheen from the spray but it doesn't show on the photograph. It was the cardstock that we coloured using the mottled background technique from the other day.

Best wishes and thanks for reading

Billie

 

PS It will be a few days before my next post as DH is taking this machine for maintenance.

TRIAL **If you do not have a spaces account but would like to leave a comment, I'll post the title in my sister blog on eblogger www.billies-craftroom.blogspot.com That way at least you can leave a comment somewhere till I can find a better way to do all this.**

Welcome back

 

Well after last nights disaster I shan't be moving to Eblogger unless another project idea works out. As regular viewers will know I like to blog pictorial step by steps. On Spaces this is easy, I write it all in Word and cut n paste it into here, there is a button at the bottom to add pictures and I can put the pics where in the entry I like, EASY. Not so on Eblogger you can upload direct from you pc but multiple pics are horrific, all pics go at the top of the entry, you can move them but each picture you bring in wrecks your formating on the text. I got additional paragraphs all over the place, when I tried to fix it picture left!!!!

 

After much moaning DH listened to what I wanted to do;

 

Upload tutorials; step by steps including plenty of pictures

Have downloadable PDFs of the tutorials and also of the templates I can make

Review products and post the results

Have a simple way for people to leave comments

 

After hearing all this DH said I was using the wrong tool for the job, blogs are intended as short entires and single pictures. DH suggested I should build a website  That way people would be able to access the tutorials in any order and it would all be much more versatile. So now I shall spend the rest of the month looking into that and see if I can work out how to do it.

 

I think it is likely that I will go back to EBlogger if the website turns out ok, and use it to post the fact that new stuff has been added and links to articles, that way there will be the option for people being able to leave comments. I wish Windows Live would let anyone leave comments that and let me set multiple tags to posts then I wouldn't need to move.

 

Well that's the latest news, no need to change to my eblogger web addy yet  I'll keep you up to date on how the development of possible site goes, and if I can post twice in one day will post the tutorial I promised you seperately from this.

 

Best wishes and thanks for reading

 

Billie

Welcome Back

 

Although I like the easy way Windows Live lets me blog, it isn't as versatile as some other blog hosts. As a result I am trialing a blog over on E Blogger. The main problem from an accessibilty view on Windows Live, is that to leave a comment you have to be registered with them  as the whole world isn't using this then it makes it hard for people to comment.

 

I will be posting blog entries that I have previously written on here on the new blog, while I find my feet and see if eblogger is the answer. If you would like to come and visit the new blog and leave a comment here is the address.

 

www.billies-craftroom.blogspot.com 

 

I have about a months worth of daily entries to add to that address if it works out, expect colour changes on there while I decide on a template. I have a few more tutorials for here, so I won't leave you with nothing but repeats, but if all goes well at the new home I can't post too much on here with out ever being able to catch up.

 

Bit of an essay today, but in the interest of getting some feed back on if anyone likes what I'm doing or not then a change was necessary. Thought you would like to know what was going on. I will post a make your own mica spray demo on here tomorrow.

 

Best wishes and thanks for reading

 

Billie

Welcome Back

Today, a tutorial on making mottled backgrounds using Ranger’s Adirondack Ink

To follow this tutorial you will need;

·         Ranger Adirondack Ink, or any water based DYE  ink pad

 

 

·         Non stick Craft Sheet

 

 

·         Spray bottle of water

 

 

·         Card or heavy paper

·         Heat tool

Method

Rub some ink onto your craft sheet, the more ink you apply the darker tone you will get.

Spritz the ink with water; it will form droplets on the craft sheet

 

How you do the next step will vary the look you get on the card

 

 

 

 

a.       Take your card stock and place it onto the ink, press into the ink, gently lift the card off. If you want more of the card covered, place the card back into the ink and repeat till you have the coverage you like. Then heat set.

 

 

 

b.       Alternatively, swirl your card in the inky puddles and this will give a different look, again heat to set the ink.

c.       Pounce onto the puddles of ink and lift the card on and off, this gives a more textured look, heat set as before.

If you do not have a craft sheet you can still do this project, use a heavy plastic sheet, or a bin liner. Heavier plastic is better. The effect of using this over a craft sheet is that as you apply ink to it, it will tend to bunch up. When you spray with water and place your card into the ink, there will be less coverage but much more of a textured look than with the craft sheet which lays flat.

 

Here are some examples of cardstock coloured using these various methods.

  Multiple colours used. Heat set between colours, or not, experiment and see which you prefer.

 The Terracotta one shoes how heat seting before re treating with colour will keep more texture in the piece.

Have fun trying this, and thanks for reading.

Billie

Welcome back

 

I am like a five year old today, very excited as I woke up to snow this morning. I LOVE snow, firstly as it looks so great accenting the trees and making things look beautiful. But also because there is a wonderful light that you only get with snow, the light is amazing as it falls and after snowfall when the sun comes out...the artists amongst you will know where I'm coming from.

 

Here are some pics of the garden in the snow.