Busy few days

Well this week seems to have flown by even with this dreadful weather but at least the sun is shining today!

I have been up to a variety of different things over the week starting with some paint fusion by Sheena Douglass. I printed some decoupage layers from the CD and made them up and also printed some of the stunning backing papers, there are just so many to choose from. I then chose a border to go around the object that I was going to decorate.

 I had a paper mache box from Crafters Companion that I fancied decorating so after 2 coats of cream emulsion I applied the backing papers and the  finished decoupage to the top and sides and  I then added the border around the lid and around the middle of the box. To finish I added a sentiment from the CD and some white ribbon;

Finished box

When I was browsing through the CD I found some other wonderful decoupage images that I thought would look good on candles. I mounted some tissue paper to some card using stick and spray and then printed a variety of the images onto the tissue. I then cut these out whilst still attached to the card as I find them easier to handle and then removed them from the card sprayed on a little more stick and spray and then positioned them onto the candle. Once happy with the placement I wrapped them up in double thickness greaseproof paper and heated gently with my heat gun until the wax started to melt. I ended up getting a bit carried away and made 10 candles in total.

Once finished, wrapped in cellophane with
matching gift tag

Beatrix Potter

Well after what seems like weeks of struggling with no inspiration at all I have finally pulled myself together and managed to make a few Beatrix Potter cards. The new CDs from Crafters Companion are full of all the usual wonderful artwork and so very easy to use. The latest 3 to be released are The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes and finally The tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher.I couldn't choose which one to use so I decided to print of some images from all 3. I just love the framed images and I have used the decoupage layers on some but not all .These are the results;

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully I wont be leaving it to long before my next post xx

Beading Delights.

Well after the great launch of the Beaders Companion multi bead boxes and my samples being on show I had a go at something a little different. I always seemed to do the same or similar sort of design with each piece and I really wanted to start doing something more adventurous......


I recently discovered the Bead Supermarket which is just 5 minutes away from where I live and I didn't even know it existed until I saw an article in the local weekly paper. They run a monthly bead club where you get sent a kit with full instructions to make up items of jewellery. So I thought I would give it a go. It cost £13.99 per month and you receive your lovely little surprise parcel at the end of each month!!


 This months theme was April Hail. The kit contained some stunning brown/bronze pearl type beads, seed beads and bi cone beads. All of the findings including some extras were also enclosed. The technique used was actually wrapping the head pin around itself above the bead which sounds really difficult and I must admit that even with full instructions I did struggle and felt that I needed 2 pairs of hands. Eventually I managed to find the best way of doing it and was very happy with the results. The instructions told you to make up 12 small and 9 large wire wrapped beads and these created little clusters on the necklace.




 There were also findings and beads to make up a pair of earrings which were very straight forward. These are the finished results:

The finished piece.

I just wish that I had known this technique before I embarked on my latest design challenge for Beaders Companion! This weeks box of delights was some stunning green beads from the same collection that was launched 2 weeks ago. From this box I managed to make even more pieces ...a total of 44 items from 1 box. They go on air tonight (3/4/12) on Ideal World and tomorrow on Create and Craft and Ideal world as Pick of the day... I will post photos as soon as they become available but the beads are a definite must have !