Shining Stones Backgrounds

I have recently had a go at making shining stones backgrounds, a technique explained by Trish Bee at trishbee.co.uk (see blog entry for Jan 1st). These involved inking a piece of glossy paper (I used a roller), spritzing with water, adding 'mica paint' (made by mixing Perfect Pearls with water etc), spritzing again and drying with a heat gun. These were my first attempts (they are much better in the flesh as the photos don't show the wonderful shimmer):

Today I made some more and found that the paper is really important for achieving a good result. I also used Twinkling H2Os as I have a wider range of colours. They were so easy to use as I just added water then splattered them on.

This one was done on Tesco finest glossy photo paper (I had piece in my scrap box and thought it was the same as I had used before - however it wasn't!). The ink didn't blend very well and when I spritzed it nothing really happened (with the other paper speckles instantly appeared):

So I went back to using my Poundland glossy photo paper (I also love this paper to use with alcohol inks) and am much happier with the results.

Here I used more water so the ink/H2Os puddled more.

Mr Picassohead

I have discovered a great fun site through Next Generation Stampers (one of the Yahoo groups I belong to).
It is http://www.mrpicassohead.com/ You can design your own Mr Picassohead. Here's mine:

Mini album

A couple of weeks ago I made a mini-album for Roger, my boyfriend's, birthday. I posted pictures of it on the Next Generation Stampers yahoo group site. Lots of people wanted the instructions how to make it, but as Roger occasionally checks my blog I needed to wait until after his birthday to post them. I decided to make another album so I could photograph it as I went along.


1. Take a piece of 12" x 12" scrapbook paper. Selecting paper that has a variety of patterns means the pages of the album will be different. However avoid obviously texted paper as some of the text will be the wrong way up!

2. Fold the paper in half lengthways.

3. Open and fold the edges up to the central fold line.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3, folding the other direction so that the paper is divided onto 16 squares.

5. Cut the paper on the folds; 3 squares up, 3 squares down and 3 squares up (follow the black lines on the diagram).

6. Concertina the paper, folding up then down. Make sure the first fold has the blank/wrong side of the paper on top/outwards. Keep going until the whole sheet is folded up.


7. Glue the wrong sides of the paper together to make the pages of the album secure. Already this is like a mini book!

8. Glue a piece of ribbon or fibre across the front of the book, around the spine and across the back.


9. To make the front and back cover, cut 2 squares of chipboard 3" x 3"

10. Cut 2 pieces of paper about 4" x 4" and stick one onto each chipboard square, leaving a border all around the edge.

11. Trim a triangle off each corner of paper, making sure it is not right up to the chipcoard corner.

12. Stick the paper around the chipboard.

13. Stick the covers onto the front and back of the book. Then decorate front cover and pages!

Gideon's zentangle

Gideon, my 8 year old nephew, saw my zentangles last night and was desperate to have a go himself. I found him some card and although I had to draw him the initial string, he had great fun fulling in the sections. He even wanted to come around today and make some more!

More zentangles

Zentangles are so addictive! I decided to try one on an ATC so that I could trade it, or send it to one of my ATC swaps. This one makes me think of a lady dancing with a very large bottom! I then wanted to do another with a smaller nibbed pen so I could get more detail. As I only had a blue pen I used this. I enjoyed drawing the extra detail, although, it took a lot longer to complete.

Zentangles

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. I set up my blog and had every intention of regularly posting about all the great things I'd been making. However, as with most good intentions they rarely work out!

I have recently joined a new Yahoo group (Next-Generation-Stampers) and discovered Zentangles! Here is my first Zentangle and I'm looking forward to creating more in the near future, as soon as I get all the other urgent projects finished...

Visit http://www.zentangles.com/ to find out more.

Altered Journal

I've had great fun recently altering journals. This one was first covered with torn pages from a 1950s school edition of Macbeth. It even has pencil notes written by a previous student! I added Distressing ink to age it further. I also used Distressing ink to colour the tape and stamped a strip of paper with pen images. I used an art mold to make the key embellishment and coloured it with Brilliance ink. I also added stamped images to the inside covers.