Guest Designer - Neil - Last Post

Well, another month is nearly gone, April is just about finished so

I am here with our Guest Designer Neil's last post for the month.

We know how much you have enjoyed Neil's projects by all the lovely comments

you have kindly left.

So, here it is...........

Neil says "For this project I have created a double spread scrapbook using the fabulous

Graphic 45 paper from the Steampunk debutante collection Time Flies.

Starting with the left hand page, I cut the frame out of the paper and attached it to a piece

of black card.  I printed the photo that my daughter took of Big Ben onto canvas,

 distressed the edge with a distress tool and then inked it with Frayed Burlap

Distress Ink.  I stamped the Crafty Individuals Clock Faces stamp and embosssed with bronze

Embossing Powder as shown in pictures.  I cut the Sizzix ticket out of green card and with

black StazOn stamped Stampers Anonymous Going Somewhere plate.

To create the bronze seal, I put a pile of bronze UTEE onto a craft sheet and heated

until it melted (leave to cool on the sheet).  When cool, place the UTEE where you want it

and reheat.  Stamp a clockface with black StazOn into the melted UTEE and leave to

cool before removing stamp.

I then stuck two butterflies cut out of a second sheet and covered with glossy accents

as shown.

For the right hand page, the main focus is the inner picture of the sheet, which I mounted

onto 12" x 12" black card.  Stamp clock faces as before and also Crafty Individuals

Crackle around the edges in Cosmic Copper Brilliance, brushing around the edges with it too.

I cut out the photos and stuck them as shown, popping a matching top hat on my daughters

picture and grunge wings on the photo of my wife and I!!!

There is another bronze medallion and a glossy accented butterfly too.

To finish I diecut a Fanciful Flight butterfly and coloured it with Spiced Marmalade and Frayed Burlap

Distress Inks with watch cogs for the body".

So there you are.......

The last creation from our very talented Guest Designer.

Thank you Neil for all your wonderful projects, I know a lot of you bloggers

have been inspired by his work!!!

As usual we would really like your comments so don't forget to take a

moment to write one.

I hope you all have a great weekend,

don't forget the shop is open on both Friday and Monday Bank Holidays if

you fancy a visit.  We would love to see you!!!

See you next week,

Jane



And the Winner Is............

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a good weekend, did you get the thunder storm on Saturday???

It was lovely sitting in the garden in the rain!!!!!

Never thought I'd say that!

Anyway........

it's Tuesday and time to announce the winner of

last weeks Wishing Well Challenge - Friendly Plastic.

The winner is .................Claire

Well done Claire, they are lovely!

Claire wins 4 x pieces of Friendly Plastic

and a pack of Cosmic Shimmer Fibres

(Not necessarily colours shown)

Please get in touch Claire so that we can get your prize sent to you!!

See you soon with another fabulous post from Neil our Guest Designer.

Jane



Wishing Well Granted - Part Three

Hi everyone and welcome to the third part of this weeks
Wishing Well Granted - Friendly Plastics


Today, fairy Michelle has made a beautiful brooch for you using Friendly Plastic
and some beads.

So lets see how she did it...........

Michelle says.....

"Take two pieces of Friendly Plastic that will sit together to make a pleasing shape.

(Michelle used F.G Blue/black and Fuchsia/black).

Heat with a heat gun until the two pieces are molten and appear bonded together.

Wet the tip of a ball tool and swirl through the seam between the two pieces of Friendly Plastic.

Leave to cool.

When cool, punch three small holes.  Heat the piece up again slightly till the holes soften.

When cool, hang beads from the holes.

Glue a brooch pin on the back of the piece using Glossy Accents".

And now you have a beautiful brooch.

We are spoiling you with all these beautiful samples!!!

Don't forget to let us know what you think!!

Thank you Michelle.

And that draws a close to yet another Wishing Well.

We hope you have enjoyed it.

This Weeks Challenge....

So now it is over to you, don't forget to take part in the challenge.

All you have to do is use one of the methods shown here for your project.

Please leave a comment and your link, so we can see your completed piece.

There is a prize of 4 x pieces of Friendly Plastic

and a pack of Cosmic Shimmer fibres up for grabs!!!!!

(Not necessarily the colours shown)

This challenge is open to all countries and will close on Sunday 24th April

at Midnight GMT.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 26th April.

Hope you have a Happy Easter and don't eat too much choccie!!!!!!

See you next week,

Jane



A Huge Apology........

Hi everyone,

Today is an extra post with a huge apology to the Wishing Well followers

who enter the competitions.

When I took over from the lovely Isabelle in Canada, I knew about the posts and I had to learn 

very quickly 'how to' on the computer.  I'm not too hot with technology - but I'm 

learning fast.

Anyway, I didn't quite understand all my duties, particularly the posting of the winners

at the end of the weekend.  Not quite sure how I missed that???

Well I hope you can forgive me, I promise, I won't do it again!!

So, I must apologise to the winners of the last two Wishing Well Challenges......

And...... the winners are.....

Viva Decor Ferro and Terra Pastes
 winner is .......... Christa 

Glitter winner is ..........Daniele



Please get in touch so we can get your prizes off to you as soon as possible.

See you soon,

Jane

Wishing Well Granted - Part Two

Hi everyone,


Welcome to Part Two of this weeks Wishing Well Granted.
As you know this week we are focussing on Friendly Plastic and today our fairy
is Chris who has a lovely item to share with you!!! 

Chris says........
"I've made a little puffy flower pendant for my interchangeable wire necklace using
friendly plastic and an extrusion technique. This technique (although I haven't made mine in exactly the same way) was developed by Liz Welch who is expert with this material and was very generous with her knowledge to the Craft Barn Tutors and demonstrators at last September's Extravaganza, she used a heart cutter for her demonstration which makes a beautiful embellishment.

Care should be taken when using friendly plastic and using this method

  as the plastic becomes very hot together with the surrounding area.

 Working on a heat resistant surface is advisable.

Start by taking some Cosmic Shimmer fibres and arranging them between two pieces of thin paper making sure to leave areas without fibres so that a mesh is formed. Using an iron without steam, iron over the paper until the fibres have flattened and joined together from the heat. The mesh will be used to extrude the Friendly Plastic.

Take a piece of friendly plastic and place onto some thick double layered kitchen foil. Heat the plastic with a heat gun holding the gun at least six inches from the surface of the plastic and wafting in circles to ensure the plastic melts evenly. You can tell when it's hot enough as the surface changes appearance slightly or you can bend the foil, the plastic will bend with the foil if it's ready.

Place a piece of the cosmic shimmer mesh on top of the plastic and give it another waft with the heat gun.

Take the cutter you've chosen and press firmly into the plastic so that the cutter goes all the way through the plastic. Pick up the piece keeping it on the foil and only if the foil has cooled enough to touch. Holding the piece with thumbs on the top, push upwards from underneath with your fingers so that the soft plastic starts to extrude through cosmic shimmer mesh. Push just enough so that you can see the bubbles of plastic coming through but not so much that the shape becomes too distorted, aim for a gentle dome. Allow the plastic to cool.

Take the cutter out of the plastic and push the shape out, if the cutter was pressed in at the beginning enough then the shape should pop out easily but if it doesn't then it can be trimmed.

       I filled the back of my flower with glossy accents and added a necklace bail so that I could use it on my inter-changeable necklace wire".


How lovely is that????

Thanks Chris!!

Don't forget to come and see Liz Welch doing her magic with friendly plastic at
the Extravaganza on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th June.


Also, just to remind you that the shop will be open on Good Friday and Easter Saturday
but will be closed on Easter Sunday and Monday!


See you tomorrow with Part Three of Wishing Well Granted.
Our fairy Michelle will be joining us with yet another beautiful project!!

See you then,


Jane



Wishing Well Granted - Part One - Friendly Plastic

Hello everyone and welcome to the first part of this weeks Wishing Well.

As usual our fairies and elf have been very busy and created some

wonderful projects for you.

Caroline Hallett said "I came to your demo day and was intrigued by the lady with the magic
plastic - could we have an on line tutorial or something similar on that"

Well, Caroline, your wish is our command.........

Today, our Guest Designer and Elf Neil has a superb project for you.


And Caroline wins.....
4 x pieces of Friendly Plastic and a pack of Cosmic Shimmer Fibres

(Not necessarily colours shown)

Caroline, please get in touch so we can send you your prize!

Neil says.......

"Hi there everyone; as part of my guest designer slot this month

 I have been asked to share a step by step

tutorial using friendly plastic...... so here goes.

For my project I decided to do a trinket box.

Before you begin I recommend that you gather everything you need so it

is handy and prepare your work surface. 

You will need: Friendly plastic, I used gold, copper and gold spectra,

a heat gun, tin foil, scissors, your chosen box (The Craft Barn always has a great selection),

a bowl of cold water, a rubber stamp, I used Crafty Individuals - Clocks CI 255, acrylic 

block and black Stazon Ink. 

Measure your box and cut a piece of tin foil so that it is slightly  larger.

Using scissors, cut and arrange various pieces of plastic onto the foil, until you are 

happy with the layout.  

Heat with the heat gun (it will change texture slightly as it softens, I heated for

approximately 60 seconds).  Ink up your stamp with Stazon and press into the plastic and immediately

pop the lot into the bowl of water to cool down.

(Don't try to remove the stamp before doing this!)

 After a minute or two take out of the water, remove the block and tin foil.

You can now peel off the stamp!!

Then you end up with this.......

Using a craft knife and mat carefully cut out a clock from the piece.

Pop the piece onto the lid of your box and mark the aperture in pencil.

Remove and add a clock face sticker (I used one from Tim Holtz salvage sticker set).

Then add a small idea-ology spinner with a brad. Glue the plastic to the lid.

I used Glossy Accents.

When dry, flood the aperture with glossy accents and leave to dry.

Using the same steps as before cut, heat and stamp additional strips of plastic for the sides.

It's a good idea to put the lid on and draw a line all around so you know

where to put the plastic on the box sides as you do still want to be able to close it!!

When it is dry you will see that some of the edges don't meet, or they curl slightly;

or perhaps there are some gaps. Put some glossy accents into those areas and pour over

some micro beads.

And there you have it; a heavy embossed and richly textured trinket box.

I love the mixture of different gold tones that the plastics give.

I hope you do too and will give it a try".

"I made another box too but only did the lid using plastic and painted the sides in bronze.

I also flooded the aperture with crackle accents instead which looks good too....."

Thanks Neil, didn't I tell you that you would love it?????

Please let us know what you think.....

Ok, I shall be back tomorrow with Part Two and fairy Chris!!!

See you then,

Jane



Guest Designer Post - Canvas

Hi everyone,

Hope you have all been enjoying this lovely weather,

Well, today, as promised we have another treat for you........

Neil, our Guest Designer for this month has created this beautiful canvas.

So let's see how he did it........

Neil started with a 5 x 7 white canvas onto which he stuck a piece of coloured paper
 from the Crafty Individuals Springtime pad. 

  He had already stamped the Crafty Individuals lady image onto that paper.  Neil also

added some pieces of old book pages in strips.

Everything was then brushed over lightly with Gesso to tone it down.

While the surface was still wet he dripped some Alcohol Inks Slate and Wild Plum
  over and 'smooshed'  (new word for your craft dictionary) them around!!

Over this Neil stamped Tim Holtz script and flourish images from the Mini Ornates plate
  with Broken China Distress Ink.  

When that is dry use silver Eco Acrylic Paint  paint to stamp the flourish.

(Do remember to clean your stamp thoroughly after!!). 

Neil stamped the same lady image onto acetate with black Stazon ink.

When dry, flip the image over and add Turquoise and Eucalyptus Stickles

 to highlight parts of her dress.

Stick over original image with glossy accents.

He then added the 'Framed' fragment.

To make the frame, he took a Tim Holtz Fragment and stuck it to a Love image from a

Crafty Individuals pad using glossy accents.

This was laid onto tin foil and a selection of pieces of Stormy blue/black

and Purple/black Friendly Plastic arranged 

around it.  Carefully remove fragment and heat plastic with Heat Gun. 

Heat until soft, but while still warm, ink the flourish stamp with black Stazon and pop

into cold water.  Allow plastic to cool before removing stamp.

Brush frame over with silver paint to tone down colours before attaching Fragment.

Stick frame and Fragment to canvas.

Isn't it beautiful???

If you like this you will looooooove Neil's next project coming next week!!!!!

No, sorry,  you will have to wait until then.

See you soon,

Jane

Sandy has been busy.........

Hi everyone,

Just a little post today,

Thought you might like to see what Sandy has been up to.....

With all the lovely new Spellbinders that have arrived, 'our leader' was inspired to play!!!!

The little Craftwork Cards are perfect for these new Spellbinders designs and

the Craftwork Cards Sentiments are perfect for the centres.

On this selection, Sandy added the beautiful Tando Creative Mini Book Plates.

Sorry about the picture, there was a class in the studio so I couldn't set up the photos

as I usually like to!!!

Add a little ribbon and some Craft Creations Papers,

and a few embellishments........

Aren't they lovely???

There were loads of boxes arriving when I was at the shop today so keep watching

for all the new goodies!!!

Oooooohh it's like Christmas when those boxes arrive...........please, please can I see

what is inside?????      Maybe not as I know I will want it all!!!!

See you Friday with the next post from Neil !!

Jane

Wishing Well Granted - Glitters - Part Three

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Part Three of this weeks Wishing Well.

We have been focussing on Glitters and different ways of using them.

Today fairy Isa is going to show you yet another project you might like to try..........

A beautiful clay and fabric brooch!!!

Take your clay and some glitter and mix the two together using enough clay to make a dome shape

big enough to be centre for your brooch.

Isa has used a rounded measuring spoon to help make the shape.

When happy with the colour and texture, bake as per instructions.

Use the Tim Holtz die to cut several flower shapes (we are waiting for more stock of this die

which is due any day now or you could use Marianne D flower dies instead).

Isa stiffened the base petal with Decopatch Varnish before assembling the brooch.

Use Decopatch Varnish to add the glitters around the edges of the flowers.

Assemble your brooch .

And ....... so pretty.

Isa used -

Tim Holtz - Tattered florals die or Marianne D flower dies
 Martha Stewart Glitters 

 FIMO transparent - Translucent (cabochon = FIMO + glitters, that's all !)

or Pardo Clay - Agate 

Decopatch Varnish to add glitters on fabric, and to stiffen first flower layer. 

What a beautiful brooch!!

Well that is the end of the Wishing Well for this week,

we hope you have enjoyed it and please don't forget to leave a comment,

these are very important to us!

But before I go....... this weeks Challenge

Would you like to win a sheet of Double Sided Adhesive

and a Stampendous Glitter Kit??

(not necessarily colour shown)

This time, we would like you to make a card, tag, altered item

 or scrapbook page or even a piece of jewellery

using any of the techniques shown by our fairies or elf.

Due to a slight hiccup on the technical side

please enter by posting a comment and a link to your blog!!

This challenge is open to all countries and will close on

Sunday April 10th at Midnight GMT.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 12th April.

Good Luck

Hope you have good weekend.

See you next week,

Jane