Just a Quickie!

Card Featuring a Grungeboard Flower

I'm going to keep this brief tonight - I've been teaching a Christmas Workshop today, we had a fab time but I'm now about ready to fall into bed. So I'll post a full update tomorrow.

But for now, I've had some enquiries about the Grungeboard, the techniques I use to make the flowers and how to go about joining the Grahicus Guild. As I don't have individual links back to the people wanting to know more, I will try to answer your queries here. The August GG Newsletter will contain a step-by-step tutorial featuring the Grungeboard flowers and will go out to all GG members the week after next (all being well).
The Graphicus Guild details are available here! (click on the link).

The Graphicus Guild is all about education. Learning new skills and trying new techniques. The monthly newsletter is written for crafters at all levels and features all sorts of useful information including product reviews, money saving offers, step-by-step tutorials, inspiration, a monthly ATC swap, find out what's happening at Graphicus and when, and get priority booking on our workshops. These are just a sellection of the things you'll find in the newsletter on a regular basis together with a whole lot more.

I do hope this answers some of your questions if not all of them. The Guild membership is growing daily, it's a wonderful way of increasing your crafting knowledge and of course.... there's the opportunity to get your Guild Members Limited Edition stamps every month at very special prices! They are beautiful and well worth having in your collection.

For those of you who are not yet members:
We hope to be able to welcome you to the Guild very soon and to introduce you to the wonders of Grungeboard if you haven't already tried it.

Happy Crafting to all!

PS: Hi Lisa - if you'd like to leave a comment on my blog with your email address I will contact you directly, the comment including your email address 'won't' be posted to the blog to protect your contact details.

I'm a WYLDE Woman - and that's Official!

Thank you so much to Glenda for thinking of me when passing on this award. It is indeed an honour coming from someone who is so acclaimed, both in the blogging world and the world of Art and Crafts.

I am officially......

A [Wild] WYLDE Woman!

Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgement to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

Is this me? I'm not sure but I will certainly try hard to live up to it.

There are only two rules:
1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it’s up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.

2. Link back to this blog site (http://tammyvitale.typepad.com/) so I can go visit all these wonderful women.

Of course, I just had to go visit Tammy's site to find out how this all started. If you have a minute (you'll need longer than that mind you) do stop by and take a look, there are some fabulous links which will take you in all sorts of different directions. She has some wonderful work on her blog site which is sure to inspire.

Receiving this award has caused me some serious consternation... just who am I going to pass it on to? Glenda, quite rightly, richly deserved it. She is constantly inspiring people, generous in sharing techniques and ideas and packs so much into a twenty four hour period that it frequently makes my head spin. It has made me think very seriously about the purpose of the award and who, in my opinion fulfills the criteria.

There are several people who do fit the bill but some don't have blogs, others have already received this award or have blogs which are by invitation only. So I am going to give it to someone who hasn't been blogging for very long but has been crafting for an eternity. Whenever I talk to her or see her demonstrating products, I learn something new. Nothing is ever too much trouble for her, she is infectiously happy, a constant source of inspiration, forever coming up with new ideas and really knows her stuff. Want to know who it is? I'm going to do 'a Glenda' and say take a look here!

So what have I been up to today?

Well for a start, this little lot has been playing in the studio..... loudly,

while I have been road testing Ranger's Inkssentials Opaque White Pen. They have just arrived in stock at Graphicus but I have a feeling that they are not going to last very long. They are absolutely fabulous!

I have several 'white' pens from different manufacturers. Some work reasonably well, others are very hit and miss. I usually use Sakura's white Souffle pen which I have had some good results from. The only draw back is that you have to wait for it to dry to finally see the results. It appears 'watery' or 'milky' when it first goes on but dries quite opaque.

Now this little beauty is everything I had hoped it would be. Trust 'Ranger' not to disappoint. It glides on very evenly with no striping. At first I was a little concerned about the thickness of the nib, I needn't have been as it is quite deceptive and I was able to achieve some very fine detail with it. The ink is a bright opaque white and doesn't take long to dry. It's very addictive and I found myself doodling away on anything and everything. Here are some of the results:

Dots and Dashes.... great for faux stitching effects.

And this is how well I was able to pick out very fine detail in a stamped image.
Depending on how you angle and pull the ink you can even taper your strokes.... nice effect!

I could have spent all day just doodling. I feel a 'Black and White' phase coming on.

This stamped image has been embossed with white embossing powder before attacking it with the Inkssentials pen so you don't get the contrast that you do when just stamping with a white ink pad.

This is 'Art Word' from the Elusive Elements range, stamped in white ink with a free hand doodle frame applied with the pen.

Finally, my old friend Grungeboard. This is my latest offering using an Elusive Images Script stamp from the Age of Chivalry themeplate in the background and over stamped with Impression Obsessions wood mounted Victorian Rose stamp which has also been used to create the Grungeboard flower and leaves.

I have used Stickles glue to accent the leaves and around the very edges of the petals on the rose. A small gem in the centre of the flower finished it off.

The inks used are Tim's Distress Inks and VersaFine Onyx Black for stamping the flowers on the tag background and the Grungeboard.That's all for now folks! But there's plenty more to come - I have a lot of catching up to do.

This Time I REALLY AM BACK!!!

Hi to all my Blogging Friends out there! Yay.... after working on my PC since Friday night, I'm finally back on line and 'de-bugged' by the look of it (fingers, toes, legs and arms all crossed tightly).

It has been a real battle and test of wills and skills (more will than skill I can tell you). After wiping my PC and re-installing Windows (twice since Friday night) I had everything zipping along beautifully yesterday until I tried to install the re-location disc that AOL sent out to allow them to move me over to their new BB Network and then it all went pear shaped and I lost my Internet connection.... same on my lap top! A very, very nice PC engineer came out this evening and sorted the connection out and got my systems singing sweetly once again.

Now I just have to install Office and all my other programmes, printers, camera etc, etc. I will work my way through everything methodically. But one thing's for sure - I can get onto Blogger again and I even have an operative browse button to access my photo's and a hyperlink that works too... yessss!

So I should be back with you again very soon. I have lots of pics to download and newsy bits to update so keep checking back. Thank you all for sticking with me through this technological nightmare, I really appreciate it and for all your lovely comments left on previous posts.

Now, back to work. The sooner I get all of this sorted the sooner I can come out to play!

Still Having Fun - if not a lot of sleep!

Now Blogger's playing games - the date should read Satuday 19th July. I'm not the only one who can't keep track of time!

Before I get started I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who's left comments on the last couple of posts and for all the lovely things you've said about my Grungeboard Tags. I really do have an addiction to that stuff and there WILL be more to come. Thank you for taking the time to let me know you're out there! For all the Graphicus Guild members, look out for next months Guild Newsletter (August) - I'm doing a 'step-by-step' on creating the Grungeboard Flowers.

OK, let' get started. What a whirlwind month July has turned into. So much so that I am totally convinced it's still June, having written June three times in one day instead of July. I really can't get my head around the fact that we are more than half way through this year.... frightening!

To catch up a little with what's been happening I'll go back to the end of June and the beginning of July when we held our two day Retailer Retreat. It was one of those events that you think you have plenty of time to prepare for and then before you know it..... you don't!

It was held at the magnificent Headlam Hall Hotel between Darlington and Barnard Castle. What a beautiful setting. We had the whole of the Edwardian Suite .... complete with a reception room, conservatory, anti-room where coffee was served morning and afternoon and of course, the main room which was set up for workshops. We also had two days of really beautiful weather. I am so pleased that everyone who attended got the opportunity to visit the North East when the sun was shining (it does - just occasionally)!

Glenda, Lesley, Annette and myself were teaching workshops for two days solid. It was like speed dating only for crafting 'Speed Crafting' - great fun! The workshops were all based on the products that Elusive Images manufactures or distributes to the trade and although it was both mentally and physically draining, we had an absolute blast. Hop over to Glenda's blog where you can see some photo's - I was so busy my camera never even left my bag which is a great shame because at the end of day two just before everyone departed, Adrian treated us all to his rendition of the 'Gay Starfish' - don't ask, if you haven't seen it I couldn't even begin to explain but it is side-splittingly funny. Oh how I wish I'd captured that..... could have made a fortune.

Then there was the aftermath of the event with work being extremely busy. At the end of that week, Glenda had the Pick of the Week launching on Create and Craft TV with the new CD ROM: Peacock Summer Party and a live show with brand new themeplates, so life at Graphicus and Elusive Images was mad - totally and still is!

I promised last time to post a photo of the parchment necklace I made using the Ruby Tuesday and Diamante Delights themeplates. Thanks go to Carrie-Anne for the photography! It was made for the 'Glimmer with Glenda' show featuring these stamps and was also displayed at the retailer training event. It has given me a lot of food for thought and I have another venture planned on a much 'grander' scale, but you'll have to wait for a sneak peek as it's going to take some time to take it from the design stage to completion. This one's a long term project for the coming months.... keep popping back and I'll keep dangling the carrot!

Ok! It's time to make art....... and this is where it happens.


Another thing I promised, was to show you some of the finishing touches I added to the home studio. I'm a terrible collector of objet d'art (another reason why I need a bigger house - or loft, as that's where most of it seems to end up).


I love this tweety bird carving - it's so cute and rustic! The crystal metal 'thingy' was originally a light. It was the crystals that caught my eye and I thought they would make great additions to Stampbord pendants, altered jewellery pieces etc., I may even be tempted to get my soldering kit out for these.

Do I have a thing about birds? I didn't think so - but maybe I do.... just liked this one too! Hey, maybe I DO, especially after my 'Percival' interlude! Do Peacocks count?

These are my inspirational affirmations, they are now hanging on the wall to the left of the window so they're in my line of sight when I enter the room.

The little display unit also has a home now and so do some of the jars and tins of Prima flowers that I seem to have amassed - you should have seen my suitcase after my last trip to Las Vegas! I had to buy another one just to get everything home, not to mention all the ribbons too. One of these days I'll show you a photo of all the crafting goodies I brought back.

Another project in the making, I think I may decorate this little metal dress form with tags and small pieces of art.

And finally, a little rustic stand to display my CREATE word just waiting to be worked on. Why are there never enough hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the month?
And that just about brings me full circle........

To bring this bang up to date, we've just had a two day sale at Graphicus, yesterday and today. To say that it was hectic would contravene the trade descriptions act..... it was crazy! We had some extremely happy crafters who went away with some amazing bargains. Friday passed in a blurr and I hadn't intended going to 'the office' today, but I've got a lot of prep to get underway this weekend and my PC is still not playing nicely. It's refusing to open PDF files with Adobe and I needed to print Artylicious papers so I popped in to work midday to do some printing and get some materials to work with. The place was heaving again. Ran into some lovely friends and acquaintances and did far too much chatting and even ended up demonstrating things like the Cuttlebug.
So with only 11 days left in July here's what I have to fit in...... tomorrow and Monday I will be prepping for two live TV shows and getting everything ready to hit the Peterborough road on Tuesday after we finish in the office. Glenda and I have to be at the TV studio at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning to set up for the first show which is live at 9 a.m. (who agreed to such an early slot)? I'll let you guess the answer to that one - only kidding Glenda! Then we get an hour to set up again before we go back on air at 11 a.m. for the second show. Fortunately, Adrian has very kindly 'offered' to chauffeur us there and back so we can get some sleep en route if necessary. If you're around on Wednesday morning, don't forget to tune in - we have MORE NEW STAMPS for you and some firm favourites too!
I'll arrive home on Wednesday evening and start prepping again and putting up the kits for our Christmas Workshop. Thursday we're back in the office, the sale area has to be packed away and the studio set up for our 'Christmas in July' workshop which takes place on Friday the 25th. It's completely sold out and so has the next one that we don't even have a date for at this moment in time.
Saturday, I'm teaching an 'Altered Canvas with Ten Seconds Studio' workshop. I am so looking forward to this one - I love teaching and enjoy all of our workshops regardless of the subject but this one I am REALLY looking forward to. Let me warn those of you who are attending, we're going to be getting down and dirty on this one. The music will be loud (I hope you like Aerosmith), bring your latex gloves and an apron because we'll be spritzing, spraying, waxing and metal working to name just a few of the things I have lined up for you! It's going to be WILD!
Now, I'm off to my little studio upstairs accompanied by Led Zeppelin and a bottle of wine to start some prep.... I mean the CD naughty, not the band!

Grungeboard Inspiration

Well, I said there was a chance of some more Grungeboard Flowers and here they are! I'm not going to share techniques with you at this moment in time as I have something in the pipeline which I'll tell you more about in a couple of weeks......

The basis of all my tags start with Distress Inks and anyone who's watched me demonstrate knows just how much I love these inks. You could take all my other inks away from me and as long as I have these and a Ranger Archival Black pad, I'd be as happy as a pig in....... (whoops)clover! But if you really wanted to make me happy I'd have to have my Adirondack dye inks too.

The flowers are made from sheets of plain Grungeboard or Grungeboard Basics to give it its correct name. You can do such a lot with this fab product from the man..... Mr Tim Holtz. It's very very robust and will stand up to inking, spritzing, crushing, hammering, being skwidged in the Cuttlebug and even put in the washing machine on a normal wash. How cool is that? Yep! you can sew it onto your clothes and continue to wash them as normal!! Just think of the possibilities. By the way, the Grungeboard Basic Pack is back in stock at Graphicus, it arrived from the USA on Friday so if you want some get it now, it's never on the shelf for long - just leave some for me!!!

Just look at these wonderful colours....... ooooooh so scrummy. The technique I use for laying down the inks is pure Ranger. Mr Holtz has taught this method for some time now and it is real easy but gives great results. Check out his web site, he has some real cool technique-based videos.The photograph above will give you a big clue as to where my inspiration came from for forming the Grungeboard flowers. This is a beautiful necklace that my Mum bought me for my birthday earlier this year. I loved it so much and thought it was a work of art in itself. I had been wearing it one day when I found myself in my studio playing with sheets of plain Grungeboard. I took my necklace off and placed it down on the worktop where I was sitting and my eyes kept going back to it glinting in the lights. I love the way the petals curl and it has such wonderful dimension and texture and that was it. I dragged out all my stamps with flowers on them, stamps that I could use for backgrounds and texture and I was off.......

This was the very first flower I created. Once I had my background worked up I added the flower and finished it with just a touch of Stickles.

Elusive Images stamps are brilliant for using on your Grungeboard. Try the Big Flowers Themeplate, or the brand new Ruby Tuesday or Diamante Delights Themeplates .

Here, I've mixed my stamps using some Blonde Moments flowers with Impression Obsession Swirls in the background and a little Hero Arts alphabet for words.

You can see the pattern and texture on the flower petals of the necklace, this gave me the idea to overstamp a layer of the flower.

I used EI's dots and swirls background stamp on the second largest flower which prompted me to use the 'Bandana' technique to pull the whole thing together. I love the 'Bandana' technique (devised by Robin Beam) and added touches to the stamped image on the tag using a Sakura pen.
Why stop at flowers? Butterfly's don't escape the Grungeboard either and they look great with a little dimension.

After a little while I spotted my Cuttlebug sitting on the floor and thought I'd try putting the Grungeboard in an embossing folder to see how well it would take, although I haven't included any photo's here I can tell you the results are stunning. Of course, Grungeboard Alphas and Elements do come in a range of textured designs but if you want different patterns... here's your answer.
On this sample, I put the tag in an embossing folder and ran it through the Cuttlebug and then inked the high spots and edges. This way, you really don't need to do any background stamping as the texture and colour is quite enough. Just add a few embellishments!

On this tag the background and the top layer of the flower have been spritzed with Glimmer Mists before assembly and you can just see the subtle sheen it gives to the otherwise dull surface of the Grungeboard.

Here are a few more pics of the culprit responsible for my Grungeboard addiction! This necklace was also the inspiration for a necklace that I made for Glenda's new TV Show: Glimmer with Glenda. I'll include it in my next post.

And finally..... NO GRUNGEBOARD! A very simple tag made predominantly with the fabulous Glimmer Mists. I started by spritzing lightly all over with Robin's Egg Blue and dried it completely. I then attached a Heidi Swapp Mini Damask Mask and spritzed over the top with Suede and let it dry before attempting to remove the mask. Finally, the tag was stamped with 'Art' words from EI using Walnut Distress Ink and a Fancy Pants Swirl stamp in Black Versa Fine.

A little tip...... for a long time I was disappointed with the results I was getting stamping in black over shimmering backgrounds such as Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists or Firework Inks, Shake 'n' Spray and Liquid Lustre all by Sticky Fingers so I decided to sort the 'men from the boys' and test all my black inks to see which performed the best. I sprayed card with Glimmer Mists and overstamped with every black ink I possess (and there's quite a few I can tell you). I tried the obvious ones first: StazOn, Archival, Memories etc and still didn't get a nice solid black that stayed black. They all seemed to be affected by the metallic pigments on the card until I tried Versa Fine Black Onyx. There was a marked difference and a very crisp, dark image which dried well and stayed black. Perfect!