...Disaster Dog-show Day...!

It rained.  And it rained.  And then it THREW IT DOWN!

I poured down from the minute we got there at 9:30am until about 2:30 - 3:00pm.

My gazebo has a cover but it doesn't have sides, so when the rain decided to come SIDEWAYS.......!

Disastrous.  Everything was getting soaked and my table-cloths were sodden so we had to re-group.

Fortunately, we had a very good friend with us. A District Commissioner of Scouts for whom camping on a muddy field in the lashing down rain is meat and drink!

And my amazing Hubby had a brainwave too - he took himself off to the local pound shop and bought some of those see-through plastic dust sheets you use when decorating and attached them to the sides of the gazebo so the damage was limited.

In the end, I didn't get anything out except my Pet Portraits, which are behind glass and a few of my cards, which are in poly bags.

We did not take one single penny all day.  As it was all going to be for the dog charities, that was a blow.

It was very demoralizing ....until my Lola won a third in the 'Prettiest Bitch' category! :D   

Who is the MUMMY then....!

I'll add piccies later as Nic has gone over to see his Mumsy and taken the camera with him.

Hugs
Ei x

Really REALLY busy...!

Just a line to apologize for no new posts and crafty stuff - I've been making like a Trojan but not had time to photograph - I will do so when I get time but all hands to the pumps making stock for the dog-show on Saturday at the mo!

I spent Friday afternoon setting up some of it on tables in my garden - just to check there would be enough room for display.  All was well and I'll tweak the actual presentation in the next day or two and add some more dog-cards.

Got lots of other stuff too - just have to work on the display - if it's windy like it was in my garden, I shall need glue-dots! 

All of this stuff was either made by me or renovated by me, so quite a lot of work involved.

I really hope we do well - I so want to make a donation to these two wonderful charities.

See you all again - hopefully in the normal way! - very soon! 
Hugs Ei x

Don't forget the dog show at Westhoughton on 28th June - a week next Saturday!

We are doing a stall with lots of goodies and we are also sponsoring the 'Best in Show' class, so if you can get there, please do and bring some cash with you as all my profits are going to the dogs ...quite literally! LOL! 

We have supported NWESSR (North West English Springer Spaniel Rescue) for many, many years, since they gave us our beautiful Merlin, in whose memory the cup is being presented in our class and also the Irish Animal Rescue AHAR

You might wonder why an Irish ( Animal Heaven Animal Rescue) rescue....well, if you could see the state of the animals in Ireland you would understand. Makes our state of affairs look meagre, I can tell you. Plus AHAR supply a LOT of rescue dogs to the UK, which is a GOOD thing because what they do have, in abundance, is non-bully type dogs.

Please don't get me wrong here - I'm all for our Bully boys and girls - I love all dogs including the amazing Staffies with their gorgeous smiles, but over here we have little else in our rescues and with the best will in the world, not everyone wants or is able to take a bully breed which may or may not (can't always tell) have had the 'wrong' type of owner.

That isn't for me to pontificate or speculate about in this particular post - so please don't discuss here - this is purely about a fun day out, at a charity dog show, organized by one very special, driven little girl called Scarlett who decided when she was very little that she was going to 'help the doggies' and she most certainly has done that!

She bakes her own special doggy treats and sells them and she goes out rattling her tin and persuading folk to part with their dosh 'for the doggies'!
If you would like to know more about our Scarlett,  please read all about her on here!

We attended the show at Frodsham last year and had a grand day! Plus our two scruffs won second place! 

Which is why we're running a stall this year!

We are going to be selling my handmade greetings cards, mostly featuring my own artwork - lots of doggies! - plus preloved and vintage jewellery and some brand new handmade jewellery, I will have some samples of my Pet Portraits for people to see along with the photos they came from and OH will have some of his plants for sale too - Black Russian tomatoes anyone...?

There will, if we have any room left in the car, have some books and bric-a-brac too.

So would LOVE to see yaz there!

 I REALLY want you to help me to help the poor abandoned and abused animals in these two wonderful rescues and, of course we, along with  all the other stalls will be contributing to the designated 'Bolton Destitute Animal Shelter' through our table-hire and class sponsorship.

Hugs Ei, Nic, Charlie & Lola xxxxx

Indigo Blu

Indigo Blu is a newish discovery for me, via my friend Brenda Gascoigne (thank you Brenda! ;) )  and I'm really hooked!

I want so many of their stamps but just cannot afford just at the mo with my 'Visit' to London two weeks ago - (cost us a flippin' fortune - I can tell you! But it's not often you're asked to Buckingham Palace Garden Party - it would be rude to refuse! ;) )  I'm hoping for some nice pennies for my birthday in October (can I really wait that long....? :O) so I can add to the two sets of stamps, the one  texture plate and the three pots of gilding flakes and glue I do already have.

I spent the entire week (well what little time I did have after the grandbabby sitting and other 'duties') making colourful backgrounds and using my new Indigo Blu stamps.

Here are a few 'bits'  I made - the one with the gilding I just could NOT get to photograph. Whatever light gave the flakes 'life' also made the piccy too 'white' - either that or it was too dark!

The first was a birthday card for Ali Reeve who had a 'threshold' birthday this week.

The background is colourwashed with watercolour inks after a light stamping of Versamark with the 'hair' of my Indigo Blu 'Juliet' stamp.  All of the stamped images are from the same Indigo Blu set and I coloured the butterfly with my Sakura Tiara pens. I then mounted that onto black card.
I stamped the white base-card with the 'Wild Meadow' border in a square with black Archival inkpad.

My second, is a birthday card for my second son Michael, who is a great globe-trotter and for whom the message could not have been more appropriate - he certainly does take life by the 'wotsits' and lives it! lol!  He won't be home for his birthday - off to Germany!

I used Indigo Blu's Grand Tour III set for this one.  The balloon, one of the message stamps and the 'treeline' stamp. I also 'ghost-stamped' the treeline stamp but it's not showing well on the photograph.

The background is another one I made myself and once again, Archival inkpad in Jet Black.  Simply mounted on black card and a muss of red and black cord to finish is enough for my 'simple' son!  He would NOT like a pile of flowers and charms at all!

Number three is another 'background' card - this time it's a combination of inkpads smoozed onto a spritzed worksheet and then the paper smooshed over it and coloured ink spritzes. This time, in addition to the butterfly and Wild Meadow border, I've added dragonflies

I don't think you'll be able to make it out on here, but the dragonflies do have little coloured wings.  The butterfly was coloured with watercolours this time as the background was quite strong to cover.

 My fourth one was the most difficult, for me. I was wanting to show how versatile  only two sets of stamps can be - I LOVE this stamp but was getting a bit tired of black by now....! lol!  And 'Juliet' DOES look so beautiful and dramatic in black.....

So I went for ivory and sepia.  It's a kind of easel card of my own devising - I'll put it into tutorial form when I get a minute - but for the minute, I stamped onto cream card with TH Distress Embossing Inkpad and Distress Embossing Powder in Antique Linen, rubbing off the crystals as required.

I then inked over the whole with Distress Inkpads in Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain in patches, starting with the lightest and going dark, popping a mesh 'stencil' (a bit of plastic basket from a Feta Cheese tub!) on around the image for the 'top' layer.

This I then die-cut with a Spellbinders Nestie - Labels Four.
I then mounted that on another larger Nestie cut from cream
 'coated' glossy card (Astrolux)

I wanted to use my Indigo Blu gilding flakes and my Indigo Blu 'Crackleglaze' texture stamp, so I die-cut the background card with a fancy Labels One and stamped with my IB Flitter Glue .

I used a small piece of Cut & Dry sponge to do this - soaked it with the Flitter-Glu (making sure it goes well into the sponge - you don't want any on the surface of it or it will give a 'cloggy' image) and used this like an inkpad.

I then sprinkled the gilding flakes (Royal Peacock) over the stamping and let it 'grab' and dry a bit ( the glue stays moist on the pad for a few hours if you then place it face-down on a tile or a plastic lid). 

Once it was dry - I gave it a thorough rubbing off with IB 'Scoochy Foam' to remove excess and buff up the gilding.

Next were the little flourishes - sorry, I've forgotten what they are called but they're Spellies too. Once cut, I used the Flitter Glu and a paper stump to  add more gilding flakes to the flowers on the flourishes, to 'catch' the gilding on the back-sheet.

The butterfly from the Wild Meadow set was used again to gild and decoupage and the message stamp was die-cut with another Spellie.




If I thought the fourth one was difficult to envisualize and make in a bit of a hurry, then the final fifth one was easy peasy to make but a nightmare to photograph! LOL!

'Juliet' made another appearance, and I am so sad this didn't photograph well as it's stunning in 'the flesh'.

As you can see, there are a few mats going on here - mostly black and stacked with a couple of metallic ones for contrast.

Unusually, the black one with the image on, is at the bottom of the pile - this is inset matting, not the usual way of building up from the bottom in the centre.

Juliet was stamped in Flitter Glu and gilded (Royal Peacock again! I have others but I just LOVE this one.) onto a rectangular black card. I then took a larger piece of metallic peacock blue and used a 'Go Create' Frilly Frame #7 to take a mat out of the middle to make a 'frame' for the image.

The next layer was the same die-set but a larger size in black.

On top of this came a copper-bronze metallic card in a Nestie - Labels 23.
Then black again in a larger die from the same set.
Glue it all together.

The feathers are Spellies Shapeabilities Peacock Feathers which I cut from pearlescent card and painted with mica powders, securing with a jewelled brad.

Then came the hard work! Trying to photograph the little varmint! ;)

You decide which is the best photo - for me, none of them work properly.

These were taken in three different places in three different lights. And there were more... many, many more! :O  I gave up in the end....for now!

I loved using these products and I'll let you into a little secret - Juliet and the Wildmeadow images were a so-called 'freebie' from a magazine. I don't like magazines myself - nothing in them except a pile of advertizing usually  I only buy the odd 'gift' and get the mag free! 

As soon as I saw what make the stamps were I went and hunted it down.

What I have noiticed, is that lot of people don't seem to know HOW to use acrylic stamps (as opposed to the vastly superior Photopolymer stamps).

Acrylic stamps, unlike either rubber or photopolymer stamps, are MOULDED. 

A plastic mixture is poured into moulds. That is why they often have the odd fault in them. Most, if not ALL 'freebie' stamp sets are acrylic.I have had a few with 'dings' and hairline 'scratches' where the compound wasn't sitting properly in the mould. Still usable, usually - we're crafters - we can fudge around the odd imperfection, can't we...? ;) !

What is a totally different issue, and is similar with photopolymer stamps too (I know - I used to make them! ;) ) is the fact that they don't 'like' water-based inkpads too much!

Water/plastic? It runs or pools, doesn't it?  

That is why you need to 'prime' some clear stamps with a solvent-based inkpad like Staz-On for the first inking. The solvent 'loosens' up the top layer of the stamp, giving a 'key' for the water-based or dye inkpad.

That procedure would probably negate half of the stamping problems peeps have with these 'freebie' stamps.

There isn't usually a problem with pigment ink - that sticks better to the clear stamps.

I hope that helps some more peeps - it has on my Facebook groups.

Hugs Ei x

LOC Ch 32 - Girly Theme!

Now, you know me - girly is not my middle name by any stretch of the imagination! LOL!  But that is the theme this week at Left Of Centre Card Challenge.

My teamies have come up with some lovely projects - they were clearly blessed by the 'Girly Fairy' at birth! I, however, struggle a bit with this theme so I decided to use one of my own Eiglas Digis called 'New Puppy Lola?'

Not completely happy with it but at least I got it done - which wasn't necessarily going to happen as I lost a lot of my digis last week during an upgrade of my PC.  Still dunno how it happened but a lot of my recent work got wiped.

Hope you like my digi at least! LOL!

I'm going to be AWOL for the rest of the week - off to London for a couple of days to see the Queen (no kidding - I really am!) so leaving OH to hold the fort and feed the dogs!

See you all again soon!
Hugs
Ei x

LOC Challlenge 31 - For a Male

My OH doesn't know it yet but this is his birthday card! :D

Over at 'Left Of Centre' this week the theme is 'Male Card' and as the sponsor is Dilly Beans, I HAD to use her fabulous 'Monster Family Reunion' - it reminds me of my lot! lol!

The backing paper is my own Eiglas design from my 'Monster' Digital Paperkit which will be on my site as soon as I can get to upload it!

Please feel free to pop over to 'Left Of Centre' blog and join in the fun! My talented teamies have some fab demo cards to inspire you and our sponsors always have fab prizes up for grabs!

                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have started a Facebook group  'Eiglas Craft & Design' where I give away the odd Friday Freebie of my own digital work - either a digi-stamp or a paper-kit sample and I think it might be appropriate this week to offer a sample of my  new 'Monster' Paperpack as I made it specifically to suit the Dilly Beans Digistamp!

Here's the sample page - if you would like it then either e-mail me or pm me on Facebook. It's too large to e-mail so it would be a Dropbox download job.

Look forward to seeing you again soon! ;)

Hugs
Eix

Delicious Doodles Challenge #86 - White on White

I've really been entranced by some of Teri Sherman's images on Delicious Doodles. Teri's images are always well-drawn and a little quirky but there's something for everyone on her page, be it Gothic, horror, traditional or cute.

I'm doing a stall at a charity dog show in Westhoughton in June and I've been wanting to use Teri's 'Lycaonia' for some time and I instantly thought of it when I saw the challenge was 'White on White'.

Isn't it a beautiful image..?

I'm getting excited about my dog-show now - busy making cards and jewellery and getting other bits of bric-a-brac together for my stall.

We (Eiglas Craft & Design) are sponsoring 'Best in Show' in memory of my beautiful Angel-pooch Merlin, my late Springer Spaniel.   I lost him six years ago and I still miss him like it was yesterday. 

He was an amazing dog - an enormous personality - and so the proceeds of the sale will be split between NWESSR  ( North West English Springer Spaniel Rescue) (link to follow) and AHAR (Animal Heaven Animal Rescue)

Run by the amazing Barking Berry's Bakery  The show will be at Central Park Westhoughton, BL5 3DG  on 28th June 2014 and everyone is welcome - the more the merrier - especially the pooches!

I do Pet Portraits - this is my one of my Merlin - if anyone wants one of their pet, the proceeds will go to the above charities from now until one week after the show (to allow for any orders from the show).

Gosh! What a lot of non-crafting stuff for my blog! I don't usually feature very much non-craft stuff on here so it shows my passion for the subject.

Speak again soon!

:D

hugs

Ei x

Vintage Wedding and modern Graduation cards

Whilst digging in my, not inconsiderable, crafty stash the other day looking for materials for a project, I came accross an image I'd started making a couple of years ago but never quite finished.

I was practically brought up by my Aunt - my Dad's sister Jinnie and when I was small she'd let me look though her 'treasures'.  This was an old wooden box full of photos (usually with a shopping list & 'reckoning up' on the back and a few, old greetings cards from her late husband, Uncle Sammy who had died of a brain tumour when I was about three or four.

I loved the cards even then, with their lace and pretty, muted colours. They were usually sporting a heart and some floral embellishment and often a pearl or gem or two.  

Sadly, they're long gone, into the mists of time - who know where - possibly during a house move. But I remembered one or two quite clearly and had started to make up one or to sketches based on how I remembered them and then my own life got in the way and they became buried in all the other 'stuff' in my craft-room and i was only when going through a box of stuff I came across them again so i decided to actually do something with them before I 'lose' them again.

This is the first one.   I seem to remember it as being a Wedding card so I have made it as such.   The floral image, I'll eventually put on my site as a digi - when I get the time! lol!

I did enjoy making this although the scissored edges are a bit dodgy....! I printed onto a slightly textured ivory card and 'distressed' the dodgy edges with Tim Holtz 'Victorian Velvet' and 'Wild Honey' inkpads.

The backing mat is embossed with a spellbinders A4 Embossing folder EG002 onto a pearlized pale pink card and the whole matted, in turn, onto an antique gold card, then onto an 8 x 8 textured ivory bade card. 

 I didn't 'gut' the mats as I wanted a substantial, quality feel to the project.   I feel it needs something else -a gold silk cord for the spine but I shall have to hunt that down.

Inside, I've made a simple inner with just a couple of corner cut-outs - a vignette of the floral image to the left and the verse to the right.

The verse is, as far as I know ( I DID look and it DID say it was) a royalty free one from  :- https://www.documentsanddesigns.com/verse/marriage_poems.htm

I usually write all my own verses but there are a lot of very nice verses on there and this one hit the right tone for me.

                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A lovely American friend called Kris, asked me to make a card for her beautiful daughter Shanna who is graduating this month as well as becoming 22.

She sent me lots of lovely pics of Shanna and I made a drawing of her from one of them to use for the frontispiece if the card.

the inner

the box

The card arrived this week and my friend is thrilled with it.  I'm so pleased!

Hugs Ei x


I have entered these cards into the following Challenges:-

Sisters Of Craft

LOC Challenge #30 - Spring Fling

Spring is in the air...! :D  

How lovely has the weather been over Easter..? !  It's been a joy to see the sunshine and be able to walk the dogs without them coming home resembling some kind of mud-monster!

Over at Left Of Centre  Spring has sprung too - the theme this week is Spring Fling and we have two amazing sponsors who are offering prizes from their fab digistamp collections!

I've selected a Delicious Doodles image because a) it's really pretty and b) Teri Sherman, who does the drawing, is not only an amazing artist but a lovely lady too.

It's called 'Snowdrop Fairy' and can be found in her shop along with many other lovely images.

I gave it a fairly simple 'treatment' because I felt it is such a pretty, delicate image it needs no bells and whistles to improve it.  I just matted it onto black card, then aqua card and mounted it onto some pretty aqua paper I had in my stash (maker unknown I'm afraid!) .  The filigree black frame is a Spellbinders Labels One fancy die.

I did effect one little extra, I decoupaged the fairy and layered her with a little Pinflair glue, just to give a little extra dimension.

Please do pop over the LOC and have a look at my amazing teamies creations - they are very passionate about our little challenge blog and really do appreciate any love left on their personal blogs!

Why don't you have a go yourselves and try for one of the lovely prizes on offer?

Go on...! You know you want to.... ;) !

 Hugs 

Ei x



Entered into the following challenges.

http://thesistersofcraft.blogspot.co.uk/

LOC Challenge 29 - Anything Goes - Dark theme!

Left Of Centre have such a lovely team - really pleasant bunch of ladies and we all love a bit of a giggle!

My very talented teamie Lisa has discovered a real talent for drawing digistamps and has given our followers four of them, which I think is very generous! Hop over there and have a look - you can ask for copies of any you fancy too!

This week the theme is 'Anything Goes' - but with a dark twist!
We have two sponsors this week - Smeared Ink and Limited Runs - do pop over to their blogs too and check out their fab images!

I've had it in mind to add to my dragon digis for a while and have a dragon-mad friend with a birthday on Saturday so I drew a new dragon - Draco -  and here is the card I made for her!  Draco will join his wife Draca and there may soon be the cracking of little dragon-eggs! ;)

I used a sheet of A3 black card scored and folded for the base card. 

I sprayed this with Cosmic Shimmer sprays.

I then did the 'Faux-leather' technique on the front using a Sheena embossing folder to which I'd added a coating of Opalite inkpad in Crystal Blush.

I matted the image onto green/verdigris glitter card and navy plain card which I edged with gold Brilliance inkpad
A couple of antique gold hinges and a brass 'boss' finished the job!

Draco is over on Eiglassing now.

Due to a phenomenally hectic week in which I lost all internet, phone and tv connections amongst many other traumas, I was very late getting this one in this time  - thankfully I have a very understanding boss-lady - I'd sack me! :D LOL!

Hope you like Draco and join us over at LOC to join in the fun!

Hugs

Ei x

Dilly Beans....!

...is today's Sponsor over at LOC! And what super images they produce too! :D

My project today is using Dilly Beans Zentangle 'Owl'  - a super image with lots of possibilities!

I've made two images and coloured them, mirroring one and paired them with my own 'Eiglassing' image 'Tree#1'  (not yet instore) to make either an anniversary card or a card for one of a couple - almost any gender and age would be covered I think. Just colour/size the owls to suit!

I really do love this image and will use it lots!

Please do look on Dilly Beans site - there are loads of super images - this is only one!

My teamies also have new projects over on LOC so do please go and share the love over there and on their individual blogs too, if you have time!
Hugs
Ei x

Left Of Centre Challenge 28 - Ribbons and Flowers

At LOC, we like to try different things and although we aim for the quirky and sometimes downright dark, it's not all dark and macabre, we also have our 'normal' theme running alongside of the  slightly off-centre!

This week it's Ribbons and Flowers - and you can use your own mojo as to how dark, light, macabre or cutesy you want it to be!

This week, I happened to have been given, by a friend, a little wooden blank in the shape of a hollow heart so I decided to make it into a picture frame.

The blank was a pale cream originally, so I painted it with Tim Holtz Distress Crackle paint Old Paper) and because the base was quite non-absorbent, I lacquered over with a matte lacquer to hold the crackles in place and help it not flake too much.

I then dabbed very sparingly with Forest Moss Distress Stain and dabbed it back off again so it just went into some of the cracks.

I used TH Paint dabber in Lettuce, once again very sparingly and dabbed it off again leaving it thicker in some places. I then left the frame to dry whilst I stamped  my Honeycomb and Carpenter Bee (both Eiglas Polymer Stamps) onto a scrap of canvas.

Once again, I used a TH product - Distress Inkpad in Wild Honey (appropriate, wouldn't you say? LOL!)

I touched the image up with my Copic Sketch, also in Honey (Y38) and one of my Tria Fineliners in R934 ( I think - it's a VERY small number on the cap!)
and touched up the wings with Stickles Ice Diamonds.

I edged the heart-shape with a mix of Copics and pencils in different greens and used a Honey coloured pencil to lightly surround the body of the bee.

Once I'd stuck this to the frame, from the back and finished off the back with a nice scrap of cream pearlescent card cut to shape (keeping the holes in the card where the holes in the frame are) I used my Eiglas Honeycomb stamp with the Wild Honey again and dabbed small areas of the frame lightly with it.

A few finger-dabs of the Stickles on the frame here and there pick up the sparkle from the bee's wings 

Samaflora created the beautiful little daisies - you really do need to pop over to their page - the flowers are perfect and so beautifully made.

A ribbon, a thread and a small heart-shaped amber pendant finishes it off.

I hope you enjoy this project - it was fun and show not all LOC entries have to be dark! ;)

Please do pop over to the blog and have a look at my team-mates projects - they're all talented ladies and have made some interesting projects.

Hugs
Ei x

LOC Anniversary Event!

Well, it's day 15 of our Anniversary Event over at 'Left Of Centre ' and my lovely, talented teamies have made some wonderful new projects - some of them have even chosen to use my Eiglas digital stamp images from my Digistamp site 'Eiglassing' - which is a great honour for me!  :D

For my own demo card, I'm using an image I've used many times in the past, just because it's the one of my faves that my teamies didn't choose to use! LOL!

This digi is called 'Attitude' and you'll fine her over at my Eiglassing site under the 'Peeps' tab.

I'm really enjoying my time with LOC - the team are all lovely and Maureen, the bosslady, is crackers.......but in a nice way! ;)  I always like slightly 'Left of Centre' peeps...I wonder why? ;)

Rachel Gilham has used my 'Skyclad' but just look a the background she has created for her! Fabulous or what!
What's more she has kindly made a tutorial for the whole process too! I'm so impressed. She's a very talented crafter and I'm very proud to number her as a friend as well as a teamie!

Susan Renshaw  used my Eiglas 'Nasty Bug' image to perfection over on her blog - she did some super paper-piecing which was inspired!

A little birdie might have just blabbed that more of my images may be used very soon....  (wink wink...!)

Please do pop over to LOC and have a look - there is LOADS more stuff over there for you to drool over and there is still time to enter the challenge too!

See you again very soon!
Hugs
Ei x

LOC Challenge 27 - Favourite Book

This month, the themes is 'Favourite Book' but being LOC, it has a dark twist.
I would have real trouble naming my favourite book - there are so many wonderful books that I've read and still more I've not got around to yet.

But from the darker side of my reading matter, there is no doubt who is right up there with my very favourites and that author is Edgar Allen Poe. 
I've read (and own) most of his tales and it's a toss up between 'The House of Usher' and 'The Raven' so for this time I've come down on the side of.....

....The Raven, not least because the amazing Teri Sherman of Delicious Doodles has drawn this magnificent image of that very bird.

Isn't it a fabulous drawing? I was so inspired by this one, I actually decided to make a book-cover for it and I wanted it to look like leather and so I used a technique I learned about eight or nine years ago called Faux Leather.

It's not a difficult technique but it IS rather messy! LOL!

I have started to make pages with techniques in, so they're easier to access in the tabs at the top of this page.

I've also used the 'Polished Stone' technique for the actual image. That to will be in the pages at some point - hopefully I'll get these in before this article goes live.

I hope you like my project and will pop over to 'Left of Centre' Challenge Blog to have a look at some of my teamies amazing work and to, perhaps, enter something yourself.

If you don't fancy this particular themes there is always an alternative theme available.

See you over there! ;)
Hugs
Ei
x

LOC - Anything Goes....

Today is the launch of our 'Anything Goes' challenge over at LOC in honour of our 1st Blogaversary! :D

We're having parties on all of the team's blogs and many super sponsors to add to the mix!

Today, we have a brand new Temporary Teamie and she's being thrown in at the deep end by debuting today as out Guest Design Team member.

Welcome Helen (Crom) Cullum!  :D

You can see Helen's work here and over at LOC too! Please pop over to her blog and give her a warm welcome!


For our 'Anything Goes' first day, I'm not scheduled to do a piece but I came up with a little bit of something you all may like.

They're not new - they've been around for donkey's years and I certainly don't know who originated the original techniques, I only know I've been using them for at least 14 years.  However, slight variations pop up now and then bearing a different title and claiming to have been 'invented' by the craft world's latest 'wunderkind'.   

These techniques I'm about to showcase, are just what I have been using since I've been crafting in my present incarnation as Eiglas.

JOSEPH'S COAT TECHNIQUE

This technique has been called many things over the years but I like this title - it describes it well - the coat of many colours!


Materials

Plain white standard cardstock bigger than your stamp (I use Ryman's coated 200gsm usually)
Dye ink or inkpad(s) ‘Big & Juicy’ multi–colour are brill (sadly, they've now stopped producing these - I've no idea why) or you can use a variety of smaller pads. Distress inks would work well too but the brightest colours work best.
Ink blending pads (Cut & Dry works well) or brayer
Rubber stamps(s)
Clear embossing inkpad (Versamark is brill)
Clear embossing powder
Heat Gun
Black pigment ink or inkpad (Distress inkpad in Black Soot will also do the job)
Kitchen roll or soft cloth.

Method
Using either the brayer or the blending pads, cover the cardstock with patches of DYE inkpad colour in linear (brayer) or random (pads) pattern. Heat set with heat gun or leave overnight to dry.

When cool/dry, ink up stamp with clear ink (Versamark etc) and stamp your image.
Use the clear embossing powder and heat gun to clear emboss the image.

Wait for the image to cool, then apply black ink to the whole surface of the card using either the brayer or the pads—your own preference. Don't worry - you won't spoil it!

Then the magic........! 

With your soft cloth, wipe over the embossed image and it will reveal the lovely colours behind the resistant embossing powder.

Joseph's Coat!

For my top image, I mounted the finished image onto acetate and also trimmed the edges of the acetate with Joseph's Coat treated card pieces.

I hope you'll enjoy trying this out and we all get to see what you produce!


                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For my second technique, I'm bringing you another resist technique which, when I learned it, didn't have a name but I believe it's now titled 'Ghost Resist'.

I love this one - it's very addictive!

 Materials (pic 1)
Gloss cast-coated cardstock bigger than your stamp. Colour is your
choice. Astralux is brill. (I don't use photo paper because it doesn't like the heat-gun)
Dye ink or inkpad(s) ‘Big & Juicy’ multi –colour are brill or you can use a variety of smaller pads. Distress inks work well.
Ink blending pads (Cut & Dry works well) or brayer
Rubber stamps(s)
Clear embossing inkpad (Versamark is brill)
Heat Gun
Black dye ink or inkpad (for overstamped verse at the end.)
Kitchen roll or soft cloth

Method

This method differs to the Joseph's Coat in a couple of ways.

Using your clear embossing inkpad, stamp your image onto your cast-coated card.
‘Set’ the ink using your heat gun.

Then, using either your brayer or your pads, cover the whole of the card with your lightest colours (pic 2)

Using cloth or kitchen roll wipe over the stamped image and the
original card colour will remain.
Repeat step one with your next stamp.
Repeat step two with the next lightest ink.
Polish with cloth again.
Just repeat these steps, avoiding the very lightest bits if you wish to keep the original colour anywhere.

The image will remain the original colour of the card as the embossing powder resist will protect it.

If liked, overstamp the finished image with black dye ink as I have with my verse.

I hope you enjoy both of these techniques and have a go!

Please do join us over on the LOC blog and have a look what my teamies have been getting up to!

Hugs

Ei x