Bubbly Duck Handmade Jewellery

So for the past few months I have been toying with the potential of becoming a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! Last year, I was given some stamps and other craft things by a family friend - they had been her late mum's. Last December  I'd used a couple of the stamps to make some Christmas cards and loved them - they are the old school type on wood blocks which (thankfully) have a company logo on - which just happened to be Stampin Up! Now being a lover of all things stampy for many years, I'd remembered hearing about Stampin' Up! put simply, it is a crafty version of Avon or Tupperware (if you're old enough to remember the popular parties). So I looked into it, going onto other blogs and You Tube videos to see who was doing it still in the UK and came across loads of people who seem to do really well (orders from customers do give each demonstrator commission as either income or towards products). So I took the plunge and bought my starter kit...yikes!! I...

I love stamping and by extension, ink pads. I particularly love the Distress Inks and Distress Oxide Inks by Tim Holtz and decided a couple of weeks ago to create a bit of an art journal page using two of my Oxide Ink colours, a chipboard word and some splattering. I'd cut down a piece of A3 multi-media paper into 4 (essentially four A5-ish sized) pieces and my plan was to make splatters and reveal a word un-splattered on the paper, but it didn't quite happen like that. First things first. I smushed some ink onto a piece of plastic packaging. I diluted the ink with water and used a cheap-y brush I've had for ages that flicks watercolour etc quite nicely onto a page. I used Iced Spruce and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Inks SPLATTERS!!! First layer second layer I continued to build up layers of splatters until I was satisfied with the result. Then I removed the chipboard word. This is not an ink blot test - or is it? W...

Sorry for my delay in this post, I'd had a plan for it but then Life got in the way and I found myself distracted and a month has gone by. So here it is. It's not so much as a "how to" but more my experience of trying to make creative designs on paper for my jewellery when I left Art as a subject behind when I completed my GSCE's and took a more science-based path (that's for another time though). When I started bead weaving and bead embroidery, I used printed patterns by other people, and I still do, but there is nothing like making something from your own design. But where to start... For me, I usually look at what beads I have and simply make it up as I go along as inspiration takes me, but that can give varying results and not always good! Beads!! Shapes, Sizes, Colour! A vague pattern in my head did not come out anything like how it should! I write poetry every now and then and I've got into the habit of keeping a notebook in almos...