Tip 1: Washi Tape Positioning and your Projects...

I love creating, and like so many people I agonise over the arrangement of my papers, card stock, photos, and embellishments on my layouts, cards, and other projects.  I have a few little tips and tricks up my sleeve for using different elements and techniques in my crafting and thought I might start sharing a few with you!!

Tip 1:  Using Washi Tape
This tip works especially well for lettered or patterned washi tape, although you could use it for any type.
A fantastic way to determine the arrangement of words from the Sawyer's Place Cromwell Tape is to stick it to clear plastic;  you can then move it around on your project.  You can also re-position the words on the plastic in different patterns, and then try it around your project again.  When you are happy you can stick the words onto your project once - avoiding any problems trying to peel it back off again to re-position!
(although Sawyer’s place Washi Tapes are “low-tac” so rarely rip your paper or cardstock anyway!)

I used this tip on the following layout - as you can see from the photos:

Finally satisfied with the placement of my tape I finished my layout - with no tears!!

I hope this tip is useful for you - stay tuned for tonight's technique tutorial on wash tape - something so simple but you may have never thought to do!
Jen
:-)

Bling'dy Bling Blog Hopping with FWAB!!

Hello Everyone and welcome to my leg of the Blog Hop!

I hope you're having a fabulous time on the Flourish With a Bling Blog Hop, I'm really loving the projects so far and am getting lots of inspiration, aren't you? If you've been following the blog hop from the start and you arrived here from Ilene's blog - great! Don't forget to comment on any posts that make a note for you to do so. In case you visited today just by browsing the wonderful internet - I suggest you start at the beginning for an awesome treat, and go from there! 

Here's the blog hop in order: 

FWAB - http://www.flourishwithabling.com.au/blog/
Amanda Reddicliffe: http://areddicliffe.blogspot.com.au/
Angella Peardon: http://4ft9inchcreator.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Catherine Lane: http://a-stroll-down-memory-lane.blogspot.com/ 
Elena Olinevich  http://eleele-handmade.blogspot.com/
Emilia van den Heuvel http://few-favourite-things.blogspot.nl/
Ilene Tell: http://whatabunchofscrap.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Hodge: http://www.jennihodge.blogspot.com.au (You're here!!!)
Kate McCulloch: http://mumofheidi.blogspot.com.au/
Natalie Elphinstone: http://onescrappydoctor.blogspot.com
Sandi Smith: http://sandi-smith.blogspot.ca/
Sonia Thomason http://www.soniathomason.typepad.com/
FWAB - http://www.flourishwithabling.com.au/blog/

I was so excited to have my application accepted when Flourish With A Bling called for a Design Team. I've used their beautiful products since they first became available. I have loved every second of it, especially when I've been able to get a sneak peak and even a try out of the new products before they've been released! The FWAB team have forged onwards and upwards and even added a retail cart to the gorgeous website - yes, you can buy all your favourite bling straight from the FWAB store itself, they even have a section for colour co-ordinated packs!!! I can never go past the Chloe and Grace Pearl Flourishes, here's my latest project featuring the Grace Flourishes in Pewter and Chocolate - and a few (many) adhesive pearls.

I love that even though the bling is pearls and even though it's a 'swirly girly' thing - these flourishes are right at home on a boys page because of the rich colours that are available.

The next stop on the FWAB Blog Hop is the wonderfully creative and talented Kate McCulloch. I can't wait to see what she's created! Don't forget to follow the Blog Hop all the way back to the FWAB blog and leave a comment there for your chance to win the grand prize. 

In the meantime you can also win a little something from me by leaving a comment here on this post, and telling me how many lovely colours the grace pearl flourish is available in! You can find the answer HERE!!! I'll be drawing the winner next Friday the 19th. 

Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Mwah! XXX

Jen

At the Hop...

Hello and welcome to my leg of the Twiddleybitz Blog Hop.  Thank you so much for joining us - if you happened upon this hop by mistake, stick around, you’ll be blown away by the fantastic work the Design Team Angels have been creating, I certainly have been!  You can find the schedule here, and then first up with the wonderful Mel Forbes :-)

Thanks to Nic and Andy from Twiddleybitz for having such fabulous CHIPBOARD  products to work with and for developing new products constantly - it’s a pleasure and privilege to work with you and for you.

Throughout the hop you should have been collecting the secret words - usually highlighted (not exactly subtle in the process either!) or bolded...  When you have them all, you need to head back to the NING to send the phrase to the lovely Sandra Wallace by private message.  You will go into the draw to win a Fantastic Twiddleybitz CHIPBOARD prize pack of your very own!!

Each of the Design Team Angels have also been offering Twiddleybitz CHIPBOARD RAKs for people who comment on their blog hop posts - some with conditions - like you have to use their secret word in your comments - I must say we have some very creative people joining us in the blog hop!!

I have been addicted lately to creating the gorgeous ATC Cupboards that were released a little while ago.  I have now made four!!  This last one I made, I experimented and have created a technique I have been playing with for a while now.  

I am a wood girl - The furniture in my home is wood and I love the natural tones of nature... After making 2 black and 1 white cupboards I was “champing at the bit” to create this one.  I  will go through it step by step for you,  I am so excited to share this!!

step 1 - use a eyelet punch to form the 'knots' in the wood - you need to do this to both sides of each piece as you will see front and back of most of them.  Don't do too many!

step 2 - Use a brown marvy marker or similar to create the grain - work in one direction - the direction you think the wood would be cut in - on a real piece of furniture.

Step 3 - create shadows and depth by using black soot distress ink and an empty squash pen(you could use a fine paint brush as an alternative).

Step 4 - blend and colour using vintage photo distress ink and a sponge.

Step 5 - re-define any areas where the grain is unclear.

Step 6 - coat every surface with an even layer of mod podge or similar - allow to dry and repeat for 3 coats for best results.  When applying - use  a thin brush and the brush strokes to emphasise the grain of the wood.

step 7 - use the instructions enclosed with the cupboard for assembly - don't worry, it's easier than the IKEA flat packs!

step 8 - attach the inside paneling of the doors (I have used a printed transparency from Kaiser, making sure the pattern is the right way up and the clocks on either side meet up correctly), and then repeat for the inside panels for the sides of the cupboards (I have used the Kaiser transparency again).  I used dimensional magic to adhere the transparency as it dries clear.

Step 9 - Use a hot glue gun to add the beads as door knobs.

Step 10 - Fill your cupboard with ephemera or Twiddleybitz CHIPBOARD of your choice, attach bling and decorations on the outside if you wish.

Step 11 - use the hot glue gun again to attach the music box mechanism to the lower back of the cupboard.  (Mine plays “Happy Birthday”)

Step 12 - Counter weights will be needed as the mechanism is heavy.  Use 2 size 6 sinkers - underneath in the front corners, adhere them using the hot glue gun again.

I do so hope I have inspired you today.  Please share your creations with us in the NING gallery and join us shortly in the forum for the closing of the Twiddleybitz Hop.  I will be ‘hopping’ over there shortly because I have a surprise for you all!

I have a number of questions for you - all related to the Hop.  Find the answers and send them to me via a private message in the NING forum and you will go into the draw for a Twiddleybitz RAK from me!!!  Also - in case you didn't know, you can chat to us via the heading "Twiddley Chat" on the Ning whenever we're online!!  hint hint - NOW!!!!!

Please be sure to leave me a comment and use that secret word!  All those who do and are 'followers' of my blog will go into the draw to win another secret RAK from me!!!!

Thank you so very much for stopping by - it’s been fantastic!!

Twiddleybitz Christmas Blog Hop!!

Hello everyone and welcome to my leg of the Twiddleybitz Blog Hop!  The last Twiddleybitz blog hop was my first and I made some Christmas Cards - I do hope everyone found this inspirational and was able to make at least one!!!

I hope you've been enjoying our Christmas Blog Hop it so far - so many beautiful and inspirational creations and fantastic prizes!

I would just like to say a quick but very genuine THANK YOU to Nic, Andrew, Tiff and the other Design Team members for having me on the team.  I am in constant wonder as to why I was picked!  While unfortunately my personal life is a little "restraining" (shall we say) at the moment, my mind is never far from my Twiddleybitz!!  I have so many projects planned out in my little book but limited time and space atm to do them!  I can't wait to share them all with you but (for now at least) we'll start with my latest and then go one at a time!!!  (I'd love it if you stuck around after the hop :-P)

I have been looking at all the 'card hangers' that have been available in the shops - from the ones that look like a very stretched santa to the silver string will small silver pegs... I've tried a few of these out in previous years and this year decided to improve on them!  I have created my Christmas Card hanger!

I have used an array of Twiddleybitz chipboard pieces and the gorgeous Coloursprays in additional to blossoms and other bits and pieces... I hope you like!  The gold cards and envelopes in the picture are from a class I taught recently at StampAntics in Brisbane - It was my first time back in the 'teaching saddle' and I loved it - I never really knew just how much I missed it!

I also taught a layout class that same day and love the layout sooo much - I really want to share it with you - I hope you like it!  It's one of my all-time favourite pictures of Riley, he is really photogenic so I do have a lot of favourites waiting to be scrapped!  I used a number of Twiddleybitz Chippy pieces and love the sparklies!!

Anyhoo - I really should get on with it! LOL  Please have a looksee at my card hanger, It took a while to create but that was more from arranging and re-arranging the order of the pegs and the embellishments, and mis-cutting the bead string than through any difficulty!!

Please leave a comment below and tell me what you think of my card hanger, and if you sign up to follow my blog as well (or are already following me) I'll put your name in the draw for a very secret and wonderful surprise gift from Santa.

Pegged out at work on our special sound absorbing walls!

The gorgeous candy was put through the big shot, sprayed with Fern Coloursprays and rubbed with Silver to highlight the raised surface.

Poppy spray with a little Lippyliscious and silver rub for the candy, fern for the star with some gold wire and red ribbon, flower sprayed with the coloursprays also.

Lippyliscious sprayed on Poppy for the pegs, fern for the Tweeny trees, walnut and gold for the gingerbread man with large green brads and googley eyes!  Gold paint on the bauble.

Gold paint on the Merry Christmas with 3 red buttons, Fern on the candy and fancy bauble, poppy on the star with music script stamp in black stayzon with gold paint on edges. 

 Fern on the fancy bauble, poppy on the star with music script stamp in black stayzon with gold paint on edges. 

I cut every 15th ball from the gold ball garland (Coles) with tin snips, being very careful not to cut the string, then decided the pegs would be too far apart so cut every 8th ball off as well!  I painted all the wooden pegs, Erin helped me with this - finally ending up the 'golden child' as I knew she always was - literally!!! (spraying would have used too much and taken too long), then I decorated all my chippy and created my flowers.  Before attaching the embellishments to the pegs I made sure I was happy with their order and matching pegs, then glued them on with Pritt gel glue.

Thank you for looking - I hope you've enjoyed my latest creation.  Don't forget to comment and follow my blog to get a secret surprise from Santa  *<:-)

Checkout the Ning throughout the Twiddleybitz Blog Hop for competitions and Prizes, inspiration, and a whole heap of chat!  www.twiddleybitz.ning.com

Your Next Blog Hop Host is Karola Witczac at 6pm AEST.  I can't wait to see her lovely creations!

I'd like to leave you with a little verse that is inside all our Family Christmas Cards this year:

Our Wish for You in 2011





May peace break into your home

and thieves come to steal your debts. 

 



May the pockets of your jeans become

a magnet for $100 bills. 

 



May love stick to your face like Vaseline

and laughter assault your lips!

 



May happiness slap you across the face and your tears be that of joy

 



May the problems you had, forget your home address! 

 



In simple words ............




May 2011 be the best year of your life!!!

Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!!

Hippity Hoppity Hop!

Hello and welcome to my first ever blog hop post!! I have never been involved in a blog hop before and am super-pumped to be part of this one for Twiddleybitz!! Let's hope I do this right :-)

Terrificly
Wonderful and
Inspirational
Designs.
Diverse
Little
Embellishments
Yet
Big bits too!
It's so hard to rest
Till the twiddles are scrapped!
Zzzzzz the sun's coming up and I've twiddled all night!
(sorry - it just came to me!)

Thank you for visiting me on your way around the blog hop. Firstly I want to share with you how my garden has grown:








This has been made from a Twiddleybitz ornate shelf - you can see the details of what I used to do it HERE.

I am not only a scrapper and stamper but an ATC, Inchie, OTP project and Card-maker too! So - seeing as I'm trying to get a wriggle on and create cards for Christmas this year, I have used a fantabulous new Christmas product from Twiddleybitz in addition to the versatile swirl and the word 'Celebrate' on the cards below - I do hope you like them and would enjoy receiving one because, the best is yet to come....



Ingredients:
Rosies Studio Pearlised Card - black & gold
Matching envelope
AED PP - So this is Christmas, traditional Christmas stripes
AED Embossing Powder - Irish Sparkle
Twiddleybitz Swirl 'tree'
Green Tara bows - red & gold
AED Sparkle n sprinkle stamp - merry Christmas from our family to yours
Black stazon ink



Ingredients:
Rosies Studio Pearlised Card - black & gold
Matching envelope
AED PP - So this is Christmas, swirls, green
Twiddleybitz 'Celebration'
CN colourspray - Poppy
Green Tara bow - green
Kaiser gem - green
Black stazon ink



Ingredients:
Rosies Studio Pearlised Card - black
Matching envelope
AED PP - So this is Christmas, swirls, green and red
Twiddleybitz journal plat - Xmas Tree (add your own greeting :-)
Adirondack dauber - gold
Green Tara bow - white with gold
Kaiser gems - green

This is the 'best is yet to come' bit -
Anyone who clicks "follow" to the right of this post and leaves me a comment will go into the draw to win not only the creations above, but the goodies in the pictures below - enough supplies to make each of my cards again!!


- we should then have you well on the way to creating your Christmas Cards this year!

You have until 9pm Monday night AEST to go into the draw. The winner's name will be drawn from a hat by my 'adorable' children :-P

In addition to these goodies - if you 'follow' my blog and leave a comment for my 'Flowers' entry - I have another prize pack to give away... here's a sneak peak at that one too!



This one is a nice start to your own Twiddley and Green Tara love - collection and display, just like in my 'Flowers' post!

Feel free to look at my blog and learn about me and my art. Don't forget to continue on your blog hopping journey with Twiddleybitz and go to the amazingly talented Jo Kinder's Blog at 12pm. Jo is a fantastic artist and you are sure to be wowed by her creations (I always am!).

Lastly - thank you for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed my little part of this hop and will continue to stop by and enjoy my blogging in the future.