~ A rare moment ~ UTEE

 

This is a pic taken of my oldest 2 while we were on vacation in hluhluwe (national Game reserve in SA). The 2 of them were walking up ahead of us while on a hike and I thought they looked so sweet holding hands. Like with so many siblings,  it's such a rare and precious moment to see them getting along that I just HAD to capture it on film. Unfortunately I just couldn't think of a suitable title so I've left the LO untitled until I think of something......suggestions welcome.

I made a quick visit to my LSS the other day to pick up some cardstock and stumbled upon this FABULOUS product called UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel). They only stock the Ranger brand and the owner had a few sample pieces out using various techniques and I instantly fell inlove. So I walked in to buy a few pieces of carstock and walked out spending a small fortune on a couple of tubs of this wonderful product...LOL!! But definitely worth every cent!!

Believe it or not, I only used 2 pieces of plain white cardstock for this LO.......NO PRINTED PAPERS!!!

For the background paper I first distressed the edges of the white cardstock with my TH paper distresser. I then used some Black UTEE together with my Large Elegant Word Stamp from Heartfelt creations. For the actual words I only used one layer of UTEE but for the distressed corners I randomly applied some embossing ink to the corners, sprinkled the UTEE, dusted excess off and then heated. I repeated this process 3 times until I had achieved the end look I wanted. Once I completed the embossing, I inked the bg using walnut stain distress ink.


To finish off the bg paper I water distressed opposite corners. For this particular project I used a paintbrush to wet the BACK SIDE of the carstock as to not spoil the inked side. Once the cs was wet enough to manipulate I pinched and scrunched the paper until I achieved the look I wanted. A helpful tip is to use a heating tool to dry the paper as you go along so it keeps the shape you've moulded.

For the center "frame" I cut the shape from another piece of white cs, distressed the edges, inked the cs using black soot and walnut stain distress inks. I then water distressed all four sides. Once that had dried I began applying the UTEE. You follow the same steps as with other embossing powder, i.e. apply embossing ink, add embossing powder, remove excess powder back into container and heat. I repeated this process 3 times until I had a nice THICK layer of UTEE which I then stamped into with the same stamp on the bg cs while still hot. The UTEE cools quickly so you need to do this fast. The best thing about this product is that you can reheat it over and over if you make a mistake.

I used some Black UTEE on the Dusty Attic piece. Again I did about 2 layers for this then just lightly painted over it with some gold liquid pearl using my finger.

Here's also a close up of the stamped UTEE letters. You can hopefully see how the stamped bits are raised and look plastic like. It's really lovely IRL

Again I made some of Lisa Gregory's Ribbon Rose Buds which I'm just loving. This time I used plain satin ribbon and I really love the finished look of these. Because I only had green floral tape I painted the floral tape using some Chocolat Shimmerz paints (another favourite product brand). The cardstock leaves behind the vine are made using my Leafy Swirls Stamp from Heartfelt creations (they have some FANTASTIC stamps!!!) A big thank you to both Lisa Valentine and Lisa Gregory for pointing me in their direction.

I made another Distressed Camelot Rose using a tutorial I've featured previously in my DIY challenge. These are really great and very easy to make. Still a favourite for me.

TFL

~ Precious Smile~

This is my nearly 5 year old DD Erin who is the light of my life. I sometimes find it rather unsettling how much she resembles me at that age and even now. We have the exact same colour and shape eyes and she has identical mannerism to me which unfortunately includes being extremely stubborn and headstrong. ...LOL!!! My DH takes great delight in watching us argue, which happens all too often, as he says it's like watching some-one argue with themselves in the mirror!!!!

I did this LO for the September ribbon challenge over at sb.com which is hosted by my dear friend Katie. This months twist was to make flower using ribbon so I selected this fabulous Ribbon Rose Bud  tutorial by the very talented Lisa Gregory. It was the perfect style bloom to compliment the Bo Bunny Peacock Lane pp's I used. I managed to find some organza ribbon that resembles the colours of a peacocks feathers IRL. Unfortunately this is not very clear in the pic.

This was also my first attempt at making my own vine which is much more difficult than I ever thought. I have a whole new respect for those fabulous artist who manage to create the most stunning vines.

I used some Prima Trellis roses here too. I just added some stickles to them for some sparkle. I also added a prima SIIP corner flourish behind the blooms. One can never go wrong with Prima when needing some girly prettiness to finish off a LO.

One of my favourite new products is Shimmerz Paints. They are simply stunning and come is such a wide variety of colours. They are perfect for altering chipboard which is what I used it for here. I painted this title piece with some Aquamarine Shimmerz paint. This gives the chipboard a gorgeous shimmery finish IRL.

~ You Captured My Heart The Moment We Met~

This is my youngest DS Matthew when he was only a couple of weeks old. I just love the way newborns hold their little fists sooo tightly when you bath them. I just adore the look on his face in this pic. It reminds me how completely trusting babies are.

I recently started purchasing Dusty Attic pieces from my dear friend Mandy's (Craftysprinkles) etsy shop . These pieces are simply stunning and worth every penny!!! After receiving them I decided to go and check out the Dusty Attic Website to get some inspiration for my newly purchased treasures. WOW, was I completely blown away by the gallery on this site..........these are some crazy talented ladies!!!!!!

While there I saw that they're running a monthly sketch challenge with a really awesome prize up for grabs so I decided to give it a bash. So this is my take on their sketch.

The first DA piece I used was this gorgeous little bird cage (DA0085). The title of the LO is "You captured my heart the moment we met" so I used a stencil and made a heart which I added wings to and placed behind the bird cage. I first inked the cage with some walnut stain distress ink then painted over some pieces with Gold Glimmer Shimmerz paint. I then wound some tiny rose buds which I found at a local craft store around the cage and added the wire ribbon and some liquid pearl drops.

This stunning rose vine came from my very dear friend  Katies Etsy shop. It's been in my stash for quite a while now but I'm glad I held onto it because it was the PERFECT piece for this LO. I added some DA twigs (DA0129) between the branches of the vine so they would look like one. I'm very happy with the result. I also inked and painted these twigs. 

I also scattered a few of the minture butterflies (DA0364) around on the right side of the LO. These are absolutely adorable IRL. I used Robin's water distressing technique, which I was very nervous to try in the beginning but now I just LOVE it. In the tutorial Robin puts her pp directly under running water but I chose to wet my paper using a thick paint brush instead. It's the perfect finish for any distressed LO.