PERFECT BEE

Oh dear, I think my ideas for headings are getting out of control. Anyway, today I decided to have a go at a couple of challenges.
The first is the Stampotique Designers Challenge - Animals, insects or birds.
The second is the Sunday Stampers - Nature.
This is my little ATC, made for both.

The background is created with perfect pearls, 2 layers of UTEE and stamped with the Stampotique Bee which I have highlighted with perfect pearls and stickles.
I enjoyed making this and it was so quick and easy.

UTEE d FLOWERS

I tried really hard yesterday to make some little flowers and cover them with UTEE.

First thing to happen when I had finished them, was a great big aeroplane landed on the table.

Fortunately, the little flowers hopped onto the wing so were quite safe.

I managed to assemble the petals after colouring them with DI, but when it came to dipping them in the UTEE, the trouble began again. The tweezers clogged up and stuck hard to the petals and I had to prise them off using my metal tweezers - which promptly stuck - so I prised those off with a pokey tool. I then had flowers with 2 pairs of tweezers and a pokey tool stuck to them!!

Trying to cover a bead with UTEE and placing that in the centre was the last straw.

 If you look closely you will see around 1/2 gallon of UTEE on the large flower, several bubbles and 1/4 gallon of UTEE on each of the little ones. I also tried covering the bits where the tools had stuck and not the UTEE with stickles, so there's around 1/2 bottle of that on them aswell.

I think I will give this technique a miss for a while, or at least until I've forgotten  that I ever tried it.

BLANK CANVASS

Maybe today I might just get to do a bit of crafting.

There are some stunning pieces of creation on the blogs I follow just now. One in particular appeared this morning from the Artistic Stamper. Jennie made a UTEEd tattered floral piece using paper from one of Tim Holtz' new collection. The flowers are gorgeous and I want to make them.

I thought I might just have a go at some mini canvasses to put on the wall of my craftroom. Now there's a laugh for you, 'cos I don't have any space on my walls!!!! but I will find some. I bought the canvasses from Jennie's shop. Gosh they are little, this will be fun then.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE

I have crafted all day today so I suppose I had better do some housework tomorrow, yak!!
Yesterday I upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 after trying to change my blog background for the second time in 2 weeks. When I switch on and log onto my blog, the new background works like a blinkie before reverting to the old one, and the instructions advised this upgrade. However, I now can't alter the size of the font, I can't copy and paste anything and I have to keep clicking to open other blogs etc. That isn't the failure bit though.........
Having been on a Suze Weinberg melting pot workshop and finally amassed a stash of UTEE, flex, etc. I am now in a wonderful position to start making embellishments and the like. Today was the day. But..... my melt pot element has given up the ghost and I've only used the thing a couple of times. I think Ranger may just receive an email.
The success bit was a weight off my shoulders. I have been thinking about another chunky book page both whilst awake and asleep!! Today saw the 'heavy metal' page finished - front and back.
yippee!!!! No pictures though. I'll save that one.

MY MELT POT SAMPLES

I've just been on Facebook to see what Suze Weinberg has been up to at the other workshops she was doing before the NEC show, and found out that she was only in Burnley. I wish I had looked earlier because she was working with beeswax, which is what I wanted to learn how to use in the melt pot. She did tell us however, that really you should use a removable project pan for this technique. Anyone know where I can buy one??

I hope the photo I've taken comes out clearly, - not uploaded it yet - 'cos all my piccies have been rubbish lately. Anyway, here goes:

The first thing we tackled was the small frame. We cut a picture to fit and simply poured clear UTEE into the inside of the frame. Once dry, this can be removed to use again and the embellishment can be used on any project, including a jewellery piece.

The large oval face was fun to make. For this you need a greased cookie cutter which you simply place over an image and again pour clear UTEE into the cutter. Once dry, remove the cutter and trim around the picture. I love this sample.

The shiny mis-shaped piece on the right is actually made from a CD! Heat a CD with a heat gun, stamp an image onto part of it using Archival ink or similar, then cut out a shape. Add a few drop of To Dye For to melted clear UTEE and using metal tweezers, carefully submerge the piece in the liquid. Lift horizontally and allow the excess to drip off before placing on a craft sheet to cool and set. This is gorgeous.

We then added some black UTEE to our pot. The picture of the men is trapped between 2 pieces of memory glass. We then put each side into the front edge of the liquid, dragged it forward, lifted it for a second or 2 before continuing all round. This made a fake frame. It actually looks really good too.

The larger of the frames was fun but had I taken more notice before I began (sometimes hard to watch everything at once in a workshop) I would have known to use a rubber stamp with a lot of deep detail to it. Choose one with detail, place a frame over the part you wish to capture and pour the UTEE into the frame. Allow to cool and set for few seconds before removing from the stamp. You could ink the stamp first to give a different look. We then brushed Perfect Pearls over the image and added stickles and beadazzles.

The fun bit came when we each chose from Suze's bag of trinkets, an image with which to make a mould. I first picked out a cat's head - wonder why I was drawn to that? - but then I saw a white face and immediately thought of masks with feathers and semi-precious stones etc, so I picked that. We then blended together the 2 parts of the mould and pour substances and once ready squeezed it round our trinket. This substance is similar to the stuff dentists use to make impressions. It's ready to remove if a nail print does not make an indent. Then we simply poured UTEE into the mould and waited for it to set before removing the mould which can be used over and over again. I absolutely love the face that came out and will be chuffed to use this mould again.

We then added some colours to our pot and once melted simply poured the lot onto our craft sheet and quickly placed cookie cutters into it. It dried really fast and some lovely pieces appeared. Suze gave us all a brooch fastening so that we could super glue it to the back of our favourite piece and hence we made jewellery too.

All in all a really good time was had by all, plus we got an extra hour's class. Can't wait for QVC craft day next Tuesday, when Suze, along with many others, will be demonstrating her techniques again.