Thursday 15 December 2016

Christmas makes

I attended an enamelling course recently and made some pendants. I really enjoyed playing for 4 Monday evenings. I love the way crafts cross over and I was intrigued to find out that rubber stamps could even be used for creating enamel pieces! I took a couple of photos which I thought you would find interesting. First I sieved a white layer of powdered enamel over the copper circular pendant. This was then put into a kiln to fire.
Once it had cooled I used the smallest snowflake from the Snowman Jack Visible Image set  and stamped with archival ink. I then added some blue enamel powder which sticks to the ink. The pendant was then fired a second time
and below is my pendant after firing.
I also made some other pendants which I will make into jewellery at some point. They are sooo hard to photograph!
 The one below has lots of layers and was fired in several stages. I added a glass bead layer and gold micra powder. I can just about give you an idea of the depth with this photo but IRL it is magical. It is like looking into a pool.

I have also made some Christmas decorations for my children's homes. I decorated a 2nd VI Monolith which I gave to my son and his girlfriend.  The first one I shared here last month and is with my daughter and family.
I started with some gesso and Joanna Sheen ivy die cuts on the front
and on the back a lamp post and Cheery Lynn icicle die cut

I added lots of washes of Decoart media paints.
Then I stamped, embossed, paper pieced and cut out Snowman Jack. I added gems for eyes and buttons and coloured his nose and arms.

 This is the front.
I added lots of Decoart snow and glamour dust to the base for lots of sparkle just as I did for my snowflake monolith which you can see here in detail.
Below is the back, complete with glittered mittens and the fun sentiment.
These are my last guest design pieces for Visible Image. They have just made some new business decisions for 2017 which means they no longer need the extra 3 new design team and 2 guest designers they took on in September. It's been short but very sweet to guest design for them and I have lots of lovely new VI stamps still to play with. I wish them every success with their new crafty adventures ahead. I will of course still love creating with their gorgeous stamps.



I would like to enter my Christmas Monolith into the following challenges.

Mixed Media World Winter Wonderland
A Vintage Journey Winter Magic
Simon Says stamp Monday Let there be snow
Simon Says Wednesday gift it
Craft Stamper take it make it snow and ice
        Mod Squad Use chipboard my monolith is chipboard/MDF
Rhedd's Creative spirit December
WOW embossing powders December, winter
Emerald Dare Winter Wishes
Creative Artiste anything goes
                                     Happy Little Stampers untld anything goes with dies
                                            Christmas at sweet stampin inspired by a song mine is pretty obviously as the words are on the back! ....Baby it's cold outside by Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews. The funny thing is that it has turned ridiculously mild here again..it was 16c in garden yesterday!

We had a mammoth wrapping session yesterday and the presents are mostly done. I also managed to make my crackers and will share them with you very soon. Today I am taking a day off to have lunch with my best friend Karen and share some festive chat, our last for 2016!

I hope you are getting your lists ticked now?

Thanks so much for visiting and for all your kind comments. I appreciate just how busy everyone is at the moment. I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to my newest follower. Thanks for joining me on my creative journey here at Jane's Journal.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x




23 comments:

  1. Love your enamel pendants, Jane - I remember doing a bit of enamelling in high school and was so pleased with the result (though my keyring went missing before I could take it home!) I am looking forward to the holidays and spending a bit of time with hubby, though he's only off for a week with Christmas and New Year being on a Sunday and we have so much that we want to fit in, plus family coming down from Scotland for the New Year, so no doubt it will go in a flash!
    The little man has been off school this week with a dreadful cough and cold and has kindly shared his germs with me and my eldest, so just want to curl up in a ball and sleep until it's gone! I don't do 'ill'!
    Might do some wrapping tomorrow and then see where I'm at with the present situation - it's very low key this year as none of us NEED anything, really! On the bright side, it's only a week until we're on the downhill towards Summer...roll on Dec 21st!
    Hope you have a lovely lunch out with your best friend, though I'm sure you will! Hugs, Lisa x

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  2. Hello dear Jane,

    Beautiful creations once again, love your enamel pieces, those will make adorable jewelry BUT my favorite is that snowman monolith! Wow, gorgeous!
    Things are ticking off quite nicely here, cards done&sent, last gifts will be (hopefully) purchased this evening... All going great, bring it on, holidays!

    Wishing you wonderful days, happy creating&decorating&making&baking... :)

    Yours,
    Mia

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  3. WOW! What an awesome class, I will have to look for this at our local Crafting Museum (in the past I have taken a stained glass class and a silversmithing class, both fantastic!) Your ART is gorgeous! Love how you carried over your art too! The snowman project is festively fantastic! Love him! Thanks so much for playing along with us at href="http://modsquadchallenge.blogspot.com/">The Mod SquadChallenge Donna, Challenge Host.

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  4. Oh my your enamel pieces are beautiful Jane, I especially love the first one, the colours are so pretty!
    And how amazing is your snowman, I'm sure it was gratefully received.
    Have a great weekend ahead my friend.
    V x

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  5. this is a wonderful make - hope you had a lovely day! hugs rachel x

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  6. Oh Jane you took me right back to my early teaching days when I did an enamelling course which I'd love to do again, your pendants are amazing. Love your monolith too, beautifully mixed media in style xxx

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  7. What a beautiful decor piece! I just love that snowman, how wonderful is he!! The blue tones combined with the frosty ice and shimmery accents really create a wonderful wintery feel!! Your kids must love them! Wonderful fun with the pendants, beautiful end results! The gold glittery one is fantastic! hugs and happy weekend!

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  8. Jane, you did such a beautiful job both with the pendants and this frosty monolith! How lucky your kids are to have these treasures! Merry Christmas!

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  9. Love your cute snowman...so adorable! Thanks for joining us at Happy Little Stampers!

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  10. Wonderful post - you are so creative - what is NOT to love about that perfect snowman.
    Merry Christmas Jane!
    Sandy Claus xx

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  11. WOW! I am totally impressed Jane!! Your enamel pendants are gorgeous - looks like you have captured the snow in them. And then...your snowman is a delight!!! It's gorgeous on both sides with all of that beautiful snow. Love the snowman! Thanks so much for joining us this week in our challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge! hugs, Maura

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  12. I love the snowflakes! This looks like it was a lot of fun.

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  13. HI Jane,

    I would have loved attending that class too and your creation are so beautiful!
    You truly have the magic touch my Friend!

    xx

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  14. Wonderful enamel pendants and a great creation. Thanks for joining us on the Emerald Creek Dares Blog!
    - Katelyn DT at Emerald Creek

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  15. A wonderfully frosty monolith. The snowman, fabulous textures and sparkly snow look amazing.

    Thank you for joining in with the December challenge "Anything Mixed Media Goes" at Creative Artiste Mixed Media and good luck x

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  16. LOve the enamel pendants as well as your fabulously snowy monolith.
    Thanks for joining in over at HLS. :)

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  17. Thank you for hopping on board at AVJ's Winter Magic challenge x love the enamelling and stunning details

    Best wishes
    Annie CG

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  18. Wow...I absolutely love this monolith..its fabulous...
    Thank you so much for joining in with this months challenge at Rhedds Creative Spirit...x

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  19. I would have loved to have been in that class, Jane - love your resulting pieces! Thank you so much for sharing them with us at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge!

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  20. Such a fab monolith. I keep meaning to give them a try! Love your pendants too. Thank you for entering your project at Rhedd’s Creative Spirit. Sammy-x

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  21. absolutely gorgeous monolith. So so cool hun - Thank you for sharing with us over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit this month and hope to see you again in future challenges.

    Handcrafted by Ellapu
    Mother Hen for Altered Eclectics
    Mother Hen for Eclectic Ellapu
    DT Rhedd's Creative Spirit

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  22. Wonderful monolith. Thanks for playing with us on Studio 75 blog.

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Jane x