Leandra on Taco Tuesday

Hi Everyone

This is a quick note in case you want to pass on the following via your blogs, yahoo groups etc

At the CHA trade show a few weeks ago I was invited to demo and be filmed for Ten Seconds Studio's blog. Every Tuesday with Cheryl and Megan is "Taco Tuesday" and they put very funny videos on their blog about how to work with their metal products and tools. If you look closely you'll see the bags under our eyes...it was 7.30 am filming on the last morning of the show....a looooong week, and we were all trying to look normal...if that's possible!! .....You can see it here. At the end there is a special offer code to use on our website, so watch the whole thing and you'll be glad you did!
You will see the new haircut, an overload of jewellery made at Make and Takes at the CHA show (you can see living in Essex has rubbed off on me - lots of bling LOL) and of course metal stamping ideas with Squiggly Ink stamps, Claudine's canvas from Ranger, cuttlebug with stamps, metal and canvas, embossing a stamped image with the teflon pointy tool...all in about 12 minutes!

We just added Ten Seconds to our website, so you can buy stuff here at PaperArtsy too. More stock arriving this week - all the new stuff from CHA.

Leandra Franich
PaperArtsy
Church Lane, Brentwood
Essex, CM13 1RZ, UK
+44 (0) 1277 212 911
sales@paperartsy.co.uk
www.paperartsy.co.uk

Fun couple of Days

The last couple of days we have been having lots of fun catching up with people at the UK trade show we all call Stitches, even though it changed its name to something new and really long - we all still call it stitches. There is paper, beads, fabric and all kinds of hobbies represented. And though the show was smaller than previous years, there seemed to be a real buzz this year, and still plenty of cool stuff to check out. We have really been enjoying ourselves.

Last night we caught up with Team Ranger, (Suze, Tim, Mario & owner Alain) and Dy and Ben from Art from the Heart. It was Suze's first Indian, and she was a bit worried that the spices would blow her out of the water, but we chose really mild dishes and she absolutely loved it! I think it would have to be one of the best Indian meals we have had. Every year we go out with all these guys to an Indian as Alain loves it hot, and restaurants like this are hard to find in the USA. The decor was really red and really gold! And the food was really good. Here's a pic i stole from Suze's blog.
When we got back to the hotel Tim wanted Suze and Mario to see the ceiling beams in our room. I think either he or Alain had that room on a previous year. Here's a pic. Just walking down the hall is an obstacle course. You have to duck and dive all the way along the hall - unless you are Suze-sized!

So Stitches has been good fun. I saw some really awesome paints and texture paints from Europe. I still don't get the Yudu thing at all. They say its cheap for what it does, but do we really need to screen print our own shirts at home. They say you have to use special printer's paints, as acrylic is too thick. I just can't see us all wanting one like we would want a cuttlebug! LOL So I'm still not convinced...yet.

2 weeks back i was at CHA checking out all the new product releases from the USA, and at Stitches there was some of the same, but also many European exhibitors who put their own twist on stuff.

New from us we have added Ten Seconds Metal products to the website. More will be added later this week as the new stock arrives in the country, so watch this space.

And tomorrow is Taco Tuesday (actually its today already - I'm up too late) from Ten Seconds Studio. While I was at CHA they asked me to film a demo with them on thier booth, so the last day of the show really early, we made the video. You can see it here - me demoing with Squiggly Stamps on their new metal. Let me know what you think. It was a lot of fun, and if you haven't figured it out already, metal is going to be huge this year.

Have a great day!

Leandra

PS. If you want to come to ArtsyCrafts second weekend there are still some places left for March 28/29

Botanical Twig Hanging

Oh you are patient waiting for me to get the project I mentioned at the start of the month up online! We have had a lot of problems with the cold weather making our wireless internet antannae malfunction on more than one occasion - we know now that it doesn't like fog, snow, ice, freezing fog or negative temperatures! Just the kind of weather we have had since Christmas! So when the line is working we are like little beavers downloading orders ASAP!

So last time when I blogged, I put up this image of what you need to make this project....and the good news is that if you buy the current issue of Craft Stamper on sale now (February, CS105) , we are offerning a great deal for the following bundle of items:

• 5 stamps (Nature 1-4, At Home 6),
• twill tape,
• a picture pack image,
• mini jewellery tags, and
• a pack of Vintage papers, that's 5 different A5 size double sided papers which feature many PaperARtsy stamps on the designs of the papers.
  

You can go straight here to buy this items as a bundle or individually. This fun interior design project is a great piece to adorn a wall in your home, and its really quick too. Love that!

Extra Materials:

In addition to the PA bundle you will need the following:

Square manila tags (5.5 “square) are the substrate, but you also could cut regular heavy card to this size. Sandpaper, inks, cut 'n' dry foam, gesso,Tim Holtz fragments, scissors and scratchy tool, acrylic blocks and stamps, glue stick and glossy accents, plus a craft sheet.

Step One:

Use a glue-stick and stick a different Vintage Papers to each tag. Sand edges with sandpaper, add extra gouged lines with a Tim Holtz scratchy tool. Apply ink, one or two colours, to the edges with an applicator tool.

Step Two:

Apply a thin wash of gesso on each panel for the quote. Dry. Stamp a quote in black ink from each of the 4 Nature Stamp plates onto each panel.

Step Three:

Sponge a couple of distress ink colours onto a blank tag. Apply in soft gentle circles, start on the craft sheet and then pull colour onto the tag. Stamp a selection of images in black over the background.

Step Four:

Apply glossy accents glue to fragments and press in position. Leave to dry. Cut out each image. Sand the card edges from behind to soften the sharp bits.

Step Five: Arrange all fragments on the various panels until you have the balance you prefer when you arrange all 4 panels together.

Step Six: Set eyelets in the positions around the panels where you wish to join them together.

Step Seven: Don't forget to put some eyelets at the top too so you can wire to the dead twig supplied by your garden or local park. I find it works well to wrap the wire 3 times through both holes, then the loose ends wrap in the centre and cinch together.

If you liked this project, then you'll also like the mini book (pictured at the top of this post). The full colour 2 page instructions with step outs for both projects will be sent with you order for this bundle offer from PaperArtsy.

Have a great weekend and don't forget that our January sale is on now!

Leandra

PaperArtsy Sale on NOW !

Helllloooooo and Happy New Year Bloggers!

I hope you have lots of cool exciting thing on your NEw Year to do list! You should not put those boring negative things on your lists, just cool fun stuff! Enjoy every day, have a bit of a laugh, and she'll be right mate. (Kiwi wisdom! LOL)

You may have had an email if you are on our mailing list about this awesome sale idea we've got, but I though I should let blog-land people know about this too, just in case you haven't heard - here's the low-down!

Because we are ocassionally a bit in divvy-dizzy land, we only just realised that we actually forgot to have a sale in 2008 as we were too busy in August when we usually do that kind of thing. OMG, and you guys didn't remind us! So we are having a sale now, and to make up for the omission, we are offering 30% off all orders over £50.00 (GBP).

Once the subtotal in your shopping cart hits £50 pounds, then the discount will automatically be activated.

So that should put a nice big smile on your dial..now all you need to do is pop over to the website when you get a mo and stock up on some stuff!

Have a great weekend!

Leandra

NB. The offer expires on Feb 15th, and cannot be used in combination with any other offers.


Oh, hmmmmm, here's a question for you.....what could you make with all this lot????? Well I've got some ideas, and I'll be sharing those with you in detail next week......

The end of 2008

As another year draws to a close, and a new one is ready to emerge, it's a time of reflection of what has been, and what is to come.

New beginnings and new experiences are a bit of a hit with me! I love trying new things, like food or crafting techniques, I also adore travelling to new places, and I certainly have done a LOT of that this year! In fact I kind of feel I need to probably slow down a little and try for more balance this year...I think I probably say that every year! LOL

Maybe this year we will have no choice about slowing down...the economy seems to be doing that for us all ...as a small business we try to be flexibile to adjust and react quickly to most situations, but it certainly is a more pressured and competitive environment as we work our way through these tough economic times.

I think that 2008 will be seen as a real landmark in the world's history. Becuase the world is such a small place these days, the economic trends have affected us all to some extent, no matter where we live.

We will continue to release new products, designs, techniques and ideas this year. It is interesting that "crafting products" was a top selling category for many high street retailers this Christmas. It makes sense that when people have less money to spend, they tend to spend more time in the home rather than out shopping, and crafting-related hobbies are satisfying, you can produce unique items for the home, gifts for friends, or create purely for your own creative pleasure.

We have plenty more squiggly ink designs ready to release in the New Year, as well as botanical and royal themes for the spring release. I am very excited about working with these new stamps. I already have some project sketched out to come to life once the stamps are born!

I hope that as 2009 draws near, you will also continue to be inspired by our ideas and designs. I want to thank you all for your valued support, and I wish you a happy, proseprous and fruitful 2009.

Leandra and Mark

PS. Special thansk to our wonderful Design Team who have continued to provide us with wonderful samples and ideas this year. Thanks to Isa Norris for this fabby 9-panel piece featured at the top of this post, where she has used lots of stamps from the Buttons series. We are going to miss her a lot this year - she and the family have just moved to Canada - good luck Isa!!

The Leandra Bead

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to go to Suze Weinburg's house (Suze is Ranger Industries UTEE expert) while visting the New Jersey area, and I showed her this technique. She has been having loads of fun with it (see her blog) and from there you will see she has called it the "Leandra Bead".

Now that the article I wrote for a UK magazine on this technique has been published for some time, I can share some tips and tricks with you so you can make your own "Leandra beads". No 2 are the same, and there are so many colour options for these. I am even using them as 'finials' (sp?) on the end of a dowel to hang other proejcts from too. It really is a lot of fun. Good luck and let me know how you get on!

I am really drawn to jewellery, and I was thinking there must be some way to stamp, and make a bead that can be used for bracelets, earrings etc. by using the melt pot and UTEE. This is kind of a fondue system, dipping the item into hot UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) to glaze or cover an item. By using a headpin, you then can easily create a loop for the bead to be attached to a necklace or other finding.
Step One: Stamp you paper and add colour to the paper to determine the colour of your beads. I used dye ink. Wrap your 1cm paper strips (make them wider for longer beads) around a wooden toothpick/ cocktail stick and secure with a little dab of glue. Make all your paper beads to this point. 10 of each colour is a good starting point.Step Two: Put the paper bead on the very end of the toothpick, and dip into the deep end of your MeltPot. Lift, let the excess drip away, then place onto a craft sheet as shown for about 10 seconds to set up.NB. I melted in the MP some Clear UTEE with a teaspoon of UTEE flex. You can also add to this 'to dye for' tints. Just a small drop will change the colour to tint the clear UTEE. The flex prevents the UTEE beads from Smashing or cracking, so they are more durable for jewellery.
Step Three: While the bead is warm, peel it off the craft sheet, remove the toothpick. A bell shaped base should have formed. Push a headpin through the base. The will anchor in the UTEE.Step Four: Now re-dip the bead into the UTEE, allow the excess to drip off again, then keep moving the bead until the UTEE has set up. Don't expect a perfect bead, sometimes they are round, but most often they are kind of pear or bell shaped. Once you get a whole lot on a chain, they look fab. Each is a unique and kind of organic looking creation!Step Five: Additions. After dip 2, you may like to wrap the bead in wire, dip into some bedazzles, perfect pearls or any other items like gold leaf etc that will cling to the hot or warm UTEE. Now re-dip again to trap these items in the glaze. Here are some examples.Some of these have also been dipped into other colours of UTEE such as UTEE Brightz. Of course you can do the whole bead process with any colour of UTEE, and lately I have made some stunning marbled looking beads by melting a mix of brights, clear, metallic and a dab of black or white into the pot togehter.

For marbled UTEE: Pour puddles of each powder into the pot, sprinkle someflex over the top, put the lid on and leave it all to melt. Once it is molten, gently draw lines through the mix with your non-stick spatula 3-5 times to marble the colours. If you over mix it goes 'cack', so resist the urge to mix.

Now dip your bead into the marble mixture. A good idea for marbled beads is to start with a wooden bead (say about 1 inch diameter. If the headpin falls through the hole of the bead, just put a sequin onto the headpin first, then the wooden bead. You can dip this into your marble mix once or twice. Marbled beads also look really good with a glaze of clear over the top.

Step Six: Attaching the bead is easy because of the head pin. Bend in half, thread onto the chain. I use 2 pairs of pliers, One to hold the bent wire , and the other to wrap as shown. You need to ensure there is a gap so that the bead can swing. Snip off the excess from wrapping and you're done!


I hope you enjoy this technique as much as i have! There are loads of way to use this idea - not just for jewelery. They make great "feet" for boxes !

I'm back! And what a blast it was!

Yesterday I got back from 6 days in New Jersey to go to Ranger Industries for their Ranger U education event. This is 3 solid days of technique sessions covering all things Ranger.

Suze Weinburg taught her Melt pot magic, Claudine Hellmuth helped us do wonderful things with her new paints, paint brushes and sticky-backed canvas, and Tim Holtz did all things powder (Perfect Pearls and EP's) as well as his signature lines Distress inks, crackle paints, reinkers in mini misters plus Adirondack things like colourwash, dabbers, pigment and dye inks, alcohol inks....etc etc......OMG we did so much stuff and ended up with great projects from Suze and Claudine to remind us of their sessions, and a massive tag book from Tim's mega techniques.

The new format of this event was superb, and my classmates were all so nice and friendly - we had lots of laughs! Lin, Lisa and I loved the Apple Sangria from Appleby's across the road from Ranger! I guess you can tell that!

Ranger welcomed us the first night with a BBQ cooked expertly by Justin, drinks kept topped up by Alain, and all the extended Ranger family young and old-er came and socialised with us too. We loved it!

Night #2 Linda (LB Crafts) and I were invited out with Lisa Kettell (our table buddie) to go for a meal with Suze and The Lenster (her DH Lennie) , and so we went to their fave Japanese restaurant Koto. I LOVE Japanese food so much, so this was a real treat for me, as there are none near me unless we trek into London, so I savoured every sushi and sashimi mouthful. In fact you can see pics of us on Suze's blog.

After the meal Suze wanted to show us her gorgeous home (what an unexpected and very cool treat for us), so we were invited over to see all the cool stuff she has collected on her travels all over the world. Wow doesn;t even come close! Lin and I were dumbstruck ...yes i know that's hard to imagine, but I think I walked around with my mouth open the whole time.

Lennie gave me some of his own wine (he belongs to a group who bottle their own) and it was superb! Then Suze showed us her studio - what a great set-up, and I got to show her the bead technique I have been teaching over here for a while. She named it the "Leandra Bead" and as she loves black I made her one with a black base dipped in gold perferct pearls, with a touch of metallic foil for that bling zizz! Then next day she turned up at Ranger wearing it as a necklace! How cool was that!

For Ranger U graduation a bunch of the crazy classmates who hang out in the hotel lobby (a lot!) dreamed up the idea of making our won graduation hats, so after about what seemed like half an hour, we finally figured out how to fold paper hats! Yes really it took us ages to "get it", then the next day we had to hide them in our "bun" ovens (ie sit on them) and try to decorate them in secret so the "teachers' didn't find out! Suffice to say there was a lot of colour spraying going on in the ladies loos! And so that is why we look a bit silly in our graduation photos. We gave TIm Suze and Claudine their own so they could play along too....In our grad phot is the lovely Lori (Ink about It), Lin, Lisa and Leandra...the 4 L's!!!

Linda and I did some retail therapy on Monday - but that's another whole story! So now back to the reality of getting caught up on work. Mark did really well staying on top of everything....even the washing, while I was away. Of course he left the ironing for me...so i did that yesterday after I got home and it kept me awake through the jet lag.

Oh and I almost forgot...yesterday was Mark's birthday...so after the kids and he opened all the goodies I brought back for them we went out to Zizzi in Brentwood for a meal (Italian). The kids devoured all the olives, bread and salami starter in a snap, and then we all tested each others meals and desserts. It was a really great evening, and much better than me trying to cook.....remember by now I have been awake for about 40 hours solid, so that was pretty good going to even make it to the restaurant. I think the glass of bubbly, followed by a scrummy italian red wine was perfect to make sure I slept well when I got home!

If you want step outs of the "Leandra Bead" then you can see it in this month's Craft Stamper (November issue). Also Jo Firth-Young Has a great article in there (the cover article actually - YAY for Jo), and we are doing a special offer on the stamps used in her pop up card...so check it out now and don't miss out!


Today we went out and filled Mother Hubbards cupboards with food, so now I'm catching up on emails and realising there is a heck of a lot to get done before I'm off once again! I have a couple of gigs in the UK this month, then it's off to France next month!

Keep stamping...have you got the Xmas bug yet???