Kevin's Gang & Diamond Resin with Nikki K

Morning everyone,

It's my turn to share another jewellery make with you, and I had so much fun making this one! I absolutely adore the 'Kevin's Gang' and 'Duke's Gang' stamp sets from IndigoBlu, and decided to use Kevin's gang in this piece.

I stamped onto dictionary paper (the cat pages!) with black Versafine, and coloured my gang in with Sleeping Beauty, and Emerald City paints, watered down so the pages still showed through. These paints are so good the shimmer is still vibrant even watered down.

I then took some 0.6mm silver plated jewellery wire, and laid the picture flat on the table, and eased the wire around the cat shape by holding one piece down with my hand, and just gently  moving the wire with the other hand. It's easier than it sounds!

I cut the wire and wrapped one side around the other, creating a spiral tail. The cat shape is then finished and ready to glue down. Make sure it's as flat as you can get it, just work it a little to flatten it.

Using the new Slap It On Gloss, put a generous amount on your paper, and around the bottom edge of the frame, and glue the two together, and coat the whole of the paper to seal it. This makes it stronger and stops the resin seeping through the paper at a later stage. In this case we don't want the paper to go see through.

When it's dry, cut around your cat shape, you can leave a little border or take it right to the wire, or use a file at that stage if easier. Give the cat another coat, front and back, of Slap It On Gloss.

Repeat with all your shapes, until you have your 'gang' all ready to go.

Take your Diamond Resin, and mix one part A to one part B, in the mixing cup provided. Stir for 2 minutes, it will go cloudy then clear. If you have bubbles, leave it for a few minutes, and they should start to dissipate. Don't worry however, as when you spread the resin, it will clear further. You have around 45 minutes working time usually, although this may be less in warmer conditions.  

When the resin is mixed, add it to your shapes with a lollipop stick, being careful not to add too much. A thin layer at a time is fine, I usually leave it overnight to dry, then come back and do another layer. I did this on the front and back of all my cats, to make them stronger. There are probably four layers on each cat. You just need to leave them to dry overnight between coats.

Here's the gang together :

I then took some chain, and some beads, a clasp and jump rings, and proceeded to put a necklace together. You could use the two cats with opposing tails as earrings, but I decided a full jingling necklace was needed. Here are the finished results; hope you like them.

Can you see which dictionary pages I used?

Thank you for joining me today; hope to see you again with another Diamond Resin creation.

Best Wishes,

Nikki K.

xx

Kibble Kits & Kibble Pups!

Hi everyone,

Nikki here today, it's been a while since I posted on the main blog, but we have lots of new stamps, and these in particular were perfect for me to make jewellery with, so I thought I'd show you how. I'm using the brand spanking new Kibble Kits & Kibble Pups, which match Kevin's Gang (Cats) and Duke's Gang (Dogs). You can leave them black and white, colour them all in, or colour just one cat or dog that takes your fancy and make it stand out. They are brilliant for card backgrounds and the single stamps are just adorable and so much fun.

I've also been using the new IndigoBlu Diamond Resin, which is just AMAZING!  It's a jeweller's grade 2 part epoxy resin, which is very simple to use. It's self levelling and self doming, and can be used on your artwork, paper, with jewellery, or to protect and preserve objects. It's also VERY good value!

So here's how it goes..

Take an image of your choice from the stamps, and cut it to fit your bezel. Colour in as you wish.

Coat the front, back, and sides with Slap It On. Make sure it's coated well, and dried well, before gluing into your bezel. You can use Slap It On for that as well. This protects the image, and stops the resin from seeping into the paper. This is useful for photo's and any image you don't want to go darker or see through.

I make up a lot at the same time, then leave them overnight to make sure they are dry, but an hour or so is usually fine. This stops the risk of any moisture getting into the mix.

Think about how much you will need for what you have made, it's best to make a few items and have them ready, before you mix your resin. Have a clean, flat, prepared area to work in, and something to cover your work to protect it from dust while it dries. I use the lid of a storage box usually. If you need to rest your bezels on something to lift them (the bail sometimes sticks out), I use an acrylic block or similar.

Take your Diamond Resin, and mix one part A to one part B, equal measures. Getting the right measure's is the most important part here, other than that it's easy peasy. Mix together for two minutes, stirring slowly, making sure you can't see any striations in the mix (it goes cloudy then clear, then you can tell if it's not mixed by lines you can see in it). Don't worry about little bubbles at this stage, they will go.

Once mixed, use your stirring stick to ease resin out of your mixing cup, I pick it up on the stick and use it that way, but you might prefer to pour from the cup. Just pour a little at a time.  It's easier to add resin than to take it away. Ease it to the edges of your bezel, but don't force it.  It will find it's way. Don't fill the bezel completely, it's easier to come back and do a second coat when it's dry enough, and the second coat will dome the piece.

Leave your piece under cover for at least 8 hours, I prefer to leave it overnight.  It should be dry to touch overnight, and will be jeweller's grade rock hard in 72 hours. You can re-coat after about 8 hours when it's tacky dry if you can't wait to do your second layer, but I tend to wait for 24.

I made quite a few pendants, but here are some I liked because they were all differently done, some coloured completely, some with just a lone cat. And I loved the dogs all different colours, and 'bright cats' as I like to call it.

I hope you like them and it gives you some inspiration, I think they are great for so many applications, and I can't wait to do more! And if you've ever wanted to try resin, this is a great place to start.

Best Wishes,

Nikki K.
xx

Challenge 33 Demonstrator's Reminder - Time Flies

Good morning everyone,

Today it's reminder day for our challenge.  If you haven't seen what this month's challenge is all about, take a look HERE.  The theme is 'Time Flies', and we'd love to see your entries, just remember, they MUST contain Indigoblu stamps please.  Entries that don't have Indigoblu stamps used will be discounted.

The fabulous winner’s prize this month is your choice of IndigoBlu stamps.  As always, you have 3 options to choose from:

1:   2 Large stamp plates

or
2:   4 Small stamp plates

or

3:   1 Large and 2 small plates

There’s also the Winner’s Badge, and one for the Top 3, to display proudly on your blog, and the WINNER of the challenge will also be invited to do a GUEST SPOT on a future Challenge Launch post. That’s right, your work will be on the Challenge Blog alongside the Design Team!

Also the Top Three each month (chosen by our lovely DT) will all be invited to do an inspiration piece to be included on the new reminder post that now goes live mid challenge. So, if you’d like a chance to be featured on the IndigoBlu Challenge Blog get those stamps out and get creating!

Here is some more beautiful inspiration for you:

Lydia 

Cheremane

Nikki K

Nikki K

Nikki K

Hope we have inspired you to enter the challenge, you have until 8pm on the 20th November, and can enter HERE.

Best Wishes,

IndigoBlu Demonstrators. 

Challenge 28 - A pocketful of Posies

Hi everyone, I'm excited about this month's challenge, I think it's one you will all love, especially as we are coming to summer and the flower's will be out... we'd like to see your 'Pocketful of Posie's' entries!

Firstly the winner of last month's challenge Just One Layer is:

Congratulations Elaine Traverso!  Please contact anna@indigoblu.com to arrange your prize and don't forget to grab your winner's badge from the badges tab above.

The fabulous winner’s prize this month is your choice of IndigoBlu stamps.  As always, you have 3 options to choose from:

1:   2 Large stamp plates

or
2:   4 Small stamp plates

or

3:   1 Large and 2 small plates

There’s also the Winner’s Badge, and one for the Top 3, to display proudly on your blog, and the WINNER of the challenge will also be invited to do a GUEST SPOT on a future Challenge Launch post. That’s right, your work will be on the Challenge Blog alongside the Design Team!

Also the Top Three each month (chosen by the DT) will all be invited to do an inspiration piece to be included on the new reminder post that now goes live mid challenge. So, if you’d like a chance to be featured on the IndigoBlu Challenge Blog get those stamps out and get creating!

You’ll find all the information on how to enter the challenge,  the rules (don’t worry, there’s not that many) and get to meet the Design Team in the tabs above.

This month’s Top 3 from the 'Just One Layer' challenge, as chosen by the DT are...

1: No. 15 - Bev
2: No. 31 - Lynda
3: No. 32 - Jane

Well deserved congratulations to you all, and don't forget to grab your Top Three badge from the Badges tab above.

This months challenge is... Challenge 28 - A Pocketful of Posies.

Last month's winner Helen, made this fab lamp for us:

Helen had this to say:

I had a naked bodice to hand so decided to make an apron using the Anemone Corner stamp. I used 'Mowed Lawn' Distress Ink pad on green fabric, added a pocket, a flower button and lace. I covered the bodice with a floral decoupage paper and added a bead 'necklace'.

I then had an idea to turn the bodice into a lamp base so dug out a naked flower pot to use as a shade. I turned the pot upside down  to create a shade and covered it using 5 pieces card (one plain piece for the top of the pot) that I coloured with a 'Stormy Weather' Distress Ink pad and I stamped the border stamp from Nature 1 across the bottom of each piece of card in black VersaFine. Once I had glued the card in place I used a clear tube (piece of junk) to glue the shade and bodice together.

I think you will agree this is a fantastic idea from Helen, I'm sure she would love it if you hopped across to her blog to check out the full details.  Thank you Helen for your inspiration this month for IndigoBlu.

And now to our Challenge Design Team, who have some makes to share with you too:

Jenny Marples

Nikki Killinger

Julie Cassidy

We'd love to see your work - do enter for your chance to win, and share with your friends so they can enter too, the more the merrier!

Good luck,
The IndigoBlu Challenge Design Team.

An InLinkz Link-up

Indigoblu Challenge 26 - 'Off the Edge'

Hi everyone. It seems Spring is definitely here, and you all took the challenge up so well. We had some fab entries again this month - thank you all for entering.

The winner of Challenge 24: 'Spring Greens' is:

#30 Helen Barker

Congratulations Helen. Please email anna@indigoblu.com to arrange your prize and don't forget to grab your Winner's Badge from the Badges tab above.

The fabulous Winner’s prize this month is your choice of IndigoBlu stamps.  As always, you have 3 options to choose from:

1:   2 Large stamp plates

or
2:   4 Small stamp plates

or

3:   1 Large and 2 small plates

There’s also the Winner’s Badge, and one for the Top 3, to display proudly on your blog, and the WINNER of the challenge will also be invited to do a GUEST SPOT on a future Challenge Launch post. That’s right, your work will be on the Challenge Blog alongside the Design Team!

Also the Top Three each month (chosen by the DT) will all be invited to do an inspiration piece to be included on the new reminder post that now goes live mid challenge. So, if you’d like a chance to be featured on the IndigoBlu Challenge Blog get those stamps out and get creating!

You’ll find all the information on how to enter the challenge,  the rules (don’t worry, there’s not that many) and get to meet the Design Team in the tabs above.

This month’s Top 3 from the 'Spring Greens' challenge, as chosen by the DT are...

1: No 32, Christina Dore
2: No 29,  Craftie Times
3: No. 5, Sue the Iron

Well deserved congratulations to you all, and don't forget to grab your Top Three badge from the Badges tab above.

This months challenge is... 'Off the Edge'

Our lovely winner of the Spring Green's challenge has joined us as a Guest Designer this month, this is her inspiration for you:

Beverley had this to say:

I would like to thank the team at IndigoBlu for inviting me to be guest designer this month. I feel honoured and delighted to join them. I have always been a huge fan of IndigoBlu and I am still amazed and thrilled to have won.

The blue background of the card has been done with alcohol inks, cling film technique and using the diamond stencil and blending solution to form the pattern in the places I wanted.

I stamped the bubbles background stamp in white pigment ink in two corners.

I used the diamond stencil again, coloured embossing paste, silver and blue glass glitter, which added dimension and interest to another corner.

The last corner was highlighted with heat embossed enamel, mica flakes and coloured glass glitter.

The Big Butterfly stamp has been stamped and embossed with white embossing powder ‘Off The Edge’ of the blue background card.

I cut out a square out of white card and popped the blue background into it. This gave me ‘The Off The Edge’ theme that I wanted.

I stamped the Big Butterfly again and the Bubbles Stamp and heat embossed with white embossing powder and added more embossing enamel, mica flakes and glass glitter onto the white card to finish off the theme.

I masked off one of the bubbles and stamped a small butterfly from the Butterfly Collector stamp set into it and embossed in white.

I masked and coloured some of the bubbles and added glossy accents to them.

The word ‘Love’ has been die cut with glossy accents on it.

Lastly, I used a Dye ink around the edges and mounted it onto white card.

I had fun, tried new techniques to me and now have lots of ‘trial’ (mistakes) backgrounds to use at a later date!

Thank you once again for giving me this opportunity and thank you for your fabulous, continuous inspiration from your very talented Design Team.

Thank you Beverley for joining us this month, beautiful inspiration!  

You can see Beverley's full blog here.

And on to the Challenge Designer's pieces, you can visit their blogs and see how they were made by clicking on their names under the pics.

LindyLou

Gez Butterworth

Julie Cassidy

Laura Williams

Nikki K

Hope you agree there is some fab inspiration here!  We'd love to see your work - do enter for your chance to win!

Good luck,
The IndigoBlu Challenge Design Team.

An InLinkz Link-up