Busy day, quick post :)

Had a busy day making, photographing and uploading so this is just a quick post to keep up with the one a day :)

Today's makes included these hearts ready for Valentine's and Mother's day plus candle stands ready for craft fairs.

Are you sending anything on Valentine's day?
Would love to hear about it.

You can see more of what I create on my facebook page Jangill Designs.

Or why not come and have a look what's on my website - there is still a lot to go on there but I'd love to know what you think so far :)
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Geeky is the new Sexy!

It doesn't happen very often as I always seem to have something to do while getting my business off the ground, but I planned a day out and away from everything to do with my normal schedule. 

I also got my eldest daughter in on the act and went to visit her in Stoke on Trent. 

After munching my way through too many of the Bounty miniatures in her chocolate box ( she and her hubby don't like them so I was just helping out..... honest :) ) we decided a craft based shopping trip was in order. 

I needed some bright yellow paint and Hanley is home to one of my favourite shops, Webberley's. It's a book shop downstairs and an art and craft shop upstairs. If you are in the area it is definitely worth a look. I managed to pick up a great wallet with 10 Daler Rowney paint brushes in for less than the cost of 2 individual brushes. I get through a lot of brushes!

We then moved on to another favourite shop Abakhan. It sells craft materials, wools and fabrics. Many of the fabrics are from it's own mill and are at knock down prices. 

Now this is where I get a bit geeky.

I am an avid Science fiction fan as is my wonderful Fiance. We are going to a fancy dress party as a social night with the Motorbike club to which we both belong. The theme is uniform - but not the uniform we would usually wear to work. We decided on the uniform for Star trek :). We had all but given up on the idea though as the uniforms to buy as fancy dress are really expensive. In Abakhan however, I found enough red and black fabrics to make both our outfits for less than £9. Bargain!

And I do love a bargain :)

Now to find a pattern and a Comms badge ..... guess I will be having a couple more days off....

Butterfly Card creation.

I must confess, this is the first card I have made in quite a while having been busy with other projects including moving house, painting and starting up a jewellery business. However I had a few left over Swarovski crystals and thought they would make a nice centre for a butterfly card, and I have this thing about butterflies and dragonflies.

Hope you like it. If you are feeling creative would also love to see what you do too.

I would like to enter this in the Tsunami Rose Wednesday Challenge 2







To make this you will need
Selection of crystals for the butterfly body plus 6mm faceted round for head.
8 inch piece of tigertail cut in half
3 x crimp beads
4 x skeleton leaves
Pearlescent ivory card stock
Square card
Silk flowers, pearl brad, crystals.

1 Make the butterfly body. Cut the piece of tiger tail in half and working with the two pieces as one, thread a crimp bead on to both pieces and attach about half an inch from the end. Thread on your selection of beads except for the head. Thread the head on to ONE strand then thread the other piece of tiger tail through the bead through the other hole. Move the bead so it sits at right angles to the body beads with the remainder of the tiger tail sticking out of the bead in opposite directions. thread and attach crimp beads adjacent to each side of the head. Bend the tiger tail to a position you like and cut to length. Use round nosed pliers to shape the ends.
2 Make the raised motif. Cut out a piece of card stock to about 2.5 x 4 inches. Colour the edges with permanent ink. Attach the skeleton leaves to give a butterfly wing effect. I used a couple of sticky dots at the centre. Arrange the butterfly body over the wings and stitch in place avoiding the sticky areas.
3 Finishing. Cut half an inch off the front right hand side of the card. Colour the edge to match the motif. Attach the motif using foam pads, making sure that your wings stay within the overall card size. Hold together 2 silk flowers with a pearl brad and attach to the card. Finish with crystals or peel-offs as desired. Add an insert if wanted, ensuring it fits within the smaller card front.

How to Turn Crystal to Emerald

It's that time of year when bills are higher, Christmas has hit the bank balance but you could really do with something to cheer you up. Someone has given you a gift card so you hit the sales. You get the outfit you want and plan to wear it out at the weekend. Money hasn't stretched as far as any matching jewellery.....
time for a makeover. No, not for you, for those clear crystal/rhinestone pieces in your jewellery box.

How can we do that?

In this case I have taken a pair of dangle earrings which are clear and converted them to emerald green. As a regular glass artist I used a proprietary glass paint. Using a very fine brush, I applied a thin layer of transparent paint. This allows all the sparkle to shine through. These paints require firing, which can be done in a domestic oven. You can however use a number of other colours - nail varnish works really well and can be removed later to change the colour again. You can also change the colour with permanent marker pen which works surprisingly well. In this case I also changed the ear hooks for a sterling silver set and added an open ring to increase the total length. Don't have any suitable pieces to use? - you can always get something suitable for a few pence from a charity shop as I did here :)

FREE STUFF - Designer Give-Away

I am so excited I am going to have a give-away on my face book page once it reaches 100 likes. It's on 77 at the moment so the time is drawing near. To be in with a chance of winning a designer piece of jewellery, glassware or even a work of art, all you will have to do is answer a very simple question.
Pop along to Jangill Designs and like the page. As soon as likes reach 100 I will post the question.
The picture here is of a necklace made with a Swarovski Elements Helios pendant and sterling silver chain and and bail. The pendant is oval in shape with an eccentric hole. The surface cut emanates from the elliptical centre like rays of the sun - giving the pendant it's name, after the Greek god of the sun. I love how the crystal captures the light and sparkles with golden shades.
I would love to read your comments on here and on my facebook page :)

Anyone can draw.

Many years ago I undertook a PGCE course with the Open University with the aim of going on to teach Chemistry. My Bachelor degree is in Maths and Chemistry and my A-levels were all science based. Halfway through the course I had to write a major essay. I can't remember the exact topic but it had to do with educational theory at the time. There was a minimum and maximum word count and my finished essay fitted nicely within it. I was quite pleased that I had managed to cover all the points I thought were relevant.
I was devastated when I got it back and can remember to this day the exact comments at the bottom. It was given a "bare pass" and was annotated with "too succinct and to the point so it reads threadily".
Having been taught, as a scientist, to write accurately and succinctly, stating facts and conclusions without adding opinions, it was a bitter pill to swallow. Even then, in my 30's it had an impact on my self esteem.
That also reminded me of a time at school when my report for Art recommended I shouldn't continue with the subject. I didn't, at least not at school. How many other learners get told they have no aptitude for something and give it up? I bet that is most of us. Maths, science, art, music - if you don't get it straight away, you can't do it.
The truth is, we develop different parts of our brain at different rates and learn in different ways. We also need to be engaged with the subject. So if there is something you would really like to do but think you can't learn how, or have been told, as I was, that you were poor at the subject and have shied away from it, then take another look. Think on this - if you have the hand eye co-ordination to write with pen and paper, then you have the ability to draw. If your brain can compute all the complicated skills required to drive a vehicle, then you can do maths. If someone says you can't, you need a new teacher or a different critic :)

Stunning Sunset

For a few years I lived in the Midlands on the outskirts of Birmingham. It had some good points - I got to do lots of craft demonstrations as it was such a highly populated area, but I found the continual "rat race" a strain and missed the proper "wild" countryside that I had been brought up and lived with for most of my life. I moved eventually back to Wales, to a small village called Llanfair Caereinion. From the very first day I felt at home. The nights were dark, the skies studded with stars, the air fresh and most of all the people had time. They smiled in the street, stopped and talked to each other and never locked their doors! The garden was large with mature trees and surrounded by a dry stone wall. This picture is from the window of the house, which was the former Vicarage, out across the St Mary's church.
The village gets it's name from the church - Llanfair means Church of St Mary's - and from the River Einion that runs through the village. Caer is the Welsh word for Fort.