Glitz Spritz and other waffle

A little bit of an in between post today, a sort of filler while I silently panic away in the background. 

I have been a bit lacking in the commenting department recently, it's partly due to the annual accounts, what with those and the VAT being due by the end of the year, it's taking a little bit of the nice edge off the Christmas feeling:(  I'd much rather be getting my cards finished, putting our tree up, shopping, getting on with planning the new shows on the telly for the new year and just, well much much nicer things...

Sorry folks, you have an unfinished card today, so a little imagination is needed, but by hook or by crook, I'll be starting Christmas here properly tomorrow!!...(Or it may be Friday!)

This is one of the last of the 'off the hoof' demo's I showed on C and C, it still isn't a finished card but I'm showing the bits anyway!  I'll show the last of my extra demo's soon, I just need some chocolates before I can show that one:)  ...Ian?

I used a Moonglow Glitz Spritz, this one was Desert Moon Endless Sky, one of my favourites.  Glitz Spritz is mica powder, again in a spray bottle but a little more subtle than the stains.  It was one of the first products from the Moonglow range I started with, about 8 years ago at least, I really must look up how long I have been lucky enough to have been working with this stuff!

Anyway, I had a glitch on the show, live of course, you may have watched and noticed.  How many times have I told everyone to make sure they shake their bottles enough to get all the mica out of the bottom of the bottle so it doesn't get stuck and clogged in the spray nozzle?  zillions of times!! 

Never one to take note of my own advice, plus getting caught out at being allowed to do more than the normal 3 demos in a live show, I wasn't quite ready, so I'm applying a third of the blame to my tools, a third blaming me for not shaking the darn bottle enough, and a third blaming C and C for letting us fit in more demos!  The extra floating 1% is given to sod's law!  The lovely dear bottle sprayed once every 3 sprays for me on the show.  It's been fine since I shook the hell out of it!  Anyway, I watched the show after at my mum's and my step-dad said, "you'll not get a lot of orders for that then!"  So funny... thanks Pete:) xxxx  ...while I inwardly cringed!

Never let it be said that I can't own up to a glitch!  As many of you have seen, I've been a master of them in our shows.  Wonky mounting, forgetting what I'm going to say are amongst the classics, but, I have to say, I was the first to ever attempt tricky things like ultra thick embossing and gold leafing amongst other things in a drafty studio, and they all turned out fine.  I do sometimes wonder why I do it:)  and you must too when you watch our shows!!!  I do try, but as you've seen, I ain't perfect! 

I think Vix is still getting over the shock of seeing me doing shrink plastic on a live show, there was a time when I felt a little scared of shrink plastic, but you have to show it who's the boss!  Fiddling with it doesn't help any, it just tickles it into silly raptures and let's it go and do stupid things like sticking to itself.  Best to be firm with a wooden stick and make it behave.  Show the slightest bit of panic and you'll lose the game with it:)  Shrink plastic CAN be conquered!!  It doesn't stick to wood, so just hold it firmly with a wooden dowelling stick or even a lolly stick, in one place, ideally the centre, and let it do it's dancing about.  Once it has submitted into a smaller more controllable piece you can tidy it up, flatten it or shape it, you are then the boss:)

Challenges.... (yes, I will get back to the Glitz Spritz shortly).  I do like to throw out a few here and there and Tracey landed one of them on this show as on her first she only got to do one demo, so I wanted everyone to see more of her doing her stuff.  I asked her to do the gold leafing, well, didn't she do well!  We had been asked by Create and Craft to add this to the show along with the acetate we've had on before.  Quite a challenging list of products but I think Tracey did really well with it to say it was only her 2nd ever show, and it was live!  Vix and Jo also came up trumps with their cards too.

OK, back to the Glitz Spritz, follow the instructions on the bottle to add the water.

Give the bottle a REALLY REALLY good shake, make sure there is no mica lurking about at the bottom of the bottle, then spray.  The bottles are very good, they give a really fine mist when shaken well ...   (an embarassed Jill here on that one still!)

For the frame background I sprayed plenty onto a non stick sheet then mopped it up onto card before stamping over with the frame.  It gives a lovely shimmery ethereal effect and is also great for other sky effect projects.

I also sprayed onto black card, intending to use it as a mount, before mounting onto the sprayed hammered card once I've got round to scoring and trimming it into a finished base card.  Maybe it'll get it finished after Christmas!

I'll be back to properly finished projects tomorrow, I'm sure!  I just need to get on again today and get some of the boring stuff out of the way...

Workshops
Have you made it down the post this far?  If so, are you are within driving distance of visiting us this weekend?  Do you fancy taking time out this Saturday 12th December, to play with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, Melt Pots and more?  If you can make it, the other Jill around here, Jill Boulton, is holding a workshop this weekend, the last one she did here with UTEE was brilliant as she covered so many techniques during the day.  Give us a ring, book online or email us if you wish to join in.

We also have a workshop, with me, on Saturday 19th December.  We will be playing with products from the Moonglow range, such as the Starburst Stains, Moonshadow Inks and Mists, Pigment Powders, Glitz Spritz etc plus a brand new Moonglow product!!  So new I haven't even tried it yet! 

Giveaways
As well as the blog candy giveaway that we are currently running, and the blog hop prizes we sponsored this weekend with the Tuesday Taggers, we have more giveaways to come, so when you get a chance to call back during your Christmas preparations, do so, as you'll have the chance to take part and maybe win something nice for yourself.

That's all for now, I'd better get back to those a/c books...

Jill