Beautiful bouquet

Good afternoon all, 

hope you are having a good week.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will all 

have some beautiful weather this Easter weekend. 

I have an egg hunt planned for a certain little man. 

Today I am going to share another dt sample with you. 

This one is from the recent AALL & Create show with Leonie. 

I started off by creating the background.

I just love how  this is so unpredictable.

Next I stamped using black VersaFine Claire ink. 

I then added some more detail to the background using this fabulous stencil and 

some more green  ink, followed by some stamping. 

This is a great way to add layers. 

I stamped the design once more on separate card, added some colour and cut  it out. 

After matting and layering, I added some hessian and then decoupaged the flower. 

I do love how this is building up. 

More matting and layering, followed by some splats of green ink. 

I just have to add splats to just about everything these days. 

The sentiment is from another stamp set from AALL & Create called Bouquet small. 

Some string in a bow to finish off.

Then I just couldn’t resist, 

The design just needed some splats of white Sharpie pen.

Here is a closer look. 

I do hope you like what I have created. 

I must love you and leave you as Adam and family are coming round. 

He is 30 today...

I really can’t believe where the years have gone...

Especially now that he has his two boys.

More coffee and cake today for me then.

Take care all

Much love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Anglesey workshop day

Good afternoon all, 

I hope your Sunday is going well. 

I just wanted to pop in and share some photos with you. 

Yesterday it was our Anglesey workshop. 

It is always a pleasure to travel to Anglesey and spent time 

with this lovely group of ladies. 

We started the day with a quick and easy warm up card. 

Recognise this stamp from Fridays blog post? 

Our main project was a Lavinia clock.

I do love to teach some mixed media, 

Either painted with black or white gesso. 

I didn't manage to photograph all the fabulous creations. 

So sorry ladies. 

But I did get a few 

It was such a fabulous day, 

Thanks Julie for your help and ladies

I am so proud of you all and your gorgeous creations. 

The weather was beautiful and the roads were kind to us, 

even Manchester United managed to win their match.

So Karl was a happy bunny.

I must admit, that I am a little tired today. 

Tomorrow I have an outing with two very special friends, followed by a family meal out.

Mikey and Fran are stopping over so it will probably be a very late night.

Enjoy your evening all 

Do pop back soon

Much love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Friday Dreams

Good afternoon everyone, 

I do hope your Friday is going well and that 

you have a lovely weekend planned. 

For me it is our Anglesey workshop tomorrow, 

so a busy but wonderful day to look forward too. 

I have a lovely mixed media project planned for the ladies, and as I was 

getting the class stamps sorted out , 

I had an idea. 

One of the stamps is the fabulous Flower Flourish stamp from Lavinia stamps.

https://laviniastamps.com/product/flower-flourish

Now you know me...

I do love a wreath design, 

And yes I wanted to see if the Flourish stamp could be used. 

This is what I came up with .

Have you seen these new acrylic blocks. ? 

Pretty special, and yes I did have to buy a couple. 

One to use and one to stand in my window as an ornament.

You can get them here 

https://laviniastamps.com/product/engraved-acrylic-blocks

I started by stamping the Flourish four times, turning the card through 90degrees each time. 

Then I stamped  in the gaps, for this part I found it best not to ink up the stem part 

of the design. 

Then it was just a matter of adding some extra leaves 

Some berries, 

Followed by more foliage. 

I added some ink and script stamping to the background. 

Followed by some splats of SprinkleIt 

I added one of the fabulous new Crow stamps, 

Gave him a Dream to stand on. 

White and sparkle gel pens added the finishing touches 

Here is a closer look.

I just adore making theses cards, 

What is your favourite design to make? 

I do hope you like today’s creation, 

Have a lovely weekend all.

Please take care .

Much love and hugs 

Safe travels tomorrow ladies 

Jo xxx

Workshop Wednesday

Good afternoon all, 

hope you are having a lovely, sunny Thursday.

Another busy day here, 

but I have found time to take Tess and Eric for a long country walk. 

Yesterday it was our regular workshops in Hazel Grove and we had a play with watercolour pens. 

I used Spectrum Aqua Markers.

For our first card I used a combination of stamps from Lavinia and Hobby Art.

After all that is what us Crafters do at home isn’t it ? 

We stamped using VersaFine ink, 

Scribbled some colour using the pens onto a tile,  and then added some water and watercoloured the scene. 

The sentiment is also a Hobby Art Stamp.

Our second card had a different feel.

We stamped the poppy , added some ink around it, and then watercoloured the image. 

The splats were added at the end. 

I do love the simplicity of this design.

It also looks great with different coloured inks around the edges. 

We were treated in the morning to Easter Rocky Road and very yummy it was too.

Thank you so much Julie. 

Have you got any watercolour pens? If so , do you use them ? 

I think it is great to find a product that you haven’t used for a while, 

Get it out and have a play. 

Must go, 

Lunch time here.

Enjoy the rest of your day, 

and Mum , I will phone you later...

Love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Little Frida

Good afternoon all, 

thanks for joining me today.

I do hope that it is lovely weather for you, 

as the sun is shining here in Holmes Chapel. 

I have been in my craft room all day, getting inky.

I just have time for a quick catch up before tackling the ironing mountain.

Today I thought I would share another one of my tv samples for 

Leonies show using products from AALL & Create.

As soon as I saw the Freda stamp, I knew exactly what I wanted to create with her. 

You see I drew this pallete shape last year and had it made into MDF shapes. 

I was just waiting for the right opportunity to use it. 

I added some grunge paste and let it dry. 

I painted the whole thing with black gesso, let it dry, then added the coloured paint. 

I used inka gold and this fabulous stencil to add texture. 

Some splatters of white gesso for detail. 

On separate card stock I stamped Freda, plus accessories then added some colour and cut them  out. 

I do love to add extra detail by using elements such as the paintbrush.

Here is a closer look. 

This was such a fun piece to create. 

I hope it makes you smile. 

Enjoy your evening .

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Groovi Saturday

Good morning everyone, 

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

It was our regular Groovi workshop on Saturday, and 

although we had a couple of our regular ladies on holiday we still had a full class. 

We used the new King plates. 

They make gorgeous frames. 

I know that a few of the ladies find a full frame quite daunting.

So I wanted to come up with a design using just part of the frame. 

I do love to use just part of a design, and this 

can be teamed up with some stamping, die cutting etc. 

It is good to mix and match all our various crafts.

This little corner can be used sideways, to create a gatefold card. 

I came up with a template to make it quick and easy .

Then the envelope design was born. 

I do think this is so pretty. 

Thanks for your company ladies, and for all the hints and tips that we swapped.

When I got home, I found a little visitor, 

Elliot was playing football with Grandad, Jenson had to spend the afternoon in hospital.

He was home later so that was good. 

Then after we spent Sunday morning painting the shed both boys came round for the afternoon...

Jenson had a lovely afternoon nap.

The weekend goes so quickly...

What have you got planned for this week? 

I have workshops on Wednesday, and Saturday.

I also have some design team samples to make, pyrography commissions to finish, not to mention 

I need to make Adam a Birthday card...

He will be 30 next week...

It only seems yesterday that he was a baby, like little Jenson.

The sun is shinning today, 

We have two baby blackbirds in the garden, I do love to watch them. 

Although we have a pair of Mistle Thrushes and they are very territorial, and seem 

to chase most of the other birds away..

Take care everyone

Have a lovely day and catch up soon

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

On your Special Day

Good afternoon all.

Well, we made it to Friday. 

I have got my bags packed ready for tomorrow’s workshop, so only a few 

little jobs to do now and then I can go and cook some food. 

It is fish tonight, what are you having ? 

Today I thought I would share a lovely floral card with you. 

I have used a gorgeous stamp set from Hobby Art Stamps 

http://www.hobbyartstamps.com/Jean-s-Flowers.html

I started with two pieces of stencil card, both 7x7.

Stamped one up with first generation stamping 

and the other with second generation. 

One for the front of the card and the second is going to be the insert.  

Some inking and more stamping 

I do love using Becky’s background stamps. 

I added some splats and some colour using my Inktense pencils and  water. 

Look how vibrant the colour is.

Then all I needed to do was to add a sentiment, a Bakers twine bow and some butterflies .

Again from Hobby Art. 

It makes such a lovely design for inside the card too. 

So that is my inspiration for you for today.

I do hope that you like it.

Have a lovely weekend, whatever you are doing.

I am really looking forwards to having a day off on Sunday.

Elliot and Jenson are coming round to play...

Happy Days 

Much love and hugs 

Jo. x.