Groovi Sunday.

Hi all and thanks for visiting today. I do hope that you had a lovely Easter weekend.

We spent time with friends and family , ate some chocolate and I managed to get time to play with some new Clarity stash....my samples are now in the post....ready for Barbara who is back on Hochanda this coming Sunday and Monday. ....omg....your poor bank account!!!! More must have products.....shhhh. I have said too much already....

Did you manage to catch Paul on Hochanda last Sunday ? , he had three wonderful hours...great demonstrations...if not you can still see the shows on catch up...

I thought I would share one of my samples with you today....

Well my first one for the Groovi shows....now please be gentle, I am not a parchment expert like our lovely Emma and Susan...( do check out their blogs ) ..I am a long way behind them on the Groovi trail...but I am learning all the time....and eager to pass it all on to you...

This is using the new Leafy Swirl and Large netting plates.

I started by making my frames using the nested square plates...remembering to rub the parchment with a tumble dryer sheet first.

And then added the leafy swirl designs...

I love the way that the plates are so interchangeable ...

Followed by the netting....

Then it was deep breath time and some white work. So I turned my mat over and used the no 4 then 3 ball tools.

Next came some colour and I used my Spectrum Noir pencils..., first some green ,

Then some orange....remember that you can colour straight over the back of the white work and it won't affect it at all....

Some matting and layering , and the wonderful corner punch....

Oh now I see that four more of these have arrived at Clarity.....they need to be in my craft room too...

Dare I say ....here is a closer look....mmmm not too close now...!!!!

I am eager to try the pricking and snipping...maybe not this week though....I will build myself up to that...

Better make tracks...jobs still to do today...

Thank you so much for your continued support on my little blog...

I really do appreciate it....

Love and hugs....

Jo. xxx

 

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Happy Easter.

Good morning all and thanks for popping in today on this Easter Sunday,,,

I do hope that you are having a lovely weekend even if we have got some wet and windy weather.

Did you remember to put your clocks forward? I hope you did....otherwise you had better do it now...

On Friday we spent a couple of hours with Mikey for his Birthday...and yesterday we had lots of catching up jobs on the list plus I have been playing with some new Clarity goodies....speaking of which do remember to tune in to Hochanda today to catch our Paul, not to be missed shows.

Have you had an Easter eggs yet? Look what arrived on Thursday ....

A rather magnificent basket.....but oh ....look what I found inside...

Now that's what I call heaven.....shows just how much my bestie knows me...she is such a love...

Have a lovely day all....

Stay safe and be kind....

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Busy, busy, busy,

Good afternoon all and thanks for joining me today...we have just got in after taking Tess and Eric for a long walk....oh it is a bit chilly outside today....I fear it may be a bit of a wash out for the Easter weekend...

It has been another busy week here, this morning I had a pyrography bread board to finish....it is a commissioned piece...

And yes Dylan is from Wales...

This was the dragon with just the outline done ,

And here he is with some shading...all done by hand....

Yesterday it was workshops in Hazel Grove...and as always it was great to catch up with everyone...

Chrissie was missing as she was having a minor operation, so we send her lots of good wishes..

 

We had some play with UTEE, and then just had to do some Smooshing...( this card has been left blank so that the crafters can add their own sentiment , depending on what occasion they need to use it for )

It was also my lovely nieces birthday.....here is her card...

Rachel's last birthday as a Miss..... Only a couple of weeks and she will be a Mrs...

Speaking of which , last night we went shopping to get the boys new suits for the wedding...and luck must have been smiling on us... As after 30 mins they both had suits, shirts, ties etc...so we could go and have a family meal ..... It was so wonderful to be out with the three special men in my life....

It is Mikey's birthday tomorrow, I really can't believe that he will be 25 ...where oh where has the time gone???

I must finish making his birthday card....

I had happy post this morning, so tomorrow I will be playing with some new stamps from Barbara...oh , just wait until you see them.....shhhhh

Remember that our Paul Church is back on our screens this Sunday...

Must get on....jobs still on the list...

Enjoy your evening....

Pop back soon...

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Springtime in Cumbria.

Good afternoon all and thanks for popping in today, I do hope that you have had a lovely weekend.

It was our monthly craft session in Cumbria yesterday, as always it is a pleasure to be crafting in the same room with these wonderful ladies and gentleman...

We stared our day with grunge paste and Clarity stencils, to make our base , ready for paint and then some stamping...( we also added some gilding wax....onto our hook, unfortunately I called it a knob!!!!! As you can imagine....it all got rather silly!!!!! )

These wall mounted hooks are so useful , I have one for my keys and another for the dog leads..

We also had a play with some Ultra Thick Embossing powder and the windmill set of Clarity stamps...

The idea was to make a tile , a sort of Delft design

Then we just had to do some Smooshing....it went so well with the tea and cake...

Look at these, I love the effect and the colours are fab...

It is amazing how quickly the time goes when you craft with friends....

An added bonus too was that the sun was shinning for the drive home...

It has been another lovely Spring day today,,.and as I had some work to do this afternoon we decided to take the dogs to Dunham Massey this morning,,,it is such a great place for a walk...

We saw lots of deer , but they were all in their sanctuary so a little far away for a good photo...( sorry )

Tess and Eric had a great time..

They have slept all afternoon

The Sunday dinner is cooking , pork today...and I just have time to fetch the dry washing in before I dish out our food.

So I will love you and leave you for today,

Thanks for your company...

As always...take care and call back soon

Jo. xxx

 

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A work of Art.

Good afternoon all and thanks for looking in today...I do hope that your week has gone well.

I had a wonderful day yesterday when I went to the NEC show for the day with my lovely friend Julie. We travelled by train, and had a very relaxed, and inspiring day...plus we did talk rather a lot too...

We saw lots of crafty friends, great demonstrations and bought some stash including chocolate..mmmm

I have spent today getting sorted ready for Clarity Cumbria tomorrow, I have just finished packing, oh I have so many bags....my poor car...

So today I had a look back through my photos and found a card that I don't think I have shared with you...

It uses a most arty , wonderful stamp set... http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/New-In/19675-/Brilliant-Work-Of-Art-+-MASK---Unmounted-Clear-Stamp-Set

I started by looking through my stash of backgrounds, and found one that I had made using the leaf strip stencil and some distress bottled ink and water in a spritzer bottle.

I stamped the border using Black Archival ink, and then cut it out.

Next I stamped the smaller easel stamp, and cut that out too..

On a piece of separate card I stamped the other elements of this stamp set..

Added some colour and then cut them out

I took a piece of stencil card and stamped the words once again using black Archival ink, and then arranged the other elements.

Some charcoal pencil to add shade....( well it would be rude not too) and the design was complete...

I do think this is such a useful set of stamps and would cover many occasions....

As always all the Clarity products can be found on the Clarity website...

If you fancy joining in with one of our Clarity workshops, there is a full list of them and the tutors on the Clarity Challenge blog....we do try to cover as many regions as we can....

As for me....here is what I will be getting up to in April.....( oh plus Rachel's wedding on the 2nd)

April workshops.

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If you would like to join in any of these very friendly and relaxed classes just send me an email or a pm.....it would be great to see you....xxx

Jo Rice- jrcrafts28@gmail.com

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Wednesday 6th April - Hazel Grove, Cheshire

Saturday 9th April - Bodedern, Anglesey

Saturday 16th April - Lindale, Cumbria

Wednesday 20th April - Hazel Grove, Cheshire

Saturday 23rd April - CJ Cardcrafts, Edgeley, Stockport

Thursday 28th April - Grosvenor House Papers, Kendal, Cumbria

Saturday 30th April - Heald Green, Manchester.

 

I had better go, as I still have some ironing to do, the dogs to walk, meal to make...oh my lovely list....

Whatever you have planned , have a great weekend....

Take care and see you soon

Jo. xxx

 

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Another must have stamp.

Good afternoon all and thanks for popping back today. As promised yesterday , I am back with a tutorial on the Smooshing technique...

This is just such a fab way of making backgrounds, it is so quick and easy, but you can control where the colours go...

Here is my design today

Now this does work really well on Watercolour card , but today I have used Stencil card...three colours of Distress inks, a piece of acetate and some water.

You start by locating your acetate...it is amazing how many times I loose mine...

Add some ink. ( one colour at a time )

Then spritz , turn over and begin Smooshing on your card ,

This starts to dry whilst you clean your acetate and add another colour

And then the third colour, I find it best to leave some white areas and to work on a larger piece of card so that I can then choose an area and cut it down...

That's the piece for today.

Next some stamping, and my favourite fern stamp from the Wee Foliage set. First and second generation stamping.

Then,,,,,here is a most wonderful little stamp.....a girl with a balloon.....

How cute is she????

You can find her here....http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/Clear-Stamps/Victorian/4463-/Girl-With-Balloon---Unmounted-Clear-Stamp

Next I added some more grass, by masking the little girl

A word from the word chains....yes Dream ...fits the bill.

Some matting and layering, and a little white highlight with a gel pen..

I really enjoyed making this, and I had been saving my little girl for a special occasion....she is just perfect for this sort of background....

Go on ...you need to buy her...after all you don't get much for under a fiver these days...

I must get on, the sun is shinning today and my frogs are making music in my pond!!!! A real sign that Spring is just around the corner..

Thanks for visiting....do pop back soon,

Much love and hugs.

Jo. xxx

 

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