Christmas in Kendal

Good afternoon, me again...oh yes twice in one day...whatever next....

I just wanted to share some photos from yesterday workshop with you....

It was my monthly class at Grosvenor House Papers , in Kendal , Cumbria, it really is a fabulous shop, so well stocked , and Janet and Jane are just wonderful , nothing is too much trouble..

And like I have said before they put on a scrumptious lunch...

A couple of our regulars weren't able to join in due to ill health...and we did miss them..

We made some Christmas cards and a Christmas bauble,,These Clarity stamps are just perfect for the bauble..

Cheryl used blue tones on her bauble, how splendid...I love it

It was such a great day...and after the class I went to see my Mum and Dad, what a laugh we had...

It was so good to see my Mum walking...no crutches, no stick...

The only down side was the rain...but then I was in the Lake District...

Today I have been getting everything sorted for tomorrow's workshops at CJ CardCrafts in Edgeley...( a bit closer to home ) we are getting ink and painty in the morning and Groovi in the afternoon...

Oh I need to try and keep my hands clean...

Then on Sunday and Monday our Barbara is back on Hochanda....with some fabulous new Clarity goodies, Gelli plates, stamps, stencil, and Groovi....

Something for everyone...

Here is a sneaky peek...

Time to cook some food...I had better feed the family..

Enjoy your evening and your weekend..

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Coffee Break

Good morning all, and welcome to coffee break time...

I just wanted to share something a bit different with you this morning...

As you all know I love my inks, stamps and stencils, but also I am really enjoying dabbling in mixed media and also playing with die's and PaperCrafts.

So this morning I wanted to share a Christmas card with you,,,

It was such fun to make and is the Coffee Break feature in the latest edition of Die-cutting essentials ,

A great little magazine,,..if you fancy taking five minutes out of your day ,,

Plus you get a really useful die too....

So go on treat yourself...

Right...time to walk these two daft Labradors...

Catch you later

Hugs

Jo xxxxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Artistry ink pads

Good afternoon all and thanks for joining me today..

I am frantically trying to get lots of jobs ticked off my list...but then I seem to add more to it...does that happen to you too? Or is it just me???

Today I thought we would have a chat about the new Artistry ink pads...

These are a rich, water reactive dye ink, which means that they can be used for lots of different techniques including blending, stamping, brayering, watercolour painting...and lots more...

They are great for card making, scrapbooking, can be used on a canvas, mount board , ribbon , and even mixed media projects...

All in all a rather fabulous ink...but that's not all they have an innovative design with a flip-top lid, so that the ink stays wet longer, and the name is always visible...

No more putting the wrong lid on the wrong ink pad..

Plus a clever little storage pocket for the blending foam,,,,

Although I still think a mirror and small lipstick would be good..

The inks come in full size pads or mini ones, which also stack....these really are the ink pads that just keep giving , and there are 48 exclusive shades...

Now many of the lovely workshop ladies have asked me to run a colour comparison with their usual inks...

So I am going to start off today with what I think are needed for a typical Clarity landscape...

This one is made using my usual colours of Adirondack ink..

Sail Boat Blue with a little Raspberry for the sky

Butterscotch with a little Spiced Marmalade for the sun

And then Meadow and Lettuce for the land

Now this one is made using the Artistry ink pads...

Midnight Blue and Fancy Fuchsia for the sky

Golden Tumeric and Orange Popsicle for the sun

And then Green Garland and Dry Weed for the land..

Now I don't know about you but I really think colour wise they match really well.

I have been using them and find that they blend really well both with the stencil brushes and the mini blending tools...

So if you need some help choosing colours , I hope you will find this useful. I have also done a Distress ink colour comparison and will blog that next week...

I need to get on now as it is my monthly Clarity workshop tomorrow at Grosvenor House Papers in Kendal..,

Such lovely people, great shop and a rather splendid lunch....

So better get back to my to do list.

Take care all

Group hug

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

What a fabulous Day

Good evening all , thanks for joining me this Monday evening...

I hope you had a good weekend, as you know it was our Clarity Open Day in Leyburn, North Yorkshire on Saturday...

So Friday morning I set off on my journey and actually managed to get there in 3hours, which was very good for Friday traffic...it was great catching up with Barbara, Dave, Paul and the rest of the team . We spent the day getting the room ready, and what a gorgeous room it was...A stunning venue...

Here is the team....

I was so thrilled to be demonstrating the new Artistry ink pads and this new stencil....

I was so pleased when I saw it in crafters baskets...because it is my design,,,and I must admit , I was very nervous incase nobody liked it...

By ten past nine in the morning , the room was buzzing, oh what an atmosphere

What a great way to spend a day

I did take a couple of photos , just so that I wasn't on them...

Thanks to all the wonderful crafters who I met, and who watched me play....

And for all your lovely comments.,.you really made my day....

And yes, we had lots of laughter too....

Here is one of my samples,

I started with a piece of Stencil card, and I covered it in some artistry ink using a blending tool

Then I did some ghosting,,,

I placed the stencil on, spritzed some water, took the stencil away , waited a minute and then blotted it with kitchen paper...

I do love this technique, it is so quick and easy,,,.and so effective...

Once everyone had gone , we packed everything into the van, said our goodbyes and then it was time to head home...

I walked in the front door at 9-45pm...

A long , but wonderful day...

If you haven't managed to get to one of the open days, do look out for them next year...they are well worth a visit,,,

I had better go, time to eat some food...

Thanks for your company

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

My Favourite Things

Good morning all , and thanks for joining me this Friday morning..

Today it is a new Challenge over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge Blog...

Our new theme is

My Favourite Things

And it is hosted by the lovely Gina

Our Sponsor this time is Wild Orchid Crafts...do check them out...

http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk

Now this theme got me thinking...I love my crafting so much , I really have so many favourite things...

But today I am on my way up to Leyburn to set up ready for tomorrow's Clarity Open day...

It is a great day , Barbara, Paul and many of the DT , including little old me , will be demonstrating, chatting and having lots of crafty hugs.

I will be using a fabulous new stencil....and I really hope that you like it...( as I drew it !!! Yes, I really did,,,with pencil and paper....!!!)

So here is what I came up with

I thought that this challenge was a perfect way to use it for the first time,,,

I started by using the large flower,

And added some ink from the Artistry ink pad range,,.

I do love these inks, they blend really well and are so juicy ...

This is what I had when I removed the stencil, and did some water spritzing

Next came the smaller of the flowers, to add some detail to the background

Followed by some smooshing....one of my favourite techniques....

 

Some matting and layering and a Clarity word...well we are using my favourite things

So we just needed some butterflies

And to finish off some glossy accents,,,another favourite product of mine,,,followed by a metal embellishment .

Oh yes, lots of my favourites...

So now it is over to you...

What are your favourite things ? ...and no long lists...lol..

The rest of the DT have made fabulous projects..do check them out...

Right I had better get on that motorway...and head up North...

Take care all..

Have a fabulous weekend,,,and pop back soon

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Beautiful flowers.

Good evening all, and thanks for popping in.

I hope you have had a lovely day, I have been in Hazel Grove crafting with the fabulous ladies...and it was brilliant to have a new lady join us.

Tonight I just have time to share some recent Groovi makes with you...

These two use the wonderful new plates designed by the very talented Jayne Nestorenko ,

I do love the floral designs, and we have the stamps now too...you are going to be seeing them used on here so much ...

And then this little number that Maria had on her show last week...

I need to remind you that Paul is on Hochanda on Sunday with some fabulous new plates, although I will have to watch on my laptop as my tv has lost Hochanda,,.the FreeView new Chanel isn't working yet and the old one just has a testcard with The Store on the screen,,.

I did blame Karl...but another couple of ladies told me today that they had the same problem,,,whoops ...sorry Love...

Right, I had better go, supper time for Tess and Eric...

Sleep well all,

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Clarity Cumbria.

Good morning all, and what a lovely Sunday morning it is...we have had a wonderful walk with Tess and Eric this morning followed by breakfast on the patio...just perfect...

I am now sat in the garden writing to you,,,

How did your Saturday go? Good I hope... It was Clarity Cumbria for me...and what a brilliant day it was..

As usual we had lots of laughs, friendly chat, homemade biscuits, and we made some cards too...

We even had a special visitor....with four legs...

We had a play with the wonderful new stamp set from Clarity...the boy and ships set...

Have you got it yet? If not...I do think you need it...

It is so useful...

We started with some cutting out.... We had to do this card first as a couple of ladies don't like cutting out...

So I sneaked it in early...( don't worry ,, I won't name and shame you ladies !! )

This is what we made....

Followed by this ' dreamy' card...the masks really are so useful, I am so glad that they come with the stamps

Look what the ladies created

All wonderful,

I am so proud of you all....

Then it was lunch time,,,and our guest needed to stretch his legs ( Prince is a very well behaved Guide dog)

After lunch we created a book, I have to say that I was so pleased with the way this card turned out

And look at the ones the ladies made..

I do love to see how everyone is an individual piece of art

Our fourth card was just some quick stamping and painting with Distress ink..a great card for a male...and a nice quick and easy one,,

Perfect for those last minute makes...you know the ones we all need at times...

It was great to see Penny and Lucy again...and wow you can see how talented they are,,,

Such inspirational girls, and so well behaved too, a real pleasure to craft alongside .

A few of our regular crafters were on holiday...and although we missed them , there still seemed to be as much noise and crafty banter,,mmmmm what does that tell us...??? And yes we still managed to eat all the biscuits...

The drive home was lovely too, with the sun shinning and such stunning scenery,,

I dare say that's not going to last...but for now I am going to make the most of what is left of summer...

Have a lovely afternoon...

Take care all, remember to be kind...

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxxx

 

Posted with Blogsy