Happy New Year..

Good afternoon everyone ....

Thanks for popping in on the last day of 2016.... how are you feeling, sad, optimistic or just excited....??

Whatever is happening in your life I truly wish you a happy and healthy time ahead...

None of us know what is in store so I think we just need to make the most of what life throws at us...

Not always easy ...I know...

I do find that a bit of lippy helps!!! lol..

Have a wonderful evening , whatever you get up too...it will be a quiet one here , Karl, me and the dogs...

Mikey and Fran are working all evening , Adam and Danielle have both been working all day and they are off to Leeds for the evening.

I dare say we will find a bottle of bubbles to share...

One of my favourite photos of the summer

I have such happy memories of this year...and I have met such wonderful people...

Thank you all for your continued support on my little blog and to those of you who have come and joined in my workshops....thank you so much...

I have already got plans and dates for next year....Including an exciting first,,,,

Emma and myself are hosting our first Clarity Scotland two day Retreat....yah....

We are so excited about it...

More information to follow...

 

I do love this photo taken in N Ireland earlier this year.... ( we will be back in May )

So it's all about looking forward....with new and exciting times ahead...

And spending time with people who really matter....

And making time to share with our nearest and dearest,,,,( made a lot easier now that I can Skype with my Mum )

Take care all...

And for the last time this year,,,,

I am signing off

Much Love and Hugs

Jo. Xxxxx

 

 

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More beautiful cards.

Good afternoon all and thanks for joining me on this the last Friday of 2016...

I have been working on a magazine commission all day...and just finished...yah...

As promised I have more amazing Christmas cards to share with you

All very special to me,

Made by such wonderful friends

I am truly grateful

And will treasure them all

Look a special one from our ' camel lady' !!!!

And a super one from a very kind and wonderful friend, who hasn't had the best of years but always put other people first...

I really do thank you all from the bottom of my heart...

And as this year closes I have a couple of friends who need extra prayers ...so I am thinking about you...

You know who you are...

Much love and hugs...

Jo. xxxxx

 

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Christmas cards

Good evening all, I hope you are keeping nice and warm, as the weather has turned a little chilly .

I do love walking the dogs when it is frosty,

Karl and me have been on lots of long walks over the past few days..

I just love the views, the peace and feeling at one with nature..

I must admit I do get well wrapped up though...Lots of layers....

It is amazing how well they sit when a treat appears....

As promised I have some more wonderful Christmas cards to share with you...

All gorgeous..

And from very special friends

I am so lucky ......

Once again...Thank you all...

Last night I was a very happy Mummy , as we had a family meal....it is very difficult getting everyone together due to work schedules...

I am so chuffed to see both boys so happy and could not wish for nicer, kinder partners for them both....Danielle and Fran are wonderful and I love them dearly...

We played The best of British Logo board game,,,,and yah.....Karl and me won....

It is such fun to play...

Have you played any games this Christmas?

It is just so good to have time to all sit around the table, and just catch up....

Family time is so important,

Hope you have enjoyed time with yours...

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxxx

 

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Blessings

Good morning and thanks for joining me for a few minutes...

I do hope that you all had a very happy, healthy and contented Christmas....and that Santa brought you just what you needed....

We had a lovely time, and I even got to face time my Mum ....such fun,,,

Christmas dinner went down a treat and Tess and Eric were shattered after opening all their presents...

I actually pretended to be a domestic goddess !!!!

And yes Rachel , my elf slippers were great and I wore them all day....( thanks,,,)

I am absolutely thrilled with the huge amount of amazing cards and gifts that I have been sent. I really am blown away, and just want to Thank you all....

I have taken photos of the cards and I am going to post them over the next few days...,

I love them all,

And I am so proud of every one of you

That's all for today....

Enjoy your day, be kind....

take care .....

Much love and hugs.

Jo. xxxx

 

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Christmas Day

Good morning

and a very Happy Christmas to you all..

.I hope you have a very Happy and Contented day...

 

I would just like to thank you all for your friendship and support over the last twelve months...I do love to come here and chat with you all...

Also can I just say a very big Thank you for all the amazing cards and gifts that I have been sent,,,I really am blown over.... you really are the best,..

I hope you don't mind , but I thought I would take some photos and share some of your work over the next few days...and I will try and get everyone's cards,,.( as I would hate to leave anyone off as that can be really upsetting )

So Thank you all...

Much love and hugs...

Jo. xxxxx

 

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Happy Christmas

Good evening all, I do hope that you are all sorted and now relaxing with a glass of something...

I have spent a wonderful family day...starting with a long dog walk, then we went out for breakfast with Mikey and Fran....poor Adam is working today and tomorrow...

So Christmas dinner will be a little late, hopefully around 4....

With it being Christmas Eve , I have a Christmas card to share with you..

A mixture of stamps, stencil, ink and die cuts...

I do love to mix stamps and stencils

Some decoupaging

And some glitter too...well it is Christmas

And some little jingle bells,,,for that finishing touch...

And here is a similar one....

Look Adam made Daniell a bauble for the tree, and on the back he wrote,,,

My Darling Danielle. You melt my heart,,,all my Love...xxx

How lovely is that....

So let's all spread some love this festive season....

As part of Karl's Christmas present I gave to the Salvation Army appeal, it is really easy to do....just £19 and the knowledge that it will be used to help someone...

To me...that is what Christmas is all about...

Enjoy ....

Much love and hugs...

Jo.xxxxxxxxxx

 

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Try again,

Good evening all, hope your Wednesday has gone well...

I am going to try and post a pyrography tutorial ....fingers crossed that it works after many failed attempts to post photos yesterday...

I think the naughty Christmas elves are having a laugh at my expense!!!!

This is a chopping board that I made for Barbara using the wonderful Jayne Nestorenko floral stamps...

I started by stamping the design onto the wood using Vintage Sepia VersaFine ink and then I just burnt in the design....this is so relaxing,,,

Next , I introduced some colour using the Fresco Transclucent paints. Now this is going to be a decorative board, if it was going to be used for kitchen use I wouldn't add any colour...( elf and safety )

To finish off I added some clear Wink Of Stella, these pens are fabulous and work really well on wood...

Here is a closer look...

Right I am going to try and post...

If you are reading this then whoop ...it has been successful.

Take care all,

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Oh Blogsy.

Good morning all,

Hope your week is going well, I am having Blogsy issues....

I have tried now for two days to post a photo tutorial.....but it just won't play nicely....

So I thought I would try one without photos....

So this really is a bit of a tester,

I have got Karl looking for an alternative app for me... so I may be quiet for a while...

Apart from Blogsy , all the Christmas preparations are going well, presents bought , wrapped and delivered...

Food bought and donated to our local homeless shelter...

And last night I had a wonderful time with the Crafty Girls at our Christmas get together...

So please keep your fingers crossed that this will post and you will get to read it...

Take care all

Much love and hugs.

Jo. xxx

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Angels/ Fairies or Winter.

Good morning everyone and thanks for popping in this morning..

Today we have a new challenge over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge Blog and our new theme is

Angels/ Fairies or Winter..

And our wonderful host is Jules....

Our sponsor is Lawn Fawn and it will be open for four weeks....so plenty of time to enter....the closing date is 11th January 2017

Here is what I came up with...

A Groovi, Stamp Combo.....

And I have to say that I loved making it...I think this will be the first of many..

.and a brilliant workshop project too..

I started with the Groovi part, so using the Groovi system and the moonfairy plate I traced the image onto the parchment.

Next I added the moon and some stars.

Followed by the frame.

Next onto the stamping part.

I used a piece of stencil card, the moonfairy stamp and black Archival ink.

Using spectrum Noir pencils I added colour to both images. Remember to add the colour on the reverse side of the parchment.

Next I used a VersMark pen, some clear embossing powder and gave the image a clear glaze. This is going to act as a resist , when I add some background colour.

So out with the distress inks.

And some water spritzing

Picket fence painted on the reverse of parchment gives a wonderful effect

I added colour to the stars, this time with a gel pen and from the front of the parchment,,,

So I had a Groovi piece of art and a stamped piece...

So I just put them together...using some brads....

Added the word Dream from the wordchains plus a gorgeous metal embellishment....

The finishing touch was some glitter added from the front using a quickie glue pen...

And there we have it....Groovi , Stamp Combo....

I do hope that you like it....

And there are so many possibilities.....so many stamps that we have Groovi plates to match...so many Combos....

Oh....I can't wait to create more...

Now it is over to you....

Also remember to check out the wonderful designs from the rest of the dt....here...

http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

So you have four weeks to create your design....I am really looking forward to seeing what you come up with...

Right I need to get on , we have Karl's parents popping in for coffee later this morning....a meal out with friends this evening ....and Karl's Birthday tomorrow..

It's going to be a busy ,,,but fun packed weekend..

Hope yours is too...

Take care all, enjoy....and pop back soon

Much love and hugs

Jo. Xxxx

 

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