Inka Gold.

Good afternoon all, I do hope that your week has gone well. It has been another busy one for the Rice household , with so many different activities going on.

I had a wonderful time on Tuesday when I spent the afternoon card making with a group of carers. I was thrilled to be ask to join in these activities as part of the Carers Trust for Cheshire . It is so important that carers are recognised as they give up their time looking after loved ones, often unpaid and very time consuming. I met the most wonderful people , each one with a moving story, I felt quite humble.

It is great to be able to give something back and I am really looking forward to going back and spending time with groups in other areas.

Today I thought I would share one of my samples from the recent Hochanda shows with Rossella. I am so thrilled that Clarity have started stocking Inka Gold. As you know this is a favourite product of mine and I have been using them in workshops for the past couple of years.

One of my favourite techniques is to paint with it.

I used the fabulous new floral stamps designed by Tina. I stamped in VersaMark ink and used clear embossing powder , this is great as it gives a raised edge which helps with the painting.

Now you can take some of the Inka gold and mix it with water on your craft mat, but I like to just add some water and paint straight from the pot. This also helps stopping the product from drying out and cracking. Remember I have a " nightly ritual " when I put my Inka Gold to bed , I spritz them first with water ...

The shine on these is just brilliant

And it is great for some flicking too....( just watch out dogs,,,,oh no...too late...Tess and Eric have gold flecks on them now!!!)

Some matting and layering

I do love the effect of these paints...so many different uses...and the colours blend too...

I thoroughly enjoyed all the shows with Rossella , and she is back on our screens tomorrow...

do tune in...

I must go, the lovely man from DPD has just delivered my latest Clarity order...oh I do get excited when unpacking...it is like Christmas every couple of weeks...

Have a most wonderful weekend...

Much love and hugs

Jo. Xxx

 

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Clarity Cumbria

Good afternoon everyone, I do hope that you had a lovely weekend. It was such fine spring weather here yesterday and I was so pleased to get an hour to tidy up some plants in my garden. Tess and Eric were a great help....

Saturday was our monthly Clarity Cumbria and it was great to welcome two new ladies to our fold...

I am so chuffed with the way that this class has developed and grown, friends have been made and it really is like having a fun play day with good mates ,( oh and cake )

 

We used the new outline stamp sets, our first card used bright coloured inks.

Just look at these fabulous designs..

Before lunch we had some Bokeh play

And then after lunch we made a little piece of art to go into a frame...

I do love to make these

Then to finish off with a quick and easy scene building card design...with tea and cake ( thanks Sheila )

These cards are great for batch card making and using up all those pieces of cards that we keep

Such wonderful designs by everyone...I am so proud of you all..

It was a lovely journey home , the sun shone and my new car was really clever and knew the way...

Did you watch Rossella on Hochanda on Sunday...? She was brilliant , I loved every show...

Today , I have been making samples ready to get in the post ready for next Saturday,,,when she is on our screens again.. so I had better get back to it...

Take care all and pop back soon..

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Honeycomb

Good evening all and thanks for popping in. I am a bit late tonight but only just finishing off. Oh it has been a long day, but lots of jobs ticked off the list.

I do hope that your week is going well. Yesterday it was our regular workshops in Hazel Grove, Cheshire.

I really am so lucky to have so many different workshops in so many regions and actually have so many real friends... it really is such a privilege to spend time with you , ladies and gents.

If you remember the other day I used a shaped card design from my lovely friend Martine Smith....

Well I loved the shape so much that we used it agin yesterday ....

And I have to say Martine, the ladies loved it too...and I have had numerous emails saying just how much they loved it and how they want to use it again...

This is the front of the book card, I do love the honeycomb stencil....( and my new butterfly die from Sizzix )

 

This is the back.... jo's bubbles stencil...so useful...

And this is the inside with two lovely tags...

The ladies made some fabulous designs...and as always it was great to get inspiration from each other .

I do think this would make a great little gift with money inside, or a gift card...( I only gave the ladies tags though....!!!! )

Must just go and make a nice cup of tea before bed...another busy day tomorrow..

Take care all

Much love and hugs

Jo. Xxx

 

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A luscious leaf

Good afternoon everyone , I hope you have had a lovely Easter weekend.

It has been a busy one in the Rice household with a mixture of family time and work, plus the arrival of a new niece . She is absolutely gorgeous, wow you forget how small new born babies are. Oh and it was Adam birthday yesterday too, he is 28, I just don't know where the time has gone,,,

Today I am sharing a how to tutorial for one of my recent samples, I have had a few ladies asking me how it was made...so here we go.

These new stamp sets were launched recently and they are fabulous to use. The masks are so useful too...

This one uses the leaf outline stamp set .

I started as I usually do with a piece of stencil card ( perfect as I need to add some water to my design )

I stamped the large leaf using black Archival ink, then added the mask.

Next I added some color Burst powders and spritzed with water, I do love to just watch what happens,

Look at those colours and the movement...

I find it is best to let this dry naturally, it keeps the colours vibrant.

Then I removed the mask, wiped it clean and placed it back on its carrier sheet.

Now it is the turn of the outer part of the mask , I gently added some Moon Crater Artistry ink with a spong

And then some stamping with Watering Can Archival ink. Using copier paper I made a border and stamped using the same ink.

I added some sequins and some drops of liquid glass, another one of my new favourite techniques.

Here is a closer look...

Some matting and layering , I do love the way that this design looks so 3d,

It really does play a trick on your eyes.

Have you noticed the little bird in the bottom corner...? He is watching the leaping hare.

Speaking of little birds , I keep having a visitor , he stands for hours in my pond ...look.

This was taken from my kitchen window

Bless him, he doesn't look real, well that is until he takes flight..his wing span is enormous

Now I know where all my frogs have gone....

Until next time

Take care all,

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

 

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Fancy Folds or Shaped Cards

Good morning all, and thanks for popping in on this Good Friday. I hope you have a lovely day and a very Happy Easter weekend.

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

Our new theme is Fancy Fold or Shaped cards,

And our hostess in my lovely friend and very talented Beth.

Here is what I have created , I hope you like it .

This is the front,

This is the back

 

And this is the inside

I have to say that I got the design from a lovely friend of mine Martine Smith, so thank you Martine for the inspiration...you can find Martines blog here...http://abfabdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

I started by using a piece of A4 card cut down to 17.5 cm wide. I then made three score lines and folded to get the desired shape. I taped my ribbon in place

And then cut two pieces of white card for the toppers.

I used a wonderful corner die to add some detail

And then stamped the sentiment from the remountable happy sentiment stamp set

On the front I added some flowers, die cuts and embellishments, the back I stamped with a chicken from the remountable chick set of stamps.

I saved the cut outs from the die to use as embellishments

This is the swirl die

I then added some detail using Enamel Accents , a new favourite of mine.

On the inside I added some decorative card and a couple of clips...ready for some Easter chocolates

Here is a closer look

If you fancy checking out the rest of the dt's fabulous work , you can find it here .. http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

I hope you have a lovely weekend, much love ,

Take care

Jo. Xxxx

 

 

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Snowdrops

Good afternoon all and thanks for joining me today. How is your week going ?

After a worrying few days , I am happy to report that Danielle has been allowed home from hospital, Mummy Rice is now looking after her... Thank you all for your lovely messages and texts...you really have helped.

I hope you have been able to watch the Clarity shows on Hochanda today, I have been busy getting everything sorted ready for workshops tomorrow at the Paper warehouse in Kendal. It is always such a great day when I go there, and I am so happy that I have been asked to carry on with monthly classes until the end of the year... So Mum and Dad can I book in for tea???

Today I thought that I would share one of my samples using the Snowdrop stamps from the wild flowers stamp set and the new Hay stack stencil.

I started by making my background, I added some water to some Black Shadow Artistry ink and flicked it on to some stencil card.

 

I stamped the Snowdrop sentiment using black Archival ink and once dry I added some colour through the stencil using just part of the stencil .

 

I do like to leave some white space

Some matting and layering

I stamped the Snowdrop and just added a little grey pencil to add just a hint of colour

To add the finishing touches I added some Enamel Accents from Ranger, this really is my latest must have, and they come in fabulous colours.

This is one of my favourite stamps of all time and we used it in Clarity Cumbria some twelve or so months ago,,,This was one of our designs...Remember it ladies and gent ??

If you don't already have these stamps you really do need them ...

It is so funny how some designs just stick in your mind, have you noticed that ?

Right I had better go , still so much to do...

Have a lovely evening ,

Take care and pop back soon

Love and hugs

Jo. xxxx

 

 

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