Happy Halloween

Good afternoon all and Happy Halloween....I hope you have a lovely afternoon and evening.

I thought I would share some Halloween makes with you, these were party ideas , and I made them for a recent magazine commission,

It was Simply cards and papercrafts 169, 

I used the Brother   Scan N Cut machine , plus some Clarity Stamps, inks etc. 

First some bunting and cake decoration sticks 

Followed by a book of spells, 

A party planner , 

Party bag ,

@

And finally a card game of snap...

Halloween snap cards....there is an idea. 

A

We are having a little party tonight....and a certain little man has his fancy dress outfit all ready...

Adam has made him his own Elliot Elephant pumpkin 

But first I must pack the car ready for tomorrow’s workshops in Hazel Grove , and then go and do some spooky jobs...

My Mums broomstick failed its MOT so I have to go out and carry out her duties tonight...

Should be fun....

Take care all, enjoy your evening,,..

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

So Spooky

Good morning all , 

Well , we made it through to Friday...

Yesterday I had a lovely day at The paper Warehouse in Kendal, we had another full class of ladies and we made Christmas cards. 

I am so pleased that is another four made, and ready to send...

You see I have a plan...I will get some Christmas cards made and sent this year..

Have you started yet ? 

It was brilliant to catch up with so many friends, and Agnes , thanks for travelling all that way to come,,,I really appreciate it...hope your homework is going well. 

Now today , it is a new Challenge over at the Fussy and Fancy Challenge Blog. 

Our theme is 

So Spooky 

And it is hosted by the fabulous Sasha

Here is my inspiration for you...

And here is how it came about 

I started with a piece of Stencil card and used a couple of brown ink pads direct to paper .

I just dragged them across the paper...and added some happy clappy (workshops ladies , you know how we love doing happy clappy )

I wanted to create a type of panelled wood effect...

Next I used a book shaped die cut 

Santa’s book-from Precious Marieke cutting dies 

I cut out the cover and then some pages...

Next it was time to play ...and decorate the pages 

I do love this script stencil from Claritystamp 

And this Spider Web corner Stamp...

With the addition of a little friendly spider 

Next I added some Halloween shapes that I had cut out on my Brother Scan N Cut .

The crackle stamp came in very useful. 

I assembled the book and added some ribbon 

I stamped the words with the Letter Box set of Stamps , and added some white highlights, and a little glass bottle. 

Thanks to a very special lady , Fiona , who made me the beaded embellishment...

And it is her Birthday today ...so Happy Birthday Fiona , have a great day..

And these are the pages 

So there we have it a Spooky card ready for next weeks Halloween celebrations..

We have a certain little man coming round to show us his pumpkin fancy dress...

Elliot is coming round this afternoon for a sleep over so, grandma and grandad are rather excited...

Hope you have a relaxing weekend...and enjoy whatever you do 

If you get chance please pop over to the Fussy and Fancy blog to have a look at the inspiration from the other dt members 

Take care all

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

What a weekend.

Good afternoon all and thanks for popping in again. I am going to try a full blog post today.  So wish me luck . 

I am really hoping that this new app will work and that I can keep on blogging . 

As promised I have more photos from our retreat last weekend in Cumbria. 

As part of the goody bags the ladies had an apron each...these were created by my lovely friend Debbie...and what a great job she made..

Thanks Debbie...

(She also decorates T shirts, bags, xmas stockings etc, so if you need her , I can put you in touch )

We started our Christmas themed retreat on Saturday morning with a Christmas card...well I have to get mine made somehow..

)

These are fab ladies, 

After coffee we repeated the design onto tissue paper and then embedded it into a candle...this really is a wonderful technique 

 

And 

I just love these .

Then after lunch we used the same Clarity Stamps and mask but this time we made a ‘faux velvet ‘card 

Look at all those sumptuous colours. 

After coffee and cake we use distress Oxide inks to make a piece of background card ready to stamp on the following day..

At the end of day one , some ladies had to leave and go home and others stayed at the hall. 

We had a lovely talk from Rachel about Tropic skin care and a few of us had a relaxing facial. 

There was lots of laughter and chatting,,., some food and soon it was time for us all to say goodnight 

Day two, soon arrived and it was great to see everyone again.

We spent the day decorating a festive wreath, I had designed these and had them made. 

We added white gesso, Oxide ink, some gilding wax..

There were fir cones, ribbon and lots of Christmas embellishments. 

I do love the Tim Holtz Pointsettia die 

It was so good to see how everyone created their own design 

Unfortunately the photos really don’t do these justice...they were all stunning 

Each and everyone a delight...

We had more tea and cake,,,I am sure I put at least a few pounds on....

And a quick bonus card to finish 

I can honestly say that it was an absolute delight to spend two days with such fabulous people...

Karl, Sheila,  and Peter were such great helpers...

I couldn’t have done it without them ,

I must admit I was shattered by the time we got home on Sunday evening...

The ladies must be mad because they have asked for another one next Spring....!!!!

Ok then...let’s fix a date...

I hope you have enjoyed a little look at our mad weekend...there were a few outtake photos...

But then what happens at craft class , stays at craft class.... you all know that...

Better get on , I have a chilli to cook..

Take care all.

Much love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3.

Good afternoon all, 

I hope your week has started well. Unfortunately the app that I usually use to publish my blog won’t work anymore on my iPad...

So Karl has found me a new app and we are giving it a trial ..

So let’s hope that this publishes and that you are reading it. 

It was a very busy week last week and then the weekend was our Clarity Cumbria Retreat, and boy what a fantastic weekend it was . 

Two full days of crafting , friendship, laughter and cake...

I will come back tomorrow with a full blog post ...hopefully...

So let’s see if I can work out how to add a photo..

This is the lovely ladies crafting on Saturday morning...

Right , now to see if I can publish...

Wish me luck

Take care all

Much love and hugs

Jo.xxxx

Perfect gift for a crafter .

Hi all , how are you doing today ? Good , I hope.

It was a very strange day yesterday with the weather, wasn't it . ? We managed to get the 7-30am ferry from Belfast and get out before the storm struck. The drive home was a little scary at times as the wind picked up, especially over shap... I hope that all the lovely ladies there are safe .

As promised I am here today to show you a wonderful gift that was made for me. Norma gave me a present , and when I opened it , I found a gorgeous craft bag...

( Now excuse the quality of the photographs, )

This is the outside, it is just delightful....

And fully lined with pockets...

Thnak you so much Norma...you are so clever..I wouldn't know where to start

I am so lucky to have such wonderful , crafting friends...

And I will be filling this with lots of goodies for our Cumbria Retreat this weekend.

Just time to walk the dogs now...although Eric is sulking after being in the kennels.

Then it will be time to pack the car ready for our Hazel Grove workshops tomorrow..

Enjoy your evening everyone

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Another fabulous day .

Good afternoon all, I do hope that your Sunday is going well.

As you know yesterday was our Belfast workshop , and we had a play with Clarity Stencils. I really don't know where the time went...the day just whizzed.... we had so much fun.

I must thank Linda and Sharon for all their help...

We started by using Pixie powders through the stencils

And by using two pieces of stencil card you get a ' two for the price of one '

A positive and a negative print....

Next we used some of the gorgeous Indian Summer papers to decorate an MDF paint pallet.

All the ladies made such wonderful pieces , all different . It was so funny though watching them choose which sheet of paper to have...well they are all gorgeous....

After lunch...oh and cake....( thanks Sharon ) we used some ink blending techniques

Before finally finishing off with some stencil brush work...

Stencils are so versatile, and there is so much more you can do with them, from running them through your embossing machine, using grunge paste, paint...etc...and off course one of my favourites ...the ghosting technique...

It really was a great day and the ladies and gentlemen over here are so friendly and welcome us everytime we visit....

We are already looking at dates ready for next year...

We were also given some beautiful gifts for Elliot...such generous ladies...thank you...and I had a special present waiting for me...which I will photograph when I get home and show you next week.

It was so good to catch up with friends , and make new ones...

In the evening we went out for a meal..at ..Daft Eddies...fantastic place, gorgeous food and look at the view.

 

A perfect way to round off the day.

Today has been a lazy start, with a lovely walk, and a relaxing coffee...tomorrow is our ferry home,,,just hope those predicted hurricane type winds wait until we are home,,,

It is Hazel Grove workshops on Wednesday and then our Cumbria Retreat on Saturday and Sunday...more fun times to look forwards to...

Thanks ladies.... you make my day...

Take care all,

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Autumn leaves

Morning all from a very wet and windy campsite in Carlisle , and I am referring to the weather!!!!

How has Friday treated you so far? Ok I hope...

We had a lovely nights sleep , snuggled down in our little van. Karl does like to listen to the sound of rain on its roof....it's a good job as we do seem to get rather a lot of rain.

The journey up here yesterday was eventful with the motorway closed near Kendal all morning due to a crane catching fire,,,thank goodness by the time we get there , two lanes were open .

Today we are heading up to Cairnryan to get the ferry over to Belfast. We are spending the evening with our lovely friends Sharon and Michael, and they are always great company.

Tomorrow is our workshop , Linda is fab at getting the hall ready, it is always great to catch up with Angela, oh she always make me smile,Claire is travelling up and ,,then there are all the lovely new friends that I have met over here, Norma and so many other .... I am really looking forwards to our day ...and then a lovely relaxing meal in the evening...oh it really doesn't get any better....( just hope that Karl can get the match on my phone...he won't be a happy bunny if he misses his beloved United )

This autumn weather may be wet, but I do love the colours that it brings...as you may have guessed they really are my favourite colours...all those Browns, oranges and reds..

So here is a little play with some Clarity stamps and a stencil that were on Hochanda this week...

I really loved making this....pure Clarity for me...

 

I started off by stamping using the blackout radiance ink pad....

Then added the stencil , oh it fits perfectly....and some yellow Artistry ink

Next some fine wine...you know what I say...it's never to early for fine wine!!!

This is what I had when I removed the stencil, nice ...but it still needed more

So out with my Spectrum Noir pencils , yes , that's better

Some more fine wine,

A sentiment and some doodle lines

Then to finish off some matting and layering and glossy Accents

Look how they dry,,.what a difference...

I hope you like this as much as I do....and a card design that is so versatile, fit for so many occasions...even fit for a man,,,,( well they can be difficult !!!!)

Thanks for joining me today...I will pop back with photos from the weekend,

Take care all

Have a fabulous weekend

And see you soon

Jo. Xxxx

 

Posted with Blogsy