Hare today

Good evening all, 

Can’t believe how quickly today has gone,,

Wow it has been cold...and I believe it is going to get colder..

Hope you had a lovely weekend,,

We went over to The Botanist in West Bridgeford where Mikey is now 

The Manager to have a family meal and a catch up...

(A definite proud parent moment )

Today , I though I would share another tag with you..

I made this one for a tag swap 

I started with a ready made tag from my stash...

And added some Distress Oxide ink and water...

I then dried the tag before adding more ink...

And then repeating with another colour of ink. 

I stopped when I was happy with the look of the tag .

Then I added some splats of Inka gold , and dried the tag once again. 

Next I added the hare...

This is such a lovely stamp  from Lavinia Stamps. 

Now to create the background

I used a moon mask from Clarity and some Black Distress Oxide ink ,

Plus some copier paper .

I also added some black ink around the edges to frame the tag. 

Next I stamped the grasses and hanging vines ...again from Lavinia Stamps 

I stamped the Hello , this is from a floral stamp set from Apple Blossom Stamps 

Which I used a few weeks ago at a workshop...

It is such a useful little stamp..

I then added a black border and some charcoal to make it look more 3d.

All it needed to finish it off was some ribbon, bakers twine and some dots of liquid pearls..

I do love making tags...

And I am really enjoying being part of a tag swap...

Before I go....

A little photo from the weekend. 

Our little man ready for his meal out...

Take care everyone,.

Keep warm...and stay safe 

Karl is away tonight , 

So I have Tess and Eric to look after me,,,

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Favourite colours.

Good morning all and thanks for popping in. 

We have made it , 

to Friday...

Hope you have a lovely weekend planned . 

It has been another busy week ,

Busy but enjoyable,,

Wednesday was our regular workshops in Hazel Grove and it was lovely 

to have a new crafter join us...

It was good to meet you Debbie and I am glad that you enjoyed the class and 

that you would like to join us again. 

We had a play with Distress Oxide ink pads...

It was good fun. 

Now today it is a new Challenge over at the 

Fussy and Fancy Challenge Blog.

Our new theme is 

Favourite Colours..

Now I know you won’t be surprised when you see what colours I have used...

No prizes for guessing..

My lovely friend Beth is hosting this challenge..

Here is what I came up with..

I just went with my instincts...

I started with a piece of stencil card, and added some yellow Distress ink...

Followed by some orange, 

Some red, an then some brown...

I also blended some colour around the edges of the card to frame it. 

Next came some water spritzing , this time I used my fan brush . (Thanks Mandy )

Love this effect when the card has been dried . 

Using Stamps from PaperArtsy

These are  JOFY set 13.

I stamped on the design using black Archival ink plus on separate stamping card. 

I did the same with the dragonfly and the flowers .

I watercoloured these in using DI and water...

Then cut them out . 

Some matting and layering , background stamping , and finally some splatting with Inka Gold ....

I used Copped...and added some water to the pot. 

I added all my  cut out parts, plus the sentiment...

And finished off with some white Posca pen ...

Here is a closer look. 

I do love these funky stamps,,.so fresh...

And they make me smile..

We all need to smile...

I hope you will pop over to the Fussy and Fancy blog 

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

To see the rest of the dt samples...

And even better I would love you to enter..

I just love visiting all you wonderful blogs and seeing your fabulous art work...

I wonder which is going to be the most popular favourite colour...

What would your be? 

Now Karen ...I can hear you shouting from Scotland...

Purple....lol....

I must dash 

Lots to do , 

Have a wonderful weekend...

Much love and hugs..

Jo. xxxx

A floral workshop.

Good afternoon everyone and thanks  for popping in. 

I do hope that you had a lovely weekend.

It was a busy one for me, I went to the Stitches Trade show 

At the NEC yesterday,,,

It was a fab day , but there were many of the usual companies missing , and the show was much 

Smaller than usual. 

I did place an order for some new products for us to use...

So that was good...

Something to look forwards to in future workshops. 

Saturday saw us having a floral workshop in the Lake District. 

One of our regular Crafters asked if we could use Pixie  powders as she had some 

And wasn’t sure what to do with them..

So we had a chat about Pigmant powders, such as Brushos , Color Burst and Pixie Powders. 

We used two lovely stamp sets from Hobby Art...

The October florals ....The Magnolia 

And the November florals ....The Irises 

The large Iris stamp is just so good to colour...

After lunch it was time for my favourite design of the day..

Look at these stunners...

And then after tea and cake we made ATC’s ..

And swapped them with each other ..

Such fabulous little pieces of art...

I love the one that I as lucky enough to bring home,,

Thanks for a great day ladies...

And to the regulars who were unwell and couldn’t join us...

We did miss you..

And hope to see you back with us next month..

Then don’t forget the retreat in April..

I have been trying to catch up with things today..

Tomorrow will be getting ready for Wednesday’s workshops 

In Hazel Grove..

More messy play...

Take care all..

Date night tonight for Karl and me...

So I had better get a move on...

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxxx

Busy week

Good afternoon all and thanks for popping in. 

Sorry I haven’t blogged for a while but it has been very hectic  this week. 

Danielle was taken into hospital , so I have been on Grandma duties whilst Adam went to be with her. 

Karl has been working away , 

So I have been on dog walking duties also...

Thank goodness that Danielle is now home so I am frantically trying to catch up...

Mind you 

I have a new chauffeur 

And I can pay him in nappies and Milk!!!,

Last Saturday it was the first of our inky Oxide workshops...

And what a lovely day it was , 

The ladies made fabulous cards and I promised Susan that I would share her cards ...

She was on a roll and made these three beauties plus some toppers...

Here are some of the other gorgeous pieces of art 

I do love playing with distress oxides...and they work so well 

with silhouette Stamps.

It is our Cumbria workshop on Saturday , so I am busy getting emails sent out and bags packed...

Plus I have a magazine commission to get written up...(only 3 days late !!!)

Take care all...

Have a lovely weekend 

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxxx

Evening all.

Good evening all, 

Sorry for my late post but Elliot has been visiting this afternoon 

So we have been playing ,

He has just gone home for his bath, bottle and bedtime story.

Yesterday it was our regular Hazel Grove workshops...

And some of the ladies had requested 

Playing with FoamIran flowers,

So that is what we did. 

This was our first card, using Clarity stencils in the background,

And some coloured foam , to make the flowers. 

We did add a little extra colour using distress inks. 

A few drops of glossy Accents gives the  finishing details. 

Our second card , was a very quick and easy one,,,

Again using Clarity stencils and some ink blending. 

It was another two lovely classes and once again Julie spoilt us with some homemade 

Rocky road to have with our morning coffee. 

And fabulous it was too...

Right , I had better go, time to phone my Mum and 

have a catch up chat. 

Take care all

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Another lovely Workshop

Good afternoon all , 

I hope your week has started well and that you had a lovely weekend. 

Saturday was another fabulous day spent with some fabulous Crafters. 

It was our Manchester Groovi class, 

Even though I was feeling a bit under the weather these ladies soon made me feel 

So much better. 

It was great to see Val back after her recent stay in hospital. 

We made two designs , 

We drank lots of tea and coffee..

Ate biscuits 

And had a good old gossip...

In the afternoon we concentrated on colouring techniques..

The pieces of art that the ladies produced were stunning and it always fills me with 

So much pleasure to see them so happy with their work . 

Today I have been getting some magazine work done,,not quite finished 

Yet , so I had better get on 

Enjoy your evening everyone,,

Pop back soon 

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

A requested photo tutorial

Good afternoon , 

Hope your Friday is going well and that you are all ready for a lovely weekend.

We must welcome our new follower Tracey ..do come in a grab a seat and a coffee...

Make yourself at  home, 

It is good to have you join our little blog 

It is our Manchester Groovi workshop tomorrow so I am really looking forwards to that.

My bags are all packed and ready to go. 

Today I am going to be talking you through some mixed media Pieces. 

There are many ways of doing this type of effect, 

This is just the way that I developed , so that it is easy to teach at my workshops. 

You can use it on lots of wooden , MDF and other surfaces 

And it does become quite addictive...

I find myself looking around the house to see what else I can alter 

Hard backed notebooks work really well. 

These are just a few photos that I found from workshops. 

It works really well on a canvas too...

So , Pam, Angie and Judith....here we go..

Start off with the bare wood, canvas etc...

If you are adding grunge paste through a stencil , you do that first . 

Whilst that is drying, you can sort out your embellishments.

Remember that it doesn’t matter on the colour ...

Add the embellishments, I find a hot glue gun workes really well 

Remember it will look worse before it looks better ...

Have faith ..

Next paint the whole area with black gesso and leave it to dry 

Some embellishments, flowers etc may require some poking with a small brush..

You will know ant I mean when you do it..

There are various ways to add colour, mica sprays, luscious powders etc..

But I like to paint on some watered down Inca Gold 

I like to mix the colours too...

Next some splats and some gilding wax around the edges and on any raised areas. 

This bit is optional. 

If you want any white highlights you can scrape off the gesso etc to show the white through .

Finally add some metal embellishments of choice...

On this canvas I added some dots of glossy Accents too.. 

It really is a wonderful technique and it is a great way of using up all those embellishments that 

Are may be colours that we don’t like ..

I really hope that these photos help ladies... 

And here is one to set you up for the weekend, 

Take care all. 

Much love and hugs 

Jo. xxx