Such a lovely day

Good morning all, I hope you are keeping well 

I am catching up with you as we travel back home. 

At the moment we are on the ferry, then we have our 6hr drive home. 

I do hope the motorways are kinder to us than they were on the journey up. 

Yesterday we decided to have a day off, you see on Sunday I was sat in our little motorhome 

making samples, no rest for the wicked !!!!

So yesterday we got the local bus and went down the road from the campsite and 

visited DownPatrick. 

What a beautiful place, 

And so much history. 

We visited the Cathedral 

and the final resting place of St Patrick. 

And the old jail, which is now a wonderful museum 

It was such a fabulous place to spend the day 

So lovely to spend time with Karl .

Mind you I have been wondering how Eric is, 

His first time in kennels without Tess.

We should be home between 8 and 9pm tonight. 

Then back to the long list of jobs tomorrow.

We may just stop at Tebay services for our evening meal.

Take care all

Love and hugs 

Jo xxxx

I am so lucky.

Good afternoon all, from a very wet campsite in Belfast. 

It has rained here all day so far, but it really doesn’t matter. 

We have been out for a walk around the local park and had a hot chocolate in the cafe.

Yesterday it was our regular workshop over here, 

and what a fabulous day it was. 

I have such wonderful friends over here who help and support me such. 

Thank you so much  ladies. 

It is always such a fabulous way to spend a weekend. 

We used stamps and stencils from Aall & Create. 

These are such fun cards to make. 

I really love this background mashup stamp. 

We mixed stamps, stencils and ink, plus the odd Posca pen splatter too,,

The ladies made the most wonderful cards, and I am so proud of them all. 

It really is like coming to visit family, and we can’t wait to come back next year. 

Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday 

Much love and hugs 

Jo Xxx

Friday ferry.

Afternoon all, 

thank you for joining me today. 

We are just waiting to board the ferry over to Belfast for 

our workshop tomorrow. 

We drove up to Dumfries yesterday and stayed overnight. 

I do worry about such a long drive and missing the ferry. 

Well yesterday we sat on the M6 for 3 hours. 

There was a terrible accident and I do feel sorry for all those involved. 

Eric has gone into the kennels, it is his first time without Tess, 

But the staff are very good and have promised to look after him. 

On Wednesday it was our Hazel Grove workshop, and it was very sad 

without Elaine. 

We missed her terribly. 

We had a play with clean and simple cards that are quick 

and easy to make but look effective. 

We used stamps and stencils from Aall & Create. 

I do love the colours in this card made by Anne. 

And here is one of my demos .

Our second card involved blending through the stencil 

And here is another demo card 

It is always such a lovely day with such wonderful ladies. 

It was great to welcome a new member too. 

I must go, as we have just boarded the ferry and my internet will run out soon. 

Take care all.

Have a wonderful weekend, 

and ladies of Belfast 

See you in the morning.

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

That Friday feeling.

Hi all , thanks for popping in. 

Hope your Friday is going well so far. 

I managed to walk Eric and nip out to the shops before we had a power cut. 

The whole area was cut off, no electricity, no internet or phone signal. Even the traffic lights didn’t work. 

It lasted for a couple of hours, 

but seems to be so much longer. 

So I missed Jo Channon on Hochanda this morning. 

Thank goodness for catch up. 

I made a couple of samples using this fabulous stencil #36 by Aida. 

As you know I love playing with stencils. 

So many ways that we can use them . 

This one features a rather fabulous butterfly , by Tracy Evans. 

I adore this exclusive set. 

Jo is on again at 3pm. I hope you can join her. 

I am so delighted that I will be hosting a couple of shows myself in November.

Whoop. Thanks Abs. 

If you are going to Port Sunny tomorrow, have a great day and remember your list. 

I will be in the Lake District as it is my parents 60th Wedding Anniversary. 

We are having a large family gathering. 

Children, grandchildren and great grandchildren 

I am really looking forwards to some family time. 

Have a lovely weekend, 

whatever you have planned.

Love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Another YouTube

Good morning all, 

I hope you have something nice planned for today. 

I am off to the vets later with Eric. 

He has been so good, the pads , wires etc from the ECG haven’t bothered him at all. 

We were able to let him off the lead today , 

first time since his episode. 

Fingers crossed for good news later. 

As you know on Friday there are some fabulous new stamps being released from the Lavinia Castle. 

Now these are gorgeous on their own but will fit in with many of the existing Lavinia family.

I have had a play mixing , old and new. 

I do hope you like it. 

I made a YouTube, so that you can follow along if you would like. 

 https://youtu.be/xi0qbRm33MY

Maybe make a brew first...

As as always, it is one take, 

No editing, 

All live, just me in my craft room. 

Have a lovely day all

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

All Hallows’ Eve.

Good afternoon everyone. 

I do hope that today is going well. 

I am afraid that I have some sad news, as one of our lovely Crafters

Elaine Porter passed away on Sunday. 

Elaine has been crafting with us in Hazel Grove for many years and we will miss her so much. 

My thoughts are with her husband Graham and their family. 

I have found it hard to write this blog post. 

I have started so many times, but struggled with what to say. 

Then I just thought of Elaine, and how she loved crafting, such a wonderful creative lady. 

She loved Lavinia stamps and spoke to Tracy quite often. 

So Elaine this one is just for you...

It is the first of October ,

So it is a new Challenge over at the Lavinia HQ

Our new theme is 

All Hallows’ Eve. 

This is my offering

And here is how I created it 

ColorBox inks on the Gel Press, using Billy Brayer, and cleaning him on scrap card. 

Adding some Brusho powders and making a print. 

Next some stamping using black VersaFine ink. 

More stamping and then blending some ColorBox ink around the edges. 

Some white Posca splats , and some glossy Accents to add detail. 

My aim was to make a sort of eye creation...can you see it ????

And this is the Billy clean up 

Which I stamped and used to make a trick or treat bag.

Thanks so much for joining me today, 

I am off to pick Eric up. 

His heart scan has gone well and is all clear. 

He is wearing his 24hr ECG so has a rather fancy coat on. 

Bless him, the vet said he has been so good, and just let them do all the tests. 

Looks like the sun is just popping out too

Take care all,

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxxx

Friday 4th October = New releases

Good afternoon everyone, 

I hope you had a lovely weekend. 

I have been playing with some fabulous new stamps from Lavinia stamps. 

Wow, 

These are amazing. 

The hand drawn detail is just awesome.

Tracey really has done a great job...

(Once again)

Just look, 

And this one was made using the clean up card from Billy Brayer for the design in my previous blogpost. 

The detail is second to none.

They are so versatile, but also are perfect companions for so many other stamps 

that we already have in our Lavinia family. 

They are going to be released on the Lavinia website on Friday 4th October...

So, Not long now.

I am off now, back into my craft room...

Take care all

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx