Fussy and Fancy Friday......Hearts...

Good morning to you all, and yeh it's Friday.....plus...a new challenge over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge Blog....today the theme is....

.................Hearts......

Here is my D.T. Piece, do hope you like it....

I had started with an idea, you know the ones that I get at 3am....well, I had used my Melt Pot and some UTEE...and a cookie cutter to make two hearts...and as I was pondering what to use for my background........

Low and behold my Clarity New Design Club newsletter arrived and with it a brilliant new stencil......oh it was hearts and leaves....(thank you Barbara) 

So I got my Distress inks out.....Dried Marigold, Brushed Corduroy and Fired Brick and began to play...

The words are from the Clarity Remountable Sentiments set, some ribbon and oh...card made...

If you would like to check out the rest of the D.T. Inspiration go to the blog ..

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

Even better why not enter...it really is good fun....

Just before I go, I need to remind you that Barbara is back on C&C this weekend with the Classroom on Saturday and her shows on Sunday...

I have workshops at C.J. Cardcrafts in Edgeley on Saturday so I have sent a note from my Mum...explaining my absence ...but will set the recorder...

Have a great weekend all....

See you soon

Hugs...Jo. X 

Creative Stamping is out tomorrow....

Good evening all, another day another blog post....

Well tomorrow the latest edition of Creative Stamping is on sale and I have some projects published in it...

A couple use one of the fabulous new stencils from Clarity and these stencils may even feature on the TV this coming weekend....but shhhh, I didn't say a word!!!!

For the tag I used Dylusion sprays and my spray booth...

Hope you manage to pick up a copy.....

Some brilliant articles and ideas...

See you all tomorrow...

Jo. X 

Evening all....

Good evening....a bit later than usual...but it has been a busy day....well...busy week so far.

I've finally got my Clarity samples in the post...phew.....great new stamps and stencils....so remember to watch the Clarity shows this weekend...

Then today was our workshops in Hazel Grove...and as always the lovely crafters make me smile and Marjorie had made us some homemade jam....yum, yum....so Thank you Marjorie....

We also had the usual laugh.....

So picture this.....I sent the ladies an email saying that we were going to be using PanPastels, so please could they bring an applicator tool and spare sock....

And yes.......so they did.....lol.......

Oh I do love you all and so look forward to our workshops....

Back to the cards....this was the first card that we made....(requested by Lucy) and we used Linen card.....we started with a pale blue PanPastel and created the sky....a post it sun/ moon was used....

Then some simple paper tearing and more PanPastel and the snowy hills were created...to make the background blend better it is worth spending a few moments dragging a little colour into the picture from the sides....

This is the bit where we now had choices....what stamps to use and where to place them....

I choose the gorgeous rabbit stamp...only because I wanted to add a cotton wool tail....All the stamping was done with black VersaFine ink and the rabbit was coloured with a brown PanPastel....

The other stamps are from the Remountable Christmas miniature set....another must have...

Stickles was used to add some sparkle....but we didn't add it directly to the work, we put some onto the mat and dabbed it on with our fingers....this is a really good way of adding glitter but in a subtle way....

This is the second card that we made .......and we used a brilliant new die system from Sizzix....the kit contains all the dies to cut out the complete card, all the matt and layers and embellishments....

All you need is some patterned paper....and lets face it we all have some of that.....

Well that's enough from me as it is now 9-50pm.  And yes ladies.....the lucky red knickers worked........yeh......

Thanks for looking in....

See you soon....Jo. X 

Butterfly Tag

Morning all......oh and Happy Friday....yes, nearly the weekend.....

What have you got planned? I'm off to St Helens to see Chris and all the lovely ladies at Crafts4U2do....where we are having a day workshop using PanPastels (yes the new metallic ones.....so yummy) and Clarity Stamps...oh and there will be some Sweet Lilac flowers making an appearance too....

Before I pack my bags I have a tag to share with you....

I made it using one of the Clarity stencils.....Sqiggles and my Dylusions sprays...Dirty Martini and Calypso Teal. I also sprayed some spare card so that I could stamp the butterfly and make the flower...

The Clarity butterfly was stamped in black VersaFine ink and then cut out.

The flower is one of those quick and easy roll flowers. The leaves were made using some UTEE from my melt pot which I left to dry and then used a punch.

Oh, I really am enjoying my melt pot....I even made some jewellery this week....photos to follow...

A sentiment from Clarity, some bakers twine and some glue dots...and tag made....

I have to say I did let out a little squeal when I saw it on a display board on the Clarity Stand at the NEC.....I still have to pinch myself at being on the Design Team...

And pinch myself I do......

Enough from me.....off to the dentist....I had a mishap in the night.....Don't ask!!!!

Have a good weekend.....and see you soon....Jo. X 

The Weather Vane Set

Good evening all and how is your week going? I believe it's going to get colder....oh no....I do hate to be cold....but I suppose we've done well with the weather so far.....

Now I suddenly realise today that I had a few cards from the last Clarity shows to share with you...

So today,  it will be this one using the Weather Vane set....one of my favourite makes from the shows....and I think it went down well with the presenters too (mind you next time...I will make the turning mechanism larger!!!! It is always good to learn...) 

I started with the idea, but then it did take a while to work out measurements and placements...

I used a piece of Theuva card 13cm x 13cm and make the roof tops with the Clarity mask and Eggplant Adirondack ink.

The weather vane was stamped in black Archival ink so I got a nice dark solid image.

Using a sun post it, a cloud mask and a sponge, I created the sky..Cloudy blue Adirondack ink for the sky and Distress inks, Mustard seed and Spiced Marmalade for the sun.

I carefully cut a square where the top of the weather vane was.....and then stamped the sentiment and swallows.

I cut a circle in Theuva card and pin pointed the centre .....by lining both pieces of card and keeping the centres together with the circle underneath  I could work out where to stamp the remaining tops to the weather vane....(these were on the circle of card at apx 45 degrees to each other) 

I then carefully drew in pencil where the sun would be with each image....separated the two pieces of card and sponged the sky and sun on each new image...

I then cut a small semicircle out of the right hand side of the square topper...this was to give space for the turning mechanism...(as I mentioned in hind sight this would have been better ...a little larger) 

I used a black brad to join the two pieces together and then 2 layers of foam pads to attach the topper to a black piece of card...

Checking that the circle had room to turn.

I added some finishing touches and some highlights with a white gel pen.

This is such a versatile set of stamps and would be so good for male cards...especially the fish and the ship....

Thanks for looking in today....and as always I love to read your comments...oh, and so does my Mum....

I will try and get round your blogs too and leave some love.....oh and don't forget about Barbara's blog...it is such a good read....and yes, she posts every day....not like the rest of us....good job I don't try and keep up!!!!!!! 

http://barbaragrayblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Crafty hugs,

Jo. X 

Gesso...

Hi everyone....just a quick post from me today....whilst the Sunday dinner is cooking...

Have you got your copy of creative Cardmaking yet? It came out on Friday..

Well, I've been playing with Gesso and this is one of the featured cards...

I used one of my favourite stamps from Clarity and some white gesso....

The metal embellishment was treated with gesso too.

You will have to read the magazine for more details.....and how to achieve this look.

Right off to dish up....

Another crafty week ahead here....new stamps have arrived from Clarity...oh wait till you see them.....I do so love my job....

Crafty hugs...

Jo.  X 

Christmas Season

That is the title of the new challenge over at the Sweet Lilac Challenge Blog,

....so what do you think? ....do you fancy winning a hamper of gorgeous flowers? 

All you have to do is make a project using any material and technique, but you must include some flowers from Sweet Lilac paper flowers. 

Here is what I came up with...hope you like it...

I started by drawing a circle in pencil to give me an idea of where to stamp the holly sprigs to form the wreath...I then stamped the Clarity carollers in Versafine ink, Vintage Sepia.

The wreath was formed by repeatedly stamping the holly sprigs in Lettuce and Pesto Adirondack ink using first and second generation stamping. 

I coloured the berries in with a red ProMarker.

The music stamp is from Claritystamps and was stamped, then cut out, shaped and stuck into position. 

I made an arrangement of the beautiful poinsettia flowers and glued this in position with glueGel.

Some ribbon, matting and layering, the ' heart monitor' line and the card was nearly finished....

The last touch was to place some Stickles onto my craft mat....and then with my finger I dabbed it all over the wrath. ...it gives a lovely effect....why not try it....

You can find the challenge blog HERE ..also the inspiration from the other D.T. members.

That is all from me today....enjoy the rest of you Saturday ...

Crafty hugs....Jo. X