Small is beautiful.

Happy Sunday to you all, hope you are having a good weekend...

I'm having a brilliant time in Glasgow and Thank you to all the lovely crafters who have made me feel so welcome....and for all the cake.....

Here are some of the pieces that I've demonstrated, ...using Clarity Stencils, Stamps and Adirondack inks....oh and off course the fabulous stencil brushes...

At close of play tonight I'm getting the train to Oxenholme where my sister is meeting me....Thank you Sheila.....don't forget please...10pm.....

It will be so good to spend time catching up....

Family is so important ....don't you think??

Enjoy your day all.

Jo. X 

Birthday Challenge

Good Morning all, well if blogger's working correctly this blog post will appear on Friday. I've had to schedule this as I will be in Glasgow at the SECC demonstrating on the Clarity stand. I will be using some of the fantastic new stencils, but I am a bit nervous...so please wish me luck.....

Back to today, and it's a new Challenge over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge Blog, ....the new theme is .....Birthday.....

Here is my inspiration, I do hope that you like it,

I started with a square piece of card and an oval Clarity stencil.

Using one of the Clarity stencil brushes, I added some colour around the edge using Salmon Adirondack ink.

I then took the stencil away and added some colour around the edge of the card. This is a really quick way of framing your design.

The sentiment is from the Remountable Happy Sentiment stamp set from Clarity and is stamped using Onyx black VersaFine ink.

I then added a couple of balloons and the numbers from the Numbers stamp set..The strings are drawn by hand using a black fine liner pen....oh and a steady hand!!!

Stamps from the Clarity Journalling set added some texture (I do love these and will be using them so much...).

Using the black pen I also added some faux stitching..The balloons were coloured with a pink pencil and then triple embossed. ...for this I used a VersaMark pen, Clear Embossing powder and my heat gun. I repeated the process three times. This gives the balloons a real shine.

I wanted to use some of my flowers from Sweet Lilac Paper Flowers, but needed a couple of black ones, so I coloured some white roses with Black Wink Of Stella pen.....oh what a great result....Black and Sparkly too...

Some matting and layering and some gorgeous stripped ribbon...then I attached the work onto an 8x8 card blank.

I made a bow to add and then arranged the flowers...I love this bit....playing with accessories...just up my street...

Some  gems, a metal key embellishment and I think we're done...

This is a close up of the flowers....and they can be found at http://sweetlilacflowers.blogspot.co.uk/p/our.html

I love to enter blog Challenges, also it is a great way of getting inspiration...why not pop along and have a look .....even better enter the Challenge...

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

Have a great weekend all, ..and if you are coming to the SECC remember to come and say 'Hi'....

Love and Hugs....Jo. X 

Heading up North

Morning all, well today I am on the 9 am train heading to Glasgow....oh, wish me luck......

I'm very honoured that Barbara has asked me to join her demonstration team. I'm just hoping that I won't let her down....for the next four days I will be using some of the fabulous Clarity Stencils, here are some of my samples that I'm taking with me...

If you are going to the SECC, please come and say 'Hi' and give me a hug.....

Poor Tess ...I'm leaving her in a house full of males.....!!!! 

Better get a wriggle on......

Crafty hugs....Jo. X 

Feed the birds.

Good evening all, I've had a lovely start to the week and have been to Hazel Grove today for our usual Wednesday workshops....and yes, I know it is only Monday but I will be heading up to Glasgow on Wednesday....I am really excited about going to the  the SECC but at the same time a bit nervous.....so I do hope that all you lovely crafters will be gentle with me.....pretty please...

Did you have a good weekend and did you get to watch Barbara on Sunday ? 

Well it was another sell out show.....today, I'm going to share one of my samples with you that was shown on the show....

I used two sets of new stamps ...The garden birds (known affectionately as the 'tits') and the Blossom branch set.

This is the front of the card,

And this is the inside,

Which started life as 3 pieces of Theuva card, I stamped the bird feeders using Black Memento ink. 

Then I added some garden birds and also stamped some on spare card.

I added the sun using Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, plus some clouds using the Clarity cloud mask and Cloudy Blue Adirondack ink.

Also some land towards the bottom of the card..

On separate card using the Letter Box kit and black Archival ink I stamped the words....Feed The Birds...then cut these out.

Colour was added using my Graph'It markers.

Here are the three panels ....ready to mount onto the card blank..

I stamped and coloured a topper for the front of the card,

Added some glossy accents,

And some bird seed,

I really enjoyed stamping and colouring this card, I do hope that you like it. 

As always, all the Clarity products can be found on the website, plus some of the brilliant samples from fellow Design Team members.

http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/

I'm off now to put my feet up and tomorrow will be washing, cooking for the boys and packing for me for the next few days......

Thank you for calling in and for all your support, it really does mean so much...

Crafty hugs....Jo. X 

Flower Power.

Good morning and welcome to March...and to a new Challenge over at the Clarity Blog Challenge. This month the theme is Flower Power and there are so many Clarity Stamps that are perfect for this....oh, I was spoilt for choice...

I must just thank all the crafters who entered last months challenge, some amazing pieces of work and off course Congratulations to the winner who will receive a £50 Clarity voucher.

Here is my what I came up with this month, I do hope you like it,

I started with a piece of watercolour card and stamped the large poppy stamp using Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I then used a wet paintbrush and dragged some of the ink to give a watercolour painting type of effect.

When this was dry, I stamped very carefully over the top of the design with Vintage Sepia VersaFine ink, this just helps to make the image 'pop'....

Can you see the difference in the two photographs? 

I then added some shading around the edges with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink . Next my new favourite stamp and yes, my regular workshop ladies will vouch for me here.....the Clarity Crackle stamp....this just gives such a great aged look to the work...

The card blank was decorated using the same Distress ink and crackle stamp...so that it coordinated well. I stamped the verse directly onto the card blank using VersaFine ink - Vintage Sepia, well with Clarity stamps you can have the confidence to do that...

I matted and layered the topper and attached it to the card....spritzed some water and patted it dry to give water marks....to add a little more depth I used some Brushed Corduroy Distress Stain  on my mat and flicked it on the work with a paintbrush.

A metal embellishment some Bakers Twine and Glossy Accents and the design is complete.

Here is a close up of the gorgeous Clarity Poppy Stamp,

And the Clarity verse stamp....they can both be found here....

http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/Clear-Stamps.

Thank you for looking in today, as always I value your comments and remember to watch Barbara on C&C tomorrow 9-11am....

Also if you get chance, go on the Clarity blog and see the brilliant work from my fellow Challenge D.T. Members...some real stunners this month....

Better go and get on....Tess to walk and primulas to plant.....have a great weekend all,

Hugs....Jo. X 

An Arty Swing...

Good evening all, hope you are well and having a decent week...half way through now.....I actually got my Clarity samples into the post today...phew...just hope they arrive o.k. It is always a worry!

Today, I want to share an Arty take on the new Duo Stencils from Clarity....I'm really becoming hooked on Stencils....so sorry crafters, but we are going to be going stencil mad ....I can feel it in my water......

This is the finished project, I do hope that you like it.

It started off as a piece of Theuva card and using the outer part of the A5 Duo Swing Stencil and some Black Adirondack ink I began to sponge some colour onto the work. I then added some sequin waste and more black ink.

Changing next to use the inner part of the stencil and a sun outer mask I created the sun using Spiced Marmalade Distress ink.  Once again using the sequin waste also then covering the sun over. 

Next using the 7x7 Lone Tree Stencil, Clarity Stencil brush and Adirondack inks, Lettuce and Meadow plus sequin waste the land was created.

The cloud mask and cloudy blue Adirondack ink, sequin waste and the sky was achieved.

All the stencils and masks were then removed.

Some matting and layering and design finished....there are so many different ways of using this stencil....I would love to see what you come up with....

To find these stencils and many, many  more...go to the Clarity Web Site...

 http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/

Just a reminder before I go, Barbara is on our tv this Sunday with some fabulous new stencils and stamps....C&C Sunday.....9-11am and 2-3pm.

O.k. That's all from me for today.

Enjoy your evening and be kind to each other....

Hugs, Jo. X 

The Majestic Magpie

Good evening all and welcome to our new followers. Thank you for joining in with this journey through the amazing world of craft and beyond...

I have been really busy the last two days and nights, getting my Clarity samples ready for this Sundays tv shows...I have one more to finish, then they will be in the post tomorrow....brilliant new stamps and stencils by the way...

Today, I'm sharing one of last months samples with you, it uses the Magpie Montage stamps.

I used the reverse of Centura Pearl card and Distress Inks, Peacock Feathers, Bundled Sage and Spiced Marmalade....Also the honeycomb Stencil some spritzing and blotting.

Both stamps were stamped using Onyx Black VersaFine ink.

I coloured the Magpies using Distress ink and water on my nonstick mat, added some Perfect Pearls before I began to paint ...this really does give a shine...

Right, back to the craft table....and for those regular readers it is one of those nights were I need my lucky red knickers.....they worked last week.....so I'm hoping for another win......(well the boys are) 

I hope you have a good evening whatever you are doing ....

Thanks for looking in ,

Jo.  X