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 

Clarity Cumbria

I'm so pleased to be able to tell you that I'm going to be running regular monthly Clarity workshops in Lindale, Cumbria....

The first one is to coincide with Barbara back in the classroom on C&C....

Saturday 5th April.....also on the same day the lovely and very talented Maria Simms will be launching Clarity North East....full details of all the regional workshops can be found here....

  http://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/p/clarity-workshop.html

It is a really good way of meeting fellow crafters, learning new skills and oh we always have coffee and cake.....

If you would like any information don't hesitate to email me on...

jrcrafts28@gmail.com

Hugs....Jo. X 

Flying High.....

Oh, how lovely is that Friday feeling....? 

I do hope that you have something nice planned for the weekend....I'm off to C.J. Cardcrafts  in Stockport tomorrow for our regular workshop day....I do enjoy catching up with my crafty friends....and believe me Mark is very crafty!!!!!

Today I am going to show you one of my recent makes....with one of the new A5 Clarity Stencils ....oh they are fantastic.....and you can see them now on the web site....

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

And yes, I have just ordered all of them....oh how naughty .....but nice!!!!!

This was really quick to make ...but I do think it's so effective,

I started by using low tack masking tape and masked off all four sides..Then 

using the cloud mask, a make up sponge and cloudy blue Adirondack ink  I created my background.

Next step was to very carefully take off the masking tape....I always say a little prayer at this point...how many times is low tack....not ...low tack.??

Now for the Boy with the Birds Stencil.....I used more low tack tape and filled in the stencil space with another make up sponge and Denim Adirondack ink.

I do love the reveal when you lift the stencil up.....oh ...how lovely....

On another larger piece of Theuva card I used the cloud mask and cloudy blue ink again to make another background,

Once the stencil was taken off the topper I used a fine liner pen to doodle a border.....then added a little bow using Bakers Twine.....some matting and layering and job done...

Thank you for looking in today as always I love to read your comments .....or if you are like my Mum, I just love to know that you are keeping an eye on me....

Enjoy your Friday evening.....and please be kind......

Hugs....Jo. X