A Moment of Clarity.

Good evening all and a special 'Hello' to Debbie our new follower.....it was so good to see you on Sunday at Harrogate. Oh, what a brilliant day I had. It was so good to see so many friends, fellow Clarity D.T. Members and crafters from our workshops in Hazel Grove and St. Helens.

Now in a recent post, I said I would give away one of the new Clarity Stencils....A Moment of Clarity,

Drum roll please...

And the winner is.....Emma Burns.....so Emma please 'pm' me your address and your post will be on its way to you....

I do hope you like it....well did you see Barbara called me her Stencil Queen on her blog today...? whoo....I was so chuffed...yah.

Which reminds me on Sunday there was a card challenge....and Barbara won.....here she is with her prize ....a brilliant clock from none other that the MDF Man....and yes, I did buy a bag of goodies from him....

I'm off now as I am still getting things together for workshops tomorrow....

Enjoy your evening.....

Jo. X

All about Spring.

Morning all and happy Saturday....

Today, I'm off to Crafts 4 U 2 do in St.Helens...where we are having a workshop day using Claritystamps and Angelina Fibres....it's all the ironing I intend to do today...

It just so happens that it is also the day of a new Challenge over at the Sweet Lilac Challenge Blog...

Today the theme is.....All about Spring.....and haven't we had some lovely spring weather recently? 

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

I started with a piece of A5 Theuva card from Clarity and one of the new A5 stencils ...the wonderful owl....

I taped the stencil at the top and began sponging some Adirondack ink through the stencil. I used Butterscotch, Latte and Expresso..

When I had finished, I removed the stencil and brushed Stonewashed ink around the edge with a Clarity Stencil brush....now anyone who knows me will know just how much I love these brushes..

Some matting and layering onto brown card....

I then used a larger piece of white card and edged this with Butterscotch Adirondack ink once again with my fabby stencil brush.

Then over stamped using the crackle stamp and second generation of Latte adirondack ink.

I stamped the sentiment onto a separate piece of card, added some colour and some matting and layering.

Next, I arranged my embellishments including these wonderful Sweet Lilac flowers and Leaves...

When I was happy, I started to glue them into place...

Then I added the sentiment,

And my work was finished ...oh I do love these flowers....don't you??

How do you fancy winning a hamper of them? All you have to do is enter the blog challenge ...and the winner is chosen at random....so everyone has a chance,,,,

Go and visit the site here.... http://sweetlilacflowers.blogspot.co.uk/

And if you get Papercraft Essentials there is a brochure inside with a special offer on the back....yah...

I'd better get on....tomorrow I'm off to the show at Harrogate and meeting up with fellow Clarity D.T. Friends... I may just make a few purchases too....

See you all soon, enjoy your weekend.....

Jo. X 

The Lucky Set.

Good evening all, how's your week going? Well I had a lovely set of new Clarity products arrive yesterday, but won't have time to start playing until next week....oh, itchy hands....

So I thought I had better share some of my last months samples....

Tonight,  I thought we would look at the Lucky Set of Stamps and Stencils...and this is the card that I made...I do hope that you like it...

I started off with the Good Luck Stencil and used my wonderful Stencil brush and Lettuce Adirondack ink..

Next I put the Line Stencil on top and this time used Meadow Adirondack ink and a sponge..

This is what I had created...

I stamped the four leaf clover and used clear embossing powder, then cut it out leaving a small white border..

Some matting and layering,

The background was created with all the stamps and some random stamping....and a variety of shades of green ink pads...

Some positioning, some ribbon and job done....

Green is not a colour that I use very much, but I do like the way that this looked so I may just use it a bit more...

So I wish you all lots of luck....

In fact, if you leave me a comment I will pick a random person to win one of the new A Moment Of Clarity Stencils....

So go on .....you know you want one...

Hugs...Jo. X 

Show Time...

Good evening friends and fellow crafters, how are you this Tuesday evening. 

I've been spending the day with Karl, oh I did miss him last week, but I did have a really great time too. 

I was so nervous about demonstrating on the Claritystamp stand at the SECC

But everyone was so lovely and kind.

I traveled by train and arrived at lunchtime on Wednesday and was greeted  by the wonderful Heather who gave me a big hug and made me feel right at home.

Along with Dave and Len we then spent the afternoon getting the stand together.

And how wonderful it looked when we had finished....

Lots of amazing new Stencils,

New Blending mats, 

And New Folders....(and yes, I did NEED one of the folders!!!) 

We stayed in a nearby hotel and Heather is a brilliant room buddie.....we got on like a house on fire....

For the next four days we worked on the stand, Boss Man Dave at the helm, Heather in charge of products and I sat and played...oh sorry demonstrated...

These are a couple of samples that I made...

Here is one of the new Stencil folders,

When Sunday evening arrived and the doors closed we then began with the help of Len to take everything down, put it away and load it all onto the van....

Ready for the next show which is at Harrogate next weekend...

When I got home I was greeted with Tess jumping with excitement .....oh she had missed me...and hasn't left my side since.....

Thanks for sharing my travels, as always it is a pleasure to have you join me...

Hugs....Jo. X 

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