Another sell out German show......

Good afternoon all, hope your Tuesday is going well....

As many of you know I am a bit of a technaphobe.....but I was so thrilled this morning when I actually managed to watch our Barbara Gray on German tv with her Clarity show...I was at the hairdressers and watched it on my iPad.....how cool is that....and when my sample was shown I was seen running around showing everyone....o.k. May be not so cool.....but I am always thrilled when my work is shown....

Oh and another not so cool moment was when the postman walked in with the mail.....I hid behind my iPad!!!!!!!!

Now Tracie arrived yesterday just as he was delivering and yes....she agrees he is gorgeous.....

O.k. Enough of that and back to craft.....

Here is one of the samples.....I hope you like it.....

There was a fantastic new set of frame Stencils ....and I couldn't decide which one to use first....so I used three of them on this card....

First the Flame Flare stencil and Sail Boat Blue ink....

Then the crackle box stencil and Butterscoth ink...

Then my favourite the circle box frame stencil and Raspberry ink...

This is what you get....oh I do love that.....

I used some post its and stamped the Wee couple and the tree rows....

I just went for shades of grey in the middle..!!!! ( no ...not ...fifty!!!!) Using my Spectrun Noir pencils...

And some extra shade using charcoal pencils...

 

I used the new wonderful Woodpress alphabet stamps to stamp....Live, Love, Laugh....and added these...

I still worry when using words...I mean my English is bad enough but German ...now that's another story...Barbara very kindly helps us...but I still worry that I may spell something wrong and say something very rude....

Some matting and layering and card made....I have to say I did love the way the stencils worked together and I think I will be using that trick again...hope you like it too....

I am actually sat in the garden at the moment writing this with a cup of tea.....Tess sat on one foot and Eric on the other...I still don't get why they sit on my feet....is it to stop me moving????

Hope the sun is shinning for you too, as it really does make everything feel so much brighter...

Sending Sun, good health and much love your way....

Jo. xxx

 

Live , Love, Laugh...

Good afternoon all, well what a difference a day makes...it is so dark, wet and windy here today...not such a glorious Spring day...

Well Mr Shredder has lived up to his name and yesterday Eric chewed the tv remote.......today ...well a cd case....I think we have hit the terrible two's !!!!!!...

How has your weekend been? And chewing incidents?

Today I want to share with you my favourite sample from last weeks tv shows...it incorporated the new Treehouse stamp, the new alphabet stamps and the fairies....

I started with a piece of Gelli card and stamped the treehouse stamp..

This stamp comes with the most gorgeous and useful hanging vine stamps....great for borders..

Next I stamped the words...Notice I like to use brown ink,,,makes a nice change from Black...

Now out with some masks.....

And then some torn paper to create the Sky...I find it easier to turn my work...

First some blue...

And then some purple...for drama...

And now some land...

This is what I have created so far....

Now to take off the masks ...

And add some fairies....note how they look like they are holding the boxs...

And some stars...I must say I do use this little stamp so much...

I stamped the treehouse twice more and cut them out.

I added colour with my favourite Spectrum Noir Pencils...really easy colouring...

I used glue gel to decoupage the treehouse. Added some matting and layering....And job done.....

I really enjoyed making this card , I hope you have enjoyed sharing the step by step...

It is time for me now to finish cooking our Sunday Dinner...so I had better get a move on...

Thank you for looking in...Take care all....

See you soon

Jo. xxxx

 

Spring Inspiration.

Good afternoon all, hope you are making the most of this lovely weather...I have to say it is great to get the washing on the line with the confidence that it will dry....trouble is I have gone mad ....so now my ironing basket resembles a mountain....

Thanks to everyone who has asked about Adam, he is much better thank you and back at work , although only managing reduced hours...he will be 26 next week....I really don't know where the time has gone....

I was spending some time in the garden this morning with the dogs and noticing all the lovely spring flowers....when I realised I had intended to enter the PanPastel Challenge....and whoops hadn't got round to it....and I have a feeling that it closes tomorrow....

So with the theme being .....Spring Inspiration....this is what I came up with.....hope you like it...

Now those of you who are regular visitors will know that I love my PanPastels and I also love to make wreaths...so as I was short on time I decided to do what I love .....not try something new....( I do feel so many crafters think they have to constantly try new things...don't get me wrong I love to experiment and do something different but there isn't anything wrong with having signature pieces and repeating them )

I started with a piece of Gelli card and 3 PanPastels...Magenta Tint, Orange Tint and Permanent Green Tint....remember Tint means that it is the colour plus white...

I just simple used a sponge and blended them slightly.

Next I stamped the base of the wreath...I used the Leafy Swirl Clarity Stamp...

Remember it is easier to keep turning your card....then I stamped the spaces to complete the wreath..Oh and a cheeky little bit in the corners....

On separate card I stamped the butterfly six times and coloured the images with Turquoise PanPastel.

Then cut them out.

Some matting and layering,

Some Bakers Twine, white gel pen and then I added the butterflies...

To finish the design I added some Liquid Pearls..

 

 

Here is a closer look...

You can find the Pan Pastel Challenge here...

http://panpasteluk.blogspot.co.uk

Also check out the wonderful inspiration from their very talented Design Team....

I just have time now to grab a cup of tea and get back into the garden with the dogs...

I do believe the weather is going to change for the weekend.....

 

Thanks for looking in today, have a good weekend ....

Live and hugs...

Jo. xxxx

 

Filigraphy Flower...

Good evening and thanks for looking in this evening....I hope you have had a lovely day....I have had such a laugh today ...oh I do love the Hazel Grove workshops....

So good to craft with friends....swap ideas, have a hug and just spend time with genuine lovely people...there seems so much negativity around at the moment........and oh we did laugh....

Especially when I was demonstrating my wrist action with the Clarity Stencil brushes.....sorry Mum!!!!!

See Lucy and Chrissie...I told you I would tell....lol...

We used the Filligraphy Flower Stencil from Clarity off course....he it is on its own...

And here it is with the Filigraphy Foliage stamps that match just perfectly...( a steady hand is a bonus )

The stamps can also be used on their own, here we created a new type of flower...

It is a windmill bloom......

I do love the new Abandoned Coral Distress ink....don't you...?

I do hope you have enjoyed seeing what we made today...thanks for dropping in....

Love and hugs.....

Time for feet up and tv....

Jo. xxxx

 

Bright and Beautiful

Good Morning, friends, family and blog followers, I hope you had a lovely Easter Weekend....are you back into work today? ...not easy is it when you know others are on holiday!!!! But luckily for me I love my job.....Karl was on call yesterday and Good Friday so I did some work too...well...if you call it work....I was making samples ready for this months workshop at C.J.CardCraft in Edgeley....( Sat 18th )

Today I am getting organised ready for tomorrow's workshops in Hazel Grove....and ladies we have lots to do.....need to work off all that chocolate!!!!

Did you catch Barbars Claritystamp shows on C&C on Sunday...? Brilliant as ever....great demos....and sell outs....wow....and such great samples from all the DT....

So something to share with you today....I thought we would go Bright and Beautiful with this one of my samples...

It features the gorgeous Wee Folk Fairies, and the new Woodpress letter box set.....http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/New-In/17955-/Remountable-Woodpress-Letters-Clear-Stamp-Set-+-MASK---As-Seen-On-TV

As you know I do love my Distress inks and use these colours so much...but this time I have used the Aqua Tints ....I do love these paints...they are so versatile and have so ...so many uses....in fact when I did a day workshop with them last month we still had techniques left to cover at the end,...

This background is just simple blending.....using damp watercolour card....a large flat brush....and a bit of elbow grease....See how easy the colours blend....great for a quick card...

Next the words....using Archival ink...First the box's...

Then the letters...(I do write mine out on copier paper first....to save mistakes)

Then the Fairies....and look they are perfect to use with the letters...

To create the moon I used Jo's Bubbles stencil and Brilliance ink on a mini blending tool....I stamped the stars using the same ink....I do love this effect........

The grasses just ground the design...

Some matting and layering.....and job done...well almost....notice the little blackbird....he is part of my personalised stamp.....

And the back of the card...

 

Thats it from me....I had better get on...lots to do....have a good day...and pop back soon....

Much love as always.....

Jo. xxxx

 

With Love on Easter Day....

I just wanted to send much Love to you all on this Easter Day....

Thank you for all your continued support with this little blog and my regular workshops...

This gorgeous Clarity stamp looks really good when triple embossed...

Also thank you for all my lovely Easter cards, gifts and good wishes....look what Lucy made for me...

I hope you have a very Happy and Healthy Day.....

Catch you soon

Love and Hugs...

XxxxX

 

Another canvas....

Good afternoon, lovely friends, family and followers...how is your Friday going? I hope you have something nice planned for this Easter weekend...unfortunately Karl is on call today and Monday so it will be time chilling at home with the dogs for us plus some work....and hopefully so chocolate and bubbles too...

Fingers crossed for less work and more chocolate....

Today I thought I would share another canvas with you....I do hope you like it...

Now I have to confess this is one of Tim Holtz techniques, he used it on a recent blog post on a tag...so me being me I thought I would take it and put a spin on it and use it on a canvas...

I started with an 8x8 flat canvas from Clarity and painted it with Black Gesso...you could use Acrylic paint if you wanted...Just let it dry....

Then I took this lovely , All you need is Love Clarity stencil and dragged some Grunge Paste thought it...Then I removed the stencil....

Next came the gold embossing powder....cover the G.P. And tap off the excess.....back into the pot...

Now the important bit....Leave it to dry....I left this overnight....

The following morning out came the heat gun and look what I got...Oh I do like this......

Then with my craft knife I just scratched the GP back a little to add some highlights....And a little gilding wax around the edge of the canvas...

To finish off I mounted this onto a larger white canvas....a signature on the base.( see Dave, I do listen...) ..and a wall hook on the back and another canvas ready for the shop...

I do love to try something a bit different..., what do you think ?

We have had drizzle here all day, it was a very wet and muddy dog walk first thing, so I am really hoping things improve as the weekend progresses...

Enjoy your evening...And your Easter Weekend....

Remember Barbara is on C&C on Sunday with Clarity shows...the usual 9-11am and a guest spot for Sara and Crafters Companion 2-3pm...

Much love from me.

Jo. xxxx