Celebrate.

Good afternoon all and thanks for popping in today, and please join me in giving a warm welcome to our new follower , please feel free to join in , make a brew and relax....

I have been getting ready for workshops this week and I am so excited about getting back with the crafters, well I say crafters they have all become such great friends. Roll on tomorrow and Saturday.....

All MoJo's at the ready ...

Today I thought that I would share one of my samples from the last HOCHANDA tv show....

It is a very quick card but a versatile one that could be used for many different occasions,...

I used the new texture super stencil.....as you know I like to just use part of a stencil...

For this design I used the lower edge and a small part of the middle....

I just used Peacock Feathers Distress Ink , but this looks great in so many different colours.

I started by adding the ink to one side, then turned the card through 90degrees and repeated the process.

Until all four sides had been inked. (Now is it just me , or could this be an animal print by changing the colours?)

Next I just added a word from the word chains...I used Black Archival ink as I wanted a bold contrast with the background....see what I mean....

I did like this but there was just something missing....mmmmm

So I used one of my most used little stamps...the stars from the Wee Fairies ...

Yes, that's better and once again , quite generic....

Some black sharpie and coloured card, and job done...

It always amazes me what can be done with a piece of card, one coloured ink pad and part of a stencil...

These are the sort of cards that if your MoJo goes on holiday just have a play with the design....change the colours, change the stencil, change the word and the star stamp....and just see what you come up with ....honestly by the time you have made a few you will be back in the swing and creative juices will be flowing..

Have you seen any of the new releases from the CHA? So many new products...I can't wait to get my hands on them....more products to play with.....

I have updated all my workshop dates on the workshop page of my blog so if you fancy joining in with us and having a laugh, meeting lovely people and crafting for pleasure....and hopefully learning something new...do email me at jrcrafts28@gmail.com

Do you remember last year when I bought a soup maker ? Honestly it is the most amazing thing....it is a jug one so it takes up so little room....hence I never put it in the cupboard so it is ready for use.

So quick and easy to make fresh soup, full of natural products and good for you...well I love mine so much that I bought one for my parents...and yes they love it too....( don't you Mum) never mind January diet , just get a soup maker...

Must get on, still got my bags to pack ready for Cheshire Crafts tomorrow...

Keep safe and warm everyone...

Hugs..

Jo. xxx

 

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New for 2016

Good afternoon all and thanks for looking in today. Hope you are well and enjoying your Sunday. I had a wonderful time yesterday and was very lucky , to spend the afternoon and evening crafting, chatting ( and yes there was chocolate ) and laughing with really good friends,,,Thanks ladies....

I have been thrilled by all the lovely comments, emails and phone calls that I have had about my Pyrography, and I am so pleased that I have inspired so many of you to buy a tool or just use the one that you purchased years ago...and is still in its box.... Oh dear ...what are us crafters like !!!!!

So today I am going to share some of my new designs with you....I am always looking for new ways of using Pyrography...so one of my new items for this year is personalised gift boxes for bottles....wine etc...

Now these can be for Birthdays, New Home, Congratulatios or how about Weddings....

Maybe with a bottle of Whisky in for the best man....

Or Valentine's Day with your own special message ....so many possibilities ...

I have used my Clarity stamps for the above boxes and the only difficulty I had was to narrow down my choice of stamps....I have so may favourites..

I do hope you like these...just something a bit different....

Now do you remember the other day when I said that Adam had gone to Bali on holiday....well he sent me a photo of his hand crafted elephant.....

That's my boy....

I am off now to finish some paperwork before walking Tess and Eric...

Enjoy the rest of your day....

Much love

Jo. xxx

 

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Something crafty in print..

Good afternoon all and thanks for joining me today for a few minutes.

Thanks as always for visiting and for leaving such wonderful comments, it really is appreciated and I love to read them all.

Today I wanted to show you some designs that I have in print this month. They feature in Issue 7 of Die-Cutting essentials ..

As you know I do love making wreaths.

All the cards featured use dies from Impression Obsessions

And the full instructions and materials list are featured in the magazine

Plus a very useful free die...

Perfect timing for Valentines Day , Weddings etc...

I do love to use dies in conjunction with my stamps ...

Right that's all from me today...just a quick catch up , Karl is home so an evening with him is called for...

Take care and pop back soon

Jo. xxx

 

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Wee Stamps

Good afternoon everyone , do hope you are having a good day today.

We are all getting back to normal, back to routine. School, work....clubs, etc..... All the decorations have been put away for a few months...and yet I still don't know what day it is!!!!!!

I hope you managed to watch some or all of Barbara's shows on Sunday and Monday ....I wasn't surprised that the stamps were selling out so quickly.

So today I thought I would share one of my samples that used stamps from a few of the Wee Stamp sets ..

I have to hide this from Tess though as she gets upset at me walking Eric and leaving her at home!!!! Mind you anyone who knows me that knows that I don't wear pretty dresses....!!!!

I started with a piece of stencil card and stamped one of the Wee House stamps

I used a mask on the house made from a sticky note....and then with sun mask , I created the sun.

Next I used one of the landscape masks and created the sky

Followed by some land

And then stamped some of the Wee Foliage stamps around the edge of the design.

I then used Barbars technique of using the tree trunk to make the fence posts...

The wire was then drawn in with a fine liner pen.

I added some colour to the house using my Spectrum Noir pencils,

I edged the whole design using my ruler and black Sharpie pen , plus my white sharpie to highlight the foliage.

I stamped the word Dream from the word chain and added some foliage so that it would coordinate with the main card design and after much deliberation decided to mount it at the top of the design.

And this was it when finished.

Here is a closer look

I do love the way that all the Wee stamp sets can be mixed and matched together , so many possibilities ...

Right , I had better get back to a secret squirrel project that I have been doing all day....

Plus it is nearly time for our evening dog walk...

I hope you all have a lovely evening...Karl is away at the moment so I will be working late...

Thanks for joining me

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Pyrography.

Good afternoon all and thanks for popping in today..

Pull up a chair and I will put the kettle on...today I am going to talk you through some pyrography .

As many of you know this is a passion of mine and I have been making and selling my work for over ten years now...

It is a very old craft but it is making a resurgence at the moment and when used in conjunction with stamped images some fantastic results can be obtained...

This particular tutorial is specifically designed in order to answer an email that I received from Martin....( thanks Martin )

So here we go.....this is what we are going to make...hope you like it...

Pyrography is the art of wood Burning...there is quite a variety of pyrography machines on the market and they do vary in price.

I started off with an inexpensive solid point tool...now this is great for basic work and to see if you enjoy the craft...

But once I wanted to create more intricate designs I bought a hot wire tool....this has many advantages in that you can create more detail and depth in your work

It also has a dial so that the voltage can be varied thus giving different heat settings.

A good machine can cost just over £100 but I have to say that mine has lasted over ten years , has travelled very well to demonstrations and you don't need anything else to get started other than some wood...

Onto the wood...different woods do burn differently....you really need a good medium wood.such as beach or birch ..pine can be a bit too soft...and some can be to hard....

It is not advisable to use materials such as MDF as the glue in it can give off some harmful fumes when burning.

Other products such a natural leather are great to use too...

Once you have your chosen your piece of wood....you can trace , draw free hand or stamp your design.

I use a VersaFine ink pad as it is a permanent ink and gives fine lines and great detail..I find the Vintage Sepia a really good colour to use.

Here I have used one of my favourite Clarity stamps...The Matrix feather.

The machine once plugged in takes only a couple of minutes to heat up...

Now I always lean on a piece of kitchen towel so that I don't put any marks onto the wood. ( a good habit to get in to )

With a steady hand start and slowly burn in the outline of the design.

If you want a darker colour you can switch the voltage up....or hold the wire on the wood longer..

But remember if you make a mistake you can't rub it out...you can sand it back but to be honest it is better not to have too.

Next I added some detail using shorter strokes of the wire, almost like colouring in with a pencil

I hope you can see the detail

It is useful to have a wire brush as every so often you need to brush the wire to get rid of any wood residue.

I just carried on and worked my way around all the feathers on the lid.

I then decided that the sided looked a bit bare , so more stamping and burning...

This whole process took three hours...but I did make a cup of tea and put the Gammon and roast potatoes into the oven ( multitasking!!!! )

At this point we have choices...we can leave it or add some colour.

When I decorate items such as the chopping boards I don't add any colour so that they can be functional and they are safe to use.

But for this money box I felt it needed some colour....you can buy pens specific pens for adding colour to wood but I like to use Acrylic paint...depending on the depth of colour required depends weather you use it neat or water it down.

I decided to use a Translucent paint because I wanted the fine pyrography work to show through.

I added a little water and began painting the box one feather at a time...

I also added a small amount of watered down white paint

Until the box lid was finished

And all four sides done too

This is such a lovely hand crafted box and to open the lid you have to slide the front panel slightly first..

How clever is that....and yes it did take Karl and me an hour to work it out !!!!

Varnish is optional and once again there are many different products on the market , I find the spray varnish excellent , and it dries very quickly....plus you don't get brush marks....

Here are a couple of hand mirrors...

I do find this such a relaxing hobby and have taught it to groups of Cubs and Brownies so that shows you age isn't a barrier. ( they do need supervison though )

I do hope that you have found this interesting....and hope I didn't send you to sleep....

Thank for chatting....I need to go and get some more ironing done,,.Adam is off to Bali tomorrow with friends for a holiday....so he has found last minute clothes that needed washing and ironing,,.( bless him !!!)

Enjoy your weekend....and remember Barbara is on HOCHANDA tv tomorrow afternoon and then she has a one day special on Monday..

Pop back soon

Love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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