Clarity Anglesey, great day.

Good afternoon all, and thanks for joining me today. Thanks for all your good wishes for Danielle, she is still in hospital and under observation, so Adam is staying with her.

Yesterday it was such a lovely day in Anglesey, the sun was shinning and wow did we craft. We got all four cards made in record time.

Our first one , was a mixture of stamps and Stencils, I just love all your colour choices ladies.

And yes, we did use my new favourite stamp. The Fantasy Flower stamp.

Next we did some ink blending , one of my favourite techniques.

After lunch, and I have to say I was very focused and didn't watch the young men outside playing football once. We use papers from the Brighton Rock paper pack.

These stamps are great when used together and ideal for using with VersaMark ink and clear embossing powder

Our fourth card involved some kissing....

Don't worry ....

Kiss stamping

And the fabulous script stencil in the background. Sorry ladies I didn't get all your lovely cards on this photo...

( I think there was cake involved at this point )

Thanks for such a lovely day ladies, whilst we were crafting Karl took Tess and Eric to the beach. They had a great day and slept most of the way back to the campsite. Once back we bought some cheese made at the farm next to the campsite...oh it is yummy and I can thoroughly recommend it.

Today we have been on a coastal walk, it really did blow the cobwebs away

And yes, Eric went for another swim

The water was so clear...

Really helped to clear my head ...

Back home tomorrow and ready for another busy week .

Enjoy your evening all.

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Welcome to Taihirion.

Good evening all, and welcome to Taihirion, in beautiful Anglesey.

My lovely friend Julie Jones put us on to this wonderful campsite , it is well equipped with new toilet block, showers, etc lots of open spaces, water and electrics on all pitches. I real gem , and opposite a working farm where you can get fresh milk , cheese and even attend a cheese making course..

If you are looking for a place to stay do look them up, I can thoroughly reccomed them .

This is the view just now from our little van, Snowdonia, looking grand.

Tomorrow it is Clarity Anglesey and I am really looking forward to catching up with the lovely ladies.

Although it was very hard to leave today as Danielle is in hospital. She was taken ill yesterday and I spent the day with her until Adam could leave work and be with her. It is such a worrying time for us all, and I just hope and pray that all will be well. So if I am a little off track tomorrow ladies, please forgive me.

We went for a little walk earlier , and the sun was shinning, it did help a little

 

Down lots of country lanes

Found these cute calves

Tess and Eric whilst we had a well earned cup of tea.

We are now going to settle down for the night, so I will say, have a lovely weekend all.

Take care and catch you soon

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Proud Stag.

Good evening, and thanks for joining me. So sorry for not getting in touch for the last few days but it has been a bit hectic. Saturday was workshops at Glynis's in Stockport with and Inky morning and a Groovi afternoon. As always it was great to spend time with such lovely ladies.

Mikey and Fran have moved in with us for a couple of months before they move to Nottingham where Mikey has got a promotion. I am just so proud of his as it was only a few years ago that we were told he would never be able to work and that he would be on permanent disability. I really am a very proud Mum and my family mean the world to me. Time with family really does put the world and the sad goings on into perspective.

In fact I have just spent a lovely couple of hours with Danielle and Fran shopping and having a cofeee, great girly fun...

Mind you Karl has said that we need to put up the 'no vacancy ' sign at our front door...lol.

Did you catch our Barbara this weekend on Hochanda? The shows were fabulous and no wonder products were selling out fast .

Today I am going to share my Stag card with you.... I do love these new stamps , and the mask is so useful

I started by stamping the Stag using black Archival ink, and then added the sun,

Next came the sky using the cloud mask

And then the landscape using the landscape mask...

I did use quite a few masks for this design

Then some stamping

I do love how it all takes shape...

Then it was choices...how to colour the Stag. I decided to use Artistry ink pads and watercolour...

Some matting and layering and a word...it had to be Beauty....

He really does look so proud...

Tomorrow it is our Hazel Grove workshops, so more crafty play...and I actually have my new car...I am so pleased ...it has taken so long to get it, I have really missed it. So hopefully things will get back to normal....if there is such a thing ...

Quick cup of tea before bed...see you tomorrow ladies...

Take care everyone

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxxx

 

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Fantasy Flowers

Good evening everyone and thanks for reading this, and spending a few minutes with me..

Today I am going to share some of Sunday's artwork with you. I was so excited as we used my new stamps,,,yes Barbara let me ( yes me ) draw my own stamp designs ...

I wanted to design a floral stamp....that had a hint of a thistle...well we were in Glasgow.

So I drew my design and thanks to Jim and Paul...they arrived ...I wanted an outline stamp and a solid stamp...just so that they could be versatile...and oh yes they are...so many possibilities

We started with some kiss stamping, using the script stamp, and then the script stencil in the background

Just look at these.

Next some ink blending....well you just have to

Notice the stencils in the background again...

Oh I was over the moon with what the lovely ladies created

After lunch we used Kraft card and some of the papers from the Brighton Rock paper pack

And look , such wonderful colours

After tea and cake ( again , thnaks to Eileen ) we played with a tag...

I hope you like this stamp as much as we did , I still have lots of ideas of how to use it,,.it is great with all those inky backgrounds...

I was blown away when I was handed a beautiful bouquet of flowers at the end of our retreat...plus a planter for sweet peas, honestly ladies ...you really are all stars..

Clarity Cumbria retreat is going to be the next one,,,possibly in October....watch this space...

Although Karl and me didn't get home until 9pm , it was such a wonderful time,.we were both shattered but in a good way.. we stopped off at Tebay services for our tea...well you really can't drive past that services, especially on Mothering Sunday...

I have been busy this week making samples for Barbara's Hochanda shows this Sunday and Monday, and they safely arrived at Clarity Towers today..

Saturday is local workshops at CJ CarcCrafts in Edgeley , will be good to be local...

Karl is in London today...so I need to go and pick him up from the station...

So I will love you and leave you

Take care all..

Jo. xxxx

 

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What a weekend...

Hi everyone and thanks for popping in... hope you had a lovely weekend.

It was a very busy one for me, but such fun...

On Friday Karl and me drove up to Glasgow , and how lovely it was to be driving in spring sunshine. We met up with Emma and a couple of the ladies, had a good catch up and then it was off to bed .

Saturday morning arrived and so did the crafters. It is so good to meet new ladies but to see some of our regular crafty friends too..

We split into two groups, now Emma will tell you all about her Groovi, Parchment workshop...

So I will concentrate on the Mixed Media workshop today .

The ladies all had goody bags waiting for them,

 

Hope you like my design....They were made by my lovely friend Debbie, who also decorates t-shirts, sweatshirts etc...so if you need any , just let me know and I will put you in touch...

One of the items in the goody bags was this set of fabulous new Clarity Stencils....I really needed a script and a feather , so thanks Barbara, Paul and Jim for making them for me...

They are great to use with ink, paint and grunge paste...and it was GP that we used with them to make our book covers

Look at these beauties...

Honestly , the photo really doesn't do them justice , I was blown away by the fantastic designs.

Whilst we were waiting for various bits to dry we used some of the backing papers from our goody bags and covered a lovely little pencil pot...

Which just happens to be perfect for Clarity brushes

Look at what the ladies made,

And they looked brilliant with Groovi tools in too...

Such brilliant little pots and useful too....

When we left the building , the sun was shinning , and that really was the icing on the cake...

Oh did I say cake, thanks Eileen for all the yummy cakes that you made...

( Honestly I always put weight on at workshops...)

Some crafters who lived locally went home , and others went back to various hotels. Some of us went for a curry and catch up...but it was soon bedtime and time to put the clocks forward.....oh that hour made so much difference .... note to self ....before booking a retreat check that the clocks don't go forward.........

I am still playing catch up with jobs so I will tell you all about Sunday's workshop tomorrow..

Have a lovely day and enjoy some sunshine,..

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxxxx

 

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Hats off....

Good evening everyone , and thanks for popping in. Hope you had a lovely weekend...really don't know what happened to Monday , it just flew ....but I was playing with the new stamps and Stencils that arrived ready for our Clarity Glasgow retreat next weekend.

Eric loves the look of them...I just hope the ladies like my new designs too...

Back to Saturday and it was our monthly Clarity Cumbria, and it was another fun filled day....

We had a play with the hats, shoes and handbag stamps ....now you know how us ladies love our shoes and handbags...

Two of our regulars were away, Lisa and Elaine, we did miss you...but don't worry we ate your cake...so it didn't go to waste...( thanks Sheila for the yummy cakes )

We started our day with some smooshing

Look at these

Then it was out with the Burst powders

Wow , these are fabulous ladies and gent, I love the colours

After lunch we used one of my all time favourites , the stamp stamp....

Don't you think she looks first class????

Loving these gang,,,

And finally after tea and cake we finished off with some Kraft card and some paper piecing .

And some kinky boots, not sure if I could walk in these heels...not now...maybe once upon a time....

I borrowed Karl's car again, but fingers crossed mine new one may just arrive next week...

I can't wait..

Today I have been getting ready for our Hazel Grove classes tomorrow...and posted a couple of samples off to Rossella ready for her Hochanda shows on Sunday...

I do hope that you can watch her, what an inspirational lady , and so generous too, unfortunately I will have to record her, but I am really looking forward to catching up with the shows on Monday. We won't get back from Glasgow until around 9-30 pm , so it will probably be shower and bed...

Well the food is ready so I had better go and feed the family.

Take care all,

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxxx

 

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