Beautiful Butterflies

Good morning all, 

Thank you for joining me today. 

I have just taken Elliot to nursery and Jenson is sat in his little chair quite contented 

after his breakfast. 

Solids with his milk now, 

Wow he is really growing. 

We had a lovely afternoon and evening with the boys, and thank 

goodness the sun is still shining.

Today I am going to share one of my recent samples for Aall & Create. 

I do love to layer up cards. 

I started by stamping out the butterflies, plus an extra one to decoupage. 

I used distress Oxide ink and water to add some colour. 

Plus a little stencilling in the background. 

Then I stamped my background card  and added some complementary ink splats to the base layer. 

I do love these little plastic coloured hoops.

I spotted them in a local Aldi, and I just love using them. 

A little more stencilling and then I started to put the layers together. 

I do like the way the design stats to take shape. 

Just the hoop and the butterfly to add. 

I must admit I was really pleased with the way this design took shape. 

Here is a closer look. 

I do hope you like it, and that you have a good day. 

Take care all, 

Time to head out for a walk now. 

Love an£ hugs 

Jo xxx

A lovely house in Anglesey

Good morning all, 

I hope this Monday morning finds you well. 

On Saturday it was our Anglesey workshop and 

what a lovely day it was. 

A few of our ladies were away on holiday, plus Pat was unwell and Sue is in hospital.

So we all had to work extra hard. 

Pat I hope you feel better soon and Sue, 

we all wish you a speedy recovery and hope you get back home soon, 

Our first card was a  Christmas card. 

Whoop, so I have now made two now  , I am so pleased with my little self. 

Our second card was a Clean And Simple design using the Acrylic shapes. 

I do love using these.

Look what the ladies made. 

Sorry that I did t get chance to photograph all the cards. 

After lunch we had a play with our gel press plates. 

We made a card and a tag. 

The time just whizzed, it really did. 

It was so good to see everyone, and thank you 

Julie for popping in for a catch up. 

I must thank Karl for doing the driving, I was shattered on the way home, mind you 

so was Eric after his run on the beach. 

Karl is away today so I am going to get in my craft room, 

Get more samples made and hopefully catch up with paperwork. 

The boys are coming tomorrow for a sleep over , so better get 

all my crafting done today 

Oh , I just adore them so much. 

Thanks for popping in and reading my little blog.

I really appreciate it. 

Take care all

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Create your own Dream

Hi everyone, 

hope your day is going well. 

Mine is certainly calmer than yesterday , thank goodness.

It is the first of August.

So time for a new Lavinia Challenge.

Our new them is 

Create your Own Dream.

This is my inspiration, and I would love to see what you come up with. 

You could win £40 to spend on Lavinia Stamps.

https://laviniastamps.com/lavinia-stamps-monthly-creative-challenge/

Here is how I created my piece, 

I started with some ink blending , 

Then added some water splats. 

I just never get bored with these backgrounds. 

Next some stamping 

Now, have you noticed that I have caught the edge of my stamp with the ink.

If this happens, don’t worry.

We can get rid of it..

By Magic 

Fairy Magic 

I just stamped over it with some floral stamps. 

Next the moon mask and some word stamping in the background. 

I edged the design with black ink, to frame it. 

Then finally added some detail with gel pens. 

Just shows you, another mistake that I have hidden

I have a feeling that I will be doing that live on air...

Oh we are in the month...the nerves are getting to me!!!!

That’s all from me for today , 

Take care all,

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Water, water, and more water.

Good evening all, 

I do hope you have had a good day and not been stuck in these flood waters. 

My journey to Hazel Grove this morning was not too bad, but oh 

the journey home. 

Well, it all started as I was locking the gate to the church car park, I heard a crunch...

the sort of sound like metal on metal. 

Oh yes, a lady had reversed into my car.

She had even been parked on double yellow lines, 

So we exchanged details, and yes I was kind and didn’t get cross with her. 

So this made me a bit late.

Then the A555 that I normally use is closed with flooding. 

So I had to drive through Bramhall, 

Well I did try but at the roundabout it was under water with a coach stuck in the middle 

Of the road. 

Luckily I remembered a short cut, so off I went. 

Only to then find out that the Allderley bypass was closed too. 

So another route had to be found. 

All this on a day when I needed to be home as it was the first time Eric had been 

left all day after the death of Tess. 

It took me over 2 hours to get home, and I have to say the small country roads 

had lots of flood water too.

So I do hope that all the Crafters from today’s workshops got home ok.

Hugs to all.

It is very scary driving through such large amounts of water.

I will certainly sleep tonight. 

The workshops themselves were lovely 

and it was so good to see everyone. 

We had a play with Acrylic shapes, yes , my new obsession.

We used a variety of stamps  from Aall & Create. 

The first card used stamped tissue behind the shape. 

The second card was a nice quick and easy , clean and simple design, 

An alternative that would suite many occasions. 

Thank you for your company today ladies, 

Take care all.

Stay safe. 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Friends.

Good afternoon all 

 I do hope that your weekend is going well. 

I have had the great pleasure of spending some time with some of my 

Aall & Create team members, plus our fabulous boss man. 

(Thanks Tracy and Ian for the lift ) 

What a laugh we have had. 

We did get creative too. 

Thanks Olga for your brilliant tuition 

My piece isn’t quite finished but here she is. 

I love her. 

Today I just going to share a quick photo tutorial with you as we have Elliot and Jenson coming for the afternoon. 

It is my homage to the designs of Tracy Evans. 

Using her stamp  set #143 Time Flies 

Here is a closer look. 

I started off with a background created with shaving foam and reinker. 

I stamped the A4 stamp twice and coloured thebutterfly using distress oxide inks and water. 

Next some extra background stamping, and the decoupaged butterfly. 

This card really came together very quickly. 

Recently when We were on holiday, Karl found a fabulous antique shop and it had a box of old nails in the window. 

So I just had to buy some. 

This design was the perfect opportunity to use one. 

I added some white splats with my Posca pen and then the  sentiment. 

Then finally some dew drops and Glossy Accents. 

I do hope you like it. 

Now time really does fly, 

So I had better go and get ready for our little visitors. 

Take care all, 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Dragon pods

Good afternoon all, 

hope you are having a lovely Tuesday.

I am just back from the post office, samples safely on their way. 

Today I am going to share a Lavinia make with you. 

I have just finished it and made it just for fun. 

You see I bought some plastic coloured hoops from Aldi a while ago and 

I just needed an excuse to use them. 

They were so reasonable, I just wasn’t sure where or when I was going to play with them. 

My original idea was to Gesso them, but then I changed my mind. 

The background is one of my workshop demos, using colour box inks, 

Gelli plate, and then Brusho powders. 

Followed with some  stamping , a moon mask and some distress ink blending. 

Next I stamped onto some white tissue paper, and added some colour. 

It was fun getting the tissue into the ring,,,I am definitely not an embroidery expert! 

I attached the ring into place with 3d glue gel, and added some splats of Posca pen. 

Finally a few little butterflies finish off the design. 

As part of the dt it is my job to bring lots of different designs and techniques to you, 

Some you may love, some you may dislike, 

and some may even bore you...

Now I wonder where this fits in, 

Take care all, 

Adam and Danielle have taken Elliot and Jenson to visit my parents today, 

so that is lovely, 

Hope they can keep cool in the car whilst travelling. 

Enjoy your afternoon whatever you get up too. 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Mirror, mirror, on the wall.

Good evening all 

Thanks for popping in, wow it has been warm in my craft room today. 

I have been busy  making samples for Hochanda all day and only just finished. 

So I have had a quick shower and now I can relax and have a catch up.

I just wanted to show you what we got up to in Cumbria on Saturday. 

We had a play with Mirror Mist from Pentart. 

It is fabulous stuff and makes Acrylic tags into mirrors..

Like magic. 

There are so many possibilities with this product.

This one has tissue paper behind..

The thing is these projects are so very hard to photograph 

I mean, look at the reflection on that.

You see see my picture of highland cattle that is on my hall wall. 

This tag has Acrylic paint through a stencil then Mirror mist. 

Look what the ladies made 

A messy but fabulous day 

We also made little key rings , using Alcohol inks on the Acrylic shapes. 

My attempt at making petunias...

This one has been stamped on and then had a backing paper glued to the back. 

Sometimes it is so good to do something just a bit different. 

 

There are so many uses for these shapes, and I am sure 

I will be blogging about them again. 

Take care all

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx