In print again.

Good morning all, hope you had a lovely weekend, it is very cold outside today. Karl left at five this morning to head up onto Scotland, so it was me and the dogs down the fields. It was very icy and cold too....

We are now back home and yes a nice hot cup of tea is just what I need, so the kettle is on..

I hope you managed to catch our Barbara on Hochanda with the new Clarity stencils yesterday, as you know I do love to use stencils...

I was very pleased to be asked to use them for a recent magazine commission...so I do hope that you have got your copy of Simply cards and papercraft.

I just had to decorate a canvas

Always need some stamping

Plus some parchment

Notice those staples....

As always some ink blending

And finally a gift bag....with a hint of shrink plastic...

Notice the backing papers..and charcoal pencils.....they were a must ...( you know me )

The full materials list and instructions are in the magazine.....so just perfect to accompany that cup of tea..

Enjoy..

Take care all...

Much love and hugs

Jo. Xxxx

 

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Paris in the Lakes

Good afternoon everyone , hope Friday is treating you well and that you have a lovely weekend planned.

I have had a wonderful day off and have been catching up with friends at the GMex craft show.

It is so lovely to just wander, chat, drink coffee, and chat some more...and oh yes a few goodies did slip into my bag...oh that sounds so wrong....I did pay for them first.

The time just flew, thanks Julie, Mary and Lisa for your company...,

I needed a distraction after yesterday,,it was the monthly Clarity workshop at the Paper Warehouse in Kendal, and I had to drive the hire car ....well you know me and strange cars.....mine has definitely been written off , but it may take a few months to get a new one....more sleepless nights...

My Mum did wonder if I would find my way without Sally SatNav!!!

Poor Adam is still in lots of pain, and can hardly walk...everyday I keep telling him that ' tomorrow it will be a bit easier'

 

One of our ladies Elke was missing yesterday as she has just had a back operation, so her sister came instead..how nice is that...

we went to visit Paris.....

And our first two cards used the petite Gelli plates...now these really are so much fun to use...

 

Then it was time for Janet's wonderful lunch.....honestly if you get chance to go to a workshop at Grosvenor House you really should go....

After lunch we used papers from the Northern Lights paper pack...yes I know...I have used them a lot recently....

I am a bad mummy and have favourites

Look how quick and easy it is to turn a piece of backing paper into a card design....

And card number four was a Clarity classic....

It was so good seeing the Ladies again...and as always I did find things in the shop that I needed....so more goodies to play with....

Speaking of new goodies...I just need to remind you that our Barbara is back on our screens this Sunday and Monday....

I am off now to put my feet up....and I think I may just have to go and buy some blusher....as Sharon took this photo of us today ...and oh boy do I look tired....I think last weekend is catching up on me...

Great to see Sharon though , ( if you need Glitter she really is the lady to see) and have a hug...

Crafters need hugs...

Have a lovely weekend all...

Pop back soon

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Quickstep

Good afternoon all , thanks for all your lovely messages , emails and text that you have sent,..you really are such lovely friends.

Adam is still in a lot of pain, but has been given stronger painkillers, and signed off work ...he has to wait a couple of weeks for the swelling to go down before he starts physio. We are just very grateful that it wasn't any worse...

I have got a hire car so at least I can still get up to Kendal for the workshop on Thursday.

Today I wanted to share a card with you that I made for Barbara's last tv show...it uses the shoe stamp and one of the backing papers from the New England Fall, paper pack...Another fabulous collection of papers...brilliantly designed by our Dee.

It also uses a great little technique,,,bubbles...

I started with a piece of stencil card...and some artistry ink pads

I blended the three colours

Then instead of spritzing with water .....

I made some bubbles with washing up liquid

And dipped my card into the bubbles ( not into the water though )

Now the next bit is a bit of a trial and error...or guess work...you need to leave the bubbles to give them time to faux bleach ...but not too long to soak into the card..

Then out with the heat gun....and the bubbles disappear...

But look what is left

The bubbly patten

Then some stamping using black Archival ink ,some matting and layering

And some paper piecing , then finally a little colour with Spectrum Noir pencils

How fab is that background...?

My new favourite technique ....

I made some more backgrounds today

I just love finding new ways of playing with ink...don't you...

It's that time gain....another dog walk...oh yes and more muddy fields..

Enjoy your evening all.

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

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Gratitude

Good afternoon, I am sat here with a cup of coffee and thought I would take five minutes out to have a chat...

It was Clarity Cumbria yesterday and I have to say a big thank you to the wonderful ladies and gentleman for their company....you see I neatly didn't get to the class and only had a couple of hours sleep the night before .

Adam had a car accident and ended up in hospital, plus my car has been written off. A driver approaching the crossroads didn't see give way signs and crashed into the drivers side of my car , sending it straight into a lamppost , so that crunched the passengers side, then it spun and ended up on a pavement...thank goodness that my car had side airbags, when I spoke to the paramedic on the phone he said that they had saved Adam. My clever little car also phoned the emergency service....I am also very grateful to the other driver who didn't drive off as often is the case, he ran over to try and get Adam out of the car and waited with him...The police and paramedics were so good and bless Danielle who got to him and stayed with him...

Adam is home but has hurt his neck and stomach, you know I remember when I was little and we didn't even wear seat belts...oh my....so glad that we all do now...

So yesterday I had to drive Karls car up to Cumbria, now those of you who know me well, know that I'm not keen on driving....

I don't normally drive Karls car, so it was all strange...and yes, the weather was horrible...I set off at 6-45am , it was cold, dark and very wet....

I didn't know how to change the radio and obviously I was concentrating on driving so I had to listen to ' talk sport ' all the way to Lindale.... oh you have to laugh....don't you...

And yes...I know now....fingers crossed I will get the courtesy car in a couple of days.

I am just so grateful that Adam is ok, it could have been so much worse, and you know when you get a phone call saying that your son has been involved in a RTA , your heart really does stop for a second..

Puts things into perspective .....

So I had lots of coffee and cake yesterday...and a rather large glass of Prosecco when I got home ...

Our workshop was based around the Northern Lights paper pack....

First of all we did some die cutting , stamping and paper piecing

Look at these beauties....then we did some distressing and stamping

Followed by some stencil fun

 

We used one of the corner punches to make a decorative border

 

 

Recognise Jo's bubbles stencil in the background...still one of my favourites

 

I have another busy week ahead, so I had better get on, coffee break over...

Thanks for sharing some time with me....because time spent with friends is very important...

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxxx

 

 

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Northern Lights.

Good afternoon all and thanks for popping in. Wow this week is whizzing....it seems to be going really quickly...

You know how you get favourite, stamps, techniques, colours etc....well at the moment I seem to have a favourite paper pad...and it is Northern lights...I just seem to be reaching for it all the time...

I had a lovely little play this afternoon and this is what I came up with.

It all started with a piece of the paper...

Then I took a piece of stencil card and a die cut....this is a lovely one called Distressed Benson corner.

Next I used another matching piece of paper ( I am so glad that there are four of each design ) and die cut some flowers, Sun Kissed Fleur die from Heartfelf Creations, plus stamped the butterflies and cut them out.

( speaking of favourite stamps, I reach for this butterfly lots too)

I added some wee foliage to one corner

And then added some Artistry ink around the edge...

Next , some ink splatters....oh love these

And this is how they look together, then I added some hessian , the flowers , the butterflies, and a Clarity word...the word chains are such useful stamps...

A few gems and a little stickles glitter and yes, job done...

These paper are just so useful and versatile...

I really enjoyed just having a play...just because I could....

 

I had a lovely day yesterday with the Hazel Grove ladies, and we chatted about various gilding waxes, the ones that are water based and those that are solvent based...

 

Here we used the Pebeo Gilding wax on black card....the die is from Marianne dies, and the Fuchsia stamps fits on it perfectly...

We also talked about using stencils and embossing folders.

This is a great way to make quick effective backgrounds...

Notice the butterfly stamp again....

Oh it has gone so cold outside... I think I may need extra layers before I go and walk the dogs...

And I fear it may be very cold in the Lake District on Saturday for our Clarity Cumbria...wrap up warm ladies....we may need extra cake,,,,,

Take care all...

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxxx

 

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So special.

Good afternoon everyone, how has your week started? It has been a very grey day here in Cheshire,,,in fact I don't think it has got light at all....we had thick fog this morning when we took the dogs out...so much so ...we nearly lost Eric....

Oh this cough, bug thing is a real keeper...but I did manage to keep my voice enough to get through both workshops on Saturday...

Sunday I was a little quiet....

It was great to be back at CJ Cards, and catch up with Glynis and the ladies. Always good to meet new ladies too...

It was a very sad day for many of us yesterday when we read the news that the lovely Jayne Nestorenko had passed away on Saturday evening.

I am sure many of you reading this will have your own memories, from meeting her, seeing her demos, watching her on C&C , and using her stamps...

In the early days she got me into Medallion stamps, and fine glitter....oh the stamps were big wood mounted beauties..

Then the cute companion stamps and cd's.

Oh I loved these...and spent many a happy hour cutting out and making the gorgeous characters and scenes..

You know in this industry there are some lovely people, and some not so nice sort...( they really do stab you in the back at the first opportunity) but then there are rare people like Jayne...who really was the most, loving, kind, gentle, generous lady that you could wish to meet...and she was fun to be with and had a smile that could light up a room...and oh my she was so talented...

I adore using her images...

And I am so proud to be able to still use them and keep her dreams alive

You know , I am sure she has got a table sorted out and heaven is a craftier place...

My thoughts are with her husband , daughter, family and friends....

Take care everyone...

Much love and hugs

Jo. Xxx

 

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