Another lovely Saturday .

Good afternoon everyone, 

I do hope that your Sunday is going well. 

We have walked the dogs, tidied a few more cupboards , 

And generally caught up on lots of little jobs today. 

So before I go and cook our evening meal , 

I thought I would have a chat with you . 

Yesterday it was our Manchester Groovi class ,

Yet another lovely day spent with great friends. 

We had yummy cake made by Jean...

Thanks Jean it was devine 

and calorie free....(if only ! )

We had such a giggle...

Especially at the expense of the hare.....or is he a donkey...lol...

It was so good to chat with everyone , especially as a few days earlier I had been suffering from a really bad 

migraine...

Oh it wasn’t nice at all...

I was so glad to see the back of it. 

Take care everyone...

A new week approaches..

Much love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Stencils

Good afternoon everyone ,

I do hope that you had a lovely Easter weekend. 

We had a hectic one with more viewings, an offer on the house and 

then a trip to see a possible new house.

We did manage some time with the little man and his first Easter egg hunt was so much fun. 

Yesterday it was our regular workshops in Hazel Grove .

We had a bit of a Stencil class 

We talked about the various ways of using them , 

and also had a play at putting stencils through a die cutting machine to create 

an embossed effect .

This looks great when using black card and then some gilding wax. 

The main thing to remember is to have the rubber mat on top of the card , on top of the stencil, 

So that the mat can push the card through the stencil to emboss it.

You can colour your card , before or after you have embossed it..

The debossed side looks great too. 

The ladies made some amazing cards 

This design uses a Clarity stencil and some distress ink plus a Lavinia stamp for the topper . 

We also did a two for....I love doing these 

Two pieces of art for the price of one,,.

The first was achieved by blending ink through a Clarity stencil...

Next we spritzed the inky side of the stencil 

and placed it wet side down on another piece of card. 

After a few minutes we removed the stencil and dried it with a heat tool 

You can get some great results...

And you get the negative effect 

Look 

I have had so much fun , trying this with different stencils..

I hope you will give it a go...

I had better get on, 

I am busy getting the designs made ready for our Groovi class on Saturday..

It is going to be a lemon cake sort of class

You know what I mean ladies...

Lots of love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Spring flowers.

Good afternoon all , 

I do hope that your Thursday is going well and 

that you have a lovely Easter weekend planned . 

We have our first Easter Egg hunt with Elliot tomorrow. 

I am really looking forwards to it...

Today I am sharing a little Easter greetings card with you . 

I used a lovely little stamp from Hobby Art...

Spring Frame,,

It is great for those quick cards...

And with life so hectic at the moment,,,I really needed some of those .

I simply added some quick colour using my spectrum Noir pencils. 

And then edged the topper using Distress ink. 

I love this little chick...

It came from 

Nature’s Beauty stamp set by Apple Blossom .

You can find it here...

http://tidd.ly/6b9121b5

The sentiment is from the same set too..

I also had a little tag to make ...

So I used the lamb stamp..

I think that is so cute...

Speaking of cute..

Look who can sit up on his own now. 

He thinks he is so clever...

So what ever you are doing ..

I hope you have a very 

Happy and Healthy Easter 

Take care all.

Much love and hugs.

Jo. xxx

Glasgow workshop

Good afternoon all, 

I do hope your week has started well. 

Mine began with Karl leaving at 6am, so I got up, walked  the dogs and had breakfast ,

before leaving the house for a 9am appointment. 

I am back home now, I have done some workshop prep and now I need to get some cleaning done, ready for a 4pm viewing. 

It is all go...

Saturday it was our Glasgow workshop , and the sun shone for us...

It was another lovely day with my friends north of the border...

Eileen always makes the most yummy cakes,,,

I am so spoilt with all the fabulous cakes...

We started by using a piece of Clarity backing paper , we added some stamping and colouring 

Look at these brilliant results...

I am so proud of every single lady...

And especially our young Emily,.

What a star...and such a lovely girl...

Next we had a play with some FoamIran...

And yes depending on how we coloured it, 

Some of us did have bright blue fingers...(not mentioning any names !!!!)

All good fun...

We used a piece of Clarity parchment as our backing for the flowers...

And added some splatteres of white gesso 

The room did go very quiet for a while...

Talk about concentration...

The flowers were all cut using the same die, 

But they all looked so different,,,and fabulous. 

Just shows how versatile the Foamiran is ...

After tea and cake.  

We used some paper and stamps,,,

The topper is stencil card and we have used inks to make it match the backing paper...

Great technique,,,

Love all these...

Sorry I didn’t manage to get everyone’s cards 

Thanks ladies for your company,,,,

It was our little motorhomes first outing of the year...

All went well until we got to the campsite...

The pump decided not to work so no water or heating....

But we survived and Karl managed to fix it on Saturday. 

So Saturday evening we were nice and warm...

And we even remembered to change the clocks...

Hope you did too...( especially you Sam , who was determined to have an extra hour lol )

Right, I had better get a move on...

And get the hoovering done..

Take care all..

Love and hugs...

Jo. xxxx

Spring flowers

Good morning everyone , thanks for joining me this Friday morning .

I am busy running around getting things together as we need to leave soon. 

We are off up to Glasgow in the motorhome ready for the workshop tomorrow.

Fingers crossed that the weather is better than it was last weekend. 

I must remember to put the clocks forwards on Saturday evening too,,,

Note to self

Today we have a new challenge over at the 

Fussy and Fancy Challenge blog 

Our theme is 

Spring flowers 

And our lovely host is Darlene 

Here is my inspiration 

And here is a quick photo tutorial of how I made it 

Some background paper from my stash and some Inka gold 

Next I made the flowers out of silk foam...this is great and can be shaped without heating 

I used a couple of dies 

And coloured the foam with distress ink pads 

I do lovemaking these 

The foliage is from another favourite die of mine 

I also added some string, an MDF sentiment and a stamped butterfly 

To finish off I added some glitter and glossy Accents..

Perfect for this time of year...

If you would like to enter the challenge or check out the rest of the dt inspiration..

You can find it here 

http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

Must dash,

Lots to do.

Have a great weekend all,

And to all my lovely friends in Scotland , 

See you soon

Love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Cumbria class.

Good afternoon all,

Thanks for popping in...

I do believe spring is in the air today..

We have been busy this morning having photos taken and a video made of our house, so 

that it can go on the market...

Scarey times ahead..

I must admit I’m not looking forwards to clearing out the loft...

We spent Sunday decorating, and cleaning , mind you it was snowing , 

So it seemed the perfect way to spend the day.

No going back now,,I have signed all the forms,,,

Saturday it was our monthly Cumbria workshop...

And yes we did have a few snow flakes...

We concentrated on using Distress Oxide inks, 

And even Billy Brayer...

Look at these fabulous cards. 

I do love all the wonderful colour tones here...

After a short lunch , due to the weather , 

We got back down to crafting 

Look at these beauties , all created using stamps 

from Lavinia Stamps..

And after tea and cake we made our ATC’s ready for swapping...

I do love doing this and I am building up a lovely collection of art work from my friends..

Such a great thing to do..

Tomorrow it is workshops in Hazel Grove...

And I have got my bags packed 
Just need to put them in the car...

Before I go , 

I have a photo of the little  man to share with you...

He loves travelling in his sling with his daddy..

And Mummy has both hands free then to spend some money...lol..

He will be 9months on Saturday...

The time is just whizzing...

Take care all..

Much love and hugs 

Jo. xxxx

Lavinia Inspiration.

Good afternoon all, 

Thanks for joining me on this grey , miserable Friday. 

I do hope you have some spring weather wherever you are..

My frogs are back in my pond and they are getting very friendly with each other,,,!!!!!!

So I am hopeful that this is a sign  that Spring is on its way. 

Although we seem to have some cold weather , even snow,  on the cards for this weekend. 

I hope not as it is our Cumbria workshop tomorrow..

Fingers crossed ladies and gentleman..

Today , I am sharing some Lavinia inspiration with you..

I do hope you like it...

And here is how I created it...

I started with stencil card and distress Oxide ink pads...

And oh yes....my Billy Brayer....

He has definitely come out of his box now...

As we are only making a background, it really doesn’t have to be perfect...(good job really )

Next some water splatters...

Oh yes..,I love that...

Next I stamped the hare,.,

Added the moon mask and some shading 

You can see how it is starting to build up 

I added some foliage ...

Some hills. 

And some colour...

I do love to add detail, and this fabulous Dandelion stamp is great for that 

I really wanted to frame the design, 

So first I edged the card with purple ink 

Followed by Black ink. 

See how that really makes a big difference 

And then the picture frame,,,

I stamped a Lavinia sentiment , and just cut out the word Wish....

I do love to do this...

You don’t have to use the whole sentiment,,,

Some white Posca dots...

And some glitter , 

And there we have it...

The frame is from Ikea...

And I think this will look lovely in my guest bedroom...

I really enjoyed making this, the 

Distress oxides are fabulous to use...

I do hope you enjoy using them too..

Right, better get on with sorting out my bags for tomorrow...oh and get some petrol...

Have a lovely weekend all...

Much love and hugs 

Jo. xxx