Good morning all.

Good morning all, 

A scheduled post from me this morning .

I do hope your week has started well and that Tuesday will be kind to you.

Here is a recent sample card that I made for Abs using 

Aall &Create Stamp #198 "Voyager" by Olga 

And here is how I created it

 

I started with one of my spare backgrounds. 

Some watercolour card and distress Oxide inks and some smooshing.

Then some stamping 

Followed by some colouring and some Fussy cutting. 

I assembled all the pieces and then added some white splatters. 

Here is a closer look 

I do love the way the colours pop, these flowers are such great stamps to add colour too.

So that is it for me today 

Enjoy your day 

Love and hugs 

Jo Xxx

Hi all.

Good morning all and thanks for popping in. 

I do hope you have a lovely weekend planned. 

Last Wednesday it was our Hazel Grove workshops and we did 

some relaxing watercolour painting. 

It was great to see everyone and catch up. 

The cards that the ladies made were just magnificent.

I love to see how different colours and different layouts can alter a design 

The stamps are from Hobby Art, a great set for men’s cards, and dare I say for Christmas cards. 

I have just finished a magazine commission , 

Yes Christmas cards...

Far too early if you ask me. 

We have come away again for a few days in our little van.

Originally Tess and Eric were booked in the kennels.

Obviously under the circumstances we couldn’t leave Eric on his own, 

so he is with us.

He loves the beach and the sea , look 

On Thursday evening we got chance to catch up with Yvonne and Paul. 

What a super time we had. 

You know crafting has given me so many wonderful friends, 

I do feel blessed. 

We had fish and chips at the seaside...

And yes , Eric had a came and went for a swim .

I think we all need a few days away to recharge our batteries. 

So I must go now, 

We are off to find a local dog friendly pub for lunch 

Take care all 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Midnight blue with an Orange hue.

Good evening all, 

I hope your week has started well. 

Did you have a lovely weekend? 

Wow it was so hot on Saturday, wasn’t it . 

We spent Friday with Mikey and Fran and then had 

Adam and family round on Saturday. 

Adam and Danielle had bought a paddling pool for the boys. 

So grandad had to get it out and have a play.

Jenson wasn’t impressed but Elliot loved it, 

Look. 

We had such a wonderful time. 

Creating precious memories. 

I can’t believe it is the first of July. 

That means a new Challenge over at Lavinia. 

The new theme is 

Midnight blue with an Orange Hue. 

Here is some inspiration for you, remember the winner is chosen at random and wins £40 to spend on Stamps.

As usual here is how I created it. 

I started with Archival ink and my gel press plate. 

Whoops , sorry for the Australian photo!!!!

I used scrunched copier paper and made a print. 

Next out with the large moon mask. 

Then I created a subtle background. 

Followed by stamping the main image, Aurora. 

I added some splats of ink, plus some colour using pencils. 

I stamped the sentiment twice, just to create that 3d effect. 

Then all that was left was some matting and layering, some squiggles with a black fine liner and some charcoal shading.

Something just a bit different. 

Thank you for popping in, 

Enjoy your evening 

and pop back soon. 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Flowers and Gears

Good afternoon all, 

I do hope your Friday is going well. 

It is a lovely sunny day here and I have spent the morning taking 

little Jenson for a lovely walk. 

We are now home and relaxing 

He is nearly 5 months old now, bless him. 

Today I am going to share one of my recent tv samples with you. 

It uses the stamp set #195 Flowers and Gears by Olga Heldwein 

from AALL & Create. 

And it matches the breadboard that I created too, 

A gift and a matching card, what a lovely idea. 

Here is how I created the card. 

I started by stamping in brown ink and using clear embossing powder. 

Notice the ink smudge in the lower right hand corner. 

Don’t worry , we will hide it later 

Next I painted the design using distress Oxide inks and water. 

Then spritzed it with more water, I do love doing this. 

Some extra splats of ink, see how the smudge of ink has disappeared.

I added the sentiment and some splats of brown ink. 

Followed by some cog stamping. Just to add more detail in the background. 

The finishing touches were some white ink to highlight areas, and charcoal pencil 

to add shade. 

What a difference these make. 

Here is a closer look. 

.

I do love floral stamps, and these have so much detail. 

I had better go, 

Nappy changing time.

Have a lovely weekend all. 

Thanks once again for all your support 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

When you need Fairy Dust

Good afternoon all.

It is a very wet Tuesday here in Cheshire, how is the weather with you today ? 

Karl got up at 5am and left early again, (he is so busy at the moment ) 

So Eric and me went on a long walk in the rain. 

It is so funny how things work out, we met a lovely gentleman 

Who stopped and wanted to pet Eric, he said what a fantastic dog he was, but he looked sad. 

So I told him about last week. 

We chatted for a while, he has a couple of dogs .

What a nice man and like I say, funny how things happen. 

I have lots to do in my craft room but honestly I am struggling.

If only being creative was easy, and didn’t depend on how we feel. !!!!

So I am hoping that a sprinkle of Fairy Dust will help me. 

This is how I created it.

I started with some yellow distress Oxide ink. 

At this point, I wasn’t sure where the design was going.

So I added some orange ink. 

Followed by some water spritzing, and more stamping. 

Finally I added my main image, The Dragonfly keeper stamp. 

Then I spritzed again and added some Sprinkleit, and glossy Accents. 

It is hard to capture the sparkle. 

But believe me,

It really sparkles and twinkles when the light catches it. 

I hope your day goes well, whatever you are doing. 

Take care all. 

Much love and hugs 

Jo. xxx

Saturday with friends in Glasgow.

Good afternoon all. 

Firstly thank you for all your lovely messages, cards, gifts and emails. 

Honestly we are so amazed by you all, you are so kind, 

generous and have given us such comfort. 

It was very hard leaving Perth, with a space in our little van.

Saturday’s workshop went well and the ladies were just so kind to us both. 

Under the circumstances we let Eric sit under the table at the class.

I held it together and only had one moment, 

When I was demonstrating, I opened an  ink pad and there on the pad was a white dog hair....

Bless her, my crafty companion didn’t want to miss out. 

Deep breath. 

We started  with a quick warm up card. 

One of my favourite techniques at the moment. 

I love to add little cobwebs to my cards these days. 

Have you spotted it? 

Look here are some of the ladies cards 

They are fabulous. 

Then we got out the gel press plates, and had some inky play. 

I do love to take a background and just add, layer upon layer .

I am afraid that I didn’t manage to photograph everyone’s cards, sorry ladies. 

(But who made the castle card!!!!) 

We also used the petite gel press plates, 

another one of my favourite type of cards.

We had tea and cake thank you Eileen, yummy as always. 

 We finished off the day with an ATC. 

It was such a pleasure to be with such lovely ladies (oh and Karl ) 

Thank you for looking after us and making our trip 

so worth while. 

I hope you have gone home and are now creating more backgrounds and having 

a really good time. 

Oh my, look what just arrived, 

Thank  you so much lovely lady 

They are so beautiful 

Love and hugs 

Jo xxx

A sad day.

Hi all, 

Just a short post from me today. 

You see we had to say goodbye to our beloved Tess today. 

She became unwell on Sunday, and gradually got worse each day. 

I spent last night sat up with her.

So today we took her to the vet, 

She had internal bleeding due to blood cancer and there was nothing they could do.

So I stayed with her until she was asleep.

Bless her .

She has been such a wonderful, loyal, family pet .

We are so glad to have shared the last ten years with her.

There is one thing for sure and my craft room will not be the same 

without her sat under my table. 

Take care all

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx