North of the Border.

Good afternoon all , thanks for coming to visit today, I do hope that the sun is shinning and that you are having a lovely day.

We have just been to collect Tess and Eric from the kennels , and taken them for a long walk...oh I do miss them when we have to leave them .

Yesterday it was Clarity Glasgow, and although it is a very long journey over 240 miles each way ( thank goodness that Karl drives all that way ) ...I love going up and spending time with this great bunch of crafters. We have such a great time and Eileen makes very yummy cakes.

We started with a warm up ' typical Clarity ' card.

Here are the class designs...and how wonderful they all look...

Next we had a play with shaving foam, an old technique,,,but still great to do. We used mount board and made post it note books...

These are such a lovely gift idea.

Soon it was time for lunch.

And then some 'Smooshing' , oh this is my new favourite technique for quick backgrounds...

Pop back tomorrow for a photo tutorial on it...

Look at these , such great use of colour

After tea and cake , we stamped up our shaving foam background...

All the stamps can be found on the Clarity website.

I do have to keep my eyes on some people though!!!! lol...I do wonder what Emma and Wendy are thinking????

Thanks ladies,,,,you made my day...

Just before I go, I have added a new venue to my workshop list this year...

Drumroll........

 

 

On Saturday 7th May...... Clarity N. Ireland....

Andrews Memorial Hall, Ballygowan road, Comber, Co. Down....

Thanks to Linda and Sharon for all your help. The class is now full but we do have a reserve list.

Another day to craft, chat and eat cake...oh life is good...

Take care all.

Hugs

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Things with wings

Good morning all, thanks for popping in , I hope your Friday is going well. I am on my way up to Glasgow ready for tomorrow's workshop....the car is packed and there is not a spare cm of space anywhere.....

Today it is a new Challenge over at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challeneg Blog...

Our new theme is ......Things with wings....

And it is hosted by my lovely friend Annie,

 

We are sponsored by Sweet Lilac Flowers.

Here is what I came up with....

I do hope that you like it....and here is how I made it...

I started with one of the Clarity jigsaws...( you really do need to have a play with these )

I used the large moon mask and started with Mustard Seed Distress ink.

Next I added some Spiced Marmalade D.I. Note the kitchen towel, to stop my finger prints as these can affect the distress inks.

As I worked down the jigsaw , I was going for a deeper, richer colour. So Picked Raspberry was next.

And finally Ground Expresso DI.

Then out with the water spritzer. ( don't leave the water on the jigsaw too long )

After removing the moon mask , I began to stamp the floral and grass stamps..

And then some butterflies, remember it is always a good idea to stamp off the page.

I added some colour using my Distress markers.

Very carefully I stuck a sheet of the double sided adhesive to the back of the jigsaw.

Some matting and layering , then I stamped and heat embossed some butterflies onto vellum, and carefully cut them out.

Gluing them into place with 3D glue gel, I also attached a couple of Sweet Lilac flowers and some twine.

I stamped the word Hope and attached this to the bottom of the design.

Last of all , I added some white highlights. ( I do love these little white dots. )

Here is a closer look,

And ,

These jigsaws are so versatile, all the stamps are available from Claritystamp.

Do pop over to the Fussy and Fancy blog here.....http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk

And have a look at the wonderful work from Annie and the rest of the design team, you will be inspired...

I must go...have a lovely weekend....and pop back soon

Much love and hugs,

Jo. xxx

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Pure Clarity for our Wednesday Workshops.

Good morning all and thanks for looking in today.

I have just got back from Tesco, where I had to go to buy more shaving foam and supplies ready for our Glasgow workshop on Saturday....oh we are going to be foaming and smooshing......

I am really looking forward to catching up and spending time with my lovely friends north of the border.

Now yesterday was our usual Hazel Grove classes, but they were quite unusual as the church where we meet is having problems with its roof....and there were lots of builders around.....we had leaky ceilings, and men popping in from time to time, but us crafters got on with our projects, and I did try and behave.....!!!!!

Didn't I ladies???

We use the beautiful Alice stamp....oh I do love her...

Our topic for the day was paper piecing.....this is a great way of using up those little scraps of patterned paper that we keep. It is an ideal way to change Alice's dress....reminded me of the books we had when we were little ( yes Mandy ...I know...I am still little !!!) the ones where you could dress the paper dolls....

Our first design was pure clarity and we used a circle aperture stencil, moon mask and one of the Wee tree stamps.

For our second design we used the Wee Foliage stamps, now these are silhouette stamps but I wanted to show the ladies how you can use different colours of ink on them at the same time to give a different effect.

I wanted Alice to be sat in a lovely meadow....just dreaming.....

This technique works really well on watercolour card too.....

It was lovely to meet Debbie yesterday and I am looking forward to crafting with her again...what a lovely lady.

I did manage to take a photo of the afternoon ladies...I was busy talking all morning....sorry....

I blame the builders for distracting me....

It is amazing how quickly the time goes at these classes, ....but then time does fly when you are having fun....

And that is what crafting should be....

Right , I had better get on, as I need to reorganise all my craft bags ready to travel up to Glasgow tomorrow...you see I do different projects at all my workshops. I feel that all my crafters deserve as much individual attention as possible...although it does muddle with my head at times......

Thank goodness for lists...

Enjoy the rest of your day

Much love and hugs

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Must have mask...

Good afternoon all, I do hope that your day is going well. I have just finished packing my bags ready for crafty play tomorrow in Hazel Grove. We have a couple of new ladies coming to join us, so I must try and be on my best behaviour. ( mmmm don't hold your breath )

Today I want to show you a wonderful new Clarity mask..The Spots mask.......it is just gorgeous....and can be found here...

http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/Accessories/Clarity-Masks/19540-/Spots-MASK

There is a star one too...

As soon as mine arrived , I just had to have a play....now as I was actually really busy , I just used whatever was on my desk...so I hope you like it...

This is how the madk comes....oh bubbly chocolate comes to mind...

I wanted to try using both parts of the mask

So I started with the inner parts...

Then added some distress inks.

And some water spritzing...then removed the masks...oh I do love that...

Next I added some stamping,,,using the Wee Fairies ...

On a separate piece of card, I used the outer part of the mask

And the same three Distress Inks.

 

And then a word from the word chains.,

When I put the two together , this is what I had....I love both these backgrounds....so you have a favourite?

Then just to finish off I added a few dewdrops...carefully placed over some stars...

Oh yes , I can see me using these so much...

I really need to have a play with the Stars.....but Tess and Eric have other ideas....it is that time again...

Another dog walk...and it is raining..,.oh well...

Better get wrapped up...have a lovely evening...and thanks so much for joining me .....and even more for taking the time to comment....

Much love and hugs..

Jo.,xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Mothering Sunday

Good afternoon all, hope you are having a lovely Sunday. To my wonderful Mum, and all Mums out there I would like to send lots of love and special wishes.

I had a lovely surprise last night when Mikey finished work early and came home with a beautiful bunch of flowers, and yes they did bring a tear to my eye. You see in knew that both Adam and Mikey had to work today so I had Said to them just to forget about it being a special day .

I have just finished some ironing, so whilst the soup is cooking I thought we could have a chat.

Yesterday it was workshops at CJ Cardcrafts in Edgeley, Cheshire, and we had a morning off MDF and an afternoon of Groovi.

As always I get so lost in the class and chatting to people that I forget to take photos. But thanks to Janet I have a couple to share with you.

These are lovely and very useful hook plates from Creativ, and can be decorated in many different ways. Here we used Chalk Board paint and some embossing

A great place to hang your keys...and then you know exactly where they are . They can be personalised with names etc...another great gift idea.

For our Groovi class we used the beautiful lace flower and netting plates....they can be found here...

http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/Groovi/19661-/Lace-Flowers-amp-Netting-Groovi-Plate-Set

It was great to see so many ladies getting into the Groove ....and oh my ...it was so quiet...

Although I added colour to the first design , I wanted to leave this one just with the white work...and the space at the top is left blank so that a sentiment, name etc can be added.... I really do think that personalised cards are just so special.

I used the Clarity corner punch a real must have I my opinion.

Remember that Barbara is on HOCHANDA today and tomorrow with live shows and some really exciting new Groovi products.

All our snow has gone now , but Friday was a different story, and Eric was so excited...he loves the snow.

Tess , well, she really isn't bothered what the weather is doing....she just loves to run and play in the fields.

And look who I spotted , watching us from a tree.....

Such beautiful scenery

This photo , I am saving , as I want to turn it into Christmas cards.

Oh....my soup is ready....better go and eat it....still jobs to do , as I want to get to the bottom of my list ready for next week....Monday means a new list .........and lots on it already with workshops in Hazel Grove and Glasgow...

Enjoy your evening.....stay safe....and thanks for all the lovely messages , emails etc passing on your good wishes to Sheila, she is much better and sends you a big Thank you...

Love and Hugs.

Jo. xxx

 

Posted with Blogsy