Abs is back on tv tomorrow

Good afternoon all.

Thanks for joining me and thank you for all your lovely messages about my Mum. 

She is slowly improving although still very sore and quite dizzy.

I am quickly popping in today to remind you that the fabulous Abs 

from AALL & Create will be ack on Hochanda tomorrow.

He will have more of the fabulous new release stamps.

Here is a sneak peek of some of my samples 

And here is a tutorial from one of last weeks samples. 

This is such a quick but effective technique.

First of all I stamped using black VersaFine ink, then added clear embossing powder and heated. 

Next I added some wax resist using a Brusho wax stick. 

Then the messy bit, adding the Brusho and water. 

Oh such fun. 

Let it dry, 

mat and layer, 

and 

Job done. 

Here is a closer look. 

Thanks for joining me. 

Take care all 

Love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Landscapes in Cumbria.

Good afternoon all. 

Hope you are keeping well. 

Well what a couple of days we have had. 

It all started on Friday evening when my brother phoned me to say 

that our Mum had fallen in the garden, hit her head on concrete, and was on her way to hospital in an ambulance.

Karl and me were on our way to the airport to pick up my nephew. 

We eventually got to be just after midnight. 

I was up at 6am to drive to Cumbria for our workshop. 

The news on my Mum was that she was on a ward being assessed, after having a CT and MRI scan. 

I did my best to stay calm, run the workshop and teach as much as I could. 

This was madeeasier by the crafter being so lovely, caring and such good friends. 

Thanks ladies. 

We used a couple of lovely stamp sets from Hobby Art 

http://www.hobbyartstamps.com/Heritage-Walk.html

http://www.hobbyartstamps.com/Countryside.html

We started with a quick warm up card 

Look at these, fabulous cards everyone.

Next we stamped a scene, and then spent time relaxing and watercolour painting. 

Stunning cards by everyone 

After lunch , we created a dl card. 

I do love this shape of card, and great for men. 

After tea and cake (Thanks Sheila ) we created a tag . 

These stamp sets work so well together. 

It was such a lovely day , and great to welcome a couple of new ladies. 

By the time I got home the news was a bit better and my Mum was sitting up in her bed and didn’t need as much oxygen. 

Bless her, they finally let her go home last night.

I have just had a lovely chat with her on the phone. 

Oh my, I was so worried. 

Take care all 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Sell out on Hochanda.

Good afternoon everyone, 

thanks for joining me today. 

I do hope you are well and that you have had a good week. 

Oh my, it has been a very wet week here. 

Jenson is home from hospital so that is good.

Thank you for all your good wishes.

Did you manage to see Abs on Hochanda yesterday? 

He had the new release stamps from AALL & Create.

3 out of the 4 sets sold out in the first hour. 

This is one of my samples.

It is quite funny really, I wasn’t sure about it when I made it. 

You see Jenson was in hospital, 

So Elliot was with me.

He was in his hightchair in my craft room. 

Plus I was on a deadline as the cards had to be in the studio ready for the shows on Thursday. 

Talk about crafting under pressure. 

Times like this is when I look at my emergency backgrounds. 

This was one of the clean up pieces using the fabulous Sunflower stencil. 

So I stamped the image. 

Then added some colour using my Inktense pencils and water. 

Next I added some more stamping, I do love using stems for this. 

(Thanks Lisa for the idea ) 

It is often the little extra that add dimension to samples. 

So I added some ink through a stencil, some ink blending around the edges, plus some splatters of white gesso.

I must say Elliot loved watch that bit, 

Just hope he doesn’t copy and so it when he is painting at nursery. !!!!

Finally I stamped a couple of small details for the border stamps, 

added colour, cut them out and added them to the design. 

Charcoal shading really helps the design pop, 

another one of my obsessions. 

I loved the fact that Janice noticed it , and pointed it out.

Thanks  for that. 

Well it is all go again here, 

Cumbria workshop tomorrow. 

My bags are packed, and  it is going to be a relaxing day with 

watercolour painting for us. 

Just the job. 

Take care all. 

Thanks for your continued support 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Another wet Day

Good afternoon and thanks for joining me today. 

Sorry I haven’t been in touch for a few days but Jenson has been in hospital again. 

We had visitors from Friday until Sunday lunch time, when 

we dropped them off at the airport. 

By the time we got home and had put the kettle on Elliot was on his way round and Jenson on his way to hospital. 

It is always great to see Elliot and have him for sleep overs but boy 

do I need to catch up when he goes home. 

So, sorry if I haven’t answered your emails or messages yet.

I will get round to it, but family must always come first. 

Saturday we had a long day too, 

as it was our Anglesey workshop.

We had a few regular crafters missing, 

which was a shame. Pat , I hope you feel better soon. 

We started with a quick warm up card. 

Then had a play with our gel press plates. ( Gelli plates to you and me ) 

The petite plates are great 

and 

And 

Look what the ladies created 

Fabulous cards by everyone 

I am so proud of you all. 

Thanks for your company, your friendship 

and your support. 

It is Cumbria this Saturday and then Glasgow the week after.

So I had better get back in my craft room. 

Take care all

Much love and hugs 

Jo Xxx

Brushing up on Re-Inkers

Good evening all, I do hope that you have had a good day.

It is lovely and sunny here now, thank goodness that we don’t have the rain that they forcast earlier. 

The sky did go a little black but it blew over and now it is beautiful outside. 

Yesterday it was our regular Hazel Grove workshops, 

and we had a bit of a session using Re-Inkers. 

The bottled inks by Tim Holtz. 

Now these were designed to be used to add ink to your Distress Ink pad when it was running out, 

but we have so many other ways of using them . 

As they are water based you can do all those lovely background techniques with them , 

Rock salt, cling film , shaving foam .

So we had a bit of a messy play with shaving foam, mind you 

the room did smell rather lovely. 

We then added some Lavinia stamps. 

Look what some of the ladies made 

Sorry, but I didn’t manage to take photographs of all your fabulous cards...

The Re-Inkers can also be used with cut n dry felt to make your own ink pad. 

For our second card we made a simple background, by just painting with the ink, let it dry 

Then added a Fresh Cut Die from Clarity 

Some white highlights and charcoal shading finished off the design .

We were very lucky in the morning as Julie had made me a Birthday cake. 

Oh my, 

It was Divine ...and had a hint of rose water.

It certainly went down very well. 

Thank you so much Julie. 

I have another busy day tomorrow as I will be getting the car packed 

ready for our workshop in Anglesey on Saturday.

See you soon ladies 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx 

Fun time in Carnforth

Good evening all, 

I hope you are having a good week so far.

Thank you for joining me, I am always so 

thrilled that you lovely Crafters read my little blog. 

Today I thought I would share some photographs with you.

They are from our workshop last Saturday in Carnforth. 

The class is organised by Sharon from Rowan Tree Crafts. 

It was held in the ballroom at the Station hotel. 

I was so thrilled to be asked to teach here,,,,,

Some of our ladies even found a piano to display their cards 

There is always a naughty table, or two!!!! lol ) 

We used stamps and stencils from AALL & Create 

These are our projects. 

Look, even  I couldn’t resist using the piano.

We used inks, gesso, grunge paste and had a good messy play. 

It was such a delightful day, some of the ladies ordered lunch and oh my 

those chips did smell good. 

It was such a great day that I am going back , so watch out for the date. 

It will be early in September, and I will be using some of the products from next weeks new releases. 

It is our Hazel Grove classes tomorrow, 

So my bags are packed, 

See you soon ladies. 

Take care all 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

A Sprinkle of Fairy Dust.

Good afternoon all, hope your Sunday 

is going well. 

Yesterday saw a new Challenge over on the Lavinia page. 

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

Our new theme is 

A sprinkle of Fairy Dust.

The winner each month is picked at random and will get £40 to spend with Lavinia stamps. 

This is what I created. 

I started by making a background using ColorBox inks, Brusho powders and my Gel press plate. 

Then I used black VersaFine Clare ink to add the stamping 

Followed by Distress Oxide inks to create the background. 

See how it is all taking shape.

Some blending around the edges, followed by 

A spritz of water and some Brusho, Sprinkleit - iridescent gold. 

Such a shame that the sparkle doesn’t show up well on the photographs. 

All the stamps are from Lavinia stamps. 

The bubbles is a stamp that I have snipped at a little ( whoops , sorry Tracey ) 

I do hope that you can create a design and enter our challenge. 

I will pop back tomorrow with some photos from our workshop in 

Carnforth yesterday.

Take care all 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx