Time for tea.

Good afternoon , and thanks for popping in. 

Welcome to our new followers, 

Grab a chair and make yourselves at home. 

What a beautiful day it is today. 

I have just finished some ironing , next I am off into my craft room to pack my craft bag. 

I am so excited that I am going to be crafting along with the fabulous Tracy Evans tomorrow. 

Actually in the studio...

Honestly I am so excited. 

I hope you will be watching and creating along at home. 

Sunday, 2pm to 4pm 

This is one of my samples  using her craft along stamps

Time for tea 

I had been given this empty box. 

You know us Crafters, we keep everything. 

I started off by creating the inserts for the box. 

This little background stamp is just fabulous. 

These fit nicely into the box, phew 

Next I masked off part of the card for the lid. 

Stamped on it and added some ink shading. 

Then I stamped the cup and saucer. 

I stamped these on separate card, added some colour, cut them out and decoupaged them. 

I added some extra stamping, metal embellishment and some glossy accents. 

To finish off , I added some white splats with my Posca pen. 

This would make such a lovely gift. 

The tea bags are fruit and they smell wonderful. 

I am sure these new stamps and the rest of the new collection are going to be 

well received and loved. 

Enjoy your evening 

Love and hugs 

Jo xxx 

Whoop. New give away

Good morning all, 

and welcome to my little blog .

This is a special place where I share my craft journey with you 

my lovely crafty friends, 

Oh and my Mum. 

Morning Mum...

Today I have a fun card to share with you 

You know me , 

I like to do things just a bit different. 

I created the background by simple blend8mg some ink through the stencil. 

Then adding a few splats off matching ink and water. 

I do love my fan brush for this. 

Then I stamped, die cut and added some colour to this little guy. 

I wanted to ground him, 

So I came up with a plan to use this new die cut. 

Oh yes, I love this. 

But I needed something for him to juggle with. 

The stamp has Bananas, but as part of the DT, it is my job to provide inspiration. 

So hey presto...

I had an idea, 

Why not use the numbers from the die ..

I added some lines with a fine liner to give the impression of movement.

This is funny because my party piece for Elliot and Jenson is juggling

Only 2 or 3 balls. 

But it keeps them quiet for ages. 

Anyway, 

I thought I would have a give away

If you fancy this new die from Bipashas 

All you have to do is be a follower, leave a comment on this post and I will chose a name at random 

And then get it in the post...

Have a fabulous day 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Workshop fun

Good morning everyone, hope you are feeling positive this morning. 

I am sure spring is on its way. 

Yesterday it was our first workshop of the year. 

Oh I was so nervous, I couldn’t sleep on Tuesday night.

What am I like ????

Anyway, it was a lovely day and we had some play creating backgrounds. 

We then used some Lavinia stamps to build up the final results. 

We had 4 new ladies join us so that was really nice, and 

fingers crossed they are coming back too. 

We created this background using Billy Brayer, well he needed a trip out. 

This was my demo piece 

Not quite finished yet,  but I will do that later today . 

This one uses the ink on acrylic  block technique to make the background. 

Great for quick cards, 

Also a great technique to get  your mojo back after Christmas. 

Just a reminder that I have a little You Tube channel, 

Where when time permits I upload some little videos. 

They are all made with just one take, in my little craft room. 

So it is warts and all !!!! As it were 

https://youtu.be/92UAUx8dRUU

Enjoy the rest of your day 

Much love and hug

Jo xxx

Stencil play time

Good morning everybody and thank you for joining me today.

How are you feeling, ? and how is the weather with you ? 

Luckily I managed to walk Eric today before it began to rain. 

Have you been watch the ODS on HOCHANDA, with Leonie. 

She has been show casing some fabulous new dies and stencils. 

I must admit I adore the stencils, and 

we are using them at our next Cumbria workshop.

This is one of my samples. 

I had a great time creating it. 

I tried to make it look as though the numbers were hanging from the stencil

Here is how I created it 

I started with blending some ink through the stencil. 

This was the result. 

And this was the clean up with the stencil 

Then it was playtime, with charcoal pencils 

Look , what a difference that makes. 

Some finishing off touches, 

Adding some ink splats

Adding the dies, plus the numbers.

I am such a big kid, I loved hanging the numbers 

Adding the squiggle corners 

And finally some butterflies from an exclusive Tracy Evans stamp set (I adore these ) 

I do hope you like it. 

Workshops are back in full swing now with Hazel Grove tomorrow. 

So looking forwards to catching up with everyone. 

I had better get on, card to cut. 

Take care all 

Thanks for everything 

Love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Friends

Good morning all and thanks for popping in. 

I hope your week is going well, and that you are getting back into routine. 

I am trying to finish magazine commissions, organise workshops and make samples. 

Just the usual craft jobs on my list. 

As I get dates and venues confirmed I will add them to my workshop dates page on here. 

You can find the tab at the top, just click on it. 

We start back at Hazel Grove next Wednesday , and then Cumbria later this month. 

Next month is busy with an extra Aall & Create day workshop on Carnforth, 

I am working on the project at the moment and I have to say that I love it. 

Sneak peeks to follow. 

There are a few places left for that class so if you fancy a crafty day with friendly people, 

Lots of inspiration , fun and laughter do get in touch. 

I have been invited down to Plymouth this year so I have a day Lavinia class in March which is fully booked and then 

a day Aall & Create class later in the year. 

I am so looking forwards to both of them. 

I have also been asked to take part in a fundraiser weekend retreat, so my Diary is getting quite full, 

Poor Karl is sulking because the chances of a holiday are getting less and less. 

How are your diaries looking ? 

Did you remember to buy a new one.? 

Mine is one of those dodgy ones, you know with the wrong bank holiday in. 

The beginning of May is going to be fun. 

We have now been in our house for over a year and we still love it and are so happy to be here. 

One of our neighbours loves the cards that I make for her, so she came over last Saturday 

and had her own little class in my craft room. 

Needless to say she is now hooked and you may even meet her at a workshop soon. 

This was my demonstration card, 

Just made up on the day 

We had such a lovely afternoon, Eric enjoyed it too, 

Before I go, 

I must just share a proud granny photo with you. 

Elliot loves his football, just like his dad, uncle and grandad. 

Oh boy he is growing up so fast. 

Look at this , we bought the boys this art easel for Christmas and they love it. 

Jenson has started crawling and standing up. 

He will be one in February.

Now I really don’t know where the last 12 months have gone,,,

Anyway, 

Better get on, 

Take care all, 

Sending much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Time to talk

Good evening everyone, 

I do hope your Friday is going well. 

I have seen so many people posting  on social media about 

New Years resolutions. 

Well I never make one, 

You see everyday I really do try and give the best of me, make the right decisions and treat people with a 

kind and lovely manner.

Every night when I go to bed 

I ask myself if I have been the best of myself .

To be honest this isn’t easy in the craft industry , an industry which should be full 

of friendship and harmony. 

The more I do , the more some people surprise me.

I am lucky though that I have fantastic friends, support and I have such wonderful 

crafters who attend my workshops. 

I must thank you all for such wonderful cards, gifts, (oh so many bottles of bubbles and gin, whoop ) 

Chocolates, and cake. 

From the bottoms of my heart I thank you. 

Today I learn of the death of a very young, lovely man , who I met through craft.

He was such a polite, happy and handsome young man , a real credit to his mum. 

Such a wonderful artist too, 

My thoughts are with his girlfriend and family.

Please take care all

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Moonlight Magic

Good afternoon all and I hope you are enjoying your New Years Day

We have just spent a lovely couple of hours playing with building bricks. 

Don’t worry, it wasn’t  just karl and me. 

Elliot and Jenson were here too.

As it is the first of the month, 

We have a new Lavinia Challenge. 

Our theme is 

Moonlight Magic.

Here is some inspiration for you. 

I hope you like it.

I started by adding some distress oxide ink to my large Acrylic block. 

I then spritzed it and pressed it onto some watercolour card. 

This is such a great way to make a quick background 

I then added some stamping using black VersaFine Claire ink. 

I had to include little Pipin, 

He really is my favourite stamp .( shh, don’t tell the other stamps ) 

Next I added some foliage stamping, blended some distress oxide ink around the edges to help frame  my design. 

Also I added the moon. 

I used black soot ink to add depth to my design, around the edge and also to help create the landscape. 

 Finally some script stamping and some Brusho SprinkleIt.

I do love the way this sparkles, sorry , it doesn’t show up on here. 

Remember the winner for the challenge is chosen at random, 

and you can win £40 to spend on the Lavinia website, 

I am off now to put our Christmas decorations away for another year. 

The next two days are going to be busy with magazine articles, then onto 

workshop prep. 

Oh yes and answering emails, so sorry if I haven’t answered yours yet. 

I will get to it soon. 

I promise. 

Take care all, 

Oh and thanks to everyone who watched the HOCHANDA shows on Monday. 

Thanks also for your lovely messages and comments. 

Take care all 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx