Silence Calls.

Good morning everyone, 

I do hope you had a lovely weekend. 

We have rain and it is cloudy  today in Holmes Chapel, so I 

am sat in my craft room with a lovely hot coffee. 

We had a wonderful workshop on Saturday and it was such fun spending time creating tags. 

I do love it when the ladies post photographs of their work in our group. 

Wow, such fabulous pieces. 

I am so proud of them all. 

Now you know how much I just love highland cattle. 

Well on Sunday we went to a local farm to buy a tub of their home made ice cream 

Pandora lives there, you can imagine…

I was just so excited to meet her, and she even came up so that I could stroke her. 

She is so beautiful, and I can’t wait to go back and see her again. 

It really did make my day. 

I have another busy week , with lots of jobs on my list, including a couple of magazine commissions. 

So I really need to get on and start crafting. 

I just though that I would have a catch up with you all first. 

Our Mandy will be on The Craft Store on Friday 

at 10am and 2pm

Here is one of my samples. 

I started by stamping out my images, and then adding the scenery, 

Our Lavinia stencil brushes are just perfect for this. 

Next I added the sun, and gave the design a bit of a warm glow. 

I used my Clean Colour pens to add more detail. 

I added some splats of ink, and then used my chalk pastel pencil to add the highlights.

You know how I just love to do this, for me it gives such a softer look.

I feel I can really add character to Mr Fox without loosing the integrity of the stamp. 

I thought he was just having a few minutes peace and quite…

So all that was left was to add the sentiment 

Silence Calls. 

I think we all feel like having a few quiet minutes from time to time. 

Thanks so much for spending time with me today 

I really do appreciate it 

Take care all 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Butterfly for a Friday

Good morning everyone, 

I do hope you are well on this Friday morning. 

I have another busy day planned so I thought I would pop along and have a catch up with you 

Straight after walking Eric. 

A few of you have asked for a recent photo of Eric, 

So here he is last weekend when we took our little van to Delamere Forest for a couple of days. 

He loved having lots of walks, and just sitting outside the van pretending to be a  Guard dog. 

I have made another little catch up video for you. 

So if you fancy joining me. 

The link is here 

https://youtu.be/93qJCy9GYDo

I had so much fun creating this. 

Tomorrow we have our regular online workshop and we are creating a tag on tag on tag design. 

I am really looking forwards to spending creating time with everyone. 

Maybe a cheeky mince pie, or is it too early ? 

What do you think ? 

I hope you have a lovely weekend, 

whatever you get up too

Take care 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Poppies At Sunset

Good morning everyone, 

It is another beautiful morning here, and I have just been out for a walk with Eric. 

I wanted to be home before it got too hot for him. 

Mind you we have got thunderstorms on the cards for tomorrow, so 

It may be extra coffee in the garden today. 

We have had the most beautiful sunsets recently and they gave me inspiration for this card. 

Blended inks in the background and a mixture of old and new Lavinia stamps. 

Here is a closer look 

If you fancy grabbing a brew and joining me, 

I have made a little video here 

https://youtu.be/QlYLxLT_sD8

Take care everyone

Hope you have a lovely day 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Home , Sweet, Home.

Good morning everyone, 

I hope your day has started well. 

It is beautiful weather here in Cheshire, and I feel more gardening coming  on. 

I certainly aim to have my morning coffee in the garden. 

What are you up to today ? 

I have lots on my craft list , but I may just get the important things done and leave the rest until tomorrow. 

Seems a shame to be inside when it is so beautiful outside. 

This is one of my recent Aall & Create samples, 

I just adore the richness of the Prize Ribbon ink. 

It started life as a clean up piece of card. 

I do love to actually use these and not just collect them .

Do you collect…or do you use them ? 

Here is a closer look

The fabulous background stamp is #495, ‘ + or x ‘ by Janet Klein.

Reminds me of my school days. 

Speaking of which, it was our Elliots first day at school yesterday. 

Such an emotional day for us all. 

He had a fabulous time. 

I just don’t know where the years have gone. 

Thanks so much for joining me today. 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxxxx

Feather Christmas Tree card

Good morning all, 

Yay

It is Friday. 

I do hope you have a lovely weekend to look forward too. 

I am just popping in to let you know that I have another 

little catch up video to share with you. 

This one was made after one of our lovely Lavinia friends got in touch and asked about a card 

design that I had made. 

Thanks so much Vi Wilkinson for messaging me. 

Here is your video to hopefully answer some of your questions. 

https://youtu.be/ZK28bH0G5IM

A starting point and I am really looking forward to seeing where you take the ideas. 

Thanks for popping in 

Take care 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Full of Hope

Good morning all, 

How are you today ? 

I don’t know about you but it is definitely cooler here today. 

We are nudging into Autumn.

Fancy that , my favourite colours. 

I couldn’t resist using them on one of my recent Aall & Create samples. 

I started with a white board tag from That’s Crafty. As you know I am a big fan of these. 

I started by adding the ink, direct to the tag. 

Next I stamped in black ink and added clear embossing powder. 

This is a wonderful new stamp from Tracy Evan’s, and it works so well here. 

Next I added some doodles with a white gel pen, plus this wonderful Janet Klein heart, 

I just loved playing around and deciding where I was going to place  my embellishments. 

Some posca splats and some coordinating wool and my design was complete. 

Here is a closer look 

I just adore the details, 

I am off now to the post office. 

I hope you have a lovely day, whatever you are doing. 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx

Falling Leaves.

Good morning everyone, 

Wow, September already. 

 

As it is a new month , 

We have a new Lavinia Challenge. 

Our new theme is 

Falling Leaves.

Here is my inspiration for you 

I do hope you like it.  

I started by cutting my card to size and doing my stamping.

My favourite ‘Shady Lady ‘ ink pad. 

Next I added some colour using Elements ink and water. 

Followed by the stencil work, 

As always I stencilled across all the layers at the same time. 

I added some extra detail using my chalk pastel pencils. 

Followed by some ink and water splats. 

A sentiment , some sparkle with my signo pens , some shadows and my art work is finished. 

Here is a closer look. 

This is such a fun challenge I do hope you join in. 

Remember you could win £40 to spend at Lavinia , and the winner is chosen at random, 

You can find all the details on the website. 

I hope you have a lovely day. 

Thanks for joining me today. 

Much love and hugs 

Jo xxx