Week 207 - True Blue

Hello Crafters!

I hope that finds you all well and have had a good week.  What a busy one in the Channon household  As you know from the lateness of last week's post we surprised Mark with a 4 day trip to Dublin and it was fantastic.  Not sure if I could deal with all the stress of organising a surprise trip again though! phew it took some doing as we are together 24/7 working and living together! 

I will pop some photographs on the blog in the week but they are on Kate's camera at the moment and she is working.  

We also went out for a meal on Wednesday evening at it was Mark's actual birthday and we had a fabulous time in the company of our family and special friends.  Thursday was our 26th wedding anniversary so with one thing and another the lounge is full of cards!

Back to this weeks Challenge - it is our lovely Sarah's week to set our challenge for us and she has chosen:

True Blue

In todays workshop at the shop today we were crafting using the Fabulous Shoes cd rom and stamp collection from Katy Sue Designs which were fun to use.

This is one of the projects that we did and I thought it fitted the Challenge brilliantly so I thought I would share this with you.

This is a digi print from the CD Rom and I love it - it was so much fun to colour and there is so much detail on the picture.  The sentiment is from a stamp sheet from the series too.  The blue paper is from my stash and the flower has been cut out from the Grande Peony Spellbinder Die. The design was coloured using pro-markers.

I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it.

I will be back on C and C on Tuesday for 5 more sales shows which I am sure will have some great bargains on again so pop by and have a peep if you have time.

Please pop over and have a look at the Allsorts Challenge Blog and check our the other design team members ideas for the Challenge.

Thankyou as ever for popping by and I hope that you enjoy a lovely weekend and a busy week ahead.

Bye for now and enjoy your crafting this week,

Jo xx

Week 206 - Any Sport

Hello Everyone,

Sorry for the lateness of this post for this weeks Allsorts Challenge but we have been away for a long weekend in Dublin to celebrate Mark's 50th Birthday.  It was a huge surprise for him and I was that tied up with trying to keep everything a secret that I forgot to schedule my post before we went!!  I was on the plane when I suddenly remembered and, of course, it was too late!! 

So, better late than never, here is my card for Wendy's Challenge this week which is entitled

ANY SPORT

This is a House Mouse decoupage from Joanna Sheen and it is one of my favourites.

There is so much going on in the picture and it tells a great story.  It certainly fits the bill for this weeks Challenge.

I hope that you like it and that you agree that it is a really fun filled card.

I am sure by now that you have checked out the other Allsorts Team but if not pop over to the Allsorts Challenge Blog to have a look.

I will share some photographs of our weekend away with you when we get them sorted.

Thankyou for popping by and please leave a comment if you have time.

Bye for now

Jo x

Week 205 - Add some sparkle

Hello my fellow bloggers,

I hope that this finds you all well and happy now that the sun has finally started to shine. 

This week at Allsorts we have been asked to .................

ADD SOME SPARKLE

I am sure that there isn't a crafter out there that cant fulfill this request!!

This is my offering for this challenge.

This is a closer photograph of the stamped image which has been embossed in black sparkle embossing powder from Creative Expressions.

and a close up of the Butterfly showing the sparkle

I started with an A5 size Centura Pearl card blank and popped a layer of black glitter card over the front.

The decorative edges have been made using a new Marianne die - it is gorgeous.

The butterfly has been made using another Marianne but this time it is a stamp and die and it really works perfectly.

The stamp in the middle of the card is from Let's Create's new Victorian stamp range and we are so pleased with the way that these have turned out.  We have 6 sets in the range and I cant wait to get stuck in and make lots of samples from them.

I have a busy weekend ahead on C and C guesting on the half price event shows on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  There is a varied list of products from paper stash to storage and it is really worth having a peep at some of the shows - it certainly is May Mayhem!!

Whatever you choose to do I hope that you all enjoy a fabulous weekend.

Dont forget to pop over to the Allsorts Blog to check out my teamies great work and have a bash at the challenge too if you can keep out of the sunshine for long enough!!

Bye for now

Jo xx

Week 204 Anything but a Card-

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope that this finds you all well and enjoying the start of a lovely weekend,

This week at Allsorts it is Anything But a Card and I have a couple of designs to show you as I couldn't make my mind up which one to show you.

The first one is a decorated box which I painted first with acrylic paint and then covered it with a few different Kaiser Craft papers.  I used one of the Grand labels dies to use as a backdrop for the perfume bottles from House of Zandra.  A Tattered Floral flower and a Crafts Too swirl finished off this project.

I also would like to show you this really quick but pretty project 

This is just a plain paper bag that I decorated with Kaiser Craft papers as a background and Spellbinder swirls and flowers to add dimension. Buttons finished off the flowers.

Please pop over to the Assorts Challenge Blog to check out the other Design Team members work - it is all stunning.

Enjoy the rest of a lovely weekend and hope that you can find a few minutes to pop a comment in so that I can see what you think to my Anything but a Card! 

Bye for now

Jo xx

Another quick Spellbinder fix!

Hi Crafters

Well finally the marathon is complete and I hope that lots of you took advantage of these amazing prices on the Spellbinders that have been on the shows.

Here is another sample showing another way to use the Medallion 7.  This die has a lovely flower in the centre and looks fabulous when it is decoupaged up in the centre.  I have also used the die to stencil through and make a perfect and unique background. I have also used Decorative labels 22

 This die has a lovely flower in the centre and looks fabulous when it is decoupaged up in the centre.  I have also used the die to stencil through and make a perfect and unique background. I have also used Decorative labels 22.

Use colours that go together so that they blend really well.

This one is a nice fresh looking design using the Just Swinging Shapeability and the Floral Corner which was very popular.  The petite labels set was used to pop a sentiment onto the card.

Cutting the dies out of black cardstock and popping it onto rainbow cardstock really makes it pop.

Thankyou for popping by and please join me tomorrow for the Allsorts Challenge for this week x

Bye for Now

Jo xx

Spellbinder Show and Tell Day 2 and 3

Hello Everyone,

Back again with some more pictures of the Spellbinder samples.  I have had such a problem trying to get onto the internet again at the studio and apologise for the delay - I am home tonight and so for the rest of the week there wont be any problem!

The shows have been tremendous and I have had some fantastic emails and pictures so thank you to everyone that has taken the time to send these in.

I am just hanging around waiting to do my last hour!!!!!! of the 18 since Monday.  Last night was tough as the air conditioning in the Ideal World studio broke down and it was like a sauna! My only thought was I do hope this sweats some unwanted areas of fat off!!! lol (by the way it didn't if you are wondering!)

Anyway down to business .....................................

This is a couple of the Die-di-lites - the Bonsai Tree and one of the Ornamental Tags (sorry in the green room so not sure about the number)

I have made a traditional Oriental Design and used the top of the tree to stencil through and make a background. I used Black Soot Distress Ink. Hope you like the idea.

This is using another ornamental tag and it is a favourite of mine. It has been stencilled with distress ink and used to pop the sentiment on.

I have also used the Locking Loops to sit this tag on.  You will also see some embossing on the co-ordinations cardstock and I have used Medallion 7 to give some texture. Just to explain if you are not familiar with how to do this - (explaining as if you are using a Calibur) you need the base plate then the die, place the rubber mat on top and then the embossing plate.

The final one today is using the Floral Ribbon Threader and the Butterfly corner die which is simply stunning.

I have cut the main die in parchment and you may have seen me demonstrate this in the first hour of the launch show.

Thankyou again for popping in to have a peep,

See you soon

Jo xx

Spellbinder Show and Tell

Hello Crafters

As promised here are a few samples from my marathon Spellbinder shows this week.  I had a slight problem with blogger yesterday and couldn't post from the studio so today I will pop four projects on.

I hope that you like them.

For this one (which I really love!) is using the Imperial Gold Circles One and the sentiment has been stamped onto the middle die of the Ornate Squares.  This is perfect for sentiments.  The Die Di-lite than I have used is the Love Locket set which has the most stunning filigree detail.  The background is harder to see but has been embossed using the Reverence folder.  The background paper is from My Secret Garden from Graphic 45 (you will see this range a lot as I have just had them delivered into the shop and have totally fallen in love with them!!)

This is the card that I demonstrated this morning with Nigel but instead of using the Distress Markers to colour as I have with this one I used Flex markers which was the first time for me - really enjoyed using these I must say.

The Die is the Flower Box Di-lite which is so cute and perfect for smaller cards when you don't want to make a huge statement.

The layer that I have put this die on is from the Locking Loops set which will be on the shows this evening - Pick of the Day.

A little embossing on the background and a touch of glaze finished the design off.

This is a little sombre but shows off the dies a treat. The dies that I used are Windows 3 and the Asters and Poppy die.  I cut everything in plain white cardstock and then kept the card in the die and stencilled through with very light Black soot distress ink.  

One of the Petite Labels 1 has been used for the sentiment.

Something a little bit different with this one as I thought a favour box would be fabulous teamed up with the Medallion 7,  Using just the inside die on the side with glitter card for backing really adds a sparkle to a box that could be used for so many different purposes - jewellery, chocolates, wedding and party favour boxes.

the top has been cut as a whole and backed again with the glitter card.

A dazzler and gems were added to finish the project off.

 The top of the box showing the intricate details of this gorgeous die.

I hope that you have enjoyed these and please pop by tomorrow to see a few more.

The rest of my shows today are at 1pm and 4pm and then I launch the Pick of the Day at 9pm on Ideal World.  Hope that you can join me and it would be great to send an email.

Thankyou for popping by and hope to see you really soon,

Bye for now

Jo xx