Allsorts Challenge = New Beginnings

Hello Everyone,

Well this will be the last post of this year, I hope that everyone has enjoyed a fabulous Christmas and have lots of plans for bringing the New Year in and have made lots of New Years Resolutions.  Leave me a comment to let me know what yours are!  Todays card is my take on the Allsorts Challenge New Beginnings - how lovely to make anything but Christmas cards!   As you will see I have chosen a wedding theme and didnt have any problem with the stamp that I wanted to use as I love the Daisy and Don series that Marianne Designs brought out a couple of months ago.  They are a real cute image with lots of opportunity to colour in your image however you prefer. I used pro-markers I have also used several of the Marianne Dies including the newest Craftables which is the very pretty rectangle die which Don and Daisy have been stamped onto. The backing papers are from the Melissa Francis range, which I am still loving, and weathered wood and victorian velvet distress ink complements the whole design.
                       Pop over to the Allsorts Challenge Blog and have a go - make taking part in our weekly challenge your New Years Resolution there are some fabulous prizes and it is great fun!  I hope that you like my take on it.  It just leaves me to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy 2012 take time to look back at 2011 and all the fabulous things that have happened to you this year and think about what you would love to achieve in the next year.  Thank you to you all for following my blog and leaving such lovely comments over the last few months it has been so much appreciated.  Bye for now Jo x

Allsorts Challenge - Blue and Brown

Good Morning Everyone

Apparently it has been on the radio today that it is called panic shopping Saturday!  and that people will spend a billion pound over the weekend on Christmas shopping - are you one of these people!!  I hope that the answer is no and that you are all sorted and ready for the big day.  Before then though you need to check out the Allsorts Challenge for this week and the sample here is my little offering, I hope that you like my take on the Blue and Brown Challenge.

It is a very easy and simple design but refreshing after all the gold, silver, red and greens that we have all been playing with since goodness nows when!  I chose not to stamp the image today as this gorgeous Sarah Kay decoupage was shouting out from the cupboard and was perfect to start off my challenge card as the colours were perfect.  I have also used a blank card and edged it with the classic bracket edgeability and inked it with Tumbled Glass distress ink.  The other Spellbinder that I used is the eyelet circle, I love to use this one as you can thread ribbon, twine, raffia through to enhance it further.  The papers (I think) are Basic Grey - they were bits I had (BTW this is going to be a New Years Resolution - use up bits of paper!!!)  The other cardstock that I used was Kanban's sherbert pips.

I hope that you like the design pop a quick comment in if you are not one of the millions going shopping today!  Also pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to check out the other DT creations for lots of inspiration before you crack on with yours!

Enjoy a lovely weekend and take care,
bye for now
Jo x                                                      

Peaches and Cream!

Hello Everyone

I was just looking out the of the window and it is so dull and damp so I thought I would post a quick bright and happy card.  It was a card that I made a couple of months ago for one of the Spellbinder shows.  I received some lovely emails so I hope that some of you had a go since I demo'd it.

I have used the Classic Scallop Edgeability set which I am particularly fond of.  I have used one of the inserts to made the eyelets to thread the vintage ribbon through - this is particularly good as it is soft and manageable.

 I also used the scallop edge to make the K and Co paper attractive.  The distress ink that I have used is Spiced Marmalade and I have popped it on all edges.  I then used baker's twine and layered a Piquot edge circle with a greeting on top.

I hope that you like my little bit of sunshine,
Bye for now
Jo x

Week 133 It Takes Two

Good Morning Everyone

What a chilly start to the weekend, Winter is certainly here now!  This morning I am posting my card that I have put on the Allsorts Challenge for this week.  The title of the challenge is It Takes Two (this can also include white as the base card)  This is such a typical design for me as you know I love using my distress inks and this card is no exception Vintage Photo all the way!  The stamp design that was used is from Creative Expressions Mother's Day plate.  Although the title suggests that it is quite limiting it is quite the opposite, a lovely plate to use for lots of occasions and the rose has been a big favourite of mine.  The design is quite simple - I have created the backgound using vintage photo blending different areas with different strengths of the ink and then spritzing it with water to give the aged appearance that I was looking for. These inks are perfect for this technique.  It makes a very inexpensive background too! I have simply embellished the design with organza ribbon and some gems. I popped in a couple of hearts from a Marianne die to enhance the design making it quite romantic.

I hope that you like my take on this weeks challenge and do have a go yourself and hope that you win a lovely prize! Well Done to Maria for getting chosen last week - it was a fabulous design enjoy your prize.

I have been sent some more photographs of the weekend event with Sheena on so will be posting again in the next couple of days with these. 

Hope that you enjoy a lovely, albeit chilly, weekend!  Wrap up warm if you are going out Christmas shopping!
Thank you, as ever, for popping in,
Bye for now
Jo x

Birthday Weekend!

Hello Everyone,

Firstly, sorry this post didnt go out yesterday as promised I had it all done and then blogger decided to have a blip!  so I lost it all.  After a few ?!?!?!?!  I decided to go to bed and have another go today! So here goes!

As I said we had so many great photographs taken over the weekend so I thought I would share a few with you.



Mark and myself with Karen Lines (Creative Expressions)
and Steve (Little Claire)

 These are our 2 birthday cakes, the first was brilliantly made by Jeanette and the second was a gift from Maria and Lynn.  They were both gorgeous!

An occasion at Let's Create wouldnt be the same without Mum's mince pies!
Thank you Mum!



Thank you to everyone that popped in over the weekend and we hope that you enjoyed the fabulous demonstrations.  Thank you also to the team that made everything happen.  Here's to the next year!!
Bye for now
Jo x

Week 132 Going Round in Circles

Good Morning

Another Allsorts Challenge and another week closer to Christmas!  We had the most amazing weekend last weekend for our Birthday Celebrations.  I will be posting again tomorrow with lots of photographs of the weekend extravaganza so pop in to have a look.

The card that I have done for the  this week is full of circles.  I used a host of Spellbinders as you will have noticed!  (that makes a change!) the butterfly is from nested butterfly set and I have also used the tiny butterflies on the background that are cut out of the main die, they were so cute I couldn't ignore them.  The two larger circles are from the Grand sets the scalloped being the large scalloped set.  The paper was just out of my stash and the name had been cut away so sorry I havent got a record of this but i am sure it is a K and Co. 

I hope that you like the design and that you will have a go at the Challenge this week too!  Dont forget to pop in tomorrow to see the photographs of the weekend.

Bye for now
Jo x

Allsorts Challenge Week - 131 Pendants

Good Morning

This is my card for the Allsorts Challenge - I am also using it as a demo for Joanna's show on Monday ( 10 am and 4 pm Create and Craft) as I have the pleasure of using the Faye Whittaker All Our Yesterday's stamps which is called Special Day.  All the range of stamps are exquisite and so detailed as Joanna's always are.  I have used promarkers to colour the image which, as I am sure you know, I am fairly new to but I am enjoying so much.  For the pendant I have used white glitter card and a heart punch and distressed the edges with a little black soot to make them pop out more.  To set the scene I have used a Cheery Lynn die which I have fallen in love with and to finish off a few Marianne dies.  I hope that you like my take on the Challenge.

It is also our Birthday weekend so it is really mad here today! but we are so looking forward to the weekend events it is going to be fabulous.  Please pop in to help us celebrate if you are in the Lincolnshire area.

Must dash now everyone needs organising! 

Bye for now and thank you so much for popping into see the blog

Jo xx

We have a winner !

Hello Everyone

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!

and the very lucky person is .....................................................................................

............................................................................................

.....................................................................

.........................  GER !!!  from Ireland - WELL DONE and thank you so much for taking part and I hope that you enjoy the goodies.  Firstly I need you to get in touch with your e mail address so that you can let me know what your address is.  Please e mail me on lets.create@btinternet.com as soon as you can.

Thank you so much to everyone that took part and I will be doing blog candy again soon.

Bye for now
Jo x

Hooray we are at 250 followers!

Hello everyone

Just a quick post to say that we have reached the magic number 250 followers!!!!  Keep an eye on the blog to see who the winner of my blog candy is.  I will post it no later than tomorrow.
Thank you all for being a follower - I really appreciate your interest and enthusiam.
Good luck to everyone,
Bye for now
Jo x

Allsorts challenge - One Layer card

Good Morning everyone!

Firstly my apologies for lack of blogging this week, I have been super busy all week sorting out all the arrangements for our birthday weekend at the shop.  I really cant believe that we have been open for almost a year! 

The card that I am posting today is the one that I have done for the Allsorts Challenge this week which is entitled One Layer Card.  Now, when I saw this title I thought Oh!  I cannot tell you the last time that I did a one layer card.  I decided to do a Christmas card using various Creative Expressions stamps.  I started by using the Heirloom bauble from Spellbinders to use as a mask to sponge through with Broken China distress ink.  I went on to stamp various images and embossed them using black sparkle embossing powder from Creative Expressions.  This embossing powder really does sparkle with an array of gorgeous colours.  I finished off the card with a little pearl pva glue under the trees to represent snow.I wasnt sure if I broke the rules by putting on the bow, but I hope not.  Pop over to the challenge to have a peep at the other DT cards and have a go at the Allsorts Challenge.  There were some fabulous entries in last weeks challenge.

Anyway, must dash now as we have a Cricut workshop at the shop today so, I hope that you like the card, if you havent finished your Christmas cards yet you could have a go at this one.
Bye for now
Jo x
P.S Only 4 more followers before the candy is pulled - not long now!

Allsorts Challenge - Black and White Plus One!

Good Morning Everyone,

This is a short post this morning as I am popping over to Peterborough for my first joint show with Joanna at 4pm!  House Mouse Saturday no less!  Really loving these stamps and, of course, the promarkers which I am quite new to.  It is really difficult to pull yourself away from these when you get stuck in!

Anyway the card that I have submitted to the challege this week is a medallion.  As you see from the title it needed to be Black and White plus one - my plus one (if you can see it) is the mirri card which has just lifted it a little. The medallion that I used is a Creative Expression design which is quite contemporary and can be used for Christmas or a special birthday and using different colours to suit the occasion.  I have also used the Swiss dots embossing folder to create another layer.  I hope that you like my idea but please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge there are, as always, some gorgeous cards to view and why not have a go at the challenge - it is great fun!

Must fly now - cant be late for the show - I will post again tomorrow to show you the card that I will be demonstrating this afternoon. 

Bye for now
Jo x

Anything but square

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend so far.  Firstly I must mention what a fabulous day I had on Thursday when I went to the NEC. I met lots of lovely crafters and so many people were very pleased about my recent news.  Thank you to you all.  I also met some of the lovely Sheenies and had a great chat with them about all Joanna's wonderful products.  I am really looking forward to my first show on Wednesday.

Anyway, the reason for my blog today is to show you the card that I made for the Allsorts Challenge Blog.  As you all know I  have just joined the design team and this is my first project as a permanent team member.  As the title suggests the challenge was to make a papercrafting project that was anything but square.  I chose this design as it was certainly anything but square.  The stamps that I used were Sam Poole's Creative Expression stamps 'Timeless Journey'.  I have masked off each section and just stamped sections of each of the stamps.  I stamped the images with Vintage photo and also used this to blend each section together.  I used a variety of Spellbinders to mat and layer and to finish off I popped on some Tim Holtz embellishments.  I hope that you like this masculine card and pop over to the Allsorts Challege blog to see all the other design team 's wonderful designs. 

Don't forget the blog candy is still running - it is getting nearer to the target!  Keep your eye on the numbers dont miss out if you havent joined the blog yet! 

Enjoy a fabulous Bonfire Night. 
Bye for now Jo x

Spellbinder Bonanza!

Hello fellow bloggers!

I hope that you all enjoyed a little of the November sunshine today, it certainly was showing its lovely warm face in Coningsby, it helps the winter months pass a little quicker.
Tonights little offering is a card that I made a few weeks ago for one of the Spellbinder shows.  As the title suggests it is a Spellbinder bonanza - how many can you use on one card you ask?!  I started off using the Grand Rectangles to make the card base - I really enjoy doing this as you can get a real assortment of shapes that you can't buy ready made.  I used a paler pink Bazzill cardstock to cut a Grand Labels 23.  The main feature has been made using 2 of the gorgeous Lace Doily Motifs offset with each other.  The flower and the bottom border was made in gingham paper, the flower from the Daisy Flower topper (which I love to use frequently) and the border from the Lace Doily accents.  I have used Dusty Concorde Distress Ink to ink the edges to break up all the pink.  To finish off I have used some crinkle edge ribbon, some Baker's twine and a couple of hat pins.

This is quite a girly card for me but I hope that you like it.  I am now going to bed early as I need to be up very early as a group of us are decending on the NEC tomorrow! I am also very much looking forward to meeting Joanna's Sheenies at 1pm.  If you are there and see us say hi!  I must leave my credit card at home though!!  Not that I need anything! I would love to read your comments on this card, bye for now Jo x

A stunning combination!

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I hope that you enjoyed your weekend and you all remembered to alter the clocks!  It was lovely to have an extra hour in bed! Unfortunately we have to put up with the dark evenings now but that does have its advantages - it gives us more time for crafting girls!  Todays card features quite a few Spellbinders (does that really surprise you!)  Firstly I used a cream card and covered the background with some gorgeous paper from Melissa Francis - I am really loving her papers at the moment. Then using a combination of several Classic Postage Stamp edgabilities I cut a border in cream cardstock and threaded vintage ribbon through it.  I also used the Classic Postage Stamp squares to add an eyecatching mat and layer for the greeting.  Walnut Stain distress ink was used to highlight the layered pieces and all edges on the design.  I then cut several of the Peonies in blues, pinks and ivory which blended so well with the background paper.  I shaped and layered these to give dimension. To finish the design off I popped in a few wooded buttons, vintage ribbon and Bakers twine.  I was very pleased with the outcome that all started with one piece of paper that I needed to use!  I hope you like it too, please leave a comment if you have a few minutes.  Don't forget to join the blog as a follower to qualify for the Blog Candy in the post below!  The numbers are ticking along!    Bye for now Jo x

A Christmas Easel

Good Saturday afternoon to you all,

I hope that everyone is enjoying the weekend so far.  I have just finished a fabulous Parchment workshop at the shop with my regular parching ladies (we seem to eat more cake and drink coffee than producing quality work!) 

 Anyway a quick blog to show the card that I sent to the Allsorts Challenge blog today.

This is my last week as Guest Designer as I start as a permanent member of the DT from next week.  This weeks Allsorts Challenge is titled Christmas Easel.  I have used one of my favourite Spellbinder dies - the Heirloom Bauble.  I cut the biggest die and then embossed it with the Holly Special Touch mask and added a few red gems.  I have used Grand labels No 23 which I also love using and the Poinsettia set which always finishes off a Christmas design so well.  I have also used gold embossing powder around the edges in a distressed way to just add the final touches.  A greeting was added to act as the stopper.  I hope that you like the design.  Pop over to the Allsorts Challenge Blog to view the other superb designs from the design team members.

Don't forget to check out the previous post to enter into the Blog Candy Draw!

Thank you all so much for dropping in, if you like the design please leave a comment.

Bye for now

Jo x

Blog Candy Time!!

Hello Blogger Friends,

I hope everyone is having a good week.  I thought it was time to put a few bits and pieces together and offer as Blog Candy!  What do you think?  As this is my first offering I thought I would make it a good one with lots of my favourite bits included.  How can I get a chance to get this lovely lot you ask?  Im not going to ask you to make comments or post a card I am just asking you to join the blog and follow, obviously I would love you to post a comment, I love reading everyones thoughts about projects that I blog.  When my followers get to 250 I will take all my followers and ramdomly pick a number. This means that everyone that has been following me will be included and all new followers.  Do you think that's fair? 

I must leave it there for now - Mark has cooked tea tonight and it is ready (anyone that knows me well will know this is a rare occurence as Mark doesn't normally do kitchen stuff!!! ) better not let it get cold!

I will pop back later to post a card - hopefully you can too,
Bye for now
Jo x
 

Allsorts Challenge DT !

Hello Blog Friends

Well this month just gets better and better!!  I have some more news to share with you.  As you know I have been October's Guest Designer on the Allsorts Challenge Blog, and have enjoyed every minute, I have now been asked to become a permanent DT member!   I am thrilled to bits to be asked and very much look forward to getting started.  I hope that you all enjoy this challenge and take part when time allows you.  Thank you so much to all the design team for inviting me and for all your lovely welcome e mails. 

Bye for now
Jo x

Halloween is fast approaching!

Good Sunday Evening to you all! 
I hope that you have enjoyed a lovely weekend whatever you have been doing.  This evenings post features my first ever Halloween card that I submitted for my 4th week as guest designer in the Allsorts challenge. Having never made one before I thought I would go for the obvious which was the black and orange colours and the skeleton and cobwebs.  I used a Tim Holtz stamp for the main image which I added gold lustre embossing power and cosmic shimmer spray.  I sat this image on torn pieces of orange bazzill which I distressed with black soot distress ink and then added faux stitching to make it look as if it was put back together roughly and die cut leaves to add the autumnal feel. I distressed the edges of the other card with Tim Holtz distress tool. I added the wool to give it further dimension.  The trick or treat text was a Woodware alpha stamp set which was perfect for the design.  I thorougly enjoyed making this and look forward to next year so I can have another go! 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has posted and emailed me following my last post.  Wow what a response I have had - I am SO appreciative of all the fabulous comments and good wishes that I received.  I am very much looking forward to getting stuck into my new role with Joanna and getting back to C&C and I am so pleased that you are all pleased too. 

That's all for now, let me know if you have made any Halloween cards, leave a comment and let me know!

Bye for now
Jo x

PASTURES NEW - NEXT INSTALMENT!

Hello my blog friends,

Following my previous post regarding my future shows with Create and Craft I have some VERY exciting news which I would love to share with you all. 

I have been approached by Joanna Sheen to join her and work alongside her to present all the wonderful products that her company brings to you all on Create and Craft.  My schedule will not be so demanding and this will work amazingly well for me both personally and with other business commitments that I have.

Having admired Joanna's work for many years this position could not be better and I am very much looking forward to my first show which will be on Wednesday 9th November at 10am and 5pm. This will follow with a joint show on Saturday 12th November. I hope that you will be able to find time to have a quick look.  Let me know what you think to my fabulous news!

Bye for now
from a very excited Jo! xx

Lavender and Lace

Hello Everyone

The card that I decided to post this evening is the one that I sent in for week 3 of the Allsorts Challenge.  As the title says the subject needed to be Lavender and Lace.  As you will see I was drawn towards a more romantic side.  I envisaged the design to be more on a Victorian theme with a romantic touch.  I started with a square card blank and matted and layered several pieces of K & Co paper. I used the Tim Holtz distress tool and vintage photo distress ink to make the papers look aged.  I also used a lines and dots stencil from the Nelly Snellen range - I really enjoy using these as they are so versatile. I inked up the stencil with dye based inks in a random fashion and then passed the stencil through my Calibur and it transferred the ink onto the cardstock and also embossed the pattern. This gave a great backdrop to my Lavender which was fresh.  When Mark and I were in Spain in August we went in a cable car up to a very high mountain (not my idea I might add!! but being the only one with him I felt obliged to go!!!)  the view was amazing at the top and there were also lots of  Lavender bushes so i picked a few stems to bring home thinking they would make a great scrapbook embellishment for the photographs that we took at the top.  I couldn't resist using some on this project.  I did have to spray it with a little shimmer mist to liven it up as it had faded in the sun. The cotton lace really finished the design off.   I hope that you like the design and feel that I hit the point that I was trying to get across. I would love for you to leave a comment.
Bye for now
Jo x

What a fabulous day we had!

Good Evening Everyone

Firstly I would like to thank you all for your lovely emails and comments left on my blog following my last post.  I am so touched by your remarks and compliments, crafters are such lovely people.

Anyway onwards and upwards as they say!  as promised the following pictures are from a workshop that we had at the shop yesterday.  The idea for the workshop came following our visit to Holland. Mark and I attended a workshop whilst we were there (Yes! I did say Mark and I!!) this is the non-crafter in the family. There was another man in the workshop so he agreed to do it and he surprised himself with the result. The first picture is with Mark and Myself and all the lovely bird houses that were completed by the ladies in the workshop.

The bird houses are wooden and they will make a fabulous present.  We started off by taking a template of the roof sections and covered these in paper, this can be quite plain as we then went on to spray them with Ranger Perfect Pearls mists.  A little tip to help the paper flatten onto the wood - use a brayer, this will also remove any air bubbles at the same time.We also sprayed the bottom section of the house with a variety of colours. We used stamps to embellish the whole house. On the joins on the roof we used cotton lace that we coloured with Ranger Distress Stains.  To further embellish the roof we made some flowers from punches and again sprayed them with the mists.  As you can imagine everyone had a gorgeous array of colours all over their hands!

Finally I would like to share a picture of the ladies and the very crafty table - there wasnt a space to be seen amongst the crafting goodies, coffee cups and cake plates.  A great day had by everyone.

Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed the post - let me know what dimentional projects that you have made it would be great to hear from you.
Bye for now
Jo x

Pastures New!

Hi Everyone

This is just a quick post to let you all know that due to personal reasons I have decided to concentrate on other areas of my business and have therefore withdrawn from demonstrating for Creative Expressions.

As you are aware this year has not been the best of times for me with health problems and over stretching myself in the position I was in has not helped matters.  Mark and I have a fabulous shop which is going from strength to strength and all my energies need to be concentrated in this area at the moment. 

HOWEVER I hope to be back on our favourite craft channel in the very near future. 

With a little more time on my hands this does mean that I will be able to blog more frequently with lots of inspiration and I hope that you will all continue to support me now and in the future.

Keep an eye on the blog for a posting tomorrow - we had a ball at a workshop today pop in to have a look at pictures that will follow.

Bye for now
Jo x

Good Luck Kate!

Hello everyone and thank you for popping in again to have a peep at what I have posted.  This card was one that I made for our Daughter Kate to wish her good luck for her new job which she started on Monday. This is her first 'proper' job, as she is only 18 this a whole new world but she is very enthusiastic about everything so we are sure she will be brilliant.  We are so proud of her.  I also submitted it into this weeks Allsorts challenge where I am still the month's guest designer (and enjoying every minute - thankyou Brenda!).  The stamp is an LOTV, all their stamps are so gorgeous to use and seem to fit into every occasion.  I have complimented the design using the bracket edgeabilities and a mixture of gorgeous card. There is, of course, Spun Sugar distress ink around the edges (well do you really expect me to complete anything without it!)
 I hope that you like it and I would love you to leave a comment.
May I also take this opportunity to thank everyone who has joined the site so far - I am SO pleased that you enjoy my posts - I ask myself why didn't I start this blogging business earlier!!! I am sorting out some blog candy for next week so keep an eye open for that.
Bye for now
Jo x

Wonderful Wings

             Good Morning everyone!  I really don't know where this week is going, Thursday already and it doesn't seem like 5 minutes since we started the week - does anyone else feel like this?!  I would like to say a big hello to all the lovely ladies (and gentleman!) that I met at Inspirations in Preston on Sunday.  What a lovely day demonstrating all the fabulous Spellbinders and, of course, the Grand Calibur.  It is great to see so many of you that are enjoying using the Calibur.
             The card that I want to share with you today is one that I have sent in to the Allsorts Challenge last week.  I am over the moon to be asked to be the guest designer for the month.  It is a fabulous Challenge site and it is certainly one you need to look at if you love your challenges. You will also find lots of beautiful samples and loads of inspiration.  I used Donna Salazar's Wonderful Wings as the main focal point of the card and the Grand Peony set for the gorgeous flowers.  These sets are some of my favourites( at the moment!) the detail on the butterfly dies are exceptional.  If you like your butterflies this is certainly one to look out for. As you will see I have also used the classic scallop edgeabilities and as you already know I am loving these too.  I hope that you like the card today - I am on my way to the shop now to open up - we have a fabulous House Mouse Christmas workshop today and tomorrow so I am sure lots of fun and laughter will be had all round! (Oh and don't forget the tea and cake!)   Bye for now and thank you for dropping in!  Jo x  

A little Arty I think!

Good Evening everyone

As promised this evenings post includes the card that I demonstrated on todays Spellbinder show on Create and Craft.  It has been another busy day and the Grand Calibur exclusive offer sold out during the last show of the day so well done to all those who were lucky to order this.  We still have a few of the edgeability dies left so I will be doing another show at 7pm on Monday, production seem to think this will be the last show for these dies so tune in if you can to catch a few final ideas with these fantastic dies.  As you will see this card is a large 8" x 8" scalloped card which I have made into an easel.  Unfortunately you cant see that I have placed a dome using acetate around the main section to protect the embellishments but the camera couldn't pick this up.  The dies that I have used are, of course, the edgeabilites and also the blossom 1 swirl flower die and the Wonderful wings butterfly die.  These are 2 of my favourites from this last group of shows.  I have also used the stamps that I used are from the Falling Leaves stamp plate from Creative Expressions.  I also used Forest Moss and Peeled Paint to provide the Autumnal colour scheme. The gorgeous saying is from the Thoughtful Sayings Creative Expressions stamp plate.

I hope that you like this as much as I enjoyed making it.  If you do please leave a comment. Enjoy this glorious weather over the weekend as much as you can and thank you for spending time to check out my blog.  Bye for now Jo x

What a Show!

Good Evening Everyone!

Well what a fabulous weekend I have had meeting all the lovely crafters at Ally Pally. Thank you to you all for your lovely comments about my work it is such a pleasure meeting you all face to face. This is such a busy and happy show, everyone looks forward to it and is never disappointed.  I also had the opportunity of presenting a brief demonstration each afternoon which I thoroughly enjoyed and thank you to you all who attended.  I thought I would post the above card this evening as I had lots of fabulous comments about this one over the weekend.  I must say this is right up my street for colours and design and I have used both of my favourite products Spellbinders and distress inks!  The Spellbinders that were used are the Heirloom Bauble die which never fails to inspire me and the Poinsettia set which I demonstrated on the last pick of the week.  The other product used, which really draws the eye onto the design, is the holly special touch mask which has been one of my most favourites to date.  To finish the design off I have used crinkle edge ribbon and black pearl glue around the edges.  I hope that you like the design and it inspires you too.  I have some more Spellbinder shows using the Edgeabilities coming up this week and will post a couple of samples that I will be demonstrating on the show over the next couple of days.  

Thank you for taking the time to read the blog and bye for now Jo x

Spellbinder Eve!

Hello Everyone  Well,  after another day of sample making I think I am finally ready for the launch show tomorrow evening - 9pm on Ideal World.  This is a 2 hour show and I cant wait to show you all these gorgeous dies.  It is difficult to choose which one is my favourite but the edgeability sets are so versatile and what fantastic value for money. If you buy all 6 sets you will have at least 75 combinations of edges - think of what all those punches would cost!!! The samples have a variety of dies on them so hopefully you can catch some of the Pick of the Day shows to see which ones are your favourites.  As I mentioned I will be doing 9pm - 11pm and 12 midnight to 1am tomorrow evening. Sue Wilson will take over from me and do the 8am, 10am and 12 mid day. I will then be doing the 1pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm (not sure when I will be having a comfort break so if I nip out you know where I have gone! ) and 7pm.  The shows will be either on Ideal World or Create and Craft so keep an eye on the schedule.

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Thank you for coming to have a look and I hope you enjoy the shows over the next couple of days.  Let me know what you think to the new dies!

Bye for now

Jo x

Sam's Communication stamps

Good Morning everyone.  Firstly so sorry for not posting yesterday as promised, I got back from the studio and went straight back to the shop and got stuck into sample making for the Pick of the Day that Sue Wilson and myself are doing on Tuesday.  All I can say is Wow!  these dies are gorgeous and I just fell into Spellbinder world!  I will be able to give you a little sneeky peak in a few days so keep a look out!  Anyway back to where I was supposed to be!  the shows went really well and everyone loved Sam's new stamp plates.  You were also loving the dabbers, Tim Holtz tissue tape and the retro masks that were also fabulous to use. Let me know what you think  to the ideas that I came up with.

This last one was a note book that I altered and would make a great little individual gift for a friend.

I hope you like the samples,  drop me a comment to let me know.  I must dash now I have a full day workshop today at the shop!  Bye for now Jo x

Well here goes!

Hello Everyone and thank you for being so patient waiting for me to post on my blog!  Things have been a bit hectic of late. The first photograph, as you will see, is not a card but was taken when Mark and I were over in Holland 2 weeks ago at a retailer event.  I had the great pleasure of attending a 3 hour workshop with Tim Holtz. He is such an inspiration and what an enjoyable 3 hours it was.  As you see Joanna was also a student and we sat together to compare notes!  We were able to play with quite a few of the new Ranger products that are fantastic and will, I am sure, be very popular.  I have used a couple of techniques that I learnt on some of the samples for tomorrows C & C show at 8am and 1pm also featuring Sam Poole's fabulous new Communication stamp plates.  I will post some of these samples tomorrow to see what you think.
I think I have got the hang of this blogging now!!! so keep an eye out for regular posts and some blog candy! Bye for now love Jo x