Week 237 - Snowflakes

Good Saturday Morning Everyone,

No doubt this post finds you all really busy and getting ready for everything to do with Christmas. A question for you - why is it that the women of the house always have so much to do and organise at this time of year!!!!  it is a funtime though but it is getting scarily close now so I really must get down to some serious sorting out!

 

 

We have had 2 Christmas get togethers at Let's Create this week - on Wednesday evening and all day yesterday and I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that came along.  We had such a lovely time on both occasions, a good laugh, a little mulled wine and a fabulous spread of all the naughty food that we are allowed to eat at this time of year! We also played a few daft games and had a Christmas quiz!  It is our way of finishing off another fabulous year at the shop and having all of our friends and customers popping in to celebrate.

 

Today is the start of a new Challenge and it is our lovely Helene's turn to host this week and she has chosen .......................................

 

 

SNOWFLAKES

 

for the title and I think that the following card is quite fitting what do you think?

 

 

This is a gorgeous image from the Hobby House - I really love working with their products.

The inner circular die is from the Tattered Lace range and is the Floral Interlocking Die set.

The inner plain circle in the middle is a Spellbinder and the outer circle is also a Spellbinder from the Grand Circle Set.

The snowflake die is a Cheery Lynn and I really like it for its delicate appearance. These were cut in Centura Pearl card.

The organza ribbon and the string with a gem finishes the card off.

I hope that you like the design and get some inspiration from it to have a go at the Challenge at Allsorts.  Pop over to the Challenge blog to have a look at all of the other Design team ideas.

 

Thankyou, as always, for popping by and please leave a comment - I love to receive them.

 

Enjoy a lovely weekend and if you do go Christmas shopping don't spend too much!!!!

Bye for now

Jo xxx



 



Week 236 - Anything but Christmas at Allsorts

Good Morning Crafters,

How are you all?  apparently there is only 16 shopping days until Christmas !!!??? oops where did that disappear to!!! better I get organised.

 

Last week we had the fabulous Ali Reeve at Let's Create and it was a very successful day - the last demonstration day of the year.  Ali is such a great crafter with so many ideas. 

 

Yesterday I was at Create and Craft and I was demonstrating an array of Spellbinders and they were Buy One Get One Free!! I know hard to believe but I hope that many of you took advantage of this great offer.

 

Today it is my turn to host the Allsorts Challenge and I have chosen ....................

 

ANYTHING BUT CHRISTMAS

as the Challenge and this is my offering ~

 

 

this is anything but Christmas with the bright summery colours and the butterflies and the flowers.

I have made the embellishments using the caught in crystal technique which I love to do

and we did this in a class a couple of weeks ago.

I have used a lovely Marianne design as a backdrop and also the Butterfly edge die also from Marianne to embellish it further.

I hope that you like the design and that it inspires you to have a go at the Allsorts Challenge this week.

Pop over to the Allsorts blog to check out the other Design Team members work which is all excellent.

 

Thankyou as always for popping by and hope that you enjoy a lovely weekend whatever you choose to do.

If you have time to leave a comment that would be lovely.

Bye for now

Jo xx

 

 

 



Week 235 - Inspired by a Christmas Song

Hello Crafters!

Sorry for the delay in posting this week - we had a little hiccup with the camera.  All sorted now!

We had an excellent day at the shop yesterday Ali Reeve came to do a demo day and it was excellent. She is so inspiring and so many ideas.  It was lovely to see so many customers for the last demo day of this year and I can't believe it has flown by so quickly.

We also launched our latest stamp range and later in this post I will be introducing them to you.

 

This weeks Challenge has been set by our lovely Catherine and she has chosen

 

Inspired by a Christmas Song

(please indicate which Christmas song it is if you are entering on the Allsorts Challenge.

 

the song that springs to mind when I finished this design is

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

 

This is a design that we did in a workshop and I thought It would be perfect for this weeks Challenge.

I used Marianne dies to create all of the die cuts and mixed and matched different card stock for the insides and roofs.  I used a quickie glue pen and very fine glitter to create the frosted appearance.  The background is a Crafts Too embossing folder and this went perfect with the die cuts.  A little distress ink on the background and this popped out nicely.

I have put a dome of acetate around the front to protect it but it is not easy to see this.

 

Please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to take part this week and we have 2 sponsors giving away great products so worth it!

 

Now back to the excitement of our new stamp range.

they have been designed and drawn by Shellie Blow who is one of our lovely customers at Let's Create.

She had put pen to paper and created some stunning designs and they are below.

 

Doodle-ish Flowers

 

Build a Flower

 

Doodle-ish Christmas

Doodle-ish owl

Doodle-ish Heart

 

Doodle-ish Butterfly

 

What do you think to these? They are a polymer stamp and they have been made from 3mm which is

a really thick hardwearing thickness and they stamp with perfection.

These are a few of the samples that we had.

 

 

 

I would love to know what your thoughts are on the new stamps.  If you are interested in buying a set they are being sold for £10.99 per set.  (the actual size of the stamps are so much bigger than the image on the front sheet)

 

Please also pop over to the Allsorts Blog to check out the other designs for this week's Challenge from Catherine.

Thankyou so much for popping in and hope to see you here again very soon.

bye for now

Jo xx



Week 234 - Bring on the Bling

Good Morning Everyone,

 

How was your week? another one flies by and we are being constantly reminded how need Christmas is! I ask myself where has this year gone?!  I am going Christmas shopping at Meadowhall on Monday with Caroline (who is trying to organise me! - I really don't think she realises what a job she has taken on!!

We have been doing quick and easy Christmas cards this week in workshops for those of us who are struggling to get all of their cards done.

Today at the Allsorts Challenge we have been asked to show you a project which fits into this title:.................  Bring on the Bling

 

so I thought this project would fit the bill .......................................

 

 

This is a demonstration card that I did a few weeks ago on Create and Craft using several Sepllbinders products including the Die-lite mini Holiday Tree and the Reindeer is from the Holiday forms set and this has been cut from gold pearl cardstock.  The trees have with layered with a 2nd tree and both layers have been guilded with flake. The framework has been made using Labels 18 which I really enjoy using. The greeting is a Cheery Lynn Die which is one of my favourites and I have also used gold gleams on this. This particular die cuts like a dream.  The background is an embossibility (apologies the name escapes me!) and I have used some guilding wax from Crafty Notions to highlight the embossed area.

The finishing touch is the bling which I have randomly stuck onto the background.

I hope that you are able to leave a quick comment and tell me what you think to this card.

I personally like the design and loved working with all of the products that I have used on this project.

 

Thankyou to our sponsors this week:

A Whiff of Joy
and
My Heart pieces

Please pop over to the Allsorts Blog and check out the other designs from the team.
Thankyou for popping by and hope you like the project this week.
Enjoy a lovely weekend whatever you are doing and hope to see you next week.
Bye for now
Jo x

 



Week 233 - Allsorts Challenge - A gift

Good Morning Everybody,

Welcome to the start of the weekend again - I love to say that!

I hope everyone that went to the NEC had a fabulous time - I had a ball! it really was a busman's holiday for me but it was great to see so many fellow demonstrators, catching up and admiring their demo samples.  It seems like a lifetime since I worked at a show.  I had a lovely chat with Joanna (Sheen) and congratulated her on becoming a Granny! she was so pleased to show off her photographs of her cute grand-daughter.

 

It was also lovely to see so many crafters and having a chat in the aisles! We stayed at a gorgeous bed and breakfast with a very comfy, warm bed which was so well received after all the walking around the show and we were set up for another day with a super cooked breakfast. 

Thankyou to my dear friend Caroline and her mum Judy for taking me and looking after me! (as Mark instructed them to do!!)

Today's Allsorts challenge has been chosen by our lovely Sarah and she has asked us for ..................................

 

A Gift

 

and I have chosen to show you a box that I decorated for Caroline for her birthday earlier in the year.

 

 

The top of the box.

I have used black craft metal that I have embossed through a Spellbinders 3d embossing folder. It was then rubbed back using a sanding block.  The papers that I have used are from Heartfelt Creation and the embellishments are from the Hobby House.

This is a view from the side.

 

We have some very kind sponsors again this week:-

 

PASSION FOR STAMPS

AND

THE CRAFT BARN.

 

With 2 prizes up for grabs I have that you will have a go at the Challenge. Pop along to the Allsorts Challenge Blog where you will find lots more inspiration and ideas from our fabulous design team.

 

We have painting on parchment at the shop today with Maria Maidment so I am looking forward to that.

I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend, it speaks of being chilly so keep warm and wrap up if you have to go out.

 

Thankyou so much for popping in, please leave a comment and also pop in next week.

 

Bye for now

Jo xxx



Week 232 - Allsorts Challenge White Christmas

Good Morning Everyone,

 

I hope you all are well and happy.

 

I have been as very lucky girl this week and spent two whole days shopping at the NEC with my very dear Friends Caroline and Judy.

It was great to see so many friendly faces and lots of you that I didn't know before but do now!

We certainly shopped until we dropped - there were some fabulous items ready for our lovely money.

We also had the opportunity to sit down in some of the workshops including Decopatch, Silk painting and a Pebeo painting project. It really is a unusual occurrence sitting down in someone else's workshop.

We are starting to stock Decopatch in the shop - it is so popular and sew simple to achieve a really great looking project.  I bought all the products to decorate a 24" penquin wearing a fancy waistcoat.  I saw a similar one at the show and thought this would be a fabulous project so here goes!!

I will take some pictures when he is finished. (BTW I have called him Percy!)

Today Caroline is in the shop running a Christmas box decorating workshop and I am having a go at this too! I am so spoilt this week!

 

This weeks Allsorts Challenge is going to be:-

 

White Christmas.

This is a fabulous title for the Challenge and I am sure that it will be another busy week.

 

This is my design to give inspiration.

 

 

This really wasn't a great card to get a good photograph from but I will explain a little.

The card is a 6" x 6" pearl card and I have used a Crafters Companion exbossing folder on Centura Pearl to give a Christmas background.  The tree and the baubles and from the Holiday Tree die from Spellbindrs.  The decorations are also from this set and make a perfect combination don't you think?

It is difficult to see but I have put a overlay of acetate so that the ornaments and the tree stand proud away from the card.

I doubled the tree and folded the top layer back to give dimension.

The tree has also been glued and decorate using the Pinflair glitter. The tree has been dipped into Diamond crystals give a great Christmas appeal.

 

I have seen some beautiful White Christmas cards out there so please enter your design if you have one.

 

Remember to tidy the back of the card where you fastenwell!

 

Must dash now I promised Caroline that I would be ready .  Keep in touch and please leave a comment for me to have a look at.

 

Bye for now

Jo xx

 



Week 231 - Christmas cheer at Allsorts

Hello crafters,

Thank you for your lovely comments on last weeks post.  Another busy week has past by in a flash and today I am in Wales visiting the fabulous ladies at Dandie Crafts.  We are having a workshop today and tomorrow with lots of inkiness and die cutting.  They always make Mark and myself so welcome and today has been no exception.

The week ahead is proving to be a busy one as I am at the studio on Tuesday doing a couple of shows at 10am and 3pm.  I have a great show with Spellbinders die-lites at a ridiculous price! Thursday and Friday I am heading to the NEC for a little craft retailer therapy. My dear friend Caroline Whatling and her lovely mum Judy have invited me to go along with them. We are staying over and so will have lots of time to have a good look around.  Say hello if you are there as well.

Today's Allsorts challenge has been set by our lovely Tracey and she has chosen the following virus to get our teeth into ~

                                                   CHRISTMAS CHEER!

I have chosen to share this with you -

I have used a couple of the recent Die-lites from Spellbinders. The middle is the wreath and the corners are also from this range. The background is one of my favourite masks from Ali Reeves collection - I have embossed it and then covered it with vintage photo distress ink. The sentiment is from Sheena's Christmas stamp range. To finish the wreath off I have used berry red pva glue and a bow. The card size is 7" x 7" which is a good size for sending to a family at Christmas. 

I hope at you can pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to check out some gorgeous ideas from the lovely design team. 

Thank you so much for popping by. Please leave a comment if you have time.

Must dash I have my lovely Welsh ladies waiting for me at Dandie Crafts.

Bye for now

Jo xxx 

Week 230 - Treemendous! Allsorts Challenge

Good Morning Crafters!

Apologies for not being around last week for the Allsorts Challenge I was a little unwell last weekend and then the week disappeared somewhere!

 

Today we will be heading to Blyth by the time this appears taking part in Kim Sutton's Dabble day - she is expecting 84 people so it will be a busy day.  Hope to get some pics too.

 

Today's Allsorts Challenge is going to be a popular one I am sure and it is our lovely Brenda's turn to choose and we have been asked to use a Tree of any sort in this

 

TREEMENDOUS challenge
 

This can be as simple as a Christmas Tree and this is my piece of work ............

 

 

 

and to no surprise it is a House Mouse! This is one of my favourites the little mouse being pulled by his friend is sat in a walnut shell - how totally cute is that! and he is carrying the Christmas Tree.
The frame of the picture is an embossing folder from Crafts Too it is called Poinsettia frame, coloured with Distress Ink. The paper is from my stash and the poinsettia is a Marianne Die.  The sentiment is from the stamp set from our lovely Joanna Sheen.  This is a very simple card with very little to do but I hope that you like it.
Please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to check out the other Design Team members posts and see all of their gorgeous work.
Thankyou also to our sponsors:

Yours and Mine Papercrafts
and
Digidarla.

I think Sunday beckons a day off after a hectic week and very busy day at Blyth.  I hope you enjoy your weekend whatever you are planning (weather speaks of being a bit rough so don't go to the beach!)
Take care and please pop a comment down if you have a couple of minutes I love to hear from you.
Bye for now
Jo xx 



Week - Use your ABC's - Allsorts Challenge

Hello Crafter's

How are you all this morning?  I hope by the time that you are reading this we are on the way to visit Hazel Bainbridge's shop aka Tabbycat Designs, in Beverley near Hull. I am running a workshop for her today for 16 of her lovely customers and we have a full day of play ahead with so much variety in our techniques. 

It has been a Die-lightful week!!!!!!  (sorry couldn't resist that one and so early!!!) in other words I have been really busy up and down to the studio demonstrating the Di-lite collection of dies.  I am still loving the versatility of these and can't wait to get them in the shop.

These are some of the samples that I have made over the week ~

Using the Ornate Corner and the Frames 2 for the centre.

Here I am using the Holly Wreath and the Ornate Corner

                                          You can see here I am using the Filigree Cross, Blooms and the Corner

I have used the cross again here and the Tiger Lillies.

I really like the colours in this one - I have used the Medallion 9 and the Sprigs.

Here I have a combination using the Sprigs, a mixture of the blooms and the Frame 2.

If you would like to pop by again tomorrow I will post the other projects that I have done for you to see how gorgeous these dies are.

Now back to the matter in hand -

Use Your ABC's in the Allsorts Challenge this week and it is my week to host and I would like to see projects using the Alphabet but not in a sentiment.

I have chosen to use Woodware's Snow stamp which I love (and also Catherine has used!)

As you can see I have Zentangled it - it really lends itself to this technique.  I have recently taught myself and I am rather pleased with how this came out.

I have added a few embellishments with ~Spellbinder snowflakes and a few gems.

Please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge Blog to check out what the other DT members have done.

Thankyou for popping by and I hope that you like what I have shown you today, please leave a comment you know I love to read them.

Enjoy a lovely weekend - must dash now Hull awaits!

Bye for now

Jo xx



Week 227 - Autumn Colours

Hello Fellow Crafters!

 

I hope that this finds you well and have enjoyed a busy week playing with all of your crafty stash!

I have had a busy week with a couple of shows on Create and Craft demonstrating the fabulous new collection from Spellbinder D'lites and also have had 2 lovely workshops at the shop using Sheena's gorgeous Christmas design stamps.  It was also a lovely fellow member's birthday - Pat! today so we were all forced to eat cake!

 

We also held our 2nd Let's Create Together day at our local village hall and the fabulous Leonie and the Krafty Hands boys joined Caroline and myself teaching lots of Christmas ideas to 53 very eager ladies.  It was a fabulous day and if you were one of our lovely crafters I hope that you enjoyed the day as much as we enjoyed organising it.

We have booked another day for February and it is full already!!!

 

This week on the Allsorts Challenge blog our lovely Catherine (who joined us on Sunday all the way from Harrogate!) is hosting and she has chosen ......................

 

AUTUMN COLOURS

 

as our theme for the week.  This can be any crafting project as long as it has Autumn colours included in the design.

 

Thankyou to our sponsors for this week who are:

 

Digistamp and Crafty Ribbons.

 

This is my design that suits the theme really well and I love working with these colours as they are bright, cheerful and very rich.

 

 

 

 

The stamped image is from the Katy Sue designs Fashion stamps drawn by the lovely Sandra Wright.

I have used pro-markers to colour the image and distress ink to soften the edges.

The background paper is out of my stash.  You can't see that well but the flower centres have micro beads in them which I stuck with glossy accents.  The die cut frame is from Marianne Designs.

 

Please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to check out my Teamies lovely designs for this week's theme.

If you pop in to check out the blog please stay a little longer and pop a comment in - I love to hear from you all.

 

I have another busy week at the studio coming up still demonstrating with the Spellbinder D'lites they are still exclusive to Create and Craft until 11th October.

 

I am in the studio:

Monday 3pm and 7pm

Tuesday 1pm and 6pm

and Thursday 10am and 4pm.

 

Thankyou so much for taking the time to check out the blog I really appreciate it, as you know.

Have a fabulous weekend and I hope to see you all really soon.

 

Bye for now

Jo



Week - 226 - How does your garden grow

Good Morning everyone

How are you all this lovely Saturday morning?

I have had a very busy week at the studio demonstrating with the gorgeous new D'lites from Spellbinders and I decided to pop one of the samples on this week for the Allsorts Challenge which is ..............................................

How does your Garden Grow?

 

This is a fabulous theme and this is the project that I have chosen to show you all

 

This has been made up using the sets of Blooms dies.  There is 4 sets altogether and they all make fabulous flower designs. I have also used the Frame 2 die and the Wrought Iron Fence which I have used as a ribbon threader on this card.  These dies are so easy to use and have some amazing details.  Spellbinders have really hit the jackpot with these.  I am back in the studio on Tuesday with what is left of the stock but when I left on Thursday evening there wasn't a great deal.
This weeks sponsor is:
                                          
and                                        

Thankyou for being our sponsor this week.

 

I have also popped a few other samples from this weeks show below so that you can have a quick look at them.

This one is using the Tiger Lillies die cut twice and inked through the die.  The other die is the Corner Sprig corner and I don't think I have seen such a delicate die.

 

The gift box below is perfect for chocolates and sweets as a gift for Christmas.  It is a very inexpensive way to send a gift.

 

 

(sorry this is wrong way round and don't know how to move it round! sorry you will need to stand on your head !)

 

Please pop over to the Allsorts Blog to check out the other Design Team members projects for this week's Challenge.

 

Thankyou for popping in,

Bye for now and enjoy your weekend.

 

Jo xx

Week - Buttons

Good Morning Blog Land,

How are you all today?  Quite an Autumnal morning when I came out but I'm quite a fan of Autumn so I am quite happy with my lot.

 

A busy week has just passed going back into the studio for a couple of excellent shows one with the lovely Stephanie who we have all missed so much and then Leonie! always a good show with her enthusiasm bubbling over! 

 

Todays challenge is from our lovely Sarah who had chosen

 

Buttons

 

as our Challenge this week at Allsorts.

 

I can feel that this is going to be a popular week with lots of fab entries as we all use buttons on our projects in one way or another.

 

I couldn't decide on one entry today so I have popped in 2 - a scrapbook page ..........

 

 

 

here I have used buttons of different sizes to enhance the folded corners to give dimension and interest to the page.

 

and a card .............

 

 

and I have used the wooded buttons to pop into the middle of the die cut flowers. The die cuts are the Grand Peonies from Spellbinders.

 

I hope that you like the inspiration and give the Challenge a go this week.

I have a busy week ahead again with more shows on C and C

these are with the newest of the Spellbinder De'lites and I must say they are the best of the bunch so far.

I will pop a few samples on over the week so that you can have a peep at my demos coming up.

 

I am on:

tomorrow at 2pm

Tuesday at 12 and 5pm

Thursday at 10am and 4pm

and Saturday 9am and 2pm

 

I hope that at some point you can tune in and have a peep.

 

Must dash now, I have 10 ladies that are waiting for a parchment class today!

 

Thankyou for popping in and I hope you enjoy a lovely weekend.

Please pop over to the Allsorts blog to check out the other Design Team members ideas for this great challenge.

 

Bye for now

 

Jo xx

 



Week 224: Allsorts Challenge - Baby, Baby.

Hello Blog Land,

Welcome back my blog friends thankyou for popping by.  Well, again, it is Saturday and I reeeellllly don't know where that week went.  I was talking to a lovely older lady the other day and saying how time seems to fly by these days and her theory about the whole subject is that the world is going around faster!! I could not agree more this sounds logical to me! I have packed rather a lot into the week so I suppose that is ok!  What is your theory I would love to hear from you!

 

Well we know that Saturday means Allsorts and this week we have a theme that we all love to make projects for: .....................

 

Baby, Baby

 

and I have chosen a really amusing image from the fabulous House Mouse designs

 

 

This poor mother House Mouse is having quite a fight to get that knitting finished whilst the baby House Mice are having great fun with the wool! These decoupage sheets are from Joanna Sheen.

 

This week our sponsor at Allsorts is

 

thankyou to Whiff of Joy.

 

Please pop over to the Allsorts Blog to check out the Design Team ideas for this weeks Challenge.

 

Now, as promised a few pictures from the holiday (I promise not to bore you rigid but they are lovely!)

 

 

This is the beach that we went to for my birthday and I was tempted to say that Mark privately hired it for me as a treat!!!  but I must tell the truth it is a beach that local Bermudians tend to go to and it was a work day so it was quiet but it sounded very impressive didn't it!!! lol

( I thought I would leave it this size you really don't need to see anything closer!)

 

Sorry but you will need to stand on your head for this one - I can't work out how to turn it around! and yes I am now on a diet!!

The beauty of the island. All the roofs are white and are have ridges on them and this is the way that the homes collect their water.  If it doesn't rain - you don't have water! they don't have any fresh water sources only sea.

Our foot picture! (no mine is not the one with the art work on!!)

 

Ok - I here you say that's enough!!

The ideas are starting to gather for scrapbook pages!

 

I hope you enjoy a lovely weekend and a great week

I am back on Create and Craft on Thursday at 12 o clock and 2pm with some really silly prices on this years Christmas Spellbinder dies so if you haven't treated yourself yet don't miss out!

 

Take care and bye for now

thankyou, as always for popping by, leave a comment to say hi!

 

Jo xx

 

 

 

 

 

Week 223 - Butterflies

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope that this post finds you all well and have enjoyed the last few weeks of the lovely Summer.
As you know The Channon's have been away on a fabulous holiday visiting my Brother and family in Bermuda and we had the best time ever!  who couldn't on this amazing island.  We got back into England on Wednesday morning so it has been hitting the ground running the last few days but I think I am back in the groove as they say!! It was great to come back to lovely weather it doesn't make you feel quite so grim! and you get the washing done quick!

We have some gorgeous photographs and we will be downloading these this weekend (and filtering out all that I am on on the beach (not a good look!!!!) hopefully I will have some amazing shots to use for scrapbooking and will share them with you.

I also had a birthday whilst I was away and we spent the day on the most stunning beach - it is usually used by local people on the Island and it was a week day so the beach was deserted when we arrived - Mark tried to suggest that he had arranged it especially for my birthday!!! ummmmmm !

But back to today - it is Saturday so that means a great new Challenge from the Allsorts Gang and this week our lovely Tracey has chosen ....................

 

Butterflies

 

 

as the Challenge and we all know that we use these gorgeous creatures on so many of our crafting projects and I am sure this will be a really popular week.

 

This is my project using Butterflies ~

 

 

my apologies for the flash on the photograph I used a glossy card to put alcohol ink onto it and stamped the image with Stazon over the coloured card.  The stamp is from Creative Expressions and it is one I have had for some time it is excellent to decoupage so I restamped the middle of the image and layered it up to give dimension.  I have also added more butterflies - stamped onto acetate coloured with more alcohol ink and again layered up.

The florish die is from Tim Holtz and the flowers, leaves and papers were from my stash.

A bit of bling finished it off.

 

I hope that you enjoy having a go at this weeks Challenge and remember it doesn't have to be a card project.

Pop over to the Allsorts Blog to check out the other design team members ideas for the challenge.

Thankyou also to our sponsors who are :

 

who are giving a $20 voucher for stamps of your choice.

 

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and please leave a comment if you pop onto the post - you know I love to hear from you all.

 

Bye for now

 

Jo xx

 

 

 



Week 220 - Use Your New Stash

Good Morning Everyone!

 

I hope everyone in Crafter's Blog land has enjoyed a great week.  It has been a super busy one at Let's Create.  Everyone is loving the new shop and workshops have been great in our new workshop room.

It still feels that we are borrowing this gorgeous building and not that we are here to stay!!!

I hope that you all had a chance to have a peep at Sheena's blog about the opening day.

 

It is my week to host the Allsorts Challenge and I have chosen .........

 

Use Your New Stash

as my Challenge.

 

I was thinking about a title when I realised that this one is ideal for all Crafters alive!! we are always seeking out new crafty bits and pieces and I am sure you are one of them!!

My new purchases are Sheena's new Floral Fantasy sets and I have also had the pleasure of playing with some of the new Spellbinders so I thought I would combine the two to make my offering for the Challenge.

 

 

I have used the Daffodil set and really love the detail and the size of these images,  they work for card making and for altered art pieces.  I have coloured them with Mustard Seed Distress ink and highlighted the flowers with Peeled Paint.  I then used Luminarte Radiant Rain pourables to colour over the top to create a gorgeous glossy, mica effect (I used the Verdigris set)

I also coloured the largest of the Spellbinder mat with the Radiant Rain too.

 

We are away on holiday from Monday we are a very lucky family going to visit my Brother and his Family in Bermuda - we are all looking forward to it so much.

I hope to bring back some fabulous photographs when we get back - some great material for some scrapbooking I am thinking!!

 

I have just got today to get a whole list of jobs done so must dash now and get on.

I hope that you can have a bash at the Challenge.

Please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge Blog to check out the other great designs from the Design Team Members. 

Enjoy your crafting week and hope to see you back soon,

Please leave a comment - I love to hear from you,

Bye for now

Jo xxx

 



Week 219 ~ Stitching

Good Morning Everyone!

Hope that everyone is well and enjoying the Summer months.  Sorry for my absence last week I was a little busy moving from our first shop into our new one and we had just 5 days to do it! At one point over the week we did think oh hec! are we going to make it, but we did and enjoyed a fantastic day on Saturday at the opening.  Sheena came to open up and cut the ribbon which was really exciting.

Our Daughter Kate took lots of photographs and she is going to download these so that I can show you them next week.

In the meantime Russ (Sheena's husband) has given us a fantastic comment on their blog this week so please pop over and have a look - the write up is fantastic this is the link .....

 

http://www.sheena.tv/?p=6333

 

We are over the moon with the new place and everyone has been really pleased when they have popped in over the last week.

 

 

The Allsorts Challenge this week is entitled Stitching and our lovely Catherine has decided on this weeks idea and I decided not to put a card on but thought you might like to have a look at this project that I made some time ago for Mark.

 

 

I thought that it was a bit ironic that this is where it all started for me.  I loved making cards using Aida, a pattern and cottons.

I then dabbled a little in making the card more embellished with some papercrafting items.

So many cardmakers have started off their crafting habit with cross-stitching.

 

I hope that you have time to pop over to Sheena's blog and check out the photographs of the new shop and also pop over to the Allsorts Challenge to have a look at the DT's ideas for Catherine's Challenge.

I hope that you enjoy a fabulous week and hope that you can join me again next week.

Pop a comment down if you have a minute and let me know what you think of my stitching!  



Allsorts Challenge: Week No: 216 - Transport

Good Morning Crafters,

Here's hoping that this finds you all well and enjoying this fabulous Summer weather.  I know some of you are loving it more than others but it certainly puts smiles on everyone's face and everyone looks so healthy.

 

We are so busy at Let's Create as it is only 2 weeks today that we move into our new shop!!!!!  scarey what we have to do in this short space of time.  Today I had my last workshop in this shop and next week I can concentrate on getting the workshop area packed away - it sounds so much easier when you can't see what needs to be done!! Big thankyou to Denise (Box lady) for the fabulous chocolate cake to celebrate the last workshop (well any excuse for Denise's cake!)

We also purchased a new lap top this week - not by choice I might add - it died on us! we didn't have one for 4 days and you really don't realise how much you rely on your computer.

 

Anyway, back to the matter in hand.  Today's challenge is from our lovely Wendy and she has chosen

 

TRANSPORT

 

as our Challenge for this week and I have chosen something that we may not always look upon as falling under this category ........

 

A Pram!

 

I made this card for Pat and Geoff to celebrate the birth of their Granddaughter Lyla.  She is only a day old and proud Grandad has sent me some gorgeous photographs of his beautiful girl that he says he isn't going to spoil!!! whatever Geoff!!!

 

I have used the Tattered Lace Pram as the main image and layered it onto a Marianne die. We are stocking Tattered Lace now at Let's Create and I am loving using them. The background has been embossed using the Crafters Companion Patchwork A4 embossing folder.  Pat chose the colours.  The flowers and the beads are from Hobby House and the punch for the border at the bottom is an EK Success punch.
The card is an 8" x 8" size and I made a box for it too.

Please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to check out the other Team members ideas for this Challenge. 
Thankyou for popping by and hope that you can make a comment and also take part in the Challenge.
Thankyou also to our Sponsors for this weeks Challenge prizes.

Must dash I have lots of packing to do.
See you all next week,
Bye for now
Jo xx

 



Week 215 - Allsorts Challenge Feather and Fur

Hello Crafters!

Well, we wanted Summer and now we have jolly well got it!! Phew isn't it hot!! We have a demo day at the shop today with the lovely Chris Scott using Hobby House goodies and I hope that some of you will be able to peel yourself out of your sunbeds to come along!!

This weeks Challenge has been set by our lovely Tracey Mouse and she has chosen Feather and Fur which is a fab title I am sure you will agree.

I couldn't chose between two projects so I am going to show you both.

This is a plaque that I made using Joanna Sheen's fabulous House Mouse Collection cd rom and I thought the image was perfect for Moving Home.  I love the way that the Mouse has piled his furniture on top of the snail.  I have crackled the plaque using Acrylic paints and pva glue and then mat and layered up the decoupage.  I have also used Clarity Tiled Alphabet for the words and finished it off with a little embellishment with flowers from the Hobby House. 

This second project is a basic scrapbook page which features my Mum and Dad's cat - Monica!  as soon as I read the title of this Challenge I thought of her.  She is a really fluffy cat and tends to leave fur all over the place.  Mum cant stop her from going up stairs at the moment (she isnt normally allowed) but she is constantly wanting to go and visit Dad in the bedroom.  He has agreed that she can lay on her cushion and keep him company!  By the way she only has 3 legs and no tail so she is a little unusual.

I hope that you like my take on the Challenge.  Must dash now I must get down to the shop to get the cakes out ready for the demo day!!

Please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog and check out the other Design Team Members projects and read all about our Sponsors this week Crimson Cloud.

Take care and enjoy the sun safely,
Bye for now,
Jo xx