Spellbinder samples

Good Morning Everyone,

I have just finished my first Spellbinder show of the day and had the pleasure of working alongside the lovely Nigel May.  I have a break now so thought I would pop some pictures of the sample cards that I have been showing over the last couple of weeks.

Let me know what you think - it is always great to hear from you.

I really love this one and had great fun making it.  I have used one of the 3D embossibilities, inked up the folder and then put it through the Calibur - this is what we refer to as letterpressing.  The ink will transfer onto the cardstock and leave an excellent impression.  I then used a mixture of Vintage Photo and Frayed Burlap across the background to blend it all in.  the Gold embossing has been achieved using a Versamark pen over the highly embossed areas and then gold embossing powder and heated.  A stamp in the scroll area finishes the design off. Don't just look at your embossing folders as a way to create gorgeous patterns on your plain cardstock go that little bit further and have a play, as I said today on the show it is only a bit of card that you are spoiling if it doesn't work out.

With this sample I have used the Filigree Delight Shapeabilities set and it certainly is a delight to use.  I have used it here with craft metal and sanded it back to create a vintage look.  The label in the middle of the aperture is included in this set.  The background pearl cardstock has been embossed using the Reverence folder.

This was the card that I demo'd this morning and I have used the Floral Ribbon Threader which is such a pretty die.  It is perfect for wedding cards, and projects that you need a bit of finesse in your project.

I will pop some more samples on in a couple of days so hope to see you pop by and have a look.

In the meantime I have another show later today at 7pm.

Take care and Bye for now

Jo xx

Trade Show pictures

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you have enjoyed a lovely weekend and have spent it relaxing as much as possible.

As promised I have some photographs from the trade show which Mark and I had pleasure attending last weekend.  The show was a lot bigger this year and there were more International companies than last year so that was interesting.

I am going to start off with this fabulous photograph with two of my favourite celebrity men

Mr Nigel May and Mr Phil Martin no less!!!

It was lovely to see you both.

and here is the lovely Jodie Johnson from Tonic Studios and one of her fabulous creations that she makes from the Tonic Dies.  We placed an order for a great range of Tonic Products including these dies and punches that Jodie demonstrates so brilliantly on Create and Craft.

Here are some more of Jodie's fabulous creations and I am sure you will agree with me they look so life like. Really looking forward to getting this order so we can start creating fabulous blooms in the workshops.

And now for the lovely Noreen from Flowersoft deomonstrating the stunning new moulds that Flowersoft have launched recently on Create and Craft.

These have the most exquisite and fragile detail and can be used for both cake decorating and papercrafting using air dry clay.

Guess what .............  we ordered those too! and the fabulous new CD rom and toppers featuring the stunning work from the House of Zandra.

These are some of the delicate results that can be achieved from using the moulds.

We just had to take these photographs - they certainly made us go Wow! these peices of artwork were being exhibited on the DCWV (Die Cuts with a View) stand and everything has been made with paper!

Next we popped over to the Bramwells stand and here are a few lovely samples from our lovely Mel Heaton using Hero Arts stamps and papers.

Well aren't these good enough to eat - we found these gorgeous paper cupcakes on the equally gorgeous stand from The Hobby House.

and look at this very eye catching Easter tree using some of the stunning flowers that we have ordered for the shop.

And have a look at these two!! They are, of course, the fabulous Anne-Marie from Hunkydory and Leonie from Create and Craft. They both won awards at the show.  Well done and so well deserved. 

Thankyou for popping by and I hope that you have enjoyed a few snaps from the show.

I will be popping a few samples from my recent C and C Spellbinder shows tomorrow if you want to have a look at these.

I also am at the studio next week on the following days:

Tuesday 8am and 7pm

Thursday 2pm, 4pm and 7pm

Friday 10am and 4pm

Saturday 11am, 4pm and 7pm

Another busy week ahead! I will still be demonstrating Spellbinders from the Blockbuster but they will all be new demonstrations so have a look.  

I am now going to sit and colour until I go to bed - I find this the very best way to relax!

Bye for now and hope to see you back again soon,

Jo xx 

Week 195 - Animals

Hello Crafters!

I hope that this finds you all well and have enjoyed a great week.  My week included our trip to the NEC to the Trade show which was an excellent visit (pop by tomorrow to have a peep at some great photographs that we took over the 3 days) I have also had some great shows on Create and Craft and a fab workshop at the shop - that all kept me out of mischief!

Today I have a card to show you that will fit perfectly into the Allsorts Challenge 'Animals'. What a great title that has been chosen by our Samantha.

The main feature of this card is the lovely stamp from Stamp Addicts and I have used distress inks to colour the image.  Vintage photo was used to soften the picture and draw the eye into the main point.

The background has been achieved by using an A4 Special Touch Leaves Mask which is a particular favourite of mine.  Once embossed I have coloured the embossed images with Brushed Corderoy and Forest Moss Distress Ink.  A little matting and layering and some check ribbon finish off the design which could be used for many different occasions.

As mentioned above I will pop back tomorrow with some photos from our Trade show trip so pop by for a peep.

Please pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to have a look at the other fabulous ideas that the Design Team have to offer.

I hope to see you popping back tomorrow but until then thank you for having a look at my blog. Please leave a quick comment you know I love to read them.

Take care and bye for now

Jo xxx

Week 194 - Things with wings

Good Morning Everyone

Thankyou for popping by again and I know I say it every Saturday but gosh it has been a busy week again!

I have had a great week at Create and Craft towers launching the new Imperial Gold Dies - all I can say is WOW! what amazing results you get with them and it has been a pleasure to demonstrate them to everyone. The blockbuster has been flying out of the studio and I am back next week (Thursday) for a few more shows to give you a few more ideas.  We have also had Valentine's Day this week but unfortunately for the first time in 30 years of being together Mark and I couldn't celebrate with a meal out as we were at the studio.  I am sure that we will be able to treat ourselves another day at least we were there together even though we were working.  I hope that you all enjoyed your romantic day and made time for yourselves.

This weeks challenge has been set by our fabulous Brenda and she has chosen .......

THINGS WITH WINGS

I have gone with the most obvious and that is Butterflies but I have chosen to show you a different project other than a card

This is a shadow box frame that I had the pleasure of decorating for a recent Crafty Notions show on C and C - as you know I really love to play around with paints and dimensional projects so this was right up my street.  The frame and the vine are Twiddlybitz and I have used Crafty Notions Acrylic paints to cover them. I would highly recommend these paints as the colour is so strong and it only takes one coat to cover projects like this.

A have used the frame with a 12 x 12 scrapbook page which (as usual) doesn't show up too well but it is glittered and embossed beautifully.  I have also embellished the frame work with stella flash which is tiny snips of Angelica film.  The butterfly is a Cheery Lynn and the tiny roses are a Marianne design.

I hope that you like my offering.  I am heading up to Sheffield as you are reading this to visit Jean and the gang at Busy Bee Crafts at Beighton Nr Sheffield.  We are having a dabble day and it is always a fabulous day.  From Sheffield I am heading for Birmingham to attend the Trade Fair at the NEC.  This is held annually and it is where retailers get to buy all of their goodies for the following year.  It is always a great show with lots to see and demos and workshops to enjoy too.  I will take the camera and pop some photographs on the blog of some of the exciting new products and the great demonstrators that I bump into.

I will also pop some more samples on of the new Spellbinders over the next week so keep popping by and let me know what you think to them.

Thankyou again for popping in, enjoy a lovely weekend whatever you are doing and please leave a comment if you have a few minutes to spare.

Also pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to have a look at the gorgeous work from the Design Team.

Bye for now

Jo xxxx

Another Spellbinder Launch!

Hello Everyone,

Apologies for not letting you peep at these before today but I was asked to keep everyone is suspense until launch day! But it's here now and just a few of my samples using the amazingly gorgeous brand new Spellbinders that I will be launching tonight on Ideal World at 10pm and 12 midnight!

I hope that you like what you see - there are lots more for the show and the New Gold Dies are totally unique and stunning.

I hope that you can join me and have a peep at the show,

the following are my hours for Wednesday and Thursday if you want to see what this collection can do 

Wednesday - 12noon, 2pm, 6pm and 8pm.

Thursday 9am, 12noon 4pm, 6pm 

These are on either on Ideal World and Create and Craft as it is a Craft Day so lots of fun to be had.

Thankyou for popping in,

Bye for now

Jo xx

Week 193 - Valentines

Good Morning Crafters,

Well that's another busy week been and gone couldn't believe it when I realised it was Saturday again!

At least the weather has behaved this week and we have been able to hold the workshops as usual at the shop - yesterday being a full day class making Masculine cards.  A lot of laughs as usual  - a great day.

Today we have got the lovely Maria Maidment coming in to teach Painting techniques on Parchment and I am a pupil!  I love this class and love that I can sit and play along with everyone else.

The next week is going to be a mega busy one again as I have the fabulous job of demonstrating the Blockbuster products being launched on Create and Craft on Tuesday evening at 10pm.

At this moment in time I'm afraid that I cant share my excitement totally but will definitely be posting again nearer the time with a little taster !

Back to the matter in hand today our lovely teamie Helene has chosen this weeks Challenge for Allsorts and it really cant be more fitting for the time of year  ................................

Valentine

and here is my design for this challenge

I love the traditional black and red colours for Valentine designs and this is no exception.

The card size is 8" x 8" and I have used some Hobby Fun fabric to cover a piece of red cardstock to make the backing paper.  I feels like suede - it is a shame we dont have touchy feely PC's! 

The hearts on the left side are foiled rub-ons that I have matted and layered up.

I have embossed the pearl rectangle with a hearts cuttle bug folder and decorated it with ribbon, feathers and some paper roses.  Some swirly pearls finish the decoration off. I have added a sentiment and stamped this onto one of the smaller dies from the Timeless Rectangles Spellbinder set.

I hope that you like my design, if you do please comment and let me know what you think.

I hope that you all have a very romantic Valentine's Day.

Pop over to the Allsorts Challenge Blog to check out the other Team Members designs and have a go and join in this week's challenge.

I promise I will be popping back to show you some sneeky peeks that I have done for the forthcoming blockbuster - check the blog out on Sunday evening.

Hope that you have a lovely weekend

Bye for now and thankyou for popping in

Jo xx

Penny Black and More Challenge

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you are all enjoying a lovely Sunday whatever you are doing.  I am having a day off!!!  at home, not going out of the door.  I was very tempted to have a pj day but thought that might be pushing it a little too far!

I have had the absolute pleasure of being a guest on the Penny Black and More Challenge this week which is the Sister Challenge to the Allsorts and our lovely Brenda is Chief organiser of this too.  The theme for this week is 

Pink, Girly and Swirly

and this is my offering.

It looks a little paler than is real life but I think you can get the idea.  It certainly ticks the boxes required I think with the assortment of Kaisercraft background papers, the flowers and the swirly pearls.  I put the feather in for good measure just to make sure it was girlie enough as you know it isn't always my area of expertise! I just love this image such a Penny Black classic and I have coloured it with pro-markers.

The Penny Black and More Blog is gorgeous and they have some fabulous girls on the Design Team so pop along and have a peep at all the lovely designs and why not have a go too!

I notices as I was signing into the Blog that this is my 100 post! it doesn't seem five minutes since I was sweating over my first post - time certainly does fly.

I would like to thank all of you for sticking with me and hears to the next 100! 

Enjoy the rest of your day and I will be popping back tomorrow with the last few cards from the CHA Spellbinder shows.  I am starting to prepare my next show samples tomorrow, at the moment I cant share what the dies are but all I can say is ...............................  just amazing!!!!!! 

I will leave you on that note ....... sorry to be a tease but will be shot at dawn if I divulge anymore at this stage!

Bye for now

and thankyou for popping in

Jo xx

Week 191 - Lets Get Cute

Hello Crafters!

Well it is my turn to host this week's Challenge at Allsorts and my title is Let's Get Cute.  I have chosen the following card to show you just how cute I can go!

Is that cute enough for you!!

Arrrrrrrr I hear you say.  This is one of the most gorgeous images from the stamps from Joanna Sheen's Holly Hill Pond.  It is quite a simple design using papers, inks and a few fishy embellishments.  The fish were cut from a Cottage Cut die and then coloured and glazed with Crystal Lacquer.  The image has been coloured using pro-markers.

Pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to have a peep at the other Design team members designs.

I hope that you like this.  I have also got the last few (for now!) from the Spellbinder samples.

This one was a really quick and simple demonstration to do and I used the Adouring squares in quite a simple format.  I used the very outside die and one of the inner dies which cuts and embosses but doesn't cut it totally out.  I also used the Argyle mask from Special Touch but it isnt easy to see this.  A rose embellishment and some swirly pearls just finish off a quite romantic card.

This second card was made using the Timeless Rectangles. I cut the biggest die and one of the smaller inner dies to cut a framework.  This really makes a fabulous result.  I have punched a few flowers, stamped a greeting and finished the card off with some black pearl pva in places.  The background was made using the Quilted designs and some of the Creative Expressions Crochet ribbon.

I would love to hear from you all again, thankyou for some fabulous comments and so pleased that some new members have been able to find me and join the blog.

Tomorrow I have a day at the shop making samples for my future shows.  Some rather delicious products to work with and will share these really soon.

I hope that you all enjoy a lovely weekend 

and if you have a few minutes leave a comment I just love to read them.

Bye for now

Jo xx