Day 30 - Out of the box

Welcome back my crafy friends,

Today is the penultimate day for my blogging every day in January and I really hope that you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed reading all of your lovely comments.

I thought I would show you this today ~

 

A black and white little number which I did sometime ago but it is one of my favourite projects - although very simple it is so striking with it being just in black and white.  The stamp is a Kaiser craft stamp and I have stamped it and then cut around it using a classic square from the Spellbinder range and have used the out of the box technique so that the stamped design is cut out of the square framework but without cutting off the rose! 

It is such an easy but effective technique but it looks so clever! 

The background paper suits the design a treat with the monochromatic look going through the whole project.  I stamped the image in archival black and then shaded various area using black soot distress ink with a damp brush.

Simple matting a layering with alternate white and black is all that it needs to highlight the main focal point which is the stamped image.

Don't miss out on being in with a chance to win some blog candy. Leave a comment for me and this will get you instant entry for when a name is pulled out on Sunday! 

Thankyou so much for popping in and hope that you enjoy a lovely Friday whatever you are planning on doing.

Take care if the weather is awful where you are,

Bye for now

Jo xx

DAY 30 - Christmas Inspiration - Last Day!

Welcome Everyone!

I feel a little sad today as this is the last day of my 30 days of Christmas Inspiration.

I cannot thankyou all enough for all of the fabulous comments and the feedback.

I have loved to read these everyday and I am going to miss them.

Thankyou also for all of my new followers, welcome the my crazy world and I hope the you enjoy following me.

Today had to be a design that I love (I have enjoyed them all but this one is one of my favs!)

There seems to be a little too much light on the picture but hope that you can still see what is going on with the design.  I have used the Rustic Wreath embossing folder from Spellbinders to emboss the design for the background.  I have then spent quite some time colouring with distress inks - vintage photo and walnut stain.  Then I covered the image in different colours of guilding waxes.  I have scuffed up the edges on both layers to keep the rustic effect.

The reindeer is also a Spellbinder design and I have used guilding flakes on double sided sheets and then cut the design.  It really works well with the intricate cut on the reindeers antlers.

Some organza bronze ribbon and hat pins finished this off a treat.

Well, this is it :( the final blog of my 30 days of inspiration. As I said before I hope that you have enjoyed it and please leave your final comment and I will be back tomorrow to announce the winner of some lovely stuff.

Thankyou a million times for your participation - without your lovely feedback it would be so boring!

I will be back on Saturday with the Allsorts Challenge but, for now, 

Bye for now

Jo xx

DAY 24 - Christmas Inspiration

Hello Crafters,

First of all can I say a huge thankyou for all of your good wishes for my return to C and C.  It is such a lovely thought that you all care so much and take the time to drop a comment in and let me know.

You are all very kind xxx

Today I dont have a card but a little project that we did in class.  It is a really great project to use up all of your Christmas ribbon scraps when you have finished all of your cards.

to give you some idea on the size the width at the widest part is 24 cm.

I have cut the circles using my Cricut, cut twice and stuck them together to strengthen the ring.

The ribbons are scraps that have been left over from Christmas projects and they measure about 5" in length.  Just knot them, you don't need to make a bow. The centre has been held in place with some beading wire and decorated with Spellbinders poinsettia die.

I have also used cinnomon sticks, berries and rolled pine cones from the Tim Holtz tattered pine cone die.

I hope you like the post today - something a little different to have a go at.

It is a lovely project to do after all of your cards have been made.  It also makes a lovely present to send to a friend.

Thankyou for making time to pop in today and check the post out, dont forget to leave a comment and be in with a chance at winning the Candy!

Bye for now

Jo xx

DAY 7 - Christmas Inspiration

Good Morning Crafters,

Thankyou so much if you are still following on my daily mission to inspire you with some Christmas crafting.

This is a lovely stamp from our equally lovely Sheena Douglass.  It really makes you feel warm inside when you see this image all coloured.  I have used pro-markers to colour.  You will see that I have used a twisted easel design for the card and have used cinnamon sticks as the easel stopper.  Tie one or two sticks together with some organza ribbon.  You can easily buy cinnamon sticks from a good supermarket or health food shop. I have used Spellbinders Labels 1 as the base for the stamped image and a sentiment from the stamp set in the corner.  I have also used glossy accents on some of the image to highlight.

I really enjoyed making this card and it would be lovely to send it to any of your friends and family at Christmas.

Many thanks for popping by for todays inspiration.  

I have posted twice today as it is Saturday and Allsorts Challenge day.

Dont forget a comment will get you in with a chance to win some Blog Candy at the end of the 30 days.

Bye for now

Jo xx

More Spellbinder Samples

Good Morning Everyone!

Well what a miserable old day it is in Lincolnshire I hope that it is better where you are. I thought I would try to brighten the day up and post a few more samples from the World Launch Shows that I have been doing (I hope that you are not bored yet!)

 

 

 

This is one of my favourites and has quite a few of the goodies from the show including the background which is an embossibility - Mediterranean Medallion. I have inked it with Dusty Concorde Distress Ink and then versamark and covered with embossing powder Aurora Sparkle from Cosmic Shimmer. This makes a lovely effect.  The other dies that I have used in the centre is the Create an Iris, The wonderful Locket Die-lite and one of the flourishes from the Die-lites set.

The background is a Crafts Too embossing folder.

 

Another one for today has also be created using several dies from several sets and this is one that I started to demonstrate on Sunday but ran out of time.

The background has been embossed using the Labels 34 Medallion Embossibility, the corners are from the Gold Corbels and Accents Shapeabilities, the Butterfly is a Die-Di-lite and the main focal frame is a mixture of Gold Labels Thirty Four and the M|ajestic Squares. I used Joanna Sheens dried flowers for the centre. Quite a list!!

 

I hope this has cheered you up a bit. I would love to hear from you - leave a comment if you have time and let me know what you think of the designs.

I am back on Create and Craft tomorrow at 5pm and 7pm with some more demo's from this vast selection of wonderful dies.

Thankyou for popping in and

Bye for now

Jo xx



Day 3 - Spellbinder samples

Hello again crafters,

Thankyou all so much for all of the fabulous comments that you have left on the Spellbinder samples posts.  It is so lovely that you are popping by and leaving some fabulous comments too.

 

Today I have another 3 designs using the new Spellbinders and I hope that you like these too.

 

 

I enjoyed putting this one together. I have used the three sets of Die d-lites Sage, Lavender and

Basil and placed them on a label which has been put through one of the embossibilities. These dies are particularly delicate and are fun to use.

 

The following sample is a decorated trinket box - as you know I love to make some home décor projects, showing you how to use your dies to their full potential.

I have used the stunning Lily- build a flower set which sold out so quickly on Create and Craft.  I have also used one of the Locket sets for the Lily to sit on.

 

This is a closer look at this lovely die set. A little glossy accents on the petals makes it look like rain drops.

 

The last one for today has a number of different dies on it.

The centre piece die is the Decorative Elements Labels 34 and the centre is one of the labels from the 34 set.  The Die D-lites Flutters set add a pretty element and the bottom corners are the Hibiscus Shapeability cut twice.  The flowers are from a Nellie Snellen punch.

 

I hope that this has given you some inspiration 

I am back on Create and Craft tomorrow at 8am and 2pm showing some more demonstrations and ideas for using your Spellbinders.

Pop in again tomorrow for a look at some more of the samples - plenty to go at yet!

Thankyou for popping by today and hope you will be back soon,

Bye for now

Jo xx



Day 2 - Spellbinder Samples

Hello Again!

 

Thankyou for popping in again to have a look at more of my samples that have been shown on Create and Craft over the past week.

The dies that I have been using are exclusive to Create and Craft for sometime yet and they have some fabulous prices on them too!

So here goes for today's selection for you, hope you like them.

 

I have used one of the gorgeous new designs from the new 3D Embossibilities . This one is called Royal Wings and is one of the new sizes which is A2.

The detail on these Embossing folders is incredible and this sample has been made using craft metal which has been simply embossed and sanded back to reveal the dimension of the folder.  I have highlighted some of the detail with Crafty Notions Gleams.

The stamping on the edges and in the middle has been done using Visible Images stamps which I felt went really well with this folder.

 

 

This is another design using the Die- Di lites and it is Tweets. This is a two die set with the solid bird shape which I have cut in white and the filigree bird has been cut in black. The shape of the bird is lovely and I am sure it will be used on so many different projects. The framework has been cut using the new set of labels which is 34 and the corresponding Decorative Elements set.  

 

 

I really enjoyed making this next sample.  It has got an array of dies on it starting with the new Create a Flower - Rose.  There is a Lily, Iris and the Rose and they are all a treat to cut, emboss and make up using the instructions that they give you.  As you can see I have made the roses into buds.  I have also used one of the Die D-Lites Corner Flourish 2 to embellish further. The sentiment made into a scroll and some vintage ribbon finishes this project off.

 

 

 

Thankyou again for popping by and look out for tomorrow's post and more ideas with the newest Spellbinders.

 

Bye for now

Jo xx



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 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 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 196 - For A Lady

Good Morning Crafters!

How are you all? and Happy March!  Gosh isn't it lovely to see January and February out.  I am a real lover of Springtime and March is the beginning although it is still quite fresh at least we are seeing a little more of the big shiny thing in the sky!!

What a busy week again on Create and Craft - the Blockbuster is flying still and we have so many sell outs this week and have really loved all the demos and the enthusiasm of all the presenters - they just love the Spellbinder shows and I try to get them involved if I can. I have shows today at 11am, 4pm and 7pm.

Thankyou to everyone for all the fabulous emails and pictures that you have sent into the studio - you really are a talented lot out there.  

It is Saturday so that means an Allsorts post and I always look forward to creating a project for this and today is no exception. 

This week's challenge title is

For a Lady!

I have used one of the gorgeous Wild Rose Studio stamps - we have started to stock this range in the shop and I absolutely love them.  They are excellent quality and perfect for colouring, they have so much detail.  I have used pro-markers to colour.  I stamped the image onto a Spellbinder die - Opulent Ovals.  this really suits the design as it is so feminine and very delicate.  I used Marianne Design punches to make the flowers - these are the punch and emboss punches - I love using these as they always give stunning dimension.

I hope that this makes you feel Springlike and it spurs you on to have a go at our Challenge this week.  Pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog and have a peep at the other lovely design team cards and projects.

thankyou also to our fabulous sponsors this week Digistamp and Pin and Tack

Thankyou so much for popping by and I hope that you all enjoy a lovely weekend whatever you have planned.  I am hoping to have a bit of a chill out after another busy week. 

Thankyou in anticipation of your comments - you know that I really appreciate them and love to hear from you.

Bye for now

Jo xx

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 190 - Flower Power

Hello Crafters

Well what a week I think the car could take itself to Peterborough to the studio!! I have had a ball using all the new Spellbinder dies and Embossibilities and they are all soooooo gorgeous.  I would love to hear what you all think to them.  Stock is disappearing really quickly now and I am back in tomorrow to do another 2 shows.  I think I am going to need a snow plough to get there though!! All of a sudden the snow came and it really has made quite an impact.  I just hope that we dont have any more tonight.

Back to the job in hand.  It is our lovely Tracey who has chosen this weeks challenge for Allsorts and it is

Flower Power

What a fantastic week last week with so many entries - I havent quite got around to finishing off my commenting but please be assured that I will finish it off tomorrow at the latest.  There were some amazing cards made out of dies and punches.  What a difficult task to choose a winner.

The card I have chosen to show you is this one

This was a card that I put together for the Spellbinders last Pick of the Day with the Di-Dlites and this card shows you 3 of those dies Garden Weave, Flower Burst and a Frame.  This was one of my favourites as I love the Flower Burst die as it has do much detail and could be used for so many different occasions.

A little ink and some pearl glue was all that was needed to complement the dies.

We have 2 lovely sponsors this week at Allsorts and they are

Ribbon Girl and you can find them at

www.ribbongirl.co.uk/

and 

My Heart Pieces

at

myheartpiecesdigitalstamp.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your sponsorship.

Dont forget that I will be choosing a winner of the Blog Candy on Sunday so if you havent joined in yet it isnt too late.  You will find the information on post just before this one.

Sunday is when Mark and I go to see Strictly come Dancing in Birmingham so I hope that the weather improves.

Must dash now as I need to get to the studio in time for the 10am show.

Thankyou, as ever, for popping by and I hope that you all keep warm and take care if you have to venture out and about.

Bye for now

Jo xx

Fantastic Flourish design card

Happy Friday Everyone!

This is just a quick post to show you another idea to use the Fantastic Flourish D-Lite which I am giving away as Blog Candy.  We have another week to run on this so get your comment in so that you are in with a chance to win this fabulous die.

With this card I have used the Flourish again in the centre but I have inked the edges to give it some more dimension.  

Remember the Candy will be drawn on Sunday 20th January.

Thankyou for popping in and I will see you again in the morning for this weeks Allsorts Challenge.

Bye for now

Jo x

Week 184 - White, Gold and one more colour

Good Morning Everyone,

Well!  what a busy week and it has flown by again! 

I had a ball on my marathon Pick of the Day for Create and Craft 11 live hours in 24 hours! 

It is getting really scary how close it is to Christmas now 

but I haven't made a Festive card for Allsorts this week for 

Helene's Challenge which is:

White, Gold and one more colour.

This is my offering for this week ~

This is a card that I have made using Teresa Collins paper products.  For those that are not familiar with her she is an American designer and I have the pleasure of demonstrating her products at the International V.I.P event on Create and Craft on Sunday (scrapping at 10am and papercrafting at 1pm)

I have used Spellbinders Grand Labels 4 for the larger labels and Labels 22 for the inside frame.

the papers are from Teresa Collins Vintage Finds 12" x 12" papers.  The butterfly stamp is from the Tell your Story set.

The flowers have been made from the papers in the set using the Spiral Blossom die.

Wild Honey Distress ink, lace and ribbon finish off the card.

I hope that you like it.

Another busy week ahead with TV again -

Sunday - Teresa Collins papercrafting 10am and 1pm

Wednesday -  Spellbinders dies 9am, 2pm and 7pm

Please pop over to the Allsorts Blog to have a peep at what the DT have to show you for Helene's

Challenge.

I hope that you enjoy a fabulous weekend - keep warm. 

Bye for now

Jo xx

Week 182 - Bring on the Bling!

Good Morning Everyone!

Well I can't believe it but our 2nd Birthday weekend is here and we are all ready to PARTY!!!! 

As mentioned last week we have a fabulous weekend planned with the gorgeous Phill Martin and the lovely Anne-Marie from Hunkydory today and the very talented Ali Reeve from Stamps Away all day Sunday.

The demonstrations will start at 10am and run through until 4pm both days and there will be refreshments available all day so that there will be no reason to rush off!!

We have been getting organised for the weekend all week and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all their continued support for Let's Create and for making it such a wonderful success over the last year.

Anyway, back to Allsorts business!  This week is the fabulous Brenda's Challenge and she has chosen 

BRING ON THE BLING!! 

Thankyou to our sponsors for this week

                                                                        Flonz Crafts

                                                                     www.flonzcraft.com/

This is the card that I have chosen to show you 

I am not sure if you can see the bling but I have popped gems over the sky and the trees and houses are all sparkled with gorgeous Hunkydory Diamond Sparkles Butterfly Trails glitter.

The main picture is an embossing folder from Nellie Snellen entitled Snowy Village.  Just running it through your embossing machine and applying Broken China distress ink creates a really simple but effective design.

The frame has been cut from Spellbinders Labels 11 (a favourite of mine!) from navy cardstock.  The dies around the frame are Marianne poinsettias, branch and tree with a little bling added for good measure.

We made this in class today and everyone enjoyed it.  A great stop gap for the last minute cards that we all need to do!

I must sign off now as I have a million and one things to do before we have our guests arriving.

I will take tons of pictures and pop them on the blog after the weekend.

Please pop in if you are in the area we would love to see you.

Pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog to have a look at my team mates designs and I would love you to leave a comment on here if you like what you see.

Have a go at the challenge too.

Many thanks and enjoy a fabulous weekend, thankyou as ever for popping in.

Bye for now

Jo xx

  

Allsorts Challenge Week 179 - Men and Boys

Good Morning Everyone!

Well, I am back into the swing of everything this week and loving being back into doing what I love to do.
The week has been a busy one starting with me doing a demonstration at the shop using our new stamp range.  What a fabulous day we all had and thankyou to everyone that popped along, the shop was buzzing with fellow crafters and we had some fabulous comments about the stamps.  It seems that they really love them.  The lovely Maria Maidment also demonstrated using parchment techniques with the stamps and this gave everyone some different ideas to have a go at.  Huge thanks to Maria x

On Sunday I had the pleasure of teaching at Kim Sutton's dabble day in Blyth.  Our feet didn't touch the floor but, again, such a fantastic day and so well organised by Kim and all her staff.  Their next dabble weekend is on the 1st weekend in March next year and it is well worth a visit.

Onto today's Allsorts Challenge.  This week it is Sarah's week and she has chosen

For the Men and Boys

and this is my offering for this great challenge

I have used Fishing Stan digi print from Digi Stamp Boutique who are our lovely sponsors for this week's challenge.  

The papers are the front and reverse from We R Memory Keepers - Argyle Sweater which seemed to really fit the bill.

The image has been coloured in a selection of promarkers and the background with Pan Pastels.

I cut the image out using the Classic Square Spellbinder and used the out of the box technique to cut around the fishing rod.  Some vintage photo distress ink, a little distressing with the Tim Holtz distressing tool and vintage bakers twine finishes the design off.

I hope that you like it, pop over to the Digi Stamp Boutique and have a look around, there are some smashing images to choose from click on.http://www.digistampboutique.co.uk/catalog/to have a peep.

Must dash now we have a fabulous day planned with Caroline Whatling teaching a Molly Bloom Christmas box project and I am a student!!!! I have promised to behave and listen to teach!!!  I will try to take some pictures so that you can see what we have been getting up to.

I hope that you enjoy a lovely weekend, that the weather is kind to you and that you have time to fit in some well deserved crafting time.

Pop over to have a look at the great projects the DT girls have done and hope is encourages you to have a go at the challenge this week.

Bye for now

Jo xx

Week 169 - A Gift

Good Morning Crafters,

I hope this finds you all well and happy.  This is a very quick post this morning as I have a very busy day - we go to the airport tonight after we close the shop and fly on holiday tomorrow for 8 days!!!!

Turkey here we come!

But, before that ....................  calm ..............

I would like to show you my project for Brenda's excellent challenge this week for Allsorts (allsortschallenge.blogspot.com)

I thought this project that I did in a class this week would make a super gift.  

I have used a Spellbinder shape MDF plaque (we sell lots of these shapes in the shop and they have become really popular and so very reasonable)

I have crackled the background using Sheena's crackle technique with acrylic paint on the first layer, a layer of PVA glue and magnolia emulsion on the top.  To make it look even more distressed I have used Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges.

The decoupage that I have used is from the Jayne Shasky CD rom from the lovely Joanna Sheen which I sprayed with Spray and Shine from Crafters Companion - it finishes a decoupage off really nicely.

The sentiment is also from the CD rom from the Calligraphy section and again I have edged it with VP.

The foliage that was added to the edges is from one of the new Spellbinder sets - Fall Leaves.  I am really loving this one such a variety of leaves to use on so many projects.

Thankyou to our lovely sponsors this week:

and 

As always pop over to the Allsorts Challenge blog and have a peep at the gorgeous gift ideas that the girls and made - fabulous work this week and lots of ideas for giving crafty goodies for Christmas.

Must dash now I have lots to do before I can set off this evening.

I won't be around next week to post for Allsorts but please pop by the week after and I will fill you in on our holiday too!!

Bye for now and enjoy a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend,

Jo xxx

Week 165 - A Recipe

Good Morning Crafters

I hope that this finds you all well and enjoying the fabulous Olympics.  The Brits seem to be making their mark and for a small Island in comparison with the other huge nations I think we are doing a great job.

Watching the Olympics has been in snatches for me as it has been another hectic week.  I have had 3 excellent shows on C and C including my first show representing Crafty Notions. This is the first show since the terrible loss of Sarah Lawrence.  These were big shoes to fill and I must say I was nervous about making sure I did the best job that I could have done.  Having Nigel presenting was the best start to the show and it all went so well with 4 sell outs in the hour! phew!!!!

May I say a huge welcome to our lovely new members on our design team - Tracey and Sarah.  check out their blogs they are very talented girls.  I hope that you both enjoy your time at Allsorts.

This mornings Allsorts Challenge has been set by our lovely Emma and the title is A recipe.  What a great idea and a recipe with no calories - even better!!! We have been asked for a design using a certain recipe of elements and this is what I have come up with

   I have chosen to make a decorative hanging using every possible Tim Holtz product!  A bit of a Ranger Fest I think on reflection!!!! As always it isn't the best photograph but have taken a couple of close ups to see more detail.

Are you ready for the list of products! First of all I took a piece of Grunge Board and cut a Labels 1 Spellbinder out. I used Distress stains - Dusty Concorde for the background - great for quick coverage -  and spritzed it with perfect pearls to add some glimmer.  I added to the background by using some paper from my stash which has a generic text on it so perfect for what I wanted.  I used Tim Holtx Flourish from Sizzix as a stencil and used Snow Cap alcohol ink to create some depth.

  I then tackled the next layer with a group of tattered florals (again Sizzix) which were cut from Grunge paper and Glassine paper I also coloured the grunge paper flourish with a cocktail of alcohol ink colours (I couldn't make my mind up at this stage!)I also spritzed these with the perfect pearls too.

the butterflies were stamped onto Grunge using the lovely floral set from Hunkydory (check these out if you haven't already - fabulous designs and great value for money)

The Ideaology buttons finished off the flowers, Creative Expressions pink pearl PVA added the girly touch and Cosmic Shimmer ribbon was used for hanging.

Great fun doing this as I am sure you can see - get your newspaper ready for the inking frenzy though!! (that reminds me must get on now as I didn't tidy up after finishing quite late and I have a parchment class this morning - I don't think alcohol inks, distress stains and parchment are a match in heaven!!!

If you are around the Preston area on Sunday I have the pleasure of demonstrating at the fabulous |Inspirations shop (Hunkydory home).  The gorgeous Phil Martin will be there also trying to upstage me!!!

Very much looking forward to this always a great day and the staff are some of the best.

I have been asked to demo Tim Holtz and Ideaology products so will take my project to display,

It would be great to see you if you have a chance to pop in.

Anyway must dash.  Please pop over to the Allsorts blog to check out the other recipe ideas from our lovely team and it would be great if you left a comment about my Tim Holtz Fest!!  Get all your Ranger stash out and have a blast.

Bye for now and enjoy a lovely weekend.

Lots of crafty love

Jo xx