Booo!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

 My lead up to halloween started 10 days ago on my birthday when we went here:

It was such a good show!!  We were supposed to see it last year, unfortunately missed it, and all I can say is it was worth the wait (and also I really shouldn't listen to 'Defying Gravity' in the car when I'm driving or I will get a speeding ticket!)
Hats off the actress who played Elphaba because, apart from being fabulous, she was painted really green - not just 'looking a bit peaky'- but vibrant green - almost the colour of the lobby behind me in the photo above... lol

It was such a good show: the music, the costumes, the sets - oooh yes the sets - with their steampunk theme

You *have* to go & see Wicked if you get the chance - you'll look at the Wizard of Oz in a whole new light  :o)

Aaaaanyhoo on to Halloween!!
I went to Hobbycraft for the first time in ages last week and saw this:

which got the creative cogs whirring and I turned it into this:

... with the help of PaperArtsy Halloween stamps (love love love the big skull!).. (not the greatest photo - not showing up the lovely silver edges of the cobweb (lovely pewter treasure gold).. it makes me chuckle - the three skull are like a Halloween Boy Band!

I ventured into Asda last week too - had a tip off they had lots of halloween products - and the tip off was a good one - I left with a skeleton banner, a light up skull and a mini tombstone! woop woop - whole lot for under a fiver! kerching! lol
great for staging halloween creations.....

So that's my little venture into Halloween for this year...

Tomorrow its back to thinking about Christmas!! 54 days to go!  better get baking the mince pies, making lists, making cards and dusting off the decorations.....

Snow, snow, snow....

... snowflake rosettes!!!   I think I've mentioned on here before how much I love the paper rosettes that can be made from the Tim Holtz die - well look what those clever people from Sizzix have bought out... Lovely Snowflake rosettes!!!!!!!!! Ho ho ho!!  Very lovely! (these will probably find their way on to many projects this christmas!)

It looks so nice when only the edges are coloured - I'd quite happily add this to a project as a border instead of folding it into a rosette:

I used the same colour distress inks (evergreen boughs, tumbled glass) on this card. Stamped and embossed the main image from JOFY Plate6 in clear ink and added the colour over the top.  I bleached the big stars and when the bleach was dry I gently went over the stars with Tumbled Glass ink... Fine black lines were drawn to add detail to the design and ties it in with the base card colour and the black stamping of the top border and the sentiment.

PaperArtsy sells cute little papermache hearts (approx 5-7cm).. I painted this one with Fresco Finish paints: Mermaid, Crackle Glaze and a top coat of Nougat - the gorgeous turquoise/gold wax (aquamarine, Treasure Gold.. also from PaperArtsy) was wiped randomly over the surface - lovely festive shimmer.. I tied on a tag stamped with 'noel' from Plate3, and a couple of wooden snowflakes that have coloured with the same wax.  The wood absorbs some of the wax so that it leaves the 'dye' colour and then a lovely surface of gold: gorgeous.

**  On 4th November I'll be demonstrating my stamps at Birds in the Barn nr Colchester in Essex.. Please come along - I'll be there from 10am-3.30pm - I look forward to see you.  **

ho ho ho....

.... 70 days 'til the big man in the red suit starts squeezing down chimneys around the world!

These tags started off as a bit of an experiment - could the pile of presents from Plate2 be stamped across 2 tags and then seperated..... and the answer is...YES!

The Distress Inks here are Pickled Raspberry and Evergreen Bough - love this colour combo! with added highlights of a silver & subtle gold gel pen.  the snowflakes around the top edges are Mini 7

Juicily festive! lol

Ever festively yours

Jo

Frosty the Snowman....

... isn't quite the snowman that you might expect... he's feeling a little under the weather....

The tickets/labels on the this panel make me chuckle - this snowman probably dreams, hopes and wishes he had a head (in its apropriate place!)

The canvas in painted with Baltic Blue and Sky Fresco Finish paint, touches of snowflakes (seems apt!) and Metallic Glaze.  The punches are Martha Stewart (LOVE that big snowfake)



AND:

Thank you so much to everyone who has posted a message, or tweeted me, or emailed me about the stamps - it is so nice to get feedback and messages.  Its all been very exciting - the stamps sets are going far and wide- as far as Australia and Japan!! 
So, thanks very much for taking the time, I really appreciate it... and I hope if you've bought the stamps (or won them!) that you are having fun with them.

Yours festively

and now for something completely different!

Its not christmassy!  or created with JOFY stamps!

This is a sneek peek at the class I'm teaching at the Craft Barn on October 21st - using the gorgeous PaperArtsy Haberdashery stamps, Sizzix dies (including the new pop-ups), distress inks & more......

A few places are still available so call the shop (01342 836398) to book if you fancy spending an a inky day with us....

Santa's Elves would be proud of me....

... I'm working my festive little socks off making samples for the classes and shows that are coming up...

Its not just cards that I've been making with the stamps:

This dinky little wooden plaque (available from PaperArtsy) has a really nice surface for stamping & stenciling onto:  (i think the handle needs a bit of pazzazing up - I'll give that some thought and get back to you....)(its not as festive as the rest of the plaque! lol)

I have added shimmer to the baubles with a touch of Metallic Glaze Fresco Finish - its great because it doesn't change the base colour when added, just makes is shimmery - love it!

The edges have been dragged with Patina Treasure Gold, a new product from PaperArtsy that is a lovely shimmery wax - I can see that being use on .... well... everything possible really! lol

This plain white wreath has been in the 'to be altered' box for a while and was perfect for the idea I had for the stars that are on JOFY08 and other plates...

 

The wreath's stars were stamped onto card painted with Fresco Finish, and embellished with gems, gel pens and, of course, buttons! and incorporating Spellbinders dies (these are some of my favourite dies!)(they get used quite a lot!)
Leandra has shown these wreath cards over on the PaperArtsy blog but I love them (a lot) and so I'm blogging them here too:

 

I love how Christmas allows (no, expects..) liberal use of glitter, sparkly bits and gems - I love a bit of sparkle and am definitely not adverse to a touch or two of Stickles!

Yours festively!

Jo

Ding Dong merrily on high.....

... more samples are here for vieeeeewinggggg

These two tags were works-in-progress but I love the colours so I thought I'd put them on here - the hot pink is 'pickled raspberry' distress ink - such a lush colour, much more vibrant than a lot of the other distress colours - love it! On the left hand tag I took the colour away with a touch of thick (but slightly diluted) household bleach... & the fab baubles on the right tag were layered up using a product I've only just discovered which is Stix2's Masking Sheet - a simple yet genius product!! (I'll put a 'demo' up in a couple of days).

I'm going to be teaching a couple of classes using my stamps details to follow - It'd be lovely if you could join me for some festive inky fun...

Imagine That (Upminster): 24 October: 1:30-4:30

The Craft Barn (Lingfield): 09 December: 10:30-4.30

I'll also be demo'ing at the East Midlands BSSBS in Kettering on Sunday on the PaperArtsy stand, and then at the NEC HobbyCrafts in November

phew - busy, busy, busy! Love it!!

AND FINALLY - over on the PaperArtsy blog the results of the competition are in - I've picked the winners and so head over there to see if one of the winners is YOU!! (a little christmas treat coming early for 3 of you....)

Deck the halls...

... with lots of samples.. tra la la la laaaaaaa la la la laaaa

Had a great time at The Craft Barn on saturday demo'ing my stamps (big thanks to Sandy and her team) - lots of lovely peeps came by and watched, chatted and bought the stamps which was great - hopefully they all went home inspired to get crafting for Christmas...

Here are some of the samples- I'll post some more tomorrow-  using distress inks, distress markers, bit of book text, fresco finish paints, kraft card... slightly self indulgent: all products I love to use...

The headless snowman gets quite a lot of 'sympathy' - "aw poor snowman" (followed by chuckles, so not that much sympathy! lol) - I'd just like to let you all know that no snowmen were hurt in the making of these stamps.. :o)

More samples to follow tomorrow....

xx

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow...

I spent yesterday at PaperArtsy HQ helping them get ready for the Harrogate Show - so if any of you are in the area go along to the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza for some Christmas inspiration (or christmas presents)..

Oh yes, CHRISTMAS!!!  Its now getting close (according the festive little app I have on my phone its 81 days away!) & on the 1st October I saw a shop putting up their christmas tree!! Seriously- can't that wait 'til November!or at least until after Halloween lol

Today will be spent playing with my stamps- making samples to hopefully inspire you to get creative for christmas - in the mean time here are some pics of some I've made already - nice quick'n'easy with 4 of the minis:

Tomorrow I'll be at The Craft Barn in Lingfield demo'ing the stamps - the first time they've been seen/demo'd in a shop so this is very exciting for me... I'll be there with 6 other demonstrators for a mini extravaganza with a festive feel - so leave your 'bah humbug's' at home and come down for some festive inspiration.

:o)

ho ho ho

Christmas! JOFY stylee...

I am really excited to share something I've had in the pipeline for the last few months..

Fanfare & Drumroll please: 

I've designed rubber stamps!  :o)

JOFY is a line of stamps I have designed in collaboration with the lovely & ubertalented PaperArtsy.  I've been on their design team for quite a while and so its a pleasure to be designing stamps for them- I love their existing stamp lines & the quality of the stamp production is second to none... and they're great fun people too!

I really enjoyed designing this very festive collection- once I got going on the theme it was hard to stop! Even when I was designing in the scorching summer heat - remember the couple of days we had?! lol. The designs are light-hearted, informal and perfect for all kinds of crafting- cardmaking, scrapbooking etc etc etc. and with all kinds of different media...

There are lots of designs in the set - baubles, stars, snowmen, trees, sentiments and of course there had to be bunting.. and a button or two...

The collection is made up of eight Mini sized designs:

 



... and 8 A5 sized plates:

If these don't get you in the Christmas Spirit I don't know what will!

Over the next few weeks I will be posting samples of what I have made with the stamps to hopefully inspire you to create with them too - I'm really excited to see what people create with the designs. :o)

You can see coloured versions of the designs over on the PaperArtsy Blog where there is also a blog candy give away.  Stamps will be shipping from PaperArtsy 9 October.

Next Saturday I will be at The Craft Barn demonstrating the stamps, and teaching a class with them on Sunday 09 December. 

Or you can come along to Imagine That in Upminster on the mornings of wednesday 10 October, and saturday 24 November... contact the shops to book place

Please come along for further inspiration and a bit of festive fun....