Where did that week go - part 2...

.... we went into London for the Ideal Home show - lots of people, lots of things to see - here's a few of my favourites... I tried to upload these photos on Twitter on the day but my phone and the wifi coverage at Earls Court was a bit rubbish (but not as rubbish as the cost of food at the show - £21 bought us 2 alcoholic drinks, 2 portions of chips and 2 sausages!! oh my word...note to self - take own food!)
But it was still a good day :o)

I love these SMEG appliances - dinky little under the counter ones - behind those doors is a washing machine, and dishwasher and something else (I only opened 2 of them!) lol
I'd love a tall big blue fridge - gorgeously retro! - I'm not sure it would go with our new kitchen but it would look great with the retro china I bought last year:

I worked in London for years and I think after a while its easy to take the City for granted and not look around - the London Underground is full of great features... like the architecture (this is the dis-used platform at Earls Court)

but the feature that made me smile was the logo on the side of the underground trains - I don't know whether they were supposed to be cracked like this or they were printed like that for a reason but either way - great distress! :o)  (apologies for the photography - I had to photograph it quickly - it was rush hour and commuters were rushing by!)

That's a few snapshots of the day - was good fun - I forget how much I love London & I love living so close to it.

where did that week go??

Phew!  I worked 3 consecutive days (in 2 different jobs), had a day off that was filled working on a magazine article, then there was a lovely day out in London with hubby at the Ideal Home Show.. & now we have the Easter Weekend (again days off/on)... *and* the clocks went forward... all exciting (if slightly confusing) stuff!

So back to last Sunday when I taught a class at The Craft Barn ((who are moving this week to a great new barn at Priory Farm, Sandy Lane, South Nutfield, CH1 4EG (0844 8008551 / 01737 822961) - they'll be open for business on Tuesday 2nd April))  - a lovely group of ladies who created nice layered pieces with my stamps, some die cuts and the all important corrugated card (I love a bit of corrugated card! lol)

This piece is one of Linda's - love her colour choices.

And this one by Di - she teamed Dusty Concord with the claret cardstock - not an obvious pairing of colours (to me anyway) but it worked really nicely. 

This is one of Jane's pieces- her deep colour choices were really striking - and look at the lovely depth of layers - all adding to the dimension of the panels - but no weight - all these could be added to cards, or hung as mini panels/ triptych.

Sorry there aren't more photos from this class - my photos were not quite up to scratch.

A brief message from the Easter Bunny!

Happy Easter everybody!

what's on my workdesk....

.... 'stuff'... mess?... creative bits and pieces.... but more importantly actual working space!!!!!!!!!!!  The desk was cleared yesterday so take a look while its still visible!  Actual working space - yes - its a rarely seen thing - like the yeti or unicorns (or Spring here in the UK) - so I thought I'd show you it while its here because it'll get covered over quite soon with more stuff!

Its been a while since I WOYWW'd, I hope you desk snoopers are keeping well - I'll be round to snoop later.... put the kettle on  :o)

The triptych that never was....

When you're demo'ing you chat to the lovely peeps sat in front of you, answer questions etc and the projects you create can change as you're demo'ing because it answers questions.....

* A customer asked about what Distress Inks she should buy first ("all of them!" is the obvious answer to that question!) but as she was new to Distress I suggested she buy the colours she likes - which were blues and purples - so I started working in those colours on a tag....
*  I'm demo'ing my mini stamps, so I stamped 3 of the text blocks...
*  somebody asked about painting with Distress .. so I painted the detail on the images using Distress Inks....
*  I carried on with my plan of a triptych tag & laid all three text blocks on the tag one by one - "I prefer the tag with just one text block on" said a customer because " you can see the lovely background" - lots of  nodding from the others.. OK, lol, just one it is then:

& this was great because it allowed me to use the stamped images in other ways...

*  one of the two text block images was used to create a card:....

.... and the other on a mat & layered tag (top middle image)

Demo'ing by comittee! lol

(nb working in blue (faded jeans) and purple (dusty concord) with accents of green (peeled paint)  - I don't often work with greens & purples and I forget what a lovely colour combination it can be...)

Birds in the Barn...

.... is where I'll be today demo'ing the JOFY stamps...

so if you'd like to watch me get inky painty then come along to the shop - between 10:30 & 3:30...  (NB - last night the shop was restocked with all the JOFY stamps, so if you were in the classes yesterday and missed out on buying a set then pop into the shop today - all the stamps are in! )

Hope to see you there....

Happy Birthday...

.... to my Mum - its her birthday today and we're off for a nice lunch and a 'bit' of shopping...

I made her a card (obviously!) and here it is:

I used stamps from all the plates I think - & I'm enjoying mixing up the flower heads on the stems to suit the composition of the card rather, the wooden flower have made another appearance too...  Painted papers, scrapbook printed papers, Distress Markers.....

I wanted to show you the grass line - I stamped the flower heads and grass in black, but then sketched in more grass using a green Distress Marker.

Apologies for the shadows on the card- its brilliant glorious sunshine outside - but lets not knock it because its preferable to the mini snow blizzards we had on Monday - when the snow was going past the shop window (where I was working) HORIZONTALLY!!  Bizarre!

OK - must go - shops, lunch and my Mum are calling me!

Take care

Latest addition to JOFYland..

Its a bit of fun.  but is it a dog?  Is it a pig?  who knows! - its a 'critter', a 'something' I created from the bits on my desk (I was supposed to be making a card for my mum...)  Its actually 2 leaves (JOFY09) and a flower from JOFY09 ... it made me chuckle so I thought I'd share it with you.... (just in case any of you need to make an animal of unknown breed...)

I'm off to finish my Mum's card....

Happy Mothering Sunday!...

.... to all you Mum's out there...  I just have two furry babies and they are proved themselves very lacking today - no flowers, no chocolates - they didn't even bring me a nice cup of coffee this morning!  Have they not watched the cats in cartoons?? - they walk on their hind legs and carry a cup in their front paws... do mine?? Nope.  but hey ho lets not hold it against them - they don't trash the place either... so I'm thankful for that - and they are very lovely so its all good!
I work in a shop a couple of days a week, and judging by how busy it was yesterday there are some very lucky, spoiled Mums today!  I like working in the shop on the days leading up to events like Mother's Day - the shop has a really nice feeling about it.

Here's the card I've made for my mum - but sssshhhh - its a secret - she hasn't seen it yet... the family is going round to my parents for dinner this afternoon (hopefully the snow will hold off - it has been trying to snow all day - soooo cold!):

This is her Mother's Day card - I'm off to make her another one now because its her birthday on Wednesday...

Hope you are all having a lovely day whatever you're up to..

Another tag....

.... from the The Craft Barn demo day...

 This tag is fun.  When I drew the stamp designs I drew a path... but Mr PA thought it was a wall... and that to me was great - I love that someone saw a different application to that intended.  So on this tag I created a wall.  A traditional drystone wall, and from over the wall lovely flowers grow... through all seasons...

Just a quickie post today... hope you're having a lovely weekend..

This is that week that was.....

... mainly spent in a fog of poorliness! but that's all gone, and I don't think I suffered as much as others I've spoken to. I hope everyone else is on the mend too.  I've been back in the land of the living for a few days and am raring to go!  :o)

Last saturday (can't believe its been almost a week!) I was over at The Craft Barn demo-ing with my latest stamps.... several new-to-stamping people sat down and watched so I kept things quite clean and simple:

I think my favourite card is the one on the bottom right.. no.. stop.. its not fair to pick my favourite - there's aspects on each that I like!

I really like making flowers using the leaf stamps - makes a nice change from the round flowers (centre of flower above is cut from one of those)(mix'n'match)

Love the shading on these yellow/orange flowers... using Distress Markers (so easy to work with), the leaves are painted with Fresco Finish - LOVE that paint - can't wait to get my painty little hands on the latest colours - I've seen them.  They are gorgeous, must have, additions to the range.

On the more mixed media side here's a tag - I like this a lot - the red spotted ribbon on the top is, I think, one of my all time favourite ribbons!  On this tag is stenciling with Fresco Finish, background colouring with Distress Inks, stenciling with Distress Inks, stamping, decoupaging of papers.... quite a busy little tag!
I'd always wondered what the cute little wooden flowers would look like with my stamps - I think I like them.  The red scallop border along the bottom is a stamp from JOFY06.

I did rally long enough earlier in the week to book tickets to see Josh Groban in June - looking forward to that very much!  Here's a sample of the gorgeous velvet tones of the man himself:

{I'm going with the lovely Lin Brown, I think I remembered to tell (warn) her that I may cry, or sing, or both during the concert.... :o)  }

I also found my long lost pencil sharpener - its the little things that keep us happy isn't it! lol

I like this sharpener, it was a particularly good one and it comes in a little tin that collects the shavings!  Tidy!

Have a lovely weekend.

Jo