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....

Craft Barn & a catch-up...

I spent yesterday at the Craft Barn with 5 lovely ladies who inked, die-cut, stenciled and stamped their way through the day...

I gave the ladies the option to choose their colours for creating the cards and they made some great choices - I think we all agreed that 'Peacock Feathers' distress ink is a FAB colour - especially when teamed with gold card stock - lush! (and very opulent)

(Francesca - thanks again for the seeds... :o)..)

I'm back at The Craft Barn next Saturday for a Demonstration/Inspiration Iay where I'll be playing with oh-so-very exciting new products from the oh-so-very clever peeps at PaperArtsy......  I look forward to seeing you there....

Come and join me...

... at the Craft Barn on Saturday (29th) where I'll be running a class, there are still a few places left so call the shop if you fancy a crafty day out..- here's a sneek peek:

And then the following Saturday (6th October) I'll be there again demo'ing some reeeeeaaaaallly exciting new products... seriously exciting (you know that feeling you get when you're so excited about something it makes you feel quite sick..  thats how I feel! lol) & I can't wait to show the products to you - watch this space....

7 hearts for 7 years..

... back in 2005 I married Matt.
Here's the card I made for him this year - I always try to include the same number of heart motifs on the card as the number of years we've been married - this may get trickier the longer we've been married - I imagine the card for our 25th Anniversary will either be reeeally big or the hearts will be reeeeeally small! lol

The pattern on the hearts is quite significant - my lovely husband has over 20 work shirts in his wardrobe and they are nearly all white shirts with variations of blue check/stripes.... that man loves blue!
& I love him.

Hello!

It was Hubby's birthday recently - here's his card - with a crown because everyone gets to be king/queen on their birthday. :o)

Love the silver Frantage embossing powder on the crown & especially the white on the tips and base... blingy but not too much..

.. and, a while back (in time, but only a couple of posts) I posted a picture of my hollyhock that had buds - well here it is with all its fabulous flowers - how gorgeous is that!!!! I really hope all the other small hollyhocks that I've grown bloom into similar colours..

WOY(new!)WW

Hello!  Welcome to my new workroom!

This month I have a couple of articles in Craft Stamper firstly this:

...and secondly I'm the subject of the 'meet n greet' article - I really enjoyed answering the questions - was fun.. and it included pictures of my workspace.. I'll show updated shots of my workroom another time (its an ongoing project!).

I'm feeling v spoiled to have a new room - its lovely & airy.... but I'm not going to show you my desk - there's not much on it (just things waiting to be put away!)

I'm going to show you my floor! lol
Yes, the floor...

Could we all please take a moment to look at my lovely floor! rofl FOUR COATS OF FLOOR STAIN that had to be rollered on while kneeling!!!!!! sore knees (until my lovely dh bought me a pair of knee pads - fab!!).. sore everything actually - but it was worth it - I love the colour!... and now I'm going to cover quite a lot of it up with a rug! lol  It has such a lovely sheen to it - thank you Dulux for your lovely product! lol - the colour is Ebony in case you're wondering   :o)

So thats my new room - can't wait to get settled in and get crafting...

For more desks and snooping the information is here - sit awhile and snoop around - its fun!

Hope you're all well - have a good day