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

I grew this!

Last year I planted Hollyhock seeds... I love hollyhocks - they are remind me of English cottage gardens.
Planting the seeds was a bit of a gamble for several reasons:
1.  I'm not know for my plant tending abilities
2.  It was a mixed bag of seeds and so I had no idea what colour the flowers would turn out to be (would be HUGELY disappointed if they turned out yellow) (not a big fan of yellow!)
3.  We were only renting the property and so my little plants would have to survive in plant pots

but I was good - I watered them - I bought a little green house and put them in them in there - I kept them warm over the winter..
...and my efforts have been rewarded....
...drum roll please....

Taaaa daaaaa:

Who said   "is that it?!"   lol

I grew this!! (ok, yes Mother Nature a bit to do with it too...) This is my hollyhock!!  & ITS NOT YELLOW!!!!! woop woop!!!  How beautiful is that colour!  I can't tell you how excited I was when that came out!!

... it even survived the freak hail downpour we had yesterday...

Its only a little plant but I'm very proud of it! and its got more buds coming...

OK, got to come back in from the garden - I've got rooms to sort out and crafting to do.

Take care

Class at The Craft Barn

O.M.Goodness! its stopped raining!! (for a while at least... lol) (& by the time you read this it'll probably be raining again! lol )  Our wonderfully unpredictable weather really has surpassed itself this year..

aaaanyhoo enough about the weather- on to more creative things like the class I'm teaching at The Craft Barn on Sunday - fabric, dies, stamping, oh-so-pretty papers, a simple mini-book and cards.. still a few places left - call the shop (01342 836398) if you like to come along...

Have a good day - brollies at the ready peeps - & pack a bottle of suntan lotion too ... just in case.. :o)

Its not that I've been overly busy... just a bit here and a bit there and lots of things going on in all areas... that why I've not been here so please excuse the absence..

So what has the 'here and there' been all about?

Well we've moved into our new house and we're still unpacking boxes - well, to be honest with you I'm not unpacking them as much as moving them about from one room to another! lol (they're currently in the 3rd bedroom where I can close the door and ignore them for a bit longer :o)  )
The house keeps throwing up interesting findings - under most of the floor coverings is a layer of newspaper (insulation 1960s stylee?) which is normal but in the bedroom was so exciting as the newspaper print had transferred onto the wood!!!! (insert excited squeal here)  I wanted to varnish over it and keep it, but sadly I was out-voted... its a snapshot of August 1960! lol  very cool!

A lovely weeked was had by all that went to the Craft Barn's extravaganza a couple of weekends ago - I really enjoy being part of these weekends.. this time I was flexing my die-cutting, bunting making, fabric cutting craftiness.. thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello- it was nice to put faces to some of the twitter peeps I've met :o)

 I combined Sizzix dies with Spellbinder dies to create this line of bunting - these are great dies (and I can't wait to combine them with the latest PaperArtsy dies - more about those later).

The card above uses Sizzix Mover & Shapers dies - love!!

This simple calico bunny makes me smile - The Craft Barn sells plain Calico animals and shapes (by Rico Designs) and so I made a 'critter' version with it. cute.

OK, onto the newPaperArtsy stamps I mentioned - 5 fabulous haberdashery sets, here's just one of them:

I love all of them - but this one especially as that's my sewing machine! :o)  Mr PA took photos of it and turned it in to a stamp - how cool is that!  Go over to the PaperArtsy site to see the others - they are really lovely....

The Olympic Torch came through our town because Hadleigh is the venue for the Mountain Bike events(and it came through Southend because of the dive centre etc).

It was really quite exciting - the whole Torch Relay has been so well planned and organised.. great to see it (briefly! lol definitely worth standing in the drizzle.)

I think that's enough for now - I'll leave you with some more fabulous flowers - not mine - these were planted (by the council) in beds on the local cliffs - so beautiful and they were so fragrant, and the orange/pink ones were stunning...

Take care.

A bit of flower inspiration..

... its only since we have moved that I've realised how few flowers there were where we previously lived - not many flowers in front gardens - in the gardens around us now there are lots of beautiful flowers (due to well established gardens) - I find them really inspiring - colours and the flower shapes themselves.

Lupins in a neighbours garden - beautiful colours!! Love how they fade from pink to orange, with a touch of paler colours. Definitely having some of these in our garden.

 This plant was in our garden - I have no idea what it is but love the seed heads with their wispy tops.

LOVE these roses - from our new garden - big old fashioned blousy roses - I especially like how the centre opens in what seems to be multiple swirls when they come in to full bloom.  Gorgeous.

Father's day....

I didn't get to see my Dad on Father's Day, and that's ok as he was watching & supporting my brother who had cycled from London to Brighton (for charity, so well done to him!). But I did call my dad and sing 'happy father's day' - and who wouldn't want that! rofl
Here's his card:

Fanfare please...

..no, seriously, I'd like a fanfare...

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee was fabulous and definitely had its fair share of fanfares (as a country we do have a flair for pomp and ceremony don't we!)
...so the fanfare is not for that...
...and not because I may be owed a fanfare from back in 1977, for the Queen's Silver Jubilee, when I was dressed like this:

I was a very cute Britannia! lol (ahem, even if I do say so myself)

the fanfare is because... wait for it... we bought a house!!!!

.. not: we're buying a house, oh no -  we have actually bought a house! oh yes! - we've
... got the keys,
... stripped the wallpaper (well, some of it),
... trimmed the garden (I've got secateurs and I am not afraid to use them! lol)
... booked the workmen
... and we move in next week!!!! (7 weeks from offer to completion - not bad!)
I feel there should be a fanfare, if only a little one because this is the 3rd time in the last 12 months we've tried to buy somewhere - well they say 3rd time lucky don't they! 
I kept it quiet because I didn't want to get my hopes up or jinx it. lol  I wanted the keys in my hand before I could do a happy dance! So its all very exciting and we're really pleased (if a little bit knackered from moving!)
And to top it off look what I bought from the owner:

oh be still my vintage-trunk-loving-heart!! Its lovely - and it's travelled in style: one of the labels on the side is for the Orient Express! :o)
Moving into a new house is exciting isn't it?! We found September 1960 newspapers under under one of the carpets - I'm LOVING the illustrations - very 'mad men'esque

So, that's what I've been up to - I hope you're all well and nobody's been affected too much by all this rain! when will it stop!? Its JUNE!! isn't it supposed to be hot & sunny!

Speedy post...

... well as speedy as you can be in this hot hot hot weather - which I'm loving by the way!! I'm actually browner now than I was when I came home from Mexico last week! - that's a first for me - my 'tan' normally gets bleached off by the airconditioning on the plane home!
(but please don't think I've been laying in the garden all week - no no no I've been out clearing the garden getting ready to had the keys back to the Landlord - more about that another day..)

This is a speedy post because I have to go to work - and apparently it is going to be hotter than hot - south facing shop with full window shop front - I think I'm sweating just thinking about it! (well not actually sweating - horses sweat, men perspire and women glow - isn't that how the saying goes?? So, in that case I'm 'glowing' just thinking about it)

aaaanyhoo..... it was nephew No 3's birthday yesterday and here's the card I made him:

I love this stamp from Stampotique - Twinkie needed a little 'something' to bring to the birthday celebrations as he climbs over the 'J' on his way to the party.... so I sketched a balloon for him to carry - oh yes... I sketched... direct to page.. with a pen...  no pencilling in first! (am proud of myself that I didn't faff about with it, overthink it - just got it done! lol)
(PS I am really enjoying sketching at the moment)

Aaaaanyhoo... the birthday boy loved his card and that's all that matters isn't it?!

Have a great day - enjoy the sun....

Jo

Where do I start??????

... lets start with last Sunday and the class I taught at The Craft Barn wjth lovely group who got inky, painty and a little bit sticky making this:

 A wooden triptych altered using the fab.u.lous Lynne Perrella stamps from PaperArtsy and Spellbinder dies.  I love these stamps.. .and how the project looks - here's the icon front & back:

...I laid all the finished pieces out to be photographed:

... and when I turned around all the group were snapping photos like a group of paparazzi trying to catch a drunk celeb coming out of a nightclub!! lol
Gabby, Francesca, Sue & Allison & Karin tucked behind.

So, that was Sunday...

Are you wondering what I was doing for the last 3 weeks when I haven't blogged?

Well, there was a lot of this:

... and a bit of this:

...and then.... oh.. too much, I'll tell you more tomorrow..

Thanks for stopping by..

Have a good day