I'll have a bluuuuuueeeee christmas....

...  creating this project in my last workshop of the year at The Artistic Stamper, Faversham.
In this class we'll create a hanging triptych (in colours of choice) using die cuts, paint, sparkly bits & JOFY stamps..

This will be a nice class to end the year on - I love creating triptychs - I think its the panels & small things building up to something bigger.. 

contact the shop to book your place.

I look forward to seeing you!

ho ho ho

xx

Before we wind down to Christmas...

... (or are we ramping up for christmas??!)...I have a couple of very christmassy classes booked to teach which still have a few places left - the first of these are at The Stamp Attic on the 23/24 November - the 23rd is sold out but there are still a couple of places left on the sunday.. I'm really looking forward to this class - its to create a lovely wood box frame project using gorgeous dies, paints (there will be crackle!), and JOFY stamps (of course).. it will look lovely as part of your christmas mantelpiece decorations (thats where mine is going...)

I hope you can join me in the class - I'll be the one wearing a christmas sweater!
To book your place visit this page at The Stamp Attic

Look forward to seeing you for a bit of festive crafting

oh Christmas Tree ...

... our little black tree (only 3ft tall) is the first to be brought out of storage this year - purely for prop purposes - Decorations that I made with my stamps have been hanging on random door knobs around the house for a while - they need to be photographed and blogged... easier said than done!

I saw this deer head in the Poplar Garden Centre where Birds in the Barn is based - they have a really lovely christmas decoration selection - really nice & unusual ornaments.. - I was quite taken by the angel wings (big enough to wear - & no I didn't try them on!)

 and I was especially with the pairs of polystyrene ice skates - I thought I should have these just to remind me of the day Matt & I went ice skating at the Natural History Museum... I use the term 'skate' loosely - Matt skated - I just clung on to the side for dear life..:o)  & then fell over!  Always graceful! lol

aaaanyhooo - where was I .. deer head - I really liked it - the shape and because its cut from wood .... I bought it even though the strong red is not our festive colour scheme (we seem to have many other colours but not red! - I would love a tree where all the decorations are red, white and wood...hhhmmmm)... so I bought it home and..... ta daaaaa:

I Crackled Glazed it! Simple and effective... Much more in keeping with our other decorations...

I decorated one of the wooden hearts (available from the PaperArtsy website soon) with crackle (I do love a bit of crackle!), I stamped JM32 (Angel) onto the crackled wooded heart and onto book text, I cut out & matched up the two images (as shown below), I used Nougat Fresco Finish and Pearl Glaze for the wings

 for the reverse of the heart I covered it with book text which I colour washed..

... below is an ornament I've waited 11 months to make (I've had the baubles that long - since last xmas!) and this was the tricky customer when it came to photography...  Its a bauble that you can put images and 'stuff' inside and close up again! love!  Comes in two halves.. I die cut 2 scallop edged circles of white watercolour card (for the texture) and gave them separate treatments:

I stamped my Angel mini image (JM32) onto book text and mounted it onto the diecut circle,  I coloured her body with watercolour pencils and her wings with pearl glaze - and some stickle spots for a touch of sparkle.  I also added some 'fluff' (cobwebs at halloween, clouds at christmas!) with a few sequin stars scattered in to fill the available space..(hubby's suggestion).

Inside the other half I have stamped the scallop circle with distress ink and JM07 - snowflake background - love this stamp - its one of my favourites.. On top of that I glued a diecut word (sizzix 'word play') and stickled again - like I've said before: its christmas and christmas expects sparkle!

Bauble was so hard to photograph!  a reflective little devil! lol

I hope your christmas plans are coming along well... I'm popping to Southend tomorrow - rumour has that Father Christmas is visiting and he's bringing reindeer!!
(no seriously - Southend does have real reindeer .. not two-people-in-a-panto-suit reindeer!... can't vouch for the Father Christmas though...)

xx

The first noel.......

..... I've used this christmas is on a box frame created for a workshop I'm running at The Stamp Attic on 24 November - there are still a couple of places left so please come and join in the festive fun - there will be stamping, painting, crackle glazing, die cutting and because it's christmas (and christmas expects it..) there will be glitter glue! (please use responsibly! lol)

Contact the shop to book your place...

xx

A Christmas Class...

... at Birds in the Barn, Marks Tey on 9th November.

Spend the day altering an adorable birdhouse in a suitably festive manner - getting ready for Christmas (only 53 days to go....)... It will make a lovely addition to your christmas decorations or a great present for someone special.

Call the shop on 01206 211099 to book your place - it'll be lovely to see you in class.

Look forward to seeing you.

ho ho ho!

Its beginning to look a lot like....

HALLOWEEN!!

ha - you thought I was going to say Christmas didn't you! ....  I've had a day off from from christmas & embraced Halloween!..  I wanted to make something just for fun - a play day - and sometimes they are good days to have - however busy you may be - it clears the mind and something can always be learned from playing & experimenting...

There's been a halloween project idea buzzing around in my head for a while and it all came together this year - its not a big project... and after visiting a couple of places I got the inspiration I needed to put it in motion...

Inspiration 1:  While I was at Birds in the Barn the other weekend I was inspired by the papers Sue had used on her beautiful projects - the lovely Graphic45 Steampunk Spells papers...

I bought an 8x8in pack and brought it home... and looked at it... and looked at it some more - there's so much on the papers its hard to know which elements to use :o(  luckily there's 2 of each design in a pad.

Earlier in the year I used the outside of a configuration box to make this project:

which meant I had lots of little boxes from inside left over, empty, waiting to be made into something or thrown away (and believe me I was very close to throwing them away!)... I happened to visit France Papillon's blog (while following a link for something else) and she'd used the same left over boxes to create a little hinged box....(thats Inspiration 2)
This was perfect for what I had in mind - little boxes to fill with spooky stuff and using up the now-frankly-just-getting-in-the-way-&-cluttering-up-the-place boxes.  Bingo!
It looks like a mini trunk! (and we know how much I love a trunk... or two..)

I painted 2 boxes black, covered them with Graphic45 papers added a (surprising fragile) closure (I broke 2!!!)...
Here is the finished project - which surprisingly doesn't have any stamping on it! shock-horror!! none at all...

This is the front:

The hinge is a Tim Holtz pieces, the black elements are 'gold scrap' from my stash.. and the arms are from a skeleton I bought in Asda last year.. (Inspiration 3:  Asda - its a great place for Halloween bits and pieces...)

The back:

.. has one of my favourite images - the cat - taken from a French Art Nouveau poster (Chat Noir cabaret?).. and because we have a slinky black cat :o)

The sides:

This is what I like about the papers - lots of different size versions of the same images - perfect for my little box 'trunk'

Inside things aren't quite so pretty..... mmmwaaaahhahahaaa (thats my evil halloween laugh!)

In one section there is a cobweb covered scull, and in the other is a spell, a bottle of potion and a spider... I wanted the trunk to look as if it hadn't been opened for a long time so I added 'cobwebs'... The black 'ironwork' in the top right hand corner is more black goldscrap - so glad I remembered I had a bag of this is several colours - this is why I buy 'stuff' when I see it - you never know when you might need it!)...
(and the cobweb 'material' is THE most evil element on the whole project - it sticks to EVERYTHING but not always what its supposed to!... evil I tell you!  Use at your peril! lol)

So there you are... definitely NOT a christmas project!

Deck the halls...

... with branches of baubles.. falalala laaaaaa lalala laaaaaaa

This is a simple card made for the demo day at the Craft Barn a few weeks ago - finally got around to blogging it!

Another shocker! only one stamp set used!

If I made this card again I would possibly 3d mount the tree and some of the bauble to add a bit of texture/dimension....and colour in some of those stars around the edges (liberal use of stickles - well it is christmas, and christmas expects sparkle! lol)

xx

We three trees of JOFYland are.....

.... stood in a row on quite a big caaaaaard.....

ahem, quite enough of that methinks...

This card is created using  JOFY20 - what?! I only used ONE stamp set! shocker!! lol

I love stamping the tree image onto different kinds of papers - great for tying in with a particular colour scheme - and it can be blinged up as required or left plain as below..

I've taught this 'technique' in a couple of classes - its so simple and yet so effective..  & we all love a bit of that don't we?!

Here come Santa Claus...

... and this year he's taking his boots off at the door (or should that be at the chimney???)..

('hohoho' is from Dovecraft, papers are EchoPark/CartaBella(?), buttons are from my never-decreasing-stash! lol)

I think my new craft 'addiction' may be spotted paper! big, small, varied - love them all! lol
its a happy little pattern and on the card above its suitably festive.

The Holly and the Ivy....

...  ready for christmas crafting... & on JM28 they're much less prickly than the real thing!

Its a useful stamp, great for backgrounds or for motifs on cards and projects:

(fyi: 'joy' is by Dovecraft, snowflakes are Tando)

Something to tap your toes to...

I love a bit of Robbie Williams...

.. and I love a Big Band Swing tune...

so you can imagine how happy this makes me!  Enjoy!

Presents, Gifts, Parcels....

.... what ever you want to call them...

JM30 is fast becoming a favourite of my 2013 JOFY stamps (but sssshhh don't tell the others)

I like to stamp it onto 3 types of papers, painting the details:

.... cut them apart and mix up the piles (bit of simple paper-piecing) - makes them more interesting:

.. and add them to card blanks with various layouts and greetings/stamps - quick'n'easy   :o)  The corner sentiment on the left hand card is from JOFY03, centre sentiment is from JOFY19, and the snowflake border is JM07

(the eagle-eyed among you may notice that the presents on the cards aren't the same as the ones in the top two photos but its the same technique/process)

Great way to create a few cards co-ordinated cards with minimal supplies (and effort) which is sometimes what we need at christmas isn't it.

(always happy to help)

So much Christmas... so little time!!....

... phew.. its been a busy few weeks.. christmas is all over the place.. the crafting shops have been stocking it for a while but now its creeping into the department stores...

Leader of the pack is Primark - or Premarche as we like to say here in Essex lol - with some fab christmas sweaters - this is my choice - and at £12 its cheap'n'cheerful festive fun!  and its has bells and sequins!!! purrrfect.. get it? cat.. purrfect?! oh nevermind
hohoho

I've been running a few workshops.. at Birds in the Barn where it was christmas workshops one day and summery the next:
Here is one of the cards from the class (lighting fail on the other photos I took!)(note to self - pack camera!!):

The 'summery' class was the triptych- the class was quite small but it was great as the attendees had time to play with colour options (Denise's on the right, Deb's on the left):

.... and here are the lovely ladies with their finished triptychs:

They created lovely finished pieces - the black/white polka dot washi tape is really dramatic with the purple flowers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

... and I've just returned from another weekend in Warwickshire at Pink Tulip Creations... where I taught a lovely Christmas themed weekend!
Thanks to everyone at Pink Tulip for their help and for being such a fab group, and thanks to all the lovely ladies that came along... some dressed ready for christmas:

(if you would like to know what your elf name is (that's what the above label says!) go here ... and from 01st December you can call me Puddin'-Sparkely-Toes!  (hubby is Twinkle Sugar Socks! lol  LOVE!)

Saturday was a card workshop - cards created included this one made using the Sizzix Accordion Album Flip die - such a clever-effective-simple die! I can see me using this A LOT! lol

On Sunday the group created a wooden box frame - its so festive!! it has presents, a sleigh, snowflakes, a christmas tree - the only thing missing is Father Christmas! lol

.. and finally here are some (not all) cards created for the two classes at Birds in the Barn and Pink Tulip...

Hopefully everyone left inspired & geared up for christmas crafting...  especially as the perky christmas app on my phone tells me that its only 65 days..... #justsayin'  #don'tshootthemessenger

xx