Roll up, roll up....

.... its been a week of exciting new things over on the PaperArtsy blog, and tonight its my turn with the 'official' launch of the new JOFY stamps and new paints - LOVE these!
Phew - so glad to be able show you all of the plates after a few weeks of sneekpeeks.

Click on the photo below to go to the blog...

& here's a little gift bag I made using the stamps and stencils...

Why have plain white cupboard doors....

... when you can have paper patchwork doors!!

I've spoken about these doors when chatting about ways to use the paperstash (we all have it!)... and how instead of my favourite papers sitting unloved and forgotten in the stash I've chosen my absolute favourites (those ones that are so nice you don't actually want to use them lol) & cut them into 6x6in 'tiles' and papered the cupboard doors with them - I love them - they are inspiring and distracting in equal measure! lol

This cupboard is in the eaves of the loft space and designed to be a wardrobe, the doors are quite large - about 100x150cm each - so I have repurposed them! Along the top of the doors I glued cork tiles to create a 'notice board' - somewhere to keep inspiring or favourite bits and pieces... and inside the cupboard it is no longer a wardrobe...

... it is where I store stamps and (some)substrates - it is so organised it makes me smile:
* wood stamps are in the drawer unit.
* PaperArtsy hotpicks are in the baskets, Ink&TheDog are in a clear box 3shelves below.
* if I have a lot of a particular brand I store them in clear VHS tape boxes (perfect size, depth and easy to stack), and the A5 plastic paper boxes.
* all other unmounted stamps are either in file boxes, or in CD cases in racks (labelled with contents) - but I'm trying to re-home these into other storage....

.... simple accessible storage/filing - you see the administrator in me is always close to the surface lol

... and the doors themselves don't get wasted - look at all that lovely horizontal storage space! - I've started hanging strings of ribbon on them - next it will be other flat, light things - such as a paper trimmer, rings of washi tape and hooks for stencils...etc

If you're wondering where the JOFY stamps are they're stored separately - they have their own shelf on the other side of the room - not for any other reason than there's quite a lot of them now and I need quick and easy access to them (oh, ok- it also makes me happy and a little bit proud to see them all lined up like this):

Each wallet has a number sticker (on both sides) so that I ccan flick through to the plate I need (instead of pulling them each out to see the number lol) - its all getting a bit obsessively organised...  move away from the shelves & labeling Jo!! lol

Sometimes you have to be organised to be creative... lol, no not tidy - just organised! lol  tidy is a never-ending work in progress! (in my workroom anyway lol)

x

A little bit more 'less is more'...

On the PaperArtsy blog on thursday I posted my monthly project. As part of the post I showed how I altered a small scrapbooking card-  & here is the card I created with it:

Here's the scrapbooking card 'before and after':

I teamed the card with a die cut shape (Sizzix, 'Beautiful', 659174), I love this shape and I had been experimenting with shading the swirls to make it look dimensional (left hand die cut is without any shading):

I thought these two elements would look great together, so I created a 12.5x12.5cm card, trimmed the front to reveal the inside edge where I had attached a contrast grey panel. I attached the altered scrapbook card to be flush with the cut edge of the greeting card blank and selected one of the flourishes and wrapped it around the altered panel (so the swirls spread out over the edge to make more of a feature of them).

To finish the card I added a simple greeting (from JOFY23) and then all that was needed was some sparkly bits (of course!)

x

A Birthday Extravaganza!!

The Artistic Stamper Shop's Birthday Extravaganza

Saturday 23rd August. 

This is going to be a fun day. I'll be there running a make'n'take using Fresco Finish paints and JOFY stamps, and there will be other make'n'takes too, a raffle and a barbeque.

Hope you can join us - go to the Artistic Stamper website for more details.

A little bit of 'less is more'...

... is the 'theme' of my project over on the PaperArtsy blog tonight.  Click on the photo to visit the blog...

The same, but different...

... and by different I mean better... nicer... more enjoyable...

On saturday I packed my bag.. or the (smallish) suitcase that was needed because I decided it was easier to pull rather than carry a bag containing 21 stamp sets and misc' other bits & pieces... (you know- those things that you pack 'just in case')

(& yes I realise this is quite a plain suitcase, no artistic embellishment -  this is because my husband also uses it for business trips! when I find the photo (or suitcase) I'll show you how I customised my large suitcase)

.... and boarded the train to London to go work... I used to do this all the time - 10plus years commuting to London doing jobs I mostly enjoyed (I say 'mostly' as the year spent in a merchant bank was NOT my cup of tea at all lol).. so the journey/commute to London is all very familiar - but the job is much more enjoyable... and the weekend commuters are slightly more relaxed.. ;o)

I spent the day running a workshop at Blade Rubber Stamps, situated near the British Museum, in the Bloomsbury area of London. They have an amazing selection of rubber stamps - especially wood mounted - its lovely to see them all lined up on the shelves, like little pieces of art (which I suppose they are really aren't they).
I visit this shop quite regularly as its close to the hospital I visit once a year - its my 'treat' after the visit (any excuse really!)..and so it was a pleasure to be teaching a workshop here.

The class was an newly updated version of my recent 'Book of Blooms' project (using new stamps and paints) - and this is the creative bombsite of a table - creativity in full flow.... so many stamps and paints to choose from...

and here are the lovely ladies responsible for that creativity with their projects... a pleasure to teach them....

.... and to create 'aprons' for 2 of them to protect their clothes from paint and creativity! lol  I thought it was a resourceful use of bin bags! :o)

This was a much nicer working day than my previous 9-5 - though maybe not as clean an tidy.. :o)

Thanks to the ladies for coming along, and to Deidre and staff at Blade Rubber... Hope to see you again soon

x

Christmas is coming....

... and so I'd thought I'd show couple of cards made with my new stamps which include 2 plates of christmas designs that should be at your local PaperArtsy stockist now.. (along with new paints, and 2 more flower plates)...

Love this pink version of the card top right - Picked Rasberry Distress Ink

That's enough festivity for now... more information about new stamps will follow soon ;o)


x

The demo desk from both sides...

Last weekend was a fun one!

On Saturday I was at The Craft Barn where I had the first chance to demo my NEW stamps!! yes, new stamps.  

Its always a lot of fun to demo new products - but I'm not sure customers on Saturday were ready to contemplate Christmas - I think we're all enjoying the gorgeous weather we have here in the UK at the moment to think about Christmas just yet... and so I found myself demo'ing the flower stamps and stencils. When I demo the samples are along the 'less is more' 'clean & simple' lines because I want the stamp designs to be the focus..

(& look at the amount of YELLOW I've used on these cards - I am embracing yellow!!)
One of the new plates has a design created to be stamped over the top of the my flower stencils as shown below (and also doubles as a lovely fragile snowflake...):

I also created a couple of christmas cards.. but I'll show you those later in the week.. easing you into the festive seasons gently..

You will start to see the new stamps arriving at your local PaperArtsy stockist but they're not 'officially' released until later this month....oooh and paint - lets not forget the paint!! (more about that later in the week too...)

On Sunday I dosed myself up against a thumping migraine/sinus headache and went to Stamperama in Stevenage.. and I'm so glad I did - I had a really good time..
Much as I love demonstrating and teaching it was nice to be on the 'other side' of the demo desk.  I was able to walk around the show, see what was new, chat to the crafty people I know that were there, watch demos (love watching demos!) and SHOP!!  :o)
Its been a while since I've been to Stamperama and I forget how easy it is to get to and what a nice show it is - not too big and all the stands are craft specific... smaller than in previous years but still worth the visit.

x

Bunting, bunting & ....

...  lots of cards were created at the Stamp Attic this weekend by 2 groups of lovely ladies... here are the bunting ladies (without Fiona who left before the photo call) (so busy creating on saturday I didn't get a chance to round them all up and take any photos! lol)

Lovely to see the different colour variations that were created...  I love that aspect of teaching classes.

I couldn't resist this pack of MyMindsEye paper - love the grey/blue/mustard colour scheme

Came home, and had a quick wander around the garden to find that the honeysuckle had, at last, started to flower - how lovely are these delicate blooms:

It was fun weekend - lots of laughs and creativity - looking forward to returning in September..

x

What nicer way to spend a day...

... than to make a line of bunting...

which is what we'll be doing in the class I'm teaching at The Stamp Attic on Sunday ... stamping, painting, & stenciling to create a line of mdf bunting...  there's still time to book your place - contact the shop and come and join the fun.

x

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....

...oh I do like to be beside the seeeeeeaaaaaaa...  the sea in question this weekend was Deal in Kent where I had a fun day teaching a workshop at the Swanstitch shop....

... to a lovely group of ladies- Anita and her customers made me welcome and we spent the day creating a canvas and a couple of cards...

We laughed, painted, stamped, glued, sang 'happy birthday' to Kate, laughed a bit more and were creative all day.  Here are Anita's photos of the projects, now on display in the shop in among all the lovely paint and mixed media products:

Thanks for having me, and thanks to everyone who came along- hope to see you all again soon (well, November actually, if you're around and in the mood for a bit of Christmas themed creating!)

For the first time Matt came with me on a teaching trip (thats him peering through the window of Swanstitch in the top photo) - he stayed at our very lovely b&b in Deal while I went to teach.  We stayed at NumberOne B&B run by the lovely Nicky & Mark, who made us very welcome. I'd definitely recommend this b&b if you ever need somewhere to stay in the area - its lovely and close to the seafront, and a short walk to the high street with all its interesting shops, pubs and 'bits and pieces' to see.
Deal is a lovely relaxed town - I really enjoyed our weekend..

We drove down on Friday.. got settled at the b&B then went for a walk along the High Street..

(I love hollyhocks - so quintessentially 'English cottage garden'.. I just wish I could grow them like this in my garden!)

(worn flagstones at the information centre - how lovely is the texture!!)

.. we had a lovely meal and walked home- just as the wind changed and it got a 'little bit' stormy! (not as much as it had been in Essex the night before when we had an AMAZING storm!).

After 'work' on Saturday (too enjoyable to be called work, surely!) we walked along the seafront... a lovely relaxing way to end the day... I couldn't not take photos so here's a few:

the weather worn look of these railings on a building facing the sea caught my eye, I preferred these to the recently painted ones on the adjacent balcony - I like how it accents the detail.

We made it home on Sunday afternoon before the rain arrived, in what can only be described as torrential amounts, accompanied by thunder and lightning, so we were at home to bail out the patio and garage which were quickly ankle deep in water...  I hope you were all ok and relatively unaffected by this crazy weather we're experiencing at the moment here in the UK.... and now we have sunshine again! lol

gotta love the English summertime!

x

Creative 'leftovers'...

... make great little projects.. simple greeting cards (of the 'less is more' variety) or, in the case of these pieces, project life/pocket journaling sized journaling/scrapbooking...

I love the colours on these panels - Dusty Teal and kraft  (sigh, lovely) and one panel washed with Chalk to age/soften it a little...
These panels were also created while I was playing around with my large flower stencils to see/show how they could fit in with smaller elements - sketching, painting, die-cuts & stamping...

The pieces became part of a larger pocket style scrapbook spread - I like the 'Project Life' style of jounaling - little and often - its achievable isn't it, and to me its a bit less daunting than a single 12x12 spread

 (the panels are in their page protector- hence the reflections!)

As always I've combined lots of my current favourite elements - such as the Chloe die (Memory Box), the Happy Days papers (Papermania), a Pogo printed photo and JOFY stamps and stencils.

I like to use the stamped and stenciled elements to create layers as in the photo below where I've cut around the petals of the stenciled flower and tucked die cuts underneath and laid other die cuts on top

On the panel below I've cut the tag away from the background and tucked the photo underneath.. helps tie everything together....

JOFY does scrapbooking... I like it!... but then I am a little biased lol

x

Exciting times!....

.... are almost here....

only a little bit longer to wait... and while you're waiting here's a few things to look at...

Sneekpeeks of new stamps!! NEW STAMPS... and PAINT I'm really excited for you to see all the new products and I'll be demo'ing them at The Craft Barn on 02 August - I hope you can come along - it would be lovely to see you all..

& here's something to get you ready for THAT event which is only 161 days away... not that I'm counting or anything...

I love a bit of kraft card, and there's no reason it can't be used at christmas - I love the simplicity of this card.. and how it still has impact.  the images are coloured using watercolour pencils to give them shading and depth.. and I added a touch of sparkle to the bauble details - well, christmas expects sparkle!

Pop over to the PaperArtsy blog for more info.. and maybe some more pictures... just sayin'

x