Last Christmas card

Good Morning!
I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas day, we had a nice relaxed one with my parents coming over for their dinner.
The card for today is the last Christmas card of the year, again using the Jayne Nestorenko winter scene.  This one has a darling little snowman in.

I stamped onto watercolour cardstock, then used Brushos to do the sky and simply watercoloured the rest.
I live in Norfolk and many houses here and in Suffolk are pink, so I always like to do 'cottages in the country' pink.

Thanks for dropping in, I wish everyone a Happy Christmas.
Janet xx

Season's Greetings!

Hello folks,

I am lucky enough to be off work now until after Christmas, so I am catching up with some housework and decorating for Christmas.  I am so glad it is the longest day today, it seems to have been dark all day, I am always pleased to see it getting lighter again!

Today's card is another one I did using Jaynes' Christmas scenes.  I love this winter hedgerow.

I did the background first and added the colour using my petite gel press circle.
I added two colours to the plate then gently touched over it with scrunched tissue then pressed on to the card, I kept repeating this, overlapping the circles, until I was happy with what I'd got.
I stamped everything in place, then took a bit of the colour out of the trees and shrubs by adding water and blotting.
When it was all dry, I used a white gel pen tp add all the white bits, I also darkened the hedge a bit to put it behind the trees.  I matted it on matching card and it was done!  I don't think I added any glitter, but that would obviously work well with this.
Stamps used:
Season's Greetings
Santa and Sleigh
Jayne Nestorenko's Winter Scene - Children

I hope your Christmas prep is going well!!
Janet xx

A little picture

Good morning,

Did you have a good weekend?  I am slowly getting in to Christmas mode - cards written and sent. pressies wrapped  - just got to put all my craft stuff away (Just??) and get a bit of tinsel out,...

Another card today using the Jayne Nestorenko designs.  It was so lovely to hear Jayne's voice on the TV  show when the range was introduced, I did a workshop with her many years ago when she came to Norwich.  I think we did fantasy film and fibres, she was such a lovely lady and very talented.  I am sad to hear she is so ill, but it looks like she is remaining positive and still enjoying a bit of crafting

I used watercolour card for this and started by stamping the frame in place with archival ink
I masked the edges then stamped the scene in place.
Then I used my Artistry Inks to watercolour everything.
Finally, I stamped the little birds on the frame,
then mounted in on black and then blue card.
Stamps used:
Jayne Nestorenko's Winter Scene - Cat
Jayne's Frame

Thank you for visiting,
Janet xx

Kenyan style Christmas cards

Hello folks,
So today I thought I would share cards that I have made up, but the artwork isn't mine.  It started a while ago when I got a friend request from a man in Kenya.  Normally I would just delete a request from a man I don't know, but for some reason, I decided to accept this one - I thought it would be fun to get news from another part of the world.
It turns out that he also made cards and sold them to help pay for his education, so I asked to see pictures, they were fantastic pieces of art.  I said If he sent me some, I would buy them from him and sell locally or use myself, so that is what we do, Robin sends me his little works of art and Imake them into cards (It was better that way for postage costs)

These are some of his Christmas designs...

Fabulous, aren't they?  My favourites are the orange/red and yellow backgrounds.  I think the colours and pigments could only come from Africa- so vibrant!  I love them, hope you do too. 

 Have a lovely day!

Janet xx

Golden Turmeric

Good afternoon all,

I thought I would post one of the cards from the last TV show today.  This one features the a tree and some birds from the Jayne Nestorenko sets which Barbara had on - it also features one of my new favourite ink colours - Golden Turmeric from the set of Artistry Inks.  I am not normally a 'yellow person' but this is such a wonderful rich yellow/gold.

 I added lots of colour to a piece of stencil card using a blending tool, starting at the top with Golden Turmeric and working down through oranges and reds to the bottom.
I splattered with water and blotted with copy paper.
Leave to dry and use archival ink to stamp the main tree, then use a copy paper mask to stamp the rest.  I did use water to lift some of the colour from the trees, so they stand out a bit.
Add the word and birds et viola!  Add a bit of black round the edges and you're done.

Hope you have a great weekend!
Janet xx

Claritystampers East and Diva Red

Good evening!

I hope you are keeping well.. I have a cold!  All stuffed up and coughing!  Fortunately, I don't feel too bad, so still keeping on with the Christmas prep - still got my cards to write and some pressies to buy - but I am getting there!

It was a busy couple of weekends Claritystampers East at Great Blakenham and Bawburgh and Diva Red with Moira.  These are the cards from those workshops..

I really like this image by Jayne Nestorenko, the Holly and the Ivy.  This card is stamped with water based ink and water coloured, apart from the greeting, which is stamped in archival.

This is such a quick card!  Use a brayer to load some paint onto the square gel press petite plate, sponge a bit off with some tissue, place the stencil on the card and press the painty plate over the top.
I used the line writing sets to add the words as a frame, then I tore the card and inked the edges.

A leafy version...

...and a wordless version.

Have you got the petitesgel plates yet??  You definitely need them, they are great fun to use.

Maybe put them on your Christmas wishlist?

Thanks very much for visiting
Janet xx