Shadow People

Good evening,
I hope you are all looking forward to the weekend, I have a family orientated one planned.

My card today is made using mainly stencils from AALL and Create, the Shadow People stencil by Fiona Paltridge reminded my of my fairly recent trip to Kenya, so I wanted it to be quite bright.

Stencil 76 by fiona Paltridge stencil 63 by Autour de Mwa and stamp set 177 by Tracy Evans

                                          I had a rainbow background I had previously made using bleeding art tissue, laying it in strips over a wet background to get the colour to run.
I inked through the Log Pile stencil here and there in the background and splattered some black ink
On a separate piece of card, I traced round three of the figures with a fine black pen then coloured in and doodles to fill the patterns.
I cut them out and attached them in place on the background.
I stamped the greeting on a little off cut of the background and attached it in place

Thank you so much for visiting, I hope you have a wonderful weekend
Janet xxx

Sunday at Great Blakenham

Good evening all,

This Sunday it was the regular workshop at Great Blakenham.  It is always good to catch up with everyone.
The cards we did this time featured mainly AALL and Create stamps and stencils.  It was nice to do something a bit different and I think everyone had a good time.

Featuring the Poppy stamp from CLaritystamp

Vintage pencils

Good morning to you all.
Thank goodness it is spring!  Spring and summer are my favourite times of year.  I like watching everything come back to life after winter.
Anyway, the card today is made with a lovely pencil stamp designed by the uber talented Tracy Evans.  I decided to go a bit vintage with this one

Stamp 165 by Tracy Evans and stamp 23 by Bipasha BK

I used a stamping platform because I stamped the image twice. 
Ink with two or three colours of distress oxides, spritz with water, then stamp
Allow to dry the stamp over the top with permanent black ink.  Colour the pencils - I used the same colours as I used for the stamping.
Tear around the image, ink around the edges and add some splatters.  I also added some fingerprints from another stamp set and the words.  Mat onto kraft card and tear the edges.  I curled a corner to make it look a bit more vintage.
All the stamps are from AALL and Create stockists.
Thank you so much for visiting, I hope you have a fabulous day!
Janet xxx

A Pencilled Flower

Good morning!
Mondays are a day off work for me, so I will be finishing off the cards for my workshop at the weekend. 
Today's card is a very simple one, made using the lovely stamp 'Pencilled Flower' by Tracy Evans.  I was lucky enough to go to a workshop about a year ago with Abs in the morning and Tracy in the afternoon.  I had previously signed up to online classes from AALL and Create and watching videos by Abs and Tracy flicked a switch for me and changed the way I thought about creating little pieces of art.  Attending the workshop with them was amazing, they are both lovely and soooo talented.  It is an absolute privilege to be part of the team now - I still can't believe it!

Stamp 160 by Tracy Evans 

The stamp is A4 in size, but you don't have to use it all.  I just inked up the bit I wanted and stamped it out twice.
On the base piece, I coloured the circles
On the other piece I coloured the flower head and leaves, cut them out and overlayed on the base.
I cut out the words and attached them on the base too
Ink round the edge and mat onto matching card.
Thanks very much for visiting today, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!
Janet xxx
List of stockists for AALL and Create can be found on the website: AALL and Create

Stencil and Tissue

Hello again folks,
I am on a bit of a roll!  It probably won't last, so don't get too used to it!
I have been using bleeding art tissue a fair bit recently and love the effects it gives.  I was at a bit of a loss as to how to use this stencil and suddenly came up with the idea of trying the tissue with it.  I attached the stencil to my card, placed pieces of tissue over it and spritzed, pressed the tissue down a bit then left it to soak in.
I was really pleased with the result!  Some of the more detailed areas had missed, so I pressed a bit harder and added some of the painty bits witch had gathered on the actual stencil.
Once it was dry, I did some stamping through the stencil, then remove the stencil and drew round the edges with a fine black pen,
I did a bit of splattering and added the words

Stencil 75 by Fiona Paltridge and stamps 160 & 165 by Tracy Evans

My partner, Simon said he thought the stencil was based on Abs, something to do with the hair!  ONe of the presenters on the TV said the same thing.

Thank you for visiting, hope you have a great day

Janet xxx

A Special Card

Good evening all,

The card I am showing today is a very special one - it is not for a special occasion, or a special person, it is not overly spectacular, but it is very special to me because it is the first card I have made in a VERY long time just because I fancied making a card.
These days everything I make is either for a Design Team or a workshop and that can be hard because you HAVE to come up with something whether you feel like it or not.  Most of the time I love doing that but sometimes I run out of ideas or inspiration or energy and would rather not have to make something.  I am sure anyone who is on a DT or runs workshops will understand what I mean.
The recent change for me has inspired and energised me and this card was the result.  As I say it is clean and simple, but it didn't HAVE to be made, I wanted to make it, just because I could!
It features one stamp and one stencil from AALL and Create.

Stamp set 143 by Tracy Evans and stencil 68 by Autour de Mwa

This is really easy to do, I masked off the card just leaving a strip exposed.
I placed the stencil Ice Cracks over the gap then drew all round it with a fine black pen
Remove the stencil and masking and colour in with promarkers
Stamp the butterfly from the A$ stamp Time Flies on white card and cut it out - I didn't add anything to it
Cut out the words Time Flies from the same stamp and attach both to the card.

Thank you for visiting, I am off to do workshop cards now - which I am enjoying!

Happy Crafting
Janet xxx

Back in Blogland - with news of a change

Hello Bloggers,

I'm back!  After a bit of a break from blogging, I have decided to get back into it and start showing off my cards again!  There has been a bit of a change recently and I am now on the Hochanda Design Team for AALL and Create.  This is a relatively new stamp and stencil company which I first saw on TV about 18 months ago.  I was blown away by the originality of the designs.  I went to a few workshops run by Autour de Mwa, who is totally lovely and very talented.  He has a superb team of designers from all over the world who design the stamps and stencils.  I was absolutely thrilled to bits when he asked me to join his new Design Team last week.
I received a humongous pile of the new collection stamps and stencils and had the most wonderful time making cards for the TV show which was on Tuesday.

Here are some of my earlier cards.....

stamps 29 by Bipasha and 46 by Tracy Evans

Stamps sets 80and 81 By Olga Heldwein, 10 by Autour de Mwa and 15 by Tracy Evans

Stamps 44 by Tracy Evans and stencil 37 by Olga Heldwein

Stamps 69 and 78 by Louise Nelson

 All stamps and stencils are available from AALL and Create 

Thanks very much for visiting and I won't leave it so long before I blog again

Janet xxxx