Sunflower Hills and Houses

Hello folks,

It has been an exciting time for the team at AALL & Create recently, there was a One Day Special featuring the new release stamps by Tracy Evans.  They sold out in 12 mins!!!  Amazing but not surprising, they are lovely designs.  Luckily more stock was available on extended delivery. 

My first sample from the show features the lovely quirky fairy houses by Tracy.  These are a bit of a change from her usual style but equally lovely.  Clever lady!

I had the idea of using the top of the sunflower stencil as hills quite a long time ago and I have been waiting for the right stamps to come along, then Yay!!  Tracy's houses came along - perfect!

The first thing to say is that this is NOT a quick card!! 
I started with an A4 piece of card and blended various colours of distress oxides through the Sunflower Power stencil #77 by Olga
With the stencil still in place I also added blue around the edges then used my favourite stencil in the world ever (so far...) Lotza Dotz #39 by Abs to add more interest round the edges.
This is the long bit - I doodled round the whole lot with a fine black pen, it took ages and I had only intended to highlight certain areas, but got a bit carried away and did the lot!!!  I know this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it!
Once finished, I stamped the houses #261 Magical House and #263 Heart and Home on separate pieces of card, coloured them and cut them out and added them to the sunflower hills.  I stamped the little fairy, the heart flowers and the words in place.
As a finishing touch, I added texture paste through the little squares on the Lotza Dotz stencil and inked round the edge of the card.

Thank you so much for visiting!
Janet xxx

Quirky and Floral

Good evening everyone,

Have you visited the AALL & Create Fanatics group on fb yet??  It is the most amazing place to go to see some awesome and inspirational projects.  There is huge variety because the projects are posted by the stamp DT the Guest DT, the Hochanda DT and most importantly everyone else!! 
It is part of what AALL & Create is all about to provide inspiration and ideas for those of us who have bought their products.
Have a look, if you haven't already...

I have two clean and simple cards here today, both of which I demoed on Hochanda on Saturday

 My first card features stamps #69 Quirky Birds, #133 Makers Marks and #134 Dot Matrix, all by Louise Nelson.
It is very easy!  Just stamp, colour and add a bit of shading!

 The second card features stamps # 199 #200 and #210 Background Mash up all by Tracy Evans.

I cut an aperture out of some copy paper and placed it over the card, so I could brush some ink into a rectangle.
Keep the mask in place and stamp the daisy in the same colour ink, then the fabulous Background Mash up in grey

Stamp the two main flowers in place on the card and on to a separate piece of card.
Colour and cut out the heads of the flowers on the spare card, then place over the stamped image.
Add the greeting and a few gems..

Thank you very much for visiting.
Have a lovely evening
 Janet xxx

I Saw a Tree

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend!  It is very rainy here today.  It is always interesting to see the cats' behaviour as the weather changes.  During the summer, when it is light and sunny, they spend all their time outside and only pop in for meals (although as they are getting older, they do tend to come in overnight too!) During the autumn and winter, they are mostly indoors all the time.  Today, I am surrounded by cats!!

I was back on Hochanda on Saturday, I had two shows demoing with lovely AALL & Create stamps.  I really enjoy doing the shows and for some reason, I don't feel nervous at all.  The presenters are lovely, they are friendly and put you at ease, and it is nice to know they are there guiding you through the show.

The first demo I did featured the large A4 stamp#142 Edison Game and the A6 set #46, both by Olga #30 by Bipasha BK #118 by Louise Nelson and #79 by Tracy Evans.

I have seen the large stamp many times, but it was only when I had the other set, which has the raven in it, that I saw the tree in the image.

Apologies for the rubbish photo, I forgot to scan it before I left it with Abs..
This was all just stamped and coloured.  The raven, the feather and the light bulb are all stamped on separate card, coloured and cut out, then layered over the top of the project.

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you enjoy your day
Janet xxx

Crafty Sunday

Good afternoon,

Well, it's another lovely day here, lots of lovely sunshine!!  Sadly I have lost my crafty mojo for the moment (I have been doing admin stuff which has stifled me a bit!) so thought I would still do something craft related and write a blog post.

On Sunday it was my workshop in Great Blakenham, always a delight to meet up with the lovely ladies and I had a special treat when some of them showed me some projects they had done following Abs' awesome demo on Hochanda the previous Thursday.  I always love seeing people's work and they had done some amazing pieces.

We did some Christmas cards which are a bit quirky (they are done with AALL & Create stamps after all!) 

 I had made a very similar card to the first one last year and sent it out as a Christmas card, but I really like it, so I thought It would make a good workshop card.
I adore the Quirky Bird stamp set #69 by Louise Nelson and just needed #78 Quirky Circles and stencil #35 Splashes by Aida  to go with it to do this card.
It is pretty much stamped, coloured cut out and layered, then finished with a bit of texture paste through the stencil in places

For the second card, I used #210 Background Mash Up by Tracy Evans to create the background, I used it on its side so the birds had a bit of 'ground' to stand on.
To add some extra interest, I spend a long and happy time doodling round the circles at the bottom with a fine black pen.  I can happily spend days doing this, I love it, but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, so I controlled my self and only did the bit at the bottom.  (Well, that's not true, I did a few little bits here and there along the side too!!)
It just needs a greeting adding...


I went a bit off piste for the third card because I didn't have a finished sample prepared, so I gave out the stamps made a few suggestions for how to use them and left the ladies to it!  I now realise they don't actually need me there at all!!  Everyone did something different and they were all totally amazing!!!  It was such a pleasure to see what everyone did.  I might do that again.....

Thank you so much for visiting I am off to sit in the sun and recover my mojo... actually a good place to look if you are seeking inspiration is the AALL & Create Fanatics page on fb, it is a little treasure trove of fabulous ideas and inspiration from the stamp designers the design team members and also AALL & Create customers and fans.  There are new projects all the time...check it out!  Show us your projects too, we love to see them..

Janet xxx

Crafting with Friends

Good afternoon,
It has been a lovely day here today, soft and sunny.  I have been doing the final preparation for my workshop in Great Blakenham tomorrow - we are making a start on Christmas!  I know it seems early but there aren't many more workshops before Christmas, so we have to get started

Following on from my last blog, the other exciting show I did on Hochanda was the craftalong with my lovely friend, Abs.  I was so excited when I first heard he was doing a craftalong, I knew he would be popular.  I may have dropped a few subtle hints like ABS, I WANT TO DO THE CRAFTALONG WITH YOU!!!! hahaha 

It was an absolute joy to be there watching him work and creating the fab projects along with him and all the lovely viewers at home.  I have seen so many lovely pieces of work, so I know many of you joined in and created along with us.  I didn't get anything finished on the day, but I have done them all now... I hope if you did join in that you post your projects for us to see, there is a wonderful group on fb called AALL & Create Fanatics and there is a wealth of inspirational projects on there, we always look forward to seeing what everyone does, so don't be afraid to show us! 

The lovely stamps we used are designed by Bipasha.  I love working with her designs...

Thanks you so much for visiting! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Janet xxx

Lots to catch up with!

Good evening!

Sorry it has been a while since my last blog, I have a bit of catching up to do.  So what have I been up to?  Well, I guess the most exciting things are my trips to Hochanda.  I did two shows on 8th September which I really enjoyed.  I feel very at home there, and don't feel too nervous.  I don't know why, I just feel at ease.  It was lovely to work with the delightful Niki and fabulous to meet Yiannis, he was lovely and put me very much at ease.
These are my demos from the shows...

Then a week later, I had the privilege of joining Abs for his first Craftalong.  I had such a good time, it was lovely to sit and craft with him.  I love watching him work and putting his projects together.   I have seen some amazing projects on social media, so I know many other people were crafting along at home.  I will do another post soon with my finished projects...

Thanks so much for visiting, 

Janet xxx

Three in a Row

Good morning,

I hope you are enjoying the warm weather, I know some people don't like the heat, but I love it!  I am pretending to do some gardening, I like to be outside in this weather, so I have a pair of secateurs with me and am doing a bit of dead-heading (but not too much, mostly it is sitting around!!)

Flowers seems like a relevant theme for a card..
This is a landscape DL card, with three elements across, I like doing this sort of layout.

I started by stamping #151 Layered Domino by Tracy Evans with Distress Oxide ink .
Stamp the three flowers from #70 Quirky Blossoms also by Tracy, across the centre.  I also stamped them on a previously made background and cut out the heads only to attach over the top of the images on the main card.
Round the edges, I added some inking through stencil #28 and some texture paste through stencil #39 Lotza Dotz both by Abs.
The words are from the Quirky Blossoms set.
Thank you so much for dropping by.

Janet xxx