1 week until the Creative Craft show Birmingham

EDIT 12th March: sadly the decision has been made to cancel all events at the NEC due to the Coronavirus situation.  At this moment in time everyone needs to stay safe. It is very disappointing but sensible...there will always be another time!

This time next week I will be back on my crafting travels. I am demonstrating Visible Image stamps and stencils for Stamper's Grove again at the Creative Craft show at the NEC Birmingham. I will be using lots of the fab products James sells, including PaperArtsy Infusions, Brushos, Distress Oxides and alcohol inks. The show runs from 19th-22nd March and I will be there for the first 2 days, Thursday 19 and Friday 20th. 

For this show I have gone with a spring theme as not only will I be welcoming in the first day of spring on the Friday but it is also my darling daughter's birthday. We will all be celebrating with her on the Saturday. 

As always I have been inspired by Mother Nature for my projects and also my garden where there are now lots of signs that spring is just around the corner. My tiny alpine narcissi are in flower,

 The viola that I planted up last autumn have not let me down all winter and are still blooming their heads off. 

 and the pots of bulbs Daisy and I planted up last year are just about to pop. 

My new lawn is looking lush and enjoyed having sweet Bear to stay. He has now gone home to his Daddy and Billy is back downstairs.

So here is one of my samples I have made for the show. I have created a Spring Sprite with her leafy hair and green lips (of course). 

with a couple of close ups. The background was created with distress oxides, the leaves with Brushos and there are lots of glossy accent dew drops on the leaves as well as adding some shine to her lips and eyes. 

All the stamps are of course by Visible Image and James will have them all for sale at the show. 

I would like to enter my spring sprite into the following challenges;

Love to craft 1/3 anything goes

Dragonfly dreams 1/3 make it feminine

Craft stamper take it make it 1/3 anything goes

Pixies snippets playground #373 I have used lots of snippets to make my spring leaves

Sweet stampers 1/3 Easter or spring

Simon says stamp Monday a bit o green

Creative artiste 1/3 anything mixed media

If you plan to come to the show next week please stop by Stand A10 and say hi, it would be so lovely to meet you. 

Back soon, 

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Farnborough February 2020 Create It show with Stampers Grove

Hello I am back from my crafting adventures at Farnborough and what a fab 2 days I had demoing for James of Stampers Grove at the Create It Show.

I was so busy that I didn't get a chance to take many photos but luckily James came to the rescue and sent me most of these in this post, thanks James!

Here I am at start up, 9.30 am on Friday holding my "Free your Imagination" sample, one of the new Visible Image release...

the next time I looked up it was 1.45pm! So very busy but such fun.

and here is James, myself and Karen Telfer who was demonstrating James' other stamp brands at start of play on Saturday morning. 

Below is such a funny photo...do you think I am gazing to the heavens for inspiration or wondering if my sample board from other shows above my head is going to fall on me? 😂😃😂

James captured me with my oxide sprays and the new Renaissance stencil...yummy!

Below is a few of the many demos I gave. My sample I made (shared at the bottom of this post) using the new 2020 vision set was a big draw to the stand so I demonstrated it several times in several ways! I used Brushos, Infusions,oxides both pads and sprays and alcohol inks in my demos.

So some fun facts.....my top 3 most asked questions....

How do you "do" that Visible Image eye (which is why there are so many versions of the 2020 vision set in my photos) 

What ink is best for stamping with?

What card is best for stamping with?

Below is the sample I made for James to take round the country to his shows. It is a real rainbow of colour, using Brushos (which were really popular at the show). 

with a couple of close ups;

and one last shot.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Pixies snippets playground #372 I used 3 snippets of cloud to make my clouds with.

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes

Crafty cats 1/3 anything goes

Cute card Thursday 1/3 square

Simon says stamp Wednesday 1/3 Add a sentiment

Addicted to stamps and more 1/3 make your mark

I had such lovely support from everyone I met and if you came( I did meet a couple of my lovely blog followers too), thank you so much for supporting my work and my creative journey. 

Now the fun doesn't stop here as contrary to me usually staying in the south I am off to the NEC Birmingham Creative craft show in March. I will be demonstrating for Stampers Grove on Thursday 19th and Friday 20th March (which is my daughter's 34th birthday and the first day of spring too).

So if you would like to find out the answer to my 3 top questions, pop along to the Stampers Grove stand there on the Thursday or Friday and I will be delighted to show you!

I always make a badge to wear and I already have an idea.....as it is the first day of spring...perhaps some spring leaves might feature 😎......stay tuned and thanks again.

Stampers Grove also has an online shop here which offers FREE postage on all orders over £30. When James gets back to Scotland he will be adding the brand new VI release to the site...so if you can't wait for the next show you can order directly from him. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

1 week until Create It, Farnborough.

The Create It craft and hobby show, Farnborough, Hampshire is just a week away now. I will be there both days, 21st and 22nd February demonstrating Visible Image stamps and stencils on the Stampers Grove stand for James Dennison. I have been beavering away getting lots of samples/demos made using the brand new release and some golden oldies, all of which James will have for sale at the show. He has some great show specials on the day which are worth looking out for. 

I will be demonstrating using lots of the wonderful inky products he sells including distress oxides, alcohol inks, Brushos and Infusions.

I thought I would share a few more sneak peeks of the samples/demos I will be bringing with me. 

First up is a set of motivational ATCs I have made using Gellplate backgrounds and distress oxides. I have used lots of Visible Image awesome sentiments stamps and stencils to make them. 

I had the idea to make a card where the words can be taken out and changed by adding photo corners. It could be stood on a desk and the ATC changed each day for motivation and inspiration. 

I would like to enter my ATCs into the following challenges;

We love 2 create 3/3 anything goes
Stamping sensations 2/3 feminine
Addicted to stamps and more 2/3 anything goes
Alphabet challenge 1/3 A is for anything you wish

I will also be bringing the sample/demo below which I have made with the brand new "Free your imagination" stamp set and the "Broken glass" stencil in the background. 

The background again was made with distress oxides. In real life the gold on the pages is super sparkly!

I would like to enter my Free your imagination card into these challenges.

Love to craft 3/3 anything goes
Simon says stamp Monday crack it up
Through the craft room door 2/3 anything goes
Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes
Crafty catz 1/3 anything goes (optional twist of critters)

It would be lovely to see you if you are planning to come to the show, please stop by and say hi. I will be behind this badge so just......

Thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind comments you take the time to leave me,

Happy Valentine's day to those soppy romantics like me. Have a wonderful day. I am off out to dinner tonight with my sweetheart to celebrate 41 years since we got engaged. 

Have a lovely weekend. My crafting buddy aka Daisy is coming to stay on Sunday until Wednesday so we shall be having lots of inky crafting adventures together.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Create it, Farnborough craft and hobbies show 21-22 February 2020

In 2 weeks time I will be  back on the road with James Dennison of Stampers Grove demonstrating for him. The first show of 2020 for me will be at the Create it Show in Farnborough at the International Exhibition Centre.

 The show is open on Friday 21st and Saturday 22 February and I will be there both days. I am demonstrating Visible Image stamps and stencils with all the wonderful products that James sells including distress oxides, alcohol inks, PaperArty Infusions and Brushos.  Plus many other stamping and crafting products too. It would be lovely if you are in the area to stop by and say hello. 

At my first show at Ally Pally in 2018, when I demonstrated with Mark Alexander (aka Mr Visible Image) I made some artist trading card badges for Mark and Helen Alexander. Since then it has become a "thing" for me to create a new Visible Image badge especially for each show I demonstrate  at. 

As Farnborough is near to where my daughter and her family live and we are forever driving up and down the A3 I thought the awesome Visible Image "The right direction" stamp set would be perfect to use. I think my car could drive itself up and down the A3! 

Here is my badge....made using distress oxide inks. In the background is the "strobes" stencil

and some more artist trading coins I have made with the set which I will be taking with me. 

I would like to enter my coins into the following challenges;

Lil patch of crafting friends 3/3 anything goes

Crafter's castle 3/3 anything goes

Love to craft 1/3 anything goes

Through the craft room door 2/3 anything goes

Crafty sentiments 2/3 anything goes

Unicorn blog 2/3 anything goes

Cute card Thursday 1/3 anything goes
We love 2 create 1/3 anything goes

 I will be showing a couple more sneak peeks of my samples and demos for the shows here on my blog in the coming days.  I am so looking forward to sharing lots of ideas and projects at the show.

All the brand new February release Visible Image stamps and stencils will be available to buy on the Stampers Grove stand at the show and I will have everything with me to demonstrate with. 

James also has exclusive "show offers" too so if you are thinking of coming why not get your ticket in advance and I will look forward to seeing you there. Tickets are of course also available on the day. I really love the buzz of a show and meeting so many lovely crafters...it really is my "happy place!"

So if you are coming to the show..."steer yourself in the right direction" to the Stampers Grove stand.....you will find me behind the badge!

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Newbury Stamperama stamping show with Stampers Grove

Hello I am back with some photos and a little write up of my recent demo day.  I spent Sunday demonstrating Visible Image stamps for James and Emma Dennison of  Stampers Grove at the Newbury Stamperama stamping show. I used mostly distress oxide inks, alcohol inks, Brushos and Infusions for my backgrounds, all of which they sell. 

James kindly supplied some of the photos I am sharing here with me in action (thanks James).

Here I am at 9.55am just before the doors opened. All set up and raring to go.

I made some limited edition artist trading coins for the day and it just had to be horses didn't it. One I made into my badge, two I gave to James.

Here are some of the samples I shared.

There was a constant stream of friendly visitors.

Before I had a chance to look up it was 1.35pm and time for a late lunch. Outside was the calm, quiet race course and the sunshine...just right to recharge the batteries and my voice! I sat and ate my packed lunch and this was my view.

Then it was back for the last 2 hours.

People were so lovely to chat to and so appreciative of any help and advice. One lovely lady had come all the way from near Worthing. She had seen me demo for James in May at the Worthing show and wanted to see me and  my work again. How kind! Can you guess what was the most commonly asked question? It was which inks to use for which purposes, especially black inks. 

So my card to day for my card challenges is the mermaid card I made as a sample for James. This is my favourite set in the new Visible Image release.

I added ink through the fibres stencil to background I had made with Brushos, which had an oval I die cut out.

I used alcohol inks to make an acetate  watery fill for the oval aperture.

I stamped some waves and then built up my layers. I watercoloured Miss Mermaid and her dolphin pets plus some shells and fussy cut them out. I also added some Glossy Accents to the bubbles.

Here is my finished card

with a couple of close ups..

How cute are the dolphins in this set? I used crackle accents on Miss Mermaid's tail and rubbed some gold gilding paste into the cracks. I added some "seaweed" die cuts.

 One last close up

If you would like to buy this set James has it on his website here

He also has a very extensive catalogue of Visible Image stamps here

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Penny Black and More 1/3 summer colours

Craft Stamper 2/3 July

Pixie's snippets playground #356 

Allsorts 1/3 summer fun

Crafty sentiments 1/3 add a sentiment

Die cuttin divas 1/3 summer /tropical

Through the craft room door 1/2 anything goes

If you came along on Sunday and stopped by, thank you. It really was a joy to be there. There are a couple of shows in the pipe line for next year where I will be demoing for Stampers Grove again, more details nearer the time. 

James takes Visible Image stamps plus other stamp brands and lots of gorgeous products all around the UK. There is a list of the shows he is appearing at here

When he is not at shows he of course has his online shop; here Do check him out.

Thanks so much to Stamper's Grove for Sunday, I had a blast!

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One final heads before I go that tomorrow, Thursday 11 July, I will be appearing at Dotty's Tea House, Carshalton High Street, where my one of a kind cards are sold. I will be there all day sharing some of my secrets of how I make my cards and at 11am and 2pm I will be doing some live inky demonstrations.

If you are in the area just pop in, I should be set up by 10am.  It would be lovely to see you there and yes Dotty's handmade cakes are legendary and the atmosphere there is so warm and welcoming.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Back soon, I will let you know what went on at Dotty's! 

Bye for now,

Jane x

Sunshine and Sicily

As promised I am back with my first installment of photos from our recent wonderful holiday in Taormina, Sicily. This was our 3rd visit there and we stayed at the same hotel. As you can imagine it was hot hot hot and blue skies and sunshine were the order of the day. At the far end of town is the ancient Greek amphitheatre.
It is wonderful that shows are still held here..just look at that view with Mount Etna in the distance. They were just putting up the staging for the film festival when we were there.

 This is the view looking out and back to the coast and Etna.

And below is looking back up to where our hotel is nestled in the hills. Just imagine how many thousands of people over thousands of years have looked at this view and how the buildings have come and gone over time.

The streets of Taormina are narrow and cars are not allowed.

I can imagine in ancient days that horses must have ferried people around.

My card today is a sample made to show at the Stamperama show at the Newbury Racecourse this  Sunday, 7th July.
I will be demonstrating  for Stampers' Grove again who are on stand 16 using Visible Image stamps and stencils.

As the show is at the Racecourse I thought it would be great fun to use the Stay Wild Visible Image stamp set. I created a very sunny background using a combination of distress oxides and brushos, showing the sea and the sky.

With a couple of close ups

I will of course also be demonstrating using all the brand new Visible Image stamp release too. If you are around do pop by. It would be so good to put faces to names.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges.

Creative fingers 1/3 anything goes
Inkspirational 1/3 3 or 5 of anything I have 3 horses
Sweet stampin 1/3 you are my sunshine
Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Crafty sentiments 1/3 bright colours
Simon says stamp make your own background
Love to craft 1/3 anything goes
A bit more time to craft 1/3 anything goes
Happy little stampers 1/3 anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x