My last post on this blog

Yep - I have decided to move to an new home.  I have been having an overhaul of sorts, driven mainly by my desire to make new beginnings.

From now on my crafting both Christmas and non Christmas and ramblings will be shown here at

  My Cluttered Corner

But before I move on I thought I would share this fab card I received for my birthday last weekend.

Yep its an original Clare Rowlands card.  My good crafty pal Alison arranged for clare to make it and send it to her.  I am thrilled ! Knowing how much time goes into Clares creations i am really touched she took the time to make and send it.

I had an amazing birthday with some gorgeous handmade cards and gifts. I felt very spoiled.

Hope you would like to continue following me - if so do drop by My Cluttered corner

If you decide not to join me - many thanks for stopping by to visit my blog - i have appreciated you taking time out of your day to leave me a comment or two .

Happy Crafting xxx

See you at the new home maybe x

Not the only one........

In my house who is taken with watercolour. My Mum gave our Megs some watercolour paints to try and add colour to some of her amazing sketches.

This was her first attempt using a picture from the net. Its just a practise picture so wont be sold.

 I know AMAZING isnt it - goodness knows where this talent comes from.

 This picture is a friends dog - she emailed a few photos and Megs chose this one.

Dennis is a schnauzer dog and this is an amazing likeness.  Megs again is practising here - different textures of fur.

This lovely chap belongs to the fabulous Jill and Ian from the Stamp Man - Both who are very supportive of creative young people and who have helped so many folks I know.

Jill emailed a few pics and Megs chose this one to draw then watercolour. The texture of his ears is beautiful.

This is Megs usual chosen animal to draw - this is part of a horses face - again from a picture from the net. Megs is aware of all the copyright issues, regarding pictures, which I am really impressed with. She knows she cannot make money using someone elses photo without permission and to be honest does not want to sell this anyway - she did contact the photo owner and has shared the sketch with her - how impressive is that.  When this was being created I was doubtful it even resembled a horse - now its almost like those veins are pulsing they are so real looking !

Our Megs is hoping to use her skills for drawing and watercolouring to help her friend raise funds for an educational trip to Indonisia - I cannot tell you how thrilled I am she wants to help her friend, who we have known sice they were babies, get to where she wants to be in life.

If you like her work and fancy having your dog or horse sketched, watercolored (optional) and simply framed then keep a look out on my blog - once her buisness page on facebook is up and running she will be taking commission work - half the money from each piece will go to the Indonisian fund.

*Feeling proud*

Thanks for stopping by - please leave some comments about Megs work - she would love feedback x

Take care

J x

Ps Mr Blogger says this is my 901st post - gosh thats a lot of waffle !!

Watercolouring away.............

 If you have stopped by before you will be aware of how much I love my distress ink pens. I love the direct to paper, quick results I get with them especially on this multi media paper i buy from the local shop.

 this sweet stamp is a retired one from SU which i loved. From the hostess range it shouted unisex at me.

Ive teamed it with some papers I have had a while in order to make this a card for a fellow crafter - hope she likes it !

I would like to enter this into the challenge addicted to stamps which this time is make your mark which of course i have done using my distress pens.

thanks for stopping by today x

janet

Creative moments - Seaside

 Who does not love the sea with its calming influence and opportunity to reflect.

In reality all water features be it ponds, rivers, streams or fountains, waterfalls, brooks, trickles or lakes - in a quiet moment, on a calm day its a healing, natural place to reflect on life.

 Thats what I think this lady is doing, reflecting, thinking over life, feeling the calmness of the water with her toes.  This could be the sea, or a river or lake but the calming influence of the water is providng some Serenty. This is a postcard on watercolour paper, coloured with distress inks. The image is an old retired SU set.

Over at Creative Moments the team have been creating seaside projects galore - perfect for a sunny August day (which I am hoping for today !).

Do stop by and have a peep here.

I know last time I was by the sea back in April - I felt the opportunity to reflect was very strong - in fact the sea helped me make some very difficult decisions in its calming and regular tidal sounds.  I find the sea a necessary part of life and love the opportunity to sit and watch, listen and learn more about myself as i do.

Fancy a little moment of reflection?
Here is a post all about a day at the seaside - if you just want the sound of the sea scroll to the end , press play and listen. 

Hope you enjoy listening too xx

Thanks for stopping by today

Janet

No Classes for a whole month

Yep that's right - no classes at all this month - August is a rest month !

Which is not true at all as its also my birthday month and I like to meet up with crafty chums for a jaunt somewhere - Its also my first solo retreat away from Lovin' Ink and I am very excited about the plans I have for that - so really its not a rest month at all but a break from teaching.

This week has been weird.  I worked last weekend and waking nights o Tuesday

but have not been at work since.  Wednesday was a sleep/ rest day, Thursday saw a visit from friends and much needed hugs were shared. Friday I had a little crafty jaunt with a couple of old friends then had my nephew and niece over for tea to fulfil some secret mission work going on!

Today I met up with 2 lovely ladies for a cuppa then spent all afternoon making these.

 I saw the tutorial on Pinterest some while ago (go to my boards and check out the May retreat board) and have been meaning to have  play. The denim is from some jeans of mine that gave up the ghost 3 months ago - teamed with some SU fabric, buttons, lace and ribbon - they are fab little holders for your scissors.

two sizes as I used the retired SU dresdon plate die to cut them out. Easy peasy and I love how sweet they look. These are destined for folks as gifts - I am getting ahead ! Yep Christmas needs planning all year to make sure I get everything I want to done.

Mum suggested they would be fab little manicure holders for your handbag too so another use for them.

Tomorrow I plan to play with the machine some more making bunting for my youngest's 18th birthday in October - gosh writing that I feel suddenly old!

Hope your weekend is filled with much laughter and creativity.

Thanks for stopping by x

Janet

New Molly Blooms Mag - a little review

 Yesterday at stamping club, which was a Molly Blooms day, the ladies wanted to know if this was worth the investment - so I thought I would give it a little review.

The magazine itself is printed on nice quailty paper with lovely photographs and layout.

Its written in an easy to read style and the projects are sweet and inviting.

As a crafter - there are a number of other things you may need to buy to complete all the projects but most of them can be adapted to suit your own needs and supplies.

The free papers are beautiful colours - similar in quality to those you would receive as a freebie in magazines but are matt and not shiny which makes a big difference to applying your ink to distress them.

Personally I felt the Christmas issue was a little more exciting but there again thats possibly because I love Christmas so get excited by it ! 

 The ribbons and buttons match the papers beautifully.  A little less I think than the last issue but still plenty for quite a few projects.

 The stamps are lovely. Some wonderful sentiments stamps and decorative features. Quite a lot of the other MB stamps are used throughout the mag too which is good to inspire you if you have invested in them - some of the older designs also feature which I like very much.

Comparing this magazine with other companies that bring out similar - this one wins everytime. Step by step projects work wonderfully for crafters and being able to put your own spin on the designers creation is a bonus. I am not a fan of mags that just show lots of pictures and not much how to - we crafters like to learn how we can create similar too.

What could improve it? I would like to see some copic step by steps of how Clare gets her amazing colour results - some guidance on the colours to use to match with the papers may help and also where to buy similar papers for once you have used these up.

This said I still give the Mag 10/10 for quality and projects.

 You all know I love my Mollies - and I have one or two ******cough cough

One of the things I love about them is they come with a ready coloured packet so you can see just where the shading needs to be - perfect for a lazy crafter like me.  So I keep my packets in a small photo album - when I colour I just go to the page where the packet is stored and follow the shading using whatever colours iIhave chosen.  This album holds all the smaller Mollies and Georges

 Lika so

 and my bigger ones that would not fit in the 6x4" size go in this one

Which holds 7x5".

Now the crafters dream would be if Clare designed something similar which held the stamp too ! my stamps are all stored in collections in the cases you buy from poundland - you know the A4 box/ folder things - works perfectly !

Hope you like the little review. Obviously all views expressed here are my own and in no way connected with the magazine or designer (though I admire her very much !)

Thanks for stopping by today x

Janet

Showing you the inside

 So you have seen the front cover - right.

 here is inside - pull the ribbon on the right

 and Steam train George appears......

pull a little more and he is skateboarding in the park !

Then just to strenghen and tidy up the back here is some left over papers to finish off .

This was so much fun to make and such a break from scrapbooking.

I have a handout with all the instructions if you would like try at home just email me on clarkyj44@gmail.com I will send them on xx Please leave me a comment here too so i know who you are in Blogland x

Happy Summer holidays to all my stamping club pals - have a great summer and be ready to learn more new stuff in the Autumn xxx

Take care

Janet

Last Stamping club of the summer.

I love my stamping club.  The ladies are all such fab people - eager to learn a "new to them" technique whilst chatting and teasing each other along the way.

One thing I learned fast is they love Molly Blooms.  Thats good because so do I.  I could do a Molly project each session but I try to stick to one a term so we learn lots of other projects too.

You may remember I did a class with Clare Rowlands back in 2011 and made a waterfall card.  Well I wanted to do waterfalls with the ladies so played around with the idea (if I admit to not being able to find the original would you mind? Therefore I had to work from scratch !). I wanted the waterfall to work from the side so the recipient could open the card - pull the tab and be wowed by the scenes in front of them.  I started off with 4 tabs - you know as waterfalls tend to have but downsized to 3 so the scenes inside were of a sizable nature.

I will show you the insides tomorrow as I am keeping them a surprise for the ladies too !

Hope you like my end of summer term project!

Thanks for stopping by today

xxxxxx

Janet x 

Creative moments - Anything but a card

 Which is indeed what has taken over every waking crafty moment - scrapbooking !

This has to be one of my easiest pages and even though I was not on this day out - the memories came flooding back about my boys at this age - when we were a 2 child family awaiting completion with the birth of our Megs.

 This is one of the pages I did first for my SILs scrapbook but it may actally miss being in the final shortlist.

Papers I have had forever - awaiting a project to use them on - they are perfect for this LO. They are of course by the fab Basic Grey.

If you had not guessed they were having their picnic at the Falconary centre about 15 miles away when a red kite joined them for lunch !

Thats my bro in the pics and our Tom and James as littlies - a lovely page to do.

So my teamies have been busy making anything but a card and have some fab inspiration to share with you if you would like to stop by here

Have a fab day folks - i am off to pick up my Molly Blooms mag - can't wait for some Molly and George inspiration xxx

Janet

A few commissions lately............

Sorry for the rubbish pics - these have now gone off to their recipients !

Commissions, as you all probably know too, can be tricky.  The customer has some wild ideas sometimes as to what can be achieved on cards - however my brief for all 3 of these were very clear and achievable.

 This first one was for an autistic 4 year old little girl to give her Grandad.  Her special name for him being Dandad.  I didnt want to do this too old or too cute and once I had finished it I was hoping it was just right.  Thankfully the customer was thrilled with it - especially as I have personalised the inside too.

 The next two were for the same Grandma - the brif was the wording, for a boy and with a teddy -not too cute. This is a craftwork cards teddy stamp which worked beautifully being coloured with my beloved distress pens.

and this card was a brief of an elephant, the wording, some pink but not all.

The woodare patchwork elephant is perfect for this sort of card and reviewing them for this post I have realised I have used Craftwork cards papers or stamps on all 3!

I sent photos of the cards for viewing before collection and thankfully all were well received. The cards were all for people I did not know - who had found me through recommendation - so I was especially pleased to have fullfilled the orders with everyone happy with them.

So wonder who will challenge me next ?

Hope you are having a great Sunday xx

Janet 

Christmas in July !

For the last 2 years I have run Christmas card classes at home - 2 sessions twice a month making 2 cards a session.  This year I decided to have 3 card making days making more cards so we are even more ahead for the Christmas season.

On Friday the 2nd of my days is happening - in this heatwave !

We play a stamp a stack game working in pairs each person makes 2 cards of that design - that way there is no waiting for supplies just heads down and craft - its a very quiet workshop !!

In the afternoon we will be making a gift but I will save that for another day.

 This is one of my Fav SU stamp sets - usually I use it with browns and a distressed look but I love the fresh look of it with this pinky red embossing powder.

 Oh I waited 3 years to get this reindeer die buying it second hand - I love how it works so well with co-ordinations cardstock.

 Another lovely stamp set by SU this santa is adorable - this is introducing the ladies to using distress ink and how fabulously easy it is to get that sepia look.

 Punch magic - need say no more !

 This is delightfully simple but I love how the fresh and claen papers work so well together

and a bit of clever embossing teamed with punches - SU have a fab range of EF !

So thats what I have been doing today! My posts are still hit and miss due to scrapbooking every spare minute for my SILs birthday scrapbook which I cannot share as yet - only 22 pages to go !

Hope you are managing to stay cool in this heat .

Thanks for stopping by x

Janet

Claxby Summer 2013

Had a wonderful weekend away in sunny Lincolnshire with fabulous company.  We had decided to live the high life and host afternoon tea so chose Sunday afternoon to do it.

Unbeknown to me other girls had also been busy making plans for it too so when I saw all their efforts I could honestly have cried it looked so beautiful.

Barbara and Kate had arranged for us to have a Gazebo out the side of the hall - it was perfect. The bunting was a lovely touch - picked up that very morning at a local carboot sale !

 We stamped the tablecloth ourselves - using the lovely King and Queen teapot stamps by stampendous and the fab set by Stampin up with teacups on.

 two of the girls had sorted out napkins and napkin rings - they went beautifully with the centres tea cups.

 Beautiful flowers as a centre piece.

 Freshly baked scones and cakes.

 Wonderful company.

 who enjoyed the cakes too !

And this was another surprise from the lovely Jo - fresh cream merangues !

Thank goodness the rest of the weekend was healthy but we loved living the high life for a while which was finished off perfectly by a fly over from the Red Arrows - wonder which of my pals swung that favour ???

I have come back feeling recharged and refreshed. The last 3 months have not been nice at all . It was wonderful to feel totally relaxed and loved for who I am again if that makes any sense at all.

I am lucky to be surrounded by special people at home and away and after finally closing the door on the situation I am up for anything again.

Thanks for all your support girls it means so much xx

Intrigued - Can you help?

Even when I don't post I have a steady stream of blog traffic - How do I know? By checking out the Stats page its interesting what comes up.

Everyday I get hits for this page from 2010 Here

Each day I am puzzled !

I have read the post over and over - nothing remarkable  at all. So why the hits ?

I assume its from a search engine bringing it up for some reason - whats your theory ?  I would be interested to know.

Have a fab day xx

What am I up to these days?

Well I have been knitting quite a bit - yes I know its a shock to me too ! But it has given me something to do with my hands through all those Saturday nights of BGT and the Voice !

I decided to knit these little fellas having found out one of my retreat buddies now has some hens.  Its the summer craft retreat at Claxby this weekend and she is planning to bring us all eggs for breakfast so I knit these little egg cosies (14 in total) so we can all have one !

I have also been running the Skipton Craft Club sessions fortnightly where we play with a stamping technique or a particular brand of stamps making cards or 3d objects.  There are around 14 ladies although there is usually only 10 at any one time. We have such a giggle !

I have also been running my Christmas card days - the next one is on 19th July. We make 10 cards and a 3d project in the day - I like to work them hard !

I am also busy scrapbooking for my SILs 40th albums so thats definitely keeping me out of mischief ! And thats what I will be focossing on this weekend at the retreat - scrapbooking, a little sewing and stamping a large tablecloth for our tea party on Saturday.

We will also be making tea cup candles and gift boxes so plenty to keep me busy for the whole weekend.

Am mostly packed - just my last minute baking to do on Thursday night.  I am really looking forward to it.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods - thanks for stopping by x

Janet

Flowers with Creative Moments

 I know - I am such  a slack blogger at the moment. I am however busy scrapbooking for my SILs 40th birthday - 60 layouts by the end of August takes up a lot of ones time !!!

Still I did play around with a delightful stamp set by Stampin up which -Ii bought after seeing so many lovely designs on Pinterest.

Here is my version - I love this stamp set !

Over at creative moments we were asked to play with flowers for this weeks challenge so this stamp set purchase was perfect. The colours I have used are crumb cake and raspberry ripple inks by stampin up. In fact everything I used is from stampin up this time even the little ticket stamps, punch, pin and twine !

Hope you are inspired by our flower theme to get creative - stop by and check out my team mates who are loving flowers too !

Happy Crafting xx

Janet