Last of the cards by Karen Jackson

Here is the last card that Karen made for us for the HSNW show at Port Sunlight recently.  The lady is from Tracey's Alluring Ladies unmounted stamp sheet and the flower background is from Tracey's Butterfly Beauties stamp sheet.

Well, after showing you the mess I made with a project I worked on this week it is now a bit frustrating as I cannot show it to you!!  It is for a magazine and I'll have to wait patiently for it to be published before you can see it.  I REALLY enjoyed making it, it is my sort of thing!!  I'll let you know when it is on sale.

Well so far the weather this weekend is rubbish, I hope it gets better and you all have a lovely weekend!

Jill

The Lady in .... Red, and other chatter

My apologies, I didn't end up posting yesterday as promised as I had a workshop which was a brilliant crafty time, with a great bunch of people who I think all felt somewhat challenged at some point in the day.

All for the good though, as they told me afterwards that they had really enjoyed the day and learnt lots, I think it was an eye opener for some (especially that 'messy' Jeanette!!!).  I don't think I bullied them all too much:)

I was only keeping them on their toes so they could keep up with the confusion I was feeding them, lol!!!  I'll explain why when I give a full account of the day (maybe tomorrow), I do have photographic evidence!!!!

It was a VERY hot day to be inside, it must have been down to the heat, as I was exhausted by the time I got home, so no blogging.  It was yummy pasta and homemade garlic bread flopped in front of the telly last night with frequent jaunts into the garden for a cool down with Hamish (our dog).  Isn't it great that summer has finally arrived and we have lovely brightness and sunshine, it makes you feel good!!  But, I love it and I hate it too 'cos I'm of an age that doesn't need any extra heat, phew...  you can keep the heat, I just love the brightness and the fact that nature has come alive again and everything looks so nice, alive and growing.

Even our normally cold unit was hot and we actually had fans on to keep us cool, amazing to have ditched the heating and thermals for fans and open doors in a matter of days!

As I said before, I took some photos and I will tell you all about our day which included a VERY confirmed, non-messy crafter who LOVED what she was doing!  I have been informed that her messiness would shock people who know her!

Anyway, here's the low down on today's card...

It's another example of the kiss technique that Karen has used on the cards she has made that I've shown this week with Tracey's Alluring Ladies stamp sheet.  I know that people are somewhat put off by solid or bold stamps but this technique shows how versatile they can be. If you've missed this technique, do look through this weeks' posts for more details.

The panel is actually silver mirri card, a nice idea to have her looking in a full length mirror!

The dress looks to have lots of texture.

 I hope you are enjoying your weekend!!

Jill

The Lady in.... Blue

Here is another of Karen's cards made for the recent HSNW show at Port Sunlight with Tracey's Alluring Ladies stamp sheet.  Karen has stamped the image in black onto the central panel first then reinked the stamp with blue ink and used the bubble border stamp from the same sheet to remove the ink from the dress stamp before stamping onto another piece of card.  It is another example of the technique on Sunday's post.

Karen has then cut out the dress and overlaid it onto the original image.  I love the little heart she has added to the bottom of the back line and also all the tiny bling embellishments on the dress straps.

The side panel has been stamped repeatedly with the bubble border.  I love the distress effect at the top of the panel.

Thanks again Karen!

Jill

Port Sunny HSNW Show

OK, now I'm back in blogland I have to tell you about the show last weekend.  It was another successful stamp fest held by the Happy Stampers North West stamping group.  All the tickets sold out so it was a very busy show.  We were non-stop all day!  Thank you to all the group's members who gave all us stallholders and visitors another brilliant day.

As it was so busy I tried to help Ian on the till and when possible I demonstrated Tim's new alteration dies using all sorts of materials such as shrink plastic, metal, different cards plus my main aim was to show how they looked using Starburst Stains.  Many of you have seen me demonstrating these over the years and then say what can I do with them so it was nice to step back from the messy side of using them to show this. 

There was still messy stuff going on as Vix, (Vixykins) demonstrated the stains, she happily played making puddles and using cling film and showed people her technique of bleaching the stains out after painting.  This is such a fab technique and I recommend you go over to her blog for a peek.  I can tell you that the card with the 'bling maiden' is totally stunning in real life I wish you could see the real effects achieved and the shades of green are just yummy!!!  Vix also made a Post It Note book, also stunning.  Anyway do go and have a look!!

We were good bosses and let Vix escape for a lookabout and while she was gone I stepped into the messy slot and made a right mess of my hands in a short space of time!  During Vix's afternoon break, Cath Wilson, (of the former Katy's Corner) came to help.  It was much appreciated help, so thanks to Vix and Cath!!

Also helping, but from across the room was Karen Jackson of the HSNW group who has products from various stands to demonstrate throughout the day.  Karen and her daughter Rachel, who many of you know as a DT member from the Craft Stamper magazine had been busy before the day making cards using our products, plus stamps from Hero Arts that we were selling at the show.  Karen has given me some of the cards they made and I have permission to show them here.

In fact, as it has been a regular 6 monthly thing for years, I asked Karen and Rachel if I can add their names to our DT list, as they have been doing this unofficially for at least 9 years!  It was well past time I did then!!

The first card I am showing is designed by Karen using Tracey's Alluring Ladies unmounted stamp sheet.  The dress is a solid design therefore ideal for bold stamp techniques.  The first dress is stamped in solid black, the next looks to have a texture that could be achieved by removing the ink from the inked up stamp either with scrunched up paper or card dabbed on to remove the ink or possibly cling film or maybe even a piece of plastic.  It's definitely one of those experiment with what you have techniques!

The 3rd was again stamped overall in black ink then another stamp placed on top, rubber to rubber, which lifts off pattern on the 2nd stamp.

Karen has added some adhesive pearls to the dress, handwriting to the side of the panel and other words from the sheet onto the base card that is cream (which isn't clear in the photo).  It is a very elegant card!

Thank you Karen and Rachel!

Jill