Rubber Stamping - North Wales

Good evening everyone How much more of this rain is there?  Well, I know there are quite a few days more because they said so on the weather forecast.  I went into Chester this morning to collect my glasses & got soaked. It was so dismal I didn't even stop & look around the Christmas market stalls. I have a photo of one of my recently made Christmas cards to show you today. I now have about 3 or 4 different designs & will gradually show them here. Here is today's photo; This one was inspired by the card & canvas I made during a recent workshop. I used a lot of Christmas tree designs last year & was going to stay clear of them this year - but this one got through. Also this morning I got my cards for the USA in the post - so they should arrive in time.  I sincerely hope so as one of the cards was a wedding aniversary card for my step-daughter & her husband. Well that is me for today - I will have some more photos tomorrow & then o

Good evening ladies Well I think we have had enough rain today to last the whole of December - but I dare say we will get more.  As it is the weekend again I hope the things you have got planned will not be affected by this weather. I had planned to collect my new glasses this morning, but as my opticians are in Chester & I remembered just in time that today is Black Friday - I decided to leave it until Monday.  I just didn't fancy crowds. So instead I decided to clear my desk so that there was enough room on there to carry on making cards. But after clearing my workspace, which meant putting some things back in the drawers - I decided  I needed to tidy the drawers as well.  Stamps that I am currently using have been sorted into a box on the side of my desk. Everything ready for some creativity - but none done today. Still it will be good for a fresh start tomorrow whilst Bob is watching some rugby. Whatever you are doing this weekend have a great time.  'Bye for

Good afternoon everyone. Today I have the photos from MoldII's project on Tuesday night, when Joanna & Janet from Mold club visited them & showed the bleach blocking technique.  Remember - not a bottle of bleach in sight Both these photos are of Carolyn's samples.  I love the script stamp - it adds such texture & you don't have to be able to read it, & isn't that oval gorgeous? Elma managed to get her sample layered onto a card.  Beautiful Elma. A couple of completed cards from Annette with her samples. I have that word stamp in the top photo - hmm! ideas! Christine has some prancing deers enjoying her bright & cheerful background. Helen experimented with different cosmetic sponges rather than the cut 'n dry foam.  I like it! A really delicate set of samples from Carol.  I particularly love the oval with the Dreamees flower stamp. Beautiful Carol. Once Rita had finished her first samp

Good evening everyone. Mind you looking at my watch perhaps I should say good morning. Not because I am up that late but looking at the time most of you will probably not read this until tomorrow morning. For this post I have the first set of photos from the Mold II meeting last night (Tuesday) which are of their show & tell where the theme set was to make a card using the Northern Lights technique learnt earlier - or their adaptation of it.  Once again I have the little name cards to remind me whose work it is. Two cards from Liz. I love the easel card version in the top picture, & great snow hills in the lower one. A lovely subtle colouring to the one from Elma & apologies Elma it is a little out of focus. Two beautiful cards from Sue & I believe one of them (the lower one?) is going to her brother who is going to Iceland where he hopes to see the Northern Lights. Two cards also from Rita - who has made quite a lot of cards wit

Good evening everyone - just a quick chat tonight after the meeting of MoldII club - the final one for this year. We had a really good meeting with Joanna & Janet from Mold club showing how to do the bleach blocking technique with Distress Inks. I have some more ideas for cards now & not just Christmas ones either. I have photos to show you from the evening - but need to load them onto the computer from my camera & then tidy them up - so will do that tomorrow. But before I do that I am having a day out with our daughter-in-law Nadine. So that really is me for today.  Sleep well. 'Bye.

Hi everyone I hope you have had a good weekend. I have had a busy day working on another set of Christmas cards, having had another little bit of inspiration on what design to do.  Some of my cards cannot be shown to you yet as some of the designs are for the club members.  As soon as I make something that is going elsewhere I will start to put photos here. Tomorrow night sees the final 2015 meeting for Mold II club, so Wednesday I should have some photos of cards & projects to show you. So that is all from me today I am afraid - more tomorrow. 'Bye for now.

Good evening everyone - I have a special request to make to the ladies of Mold club. As you know I like to keep a record of the cards I make & last week I forgot to take a photograph of the card I made for the Christmas lucky dip. If you were the person who pulled it from the lucky dip bag do you think you could take a photo of it & email it to me - or alternatively bring it to the January meeting for me to photograph. You will know that you picked my card because I always put my name on the back. It really would be appreciated - thank you very much.

Good evening everyone - how is your weekend going? Mine started off nicely as along with Helen of Mold II club I met up with Jeanette, who used to be a member of Mold II club, for a coffee & a natter this morning. I hadn't seen Jeanette for a year we discovered - that's how time flies. So, today I have the photos from the Mold meeting on Thursday & this time it is of their project which was another technique using Distress Inks, & once again demonstrated by Joanna.  Thank you Joanna - your help over the last few months has been very much appreciated. This technique is called "bleach blocking" & not a bottle of bleach in sight. The idea is that you colour the card - or water colour paper / card - with Distress Inks using about 3 colours. Then the magic happens when you use cut 'n dry pads & water.  Sometimes you create clear blocks & sometimes it is more subtle - but it is very relaxing to do & great as a background, as you will se

Good evening ladies I have some photos for you tonight from the Mold club meeting last night. This time it is the photos from the Show & Tell where the ladies were asked to make a card using the Northern Lights technique learnt recently.  Here they are; A lovely fairy scene from Sheelagh, who said she doesn't have Distress Inks so tried other inks to produce the background.  Well done Sheelagh. Yvonne chose rainbow stripes to create the lights illusion above her log cabin & very effective it is too. Maureen really captured the flowing effect of the lights, along with a lovely snowy scene. Janet used the northern lights & "sun-ray" effect with a lovely winter scene. Joanna's card has a golden Santa & sleigh riding across the colourful sky. Using those little cards with the ladies names on certainly makes sorting the photos for this part of the post for the blog much easier. Well done ladies they are lovely

Good evening everyone I do hope you are surviving these gales & not had problems around the house & garden. I had a very peasant crochet workshop this morning & we have decided on a project to start the New Year with. Then this afternoon I had another good session with my Christmas card making & even coming up with a design for another set.  So looks like the creativity might have returned home.  I will be taking photos as usual & will put them here some time soon. Talking of photos - it is Mold club's last meeting tomorrow night - so there will be photos from the evening.  I am not sure whether I will have time to put some of them on here tomorrow, but will certainly do them on Friday morning. So that is all from me tonight so I will say goodnight & take myself off to bed. 'Bye for now.

Good evening everyone & today I have a member showcase photo for you. It is another card from Rita of Mold II club who has been featured in a recent issue of Papercraft Essentials magazine; That is a really nice set of stamps that came with the magazine, well done again Rita. That's it for today.  I have a crochet workshop down at the garden centre tomorrow morning- so have to get my crochet head on for a while. 'Bye for now.

Good evening everyone. I hope you all had a good weekend. We had a very pleasant evening yesterday when Nadine & Russ came round for the evening, & then this morning Nadine & I did a bit of shopping at Marks & Spencers over at Cheshire Oaks. That lovely workshop I attended on Saturday did leave me very tired & yesterday I seemed to get my cough back, which has left me weary again - so after my shopping session I was once again lacking in energy. So sadly I did not get to the last 2015 meeting of the Happy Stampers club tonight.  It will be the first pre-Christmas meeting I have missed in the 20 year history of the club. Talking about last meetings for 2015 - it is the last one for Mold club this week,  Goodness  I had better work out what I have in store for January for them & get their programme written. I have a member showcase for you which I will post tomorrow when I have downloaded the photo & resized it for the blog. I am still behind with

Good evening ladies. I am sorry I have not posted anything for 2 days, but I really haven't done too much to talk about. That is perhaps a little unfair to my 3 rubber stamping workshop ladies down at the Garden Centre, as we had a great workshop on Thursday morning.  I showed them the one-layer Christmas card that Joana from Mold club has shown us. Whilst that was a great workshop, the one I am referring to above is one that I have been on today. It was with a lady called Elizabeth Robinson who is a North Wales lady, but the workshop was with the Happy Stampers group (that brings you the festivals). Here are the photos of the 2 items I made; a card and a canvas The photos are making them look paler than they actually are. Just before leaving I spoke to Elizabeth & asked if I could show you all how to do these items, & she was very generous & said yes.  Most demonstrators are - but just now & again you get some who try not to let too man

Good afternoon ladies - it's looking a bit grey this afternoon & did you see that yellow/grey sky last night looked just like a evening sky before it snows. Ugh!!! I have had a very bitty day to day. First thing was a trip to Chester to the opticians for my regular annual eye test which meant I ended up having to spend money for new glasses as my sight has changed a bit. When I got home, as it hadn't started to rain like it was threatening to do, I tidied my flower box in the front garden. Now I need some winter flowering plants to go in the empty sections. I might have a look in the garden centre tomorrow as I am down there for a rubber stamping workshop. That then is my next task when I have finish writing this post - put my things together for the workshop. This is the first workshop since having to miss a couple of them due to feeling under the weather. I think we were going to have a go at the pointillism technique but I may also show them the one layer card - li

Good afternoon ladies it seems like those high winds have dropped for a while.  It is so sad to see the trees stripped of their leaves so quickly. Today I have a Christmas card to show you using the technique that Joanna showed Mold & Mold II clubs recently.  I think it will probably be the design I use for Bob's 15 cards that I make for him as he did like it.  I think I can manage 15 like that, with some slight variation of course. Here is a photo - but - you are to ignore the slight error; The error is that I got a little enthusiastic with the inking session & went over my masking tape.  I think post-it notes are better as they are bigger & will cover the area better. So there is a slight line just down from the top of the card right across the card. The sentiment being on the slant is not an error.  That was absolutely straight on my acrylic block & I aligned the top edge of the block with the lines on my glass mat.  Looking at the stamp closely it