Lets play a game....

... a game of 'Pairs'... JOFY stylee...

Pairs is a game we play with all the family, usually at christmas (as Monopoly was 'banned' many years ago lol) because all ages of the family can play.
So when I saw this in the Flying Tiger shop earlier this year I had to buy it - a lightbulb went on in my head:

... a box of blank memory cards (or Pairs as we call them) - I could make a set of JOFY Pairs!!!

And here they are:

All the cards are stamped with images from the JOFY range - part or complete, either from A5 sets or minis...  its taken a while to complete - I didn't rush it - I stamped pairs of cards when I happened to be using a suitable stamp.

And yet again I am thankful I have a stamping platform as this made the repetition of the images very easy:

I kept the images all black and white - it makes remembering where pairs are a little bit harder (no splashes of colour to jog the memory) and I also used similar images (such as the flowers on tiles in the photo above: centre/middle row and 4th from left/4th row)... I like to make the search a little bit challenging!  :o)

I love how these turned out - clean and simple - and I look forward to playing with them over the festive period!

Thanks for stopping by

All taped up....

This blog post is about the gum tape that didn't make it into the 'perfect travel art kit' that I shared with you a few posts ago (here) - I thought it was only fair to give it a moment in the spotlight (and to get the ideas out of my head at the same time!)

My plan was to decorate the tape - creating a type of washi tape, and use on projects - and here it is:

and here's how I created it, really simple.....

The tape (Gum Tape) is made of kraft paper with glue on the underside (similar to the glue on envelope flaps) that is activated with water...

I tore strips, licked the ends to moisten the glue and stuck them to my craft sheet.. if you don't want to lick the tape you can moisten with water and a paint brush.  I only attached the ends of the strips NOT the whole length.

I decorated the strips as a whole panel - creating a sort of masterboard.. I used only 3-4 colours and simple motifs... layer 1 was the biggest stamp motif - mesh (from JOFY36)

Next layer was stenciling... in the gorgeous Caribbean Sea Fresco Finish paint.. I chose opaque Fresco paints for this project to ensure that it popped against the kraft background.

 then lines of open spots...(JOFY36) in

 then the mini alphabet stamp set stamped in black Archival ink...

Circles in neon pink acrylic paint - love the pop of this colour!

Black sketched circles were added ... (JOFY36, again!... its a useful stamp set!)

I added details to the strips - white pen (seen here as the dots on blue circle), black rings drawn around other circles and the gold paint spotted inside the white circles...

I'd planned to use it to bind a book so I've created a mini tag book to share how to do that - VERY simple:

Lay 2 tags bottom edge to bottom edge (without the string and hole) tear a piece of tape, moisten and stick down where the tags meet.

and a length of tape was laid on the front and around to the back to bind the spine.

 Here is the finished book.. the front cover has been covered in book text, with the pages stamped (2nd generation) with basic motifs ready for journaling, or photos, or whatever takes my fancy! :o)

I decorated a few tags:

... and of course I could use the tape to seal a parcel, and add these tags - all very coordinated! (the 'fun times' tag is created with text from JOFY28)

This card is created with the tape and die cuts (dies from Simply Graphic, a french company that makes lovely modern, delicate dies).

 and tape like this is great for using on journal pages (this journal is small - A6)- the lovely bluetext in the background is a Donna Downey stencil 'Scribble Script' (available from PaperArtsy at shows)...


So that is what I might've created with the tape if I'd taken it on holiday with me ... another time... and I'm adding it to my 'perfect travel art kit'.
Its so easy to create bespoke tape to use on projects - the tape is inexpensive and available from most stationery retailers.  It will take paint and ink - but you obviously don't want to add too much water to the tape otherwise it will become stuck to the worktop!

I hope this has inspired you to look at humble 'gum tape' in a new way!....

x

All nice things come in little packages...

... and little packages are what I created for the PaperArtsy blog this evening - click on the photo below to visit the blog..

The boxes I made for the blog post were all christmas themed.. so here I thought I'd show you a more general themed box... I really enjoyed making these.  On the tag I stamped a flower from JOFY22, on the box I used mini JM14.  The pink strip around the lid is washi tape, the green ribbon is from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by..

x

A little bit of DIY....

... in the form or card 'washi tape'.  

My last blog post featured cards and work from a recent class at The Stamp Attic where, as part of the cards' design, we created strips of patterned card to coordinate with chosen colour schemes - a sort of bespoke washi tape... (but don't get me wrong - I love a bit of (a lot of) washi tape but sometimes you just need 

something 'bespoke'.

Here are the two samples I made for the class featuring a strip of 'tape'...

To create strips of patterned 'tape' you could cut up a previously created masterboard, but for the strips I made/taught I wanted the pattern to be more specific so started with strips...

The stamps I mainly used were the stitched lines from JOFY26...

.... I'd been playing around with ways to use the corner stitches other than as a corner motif.... I created (nearly)all my sample on kraft card and with similar colours so that the patterns are obvious and we're not distracted by colours... :o)  these strips can be created in whatever colour scheme matches the projects in hand - really useful .... (and fun... and possibly a bit addictive  - so many variations/options!)

*  stamped the corner image centralised along the length of the strip of card, and another strip with alternating colours...

*  stamped contrast colours facing different directions - love the 'tweedy' look this creates:

*  used the border stamp of stitching to created simple vertical stripes:

*  2 lines of contrasting diagonal stitching:

*  mix of vertical and horizontal stitching, and another with contrast colour:

*  teamed it with the corner motif of the borders from JOFY27

I looked at the new plates to see what else I could use on a tape and the fuzzbuds (named by Leandra!) jumped out....

*  black stamping..

*  'mermaid' painted spots..

*  'snowflake' painted fuzzbuds..

*  the strip had lots of 'open/bare' patches so I added dots with a black pen... I might add Stickles/glitter glue on top of these for a bit of sparkle....

I hope this has inspired you to create your own 'tape'... great way to use up strips of coloured card left over from other projects or to alter strips of masterboard... so many options!

xx

A fun day at Birds in the Barn....

... was had yesterday - I taught 2 card making classes.. thanks to everyone who came along... cards were relatively 'simple' but still effective...

I designed cards that used JOFY stamps & paints (with a touch of Blood Orange, Tinned Peas & Hey Pesto) and a mash-up with Lin Brown's quote stamps (show above centre)
The card below used Sizzix/Tim Holtz trellis die - love that (I can see this die being used a lot).

A fun day - I'll be back at Birds in the Barn as part of their 'Summerfest' taking place on July 10-13 - really looking forward to that - go HERE for more details...

When paving becomes pretty...

... our garden patio has paving slabs - they came with the house & I quite like them - its like ordered crazy paving... I like the straight lines and the simple design - & I often look at them, see patterns and how it could be translated into a art/craft idea...

(that's Bertie by the way, doing that 'pay me attention' thing that cats do!)

... inspiration from the paving slabs gave me the idea for this:

.. another project created using the masterboard I created for this and this post over on the PaperArtsy blog.   It is a canvas panel (PaperArtsy has a nice range of these that can be found here) which I rough painted with Chalk, Snowflake & French Roast Fresco Finish paints (go here to see the range).
I wanted this project to be less 'pristine' and so I coloured the edges of the board (with Frescos) and all the edges of the cut out patterned paper/card squares/rectangles (with Distress Inks).
I played around with the layout and combination of papers, flowers and shapes.... I moved them about A LOT!! but there comes a time when you have to walk away, have a cuppa, come back, STOP FAFFING with the project and stick the pieces in place!! lol

Tomorrow I'll have another project for you using the masterboard - oh yes I still have some pieces left to play with!

I hope you're having fun with the masterboards you've created.

x

Spring has sprung....

.... over on the PaperArtsy blog where my project this month is a lovely floral masterboard to welcome in Spring...

xx

Stamping, stamping and more stamping...

... was the plan at The Craft Barn today.. we stamped, painted, stamped, embossed, & stamped some more..
:o)

Thanks to the customers who came to the class - look forward to see you again soon!  Have fun with your purchases!

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xx

Craft Barn Extravaganza....

... is where I spent last weekend demo'ing my little socks off and enjoying every minute.

Its taken me a while to write this post - life kept getting in the way - kept going back into the 'drafts' box...! lol but now, eventually (lol), here comes the catch up...

It was the first extravaganza at The Craft Barn's lovely new location - 3 marquees nice and close to the shop... really nice set up.

Here's my demo desk - tidiness is always a bit tricky during demo's (for me anyway) and so I decided to display my samples vertically rather than horizontally:

   

The shelving unit on the right was an ebay purchase- best £15 spent! lol- and it folds up flat. genius!  I forgot to photograph behind the desk but that was really organised - tiers of wire baskets holding all the necessary bits and pieces.

Here are some of the samples from the day - keeping them nice and simple.  I demo'd my 3 new A5 plates and 6 new minis...

 I love how this arch sample turned out - scrapbook printed papers mixed with Fresco Finish paints - a combination that makes me very happy!

 ...as does the combination of Fresco Finish and book text! :o)

back with some more samples in the next few days....