John Next Door New Box Set. . . . . . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope this finds you all well.

Hopefully you are all equipped with your masks for your supermarket shop from Friday. I'm keeping fingers crossed that folk don't think that its a licence to come closer as that has been my experience in supermarkets previously and I have had to remind people to stay 2m away.........I did think about taking a 2m long pole with me to to brandish at offenders but I would probably get done for assault.

I am back to work and would normally wear a mask when using my drill but now I am wearing it throughout the entire appointment.and have a new found empathy with NHS staff who have been having to wear them all day.

Now, back to all matters crafty. I was very surprised and honoured to be approached by the magazine, who produced John's last box set, asking if I could make some samples for them for John's latest set. I was thrilled to be on the cover of the last one, when I had made samples for John but it was lovely to be asked by the magazine directly.

John will be featuring the set on Hochanda today and it is an autumnal theme, with dies, stamps and embossing folder.

Ingredients

Black card

Copper ridged card

Copper engraving art board

Stamp and embossing folder from the kit

Fine grade sand paper

Picket Fence distress ink

You all know I like a bit of scratching so with part of the remit I was given being use dark cardstock, I thought of the scrape rboard straightaway.

I embossed some of it with the folder and gently sanded the raised areas to reveal the copper foil below. I also used one of the stamps as the focal point for the centre, stamping the scraper board with Picket Fence ink and then using a scraper tool to go over the image.

I was really pleased with how this turned out and the editor was too.

Hope that you can tune in to John's shows as there are more of my samples and also those of other contributors too.

As always, be good.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps......we sent the harbour scene card to my brother-in-law for his birthday and he was very taken with it, wanting to know where it was, so many thanks again Littlelamb for letting me know.x

Language of Flowers 11 & Last One . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope the weather is better with you than it has been here. At the risk of sounding like my Mum, I refuse to say "the garden needed the rain" lol!!!

Met Davey yesterday for a skinny, decaff cappuccino and catch up. He showed me some more photos of his Japanese trip, of the wisteria and cherry blossom. I did warn him about June's husband, should he decide to get one for his garden.

He's off to Georgia in about 3 weeks (so I guess you could say he's got Georgia on his mind, boom boom!!!) and then a cruise to the Fjords a couple of weeks after that . . . . . . . . . I told you he was like Judith Chalmers with a hairy chest!!!

Not seeing much of Nesta at the moment as a very dear friend of hers is very ill in hospital. You always wish there was something you can do or say to make things better but sadly there never is.

Now, here we have the last in the series of samples I made for John. This is another scraper board creation but is actually a card this time (the framed one was just the scraper board mounted with layers of card). I should have added last time and the same goes for this, I gave it a coat of Cosmic Shimmer Clear Matt Finish Glaze for 2 reasons;

1. to protect the surface from further unintentional scratches and 2. to protect the surface from finger prints as it is prone to them marking the board. I have now added this information to the framed sample blog post.

Ingredients

Cream and black card.

Cream card edged with a copper Sharpie to get the copper layer.

Copper scraper board

John Lockwood Lily rubber stamp

John Lockwood sentiment stamps

SB Matting Basics A

Picket Fence Distress InkCosmic Shimmer Clear Matt Finish Glaze. 

For those who weren't quite sure what I used or how, the above is the product I used. You can buy pre-printed ones where you can just scrape the pre-printed picture of a lion or tiger or whatever but I bought blank boards so that I could stamp what I liked on them.

They come in a variety of sizes (I got 5x7) and colours. The top layer is black and you scrape that to reveal the copper or silver, or whatever colour you have chosen, underneath.

Hope that clarifies it.

I really enjoyed using this medium and with 4 boards left, I will be having another go soon. When I do, I shall take some photos of each stage as some of you asked for a tutorial.

After a quiet time in the street, Flash has some competition. 

I was about the close the curtains in the front bedroom the other night on my way to bed, when I noticed Patch, the cat who lives over the road, pawing at her front door. She is a sweetie so I was thinking "Aww, poor thing wants to get in" as the front door opens partially, she puts a paw over the threshold and then legs it back down the path.

I thought this was a bit odd, then the door opened fully and there stood the woman who lives theres new boyfriend, naked as the day he was born. I can only assume that Patch was shocked by the view and that's why she scarpered.

He then tried to entice her with a tidbit (Maureen, don't !!!) but she was having none of it. At that point, a chap walked by with his dog and I don't think he could quite believe what he was seeing but the bloke continued to stand there on display for another few seconds before closing the door.

All I can say is, that must have been a very painful tattoo. (And I was yet again reminded of the jar of pickled walnuts).

I don't know why this road has attracted such a plethora (big word of the day) of exhibitionists. Its a wonder property prices haven't plummeted ............... mind you, maybe that's why they have gone up lol!!!

June, I too have Billy bookcases in my craft room in red. I also have some white Gersbys. Welcome to the MAWTT design team too.

Maureen, I have just discovered the delights of alcohol free lager. Mr D, who is a connosieur of such things turned his tongue up but its quite refreshing with a dash of lemonade. May try the alcohol free wine next.

Jackie, not the result I wanted in the GP but yes, it was indeed a race this time. Looking forward to seeing Jenson Baby in Monaco next (well, Monaco on the telly at least unless we win the lottery this week).

On that note, I shall leave you to your day. Have a good one.

TTFN

Ang x

Language of Flowers 10. . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope you are well?

After a bit of gadding, I've not had a briliant couple of days but you have to take the rough with the smooth. Mr dentist managed to repair the tooth thankfully with minimal fuss. I'm in Denplan and it does come in handy sometimes, especially with more costly treatment.

I will do a pictorial of how I did the inverted triple stamping as a couple of you good folk have asked about it so that will be in a couple of posts time. This is the other card here that I featured on the blog sometime ago using this technique.

Now, I was going to show this creation last out of the samples I made for John as the other one was also a scratchboard creation but a lily card. However, the photo that I took showing what I did with the stamping of it, was of the peony so I thought to made sense to show this first (Hope you were all following that lol!!!)

As soon as I saw this stamp, my first thought was "What would this look like in copper" and rather than go down the embossing powder route, I decided to be different (You know me).

I stamped the scraperboard with Picket Fence white Distress Ink to give me the outline to scratch around. Also, the ink rubs off when you buff it up at the end so all you see is the copper.

Ingredients

Black, cream and copper card

Copper Scraperboard - 5x7 sheet

John Lockwood Peony rubber stamp

Picket Fence Distress Ink

Cosmic Shimmer Clear Matt Finish Glaze

8 x 10 Black frame from The Range

Something to scrape with (I started with a pokey tool, then used a DIY nail) 

I gave it a coat of Cosmic Shimmer Clear Matt Finish Glaze for 2 reasons;

1. to protect the surface from further unintentional scratches and 2. to protect the surface from finger prints as it is prone to them marking the board.

It was a beggar to photograph with the glass but it is my favourite of all the samples I made.

It was also John's favourite and its currently on the wall in Chateau Lockwood as he asked if he could keep it. It seemed to be popular on the shows as well.

I will probably do another one for myself as I love it too.

Maureen, I've not been able to touch the Vino Collapso for nearly 12 months since the A/Fib started. I've got bottles of fizz in the cupboard that friends had bought for my birthday last year (I would say it was a "special" birthday but after the year I've had, they'll all be special from now on lol!!!) but that was when I took ill and before I touched a drop.

June, please don't be sensible, its not mandatory lol!!! Tell Mr F, thank you but the wisterias will be well taken care of.

Sue, is Doncaster ready for you and Sue Two lol???

You all know that John and I are good friends and after this weeks' news,  I know that some of you have been in touch as you have been concerned about him but I shall say that he is just fine, positive and keeping busy.

Spanish GP today, so I shall be keeping out of earshot of any sports news until I can watch the highlights tonight. Would love to go to that one sometime as Barcelona is one of my favourite places.

Anyhoo, have a good day and hope the week ahead is kind to you all.

TTFN

Ang x