Exploding boxes

Good Afternoon, 

          Yesterday class went really well this the project the ladies were to make. 

The ladies did exceptionally well. Although some of the comments about sucking cocktail sticks etc must have sounded very strange if anyone was listening from outside lol. This is areal easy project and the fun is in the decorating. We used stampin up papillon potpourri and petite petals.  Well onto pictures of the ladies as you can see by their faces they enjoyed themselves. 

Finally a pic of Jake who kept us all company for the afternoon. Take care and keep crafting. 

Details of classes. Snakes and Centipedes

Hi everybody. Hope you are all well. 

      Eventful day my husband found our first snake which apparently after researching by our neighbor is called a ladder snake.

Omg  it was scary although it didn't show any reaction to us I must admit I was petrified. Lol.  Just as that left our garden we then found  this 

Horrible centipede which is called a Megarian Banded Centipede. This centipede has venom but won't kill you unless you have a bad reaction. I don't know which is the scariest. 

Anyway back to my blog post. My next class in living design will be 25th May 1-3pm. If you would like to attend please contact by either by email. ... julieelizabethmccartney@msn.com. Tel. 616605400 or Facebook  Julie McCartney . Hope to see you there . Take care and keep crafting Julie x

Living Design Craft Class

Good Evening. 

    Excellent craft class today in Living Design today. The ladies who attended were all beginners but you wouldn't have thought by the projects they produced. 

Today the ladies learnt several techniques including heat embossing and stamping. They all completed the projects no problems and I was so pleased to see they had added their own little ideas to their makes. 

I've started doing classes in Living Design , it's perfect as before you start your class you can browse around some of the amazing products been made by some amazing talented people. Hers some happy faces from the class. 

Thank you ladies for a great class, great company  and see you all very soon. If you would like to join one of my classes and you live in Spain please contact me either via Facebook, email julieelizabethmccartney@msn.com. Take care keep crafting x

New classes in Spain

Hi everybody,

 What a brilliant day, my first craft class in Spain. This is the project we completed.

The ladies who attended loved crafting and they were all beginners. 

I wish I could say they were well behaved lol but two ladies were very competive and tried to distract each other. 

We made a card with stamping up just for you stamp set. They learnt matting and layering. Stamping and heat embossing. Considering it was their first time they all did exceptionally well.

I love sharing my love of crafting. Take care and keep crafting x

Sharpies are a must have craft item.

Good evening,

                    Hope  you are all fit and well. Very productive day , I'm now beginning to get into a routine with my crafting. The weather is so gorgeous it's tempting to sit outside and relax but needs must, I need to craft for my Saturday stall. More good news this week , my candles are now being sold in one of our shops in Albox. This shop is full of amazing original art and handmade objects . 

Anyway top tip for today . If you are running low on card or limited funds try using a sharpie pen and outline your card , before matting and layering.Remember to clean your ruler each time , I've forgotten then ruined my image with smudged ink. 

This just makes your image pop and it looks like you have layered it onto black card. Luckily my friend Angela bought me a pack of sharpies which included gold and silver. I probably use my sharpies on all of my fairy cards. 

Here are a few of my makes. 

Happy Easter weekend

Sorry for not posting for awhile but I've been so busy building my stock for my market stall.Hope  you are enjoying your Easter weekend and haven't eaten too many chocolates. 

I thought I would share a few of my makes including my candles. As from next week my candles will be for sale in Living Design a fab shop in Albox which promotes artists and their creativity. Sorry had to squeeze in a couple house mouse cards oops x

Take care and keep crafting x

Personalized Cards

Well, back to England tomorrow for a visit. Setting of early hours and catching ferry at 15.45 , it's going to be a long day. I'm sure it will be worth it when I see my friends and family. 

Recently sold several cards to a shop in Turre so hopefully that will be a regular order. 

I had several commissioned cards this week so I thought I would share them with you all.

As everybody knows I love House Mouse decoupage, I spend hours cutting and glazing. 

I tend to use stencils on quite a few of my cards as I love the effect. This is a clarity stencil , with a Lavinia fairy  stamped onto it using memento black ink.

Last week I made some of my own stencils which I showed you in my last post. 

Well I suppose I had better pack and have an early night. 

Take care and keep crafting Julie x

Good afternoon.

My last post showed you some cards I'd made using stencils. I don't have many so I thought I would make my own and this is what I came up with. 

I used clarity card so that I could rub the ink into the image aswell as using my brushes. Make sure you tape your stencil down using low tack tape as they can move about quite a it. I used dies to cut the shapes but you could do it free hand with a Stanley knife. ( they are not called Stanley knives but I couldn't remember but you know what a mean lol)

Well here are some of the finished cards,at the last event I went to they requested sympathy cards.

I just love how they turned out and got carried away and made 12 in total. My favourite is the card with all leaves just so simple and elegant. Anyway hope you like them take care stay safe and keep crafting love Julie xx

Magical Fairies

Hola, 
                      Busy day today finally got time to blitz my studio. When we moved into the villa , the previous owners left lots of books and knick knaks. Today I boxed them all ready for my market stall on Saturday. I now have lots of storage for my crafty stash.
Saturday will be my first market stall in Spain and I'm really looking forward to it. In England stall fees could be quite expensive and sometimes it was hard work making a profit, in Spain they charge a very small fee which makes it easier I hope to make some money.
I used my clarity masks and stencil brushes to design some backgrounds for these cards. 

I love how this card turned out,I was asked to make it for a friends son. I then decided to use my masks again and create a few fairy cards. I'm going to make these again but frame them for one of my spare bedrooms, but change the sentiments. 

Anyway off to bed I go another busy day tomorrow. Take care and keep safe love Julie xx

Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful

Good evening, 

Quiet day today spent most of my time in my craft studio. Yes I have my own studio how fab is that. Im hoping to eventually hold my classes in this room as it very spacious. 

When I start my market stall in February I'm going to promote some classes I already have a couple of ladies eager to start. 

Today I'm going to share one of my house mouse cards. The sentiment is from stampin up. 

Sorry my pics are rubbish lol . Hope you have had a good day. Stay safe and keep crafting Julie xx

Gardening in Spain

   

 

Good evening, just a quick email today.
If your new to my blog , I love crafting but last year I moved Spain. This blog is to keep my friends updated and to post my crafty makes.
We have a really big garden and decided today we would make a start and make it ours. We went to the local garden centre and bought some trees and potted plants.
The garden already has some well established palms and climbers. Pomegranate trees run along the periphery of the property by the pool. So we decided to plant a clementine and nectarine trees.
I love geraniums and daisies so to add alittle colour we purchased some of those. 

We named the nectarine tree Nigella and the clementine  Charlie. 

Pictures  of the pool I've planted some large daisies in the pots  near the fence but pictures don't do them justice. 

Anyway got to go and tend to all my scratches from cutting down the bougainvillea. Take care Julie xx

Sunday market in Villaricos

Hi happy Sunday, hope you are all well. Today we decided to travel to Villaricos which has a huge market and lovely views of the coast. The weather was glorious and we had a long walk along the coast line perfect afternoon. Starting to settle in Spain now and loving the lifestyle. Hope to post a few cards over the next few days . Keep safe and keep crafting x

A few pictures of the gorgeous harbour and of course a cheeky beer, purely to cool down . Xx

It's all about the men.

Hi as I posted earlier it's a bank holiday here in Spain.

All the shops are shut so perfect opportunity to chill out and craft. ( Athough I never need a reason to craft).

I really enjoy making male cards, I feel you can keep them simple and still be very effective.

Products used are Stampin up Guy Greetings and Traveller stamps.

Clarity stencil and alphabet . 

Stampin up ink.

Red and white card Stampin up card.

Hope you find some inspiration. Take care and stay safe Julie xx

Three Kings

Good afternoon, 

       Today we are having a chill as its a bank holiday in Spain. Today they celebrate 3 kings day  which is similar to our Christmas Day. 

Los Tres Reyes Magos literally means "The Three King Wizards", but is usually interpreted to mean "The Three Wise Men" or "The Three Kings".  Their celebration day (January 6th)  is refered to as "Three Kings Day" or just "The Day of the Kings".

As you may know the Three Kings, Balthasar (Spanish = Baltasar), Gaspar and Melchior (Spanish = Melchor) arrived twelve days after the birth of Jesus, bearing their famous gifts of gold, and frankincense and myrrh.  

As such in Spain, this is the day that people give and receive gifts.   And as children in the United States and other countries might wait with great anticipation the arrival of Santa Claus, in Spain the children await the arrival of the Three Kings.

On January 5th in most Spanish towns is the "la cabalgata" (the calvacade) which is a parade marking the arrival of the Three Kings.  The Three Kings ride on floats throwing candy to the children.  In the Canary and Balaeric Islands the Three Kings arrive by ship!  

After the parade the children return to their homes to prepare for the arrival of the Three Kings.  They place their shoes on the windowsills and fill them with straw, carrots and barley for the donkeys of the Three Kings.  Sometimes they might also leave some food for the Three Kings.  The next morning the children wake up early to open their presents. Although the children like all of the Three Kings, their favorite is Baltasar because he is the one who it is believed actually leaves the gifts.  This is also the day that adults will get their presents although of course these are not delivered by the Three Kings.

What ever you do today enjoy it . Take care and stay safe. Jx