Coffee post!

It's a coffee post because it's a quickie while I have my coffee while waiting for some paints to dry before I can progress with today's work. I usually like to get into the garden on Sunday afternoons, weather permitting, but today I'm up against another deadline, so I'm trying to ignore the tempting sunshine outside! Thomas and Tara are both enjoying the balmy afternoon, so I'm a little fed up that I can't join them...

 .....there's Tara, trotting over to one of her shady hidey holes. My poor lawn has been really neglected - still no lawnmower and the grass got really long. The gardener, who visits one of my neighbours, gave it a haircut this week but he cut it very short so it's gone into shock! It looks very pale and patchy but I'm assured it will come back to green loveliness quite quickly, especially after I've fed it with some lawn food.
Thomas is just sprawling about, having a bit of a warm up.

 He's not too well at the moment and he's going to be going to the vet's next week. He's been mopey and off his food and I've decided that he's got a toothache or an abcess or something. I need my little soldier back to his full, fighting self! I'll keep you posted as to how he gets on.

This morning I was sworn in as a sidesperson at church. This is separate to the deputy Verger duties, and is a general meet and greet, help with the collection, gather up service sheets after the service etc. There are nineteen of us at the moment and I'm number thirteen (for the rota sheets) which I'm hoping is not significant! I'm really grateful to have been welcomed so wholeheartedly at the church and when I walk into the village to do my shopping I can guarantee that I'll see somebody I know and there'll be a few friendly smiles and waves....so different from living in Manchester!

Yesterday I was at Samuel Taylor's in Brighouse again. I was teaching a Steampunk themed workshop in the morning which was great fun. Some of the ladies said they were not sure about the whole Steampunk thing and whether it was really their "thing", but, by the end of the morning everyone said how much they'd enjoyed it and I think we had some conversions! I won't show the cards we made just yet, as I'm doing a repeat of the class in the Leeds store in a few weeks. 

In the afternoon I was demonstrating alcohol inks, Steampunk stamps etc and I was asked by Dawn and her mum (I hope I've got your name right Dawn!) if I can please mention where I'm going to be in my blog posts and not just in my sidebar. I'd never thought about the fact that some people subscribe to my posts rather than visiting the blog, so they don't see the diary dates....duh! So, I shall endeavour to make more mention of demos etc in the posts.

Next Saturday I'll be at Brigg garden centre which is in the Scunthorpe, Barnetby area. I haven't visited this store before but I'm told that the craft area is excellent, so I'm looking forward to my visit. I'll be using my Doo Lally Pip stamps as well as some general Crafty Impressions (the new name for Personal Impressions clear stamp range) sets. I'll be using the full gamut of Distressy things....paints, inks, Dylusions sprays etc - of course! Maybe one day I'll be travelling home on the train without my hands being every shade of blue, green, purple....but I doubt it!

 Well, I'm sure that paint must be dry by now, so I'd better press on. Before I go, here's a sneaky peep at something else that I'm working on.....

 ......it's a canvas that I'm creating for my Etsy shop. It began with gesso, and I scratched the heart into the top left once it was just tacky. Once dry I did my "cloud watching" technique and contemplated what I could "see" in the surface textures. The face just started to emerge and now I pretty much know where this piece is going. A lot of work to do on it yet and it will look quite different by the time it's finished! I added a few more items to my shop last week, so I'm getting there, slowly but surely!

Right, coffee drunk, paint dry, so I'm off back to the Doo Lally room.

Quick link

Just a very quick morning post as the Doo Lally workroom awaits! I had a lovely today from Christina at A Maze of Memories. I was down there a few weeks ago for a demonstration and Make n Take event and Christina sent me this link to share some of the fabulous creations that the ladies have made since my visit.

They're great -  do check them out!

Right, I'm buckling down to work for the day now. Oh yes, my "missing" parcel is due to be delivered today - fingers crossed! Talk about being down to the wire!

 

Kindness and patience

Many thanks for all the lovely messages after so many of my samples got pinched at the weekend. I've had stores, where I've previously demonstrated, offering to return samples that I left for them as well as people asking if they can help me to make new ones. All very much appreciated and it does emphasise the fact that the good people really are still very much the majority, even though it doesn't always seem like it. 

I'm back on track now, more or less (!), working through my check list of things to get done. I'm waiting for a parcel to arrive which is stopping me from getting on with one project...it's floating around somewhere in the UK but, at the moment, nobody can tell me where! Trying to actually speak to a real person at Royal Mail is, apparently, asking too much and the local sorting office just refuse to answer their phone. Oh well, just have to play the waiting game and hope it arrives soon before my deadline runs out.

I did, however, receive two rather nice parcels this week as you can see....

 ........one package contained bottles of Deco Art So Soft fabric paints as well as the strip of little pots of the paints. Below those are Metallic Distress Paints and the new colours of Dylusions ink sprays that came in parcel number two. The eagle eyed of you may spot that one of the Metallic paints is actually "plain" ol Vintage Photo - I put the wrong bottle there when I lined them up to snap them!). 

The new Dylusions colours are very lovely indeed and I've been (im)patiently waiting for them for a while now! I spritzed them onto white card just to quickly show the colours. As one is white, I sprayed that over a couple of the colours to show the effect - it kept morphing into different patterns and shades as I watched.

Of course, my photo won't do justice to the true colours but they are, clockwise from the top....Funky Fuchsia, After Midnight, Cherry Pie, Dirty Martini and Calypso Teal. You can see the effect of the White Linen over areas of the Midnight & Cherry colours.

These are definitely going to be used today on some tag backgrounds! I'll be using them at both Brigg garden centre, near Scunthorpe, on the 25th May and at my demos at the Craft Barn Extravaganza over 31st May-2nd June. Meanwhile, I'd highly recommend getting your mitts on them!
Oh, I forgot to say that the So Soft paints are for painting two more sweatshirts with my Doo Lally Pip designs. I've washed the pink sweatshirt that you've seen on here (or at my demos) and am very pleased to report that the designs looks exactly the same. I was going to hand wash it but decided to give it a real road test and it went into the washing machine with some other items (including furry slippers, so they would have given it a bit of a pounding!) on a quick wash. I did wash it inside out as a slight precaution, but I'm really impressed with the paints - no cracking, no flaking, no fading! Brilliant stuff! 
I did start my orange sweatshirt today but after I'd painted the "Doo Lally Pip" words I realised that I hadn't pre washed the garment - what a twit! So, I'm letting it dry for 48 hours then I'll wash it and repaint the words if the design has come off. I suspect it may well still wash okay, but I'm not going to risk painting the entire design. I'll let you see the results in a few days of course!

Port Sunlight

What a dolly mixture kind of a weekend it's been! It's been glorious sunshine here one minute, then really chilly, then raining and there were even hailstones on the way home yesterday. I set off at 6.45am for my trip to Port Sunlight and the Happy Stampers show and my first train change was at Wigan, where there were hundreds of footie fans (good natured ones!) waiting for the train down to London where their team were playing in the cup final. Standing room only so I was glad that I was only on board until Warrington!

After a couple more trains I reached Port Sunlight and walked down to Hulme Hall where I was shown to my lovely big demonstration table and then brought a coffee and a bacon butty - talk about being looked after! I'd not long got set up when I heard my name being called and looked up to see Sheila, Kath and Elaine......

 ......all of whom I haven't seen for about eighteen months or more. That's my table to the right of the picture - sorry it's a view from the back, not the front! Hello's too to the lovely Jacqui, Christine and Chris, who I didn't manage to get snaps of, and the "two sisters" (they're actually mum and daughter, but David always called them the two sisters!) Melanie and Joanne who I did......

....posing with one of my "journal pages". I was given a gorgeous tag and ATC by Sheila and Chris respectively...thank you both.
It was a really busy day at the show...one of the best organised in my opinion. There were lots of great stands, although, as usual, I didn't get the chance for more than a barely cursory glance. Great to spend time amongst real stamping fans who crowded Hulme Hall all day and I was really gratified to hear all the lovely feedback for my Doo Lally Pips! (oh, that sounded a bit rude didn't it?!) I was also very touched by all the good wishes and positive comments on my decision to take up the invitation to become deputy Verger at St Chads.
There was only one negative thing about the day and that was that, on returning from my quick sandwich break, I found that someone, or someones, had taken all the tags that I had placed at the front of my table, plus one or two off the display stand, a small canvas and two of my Distress ink pads. Karen, from the Happy Stampers (who organise the show) had asked if I wanted someone to sit at my table when I went for lunch, but, not suspecting there may be such rotten people in the room, I said it would be okay. Karen kept apologising to me, but it was no reflection on the organisers....just down to bad human nature I'm afraid.
It made me really furious though (as well as the customers who were there when I realised what had happened) especially as I'm really up against it for the next three weeks getting enough samples made for demos and workshops etc. I really don't know why anyone thinks it is okay to just take things that someone has spent time creating, but then, there's a lot I don't understand about human nature. Thankfully, 99% of the people I meet wouldn't dream of doing such a thing and I'm not going to let it spoil an otherwise lovely day. So there!
After the show finished I did my usual speed packing and was off to the station to catch the first of my four trains home. Unfortunately I took some bad advice from a couple of the rail staff and decided to take a slightly different route than the one I had planned and went to Liverpool Lime Street having been assured that there was bound to be a direct train that would get me home earlier. I should have known better really and it turned out that I couldn't get a direct train and my ETA would be almost an hour later than if I'd stuck to my plan! Add to that, the signals went pop not long after leaving Liverpool which resulted in a stop start journey as the driver had to get permission to continue safely at a snail's pace....oh well....the best laid plans and all that!
I decided that, being back so much later than I'd planned, I would be a bit naughty and I picked up a beef curry from the Chinese takeaway on the walk home from the station.I got back, fed my two sulky feline friends, put my jim jams on and opened the bottle of lager that I'd discovered in the back of a cupboard a few days before. Well, I very rarely have anything stronger than soda water, so I didn't feel too naughty. It nearly knocked me sideways though and I slept pretty well!
Good thing I set my alarm this morning as neither Thomas nor Tara woke me up - they must have thought I needed my bed! I walked up to church and, after the service, there was a "pasta & pizza" lunch in the church hall to which all the parishioners were invited. Very nice too, with lasagne, various salads, etc all made by the Curate's husband! There was wine too, but after the way the lager knocked me out last night I thought I'd better decline!
So, I was quite late home from the village and I got back feeling pretty cold and wet as the heavens opened again just as I was walking through the park. I was dismayed to see that lots of the colourful tulips had been snapped off and discarded along the paths - even in this quiet place there are idiots who just can't help being destructive I'm afraid. It's even more annoying when they don't take the flowers but just cast them aside. Gggrrrr!!!
Well, I'd better make a move I guess. I've a busy time ahead and even more to do now that someone thought it was okay to take my samples. This coming Saturday I'll be at Samuel Taylors in Brighouse again. I'll be taking a Steampunk themed workshop in the morning and then demonstrating in the afternoon. I do know that there are still some spaces left on the workshop, so if you fancy joining in the fun, just contact the shop and they will give you all the details. Looking forward to seeing some of the Port Sunlight ladies on Saturday afternoon though - and I'll remember to bring my "Hope Blooms" stamp set as promised!
Right, bed time now, so I'll say goodnight.

On the verge of new things

I'm just taking a quick lunch break from the Doo Lally room, so I thought I'd take the chance to post before I get back to my work table.

I'm all set for Saturday at The Happy Stamper's show in Port Sunlight. Really looking forward to it as it really is a "happy" show and I know I'll be seeing lots of familiar faces including a few that I haven't seen for a while - you know who you are! 

Meanwhile, just like the buses, everything comes along at once and I have a list of things to get done by increasingly looming deadlines...magazine articles, workshops to prep and samples for demonstrations to be made. It's usually made more stressful due to having to wait for new products to be sent to me in time! So, my little lunch break is most welcome...a hot turkey and stuffing sandwich...yummy!

I'm adding more things to my Etsy shop slowly but surely....I'm aiming for a varied range of items, styles and prices and it's given me a nice "kick up the bum"! Almost all of my creativity is channelled into work of course, so I like the idea of sitting down to make something for my own "shop". Here's a peep at a couple of the latest things I've added....

 ......there's a grumpy Goldfinch and below is a cheeky Red Squirrel.......

 .......just click on the link to see them in their entirety. Oh and this is another piece that I added a couple of days ago....

 .....some of you may have seen this one on the Darkroom Door blog as it's one of the projects that I made when I was their guest designer a few months ago.

In non work related goings on, I was very honoured (and humbled) a few weeks ago to be asked if I would consider becoming the deputy Verger at church. As I'm one of the newer members of the congregation I did wonder if the Verger was having a joke with me, but he wasn't. So, after some careful consideration and talking it over with my sister, I decided that this could be an interesting new venture. I'm lucky in that my work is not a structured nine to five routine, so I'm able to shuffle things round as needed. As Heather said, it's the things we don't do in life that we regret, rather than the things we do. I will only have to stand in occasionally and it will mostly be preparing the church and welcoming people at weddings and funerals. Something completely different from my job that's for sure! Heather has made several references to the Vicar of Dibley already!

I'll sign off with a picture I took at the weekend of a couple of the (many!) Sweet Peas and Sunflowers that I've been busy transplanting into the garden. They were some of the ones that I planted into loo roll tubes - the idea being that you can plant the whole thing without disturbing the roots as the cardboard just rots down in the soil. When I looked at them though, I was rather astonished to see.......

 ......well, you can hopefully see the "flowers" that have printed themselves on the loo rolls! I'm not absolutely sure how this happened, but there were a few small fungi that sprouted in the potting compost that I used and I think it may be to do with those. I was almost tempted to keep the rolls, flatten them out and use them on a canvas! 

Right, sandwich chomped, coffee slurped and half a dozen grapes consumed, so I'd better get back to the Doo Lally room again. Oh yes, if you happen to be a Radio Times reader you will find a letter from me in the Feedback section of this week's issue!

Keeping my mind occupied with a new venture

Hello folks, I know it's been another week gone (flown) by, so it's definitely time for a catch up.

Last Saturday I was at Card-io in Pemberton where a great deal of fun was had by all I think! I was wearing my new Doo Lally sweatshirt of course...

 ...which seemed to go down well with everyone! It's always good to be at Card-io as I get to see lots of friendly faces and this timwas no exception, catching up with some old friends that I haven't seen in a while. Jacqui kindly brought me a beautiful scarf and a handmade notebook from her trip to India - how spoiled am I? I do love a blank book, so am still deciding what to fill those inviting pages with. 

I'll be seeing quite a few of Saturday's ladies again next weekend as I'll be at the Happy Stampers show in Port Sunlight on 11th May. I do know that tickets have sold out for this show, so hope all of you that wanted to go have managed to get your hands on them. It's going to be a busy day there!

Yesterday my friend Paul came over to visit me which was a treat. We spent the day wandering, nattering and catching up. Sadly, the beautiful weather of the previous day didn't materialise, so my plans for us to sit out in the garden to eat our sandwiches had to be shelved - I was looking forward to some company to share my bench with too!

Today has been a rare Saturday at home but I've been busying myself with a few things. Apart from getting on with putting together my workshop samples (which I can't share yet of course!) I've finally got my act together and opened an Etsy shop. I will happily admit that Paul helped me over the last hurdles yesterday as he is a bit of a whizz with all this technical stuff (!), though it turned out not to be anywhere near as tricky as I'd thought. Anyway, you can take a look at my efforts if you click on the Etsy shop link in my left hand sidebar. 

I've only put a few things up so far, but I will be adding more things on a regular basis, so do let me know what you think! I'm aiming for an "eclectic mix" and you never know, I may even put some Doo Lally Tee shirts on there!

Some of you may know that I was a wildlife artist in a "previous life" so there are a few of my paintings in my shop too....which has the very original name of "Lindsay Mason Designs"! 

It's a pretty tough time at the moment, with the anniversary of so many sad and frightening moments to go through. Today's been particularly hard and I've had a knot in my stomach since I woke up - hence me keeping myself occupied with the Etsy shop. David was really keen for me to get it started so it felt right to make the effort and finally do it.

Well, after all this time in front of the lap top I think I had better get myself some sustenance. I haven't eaten a thing all day, so I really need to make the effort and raid the fridge. The kettle and coffee jar will be the first ports of call though!

I think you'll notice me!

Hi folks, I'm up to date with my work for this week anyway. Next week I have to get cracking with the Masterclass samples for my workshop and demonstrations at the Craft Barn Extravaganza at the end of May, beginning of June, but, for today....I am done! There's been a mix of light showers and lovely warm sunshine today, so I managed to get some gardening done too - I've put up a willow trellis behind my bench and planted Sweet Peas and Nasturtiums along it, planted more of the Summer bulbs, transplanted some Sunflowers and Sweet Peas into big pots and put those outside and also planted a new rose that was given to me by my friend Jan who called to see me this week. Whew! 

I've also caved in and got some slug pellets - these ones are organic and much safer around pets than the usual ones. They are really tiny and I've been very careful to hide them under the plants...just hope they work as those pesky slime trailers are out and about again now. Ugh! 

I am all set for tomorrow now and will be at Card-Io in Pemberton, Wigan from 10am-4pm. Hope to see some familiar faces there.....those of you whose email addresses I "have" please come armed with them for me as I lost almost everyone's contact details a while ago! It's always a fun and busy day at Wendy's shop and I get well looked after too, which is always nice.

You should be able to spot me in the shop as I'll be wearing my latest creation! 

It's pretty bright! I bought a (neon) pink sweatshirt and painted it using Deco Art products. PI had enlarged some of my quotes and the Doo Lally Pip logo for me and my first task was to draw around the words on the back of the paper using a pencil. I then painted the words using Deco Art Ink Effects. After thirty minutes I ironed the words onto the sweatshirt - the beauty of this medium is that you can make your mistakes on paper not on your fabric! Materials with more than 30% cotton need to be sprayed with a special prepping medium first but are then good to go. 
The words came out beautifully, but I did want a slightly more dramatic effect than the subtle black of the ink, so I painted over them using Deco Art So Soft fabric paint. This really gave me the strong look that I wanted.

Next I had to re draw my Doo Lally Pip "Moochin'" character to make him much bigger. As I drew the original this wasn't too tricky for me! I then used a fine brush to go over the pencil lines using black Ink Effects and ironed onto the sweat shirt as before. Next I squeezed out several colours of So Soft and began painting my Moochin' boy. I stippled different colours onto his T shirt to give a similar effect as the one I get when I stamp onto inky kitchen paper. The paints are really easy to work with - they flow well when you brush them on and the colours mix beautifully to create things like flesh tones.  The white is very strong as you can see.
Once I had painted him and he had dried, I used a finer brush to paint the black outlines back in and to add his features and shading dots. I then finished off by adding pink and purple circles with black centres to tie in with the packaging design on my Doo Lally Pip stamp range.
The best bit is that once the paints have dried for 48 hours they are permanent - no need to iron or heat set! They are washable and durable - brilliant! Oh, the only thing to remember is to pre-wash the garment without using any fabric conditioner before you start painting. The next thing on my list of things to paint are some white canvas shoes! The paints and Ink Effects are available from good crafts stores that stock PI products....if they don't have them, they can order them for you. 
Here's me wearing the sweat shirt, though the image is in reverse as I took it via the mirror, having no one to take the picture for me. 

 Please don't look too closely at my hands though....now I know you all just did.....as I had just come in from the garden and popped the top on to take a quick snap before getting into the shower. I completely forgot how soily my hands were - makes a change from ink I suppose!
I had to laugh when I came in from the garden earlier on. Tara pretty much claims the conservatory as her own, Thomas tends to loll around in my bedroom or my Doo Lally room when he isn't prowling about the fields. However, I was very amused to see him snugly settled into Tara's static carrying case with her quite happily sitting on the rocking chair....

 I was also very surprised that she wasn't doing her usual hissing drama queen act, but, when I walked back through half an hour later I saw this scene.....

 ....and it did make me wonder what had been going on in my absence! Lol! 
Well, I hope to see lots of you tomorrow and I'll try and remember to take some photos if I get the chance. Have a great weekend everyone.