See you in Wickford!

Only a few more days to leave a comment and maybe win my Blog Candy! So, do add your name...as they say...you have to be in it to win it!

I'm all set for my trip down to Essex now. I'll be travelling down by train on friday, which, apart from the usual mad dash across London by Tube (which I never enjoy!) should be an enjoyable journey, watching the changing scenery and looking to see what wildlife I can spot in the hedgerows and trees. If you live near Wickford please do pop along and see me. It's going to be a busy day with lots of great new products and some interesting techniques.As you can see from the advert above, there is an anniversary sale on at the shop, so there will be some great bargains to be had I'm sure. I'll hopefully get chance to take some pictures of the day, so will add those next week. Don't forget Craft Day on QVC tomorrow - I know that some of my stamps will be on in the 12pm slot. Meanwhile, here are a few more card samples featuring some more of my new bird designs. The one on the right is another from a clear set (PICS013) featuring four birds, including the owl which I posted earlier. The one on the left is a large wooden stamp image (FR63)which I've combined with some K&Co "Cut n Paste" papers and some doodles done with our new Deco Colour pens. For the lovers of more cute images, the last card features my "Fluffy Owl" (FH116) stamped several times and added to a sponged background with a branch cut from black card.

The eyes have been glazed with Glossy Accents and a hand written greeting added...another terrible pun!!! (In case you can't read it, it says "Have a hoot on your special day!"....I know, it's dreadful!) I have a very eclectic taste, but I do like making cards which raise a smile! Hope you like the avian collection of designs, whatever your taste is.

Have a great weekend everyone and I'll be back on Sunday with pics of my day at Wickfords and, of course, to reveal who will be getting the goodies! Lindsay

Final pics from Stitches & a great day in Barrow

Hello everyone on a rather dull Monday...well, it is here anyway! It was a very busy day at my demonstration at Heath's in Barrow-in-Furness and I must say a special "hello!" to all the ladies who came along. It was great to see you all, both new and familiar faces, and I hope you are all having fun with your new purchases! I really enjoy going to Barrow as the train journey is wonderful, passing through diverse landscapes at Arnside, Grange over Sands and Dalton. There are typical Cumbrian scenes which are astonishingly beautiful and then the strange, almost lunar landscapes of Grange over Sands take over. The sands there are home to so many birds that I didn't kow where to look first! I saw lots of Heron, geese, various waders and flocks of "unidentified" birds swarming across the skies...all very exciting! There were also Shetland ponies and a pair of little donkeys that we passed all too quickly.
Now to add the last of my pictures from Stitches as promised! I met lots of my crafting colleagues of course, but there wasn't time to have much of a chat or take many photographs. However, here is a (really bad!) picture of me with Jayne Nestorenko who was on the adjacent stand to ours. I am only posting this very unflattering picture as I promised Jayne that I would! Jayne won an award at the show, but, as ever, she was being very modest about it! Paula Pascual was also on a nearby stand but we were like ships which pass in the night! However, she did show me what she had been teaching at her workshops there - a gorgeous book which was very impressive considering that the workshops only last for 45 minutes! This is Marga van Engelen from

Avec who is wearing one of the gorgeous necklaces that she makes. She was also on the Personal Impressions stand showing
visitors how to create her lovely jewellery.

Dawn Bibby and JJ were at the show of course, though I didn't get much time to chat! I had a little longer with Leonie (Pujol) who was collecting her award for her ATC book - well done Leonie! On the left is my friend Jan who is in charge of Personal Impressions in the whole of Scotland and the North of England. She is a really talented crafter who, like me, is a big animal lover, so we have lots in common! Jan brought back some of the goodies for my Blog Candy from the big trade show in the USA, so "thanks Jan!". Laurence Llewelyn Bowen was at the show on the Monday too, though I only got a glimpse of him as he walked in. The last picture is of the whole PI team - we look like a mottley crew here! We had stripped the stand and were all pretty tired and ready to say our farewells and go our seperate ways which is always an anticlimax after the show.

Well, I hope that you have enjoyed getting at least a flavour of what Stitches is like. I shall post photographs of more of my cards in the next few days. Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of the week and do remember that there is a full craft day on QVC this coming Thursday, so make a note of the date! I finished my samples for the show last night, so look out for them!

I will be at Wickford Hobbies and Crafts this Saturday, so, if you are in the area do pop along and say hello. Take care everyone, Lindsay

Stitches show....part two!

I'm a little late posting this as I have been getting ready for my demonstration at Heaths in Barrow-in-Furness this weekend and I'm travelling up there tomorrow. I'm also making samples for craft day on QVC on the 26th of this month when I'll have stamps on the show. So, this may not be a very long post - but I'll share the pictures with you!
Here are Tim and his assistant, Mario, on the demonstration stand. I was having a break while Suze was showing the Melting pot at my stand, so I took the opportunity to check out what Tim was doing with the fabulous new colours of Alcohol inks (yes...there are 24 vibrant new shades!) Grunge paper (this is great as you can punch it and curl it and colour it with just about anything) and other goodies too numerous to mention!

Tim made the fabulous tag for the candy and then Mario took our picture as you can see - you can also see some of Tim's new stamps in the background.

In the left picture you can see Suze Weinberg demonstrating on my stand - we had to do a quick shuffle to clear a space for Suze's Melt pots and she was soon surrounded by visitors.

Monday night is always spent at the Wing Wah Chinese Buffet restaurant which serves an amazing array of food. All the Personal Impressions team are there, plus everyone from Ranger, the girls from Country Love Ceramics (who were also demonstrating on our stand) the team from Spellbinders and Marga from Avec who makes wonderful bead jewellery. Needless to say we had a really fun time - Marcella from the Country Love had a birthday in a few days, so one of the Wing Wah special desserts was ordered...however, Suze had a surprise as PI got one for her too even though it wasn't her birthday!

Well, Tuesday was the final day and I had another workshop to teach as well a full day of demonstrating.....oh no!..... the image uploader is freezing on me again so I will sign off and finish this post with the last pictures when I get back from Barrow.

So, goodnight for now...Lindsay

Blog Candy is now closed - won by Elaine!

Here are the items included in my Candy......

Also a wonderful framed Melt Art piece from Suze Weinberg...signed of course!Then a gorgeous tag made especially for my blog candy by the man himself, Tim Holtz, and featuring many of his brand new products...signed on the back! Also a card and ATC made by me and using some of my newest stamps. Both signed of course! Just leave a comment on my blog to be in with a chance! Lindsay

What a great weekend!

I'm back home again now and all the hard work in creating new designs and making up samples was worth it. It was a really busy weekend which began by travelling to Birmingham and checking into our usual hotel before heading off to the NEC where the Personal Impressions stand had been built and was being filled with all the new products, and then tweaked and polished in readiness for the influx of visitors the next day. This is my demonstration stand all nicely set up for action...and lovely and tidy before I get started of course! It was icy cold as there is no heating in the massive hall on set up day and, of course, the huge doors are constantly open so that companies can bring all their goods through. We finished around 7.45pm and then headed back to the hotel for a meal and a well earned night's sleep!
Day two, Sunday, and it's an early start and the first time that one really notices all of the stands which seem to have miraculously grown overnight! Everything is sparkling, shiny and new looking but there's no time to look as we need to get ready. I discovered that my cards, popped into the cupboard below my table for safety, had been squished under boxes when an electrician had to do a running repair in there - so I had to do some repairs myself first thing (yes, the electrician did get out alive.....just! As you can see, Tim Holtz was demonstrating the wonderful new additions to his range on his table to the left of mine.
I was a lot happier than I look in this picture at my work area! You can see some of the rest of our stand behind me. To the right of me was the board showing all our latest stamps - including new clear stamp sets.

It's always exciting to see what reaction the

new images will get as you may imagine. I'm pleased to say that the comments were very positive!

Here are a selection of the cards that I made using my new designs. The owl is from a clear set of four bird images - you know how I love birds!

Of course, I had to come up with new shelves! This is the Toy Shelf and there is also a new Wizard shelf for all the Harry Potter fans and aspiring magicians out there! The "Dream" card has one of my retro stamps along with some gorgeous K&Co acetate die cuts. The vibrant panel is made with alcohol inks used on a new canvas sheet that Personal Impressions are selling - it's fabulous stuff!

The day went very quickly, even though it was 9am - 6pm with just about no breaks all day. A busy day always goes fast. I met lots of people who I only ever see at the show, so it was great to catch up with them and find out how they were doing. That evening we had a meal and an early night!

I will post "part 2" tomorrow, as the Blogger is working very sloooowly tonight and keeps freezing. So, I shall say goodnight and do check back tomorow for more and also for pictures of exciting Candy! Lindsay

Competition

I forgot to say! In the latest issue of Craft Stamper magazine there is a competition sponsored by Personal Impressions with a prize of a bumper assortment of stamps. Quite a few of my designs are included...the Fire Dragon, Lady and the Tramps etc, so do check it out for a chance to win a great selection of wood backed stamps. You might be lucky! Lindsay

My latest stamp designs

Well, I'm all set for the NEC tomorrow and Stitches trade show. The samples are made, the workshops are all prepared and my bags are packed, so I can afford to relax tonight before my busiest weekend of the year.
I was just looking at Personal Impressions' website and the new stamps are now there for all to see! If you would like to check out my latest designs just go to the website (the link is further down on my blog) and then click on "new products" and all the new stamps will come up. Alternatively, just type my name into the search box and all of my stamps will be displayed. I have five new sets of clear acrylic stamps as well. Let me know what you think!
I'm not posting pictures of the samples I've made until after the show, but have photographed them in readiness. There will be pictures of the show too, just to give you a feel of the atmosphere. I'll give details of the Blog Candy at the same time...watch this space!
Well, have a great weekend everyone! Lindsay

Thanks to Hazel!

Thank you Hazel for the award that you gave me and for guiding me as to how to upload it on to here.....not exactly rocket science was it?! I think that I had a mental abhoration as I should have known how to do it! Never mind.
Lindsay

Just signing in...

Well, there are only a few days to go now before the big show, so I've had my head down, making cards and ATC's since I last posted. I've still got to prepare the materials for my workshops there too, so it's a busy old time! It's frustrating not to be able to put any pictures on here yet, but I'll do so after next wednesday!

Thank you to Hazel for the award that she has included me in - I can't show you it on here though, as I don't know how to get it from Hazel's blog and onto mine...I'm hopeless I know! I heard from my lovely pal Sarah today too. Sarah is a very talented lady and has just sent me her blog address, so do check it out (it's on my blog list if you scroll down).

We have had some snow here but not very much, so the grown up side of me has been quite relieved, whilst the kid in me has been envious of all the heavy drifts that many have been having. "My" wildlife has been getting extra rations to keep them going of course. I heard yesterday that little birds, such as Blue Tits, can lose one third of their body weight overnight in very cold weather just from trying to keep warm and that's the main reason that it's vital to keep feeding them once you have started.

They can be so underweight when they wake up that if there is no food where they expect it to be, just having to search elsewhere can be enough to finish them off. My little birds are too shy to get photographs of, but these are some of my regular pigeons making the most of some extra rations!

Well, that's all for now folks! Don't forget to check back next week to see what Blog Candy I have up for grabs!!! Lindsay