About Me

I'm a freelance artist, designer and demonstrator and have been involved in arts and craft my whole life in one way or another. I design stamps for top British company Personal Impressions, under the "Lindsay Mason Designs" brand, as well as papers, templates and other crafting products. I'm a certified Ranger Educator and my first book,"Stamping", was published in 2009. I also design regular projects for Crafts Beautiful magazine and have made guest appearances from time to time on QVC. I've recently joined You Tube under the name of LindsayMason1000 where I'm posting short technique videos and you can buy my paintings and hand crafted pieces from my Etsy shop. My work takes me all around the country demonstrating stamping, papercrafts and general inkiness! When I'm not working, I love gardening, church & community activities, nature watching, journalling, music and theatre and just relaxing at home. Email me at: ljm.design1@virginmedia.com

Wednesday 19 May 2010

The last post...for a while!

I think so anyway! It all depends if we can get a wireless reception while we are away house and cat sitting for mum and dad while they are on holiday. If not, then I'll be posting again in a couple of weeks. My samples for this weekend's events are done...pretty much anyway...and I have sorted everything out for taking away with me, which was a real headache as I have to continue working so can't afford to leave particular inkpads, stamps, papers and so on behind! I also have to break up my break, so to speak, halfway through to go down to Eastbourne - some rest eh?!
So, on friday I'll be off down to Basildon, which is not my favourite journey as it means using the underground and trotting around London with my bags to get to the next tube station. Still, it should be fine so long as the tube services are running smoothly. I'll be having a relaxing evening at the hotel then giving a demonstration at In 2 Crafting in nearby Wickford on Saturday. Hope to see some familiar, and new faces there. Here are some little peeks at the kind of things that I will be doing there. This first one features a Hero Arts stamp (Silhouette Flower HACG105) which I've stamped onto my favourite gloss, coated cardstock which I had first applied alcohol inks to. I love the depth that this technique brings to the image. I then used the same colours of inks to dye some Petaloo flowers and a ribbon. Dyeing flowers this way is a great way to clean up any leftover ink from the craft sheet so I always have a few small blossoms to hand for just this job. I used some Bazzill card to cover part of the card blank and smudged a little Distress ink around the card. Great stamp!More Hero Arts on this card - the distressed backround border on the cream card is Aged Print Frame (HACG154) which is a whopping 5.5" x 6.5"! I've stamped it onto cream card and then added several shades of Distress inks...just a random mix really. I then stamped images from HACL290 Printed Flowers onto acetate which I had applied alcohol inks to. I cut them out and curled the petals a little before sticking to the distressed background. I smudged some Distress Stickles, in Walnut Stain, around the card edges to complete the look.

This card features my Butterfly Words Background (PIRM016) which is one of Personal Impressions stick on rubber stamps (these are mounted onto cushioning and remain sticky so they can be placed on and off blocks with no mess). I love the detail that rubber stamps give. I stamped it twice onto inked gloss card and then cut out the two butterflies to mount over the ones on the main image. I dyed the ribbon and flowers to match as before. I masked off the card about two cms down from the top and blended Bundled Sage Distress ink (love this colour!) over the top. The top of the card was then punched using the incredible Pop Up Butterfly punch from Martha Stewart - such a simple way to add dimension. I cut a slit in the spine just below the punched line and wrapped the ribbon through and around. I simply adhered all the elements, including the "waste" from the butterfly punch. Hope you like them!
Well, as soon as the demonstration is over I have to make the journey homewards but will carry on to mum and dad's. Next day I'll be at Windmill Craft at Marsh Mill in Thornton - thankfully not far from my parents! I'll be using loads of Ranger products at this demonstration, so will be getting exceedingly inky and grunged!
I'm working on a new stamp collection so am looking forward to sitting in the garden with my sketch book as long as it stays dry! The following Friday I'll be catching the train again to meet an old mate of mine who will then drive us both down to Eastbourne for an event at ESK warehouses. It will be a fun weekend with lots of demonstrations on the Saturday. As it's such a long haul (about as far as you can go without falling off the edge!) we are staying over another night and coming back on Sunday. I'll be glad to get back to the last week of our break though!
The Saturday after that I'll be at Card Craft in Lancaster for a demonstration of a range of products and techniques. Then we'll be heading home again on Sunday and I expect I'll have plenty of photos and tales to share. Till then, hope everyone keeps well, happy and creative! Lindsay

5 comments:

Elaine said...

And I thought I was busy!! Hope you have a good time and the weather stays sunny for your Eastbourne trip. The header and sides on my blog were taken by the pier!!! Like the idea of cleaning craft sheets with flowers - good tip.

Joanne said...

No probs if you forget some of your inks/stamps etc. just call round and I'll help out. Will see you Sunday at the Windmill, the very best craft shop around here. I'll bring 'pot arm' with me. xx

cathinka said...

Hope you have a good time away- and just read your last 3 posts- the beach photo is WONDERFUL- as you say, the light up there is so crisp and you can see for miles(I used to live off the west coast, and am sure the long hours of light ease the soul- no SAD lamp needed!); also, your 'man' stamp is perfect- will try to get it.
Enjoy your 'break', and thank you for such beautiful ideas-
Cathy

Anonymous said...

Hope you manage a little relax somewhere along the way! Love the cards - especially the first one - I have that stamp (no real surprise!!) must get it out and have a play. Take care and hopefully catch up soon. Love S xxx

Mrs Mac said...

Gorgeous cards as always :) great tips too.... oh for the time to try them out!