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

Monday 2 August 2010

What a wonderful weekend

I regard myself as being very fortunate in that I love my work, and a large part of the enjoyment it brings comes from meeting, and getting to know, so many warm and wonderful people at demonstrations, workshops and shows. This weekend was a case in point. I was demonstrating at Topaz Crafts alongside the very talented Jo, Gill, Mary, Jane, Brenda and Lindsay. Here is a bad photo of a stunning card, made by Mary, using stencil paste which she has cleverly glittered so that the sky shades through blue to white. The photo doesn't do it justice as the shaded glitter looked just gorgeous. These sumptuous, glowing cards were made by Jane and Gill, and Gill was also making some of Heather's beaded dragonflies - her book is on the left of the picture.And here are some of the cards which Jo was making on Saturday, building up "flowerscapes" to create these fantastic scenes. Again, my picture doesn't do them justice!Here are some pieces that I was making using the Paint Dabbers Acetate Transparency technique. It's really simple, but the effects can be gorgeous. Simply stamp your chosen image onto acetate - if using Black Archival ink you'll need to heat set it to stop it from smudging, so heat resistant acetate is preferable. Once the image is set begin applying paint over the image on the inked side. You can't be too pernickety about where the colours go as you need to work fairly fast here so that the paint stays wet for the next stage. Just dab the colours on, quite thickly, in the general areas that you want them. Now take a piece of white card and lay it on top of the painted acetate. Press it down and flip it over to see the coloured image. I like to use a brayer roller to smooth over the acetate to ensure that it sticks to the card. Simply leave it to set properly and the paint will have acted like a glue, adhering the card and acetate together. You can cut the image out, use as a basis for an ATC etc. I love this technique as you look through the acetate to the paint, so it has a very glassy appearance. Do give it a try if you haven't already.Here's my table looking less cluttered than it actually was! Nice cup of fruit tea there too! I stayed with Rena and Stephen (Amy's mum and dad) on Saturday night and they are two of the most special people that we have got to know in a long time. Over the two days so many people came along to pick up tips and techniques and we shared lots of smiles and laughter - great fun! Sheila came on both days and left me speechless (and David will tell you that this doesn't happen very often!!!) by bringing me a whole set of goodies for my birthday - along with some relaxing bathing treats she had made me a card, ATC's and three amazing book pages as you can see below. Aren't they gorgeous? Btw, the Alice ATC was from Sheila on Sunday as a bribe to go through Grungepaper flower making with her! (Not that I needed bribing I hasten to add!). So, along with all the generosity last week I felt very fortunate indeed!Next you can see the other ATC's which I received - clockwise from the top left they are by Elaine, Joanne, Sheila and Chris. Elaine had only just begun making ATC's so I got one of her first two - great fun isn't it? Joanne and Sheila's ATC's both had the same sentiment which was a weird coincidence. Chris has just decided to join in Heather's swaps, so I feel a bit guilty in choosing her beach hut card now, as Heather posted her latest swap theme is "Beside the Seaside", and I'm sure this one would have been perfect! So, thank you to all of you, including Paul, who I got several big hugs from! (they are always welcome!) It made for a special couple of days.
We have added two new workshop dates of Saturday 18th September, 1pm - 4pm "Matchbox Shrines" - this workshop will include Ranger techniques such as beeswaxing, distressing, gesso etc and we'll be creating a piece to hang on the wall.
On Saturday 23rd October, 1pm-4pm (and by request!) the class will be "Christmas Cute & Clever" featuring a range of my whimsical stamp designs. We'll be making cute cards with some interesting techniques thrown in!
Both of these workshops cost £20 - ring Topaz on 01254 356501 if you'd like to book. If you are interested, I am also hoping to run two extra workshops in the mornings of both of the above dates. The first being a repeat of the Ranger Mirror class, and the second being a repeat of the Fairy Doors class, as I have been asked specifically for these. Again, please call Topaz to enquire about these extra workshops. Should be fun!
What else has been happening? Well, many of you will already know, from reading my sister's blog, that my brother in law was attacked on Saturday afternoon whilst simply going to his local corner shop. Thank you for all the concern you have shown - Heather and Graham were both badly shaken by the incident, needless to say, but thankfully the yobs concerned were caught and are being prosecuted. I won't say what I would like to do to them. The week before that our mum had a very nasty fall which left her looking like something from a Crimewatch report, with her face all purple and swollen. Miraculously, she didn't break any bones and is as cheerful as ever - David calls her the "comeback kid"! I'm hoping that we have had our share of such incidents for the moment, fingers crossed.
I'll be adding new demonstration dates shortly, but this coming Saturday I will be at Jarrold's Department store in Norwich city centre. I'll be featuring Paint Dabbers, Alcohol inks, Distress inks, clear stamps and various "acoutrements", so hope to see you there if you live nearby. Well, this post has taken me ages, so I had better sign off for now. Lindsay
PS in case you miss the post below this one - my Blog Candy is now closed, and was won by MissD.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

So sorry to hear of the horrendous attack. No doubt the physical scars will heal faster than the mental ones, sadly. Hope your mum is feeling better too.

Joanne said...

Once again, thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge and for being such a lovely friendly person. I reckon your fame has spread and your workshops will be overflowing.
Luv Joanne xx

crafty card fairy said...

Lindsay - I have only met you the once but it was such a pleasure to spend time in your company. I hope that I can repeat the experience in the not too distant future. Thank you for sharing the pictures of your weekend at Topaz, it looked a fun, intuative and exciting time was had by all. best wishes Yvonne xx

Artyjen said...

Hope everyone will soon recover...such a worry.
On a brighter note you can only image how much I am looking forward to the workshops on the 18th Sept...a full day how fab!! :)
xoxo Sioux

Mishelflos Paper Creations said...

Isnt it annoying when you cant get the picture to do the card/project justice.

But as crafters we all have a good idea of how great they looked:)
love
Michelle x

Mishelflos Paper Creations said...

Me Again Lindsay.

What is your Sisters Blog called? Would love to pop over and have a look. Missed the bit about your BIL when I replied last time!! and your poor Mum:( I bet she was shaken and shocked!!

Have a lovely time in Norwich, am very jealous, Norwich is my home City and I know Jarrods well.

Wish I was there to see you, your work is lovely.

When are you coming down to Devon!! The Exeter area would be good:)
love
Michelle x

Anonymous said...

Hi Lindsay, sorry it's taken me so long to get here - must have gone the scenic route!! It was a real pleasure creating something for such a lovely and talented lady as yourself, just really glad you like them. Thanks again for THE tutorial, they have pride of place here! Still don't know if I'll be able to get to grips with the smallest petals - but at least I've MADE one! See you very soon. Lots of love to you and David. S xxxx

Anonymous said...

ps, meant to say I had a great weekend - thanks so much. S xxxx