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

Thursday 30 September 2010

Backwards and forwards!

What I mean is having a look back over the last few days and a look forward to the next few! It's been an unusual one for me as I normally work at home during the week and get out and about at the weekends, but this week I was down in Oxfordshire, but more of that later.
Last Saturday was so enjoyable. I was at Crafty's in Liverpool and the day just flew by because it was so busy and so much fun. I was mainly demonstrating Martha Stewart punches but with lots of inks and stamps thrown into the mix as well. Everyone was really enthusiastic but thankfully no fights broke out when certain punches were running out! Thanks to Elaine and her lovely staff for making it such a fabulous day.
On Sunday we went over to Thornton, near Blackpool and I must apologise to those who came along wanting to buy the products I was using, but there had been a delivery problem and things hadn't arrived in time - ooops! Hopefully you have all picked up the things you wanted now. Hello to everyone I met at the weekend anyway - familiar friends and new faces.
So, on Tuesday I travelled down to Abingdon for a special trade event the next day. Although it was only for trade customers I thought you might like to see what we got up to! The day was organised between Personal Impressions and Country Love Ceramics and was to show how inks, stamps etc can be used with bisque, paints, texture mediums, various varnishes and non-fire glazes to create exciting results. I was working alongside Andy Skinner who is their resident ceramic artist and expert. It was a very inspiring couple of days as Andy had some amazing samples and lots of tips and techniques. We are still discovering the different effects and what works with what. Do check out Andy's website http://www.andyskinner.org/ and have a look ate some of the terrific things he's made. Anyway, here I am teaching one of the make n take workshops yesterday afternoon - the picture was taken by my lovely friend Paula Pascual who took a moment off from creating a plaque to be the official photographer! Thank you to Paula for helping me to get set up and handing things out too. Here's a picture of one of the projects that we made on the day. The Script Robin was coloured with Le Plume pens, spritzed with water and then stamped onto the bisque tile. You may also recognise one of my favourite MS punches, the Pine Forest edger and Best Creations gorgeous Snowflake paper from their Frosty Christmas range. Here's the corner of one of the tables...look at all that lovely creative "mess"! But have a look at some of the things which Andy has been making over the last couple of weeks..... ......none of these have been fired, although you would never guess. Andy's used Gesso, Texture Mediums and Varnishes to create these pieces which he's coloured with Distress inks, Perfect Pearls etc and embellished with stamps. Aren't they fabulous? Here are a few more of the pieces that Andy made..... .....watch this space as I will also be bringing some Bisque ware into my samples.
I got back late last night feeling pretty tired so have spent today catching up and preparing for the coming weekend. So, on Saturday I'll be at Houghton Hall Garden Centre in Carlisle and on Sunday I'll be at Strikes Garden Centre in Northwich. I'll have Christmas themed stamps, my seasonal cardstock and toppers as well as MS punches, inks, Best Creations papers (sumptuous!) and Spellbinders dies, so there will be plenty to peruse!
I'm not sure if I'll have chance to post tomorrow, so will wish everyone a great weekend and am off now to colour in some stamped images ahead of my demonstrations. Lindsay

Friday 24 September 2010

Liverpool and Blackpool

But first, I wanted to let you know that Personal Impressions are now supplying the white card which I use with Distress inks in my demonstrations....hoorah! This 300 gsm cardstock is a superior quality which can take plenty of water being brushed onto it, making it perfect for the faux bleaching technique that I use to creat skies, trees, snow and general bleached out effects. I get lots of emails about the card I use, so I can now give a definitive answer! If you are interested in purchasing the card, ask your local craft shop if they can get it for you...the product number is PIP300CWH and any store that sells Personal Impressions products will be able to get it for you. Not only is it the perfect surface for Distress inks, it's also ideal for stamping onto as it is very smooth. It also works perfectly with Big n Juicy rainbow ink pads - I like to stamp a collage style image using Hydrangea, Vibrant Primary or whichever colourway you prefer, heat set the ink for a few seconds and then waterbrush over the surface to create a softly blended image. Imagine getting so excited over plain white card! Lol! (You know how it is though!)
Anyway, tomorrow I shall be at Crafty's in Liverpool, and have been busy with samples for this demonstration as well as for the Sunday at Burnside Garden Centre, Thornton, near Blackpool. I got a few new Martha Stewart punches and have a couple of quite simple cards to show you how pretty the punched designs are. This first one has a double border of the Four Petal Flower punch (punched through Best Creations adhesive glitter paper....how good are these punches?!). The new punch, though, is the Large Flower, M42-30004. I cut a strip of white card to fit down the right hand of the card (after placing a strip of my Red Gingham card and two thin strips of the red glitter paper) and punched a flower at either end before punching the centre one. This is a pop up style punch, so it only cuts part way through. I edged the petals using Barn Door Distress ink (I put paper beneath them to keep the rest of the card clean) and then stamped the sweet, delicate floral circles into the centres using Paula Pascual's stamp set "All Year Round" PPCSA6007...I couldn't believe how perectly they fitted! Paula's stamps are "just so". As I said, this is a very simple card as I wanted to show off the punched flowers - the effect is so pretty once the petals are lifted up. This punch is not a Christmas one, but I immediately thought that it would work as a Poinsettia type of embellishment. I punched six of them (Large Chrysanthemum Flower M42-30008) from white card and then gently swooshed with Fired Brick Distress ink. I made double flowers by adhering the centre with Glossy Accents (I recommend this when Distress ink has been applied to a surface as the ink tends to repel 3d Foam, DST etc) and I moved each top flower around a few mm to ensure that the petals didn't line up. A few spots of gold Stickles in each centre and a few upward flicks of the petals really gave them the festive feel. The card has my Holly cardstock, Vanilla Teddy topper and message from my "Ggggreat Christmas Words" stamp set. I smudged some more Fired Brick around too...well you have to really! I have more new punches, so I'll try to get some snaps of them this weekend. Lastly, here are a couple of Christmas tags that I made yesterday. The left one has Pine Needles and Fired Brick Distress inks blended over the tag (made from that brilliant card!) which I lightly spritzed with water for the snowy effect. I used two more of my new MS punches (nearly forgot about them!) the Postage Stamp M283006, and Medium Holly and Berries M232316. I love the dinky stamp punch. I cut two little festive images to fit within the stamps which I had lightly darkened with ink. I applied Crackle Accents once they were on the tag. I used a little piece of Tim's Symphony Tissue Tape to wrap around the tag near the base. An Adage Ticket, which I inked and spritzed and the numbers were some 3d card stickers which I applied red Stickles to. The holly was punched from Glitter adhesive paper from BC again. The words are stamped using an image from a lovely stamp set by Marion Emberson, which I will be using on Sunday - amongst other things! The main image from the set is the lovely swirling tree on the blue tag, as well as the message which I curved to fit the edge of the tag. The stamp set is called "Christmas Wishes" PICSA6160. I added punched holly again. Both tags have ribbons which I dyed using alcohol inks. Hope you like them! Well, time to relax for a while now. My bags are packed, I'm ready to go.....oh oh, I'll be bursting into song in a minute! So, I'll be back after the weekend with more photos - if I remember to take any! Have a great weekend whatever you are up to. Lindsay

Thursday 23 September 2010

Chunky Book Pictures

I just managed to take pictures of my wonderful Chunky Book before the skies turned a mix of grey, purple and yellow, the Heaven's opened and the thunder and lightning began. One roll of thunder was so close and so loud that I felt the floor vibrating...I kid you not! Anyway, my camera is still determined to turn things blue, so some of the pages don't look quite as colourfully purple as they really are. So, thanks to all the talented ladies who took part and especially to Heather for arranging the swap and for making all the covers and putting the pages togrther so artfully. Here is the front cover which Heather made featuring some of my favourite colours! The remaining pictures show each person's page on the right and the previous page back on the left....hope that makes sense! Next is the inside cover and the "Timekeeper" page created by Alison Brandist.....lots of textures, masking, great colours and images on this page - love it! The next picture shows the "Heart and Soul" page by Sandra Zengler. This one has really rich colours and I love the words that Sandra has chosen. The next picture is of "Heavy Metal" by Heather Fenn-Edwards (my sis, who organised the whole thing). There's so much going on in this page and, if I'm not mistaken, Heather has used the "Drunken Scotch" technique to create the scrumptious background. Very tactile.Next is my page, "It's only Words". I used alcohol inks, acetate, stamps etc to create this one.This spooky page is by Sheila King. It's for the theme "A Ghost in the Machine" and I love all the cobwebs. When David looked through the book he said this page was his favourite!Next is a very elegant page by Joanne Parkin. It's the page entitled "With a Little Flourish"...this was the page I struggled the most with, so I was really impressed with Joanne's interpretation. The amount of work on this is really something though you can't really see the dimension here.Here is the "I Dreamed a Dream" page by June Benton which looks much more purple and aqua in real life than it does here. June has done some lovely, shimmery spritzing on this page and lots of collagey stamping to create this very ethereal page. Hilda Moffett created this next page entitled "Vintage Journeys". An array of tickets, case, maps etc adorn the page and I especially like the pennant shapes at the side....black and white Glossy Enamels unless I'm mistaken! I was quite chuffed that I got this next page by Susan Jenneys (Artyjen) because it was my favourite of her pages that she put on her blog! This one is for the theme "Take Flight" and Sioux used Grungepaper to stamp her images onto. Once coloured they have been adorned with Distress Stickles (careful how you say that out loud folks!!!). Very evocative. Finally, this shows the inside back cover that Heather made and includes a list of everyone who took part...attention to detail or what?! So, there you have it, what a treasure indeed. Keep an eye on Heather's blog as she may well be doing more unusual swaps after Christmas - meanwhile she does run a monthly ATC swap that you can join in. By the way, as the idea was to make chunky pages that also included Ranger products (though not strictly) I thought I'd photograph my book on a suitable background....any idea? It's my coveted Ranger apron!
Off to relax for a bit now, so see you back here soon. Lindsay

Wednesday 22 September 2010

New workshop dates

Rena and I have arranged a couple more workshops to be held at Dawn's studio, so thought I'd update all my classes in this post as it may be a week or two till they go into my sidebar. So, as of now, the forthcoming workshops are:
Saturday 23rd October 10am-1pm: "An introduction to Art Journalling".....creating backgrounds, learning to draw figures, doodling etc. Please bring your own Promarkers/Copics but if you don't have these I'll provide you with alternative colouring mediums.
Saturday 23rd October 1.30pm-4.30pm: "Christmas Cute but Clever"....we'll be using a selection of my stamps to create cards and more. Just bring your usual workshop essentials.
Sunday 5th December 10am-1pm: "Fairy Doors"....by popular demand we are running this workshop again for those who missed out last time. We'll be using Grungeboard, paints, crackle mediums etc plus lots of little extras to create magical doors that you can place in a room as an entrance to Fairyland. This one is definitely for those of us who refuse to grow up!!! Just bring workshop essentials.
Sunday 5th December 1.30pm-4.30pm: "Altered Christmas Decorations".....time to create some new tree decorations or to give as gifts. We'll be creating little works of art from scratch and recycling some tired baubles as well! Just bring workshop essentials.
All the above workshops are £20 each - please contact Topaz Crafts to book a place. The Art Journalling and Cute Christmas are filling up fast, so if you fancy coming to either of those don't hang about! Hope that the new date is okay for those of you who requested the workshop repeats, but I don't have that many free weekend days left before you know what! Don't forget to check my demonstration dates as I'll be updating these regularly as usual. This Saturday I'll be at Crafty's in Liverpool and in Strikes, Thornton (near Blackpool) on Sunday, if you are in the area.
Well, I meant to take photos of my Chunky Book and ATC's today but, by the time I had ferreted everything out from their "safe" places amongst all the mountain of bags and boxes that are still waiting to be sorted out from the weekend, it had got too dull. I will try to get the pics tomorrow so that I can share the wonderful pieces with you.
Today has been spent (as well as searching for things which takes an unfeasible chunk out of my day!) making samples for this weekend's demonstrations. I've been stamping, colouring, punching, die cutting, sticking etc. I'll be doing the more messy, inky stuff tomorrow. My theory was that if I did the "cleaner" elements today that I wouldn't get messy marks on my samples....mmmmm, not too sure about that though.....seem to find messy marks whatever I'm doing! Oh well, more snowflakes, Stickles and flowers to camouflage then!
Off to do a little more colouring now and will be back before the weekend with pictures. Lindsay

Monday 20 September 2010

What a weekend!

It was hard work but it was a really terrific weekend spent at Dawn's Design Studio with a full day of workshops on Saturday and then demonstrating yesterday. Thankfully, after planning and preparing for the classes, (and bringing a personal record amount of "stuff" with me!) everything went pretty smoothly and I'm so pleased that everyone said that they enjoyed themselves...my main goal! There were some familiar faces and old friends (less of the old I hear you cry!) and we were also delighted that Sioux (Artyjen) had travelled up so far to be with us - over seven hours in her car! I was only sorry that, because of the crazy schedule on Saturday, I didn't get as much time as I would have liked to spend talking with Sioux. There was lots of excitement in the air with everyone being together though, so the atmosphere was great. One very funny moment came when Sioux suddenly let out a loud screech and we all thought she had done herself a mischief.....but no....Joanne had made her a special ATC and it was the sight of Richard Armitage's face staring up at her from the card which caused the reaction! Hilarious! Sioux made me a special ATC too - featuring Ben Murphy and Pete Duel (Alias Smith and Jones...going back a bit!) because we had both revealed that our teenage poster heart throb had been Pete Duel. What a surprise that was, as it was some time ago that we learned of our mutual fancy! Brilliant! I got TAC's from Sheila and Gez too and will post pictures of them as soon as I can locate them...that sounds awful, but I had such a huge amount of things to pack away that I put them somewhere safe and just have to remember which safe place it was! Everything is still in the car as we couldn't face unpacking it all last night. Better get it done soon though. Here you can see some of the girls in full flow (looks like Sheila was about to start handing round some of the toffees that she brought!) and just some of the masses of "stuff" under the tables.So, the morning workshop was a repeat of the Ranger Mirror project which was so popular earlier this year. Joanne and "Peg Leg" arrived early and Joanne helped us to get set up - thank you! It took some time due to the sheer amount of products we were going to be using. The Ikea framed mirrors were colourwashed and set aside so that we could then concentrate on making all the Ranger technique filled examplars to decorate them with. We started with the Melt Pot, making UTEE filled Memory Frames, UTEE agate pieces, UTEE over stamps etc. Everyone's pieces were different of course, and we had no accidents with the Melt Pots and the leads which I was trying carefully not to trip over from my position in the middle of the tables! After the Melt Pots were switched off, we moved onto Claudine Hellmuth Sticky Backed Canvas, creating transferred images and resist images by stamping onto the canvas with Multi Matte Medium. Next we used Alcohol inks on acrylic Fragments, on foil and a technique that proved to be very popular which was inking a glass piece and then stamping with Black Archival ink before removing the stamped image with tissue to reveal a negative. Here are some very concentration filled faces! We then moved onto Distress inks and Gesso (which I realised that we should really have done earlier as it needed to dry. Oops, sorry ladies!) and by then our three hours was well and truly up. Because the next workshop was only half an hour later we couldn't overrun, so everyone is going to assemble the pieces at home. Heather arrived mid morning and then joined everyone else at 1pm when the first workshop ended. Heather had brought the completed Chunky Books from the swap that myself, Joanne, Gez, Sioux and Sheila had all partaken in. Heather had wrapped each book in fabric and ribbon with name tags on them. The reactions of everyone were wonderful as Heather had done some an amazing job putting all the pages together. I'll post pictures of my book once I take them, but do check out everyone elses blogs to see some examples already posted. Thank you Heather, all your hard work was really appreciated by me and everyone else, especially as I know it was made extra tricky at the moment with your hand problems.
Well, David and I refused everyone's offers to help us clear the tables and set up for the next class...we sent them off for their lunch instead! The half hour vanished in a puff of smoke and soon we were onto the Matchbox Shrines. Here are two pictures of the largest shrine which we used Cook's Matches boxes on (just to give you an idea of scale). The first picture shows the tray pushed upwards.... .....and this one shows the tray pulled down.
My example featured an Opalite cat which I bought last year (it reminded me of our lovely pusscat, Cherry) and a lovely quote, which had a few of us cat lovers feeling teary on Saturday, which read "no heaven will not Heaven be, unless my cat is waiting there for me". The base was made from corrugated card - I love this free, lightweight packaging material as it can be used for so many projects. It was covered in paper, swooshed using Paint Dabbers and, once the matchbox case was stuck down, the whole piece was coated with Beeswax. I love Beeswaxing! The matchbox tray was painted, papered and filled with little icons, quotes and Beadazzles, and some wire was threaded through and beaded to create the pull. David had guessed that this would take everyone about an hour and a half! Mmmmm...no! There was a lot of work in creating these, and the beaded wires took quite some time, so the second, smaller shrine was going to be a work in progress. Everyone took home the relevent card pieces and papers etc and we made a start on the little matchbox with doors. Here you can see my shrine closed..............and open.
As promised, here is a brief run down of the matchbox element for this one: The tray is covered with a long strip of paper running vertically and creased well to sit neatly in and around the edges. Then a piece of paper is similarly stuck in horizontally. The cover is then cut in half down the length of the front to create the doors. Two paper strips are used to cover both doors - it's important to crease the paper as you go so that there is no tension when the doors are opened or closed. I used a gold Paint Dabber to coat the exposed edges of the card. Now the cover is stuck firmly to the tray so that just the doors remain unstuck. Back to a little wiring now! Poke a hole through each door about half way down. Thread a bead (about 7mm) onto thin wire, twist the wire together and push the ends through a door front and secure the ends with tape. For the second door, make a loop in a piece of wire, twisting the ends again. Ensure it will fit over the bead on the other door. Now push the ends through and secure inside as before. Now you just need to cut two more pieces of paper to cover the door backs, covering the wire ends. Easy! :)
For the plaque, cover a semicircle and a rectangle of card with paper, decorate with paint etc and then stick the semicircle to the top of the rectangle to make a sort of roof effect. Adhere the matchbox to the plaque before filling and decorating to your taste. I used a tiny bottle (filled with a mix of bath salts and glitter!) and made a "Love Potion" label for it and a tiny tag for the door that reads "Open at own risk". I cut letters from a Tim Holtz paper stash and added K&Co bees and a random paper key coated with Glossy Accents. The hanger is simply twisted wire and beads. Hope you like them - they were tremendous fun to make. Here are the girls and myself - minus Heather, who was taking the picture! - with their large shrines. Joanne is being camera shy and hiding behind hers!Well, I was well and truly shattered after a long day on my feet and all the talking! So, after spending some time chatting to everyone and saying cheerios etc, it was time to make a start on clearing up...ugh! Worst job! We got some sorted but had to leave some things for the morning as Amy was ready to take me round to Dawn's house where I was staying the night as her sister, Rena, has not been too well. We had a lovely roast dinner and relaxed on the sofa catching up, watching some tv and playing with the doggies! I slept really well and it was soon time to get back to the tip that was awaiting me on the tables at the shop. Oh well, we just got stuck in and then I was ready to demonstrate for the day. This included me colouring Sheila's necklace after I made a casual remark about how I'd feel compelled to alcohol ink it...it was silver and pearl colours, but now it's oranges and browns! It was another fun filled day, and I'd like to say a special hello to Caitlin and her mum. It was lovely to spend time with you and I hope you can come to a workshop - you'll be well looked after. I'll post some new workshop titles and dates shortly.
To finish, I'd like to include my quirky journal page! I wasn't going to post this one, but, on Saturday, some of the ladies really did seem to like it, even asking if I could do a stamp of this creepy character!!! I should explain that the inspiration here was that, in the mornings, with the sun coming through, I can see a really weird face in the curtains - you know how that light and the patterns can create strange images. After noticing him a few times I decided to call him "The one eyed Matador"! Anyway, coming back on the train last weekend, I saw an arched, viaduct type of bridge set in the beautiful scenery. I immediately recalled the Matador as the arch shapes reminded me of his big, tombstone teeth! So, I sat on the train sketching and by the time I got home I had got to this stage....... .......I then finished the drawing and coloured the pages, using Promarkers, over the next couple of evenings and this was the final result. I do like the colours but was cross that I made a mess of my writing! Gggrrr! Never mind. So, one creepy page was finished! That was a pretty mammoth post, made longer by the fact that the italic button keeps pressing itself for no apparent reason so I have had to keep going back over text. Very annoying! I am now going to get on with rest of the day, which means doing...nothing! This is my Sunday! Thanks to everyone who I was with this weekend, including Brenda, who worked her socks off keeping everyone supplied with teas and coffees on Saturday! It was a really great weekend and hope to see you all again soon. Lindsay

Friday 17 September 2010

Another sneaky peek!

Evenin' all! Thought I'd tease you with another sneaky peek of tomorrow afternoon's workshop...I promise to show the full pictures, along with some snaps from the weekend, on Sunday or Monday. It looks a bit blurry because it's enlarged by cropping, but will give you a taster of what we'll be up to...look Sheils....wire and beads! Don't worry, there's nothing too tricky with those - you'll cope just fine, and we will have the country's leading expert on hand of course. Yes Heather, I mean you! We have just got back from a trip to the supermarket where I had a bit of a giggle, wishing I had a camera in my phone. As we were going through the self service checkouts I spied a very extrovertly dressed young guy...oversized red baseball cap, white baseball type jacket and very loud red baggy trousers. I was just saying "Here's my dream guy" to David, being humorous of course, when David pointed out the familiar monogram on his hat...."T.H." in 4" high white letters!!! "It's Tim Holtz!" said David, causing me to have a giggling fit at the idea of Tim dressed like that! Well, it made me laugh anyway!
As an antidote to ranting on my other blog, here are a few things which have made me happy this week, some are very simple but they gave me a lift. We are currently watching and listening to the BBC Proms concert and Nicola Benedetti was playing the violin with such passion and emotion that it was very moving. Next there was a medley of music from Scottish films and now there is a compilation of show tunes....a real treat. The blockage in my creative head has been shoved out now thank goodness! I always find that if I have anything pending that I am not getting on with (for one reason or another) I can't be fully creative with anything else either, so, all urgently needed projects are done - for now anyway! Everything is prepped and ready for tomorrow's workshops too, so that feels good. Speaking of which, I am so looking forward to meeting Sioux (Artjen) who is travelling a long way to join us all tomorrow...I know she will have a great time with all her blogging friends. Limpy the pigeon is getting better all the time. Still limping, but looking much better - thanks to everyone who asked about him - nice to know that there are others as soft as we are! David brought a lovely gift back for me when he popped out this afternoon, a delicate necklace and bracelet with blue abalone insets. Aren't I a lucky lady....well, lucky anyway, not so sure about the lady bit! Ha ha!
Anyway, before I get told off, I shall sign off so that I can properly enjoy the rest of this wonderful concert. See some of you tomorrow and I'll be back with pictures next week. Have a great weekend everyone. Lindsay

Thursday 16 September 2010

Three places left

I've just checked the status of my workshops this Saturday at Dawn Bibby's studio and the Ranger Mirror, morning, class is fully booked. However, there are three places available on the 1.30pm-4.30 pm workshop..."Matchbox Shrines". This is a mixed media class where we will be making wall hangings that have matchboxes as a focal point, containing mini treasures. We'll be papering, painting, Beeswaxing, gilding and adorning the plaques. The matchboxes will be similarly decorated and then filled with tiny ornaments, charms etc that I've been collecting for us to use. Wire and beads are also featuring, so there will be plenty to keep everyone busy! If you'd like to come along to a fun filled afternoon, please call Topaz Crafts on 01254 356501 to book. The cost is £20 which includes all materials. I'm looking forward to Saturday very much and have just finished sorting out all the materials for the classes...a pretty mammoth task it was too!
Just one photo to share with you today. I have done a couple more Journal pages but I'll just show you this one for now...the other one is a little weird to be honest!!! This one is quite whimsical. I used Sherbet Pink and Raspberry paint dabbers over my pages, the grid pattern coming from Magic Mesh which I laid on the pages before dabbing the paints over the top and then removing the mesh. The image (she looks just like me....!!! Ha!) is from a magazine as are the watch faces.I just wanted a pretty simple look to this one. My gessoed, painted pages are between my drawn and coloured with Promarkers ones - this way, it doesn't matter that the pen colour comes through to the back because the paint mediums cover it.
That's it for the moment then. Off to relax for the evening now - David and I had a fish n chips lunch yesterday and we have both been feeling a little "delicate" since then! My fish looked very grey, so I think that was the cause...we won't be going there again anyway! And it was meant to be a treat! Oh well!
So, looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday...I'll be working you hard! Then I'll be in Dawn's Studio on Sunday as well to demonstrate for the day, so do pop along if you can. Lindsay

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Weekend round up and a sneaky peek!

Hello folks, it's Tuesday already...can't believe it! Welcome to new readers and followers of my blog who I met over the weekend and apologies to anyone who has joined as a follower in the past and been "turfed off"! David found that there is a problem with the Blogger, Internet Explorer and Google combo which was replacing followers, rather than adding them on. We think he has fixed it, but fingers crossed and sorry if anyone thought that I was being rude and deleteing them!
I had a smashing weekend (great word, "smashing"...sounds nostalgic and it's under used!) in St Helens and Workington. Great to see everyone as always and what a lot of creative fun there was. I was kept busy on Saturday and so well looked after by everyone at Crafts 4 U 2 Do, as always...nice to be fed and watered! There were lots of familiar faces there and I'm sorry that I didn't get chance to take any pictures that day. However, here are a couple of photos of one of the more whimsical cards that I made using my new Christmas cardstock and toppers. The card is covered with Green Gingham card and the tree was made using Raspberry Snowballs and Holly cardstocks. The teddy is one of my toppers and the ornaments border is, needless to say, a MS punch! I used the punched out shapes to decorate the tree. The inside features one of my Cosy Christmas toppers behind the white card in which I cut the aperture using the MS circle cutter. I used the Holly card at the sides and the ornament punch again across the top. There is a second Teddy topper and you can just see the Cat topper sitting inside! The greeting is from the matching message toppers sheet.I had to do a double shuffle to pack away as my train up to Workington was at 4.15! Special thanks to my two friends who drove ahead of us when David was taking me to St Helens station....they knew the quickest way, so "Thank you", you know who you are! I did catch the train! So, off I set to Workington, in Cumbria, where I had not been before. I had a relaxing evening of a meal, some telly and a good sleep before a good breakfast and then set off to the Crafty Workshop. What an enjoyable day it was there! I met lots of new people (and one or two ladies that I already know...some of you get about nearly as much as I do!!!) and haven't met such enthusiasm for some time!!! Hello to all my new friends up there. One of the things I made on Sunday was this little Christmas tag using Distress inks to colour the tag before spritzing with water for some snowy effects. I used Tim's Tissue Tape (Symphony) across the bottom of the tag after tearing and inking it slightly. I inked the Grungeboard numbers and adhered these with Glossy Accents and then the Adage Ticket which was inked, spritzed and held in place with Foliage accents and a brad. The cute reindeer was one of many silvery motifs that The Crafty Workshop had in stock and I simply alcohol inked him before adding the obligatory red gem nose! (Well, you have to really!) I alcohol inked the ribbon too....you know me! I had a great time up in Workington, so hope to be back next year. Oh yes! There was much discussion this weekend about the DI colour "Dusty Concord"! I'm ashamed to say that I could not, for the life of me, bring to mind the origin of this name! However, on Sunday, Lesley suddenly got the answer....it's a grape variety! Duh!Back to a little Art Journalling now. I had been working on this double page for a few evenings and I forgot to take a picture before I began colouring it in. Here are the pages once I had coloured them and the second shows them after I had added some words. I kept this one simple....it is just a pictorial way of expressing how I feel sometimes when all the deadlines come at once, all the bills arrive together, etc etc...I'm sure we all have days like this! Hope you can relate to it! I used my usual black drawing pens to draw the design and then used Promarkers to colour before adding more details and the words. The colours are flat in the sky area where I used the broad nib to colour with. The watery areas are more "shady" as I didn't want to go over them too much and was using the finer nib. I like the contrast in the flat and more textural colour though.

The "sneaky peek" is of this Saturday's "Matchbox Shrines" workshop at Dawn's studio. Just a taster for those of you who are coming to that one!Just a word of warning...it's going to be a very busy day with only half an hour between the morning and afternoon workshops to get everything cleared up and set out....making me dizzy just to think about it! If you are coming to the Shrines class then you may wish to bring any little tokens, charms, tiny ornaments etc that you might like to include in your piece. Don't worry if you haven't, as I have a little collection of treasures that you can pick from. However, the more eclectic our choices the better! Joanne....I feel terrible now, as if I have misled you! When I said that Personal Impressions had sent me all the goodies for the workshops I didn't mean that I had the latest, not available yet Ranger/Idealogy stuff....I wish that it had been so, but will have to wait a little longer yet. I have plenty of lovely things though!
Well, this has taken me ages, so I had better sign off as my fingers are going numb! That could be all the paint, Glossy Accents and Micro Beads that are stuck to them though! Lindsay

Friday 10 September 2010

Don't faint!

Those of you who know me, or have seen me demonstrating, may well faint at these shocking photographs. Yes, that is me, actually cleaning my stamps!It very rarely happens so I thought I'd snap a couple of picures to immortalise the moment!
I gave them a good squirt of Stazon cleaner (the latest one), scrubbed them within an inch of their lives and gave them a warm, soapy bath followed by a good rinse and a dry in a nice warm towel. Personal Impressions clear stamps are Polymer, as opposed to acrylic, so it's okay to use permanent inks and cleaners on them. They don't look exactly like new, but I know that they'll perform better as they were getting a bit clogged up!
Oh well, there's a job I don't need to think about for another few months! lol, I am naughty I know! Lindsay

Thursday 9 September 2010

A little journalling

Afternoon everyone, sorry for my few days absence, I have been having a break from the computer and concentrating on drawings for both work and pleasure. The two things feel very different and, when I have been concentrating hard on getting some designs just so, creating something just for fun is a bit of a treat! The last couple of evenings I have been doodling in my new journal, and the theme of this page was exactly what I just mentioned...... ......this is the image once I'd pencilled and then inked it out. And below, after I had coloured it with a mixture of pencil crayons and Promarkers. I love that moment when the drawings are all done and deciding which colour to use on the page first! When I'm working it can be a very important decision, but here I just went with my favourite shades. It's a simple page but I got a lot of pleasure from creating it, and that's what it's all about. I think the number doodles came about because I have a Sudoku grid that I am totally stuck on and so now it has become a challenge! Yes, that's our little Cherry (in spirit only now) looking towards the house. The Promarkers obviously come through the back of the pages, but if you alternate between them and pages which are gessoed, or collaged, then there's no problem. I tend to place a sheet of paper behind the page I'm working on anyway, to protect the page edges. The simple, doodly pages are great for when I'm travelling - I'll be doing more of these as the nights draw in. I always hate the dark evenings when I'm on the trains as I can't while away the time looking at the scenery....so much more entertaining than TV!!!
I've also been making some more samples for this weekend's forthcoming events. Hope to see some familiar faces at Crafts 4 U 2 Do in St Helens on Saturday! I have my Christmas cardstock, toppers and stamps as well as all my favourite Ranger products of course....! I also have lots of MS punches, good thing that David is driving me there as they are pretty heavy. Once I finish there I have to do a double shuffle to get to the local station and catch my first of three trains to get me up to Workington. I've never been there before but it's not too far from Cockermouth. I'm stopping overnight and then I'll be at the Crafty Workshop on Sunday. I'll be using some of the same products as well as other stamps and some Tim Holtz products such as the Tissue Tape which I am really enjoying using in all sorts of projects. If you haven't tried it do give it a go as it can be torn, inked, wrapped around things, stuck down etc and just adds a subtle amount of nostalgic distressing.
Talking of Ranger!? I received a box of products from Personal Impressions today which, amongst other things, had various items for next weekend's workshops. There were Memory Frames, UTEE, Beeswax, stamps, tapes and ....oooh, all sorts of lovely things! Hope everyone is looking forward to the day, whether the morning, afternoon, or both sessions. It is going to be fun - chaotic fun! Well, that's all for now folks, so will sign off for today. Lindsay

Monday 6 September 2010

New stamps

Well, I just "upgraded" to the new posting editor from Blogger...then I immediately went back to the original one as it was just doing nothing except for the little spinning circle that whirrs round endlessly when something is obviously not up to speed. Any of you tried it yet, and if so, have you had any success - it's supposed to be easier to upload photos...mmmm!
As you will see from the title, I have some more new stamps out and they will be on QVC tomorrow - not sure what time, but there is a stamping hour at 12pm, so I'm guessing they may be on then...don't quote me though! If you'd like a sneaky peek at them (well, not that sneaky as they are on the QVC website!) the QVC item number is 590 197. Hope you like them as much as I enjoyed creating them. Unfortunately I haven't had any of the stamps myself yet, so I haven't made any of the card samples this time.
Well, it was another busy weekend and on Saturday I was back at Craftzone in Pontefract, home of Pontefract cakes (which are, dissappointingly, not cakes at all, but liquorice!!!) and Haribo sweets...Pontefract that is, not Craftzone! As you can see from David's photo, it was a very busy day with lots of ladies staying for several hours...chairs and front row seats were closely guarded. Lol. It was a fun day with a lot of laughter...I think there may have been a touch of hysteria too at the total amounts that some of the shopping baskets came to! Well, there are worse things to spend one's pennies on that's for sure! I promised that I would post a picture of this card which features a lovely winter village stamp from Personal Impressions (P241P). This is not the original, properly finished card, but one that I put together to remind the ladies who were at the last few demonstrations what it looked like. The stamp is the central image and I've simply inked the two large trees again to extend the width of the scene. I used Distress inks to create the background with water to create the bleached look. Again my camera has done a pretty shabby job of showing the image and colours at their best, never mind the tiny amount of fine glitter that I added. I'll have to start avoiding blues I think! Anyway, not exactly the best version of this card that I've made, but hope it's enough to remind everyone that was convinced they would forget what it looked like once they got home! On Friday - I know, I'm time travelling here...we went over to mum and dad's. I was going to put a picture of my mum here, but post editor (or whatever you call it) is messing me about tonight, and it won't let me move anything around. Gggrr. Oh well, I will have to leave you with this snap of Tara, lounging about on the armchair...very different from the nervous little pusscat who arrived at mum and dad's from the cat rescue centre last year!

Sunday was a day just for David and I, for a change, but I'll be out and about next weekend at Crafts 4 U 2 Do in St Helens on Saturday and then at the the Crafty Workshop in Workington, Cumbria on Sunday. I'll be posting before then of course!

Thursday 2 September 2010

Fairyland...

As promised, here are pictures of some of the samples that I made for today's QVC craft hour with my new fairy silhouette stamps, "Magic Happens" and "Wish Upon a Star". Thanks for the texts and emails that I've had, and glad that you liked them! This first card features the fairy sitting on a toadstool along with thetoadstool houses on an alcohol ink monoprint. I painted the moon with blending solution and used my heat tool to pull out the colour. The flowers were also dyed with the inks and I accented the centres, along with the fairy wings, using Stickles. As many of you know, I really do like silhouette stamps, so I had fun both designing, and using these. The next card is an 8" x 8" base and I've used Distress inks to create the atmospheric colours of the sky before bleaching out the stars, ground and trees using water. The colours I used were Weathered Wood, Faded Jeans, Dusty Concorde, Pine Needles and Walnut Stain. I stamped the fairy and greeting using a Coffee Archival ink pad, then coated the fairy with Glossy Accents. Those who were on my last workshop may recognise the technique which I used on the next card! I stamped the oval framed fairy onto acetate and then covered the reverse with Ranger paint dabbers - Cloudy Blue, Willow, Raspberry and Pearl white. I then placed a piece of white card over the paint, pressed down and allowed the paint to dry. It acts like a glue so I was then able to cut out the oval and place it onto a couple of Nestability ovals. The glitter is by Martha Stewart and the borders were made by pressing the glitter onto three strips of ultra strong tape. I also dotted Glossy Accents over the card and sprinjled with more glitter. The next card is a quirky one! I used a baby wipe to pick up colours from a Hydrangea Big n Juicy ink pad pressed onto my craft sheet. I let this completely dry (don't heat baby wipes as they tend to shrivel up!) and mounted it onto card. The fairy and castle were stamped in black and then covered with hologram embossing powder. A greeting and a few touches of Just Glitter pen in silver complete the look. Next is the row of mushroom houses again and this time I wanted to use a single small fairy from within one of the frames. I just inked the image carefully to avoid getting ink on the actual frame and stamped her onto an alcohol inked background. I highlighted the fairy's magic stardust with a little Stickles. Don't know why this looks quite so blue as it wasn't in reality! Lastly, this is me making a concerted effort not to use my favourite purple, blue and pink combination! So I went for ochres and greens instead. The background and flowers are alcohol inked and the fairy stamped in black archoval. I then masked her except for her wings, and overstamped using a Versamark Watermark ink pad before embossing with Stardust powder. I repeated this (just focussing on the wing) onto heat resistant acetate, then cut out the wing leaving a tab which I pushed through a slit made in the fairy's shoulder. This is a simple way to add dimension and so much easier than trying to stick a second wing into place with adhesive knowing it may well fall off! Stickles were added to both butterfly and flowers and the sentiment was simply stamped, matted and popped on the corner. Mmm, I quite like the colours after all! Anyway, hope you enjoyed looking at the cards and, if you missed the stamps and want to see what comes in each set, check out the QVC website and type in 590 112 for both options.
If you are in the Pontefract area on Saturday, do pop along to Craftzone where I'll be demonstrating all day. I'll have a nice mix of stamps, papers and inks with me of course, so hope to see you there. Lindsay

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Apologies!

Hello all, just a quick apology! I said that my new stamps were going to be on air in today's 2pm show on QVC, but they weren't! They are now going to be on tomorrow's (Thursday) show instead, in the stickers and stamping hour at 2pm...promise! It was a last minute reschedule apparently and my stamps are due to be the first product in the hour. Sorry about the confusion. Lindsay