Passport to Peterborough

Just a quick post tonight as I've packed my case and am all set for a relaxing evening before my trip down to Peterborough tomorrow. I haven't been there before, apart from changing trains at the station sometimes, nor have I been to Sir Stampalot, where I'll be on Sunday, so I am doubly looking forward to this weekend. I have heard nothing but good things about this store and the lovely people who run it, so I'm sure it will be a terrific day.
I've been making a few tags using Andy Skinner's stamps..... ......as well as cards using my new stamps. This one is lucky to survive as I had placed it on the box by the window whilst the Stickles dried and, I can only assume in an effort to impersonate a Magpie, Fred, our favourite pigeon, decided it looked rather attractive and decided to walk on it! Luckily it escaped reasonably unharmed! He must have taken a fancy to the sparkly glitter as he was gazing at it for some time before he took the plunge! Here's another card using my snowy scene stamps. The idea with these is that you can create many different scenes from the one set. I used the bare tree stamp in the set to create the twiggy shrubbery on the right and just added some red dots to the branches to create the winter berry look. This stamp set, along with the one that includes the snowmen from the previous card, were featured on the last hour of QVC craft day yesterday, though if you blinked you may well have missed them! If you'd like to see the sets, just type my name into the search bar on the QVC website and they will come up as two options.
However, for those of you who are coming along to Sir Stampalot on Sunday, I'll be showing you some different ideas for using them. If you're a follower or reader of my ramblings, please do say "hello" and introduce yourself! Hope everyone has a great weekend, whatever the weather may bring.

Welcome new followers and readers...

I just wanted to say a warm welcome to new followers and readers of my blog (including Lesley, who you can see a piccie of in my previous post, with the wonderful card that she made) and hope that you'll enjoy my ramblings, both arty and otherwise!

Here's a picture of my latest projects which feature in this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine (October issue which is out now - no, I don't understand the magazine dates either!). In the mag they have showed the snowflake decoration from the other side, which has a very pretty pearl in the centre, so I thought I'd show you it from the front. Obviously, it's meant to be seen from either side, so it can be hung up. I used a Martha Stewart edger punch to make the snowflake loops. The penguin stamps are two of my wooden backed rubber designs. For the ladies who were asking me about penguin stamps last week, I do also have some in clear sets too - they are available through QVC as kit number 590197....very small picture below! There are also polar bears in there, some verses and trees - if you look very hard! lol! I don't know if they will be featuring on craft day (from midnight tonight through to midnight on Thursday) but I will definitely have some of my new Christmas designs on in the 23rd hour of the event! Looks like there is going to be an interesting mix of products on over the day, so I'll be sneaking a look between working on some new drawings.
For pusscat lovers, here is a picture of our cheeky Thomas with a new blanket that he was given by two lovely friends of ours..........as you can see, he was pretty impressed and gave it a looong test drive! He sends his thanks!

Well, that's all for now folks, just a quick hello and to say that I hope to see some of you at Sir Stampalot this coming Sunday. It will be my first visit there and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll finish with a Happy Birthday wish to my sister, Heather, who is 27 again today!!!
PS I am working on new questions for my next big quiz for which, as usual, there will be a prize. So, start getting your brain cells in training!

My busy week

Hello again! I thought you might like to see some pictures from the QVC Craft Party event that I was at last week. I headed down to London on Wednesday and met up with Kathy and Jayne from Personal Impressions who were already busy getting out Make n Take and display tables ready. The whole room was decorated with bunting, pretty china cups, saucers and cake stands filled with fairy cakes. Very pretty. Here's the Personal Impressions display table complete with Martha Stewart goodies and two lovely Charlie Bears....I did wonder if the cupcakes would be safe in their paws! We also set up the workshop room where I'd be teaching twelve classes over the next two days. We were up bright and early for the first day of the event and Craig was there to welcome everyone and get them in the mood for crafting! Craig also introduced everyone...Marion Emberson, Imaginations, Michelle, Stix 2, Amy, Julie Hickey, Sizzix and everyone else that I've missed off my list. On the second day, new presenter Anna was there to do the honours...she was lovely and made a really excellent card on my workshop.Then it was time for myself and Jayne to lead our first group to the workshop where we would be making our "Winter's Tale " cards. We only had forty five minutes for each session, so had to get straight down to making a Distress Stain and Perfect Pearl Mist background, before stamping, masking, bleaching, colouring, cutting out and sticking everything together! Whew! Everyone did really well - even when, on the second class, Craig joined us and sang "Only a Winter's Tale" throughout! Bless him!??? Jayne and I scurried around, making sure that everybody knew where they were up to, and, with only twenty minutes between each class, we didn't have much time to spare! Here are a couple of the ladies carefully painting the fences, owls and postboxes for their cards. This is the lovely lady who had me in Stitches at the session that she attended...I've never seen anyone applying ink and stamping with such a lovely flourish and her laugh was infectious! A couple of the ladies went "off piste" so to speak, and used the techniques and the stamps etc to just have fun doing their own versions. This card was just gorgeous, with a very ethereal look to it. And this lady got really into the spirit of stamping and made her own version too. After twelve workshops Jayne and I were all in, but everyone's enthusiasm had made it all worthwhile - even stamping and cutting out 120 post it note fence masks was worth it (I had been going to stamp one each - 240 - but I caved in and people shared!!!).

Here's a picture of Craig drawing tickets for one of the raffles that were held over the two days. Great prizes were up for grabs, as well as tours of the QVC studios and behind the scenes in the craft prep room etc. How I would have loved to have won one of these Charlie Bears....but, of course, I wasn't even in the running for prizes. How cute is this chappie though...look at those pleading eyes! So, there's a mini round up of the Craft Party. It was a great chance to meet so many keen crafters and I hope you all went away having had a fantastic time at a memorable event.
I got home very late on Friday night and on Saturday I was off to Samuel Taylor's in Brighouse, Yorkshire. I was feeling very tired but, thankfully, everyone that came to my demonstration was so jolly and we did so much laughing, that they soon energised me and the day flew by. A special hello to Claire and to Diane who was teaching a workshop where the ladies made a beautiful birthday cake card. Take a look at Diane's blog, Inky Meanderings for more of her lovely work. Here's one of my cards from Saturday, using the same stamps as the QVC workshop, but with Distress inks instead of Stains for a softer feel to the scene. Lastly, don't forget that it's Craft day on QVC this Thursday (ie starting at midnight Wednesday through to midnight on Thursday). I will have some stamp sets on air, including new ones. And, really lastly, I also have a new set of projects, featuring penguins, in the latest issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine. I am now off to give my typing fingers a rest!
PS don't forget to read my previous post as I have done two in quick (?) succession!

Last weekend's demo & workshop snaps...

Yaaay, David managed to find the lost photos that I thought had gone up in a puff of smoke! There were lots of them, but here are just a few to give you a taste of what the workshops are like and a couple of cards that I did for the demonstration.

This is a simple card enhanced by the lovely MS punch around the page set "Snow Flurry", one of the new "Holiday" punch sets for this season. I used American Crafts red textured card and my "Christmas Collage" unmounted rubber stamp PIRS027. This one's great for fans of colouring in! As I do a lot of inky, distressy cards, I am enjoying doing some clean, more straightforward ones as a change. Here's a card using my Angelic trees stamp set PICSA6259, where I used a photocopied Bible page of the birth of Christ as the background with some Ranger acrylic dabbers smudged over it. The Peace on Earth sentiment is from Andy Skinner's "Let the Festivities Begin" stamp set. The Minarets are from my Nativity set PICSA6258. We were using this set for one of the cards on last Sunday's workshop....here is one card being layered up after alcohol inking the background and stamping the trees, Minarets and stable scene. Hard at work cutting out trees for our snowy scene card..... ......even a bandaged up hand didn't get in the way of this beautifully stamped and coloured card! Here am I just overseeing things and reminding some of the ladies what effect they were going for....though, as you can see, they were pretty much concentrating on what they were doing! A great time was had by all and if you do fancy joining in the fun of my workshops, I now have more details of what we'll be doing at each one. Please email me for more details, or to book, or call in to Crafts 4 U 2 Do, St Helens, where they'll be happy to help you. We have also added an extra weekday date into the schedule on Thursday 22nd September and this will be held at the shop itself - this workshop will be for fewer numbers, so do book early if you'd like to attend.

Thursday September 22nd - workshop sessions at Crafts 4 U 2 Do instore

10am-12.30pm: Collaged Christmas tags: an array of festive tags to hang from the tree, adorn a card, or add to extra special gifts. £15.00

1.30pm-4pm: Darkroom Door Christmas Cards: make seasonal cards using gorgeous stamps from the Darkroom Door range. £15.00

Wednesday October 5th

10am-12.30pm: Pop up Cards: create dimensional cards that are sure to delight. £15.00

1.30pm-4pm: Punches & Stamps: combine Martha Stewart punches with stamping to create delightful Christmas cards. £15.00

Sunday November 6th

10am-12.30pm: Clever Christmas cards: make cards which surprise and delight. £15.00

1.30pm-4pm: repeat of the above class. £15.00

Saturday November 12th - full day of workshops

10am-12.30pm: Artsy cards and tag: Christmas themed with inky techniques.

1.30pm-4pm: Christmas Shadow box: create a wonderful festive gift or keepsake.

Cost for the above is £30 for the full day of workshops.

Saturday 19th November:

10am-12.30pm: Acetate cards: Using acetate in various ways to create cards with a Christmas theme £15

1.30pm-4pm: Christmas decorations: We'll be making a selection of tree decorations using various materials and techniques.

Hope something tickles your fancy from the list there!
Finally, another stamp set has been added to my new Christmas designs. It is called Christmas Post PICSA6266 and features the Postbox, lamp post, wreath, yule log and two teeny robins. It works really well with the Build a Snowy Scene set. Hope you like it! Well, a cup of coffee has my name on it now and then I'll be back to do another post about the last week at QVC and in Yorkshire!

Workshops and gggrrr!

Hi folks, I'm blooming furious! It was a great weekend and I had a pile of photos to share with you of the demonstration and workshops.....but the computer has eaten the pictures, chewed them up and spat them out - after having deleted them from the camera at the same time of course. Oh I am so mad. I had lovely pictures of everyone on Sunday's workshop, plus the cards that they made, lots of samples that I left at the shop on Saturday and a few others besides.I will be able to take more photos of the workshop cards in the next few days, but the others are gone forever now. If you'd like to take a look at the cards meanwhile, do visit Joanne's blog, as she posted some yesterday.
Anyway, Saturday was a lovely, busy day at Crafts 4 U 2 Do and I really enjoyed working with all the new Christmas stamps. It's like a new lease of life when there are new stamps and other products to work with! Here's a card that I made with my new Nativity stamps set. I made the background with alcohol inks and Stazon spray cleaner then stamped the Palm trees with Archival black ink which always works very well over gloss card. I stamped the Nativity stable twice and cut out the doorway on the second image to layer over the full one below it. A star drawn with a white pen and the Silent Night from my "Silent Night" (Christmas words) set complete this one. The card which was second in my workshops was a similar one to this and everyone made a great job of them...and they all looked completely different too!
I have tried to make some of my new Seasonal designs useful beyond just Christmas, so, with the Nativity set for example, you can use the Palm trees for a tropical, or beach scene, the Minarets (which you'll see further down this post) can be used in conjunction with my "I dreamed of Castles" set as extra, differently shaped towers, and the Stable itself can be used as a shed, barn or even a dog kennel if you cut away the interior scene! Next is one of the Gorjuss Girl stamped cards, which I really enjoyed working with. I make so many distressy cards etc and I had great fun doing some detailed colouring in on these cute images. Of course, I couldn't resist using an alcohol inked background but I think it goes really well to evoke the icy feel with the Polar bear. This particular stamp is simply called "The Bear". Again though, the girl could be cut out and used on her own after Christmas...just sit her on a toadstool instead for instance. Here's a card I made using my "Build a Snowy Scene" stamp set against a Distress ink background that I bleached out with water. This set was designed in response to the many requests I've had over the last year or so for images to use with my Swirly Bird stamp set. So you can stamp the tree stump, fence, cottage etc and, with the use of a post it note mask or two, it's really simple to create lots of different scenes. The last picture is of a card I made this afternoon which hasn't photographed terribly well - it looks less detailed here than it is and the gold line I added around the figures looks more like a muddy brown here! I have used Adirondack dye based ink pads to create the background and to colour the Minarets as well. I loved using these rich colours and I'll be using Adirondack ink pads this coming Saturday when I'll be at Samuel Taylor's in Brighouse, Yorkshire. Meanwhile, I am almost ready for my trip to London tomorrow for the QVC customer event which is on Wednesday and Thursday....I will be taking my camera and the computer had better behave this time! I have lots of workshops to teach over the two days, so it's going to be fast paced, fun and a little tiring I'm guessing!
Talking of workshops....we have sorted out some more dates for these in St Helens. I will be posting more details of what each class will be, but, for the moment, here are some dates for your diaries!

September 11th - Sunday
September 22nd - Thursday
October 5th - Wednesday
November 6th - Sunday
November 12th - Saturday
November 19th - Saturday

Some of these will be seperate morning and afternoon classes, some will be the same workshop both morning and afternoon and some will be full day sessions. I will post the relevent details as soon as possible. You can email me for details and booking, or you can book by calling into Crafts 4 U 2 Do, Greenfield Rd, St Helens. There will be more dates to follow, so watch this space!
On a humorous note, I was about to chastise Thomas for scratching the carpet this morning when I could hear odd noises, but when I looked up it wasn't him at all, it was that cheeky squirrel who had come through the window and decided to find his own peanuts!! Thomas was just idly watching him running about the room - I guess he must realise that he has no chance of catching a squirrel, because, if it had been a bird, he would have been after it. Oh well, this afternoon the last of the scaffolding came down, so Mr squirrel will not be climbing through the window anymore...in fact, I just spotted him outside, looking up at me in disgust!
Well, I had better go and tidy up the remaining mess that I have left strewn about the place in my efforts to get everything ready for London. I'll post again as soon as I can after the weekend, with photos - I hope!!!

Quick reminder...

....that I'll be at Crafts 4 U 2 Do in St Helens tomorrow as part of their Christmas Card Extravaganza. I've been busy all week making lots of cards for this weekend and next, so I will have lots of samples with me and will share some of them on here next week. Hope to see some of you there tomorrow and on Sunday at the workshops which are also in St Helens.
It's been great using lots of new Christmas stamps, and I have, of course, been working with my Stickles glues. I've just been clearing away and tidying up and I discovered a stray bottle....unfortunately I only spotted it as it whipped up the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner! There's a little job for David!
Next week I'll be off down to London for the QVC Customer event where I'll be teaching twelve workshops over two days - eek! It will be fun though, and a great chance to meet up with lots of very keen crafting ladies and gentlemen. I'll be back late on Friday night and then straight up to Yorkshire on Saturday morning for my demonstration at Samuel Taylor's in Brighouse. So, a busy old week or so ahead!
Thank goodness the rioting (looting) seems to be abating now. The whole of Manchester city centre was a no go area on Tuesday night, with no buses running into, or out of the city itself. Tough for anyone who was stuck there! Even our local supermarket was closed and shuttered and that's in the suburbs. I think politicians need to do a lot of thinking about what measures they are going to take, but I also think that this is something that we, ourselves need to take responsibility for. You know that I often relate tales on here of incidents when I am travelling around the country....more often than not I am complaining about the apathy that bad behaviour is met with from my fellow travellers. I feel very strongly that adults need to take back control so that youngsters (sometimes very young) know their boundaries. We are all individuals and, as such, we often feel that we can't do anything, or are scared to confront antisocial activity, but, if we join together we can confront anything. Think of ants that are so tiny and yet, because they work as an integrated society, they can achieve amazing things. It's time to stop looking away and, instead, support each other in stopping the bad behaviour, that, left unchecked, leads to worse things.
Of course, I'm aware that there are countless very positive young people who would no more think of getting involved with the sort of things we've seen this week than would you or I. If we don't change things soon though, we are going to see more and more scenes of rioting and violence. I'd be interested to know what you all think.
Right, the stamps, papers, inks and samples are all packed up for the weekend now, so it's time to have a few hours to relax this evening. Hope everyone has a lovely, and safe weekend and I'll be back next week with piccies to share.

Christmas cards, QVC and a little helper!

Morning everyone, I am just taking a coffee break between making lots of new Christmas card samples for my demonstrations and various events. It's always good to be working with new designs so I am really enjoying this week.....getting the old glitter out always cheers me up!

This Saturday I'll be demonstrating at Crafts 4 U 2 Do in St Helens and I have so many products to show! My new stamps as well as Andy Skinner Christmas designs, Gorjuss Girl stamps and decoupage, Nit Wit festive decoupage, Best Creations papers, Martha Stewart latest Holiday punches.....crikey, I need more hands!

Talking of which, a certain someone decided that he should help out on the design side of things with his very own pencil and paper....... ......though I'm not sure he was too happy with his efforts! Lol! If you are at home this afternoon do tune into QVC as there will be some of my stamps on...I think in the 3pm hour. I haven't made the samples for the show so I'll be interested to see what has been made using them - always fun to see what other people make using my designs! There will also be stamps by my friend Andy as well.

Last Saturday I was at The Craft Box in Elsecar (Barnsley way) where there was a demonstration event to celebrate the opening of their new premises. It's a lovely big (really big!) shop with a very airy, spacious feel. Thanks to Carole for taking these piccies for me on the day! I think my table looks quite tidy for me...for a change! And here's a close up of everyone's favourite card of the day which features the tactile Teddy from Darkroom Door stamp set "Hello Baby". If you look closely at the cards on my table you can also see a girly pink teddy card. Carole kindly emailed me some more photos which I couldn't post as they came out like thumbnails when I save them...David will sort that out though I'm sure, so will show you them once he has got them resized for me.
David and I are really looking forward to Sunday in St Helens too where we will be hosting another day of workshops. These are Christmas themed and using my new stamp designs amongst other things. There are still places available (mostly in the morning session) so if you'd like to come and join in the fun, please drop me an email. There are also more details in my demonstrations and workshop dates sidebar on the left.
So, here are just a couple of cards that I've made for Saturday's Christmas Card Extravaganza! These aren't the workshop projects...they have to be kept under wraps! This first one features my new Elf stamps...cheeky characters! I've kept it pretty simple using Best Creations Trees paper in the background, highlighted with a white pen. Next is one I've made using Andy's Winter's Tale stamp set. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show it too well as I've used Perfect Pearl Mist on the card and it's reflecting in a rather odd way here! It's been Distress inked, Faux Bleached, stamped and spritzed. The words are from my new PICSA6263 set which has lots of little Christmassy sentiments and words in it. Next is a card using Gorjuss Girl Clear stamps...if you love colouring in these are great. What I really love is the new Martha Stewart Holly Leaves Punch around the Page set which I have tinted using good old Distress inks. Think I will be using this punch rather a lot! The little character just fits in the 3.75" x 5" punched mat perfectly. The verse is from my new stamp set PICSA6264.So, just a few sneaky peeks and I'll post more photos in the next few days. That coffee is stone cold now, so I shall drink it up and get cracking again with more stamping!

Quickie post!

Hello all, just a quick post to say that all of my new Christmas stamps are now in stock at Personal Impressions so they will be in the shops very soon or you can order them from any craft shop that stocks Personal Impressions products. If you want to check out the designs, please go to www.personalimpressions.com, click on "products" then scroll down to see "Lindsay Mason Designs". I'll be demonstrating them for the first time on Saturday 13th August at Crafts 4 U 2 Do in St Helens.
We'll also be using a selection of them at my workshops on Sunday 14th...there are two identical sessions in the morning and afternoon. Please see my sidebar, or email me for more details. There are a few places left on each session at the moment.
It is a really scorching day here...almost too hot to do anything other than cool down in front of the fan! However, there are cards to be made so I had better crack on again after my fruit tea break!