A lovely day in Long Crendon

I'm rather late with this post about my trip down to A Maze of Memories in Long Crendon last weekend. So, while my second cuppa of the day cools down sufficiently, I thought I'd take the chance to upload a few photos.

I travelled down on Friday - a nice, smooth journey for a change! Even the changes were easy with all the trains departing from the same platforms that I arrived in at...except that at Preston, they changed their minds and sent everyone scurrying to another one two minutes before the train was due out! That happens such a lot there and I'm sure there is someone with an evil sense of humour in charge of the platforms who loves nothing more than watching people struggling with cases up and down the stairs!

Anyway, I was staying in Thame which is a really lovely town and normally a quiet sort of place. However, the annual fair was on and the streets were filled with huge fairground rides and stalls selling candyfloss, doughnuts and burgers...I have to say that the aroma of freshly fried doughnuts brings back lots of childhood memories but I resisted temptation! I had a good wander round and then it was back to the hotel for a relaxing evening - thankfully, the receptionist gave me a room at the back of the hotel so I wouldn't be disturbed by the screams of people being whizzed around on gyrating big wheels or bungeed into the air!

The bed was so comfy (and huuuge) that I was asleep much sooner than I expected to be, so after a good night's sleep and an equally good breakfast it was time to get to work.

I've been down to AMOM many times now and it's always really good fun with such a great crowd of ladies who make me feel so welcome. Christina always makes sure everything runs smoothly and Mary, Miriam and Megan keep everyone topped up with drinks and home baked cakes - what more could you want?!

We had three make n take sessions, where I showed the ladies all the steps and techniques involved before they sat down to make their creations.

 

You might just spot me on the right amidst the crowd of people! Whilst one group were "making and taking" I was busy demonstrating other techniques and, as you can see, it was a bustling hive of activity.

This was the card that I was teaching the Make n Takers.....

 ....beautifully shot against my mucky craft sheet! I used my Winter Silhouette stamps as well as other stamps and stencils and Picket Fence Distress Paint to create the background effects. There were various takes on the design as you can see.....

 .....Karen went for soft peachy tones whilst Alli had the great idea of tearing the card around the sentiment and adding some gesso to it for even more snowy effects.....

 .....and Julie's card had the wow factor with the dark tones that gave it a really dramatic touch....

 Everyone did brilliantly and a great time was had by all! Thanks, Christina, for taking photos for me whilst I was so busy. If you'd like to see more piccies of the day, do check out the Maze of Memories blog.

I must also say a big thank you for some lovely gifts that I was given on the day....Julie (above) very thoughtfully presented me with a double ended rubber brush as she had bought one for herself and found it to be a great way of applying glue n seal over stamped images - a technique I taught last time I was there. As Julie said, no messing up of brushes as the glue n seal just wipes off! Thank you Julie, I will be carrying my new brush to all my demos from now on!

Diane, who won my blog candy, brought two beautifully adorned packs of treats for my two feline terrors - each bag had a gorgeous stamped label, complete with bell (!), that opened up to reveal a suitable poem.Absolutely gorgeous and much appreciated by myself and definitely by Thomas and Tara - they thought it was almost worth their mum going away if she brings such lovely pressies home for them! I will show you a photo of Diane's creations next time.

Christina gave me a beautifully wrapped package that contained some bulbs for my garden - whoopee! I shall plant those out as soon as the time is right and so there will be a lovely memory of my trips down to Long Crendon. Hopefully I'll be back there in Spring, so watch this space!

Well, I've been busy here, preparing for a bustling week ahead of me. On Saturday I shall be at Coleman's Warehouse in Rushden again, then, on Wednesday I'll be at Inspirations in Preston and, the following Saturday I'll be at the Great Northern Papercraft show in Harrogate with Ali-Craft. Whew! Details of where I'll be and what I'm up to are in my sidebar.

I've received some more Die-Versions dies too, including two lovely new fonts called Mermaid and Peppermint - I'll share pictures of them next time. So I have been cranking the Big Shot till my arm aches! Between times, I've been pressing on with painting the outside of the house as the weather has been kinder this week. The green paint wasn't such good quality as the white, so I've had to give at least two coats to the door panels - I don't think David would have thought much of my "cutting in", but at least it's clean and tidy and, more importantly, weather proof, again.....

 ....it looks as shiny as number 10 at the moment too! Mind you, I caught Tara trying to open it with her teeth and claws yesterday afternoon...little monkey - that's how the bottom of the door got destroyed in the first place! The green isn't really my first choice  - I'd have liked a rich teal colour - but it's the original colour, so changing it would have meant I'd have had to do all the drainpipes, garage door etc as well which would all have added to the expense and the time. So, green it is! Look at the clutter behind the door too - the Doo Lally room as messy as ever I'm afraid! Yesterday I had to go up the ladders to paint the front of the house....not my favourite thing to do, I'm very wobbly once I get past the second step - thank goodness I live in a bungalow!

Well, the coffee is now not only cool, but cold, so I'd better down it and get back to work!

Blog Candy Winner

I popped over to my neighbour's today so she could draw a winning name from my woolly hat. 

She gave all the tickets a good mix around before picking one.....

 .......and the winning name was.....

 .....Diane! Well done Diane, please email me so I can sort out your prize.

Meanwhile, I had quite a few errands to do in the village today and bundled myself up in warm clothes only to find myself stifled in the warm sunshine an hour later! I hurried back to try and make the most of the break in the cold and rain.....

....I had this waiting for me! With newly purchased sandpaper in hand I set about smoothing down the filler that I'd repaired the door with yesterday. Horrible job! I know that David had a sanding disc for the drill, but it has completely vanished and I had to give up and go back to the old fashioned method. I've now given the door a coat of white primer, though, annoyingly, the rain came battering down again half an hour ago and some of the primer has bubbled now - darn! Guess I'll be adding another coat tomorrow and, if the weather is good, I may even be able to get the gloss paint on too.

It won't be a great job I'm afraid - the sanding is just too intense for me to get a perfect finish. As long as it's tidy and protected against the elements I'll be happy enough. I was quite pleased with the repair that I've made along the bottom though....little madam has chewed through the beading so I had to make a false piece from epoxy clay!

Well, there is a hot bath with my name on it now, so I shall say cheerio. Well done to Diane again and I'll try to sort out another Candy before too long.

...and relax!

After a very busy couple of weeks it's nice to have few days to relax a bit, although I'd have been happier if the weather hadn't turned so grim as I had planned to get some outdoor jobs done. The front door and window frames are in desperate need of some renovation, so I've got the paint and am ready to remove the peeling paintwork, fill, sand and prime before giving everything a nice shiny makeover....no chance yet though!

After being ensconced in the Doo Lally room (going a bit doo lally myself too!) making samples it was good when Thursday came around and I set off for the three day show at Event City in Manchester. I had a brilliant time there and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces, including people that I hadn't seen in ages. Thank you to everyone for the kind words, comments and very positive feedback that I received, as well as a few hugs! It did my heart good. Welcome to new blog followers and a special thanks to Neet for the fruit teas and to the mystery lady who passed the angel and heart gift to me anonymously - very much appreciated and it meant a lot.

Well, it was a busy three days needless to say! I didn't get much time to take photos, but here are a few from the show....

 

 .....lots of my Christmas stamps on display behind my demonstration table...and the odd pot or two of Glue n Seal of course!

.....that was meant to be me showing my newly painted Christmas top, but I look more like I'm trying to "get down with the kids".....or is that me showing my age there?!?!

Here's my area, surrounded by samples and products......

This card features one of the first things that I sold out of.....Goosebumps spray from Tsukineko. It's a bit like having Glossy Accents in a spritzer form and creates a texture over any paper or card stock. Of course, as it also creates a resist against Distress Inks, I had to use it to make a snowy sky!

 It's fabby stuff, available in matte, gloss or, the one I was using, shimmer effect. The closer you spray it to the card the bigger the spots will be, or hold it around 12" away for a finer spray. It's very sticky, so I recommend holding the card with tweezers, checking the vicinity for cats (!) and spraying over newspaper or other scrap surface.

Here's Wendy, on the other side of the stand, demonstrating her beautiful cards and techniques with her own range of stamps.....

Wendy works in a very clean and neat way, creating an endless array of delicate foliage and scenes. Talk about two different styles on one stand - if I tried making Wendy's cards they would be covered in inky fingerprints!

Excuse the tatty backdrop to these two tags....I just laid them on my messy craft sheet to take a quick snap!

I just wanted to show the lovely Die-Versions dies that I used on them. The Elf has a greeting taken from the Complements set and the fairy has words made from the Flutterby font set. I really like the way the letters are all diffferent sizes in that set. One rather amusing moment came when I was using Flutterby letters to add words to a snowman tag that I'd been working on. I was deciding exactly what would fit best and was trying out various words, placing letters down on the tag as I popped them out from the die cut sheet. I looked down and saw that the letters had managed to assemble themselves as "Le Snot" which caused some merriment around the table. I hastily began re-arranging everything and a few more letters finally spelled out Let it Snow!

A very busy, fun but tiring few days. You can see how shattered I was in this picture.....

 .....worn away to a frazzle! Sorry - I just couldn't help myself there! 

I'll be with Card-Io again at the leigh show in October, as well as at their new shop - more details soon.

Onto next weekend now, and I'll be down at A Maze of Memories in Long Crendon near Aylesbury on Saturday 21st where I'll be hosting make n takes and demonstrating. You'll need to book a place on the make n takes (contact the shop about this) but the demonstrations are free to all. Really looking forward to this event as everyone is always so welcoming and friendly and we have a real hoot! Susanne, I'm really sorry you won't be able to come this time and hope there aren't too many tears when you wave adieu to your daughter.

Meanwhile, I am off to keep a watchful eye on the weather and check if I dare to start work on that door....not looking good though! 

PS I forgot to say that my Blog Candy finishes at midnight tonight so last chance today to leave a comment on the post titled "Catch up time & American Candy". My neighbour will be picking a winner from the "hat" tomorrow, so be sure to call back and check if you've won!

Show time

I was quite happy to be ensconced in my workroom today, looking out at the rain pelting down and bouncing off the pavement. It's been pretty non stop, so Thomas and Tara have taken the odd chance to rush outside in a moment's let up, only to be wanting to be let in a couple of minutes later.

I've been making the last couple of samples today and then packing my case ready for tomorrow, the first day of the Event City show in Manchester. Do say hello if you're visiting the show - I'll be demonstrating on the Card-Io stand. Here are a couple of the latest things I created.....

.....this little guy is on my "Nicicles as Icicles" stamp set along with the snowman that I painted onto my sweatshirt (see an earlier post). The "snow" is kitchen towel - the non inked variety for a change! I love the font that I cut using a Die-Versions set called "Tickled Pink", it's a great size for tags, cards or scrapbooking.

I realised I'd been using a lot of blues in my backgrounds this last week, so I made a conscious effort to go down a different colour route when I was using my "Snowy Scenes" set.....

 .....I used water colour paper (I'm really liking using the torn water colour paper effect at the moment!) and created the scene very simply with the stamps...no masking required on this particular version. I thought that rather than the whole white out of a fully snowy landscape I'd colour the fields in green before adding snow in certain areas using white gesso. The two snowflakes were cut using the Die-Versions Sweet Petites Snowflake die from stiff white card which I glittered with Rock Candy Distress glitter before sweeping a touch of Frayed Burlap ink across the edges. 

I'm afraid the card blank itself wasn't the best quality one which is why it looks a little wonky!

I'll finish with another tag, this one featuring the grumpy Elf that I painted onto my Tee shirt last week......

 .....he really does deserve to have the Bah Humbug words next to him! I also used one of the Die-Versions Sweet Spots to stencil Jingle Bells very lightly in the background. My favourite bit of this tag though is the ribbon! Well, it's the technique really! I used the new Goosebumps spray from Tsukineko to spritz the ribbon first before drying it and then adding lots of ink. The Goosebumps adds a texture which also acts as a resist so it gives a very different effect to the ribbon. It looks more interesting in real life! Brilliant new sprays and I'll be using them at the show.

Well, I've had an early, very early for me, dinner so that I can just relax for the rest of the evening and be ready for a reasonably early night before my early start tomorrow. I've just got a plate and a pan to wash up (Singapore vermicelli noodle stir fry!), a hot shower to get rid of the last of the ink stains (I hope), the kettle to switch on to make a steaming coffee and then it's relaxing on the sofa in the PJ's until bed time. Lovely!

So, hope to see some of you over the next few days...looking forward to it!

A fun Saturday

Just a few photos to share with you tonight, most especially for the ladies that I met when I was teaching the Victoria Stampers group on Saturday....I promised to post the pictures of my class samples! Hello to everyone who was in the class and a special thank you for the lovely card and the choccies - the chocs are "secreted" in a special place only to be broken into in emergencies! 

We started the day off by making a card that was inspired by doing the Ranger/Personal Impressions event last week. Techniques I've done before but hadn't used for a while...so it was good to be reminded...the proverbial much needed kick up the bum!

 We used water colour paper to stamp onto, everyone choosing from a selection of stamps that I'd taken along or ones that they had brought. The inky background panel was created with a mix of Stains, Distress ink pads and white Distress paint. The flowers are Tim's Tattered Florals die cut from Grungeboard before being inked and covered with Rock Candy Distress glitter. A simple card but a pleasing one to make!

Next we worked on making decorative hanging panels. Heavyweight card stock was the base for lots of ink spraying, stamping, bleaching and colouring.....

.....this was my example as a guide, but the ladies came up with their own versions of course.....

 .....some very neat colouring going on.......

.....and I loved what Mo did with my "Time Traveller" stamps. Here's a finished panel, complete with eyelets in the top ready for a wire or ribbon hanger......

There was just time for everyone to get started on a steampunk styled card....not much time to complete them though, so here is the card in question for those wanting to check out the details!

Thank you ladies for a lovely day and to Lynne for organising the event. We raised £25.25 for Trinity Hospice as well, so a great day all round. 

Today has been spent making more samples for the show at Event City this coming Thursday-Saturday. I ended up with so much Glossy Accents dried on my fingertips that I couldn't feel what I was doing anymore, so a good soak in hot water and some scrubbing was in order! It's almost bed time for me now with the alarm set for a really early start to get the day underway nice and quickly as the last couple of days to prep for the  show are upon me!

A warm welcome too to new followers and another reminder to leave a comment to be in with a chance to win the blog candy....after the post titled "......American Candy". Okay, signing off for tonight!

Some painting diversions

I've been painting today...fabric painting that is to say. It was time to get some Christmas themed tops made up for when I'm out and about demonstrating, especially at the shows and I thought you might like to see what I came up with. Although it's getting colder now (almost daily it seems) some of the venues I'm at get pretty warm, so I've painted a turquoise Tee.....

 He's a bit of a grumpy old elf I'm afraid! Not sure he agrees with the sentiment! Mind you, I'd probably be grumpy with those spindly legs! He is one of the characters on my "Santa's Helpers" stamp set, but I've enlarged him here of course. The words are from my "It's a time to give" set. I had great fun painting this - especially adding the snowy white on top of all the letters.

I've also done a sweat shirt, this time featuring one of the steampunk snowmen from my "Nicicles as Icicles" set. The colour looks a bit more like puce here, but it's actually more of a lilac shade.

I'm really impressed with the DecoArt So Soft fabric paints which really are permanent....my other tops have been through the washing machine loads of times now and they look as good as when I first painted them. No ironing needed either - just paint and allow to dry for 48 hours before wearing...oh...and don't forget to wash the garment before painting. The white really does cover well, even on darker fabric....I can really recommend them wholeheartedly.

Well, those are two of the tops that I'll be wearing when I'm at the Event City show next week, so you should be able to spot me if you're coming along!

As well as my new Christmas stamps I'm also going to be using a range of dies called Die-Versions. I had a delivery of some of them this afternoon and they really are lovely. The packs are really dinky, but they pack a punch. Look at this lovely "Winter Wonder" die.....

.....can you see the words cleverly set within the snowflake?

There are lots of font dies too, here are a couple......

....again, small packages (great because they don't take up lots of space) but each set has two dies and the letters and digits are a good size.

Well, it's been a gloomy, rainy and chilly day here....I've had to put the heating on a couple of times, but not for long, just enough to take the nip out of the air. Thomas has loved snuggling up on the bench under the window in my Doo Lally room so he can rest his chin and paws on the hot radiator! I decided to be lazy tonight and had a slam in the oven ready meal.....a big Yorkshire pudding filled with beef slices and gravy - perfect for a chilly evening - yum! I even cheated and used frozen peas and instant mash! I have to say that instant mash is tons better than it used to be. It was a nice easy dinner after a long, busy day and hardly any washing up either!

I've been packing my case up for my trip over to the Victoria Stampers group tomorrow where we'll be having lots of messy fun with stamps, inks, cardboard, grungeboard, glitter......lots of stuff! I'll try and remember to take a few photos of what we get up to.

Right, time to sign off now and get the kettle on so I can settle down for the Masterchef final. Heather and I both love watching this show (David loved it too) and we can't decide who's going to win this series. Of course, Strictly Come Dancing starts on Saturday - unfortunately I'll have to watch most of the episodes on my little laptop screen as I'm usually not back home from travelling about until late in the evening. Not too many people in this series that I am familiar with, though I do like Dave Myers and Mark Benton. There are one or two that I can't stand as well, but I won't say who they are!

Okay, coffee time now, so I'll sign off and wish everyone a great weekend. 

PS Don't forget to leave a comment on my post "Catch up Time & American Candy" further down the page - I'll be closing the candy on 17th September, so you still have a week or so to join in and be in with a chance to win.

PPS Well done to ? ? on winning Masterchef! (no spoilers here!) It was a close run thing but I absolutely agreed with John and Greg's decision.

Various "stuff"!

It was so long between my last and previous posts that there were quite a few pictures and tales that I didn't share. I thought I'd do a mixed bag of a post now to give a taste of the last few weeks here.

Back in August (how scary does that sound?!) on the 11th to be exact, Blackpool hosted an airshow. I strolled the few yards down the lane at the back of the house and, across the fields I had a grandstand view.....

 ....the incredible Red Arrows were on top form as always. If you fancy flying with them, you can get as close as most of us would want to by watching this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e-aw3aJpBc ...how on earth they do what they do is beyond me! Heart stopping stuff!

The Red Arrows were brilliant but when a deep, heavy sound filled the air I wondered what was going to appear in the skies above me. What came into view was a magnificent Lancaster Bomber.....

 ....wow, what a sight. I found it really emotional, especially as our dad and uncle were in the air force and uncle David was killed when he was on a mission. I did take a video of the Lancaster as it was being escorted by two Spitfires....it came over the rooftops and right overhead - unfortunately, I had inadvertently turned the camera off!!!! Darn!

There's been quite a lot on TV recently about the plight of our bees, and there's no denying that they are struggling. However, I seem to have got a good percentage of them right outside my back door! The giant Lavender has been literally heaving with them all summer long and I took a few pictures of them including this close up that came out quite well....

....they are all so busy that they are no trouble at all even when brushing past them on the steps. They get very drowsy in the Lavender so I sometimes take the chance to gently stroke their fuzzy backs! My nephew thinks I'm certifiable - especially since Heather told him about the spider that I've christened Maximus, as in "The Gladiator"....every time I hoover the lounge I have to stop just short of one end of the radiator as Maximus charges out from behind the pipe and stands his ground to stop the vacuum cleaner getting to his home! He's big, but not quite as big as this chappie who suddenly appeared on the bedroom wall.....arachnophobes (like my nephew) look away now.....

....he really was a whopper, but I welcome all the spiders as they do help to keep the insects at bay.

I've had a lot of people asking how the garden is doing and my stock answer at the moment is "don't ask"! Still no lawn mower and I'm afraid the weeds have been getting out of control again. However, there have been some really lovely shows of colour and fragrance. Even now, as the summer is ending, the Nasturtiums and Sweet Peas are still blooming and there are berries on the shrubs and trees. I have a new rose and a lovely Red Rocket Berberis to plant when some of the plants around my bench have died back a bit. Here are a few of my favourite things in the garden though....

This white Foxglove was a surprise one morning....I had sown seeds for purple flowers and then this one was suddenly there in all its glory.

Stunning Sweet Peas and Pansies that both seemed to glow with ultra violet shades.

And this morning the foggy dew brought the ethereal delights

of spider's webs festooned amongst the drying Poppy heads.

Sorry about the big gaps everywhere - I had a nice quartet of photos planned to sit in a neat square....blogger had other ideas of course!

Back in mid August I also made good use of one of the thimble houses that Heather gave to me. They were one of those purchases that she meant to do something with and then never did, so she thought I might better use of them. I ripped a couple of the wooden strips out to give me different sized spaces to fill and then, after a quick sanding, I gave the whole thing a few coats of paint - you can see the dodgy pattern on the roof showing through! I left the inside back mostly unpainted as I planned to use papers inside anyway.

That was also the day after I had decided to give the Doo Lally room a real blitz! I decided to stack all my Distress ink pads in a long box that's been sitting in the cupboard for ages and I have them in piles sorted by colour families...makes things much simpler. I've got my extra fine colouring pens on top as well as my Neo colours. I admit that the tidiness didn't last too long, but it's better than it was at least.

Anyway, here's the finished thimble house, decorated and filled with a mix of my Christmas stamps, dies and other little bits and pieces. I used Gesso sprinkled with Rock Candy glitter for the snow. The little deer on the right is from my Winter Silhouette set, stamped onto shrink plastic and given a bit of sparkle with a glitter pen.

Although today turned into a gloriously warm one, there's no doubt that there's been a little nip in the air this last week or two and my neighbour/cat sitter (!) and I were contemplating the colder months drawing nearer - mainly prompted by the huge number of berries that are already heavy on the bushes which she thinks are a sure sign of a harsh winter. We were swapping tips for keeping warm and listing the things that we need to sort out like replacing old hot water bottles, getting the cardigans out of "storage" and stocking up on fluffy socks and spicy scented candles....the latter being for psychological warmth! But there's still some warm days left I think, so meals like this one have been quick, easy and cheap....almost free in fact!

Yummy, scrummy home grown courgettes, french beans and tomatoes roasted with a splash of olive oil and served on toasty bread. I found another massive courgette/marrow hiding under a leaf but, after my last disaster with one of those giants I decided to pass it onto my neighbour instead - think she did a better job of cooking it than I did!

A couple of weeks ago I was down in Coventry where I was teaching a workshop for a brilliant group of ladies who really got stuck in and we all had a great time getting inky and messy!

I can't find any pictures of what the ladies made...I'm sure they are on my files somewhere! Here are a couple of things that I've made using my new Christmas stamps though...just a random selection!

 This was an empty coffee jar that I covered with paper - out of which I'd cut an aperture that I backed with vellum, stamped with an image from the "Be Still for the Glory" set, coloured with Pro Markers.I also punched small holes in the paper and I added a collar of card that I ran through a Tim Holtz rosette strip die to disguise the screw top of the jar before tying a ribbon round it. The vellum shows the candle through really well. It's sitting on the mantlepiece beside the picture of my lovely David.

I had a lot of fun making this card. The character is one of my Steaming Snowmen and I've added him to a background that features white acrylic paint and Goosebumps spray (more on this at a later date) which I've added Distress inks and Stains to. The lamp post was cut from Grungeboard - I used Rock Candy crackle paint and Stains to get the surface textures. It's a fun card with the snowmen flying by!

Last Saturday was a completely different one as I was taking part in a puppet show for the Big Church Family Picnic. It was going to be held in the Vicarage garden, but the weather was rather unpredictable so we headed into the church hall instead. I had three roles...Camille the camel, a stripey knitted character singing "Praise and Shout" words to the tune of the Beatles Twist and Shout (with backing group!) and two sheep  amongst a singing flock - think the Beach Boys Barbara Ann with slightly different words - very funny!

 I was the two sheep on the left - my arms were a bit sore, but I really enjoyed the afternoon, as did all the children...and adults too!

Well, what a lot of photos! Room for two more though I think, just for everyone who likes to know how my two terrors are getting on. Tara has been mooning around all week as she knew there was a freshly cooked chicken in the fridge and she just can't settle till she knows that every scrap has been eaten - preferably by herself! Thomas is his usual steady self, guarding his mum every night and patrolling the garden between naps.

Love those enormous feet! As for madam, well, this picture says it all - "just you try it mate..."!

Well, I'd better sign off now before I use up my whole blog capacity of photos! I was going to watch Whitechapel but I've decided it looked far too creepy, so it's been switched off!

If you haven't left a comment after my previous post then don't forget to add one now (it must be after the previous post) to be in with a chance to win the Tim Holtz blog candy. You have until September 17th to enter.

Okay, I'm off, saying goodnight and signing out till next time.