Lindsay Mason

New stamps on the way

2012-01-22T17:17:00.005Z

Sorry it's been so long since my last post but almost everything that I've been working on I'm not able to share just yet. Frustrating! However, I now have the date for when some of my new stamp designs will be making their debut on QVC. So, if you'd like to check them out, tune in on Tuesday 7th February at 5pm - the show is Cards for Men, although my stamps are pretty unisex really! I've been busy making samples with the stamps, so will share photos of them once they've been on. Let me know what you think!

On Thursday I was at Crafty Company in Fleetwood where I had a lovely busy day. Of course, I forgot my camera so have no photos of the day to share. Typical! I was using Tim Holtz and Darkroom Door stamps as well as my fairies and combining them with Perfect Pearl Mists and lots of Ranger inks.
Everyone liked this card that I made on the day (don't always finish any cards during demonstrations as it's all about techniques really) using an image from Art de Fleur vol 2 from Darkroom Door - stamped onto gloss card and coloured with water based pens. I rolled in the edges and used a glue stick to secure some Pewter Shimmer embossing powder. I like the way you get stray bits of powder on the image with this technique.
I used some TH Tissue paper to cover a piece of card and coloured it with some Distress ink (Walnut Stain) buffing off the excess. The card it is matted onto is one of the Best Creations glitter range which I coloured using alcohol inks smoothed over the surface. This card has a polished surface so the inks work very well and, once rubbed over with tissue, the glittered pattern still shows through.
I coloured some Seam Binding ribbon using Perfect Pearl Mists, wetting the ribbon and spritzing with the Mists then heating to set and repeating until the colours were how I wanted them. Once I'd tied that around I simply cut a 6"x6" card blank from Tim's Christmas Kraft Resist stash (I used the Postcard sheet). A little Distress ink smudged around the edges completed the look. Thanks to everyone who came along on Thursday, and to Sandra and Keiron for looking after me and all the customers with hot drinks and sandwiches. We needed them too - it was a nippy day in Fleetwood!
My diary is now filling up with dates throughout the year so I will start adding them to my list on the left. I'll fill in the blanks as and when they get booked, so do check back to see if I'll be anywhere in your area.
Right now I'm working on more drawings and getting things organised for Stitches (the trade show) in a few weeks. It's always tremendously manic and very hard work but also a lot of fun and something that I really look forward to. I do always doubt that everything will be done in time, but, somehow, it always is!
This next card is not a new one but I wanted to add more than one photo! I've used alcohol inks on Best Creations glitter card again - this time with a butterfly theme. The little cutie is called Bluebirds Proposal (GJK012) and it's a rubber cling stamp from Gorjuss (through Personal Impressions). I coloured her with Promarkers and used an EK Success Butterfly Layering punch (EK54-90006) with simple pink card to create the accents. Wonder what she's thinking? Well, just a quick post this evening to show I'm still here! Don't forget to tune in to see the new stamps but I'll post details of them as soon as I'm allowed. Keep warm everyone.

Crafts Beautiful project

2012-01-09T18:04:00.009Z

Hello everyone. Thought I'd write a quick post this evening whilst David is watching a drama that I missed the start of. I've had quite a productive day, getting some specific stamp designs finished and posted off, doing some last minute grocery shopping planning a new magazine project and cooking dinner. After the long break that I've had, it did feel like a day of good results!
Whilst I was out I saw that the February issue of Crafts Beautiful is in the shops now, so I can share pictures of my Steampunk project that's in there. I used the Steampunk stamp set from Darkroom Door (DDRSO68) which has some great images - good value too as there are twenty stamps on the sheet....at least twenty....I keep losing count!
I created two cards and a shadow box and also used the Donna Salazar Sprightly Sprockets Spellbinders set (SBS5-048) mixed in with TH metal sprockets and Timepieces. I had great fun making this set. If you'd like the list of materials and instructions do grab a copy of Crafts Beautiful magazine. Here's a close up of the shadow box at a better angle to show the dimensional effect. If you're a Steampunk fan, Andy Skinner has posted a video of a short animated film with a Steampunk feel. Worth taking a look...and checking out Andy's creations too, of course!
As it's Monday I just have time to add a link to Crafting Buddies which is run by my friend Joanne. It began as somewhere to post about our pets who "join in" with crafting, but has now become somewhere to show any of our animal friends.
This picture is of a Seagull who I met in Aberdeen station when I was waiting for my train home a few weeks ago. He was very bold and very sure that I would have something tasty in my bag! Of course, he picked the right person and I was able to offer hime some biccies from the hotel! If it wasn't for his rather dashing pink feet and yellow beak I don't think you'd be able to see him at all! After me telling you that Tara was not happy at all about living with Thomas, it turns out that she just wanted him to make an honest kitty of her......

......mmmm, slight lie there. She is as grumpy as ever and I think her pose is more one of "we are not amused" than a blushing bride! Definitely not "I do", more like "in your dreams"!

One of the supermarkets here was selling chocolate eggs before Christmas and, today, I see that most of the shops have now got a range of them in. Am I the only one who finds this cynical and manipulative. No wonder we feel as though time goes by more quickly now when we are rushed from one point in the year to the next with no time to take stock (sorry about the unintentional pun!) in between.
Okay, that's all for tonight. I am just going to check that those links work and then relax for a bit before bed time. Hardly slept last night, so I am hoping to do better tonight. Tomorrow I'll be working on card samples and a new project, so hope for another productive day! Sleep well everyone!
PS the links did NOT work, so am hoping I have now done them correctly!

So Kind !

2012-01-03T22:56:00.003Z

Thank you, ladies, for being so kind, your good wishes mean such a lot and give me inspiration to create ! Lindsay xxxxxxxx

"HAPPY" New Year

2012-01-03T14:37:00.010Z

I thought, after all the sadness of the last few weeks, that I would add a cheerful post to redress the balance. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks....
We have seen some beautiful sunsets from our new home. This one was particularly gorgeous, though my camera hasn't picked up the colours, or details too well. It was a very cold dusk and I was waiting to see the Starlings massing together for their nightly roost. This sight kept me from feeling too frozen until the birds appeared. I'd have shared the pics of the flocks too, but my camera isn't really quick enough to catch them! Wonderful sights and sounds right outside the door have made for some memorable moments this Christmas though. Thomas was not too impressed when I bedecked him in these reindeer bobblers on Christmas morning! However, he soon cheered up once I'd taken them off him and he took a look at the stocking that Heather had sent to him and Tara from Mia! My typing is being interspersed by the loud sounds of Thomas snoring in the chair next to me, mouth open and dribbling (him, not me!) and Tara aka "Princess Tippy Grumpy Toes" is now staring at him in disgust from the windowsill. Think she may attack him any time now. She had a slightly more sedate headgear on Christmas day.... .....what a grump though!
We had a very quiet Christmas, mainly because I was in the kitchen for most of the day cooking the dinner....a bit of pressure when you are catering for a (once professional) chef! However, it was delicious and my roast potatoes were, apparently, the star of the show, which was a relief as I'd been sure they wouldn't turn out properly. David cooks most of the time, so I wanted to make a really special meal for him.
Here's a picture of the annual identical gift that Heather and I sent each other! We almost always copy each other with one thing. Obviously we both liked this magnetic fridge notepad regaled in rich colours and gems - there were several designs to choose from but we both bought the same one! Heather also gave us the DVD of Les Miserables (the 25th Anniversary concert...I didn't know that the show itself isn't available on DVD) which we have still got to look forward to. I've never seen the show, so this will be a treat. We also have the final part of the Harry Potter series of films to watch - maybe we'll watch all of them in succession in one sitting....or maybe not!
The wind was howling last night, keeping us awake and blowing down one of the gates. I walked into the village today and got somewhat windswept to say the least! I've never been a scarf person really, but have been wearing several over the last few weeks. I think today's regalia was David's favourite..... ....as only my eyes were to be seen! Hope you can tell that I was smiling though. The marks on my hands are from the terrible twins who keep transferring their annoyance with each other onto me. My paws are quite small really, but this photo makes them look like "strangler's hands"!
Well, I am getting back into the swing of things now and will be posting details of upcoming events, demos etc as and when I get the dates. I'll be at Crafty Company, Fleetwood on Thursday 19th January, so if you are in the area I'd love to see you. Meanwhile, I'm starting work on new designs that I'll let you know more about as soon as I'm able. Some will be available very soon!
Once again, wishing everyone a year to remember, for all the right reasons.

Email update

2012-01-02T14:04:00.004Z

Just a quick post to let you know my new email address which I have updated in my "about me" section above. It's ljm.design1@virginmedia.com - something else for me to try and remember!

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T23:15:00.002Z

Hello all. With just about 45 minutes left of 2011 I must say that we will be very glad to say goodbye to what has been a year that's been memorable for all the wrong reasons. I hope that some of you have had a happier one, though most people we know seem to have also had a bad year one way or another.
So, time to dust off the sadnesses, difficulties and annoyances and usher in a fresh start that we can only hope will bring better things for us all. We'll be starting 2012 by going outside to view the fireworks (not ours!) and raising a small glass. I have always disliked New Year and usually find it rather depressing, but am looking forward to this one.
Hope everyone had a good Christmas - ours was quite strange with all the recent events and changes, but we had a lovely quiet time.
With all the recent sadness I did forget to tell you that there was a happy moment when we were moving....thanks to some positive thoughts sent my way, and despite my having previously searched in the exact same place, my Art Journal reappeared much to my absolute delight and relief! I will certainly have plenty to add to it now.
You'll have seen that we have knocked the Rant Blog on the head. I had so much to have a good moan about, but just never seemed to have time to sit and type it all out. Oh well, please feel free to have a grumble on here anyway if the urge strikes you!
Okay then, about half an hour before the clock strikes twelve, so I will sign off with good wishes to you all from both of us.

bowing out

2011-12-29T01:03:00.003Z

Hi folks, just to let you know that the Lindsay's Rant blog is cancelled, due to ( of course ) no response.
It appears that everyone is trouble free and is immune from the everyday pressures that life throws at the rest of us !!! Best wishes David

PS from Lindsay.......and I'm the biggest culprit, with plenty to rant about but no effort to do so!!! Thanks Joanne, for your witty, and hopefully correct comment! Lindsay x

God Bless us every one

2011-12-24T19:13:00.007Z

I'd like to say a big thank you for all the cards, comments, emails and calls since dad died - they were much appreciated. I'm sorry it's taken me a long time to post this, but, David and I have moved home and have only just got Broadband up and running.

Today would have been dad's birthday and the lead up to his favourite day of the year - Christmas day itself. Here's a picture of dad last year that shows just how much like a big kid he always was on Christmas morning. Heather and I took some flowers to dad's resting place outside the beautiful village Church today and we'll be thinking of him tomorrow. With everything that's happened I'm afraid that I just haven't had the chance, or spirit, to send Christmas cards this year, so apologies for that. I have received some lovely ones though and a wonderful one from our friend Joanne as well as this beautiful hanging ornament that she made with my favourite colours in mind - Heather got one too and you can see a picture on her blog. Here's a snap of Tara, mum and dad's cat, guarding the tree. We are her new mum and dad, though she and Thomas are not getting along very well....should I say Tara really, as she is very grumpy indeed! This post is something of a jumble but I did want to share a, not very good, picture of the roosting Starlings that have been flying in fascinating formation right over the house. Hard to take a decent shot of them, but there were thousands and the noise of their wings was astonishing. I feel very fortunate to have one of nature's great spectacles right on our doorstep. Well, this was just a quick sign in to show our appreciation for everyone's kind messages. I'll be having a new email address soon, so will post that on the blog of course. I'll also be posting new demonstration details for next year, so look out for those.
Meanwhile, we'd like to wish everyone a very happy, peaceful and contented Christmas and the hope that we all have a better year in 2012.

Thank you

2011-11-17T01:58:00.001Z

Lindsay would like to thank everyone for their kind and thoughtful wishes at this most difficult time. David

Message from David

2011-11-14T21:32:00.003Z

Just to inform you that the listed demonstration in Doncaster and all workshops have been cancelled due to the sudden death of Lindsay and Heather's father this weekend. David

The day today

2011-11-12T22:15:00.013Z

Evenin' all.....said in my best Jack Warner voice! It's been a busy old week again but, for once, I am at home tomorrow as opposed to trotting about the country with my faithful case in tow. It's an unusual occurrence but I shan't be lounging around as I've got a final push to finish new designs along with prepping samples for two workshops and a demonstration for next week. Still, it will be nice to be at home.
Today I was teaching a full day of workshops at Crafts 4 U 2 Do where the ladies were very busy making cards, a tag and a Christmas shadow box. This is a (not great) picture of the morning session - though the central card did spill over into the afternoon slightly!
The first card of the day was the bird one on the left. Everyone's looked slightly different with their own colour choices. We used Kraft Resist paper, Distress inks, Tissue Tape and Darkroom Door "Love Birds" stamp set. The circle in the corner is a Muse token (coloured with alcohol inks) which is encapsulated in one of the plastic bubbles that are part of their packaging.
The central card features Distress Stained Kraft Resist Christmas paper and an ATC collage stamp from Tim Holtz. The red rose is just a handcut spiral of card rolled up and twinkled with a few dabs of Ice Stickles.The tag was great fun, with Snowcap alcohol ink swept across a foil covered and embossed tag. Other colours were added and then we used Blending Solution to remove ink from the raised snowflakes. The white edging was done using the Picket Fence Distress Stain...brilliant product and I love the way it stayed on the metal surface with no problem. The image is from the Dear Santa Darkroom Door set of stamps.
Here are Carol, Marie and Janet working on their tags....don't think they even noticed me taking the picture as they were so engrossed! In the afternoon the ladies were kept busy making the shadow box. Here's my sample one.... ....I pre cut the house shapes from mount card, along with seperate roof pieces and used the new Tim Holtz Tissue wrap to cover the main shape. Everyone loved using the tissue - it has a unique feel to it and it's really easy to work with....rather like non sticky Tissue Tape but bigger! Once stuck down decorated matchbox trays were attached to the back with another piece of mountboard to keep everything together and to attach a ribbon hanger to. Snowtex is the finishing touch for that really Christmassy feel. Everyone really loved making the shadow box and everyone also said that they wouldn't be giving them away as a gift! Lol!
Last Sunday's workshops were a mixture of cute and not cute! One card that everyone took home part finished was this explosive snowman pop up (I mean explosive pop up, not exploding snowmen!). My sample card was deliberately over the top to show just how much can be added to one of these tiered pop ups. It's a really fun card to make and one that I've taught several times over the years as it's such a great one to make for children or the young at heart. The other card last weekend was a "secret message" card and you can see the delight when anyone makes this and finds that it actually works! Nobody seems to be able to explain how these cards work, but it's enough that they do! This was the inside of my sample.... ......and here is the "secret" area that it opened into. I kept the card simply decorated but, today, Frances brought her finished card back to show me and wow....it looked incredible! This is the joy of teaching workshops - it's not exactly about what you go home with on the day, rather it's about ideas and inspiration to take it a step further. The above shows the opened front of Frances' card and here is the inside...... .....even wowier! The only downside was that Frances added so much to her card that the secret part doesn't work now as the panels are stuck together! Not that it matters with such a wonderful piece of art. Everyone was thoroughly impressed!
I am going to be teaching an extra workshop at Crafts 4 U 2 Do on Thursday, from 1.30pm - 3.30pm. There is one place available, so if you fancy joining us, please contact the shop on 01774 611940 to book. I'll then be at Karacter Krafts in Doncaster, to demonstrate new MS punches, stamps and inks.
Whew! Right, time for a last cuppa and then a shower and bedtime. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and I'll be back next week to share more.

Just touching base

2011-11-10T19:00:00.006Z

Hello folks. Just a fairly quick post tonight. Thank you for the many suggestions, crossed fingers and, even, mantras that I have received to help me find my Journal. Sadly, it has not materialised and I can only think that my worst fears were right, and it was in one of the boxes that got stolen. The fact that I have so little time to create pages makes the loss much worse. Still, in the scheme of things, it isn't life or death, so I won't dwell on it. As Heather suggested, the best I can do is to try to print out the photos I took of some of my pages to journal page size and paste them into a new book. Not the same, but better than nothing.
I have to say a big thank you to my friend Joanne who sent me a very much appreciated envelope that contained swatches of Distress and Alcohol inks as well as labels for my Distress ink pads.....I have been putting off labelling them for so long, but now I have no excuse! Thank you Joanne, you're a treasure. You may have seen Joanne's scary Halloween cat on her blog recently and I'm very happy to say that it was given to me recently...looks even better in real life! Talking of cats, Thomas has been "helping" again today as I prepped things for Saturday's workshops. If it had been a Monday I could have linked these pics to Joanne's Crafting Buddies blog, but pop over there anyway if you get chance.
As per usual, Thomas gave my efforts a good check over, made sure all the lines were straight, everything glued down properly.... ...and then decided that he could do much better. Check out that disdainful expression (and the lopsided mouth!)! For those of you who are joining me on Saturday's workshops, you can see a sneaky peek of what we're doing in the afternoon....I'll post pictures of the finished items next week. Meanwhile, here are just a couple of snaps of some recent demonstration samples. This one features my Script Robin stamp (wooden) which I inked with Distress inks, spritzed with water and stamped onto white card before cutting out. The papers and embellishments are from the lovely MME Lost & Found Christmas range which I have found so easy to work with. I had to add a tissue paper frill! This tag features the same paper range, The Philosophy tag has been drizzled with a teeny drop of Snowcap alcohol ink which I then rubbed off to highlight the word and numbers. If you get the chance to buy the Snowcap ink - do! It's excellent and completely changes the look of all the other colours. I used Rock Candy crackle paint on the numbers, which were cut from the Lost & Found Tim Holtz paper stash. Well, I said this was a quick post, and it is! So I will sign off and return next week with more photos to share.

A mixed week

2011-11-02T19:14:00.002Z

Hello all, especially to the ladies and gents that I met in Crewe and Fleetwood over the weekend. I did take my camera, but complete forgot to take photos as I was rather busy! Still, here's one picture of a tag which I made for a good friend of ours and which has now been received so I can show it! I used some Ice Stickles in Gold Ice, to edge the tissue tape flower and frill though you can't really see it here...shame as it is a really pretty, almost vintage looking shade. On the good side of the "mixed week" of my title, I received a small package today which contained the three Autumn (Fall) limited edition Distress ink pads, and, especially as one of them is a purple shade (Seedless Preserve) I am looking forward to using them!
As this has been a mixed week, you may gather that all has not gone smoothly, and I am feeling really sick at the moment. I have been too busy to work on my current Art Journal recently but, as I am working on new stamp designs for next Spring, I decided, on Monday, to have a look through it to get a little inspiration for some of the quirkier things I have in mind. That was when the bad part of the week started.....I cannot find my journal anywhere. I have an awful, sinking feeling that it has gone forever, as I just cannot recall when I last had it with me when I was out and about. I've been taxing my brain to visualise where it could be, all to no avail and I have looked in every bag, box and on every shelf that I can think of. We had some things stolen from the cellar a few weeks ago and I am beginning to think that it must have been in one of the boxes that was taken, either that or I have left it behind somewhere. My last hope is that David moved some of my things to make more room for me and that the journal is somewhere hidden, but neither of us can find it. You may imagine how upset I feel about this, so please send me some "finding lost things" vibrations in the hope that it will emerge from somewhere!
I don't want to dwell on miserable things though, so just a reminder that I'll be in St Helens this coming Saturday, at Crafts 4 U 2 Do and then will be back there on Sunday to teach two workshops. Both classes are the same and we'll be making cards "that surprise and delight". There are a few places still available, so, just send me an email or contact the shop directly if you fancy coming along.

What I'm up to this weekend

2011-10-27T21:19:00.003+01:00

Another rather late post I'm afraid, as I am working my way through a long list of things to do and it seems as soon as I strike though one job, another two are added. I do feel as though I am treading water rather than getting to the other side of the pool as it were. Still, like the frog who was drowning in a jug of milk until he realised that all his kicking had churned it into solid cheese and he could simply hop out, one just has to keep going! So, if you are still awaiting a reply to an email, please bear with me and I will get back to you soon.
One thing that appeared on my list this week was a two day date at the new Hobbycraft store in Crewe (at the Grand Junction Retail Park). So, I'll be there tomorrow from 9.30am and Saturday from 9am. I have a mixture of Ranger and Martha Stewart products to show techniques with, as well as stamps of course. Then, on Sunday, I'll be at Crafty Company in Fleetwood. I have some new Martha Stewart Quilling punches which I'll be using, as well as Best Creations papers and stamps from myslef, Andy Skinner and the Gorjuss range. The quilling punches are great for creating large dimensional flowers - I'll take photos over the weekend to share next week.
Last weekend was a hetic one too, and Saturday at Grovenor House Papers in Kendal sped by as it was such a busy day. There were lots of demonstrations by Janet's staff and various guests and it was great to see everyone enjoying themselves. The shop is in a lovely setting, overlooking fields of sheep, though I think we were all too busy to enjoy the views! Great to see so many familiar faces there. On Sunday I went over to H G Arts & Crafts in Poynton for another busy day...hello to all the ladies and gents (yes...men came to this one!) welcome to my blog.
Remember to alter your clocks and watches on Saturday night...they spring forward and fall back, so, by my reckoning, that gives us all an extra hour's sleep this weekend! Lovely.
Well, I have a few more things to add to my travel bag, a final cup of coffee, a refreshing shower and then a good night's sleep before an early start tomorrow. Hope to see some of you over the weekend and hope everyone enjoys that extra hour of sleep!

My funny Friday!

2011-10-19T19:28:00.011+01:00

Hello all, back as promised with a few pictures and to hopefully give you a bit of a laugh with my funny Friday story, which started after I checked into my room in Chester-Le-Street. This was a "superior" room in the pub/hotel that I usually stay at when I'm in the area. It's cheap and cheerful, if a bit (well, quite a lot) noisy up to about midnight. However, this room had a whirlpool bath, a four poster bed (without the scary drapes!) and an extra large TV as well as a sofa.
Never having been in a whirpool bath I had no idea how to use it, but one of the staff told me what buttons to press and advised me not to add too much bubble bath. As there were no toiletries in the bathroom I brought some back with me after my usual few hours walking round the shops stretching my legs. I was going to call David but found my phone had switched itself off for some reason. However, it came back on okay and I rang to say "hello" before filling the bath. I added a tiny drop of the bubble bath and then got in and pressed the button to start the whirlpool effects. I then realised that the flat disc beside the button was to set the force of the jets, so I cranked it up and was all set to enjoy the relaxing massage. However, despite the teeniest amount of bubble bath, I watched in amazement as, within a few seconds, the soapy suds began to rise alarmingly! Within moments I could just about see over the top of the bubbles which had now become the consistency of meringue - I felt as if I was inside a Baked Alaska!
Needless to say, I had to switch off, empty the bath and then spend about ten minutes or so showering the suds away before refilling the bath with plain water. It was very funny and I wished I had had my camera as I could easily have taken a picture without showing any naughty bits! The massage was lovely and I was all set for a relaxing night. I set my alarm for 8.15 - almost a lie in!
Unfortunately the bar had "music" thumping out which was directly below my room, so I just turned up the telly and tried to ignore the noise. I eventually got into the big bed which had heavy, carved wooden posts at each corner and was quite high up from the floor. I soon drifted off but woke shortly after to nip to the bathroom whereupon I cracked my head on one of the posts and nearly knocked myself out - as David said, good thing it was my head!
Back into bed and I was out like a light and looking forward to a good sleep. Next thing, I heard my phone alarm going and could tell it had been going for a while whereas I normally wake as soon as the alarm tune starts. I felt really groggy, (unlike me) flicked the lights on and stumbled into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, had a wash and then put the kettle on, putting my fruit tea bag into a mug. I started to get dressed but felt so unusually tired that I sat on the bed while the kettle boiled. It seemed a bit dark and I checked my phone which showed about 8.25am now, so I put the BBC news on and carried on getting ready. My eyes still felt sleepy and I was looking at the TV and the time and trying to figure out what the first digit was......and, you guessed it, it was a three!
Yep, I had got up at 3.15 and spent fifteen minutes getting ready before the penny dropped! When my phone had switched itself off it had then gone to the default time and I hadn't realised. After a mixture of annoyance and relief that it was still a good few hours before I really needed to be up, I got back into bed but it took ages to drift off again. Then, to cap it all, at around six fifteen the darned street cleaning machine came down the main road and that was it, I was wide awake again!
What a night. Needless to say, I didn't exactly feel at my best on Saturday! Thankfully, the bed at the hotel on Saturday night (in Scunthorpe) was the most comfortable I have ever slept in and I made up for the previous night with a really marvellous sleep. Oh the joys of travel!
Anyway, here are just a few pictures of some of the samples I have been making for the coming weekend's demonstrations in Kendal and Poynton. Here are a couple of different cards featuring my cheeky elf stamps... ..."Merry" Christmas seemed very appropriate for this little chap!
Next up is one of the Gorjuss stamps. This character makes me laugh as he looks as if he is melting away beneath his scarf! I coloured him with Promarkers and added pencil scribbles to give him a texture. I've used the Donna Salazar die cut alphabet again for the word. Everything has been Distress inked or Stained to give a more grungy look to this card. Next up is a card that features a combination of stamps by Andy Skinner and myself. I created an alcohol inked background that I spritzed with Stazon spray cleaner. I then stamped Andy's fir tree (from his Winter's Tale set) several times, masking off the base to achieve the varying sizes...this stamp is brilliant for this effect. Some torn card made the snow and I then added the Postbox from my Christmas Post stamp set. I made a couple of "envelopes" to pop into the post box and added the greeting from my Silent Night set. To finish the scene I swooshed some watered down Faded Jeans Distress ink for shadows and highlighted the trees with Liquid Pearls. The last featured card is made using my Build a Snowy Scene stamps to create the focal image. I then cut out the postcards from Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium paper (Believe) and layered everything up. A few extra details were cut from the paper and added and then I simply scribbled the red lines around the card to frame everything. A proper Victorian card! Finally, for feline fans out there, I thought you might like to see our little (quite big actually!) charmer, Thomas, in his current favourite spot on the box seat where he can keep an eye on me working whilst he's lounging on his favourite blankie - thank you Joanne! I love the way the sunlight has just caught his white fur and whiskers. He's really got a lot softer in the last month and has finally stopped nipping and scratching...he's just giving my finger a gentle suck here!!! Aaaah, what a sweetie pie!
Well, must go as dinner is almost ready and I need to tidy up a bit before I relax for the evening.

Interim post!

2011-10-18T19:14:00.002+01:00

Hello folks, this is another quick post, an interim one before a more interesting one tomorrow, as my camera is dead and I have just got some fresh batteries...bit dark to take piccies now though!

I'll post some pictures tomorrow as well as tell you about my comical Friday night at the hotel in Chester-Le-Street!

However, I did want to pop on here, just to say that, if you haven't already seen it, do go along to Andy Skinner's blog where he is auctioning off two of his wonderful art pieces in aid of Children in Need. The auction ends at midnight tonight (18th October) so there is still time to bid for either the Time Machine or the Gothic style bottle...both are really stunning.

Okay, I'll be back tomorrow!

Packed and ready

2011-10-13T22:59:00.002+01:00

The bags are all packed and ready to go again...where did this week vanish to? I'm sure that I am losing at least one day in every seven!
I've been prepping a few things today, ready for my demonstrations in Washington (Tyne & Wear) and Scunthorpe, including die cutting some letters ready for adding to tags and cards. I've packed all the inks, the stamps, punches, Lost & Found papers and post it notes, so I'm all set. Not too early a start tomorrow either, for a change!
Anyway, this post is a real quickie, and only because I said I would post again before I went away. So, have a great weekend everyone and make the most of the remaining glimmers of warm...ish weather!

October is here!

2011-10-11T18:10:00.006+01:00

Hello everyone...suddenly it feels like October usually feels! It's gloomy and been pouring with rain solidly here for the last two days and Thomas has hardly even ventured outside at all. He has a bladder made of iron!
Welcome to all the new readers and followers from down Essex way - and elsewhere. I had a really good weekend in Wickford and Billericay and met up with both familiar and new faces, and there was a lot of fun along the way. Not that you can see much sign of it here, as everyone, including me, was concentrating hard! This was on Saturday at In 2 Crafting in Wickford, where John was taking photos throughout the day for their blog at in2crafting.blogspot.com if you'd like to see more of the piccies (and spot if you're on any of them!). On Sunday I was at Pinnacle Crafts in Billericay - no photos of the day I'm afraid as I was loaded up and didn't take my camera away with me. Here are some of the things that I made over the weekend though....a couple of simple tags using alcohol inks over PI coated gloss card to create the tartan effects and using Gorjuss toppers for simple main images. I used letters from the Donna Salazar Spellbinders alphabet dies for the JOY message, whereas the SNOW uses Grungeboard letters, inked and then topped with Liquid Pearls. I do enjoy making tags at this time of year as they can be quick and simple, or more ornate and it's also a great way of using little offcuts of papers, ribbon etc. I'll have more tags to show you next week as I'm planning to make quite a few on this coming weekend's demonstrations. This card is another one featuring Gorjuss images - these are from the clear set "Snowman" GJCSA6008 - and I couldn't resist popping the extra Robin onto the snowman's carrot nose! The words are from my Silent Night clear stamp set, which has a selection of Christmas greetings to suit most card styles. I used Ranger Core-dinations cardstock for the background...love that colour! This little card was just to show the Palm trees from my Nativity stamp set being used for a non Christmas theme. I used my Stazon spray cleaner technique over an alcohol ink monoprint to create the background (I used Pool and Clover ink colours) and then stamped the trees before colouring the bottom of the panel with black ink and adding some upward black strokes for the grassy effects. I put a few drops of Sailboat Blue alcohol ink onto my craft sheet, and used a paintbrush to sweep the blue across the panel to represent the ocean. I drew the boat with a black pen - if you have a stamps of a boat, or other suitable silhouette, you could use that of course. I then used a white pen to add a few highlights and a fine black pen to draw some simple birds. My final card to share today is made using my Build a Snowy Scene and Christmas Post stamp sets. Some masking and Distress inks were all it took to create a traditional Christmassy scene...the foreground trees are a little small for accurate perspective to be honest, but....I don't mind...I just like the overall appearance! So, I had a really good weekend and no travel problems either, although my train to London was about ten minutes late due to....idiots stealing cables again. This has been happening more often as people are after the copper apparently, and it is creating havoc for the railways....and passengers of course.
I shall be on my travels again this coming weekend, with demos at Dainty Supplies in Washington, Tyne and Wear on Saturday, and at Stephen H Smith's garden centre in Scunthorpe on Sunday. Hope to see some of you there, but I'll be posting again before the weekend. Meanwhile, keep warm and dry everyone!

Crafts Beautiful

2011-10-06T16:30:00.003+01:00

Two posts in one day...I'm making up for lost time! I just thought I'd share these pictures of some new projects that I did for the November issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine using the beautiful My Minds Eye Lost & Found Christmas collection. The papers are a really lovely mix of quite vintage images and colours but with a modern twist and a good lashing of glitter! I also used the matching brads and dimensional stickers as well as my Christmas Collage stamp for the card's focal image.

I have to thank my big sis, Heather, for suggesting I make a Bunting decoration! I really liked the way this turned out and I was especially pleased that I was able to use the MS Holly border to punch around the triangular shape. Certain of the punches will allow you to be a little more experimental and daring with how you use them. So long as you hold the punch upside down then you can check that you aren't cutting through an area you've already punched - I also found it easier to start at the point at the bottom as this one is harder to punch around otherwise. I have found (by accident!) that I can also use this particular PATP set to punch around squares and rectangles that aren't the standard size, simply because the holly leaves are a fairly random pattern. It's also just a really lovely design that I like using! The Triptych is made from a base of mount board and is really simple to make. Embossing all the edges with gold powder takes extra time, but is worth it for the extra neatness and stability that it adds. Patterns are included in the magazine of course, and you could enlarge or reduce this...I quite fancy making some Triptych ATC's. Hope you like them. If you want any more details about Crafts Beautiful, just check out the link in my sidebar. I've had a nice day colouring in, so I have a little stack of images now, all ready to add to my backgrounds and cards this weekend. Hope to see you in Essex!

Quiz winner!

2011-10-05T23:30:00.006+01:00

Hello all, and firstly, many thanks for your get well wishes - much appreciated. I think I caught a bug from one of my many brushes with "Joe public" on the trains! David said I was more susceptible as I was tired and it was my body saying "you need a rest!". Many apologies to the ladies who were booked onto my workshop on Wednesday...I can't remember when I last had to cancel something! Hopefully, you will all be able to come to one of the future classes.
I feel tons better now and am going to have a day of colouring some stamped images to use on my demonstration days this weekend in Essex. I'll be at In 2 Crafting in Wickford on Saturday, and I'll be using Distress inks, stamps, punches etc. On Sunday I'll be at Pinnacle Crafts in Billericay, where I'll be focussing on Alcohol inks, Adiroindack inks and stamping ideas. Hope to see some of you on one or other of the days.
Now to the quiz....well, what a tricky one this proved to be!!! The main bug bear has been questions 1, as people have interpreted the definitions of what is edible in very different ways! Question 19 also threw up an alternative answer that I hadn't foreseen! So...I have been a bit flexible about those. Taking this into account, the two top quizzers were Carole and Joanne W, so we had to draw a winner. I thought it would be fun to get Thomas to pick the winning name, and, as you can see, he closed his eyes to be completely fair! But then, being an awkward pusscat, he decided to jump down onto the floor so I had to place the mat with the papers down there. He was very decisive though, and he was certain he wanted the one on his right! And, as you can see, he was keen to see who he had picked! So....well done Joanne, please email me your address so that I can get your prize out to you. Well done to Carole too, who was the quickest off the mark with her answers - Thomas says "mmmrr, mmmeowww, mmmrrow"....I think that means, "sorry"! Thank you to all of you who entered, and hope you enjoyed the brain excercise. I'll get working on another quiz soon, so watch this space.
Okay, I'll pop the answers on the original quiz post further down.....no groaning at the answers now!

Message from David

2011-10-04T17:16:00.003+01:00

Lindsay is not too well and has asked me to say that she will post the quiz results and winner in the next couple of days. Unfortunately she has also had to cancel tomorrow's (wednesday) workshop in St Helens.
It's nothing serious, just a "lurgey", probably caught from one of her many train journeys!

Just check back over the next two days to see the quiz results. David

Brainboxes!

2011-09-28T18:45:00.005+01:00

Hello folks, and what brainboxes some of you are! yes, the quiz answers are flooding in...I've even had an entry from as far afield as New Zealand, but, if you haven't had a go yet, there's still time to enter. Just email me with your answers by early next week...you have to be in it to win it as they say!
I'm sorry that I've been somewhat absent for the last week, but it was a mixture of no photos to share and being quietly busying myself with an assortment of things. Last Thursday I was teaching at Crafts 4 U 2 Do and in the morning the ladies made an array of tags. Here is one that we ran out of time to make! This one features Darkroom Door stamps, Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium papers (which Personal Impressions are now stocking - yippee!) Tissue Tape and a Christmas Muse token by TH. I do like the tissue tape as ribbon effect. In the afternoon we used Darkroom Door stamps to make cards and this one was David's favourite of the samples I made. The lovely paper is Christmas Emporium "Believe!" which has postcard sized retro images on the front and this beautiful blue paper on the reverse. I used Faded Jeans to ink the postage stamp and then, once I'd applied it to the paper, lightly misted it with water for that slightly blurred effect. On Saturday I was at Crabapple Crafts who were celebrating their twelfth birthday. Rosemary and Debbie were also demonstrating as well as Woodware and even Nigel got in on the act. Hello to everyone who came along and glad you enjoyed the day.
Sunday was also a busy day as I was at the Craft Shop in Congleton where a group of very keen ladies spent most of the day with me as I got very messy indeed with various inks and stamps. There were lots of homemade cakes and the kettle seemed to be on all day...I did indulge in one piece of delicious lemon cake which was my lunch as the ladies chained me to the table all day! (not really of course!)
I have added an email subscription to the sidebar near the top - if you'd like to get my posts sent to you via email (!) just add your email details and follow the simple instructions. Hopefully it will work...I'm never too sure if I have done things correctly or not!
Crafts Beautiful's current issue features a set of cards and decoration that I made using Nitwit papers and toppers - along with some inks of course! Here are a couple of pictures featuring the stocking.... ....and one of the cards - though you can see the second card in the background. The magazine includes the template for the stocking and full instructions of course. So, not a very long post tonight really! I am just about to go and call Thomas for his dinner as he has been out enjoying the weather all day. It's been incredibly warm here and, at 7.15pm in late September, we have the windows open and the fan on - and it still feels hot! Bonkers! david cooked a really delicious chicken, stuffing and baked potatoes last night, so we are going to have the same again now...he hasn't cooked a roast for a while but it was worth waiting for!
I am off up to Lancaster on Saturday for my demonstration at Card Craft and from there I travel over to Hull for Sunday's demo at crafty Creations in Cottingham. Hope to see some friendly and familar faces at Lancaster and some new ones on Sunday! Finally, a warm welcome to new followers of my blog.

Craft Quiz number 3!

2011-09-18T18:34:00.007+01:00

At long last, here is Craft Quiz number 3! Twenty more questions and riddles to get your brain cells ticking over. I've tried to make them a mix of straightforward ones and some tricksier ones for those of you who like more of a challenge.

As previously, whoever gets the most answers right will be the winner, but, in the case of a draw, David will, with the help of Thomas, draw a winning name. Please email your answers to me at the usual address of ljm.design@ntlworld.com by midnight of Monday 3rd October. I will announce the winner on Tuesday 4th, so do remember to check back and see if you are the brain of Britain (craft wise!). If you are struggling with any of the questions, do bear in mind that all the answers can be found somewhere within the Personal Impressions website - see my left sidebar for the link. Any blog links to my quiz will be greatly appreciated!
The prizes - kindly donated by Personal Impressions, are a 12" x 12" speciality paper pad from the K & Co Handmade collection, a set of my "Wonder Filled Day" clear stamps, a Tim Holtz Idealogy Mini Mask, and one of my fairy silhouette cards. So, good luck everyone!!! (PS question one is from a suggestion by the winner of quiz number one!)

1. How many Distress ink pad colours have a reference to something you could eat or drink? NB this does NOT include the three new limited edition seasonal colours. Do think hard about this one as some are not obvious!!! 9 - my colours were: Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Walnut Stain, Tea Dye, Bundled Sage, Crushed Olive, Spun Sugar, Wild Honey and Dusty Concorde (Concorde is grape variety used in wine making) - however, I was flexible on this question, as some of you included things like Lavender and Scattered Straw.

2. Which of my new clear stamp sets might you expect to arrive though your door sometime in late December? Christmas Post

3. Which character range is Suzanne Woolcott the designer of? Gorjuss

4. Which K & Co collection sounds as though it would be at home in the Natural History museum? Flora and Fauna

5. What is the name of the well known Australian photographer and stamp designer? Rachel Greig

6. A sauna for a member of the Sex Pistols might describe this very "on trend" crafting style? Steampunk (ouch!)

7. Which new teeny stamps from Personal Impressions come in twenty designs? Tinchies

8. Which of my clear stamp sets contains a Palm trees design? Nativity - Unto us a Child is Born

9. A spooky paper stash from Tim Holtz - but what is it called? Kraft Resist Halloween Haunts

10. Which Andy Skinner stamp set might have proved especially popular with Elvis the Pelvis? Viva Las Vegas

11. Which Alcohol ink colour is, very appropriately, named after a cocktail? Peach Bellini

12. Despite the name, don't use this Martha Stewart tool on your hair!!! Fringe Scissors

13. This paper from Graphic 45 will appeal to fans of sparkly red shoes. The Magic of Oz

14. Who is the man who dressed Hollywood and was the inspiration for a range of stamps, toppers and decoupage? Travilla

15. Both the black and the white are raised and glossy - what is in these two little bottles? Enamel Accents

16. This Tim Holtz stamp set sounds like a smaller version of Devon's famous rock band! Mini Muse (ouch again!)

17. These Spellbinder dies by Donna Salazar sound like lively cogs and gears! Sprightly Sprockets

18. How many of the Dew Drop Brilliance ink pads are named after plants? NB Coffee Bean not included! 8 - Sunflower Yellow, Rocket Red, Pearl Orchid, Pearl Lavender, Pearl Olive, Pearl Poppy, Pearl Ivy, Thyme, (I would also have accepted 9 as there is also a Rocket Red Gold)

19. Which Crafter's Workshop Template could have been named after a British sitcom shown in the 1980's/90/s? Birds of a Feather, though I also accepted Butterflies which I hadn't thought of!!!

20. This My Minds Eye collection might be popular with Mary - twice over! Quite Contrary

Well, there you have it! Best of luck and email your answers to me to be in with a chance of winning the prize and, more importantly, being crowned as Quiz 3 know it all!!!

Sunday at home....mmmm....bliss!

2011-09-18T17:57:00.009+01:00

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I am just enjoying a quiet day at home after all the hustle and bustle of the last week. Not sure how many miles I have travelled over the last few days, but it was enough! I feel as if I've hardly seen David at all!

So here are some pictures from my trip to A Maze of Memories in Long Crendon, near Thame, owned by the lovely Christina, who picked me up from the station, took my heavy craft case off me (bliss!) and then dropped me in Thame so I could have a wander before checking into my hotel. Normally Thame is a peaceful little town, full of old buildings, characterful shops and tea rooms. However, this is how the town looked on Friday as the annual fair had been erected down the length of the main road..... .....the colours of the stands really looked vibrant against the beautiful sunny sky and the usually sedate streets. There was a lot of screaming too from the people who had ventured onto some of the more adventurous rides! I was quite glad that my hotel was just out of the town centre!
After a good night's sleep it was time to get ready for the demonstration and make n takes and time, too, to meet up with some familiar people....was it really six months since I was lat there? Apparently so, much to all our disbelief - where is this year going? Here are some of the ladies having a little look at some of my cards. And some piccies of the ladies working away on their Nativity cards, using alcohol inks...........stamps and Distress ink pads. Looking good..... ....... watch your fingers there! And here's Diane who used my favourite colour combination of purple, pink and blue! It was great to see you all again ladies, and you all make me feel so welcome. I will be sorting out another visit with Christina, so will keep you posted about when I'll be back. Thank you for all the cuppas, cold drinks, lunch and offers of the handmade cakes...I was very good, but did bring two slices home with me to share with David!
I have finally sorted out all the questions for my craft quiz number 3, so will be posting this shortly. I know that some of you found quiz 1 too hard, whilst others found quiz 2 too easy, so I have mixed up the type of questions for number three and there are a real mix of straightforward ones and some more tricksy, cryptic ones! So, do call back soon and have a go.

Hello, goodbye!

2011-09-15T20:14:00.010+01:00

A quick "hello, goodbye" (especially to new followers and readers) as I got back late last night from Whitley Bay and am now all packed up and ready for my trip down to Thame tomorrow. I didn't take a picture last time I was there, but these are the three wonderful mosaics that greet one at the Metro station...a small station, elevated by this glorious artwork...isn't it great? Once I ventured from the relative comfort of the station, boy, was it windy! I dropped by case off at Papercuts, checked into my room and then went for my walk along the beach. I was almost knocked off my feet several times (and that takes some doing!) and, have to admit that I decided against the paddle! Mainly because I thought I might fall over and get a soaking. However, the gulls were happily bobbing about and showing off their gliding skills. After a good few hours walk I returned to the hotel, had a meal and retired to my room....where I realised that the radiators were not working and the windows had no handles with which to close them. As the "hurricane" hit the area that night, I had one of the coldest nights I can recall. I woke up feeling stiff and covered with goose bumps....bbbrrrrr!

My day at Papercuts was very busy and I met a lovely crowd of people. Here's one card that I made on the day using a mix of MS snowflake punch, Distress inks, Coredinations card and a decoupage Gorjuss topper. The snowflakes look a tadge odd here, as the card is partly open so you can't see the overlay properly. Here's a card that was one of the ones I taught on Sunday's workshop. All done with Distress inks and water with a few details added with Marvy Le Plume pens. The PIP300CWH white card is one of the secrets for creating these really full on bleached out effects. Next is the Triptych piece that was the afternoon class on Sunday. The outside..... ....... and the inside. We used Andy Skinner's stamps to make collaged paper for the interior. Here, by special request yesterday, is another card made with my Build a Snowy Scene stamp set. I made this one at Papercuts and several of the ladies asked me to pop it on here to remind them....hope you are all having a go with your new stamps! So, just a few examples of what I've been up to and I'll hope to have new pics to share with you next week when I return from A Maze of Memories in Long Crendon, near Thame. I know it will be a lovely day on Saturday, as Christina always looks after me very well and I get to see familiar, as well as new faces. Looking forward to seeing you all!
Okay, well, have a really good weekend everyone.

Keep going you fool!

2011-09-12T18:36:00.008+01:00

A phrase that has always tickled me and seems appropriate this week! On Friday I took the train down to Norwich and it was an especially good journey. This is a good time of year to see interesting sights through the "wide screen tv" of a train window! The first notable image was of a field of ducks - not a field with a few mallards toddling about, but hundreds of ducks waddling about or sunbathing. I don't think these were domesticated, so I guess they were all on there way somewhere and decided to stop off for a rest. That was my idea anyway!
Further along I spotted another deer - a little one, all on its tod. Then a lovely view of a long stream with swans carefully watching three huge Shire horses on the banks, one craning over to take a drink. As the landscape changes, so does the wildlife, and I saw a large Buzzard wheeling around as the train ventured further south. The trees themselves change too, and the rounded tops of Chestnuts, Elms and Oaks gave way to pencil straight pines that looked as though, if one shifted slightly, they would all topple in a continuous cascade like a row of dominoes. At Ely, I thought I saw a hare, but it could well have just been a big rabbit if I'm honest! No Kingfisher as we pulled into Norwich this time, but I had been treated to some lovely sights.
I spent the afternoon walking around the city's streets, both large and small, though I must confess that it wasn't as enjoyable as usual due to the oppressively humid weather. It wasn't just me - everyone was saying how heavy limbed they felt. However, I still managed about five hours of wandering which meant I slept reasonably well despite the heat.
Next day I was at Jarrolds famous department store where I had a busy day getting very inky...which caused some humour when someone remarked how "clean" all my samples were, as I had been pointing out all my inky fingerprints on everything just before! Hello to all the ladies and, yes, a few men (!) who I met on Saturday, some for the first time. It was lovely to meet you all and I hope that you have all been having fun making those landscapes!
The day sped by and I was soon dashing down to the station for the four and a half hour journey home. It was a nice, quiet train journey and, coming back a slightly different route, I saw hundreds of Norfolk's famous piggies...all living outdoors with their own stys (styes, sties...?!) you'll be pleased to know. Made me feel guilty about my cooked breakfast at the guest house though! I spotted a Heron too, but then, of course, it was beginning to get dark, so my viewing pleasure ended with glorious views of the sun setting over water and some spectacular clouds.
I got home late and, before I knew it, it was Sunday morning and we were off to St Helens to teach a full day of workshops. Here is the well behaved table...all inking, colouring and sticking very nicely..... .....this is the self confessed "naughty" table, though they behaved quite well I have to admit! Here they were making their own decorated paper for the Triptych that we made in the afternoon. In the morning however, everyone had a go at faux bleaching using water over a Distress inked background. Nearly everyone felt a little worried about painting their own scene, but I think all of the finished results had real charm and character....Jacqui's ...........and Christine's snowmen were especially folksy and characterful.... ....they were all brilliant. I haven't got photos of my finished workshop projects yet as the camera batteries have died, but I will post these later in the week.
Here are more background papers being inked after stamping first with Andy Skinner's "Let the Festivities Begin" set. These papers formed the inside covers of the Triptychs. And here are the ladies (some, very naughtily hiding....come out from the back there please Sheila and Kath!) with their Triptychs as they looked at the end of the day. These are a work in progress, so I'd love to see any piccies of extra embellishing that any of you have done. It was a really fun filled day as you can hopefully see! More workshops are available, so check the left sidebar for details. So, after a windy day, but not exactly on a hurricane scale here, I am all packed up again and ready for my trip to Whitley Bay tomorrow. I'll be demonstrating at Papercuts in Roxburgh House...a mix of stamps, papers, punches and lots of inky techniques. Not sure that I'll be having a paddle as I did back in March when I was there for the shop opening day! You never know though...I'm pretty game for tippy toeing in even the coldest of sea, so I'll let you know!
I was about to say "have a great weekend" and then realised it's only Monday and I have a trip way up north and then one way down south before the weekend gets going! (Hence my post title!) I'll post more pictures later in the week. Take care everyone.

Quick post before my travels

2011-09-08T19:37:00.002+01:00

Just a quickie post tonight - bags are all packed, full and heavy (no change there then!) ready for my trip to Norwich. Fortunately I'll be able to drop my case off at Jarrolds en route to my hotel, so not too far to lug it around. I always enjoy going to Norwich with it's eclectic mix of new and old, lovely atmosphere and interesting little shops. I always stay at the same little hotel, where possible, which is only a few minutes from the centre of the city whilst being really tranquil and quiet. It's straight through on the train as well...great as there are no changes to worry about, but it does make for a looong (four and a half hours) trip.
Anyway, I just wanted to answer the ladies who have been asking if I'll be going back to Weavervale Garden Centre, in Northwich, before Christmas....yes! The date will be Saturday 3rd December, so keep that day in your diaries - it's going to be fun! More details nearer the time.
Also, for those of you north of the border who have been asking when I'm coming back to Scotland (not been up there for over a year) I can now confirm that myself and Andy Skinner willbe going to The Papeterie in Aberdeen for the weekend of November 26th and 27th where we'll be demonstrating and also hosting a day of workshops. So, hope to see some of my Scottish friends there and really looking forward to it.
We still have a place left on Sunday's workshop, so let David (via my email) or Craft 4 U 2 Do, if you'd like to come along.
Right, that's me done now, and I'm off to relax for the evening, so will wish everyone a great weekend.

The five Counties

2011-09-07T18:10:00.004+01:00

Last weekend involved quite a bit of travelling, hence today's post title. On Saturday I was at Weavervale Garden Centre in Northwich which was a very busy day as you can see from this photo that David took. Kate was rushing around finding stamps, card etc for customers and it was a very jolly day with a lot of fun amidst the creativity! I hope to back there before Christmas, so will keep you posted.
From there, David ran me to the train station in Manchester where I boarded the train for the two and a half hour trip across the country to Grimsby. It was a beautiful journey that went through the lush green hills of Derbyshire and Yorkshire...in my opinion some of the most beautiful scenery in Britain. Along the way the clouds kept changing quite dramatically from fluffy white, through mottled Mackerel skies to heavy, rain filled moodiness. As the train slowed at one point I saw three Roe deer calmly watching us pass them by...a big tick in my imaginary spotter's book!
By the time I reached Grimsby Town it was dark and I was glad that the hotel was literally round the corner from the station. I realised that I had gone, in one day, through Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire and, finally, Lincolnshire! Whew....no wonder I felt tired!
Next day I was at Grimsby Crafts for another very busy day. Lynn had set up three big tables for me so I was able to spread everything out - not sure how I still managed to make an untidy mess! Unfortunately I didn't take my camera, so no pics to share of the day. Thank you for all the lovely feedback ladies, I really enjoyed meeting you all. Again, I'll hopefully be back there before too long.
My journey home was fine except for the two families who seemed to think that the train was a private one just for them! They were not travelling together, but both had very unruly offspring who spent the entire time running up and down the aisles, throwing things around and shouting at the top of their, very loud, voices. Despite all the black looks from everyone else, one set of parents completely ignored the hullabaloo whilst the others spent their time shouting and swearing (very strongly) at their young children...who totally ignored them. Modern parenting eh?! Needless to say, it felt like quite a long journey home!
So, this week has been spent working on some designs as well as prepping all the kits for the workshops this coming Sunday. I have just found out this afternoon that there is now a place available on the class due to a cancellation through illness. So, if you'd like to join us on a Christmassy crafting day, just drop me an email and I'll send you the details. We'll be making snowmen themed cards in the morning and a Triptych piece in the afternoon. Poor David drew the short straw (well he offered actually!) and spent today cutting up the pieces of mountboard for the afternoon session...I could almost see the Tom & Jerry type throbbing hand by the time he'd finished!
Well, before the workshops I have a trip down to Norwich to demonstrate at Jarrolds department store. I'll be on the third floor in the art & craft department - I'm usually opposite the lifts, so you can't miss me! Hope to see some of you there.
I'll be back after the weekend with some new photos to share and a few more tales from my travels no doubt. Welcome to new followers and readers and I hope you'll enjoy popping by here rom time to time. Lastly, do check out Personal Impressions website where Richard has added some more of my projects (with instructions) and samples.

How did that happen?

2011-09-02T16:58:00.005+01:00

I mean, it's ridiculous... it would seem that a whole week has gone by since I last posted on here, and yet I'm sure it was only about four days ago. Where are these days disappearing to, that's what I should like to know! It was last Saturday that I whizzed down to Peterborough for my date at Sir Stampalot and yet, I'm sure that should make it about Tuesday now!?! Maybe I'm a time traveller without knowing it - just a shame that time keeps speeding up instead of slowing down once in a while!

I had a straightforward journey to Peterborough and arrived around lunchtime. It took me quite a while finding my hotel as there are lots of subways, bridges and little stairways in the city, so I got a little confused! Unfortunately it wasn't a great place (somewhat grubby to say the least) and I had an unfortunate incident with a dodgy kettle which resulted in boiling water going all over my right hand. Thankfully, a silicone glove (don't ask!) filled with cold water, and a night spent with my hand wrapped in a wet towel saved the day, or rather, the hand, and, despite it being sore and very red, it didn't stop me from keeping the show on the road. And, yes, I have complained to the hotel about it. It was evidently one of those days though, as one of the wheels broke off my case as well!Next day I was at Sir Stampalot - my first visit there, but I hope not my last - watch this space! Janice and Andy were absolutely lovely and really looked after me. Hello to everyone that I met there - including new followers and readers (you know who you are!) and hope you're enjoying using the "Hob Nob Special" card!!! As you can see from the above photo, which only shows part of my table, I had loads of room to work in and to display my cards and tags etc. You can just see one tag peeking up at the top which was my version of a beautiful tag that Andy posted on his site last week...if you haven't seen it, do check out Andy's blog in my list on the left.
It's not only me that's been busy this week - David had replaced the wheels on my case, built up the stand on the other side (to keep it balanced) and fixed my scanner...all by Wednesday. I don't call him SuperDave for nothing! So, I didn't have to say a sad farewell to my little case which is affectionately known as "my Tardis" after all, and, even better, I will be able to pull it along behind me without waking everyone within a three mile radius! Its poor old wheels have been getting wonkier by the week and it was making a terrible racket...now it glides along in near silence - bliss! It's ancient, but it works for me.
I had a reasonably quiet journey home too, apart from about half an hour of sweary, lairy nonsense from some idiots between two of the stations...not hard to know that the football season has started again!!! I did get chatting to a couple of elderly chappies who were like something out of Last of the Summer Wine though. Apparently they had decided, on a whim, to go from Sheffield to Skegness the evening before. It had cost them £90 as they went by taxi! They didn't arrive until very late that night and couldn't find anywhere with vacancies. One of them has a bad leg and uses a walking stick, so they called an ambulance, he complained of awful pains in his leg and they took him to hospital, along with his mate, where they spent the night! They were like a couple of naughty children and I don't think they realised just how much trouble they could have got themselves into, let alone all the resources they doubtless wasted! I do meet some characters on these trips!
I have been finishing some drawings that I've been working on, as well as making lots of samples for my demonstrations this weekend at Weavervale Garden Centre in Northwich, Cheshire, tomorrow and at Grimsby Crafts in....mmmm...Grimsby (!) on Sunday. Because I have to get to the station straight after I pack away, tomorrow's demonstration is from 9.30am until 3.30pm. I'll be using my new Christmas stamps as well as some lovely Gorjuss ones along with new Christmas papers from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found range. This card features the stamp called "The Winters Night" as well as some of the MME papers and matching fancy brads. I also added a pleated tissue tape frill and three red gems. Great image this one, as it's more wintery than specifically Christmassy so can be used in many ways. Next is a collaged card using two of Andy Skinner's stamp sets, "Simply Angelic" and "Let the Festivities Begin". I combined these with the MS holly punch, a little inking and faux bleaching and just kept it simple. Here's a soup tin that David kept and washed out for me. I've wrapped it it in more of the MME paper and used some of the matching layered stickers and lace ribbon to finish it. Good old tissue tape came in handy here again! I've not made the inside fancy at all, as I plan to put a few twigs in it to display some other items that I've been making for tomorrow...that's if I can find the right sized twigs anyway! Hope to see some of you in Northwich or Grimsby over the weekend for some creative fun. Until next time, have a great weekend, whatever you're up to, and make the most of the sunny days that are left before Autumn starts to properly kick in.

Passport to Peterborough

2011-08-26T18:21:00.005+01:00

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...

2011-08-24T19:02:00.005+01:00

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

2011-08-22T12:34:00.020+01:00

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...

2011-08-22T11:24:00.013+01:00

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!

2011-08-16T16:19:00.003+01:00

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...

2011-08-12T18:08:00.003+01:00

....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!

2011-08-08T19:23:00.011+01:00

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!

2011-08-03T13:54:00.003+01:00

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!

Two counties weekend

2011-07-31T21:52:00.004+01:00

Hi folks! It's been a very hot, and very fun weekend in Yorkshire and Cheshire. On Saturday I was at Samuel Taylor's in Leeds where I met quite a few familiar faces from when I was there last time, a few years back. I also saw Carol, who was the winner of my first blog quiz a few months ago....I will really try to get another quiz together before too long - promise!
No pictures from Saturday I'm afraid, as I forgot the camera, but I do have a couple to share with you from today when I was at HG Arts & Crafts in Brookside Garden centre in Poynton. It's the Garden Centre that I shared photos from a year and a half ago when David and I went there in the thick snow on his birthday. There is a miniature railway there and so there is also a lot of railway memorabilia, making for a very picturesque setting. My demonstration was in the "Party Suite" which is filled with railway signs etc as you can see here. Childrens parties are held in here and there is a "throne" for the birthday boy or girl, which apparently also serves as a seat for Santa Claus when he visits the gardens. Needless to say, I was seated on the throne (no rude jokes please!) and when Sheila visited, wearing one of her trademark hats, I was promptly crowned and David took this snap! I was trying to maintain a "regal" expression, but couldn't keep a straight face! It was a really fun day and I hope you all enjoy your new inks, stamps and card. Welcome to the new followers too...keep an eye open for the next quiz as there will be prizes!
Well, it's been a busy week and a half, so I shall sign off now and report back soon...hopefully with questions and goodies to be won. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

What's on this weekend

2011-07-29T18:16:00.006+01:00

Well, it's been a dull old day here today, but really warm and clammy. I've spent today making extra samples for this weekend's demonstrations. I'll be at Samuel Taylor's in Leeds tomorrow and then at H G Arts & Crafts on Sunday, which is at Brookside Garden Centre, in Poynton. I'll be stamping, staining, punching and inking...bit of all sorts really! Hope to see some of you at one or other event if you are nearby.

I forgot to post these next two photos the other day....they are of a project that I have in the current issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine. I used the gorgeous Flora and Fauna range from K&Co and, when I received the papers and matching stickers, Grand Adhesions, borders etc I just couldn't decide which ones to use! So, I decided that a configurations box would give me the leeway to use a good mixture! I had so much fun making this, filling corked vials with flower seeds and making tiny labels for them and cramming as many details into, and around the compartments as I could. I didn't use tissue tape for covering the box edges (except for the main frame of the lid) but, instead, I used strips of the K&Co paper to keep the theme going.
I made a matching card and tag as well - the card features MS punches - a deep edge Punch Around the Page set "Wildflowers, and the Punch All Over the Page butterfly. I had to add some Tissue Tape frills to the tag of course! Hope you like them, and if you'd like the instructions and to see much better photos of them do check out Crafts Beautiful...they photograph everything so well.
There are still a few places on the August 14th Early Christmas workshops that I'll be teaching in St Helens...we'll be using some of my new Christmas stamps and I'll also be demonstrating with these the day before at Crafts 4 U 2 Do. This will be the first showcasing of my new stamps, so I'll be busy getting cards etc made with them next week - can't wait to start on them! (Nice chance to unlock the glitter cabinet!)
I must share a picture with you of two teeny tiny, ever so sweet fairies that I was given by the wonderfully talented Kath. My photo just doesn't do justice to them, as they are very delicate and measure only about an inch across - if that! The detail on the faces is brilliant and the hair (in ringlets no less!) is incredible. The edges of the tiny wings are even glittered. Thank you Kath. I have earmarked one fairy to sit inside a corked vial in my next configuration box - will show you when I have done it.
Well, time to sign out now and have a few quiet hours before retiring. Have to be up early for the trip over to Leeds tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Pictures to show!

2011-07-26T18:12:00.022+01:00

Hello all, it's been a good few days since my last post as family things have been taking precedence over the last week or so. I hope to make up for it with a fairly long post now, with some great pictures too! This time last week was my birthday and I received some lovely cards and gifts from very kind friends... ....clockwise from the back are a gorgeous canvas that the lovely Joanne made especially for me, next to that is a decorated jar filled with chocolates and labelled "Lindsay's very own chocolate treats jar"! This was from Chris but I must confess that David is munching on one of the bars as I type!!! Next to the jar is a lovely card that Joanne sent me - not for my birthday as such, but thought I'd include it anyway! Below that is a beautiful card sent to me by Gez . At the bottom is a gorgeous felted card from Chris which has a lovely heart shaped felted brooch attached to it. The teeny canvas is from Joanne and "T" and has a delicate, and very pretty heart pendant secured to it. In the centre is a dragonfly beaded box containing a really sweet silver cat wine stopper, also from Joanne and "T". Thank you so much ladies (and "T"!) for your kindness and wonderful creative generosity. Below is the birthday card that Joanne made for me...hard to see the dimension in this photo. Although I had a busy schedule David insisted we went out for the afternoon and we ended up, after a lovely drive around nowhere in particular, in Alsager, Cheshire, where we came upon a well hiden gem called "The Old Mill". It was a quiet, old Inn complete with mill pond. We had a delicious meal (the chips were home made - not frozen! Crikey, that's a rare thing these days!) which the resident black labrador would have happily cleared of any remains! Afterwards we wandered out to the mill pond and, as we had seen a large fish leaping out of the water before we ate, I threw some breadcrumbs onto the surface. They immediately attracted quite a few large Carp and we were treated to the sight of them coming right out of the water to grab the bread. Made a change from feeding ducks! If you are ever near the area we can recommend a visit. So it was a lovely birthday, topped off with beautiful red roses from David. Now, as promised, here are pictures of the Chunky Book which I received the Saturday before last from Sheila when we last met at my workshops in St Helens. Sheila did a great job of putting the books together despite the setbacks of a couple of people having to drop out of the swap and some of us (including me!) having to ask for a time extension to get pages made! Everyone involved chose the theme they would like for their book and here is mine - I chose "The magic of water". Here is the front cover...Sheila made all the front and back covers herself. Here are the inside pages - each picture shows the back of the previous one as well as the next page. The first one is this stunning piece by Joanne, which has so much detail and depth to it. I can't even imagine how long this must have taken to put together, never mind thinking of the design in the first place! The next picture shows one of Sheila's pages...Sheila knows my favourite colours that's for sure, and the sentiments on this page are very appropriate just now. The Glossy Accents just emphasises the watery feel. Gez made this next page which is so well thought out and very evocative of sunny days by the sea. I love the colours here too. Next up is my own page which I used Colourwash dyes to make the background for. I drew, coloured and cut out the Mermaid, strengthening her with Glossy Accents. Next is another page by Sheila featuring another Mermaid. The faux bleached water effects on here are so effective and I love the colour combinations. A different Mermaid here on this page made by Elaine. I love Mermaids, so the more the merrier and this one is certainly unlike the rest! I love this shimmery aqua page. This nostalgic page was created by Karen and really captures the feel of a day at the beach. This dreamy page is by Sonja and I really like the way she has got that foamy quality of a crashing sea as well as the quote from Cristopher Columbus. Zoe's page is full of texture and contrast and I especially like the shiny fibres that tumble down into the Koi pond below. Hilda made this very different page which has subtle stamping and a great dictionary panel - I love dictionary definitions! The last page is by Cheryl - great colour and the paddling foot made me smile! Here is the inside back of the book. Well, hope you enjoyed looking at the Chunky Book which I will treasure. It was a labour of love for all involved!

Last Saturday I was at Crafts U Love, in Charlwood, Horley, for their fifth birthday celebrations. It was a day of classes and demonstrations and everyone had a lovely time. Hello to all the ladies I met there (no men I'm afraid!) and hope to see you again soon!
Well, I hope I have made up for my recent lack of posting and will try to post again before the weekend.

Very quick post

2011-07-21T20:13:00.002+01:00

I was going to post pictures of some of the lovely cards and gifts that I was given for my birthday on Tuesday, as well as the pages of my chunky book that Sheila gave me on Saturday, but things haven't gone as they were planned this week I'm afraid.

So, this is just a quick post to say that I will share pictures and tales of the upcoming weekend when I get back from Surrey. I'll be at Crafts U Love on Saturday for their fifth birthday event. There are workshops and demos at the shop and at Charlwood Parish Hall, so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. I'm tootling down there tomorrow...my favourite thing, going through the London Underground, but I am getting better at it!
For those who have been asking, there are a couple more of the workshop projects up on the Personal Impressions website now, and there will be more to come - with bothy supplies lists and full instructions.
Okay, there are two fishcakes in the oven with my name on them (amazing what you can buy these days!) so I had better get them before they disappear in a puff of charred smoke! Have a great weekend everyone, and I'll be back here next week.

A weekend of contrasts

2011-07-17T18:55:00.015+01:00

Saturday was the first of my new workshops in St Helens and it was certainly a good day to be inside crafting as the Heavens opened and it poured with rain almost the entire time. David and I were there bright (mmm that's debatable!) and early getting everything ready before everyone began arriving in various states of drenchedness!

David got everyone settled in with drinks and biccies and then we got straight to work with alcohol inks and Stazon spray cleaner. You can bet that the tables didn't stay as tidy as this for too long! This was the first card that we made in the morning. Everyone made an alcohol ink monoprint and then spritzed it with Stazon before heating the card to make the white speckles appear. The ladies all used a variety of colours, so the results all differed tremendously, some being light and airy, others more dark and brooding. There were a mixture of my fairy silhouette stamps and various trees and flowers etc for stamping over the surface. A little white pen detail just adds some highlights to the silhouettes. The next card hasn't shown up too well in this photo, but was achieved by stamping the images onto old book paper with a Watermark ink pad and embossing with clear powder. Distress Stains were stroked across the page to colour the background before covering the images with brown paper and ironing over the surface to remove the shiny raised areas which leaves a lovely bleached effect. We finished the morning session with a small card using Stains and Perfect Pearl Mists to create a sky background and used my Castle ATC stamp as the focal image. The moon was just a punched circle which was backed with sticky backed adhesive sheet rubbed over with fine glitter. After lunch it was straight back into getting messy! I think this was everyone's favourite card of the day! We used the Tim Holtz Kraft Resist stash to create the background and flowers which had been coloured with Stains and spritzed with perfect Pearl Mists. The velvet leaves were also coloured with Distress Stains. Here are Kath and Elaine with their versions of our second card of the afternoon which focussed on Tissue Tape and ribbon. They were enjoying the day - honestly!!! Here's the sample card which doesn't look as pretty as the ones everyone made...I used quite a dark tissue tape as I wanted to leave the lighter ones for the ladies to use. I think I'll replace my flower with a new one to give a softer look. Here are Melanie and Jacqui with their cards - love this photo! We finished the day by making a tag...I'd thought everyone might be a little weary by this time, so something less complex was called for! We used the Stains directly onto Darkroom Door silhouette flower stamps to create watercolour effects - the great thing is that you don't need to spritz them or breathe on them to reactivate the ink. This will be even more fun when the next 24 colours come out - soon! My top tip here was to use the edge of a piece of card dipped into Stains ink to stamp grass at the bottom of the tag. Well, that is a quick run through of yesterday's workshop! Everyone had great fun including me and David! I worked everyone quite hard, so hope all of you are recovered now! It was great to meet up with everyone that we haven't seen for ages and also to get to know new crafting friends. Sheila brought the Chunky books that she had brilliantly put together for me and Heather - they are just gorgeous and I will be photographing mine and posting the pictures to share with you on here. Thank you Sheila and everyone who made the pages.
The cards and tag are, or will be, featured on the Personal Impressions website under the projects section along with a product list and full instructions for each one.
After yesterday's busy day we were ready for a quiet day. It has been raining all day and I spent most of this afternoon with tears running down my face! We switched on Sky Arts and were treated to a concert by André Rieu which was a mixture of very rousing, jolly music and some tender songs which had a tear jerking effect. These concerts (which seem to be on each Sunday at the moment) are set in a different European city each time and are in the open air. They are so uplifting because there are hundreds, if not thousands of people singing along, dancing and generally having a wonderful time....I always imagine a world wide concert where everybody is joining in together at the same time. I know it won't ever happen, but it's a lovely thing to imagine. Immediately after the concert there was a new(ish) production of Tosca from the New York Metropolitan opera house. It's my favourite opera and was beautifully sung and acted so, I was awash with tears almost the whole afternoon!
It's been a lovely weekend of contrasts - busy, busy and full of laughter on Saturday and filled with music and tears today!
I'll just finish by showing you the stunning card which Joanne sent to me to wish us luck with the new workshops. The background is even better than it looks here! Thank you Joanne!
Right, I had better sign off now - will be back with photos of the chunky book pages next week.

My Friday post

2011-07-15T17:31:00.003+01:00

I'm just popping on to wish everyone a lovely weekend and to say that we're really looking forward to seeing everyone who's coming to tomorrow's workshop.
Everything's prepped and packed (I hope!) so we're ready for a fun, but busy day. I'll post pictures of the day next week. David will be multitasking as chauffeur, glamorous assistant, official photographer and kettle boiler....there'll be nothing left for me to do!

Here is a piccie of cheeky Thomas overseeing that I have put everything into the bags and checking my emails. He pretends to be a tough cookie by the way, but he dithers about every time he goes out or comes in, as he has an obsession with staring at the corners of doorways when the doors are opening or closing! Not sure what he expects to see, but he is apt to jump out of his skin if he's going through a doorway....what a hero! And here is a photo of last Saturday's demonstration at Card-io in Wigan - it was a busy old day. Hello to everyone that popped by. I think the weather is due to break this weekend, which may be no bad thing as, at least here, it's dull but airless. I just fancy a bit of rain to freshen things up!
Finally, thank you so much to Joanne who sent me the loveliest card to wish us well with the new workshops. It was so thoughtful and it's a beautiful card which I'll share with you next week.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Workshops update

2011-07-12T10:55:00.002+01:00

Morning everyone. Just a quick post with an update on my workshops....

This Saturday's all day workshop is now full, so look forward to seeing everyone and having a fun day of creativity.

"Early Christmas Crafting" on Sunday 14th August:

10am - 12.30pm session - there are still places available

1.30pm - 4pm session (repeat of the morning class) - some places available but filling up fast

£15 per session

"Full on Christmas" all day workshops on Sunday 11th September

10am - 4pm with an hour for lunch and shopping!

Only three places left!

£30 for the day

If you'd like to book on any of the above, please email me for more details.
I'll post pictures from this coming Saturday's workshops next week of course.

Round two

2011-07-10T16:08:00.006+01:00

I don't know if anyone else is having problems posting, but Blogger is being very stroppy with me over the last couple of days and error messages keep popping up all over the place. Gggrrr...just taken me ages to upload these photos. My followers list has vanished as well. Still, I suppose we just take all this technology for granted these days, and forget just how remarkable it is that we can all share our thoughts, experiences and pictures across the world without very much effort at all. So - I will retract my grumble hencewith!
Thank you for all the positive comments and emails about the designs I posted yesterday. Here are the second round of new images......
This A6 clear set is called "Nativity Unto us a Child" PICSA6258. My castles stamps have been so popular, that I decided to create a Nativity set that included some Minarets to give the same versatility in building a scene. Of course, the Minarets can be used beyond Christmas to make general fantasy castles. Next is another A6 clear set which I hope you'll find useful. It's "Silent Night" PICSA6263 and has fourteen handy texts and messages in various styles. I really hope that this next set will make you smile! This is A6 clear set " 'Ave an Elfy Christmas!" PICSA6260 and you can tell from the title and the messages on the set that I can see lots of uses beyond Christmas for these characters....and lots of terrible puns! The last of the clear A6 sets is another verse one called "Why do I bother?" PICSA6264. This one has a humourous three verse poem that may ring a bell with mums, or anyone who knows a busy mum! There are also two useful, more simple verses that are perfect for inserts or even on the front of a card. The next design is an unmounted rubber single stamp entitled "Christmas Village Collage" PIRS027. Again, this one can be used as a full image or the individual elements can be snipped out and used seperately. The last picture is of "Jolly Holly" PICSA6265. This is a whimsical mix of "curly" Christmas images and a happy snow couple. I am envisaging a long row of the stockings in an array of lovely colours....watch this space! Well, I hope you enjoyed looking at the festive designs and I will post examples of how I've used them as soon as I can. Now I am looking back up at the windows and seeing the summer sun streaming in and it does seem odd after just posting about chilly winter Christmas images!
Quite a few of you have been asking about Thomas, so I can say that he is well and truly settled in now, has been upgraded from the less expensive supermarket's own brand cat foods to the "good stuff", has just about killed all his toys, is taking up most of the bed and is still under training to stop stalking the birds at the window!
The squirrel is still demanding to be fed by tapping on the window and he has just had a treat of a mini Snickers from a box of Celebrations! Squirrels love chocolate and, of course, this had nuts in it too! Don't worry - I don't regularly give him sweet treats, and it won't do him any harm, though he may run around the trees a little more quickly for the next fifteen minutes...lol!!
Right, that's me done for today. Hope you have all had a lovely weekend and looking forward to seeing some of you next Saturday for the first of my new workshops!

Sneaky Festive peeks!

2011-07-09T20:48:00.008+01:00

It's been a lovely day at Card-Io today...hello to everyone who came along and apologies for burning holes in your pockets and purses! Hope you all have fun with your new stamps, papers and inks though.
I don't have pictures of finished pieces tonight, but I do have sneaky peeks of some of my new Christmas stamp designs. These should be available from the end of July/beginning of August, so if you did want to pre-order any of them, just ask your local Personal Impressions stockist. If you want to see more of P.I.'s latest designs, check out the website at www.personalimpressions.com, click onto "products" and then "Art Stamps" where you can look through all the various sections and designers. To browse my designs, click "products" then scroll down to my section "Lindsay Mason Designs".
So, here are just a selection of them. This first one is an A6 clear set entitled "Christmas Bunting & Baubles" PICSA6262. Sorry that the bunting is upside down, but sometimes things have to be turned around to fit them on the stamp sheets! Of course there is a snowman in this set as I get asked for new ones every year! Next is another A6 clear set which is called "Build a Snowy Scene" PICSA6261. This one is in response to requests for the tree stumps and fences etc that I add to my Distress inked backgrounds with water spritzed snow. You'll be able to make a whole range of different wintery landscapes with this set of images without worrying about drawing in pesky fence posts yourself! The next design is an unmounted rubber single stamp entitled "Snowy Circle Collage" PIRS025. The unmounted rubber designs all have coloured images on the packaging, but I don't have those to show you, only the black and white ones. Hopefully this one will please the snowman fans again! Next is another A6 clear stamp set called "Angelic Christmas Trees" PICSA6259 - I've turned this image sideways so you can see the Angel properly. Some of you may recognise her as being very similar to the Angel that I drew for my own Christmas cards last year and I had lots of requests to design her as a stamp. Finally, for this first sneak peek, here is another unmounted rubber single stamp called "Christmas Collage" PIRS027 - again, the packaging for this stamp has a coloured image of the design. This one can be used as a flat image, decoupaged or elements stamped, coloured and cut out to use on their own. I'll show some more of the new designs over the next couple of days and will be making some sample pieces with them over the next few weeks that I'll post on here.
I have taken on board the many comments on here, by email and in person, to design some of my quirky Art Journal images into stamps, so will see what can be done and will keep you posted!
Have a great Sunday everyone - think it could be another nice day.

Journal pages

2011-07-07T16:27:00.006+01:00

Just a quick post in between doing other things, but I promised to show you the finished Mermaid Journal page, so here she is.... hope you like her. I kept the page very soft by using hardly any penwork at all. All the colouring is done with pencil crayons and the outlining is plain lead pencil. I did use a black fineliner pen on the eyes to bring them more to life and I also used a white pen to add one or two highlights. I'd wanted to add some gold leaf highlights too but, typically, couldn't find where I had last put my leaf metal sheets! I did find some home decor stickers that I got from a car boot sale years ago - they are clear, sticky backed panels with random gold areas on them. So, I cut out a few teeny tiny pieces and adhered them to the Mermaid's tail and some of the fish! They took forever, being so fiddly, so I decided to leave things as they are and will add some more gold when my leaf sheets turn up!
I bought an old book called "Aeronautical Engineering" from a charity shop a few weeks ago...it has lots of diagrams that I thought had a steampunky look. I took a couple of pages that caught my eye and, after tearing them down a bit, stuck them into my journal with plain old glue stick. I used a Ranger Snow Cap paint dabber to work over the pages, leaving some areas exposed. When I'd seen these headings in the book I knew that I wanted to use them as they were really appropriate to how I have been feeling! In case you can't zoom in, the headings are "Overhaul", "Inertia Starter" and "Overhaul Carried Out"! I used my Neocolour Watersoluble crayons to scribble black and two shades of red lightly over the surface before using a damp brush to blend them together. This technique let me keep the words as visible as I wanted. It's surprising how little actual colour you need to apply to be able to wash a nice background over a two page spread. So, here's the finished page...I don't feel like the overhaul has been carried out yet, so I wrote "Must Have" above it and drew a sign underneath stating "Urgent!". I drew the robot with a fineliner black pen and added some shading with grey Promarkers and used a red for some of the loose wires and the buttons. I drew in the cogs and nuts that are falling out of "my" ear with the fine pen, again, shaded with grey. I added the random border with a Sharpie black pen and finally used a white pen to add a few highlights here and there. I don't feel rebooted yet, but creating this spread did make me smile inside!
I'll be sure to bring my Journal with me on Saturday, so if you are coming along to Card-io, in Wigan, feel free to have a closer look!

The lone stranger returns!

2011-07-05T22:51:00.008+01:00

Apologies that I haven't blogged for over a week but I've been caught up with family things and haven't really felt chatty enough to post anything. You know how it can be sometimes, when you just want to batten down the hatches for a while. Anyway, I thought I'd pop on here before bed time, so am sitting here at just gone 11pm with windows open and the fan on, it's still so muggy!
Hello to new readers and followers that I met last weekend, or do I mean the weekend before?! A week last Saturday I was at Crafty Addicts in Chorley where I had a really fun day as everyone who comes to this shop seems to have a great sense of humour! The day just flew by and I didn't even get chance to take any snaps.
Next day was spent at Stamper's Gallery in Tarleton where I had another very busy day. This time David took a few piccies and here's one with some very concentrating faces...and David's finger too! It was another scorcher of a day, so it was lovely to see so many people choosing to come along rather than stretching out in the garden with a long cool drink! Actually, I think that everyone here was just wishing that I'd spritz them with cold water instead of my card! Last weekend I had a trip down to Farnham, in Surrey which turned out to be a very pretty town full of lots of lovely buildings and little nicky nacky noo lanes....he he, my sister Heather laughed so much when I described the roads like that, that she told me to include it on my blog! I had a nice journey down on the train and had a good look at a teeny fox cub staring up at me from the verge along the railway line. He was quite bold! I spent a good few hours wandering round Farnham in the afternoon and evening, including the very pretty park where there were lots of children in the water with those colourful fishing nets...a really nostalgic sight that made me feel like joining in! I did take pictures of a large family of downy ducklings with their mum and dad, lots of fish in the stream (yes, the water was so clean that I could see them) and my first ever real life sighting of a beautiful Grey Wagtail, which is much more colourful than its name suggests, being a lovely lemon yellow beneath a soft grey head and back. Unfortunately, the photos are too blurry to be worth sharing!
Next day I was at Squires Garden centre as part of their Craft Live event. This was held in a large marquee - great fun! Here's a shot of my table with a huge display of Idealogy goodies to the side. Hello to everyone that I met there and hope to see you again next time I'm down that way. Here's one of the cards that I made on the day....I don't always finish cards on the day, but this was one that I worked on with a few different techniques and then put together bit by bit. The rosette is made using Tissue Tape of course...I've found that the rosettes take some practice but the results are worth the effort I think. A bit of talc behind the frills really does help to keep the shape and stop the tape going flat. Sorry about the rather dodgy backdrop! I've been working from home all this week and have done a little bit more journalling, though nothing's completed yet. I've gessoed a few pages and coloured some backgrounds so am now seeing what develops. I don't often have an idea until I start - I like to just let my hand, complete with pencil, start wandering over the pages and surprise myself! This background really pleased me, though you can't see the colours and textures too well here. What started to emerge was a watery feel and this Mermaid soon followed. I am still in the process of colouring, with pencil crayons this time, and then will add some more details, though not too many as I want the page to have a dreamy quality. I may well add some gilding at a later stage. I'll be sure to post a picture of the finished page.
Today was nice as I saw my new Christmas stamp sets for the first time. I'll be sure to give you some sneaky peeks as soon as I'm allowed to!
Well, I had better sign off as a refreshing shower and then bed are calling. Hope to see some of you at Card-io, in Wigan on Saturday!

On the edge

2011-06-24T17:11:00.011+01:00

Hello all, it's been a week and a half here for one reason and another, so I'm sorry not to have properly posted for the last few days. I have some snaps to share with you, though not quite as fancy as the video which Andy made for me I have to say! I've been having some trouble with my photos, or getting them to the computer at least, but David has sorted things out now so, fingers crossed, things should work properly now.
Tomorrow I'm going to be at Crafty Addicts at 58 Pall Mall, Chorley in Lancashire....it'll be nice not to be trolling across the country for a change! Here's one of the cards that I've been making today, using the Kraft Resist stash, Distress Stains and an EK Success Retro Flower punch (which is huuuge!). I punched two flowers from the Kraft stash, inked them with a few colours of Stains and crumpled them up. When I had partly "unscrunched" them, I heated them to help set the creases and then bradded them to my inked Kraft Resist background. I trimmed some thin strips of inked Kraft paper and twirled them round a brush handle to make little curly trims to pop under the petals. Of course, I inked the ribbon....I hardly ever use pre coloured ribbon. The final touch was to give everything a light spritz of Perfect Pearl Mist in Perfect Pearl (white) and add one of my verses stamped onto the reverse of a scrap of the Kraft paper. It does look very dark here, but the Pearl spritz just lifts it. Hope to see lots of you there tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing the new shop (Heather has moved up the road and changed the shop name too!). On Sunday I'll be at Stampers Gallery in The Boskins, Tarleton, Preston. It's always a busy day here, and I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. Here's another card that features the Pearl mist, although this one looks more sparkly in the picture due to the flash! Sue has asked me to recap my "straw blown trees", so I did a very sparse, slightly eerie one to go with some of my little fairy stamps. Thought I'd make the effort not to go all blue, pink and purple for a change! The blown trees are really easy to do but, as I haven't done any for a while, I had forgotten just how long Distress Re-inker stays wet for! Needless to say I had black ink on my fingers, hands, arm, knee (?!) as well as making mucky fingerprints on the card, my worksurface, a ruler, my scissors......oh dear, what a mess I made! If you come along this weekend you can see for yourself just how well, or otherwise, I managed to disguise most of the sooty marks on this card! Here is a peek at my latest project for Crafts Beautiful. I know that quite a few ladies who bought my Castle, Flags and Keep Smiling stamp sets in the last few weeks were wanting to know when this project would be in the magazine, so just to let you know that it's out now. I haven't seen it yet, but a friend who has tells me that it has been described as "Steampunk". This is nothing to do with me....I'm not losing the plot! Seems to be just one of those errors that occur from time to time. Anyway, if you have the stamps, this project will give you some ideas for using them. The gorgeous ribbon, by the way, is from My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found Party Collection. (I love distress looks, but I do appreciate a little bling as well!) One of the comments left after I posted the video clip was from Sonia, who asked if I could post some Journal pages. I haven't had much time to work on these, but, coincidentally, I had made the effort to alter, or finish a few that I had got to a part done state.
This first one is probably the longest running page in Journalling history (slight exaggeration I know!) as it started as one that went horribly wrong and has since been altered several times but never to my liking. There must be five layers of Gesso, half a dozen collaged images, loads of masking tape and I don't know how much paint, pen and glue on this page now! It's gone from really deep, dark maroony browns to....oh, there's a surprise....blues and purples! It's definitely going to be a rather sombre, brooding page and I'll post a picture when I have eventually finished it. However, here's a page that I have finished at last! This was just a rough background and a very simple ink drawing with some colouring on it. I've now added more texture and movement using Neocolour II soluble crayons and am quite happy with the effect now. A simple page, but it captures what I wanted it to. I am just deciding whether to add two figures to it....I think I should, but there's no going back if I do! The last page has also taken forever to complete. I drew the designs with my ink pen when the fantastic series about Madagascar was on TV some months ago! I've always been fascinated by Madagascar, or should I say Madagascar's wildlife. Gerald Durrell was one of my heroes and he managed to convey the magic of this place through his wonderful books. The TV programme brought it all back to me and I just wanted to make a happy, colourful page. I had started colouring it ages ago, but I set to and finished it this week. I especially enjoyed making the rainbow border and trying to disguise the Chameleon! Hope you, and especially Sonia, enjoy looking at them.On the edge is the title of this post, and refers, not only to how I've been feeling this week, but also to a certain little character who has been showing off how clever he is...as well as how cheeky! We have been clad in scaffolding - which I hate, but the local wildlife has found most entertaining. Once they got over the shock, the pigeons decided that all the poles and planks had been placed there just for them, and now seem to be performing some sort of co-ordinated stage act, posing themselves at various levels in avian tableaux!
However, the star of the show has been Mr Squirrel, who took less than a day to figure that he could now get up to see what all the birds are eating. We first saw him zooming past the window along one of the steel poles at a rate of knots! I looked out of the bathroom window and, as soon as he spotted me, he shinned up a vertical pole, along a plank, up a ladder.....I wished I could have videoed it (complete with Mission Impossible theme music!) as it was quite a daring feat! As you can see, he made it right up to my eye level........and then moved in for a closer look and took some monkey nuts from my fingers. I even got to stroke his bushy tail and his back. So cute! Well, I hope you enjoyed this eclectic post - I do try to mix things up a bit! Before I sign off, just a reminder that my new workshops are filling up quickly, so do email me if you'd like to come along and join in the creative fun. Hope to see lots of you this weekend and for those of you further south, I shall be in Farnham next weekend - more details about that next week! Welcome to new followers and hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thanks Andy!

2011-06-22T00:42:00.006+01:00

My very talented friend, Andy Skinner made this You Tube video for me as a lovely surprise! Thank you Andy, it's great!

Workshops news!

2011-06-15T22:06:00.006+01:00

Evening everyone, well, more like night night really. We were out rather longer than anticipated due to some very long hold ups on the motorway.

Anyway, I can now give you details on the new workshops that I'll be teaching from July, in conjunction with Crafts 4 U 2 Do. They will be held in Dentons Green, St Helens, Merseyside, just up the road from the shop. The workshop area is a lovely, bright and airy room, just perfect for getting creative in, as well as having lots of fun of course!
The first three workshop dates and themes are:

Saturday 16th July: 10am-4pm
"Inky Techniques". In the morning we'll be making cards with a fantasy feel - fairies, trees and castles etc along with interesting backgrounds using various inking techniques.
The afternoon session will focus on more "artsy" cards, using up to the minute products and more techniques.
Cost for this day is £30.00

Saturday 13th August: 10am-4pm will be a demonstration day at Crafts 4 U 2 Do for the launch of their Christmas event. Followed by....
Sunday 14th August:
10am - 12.30pm "Ease into Christmas" - Christmas cardmaking with some of the latest products.
1.30pm - 4pm - repeat of the morning workshop
Cost per session is £15.00

Sunday 11th September: 10am-4pm
"Full on Christmas". In the morning we will be working with snowmen designs to create cards that everyone will appreciate receiving.
In the afternoon we'll be making an ornate Triptych card using mountboard, stamps, papers and other Seasonal ephemera.
Cost for this day is £30.00

All the workshops will include light refreshments and on the full days there will be an hour's break where you can pop down to Crafts 4 U 2 Do to have lunch at their instore cafe (and to shop of course!).
These are the first three dates but I will be posting details of more workshops very soon. If you'd like more details, or to book a place, please email me on ljm.design@ntlworld.com . Alternatively, you can call in to Crafts 4 U 2 Do, 117-119 Greenfield Road, Dentons Green, St Helens. Places will fill up quickly, so do contact me asap!

Weekend catch up

2011-06-14T12:14:00.007+01:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the people I met on Sunday who are new to my blog. I travelled down in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday, ready for the Suffolk Papercraft show the following day. I haven't been in Bury on a Saturday before, so I was able to have a look round the open market. The fruit and vegetable stalls were fantastic, even selling Samphire which I would have loved to have bought, but it wouldn't have been very practical! I did, however, buy a big bag of cherries which were just delicious and not as expensive as here "up north" surprisingly. Yum!

Sunday morning was a beautifully warm and sunny...who would have thought the day would change so much! I think everywhere in Britain was covered by pouring rain by the late afternoon. Anyway, I was demonstrating on The Stamp Hut stand (who organised the show) and was soon very busy stamping and inking. Here's a view of my table whilst I was getting everything laid out. Look at all those lovely Marvy Le Plume pens! (they're not mine btw!) I could have done with some of those useful boxes too, but don't think I could have managed them on the train! It was a terrific show, and I really enjoyed meeting everyone there. Here's a photo of one card which I took in my hotel room. I combined Andy Skinner's tree and foliage, from his Back to Nature stamp set, with some of my silhouette fairies, all set against an alcohol inked and Stazon Cleaner spritzed background (whew!) I am really enjoying this technique. And here is another of my little decorated boxes taken from a Configurations box. I used the spritzy technique again and stuck two pieces of the resulting card together, back to back, then cut two wings. The little frill of tissue tape hangs just below the top of the box for a slightly theatrical look. I used the separate towers from my "I dreamed of Castles" stamp set, coloured, cut them out and curved each around a pen to shape them. To attach them I made piles of 3D foam that I stuck into the box so I could stick the towers against them for stability. The box is topped by one of the Idealogy baubles stuck to some Idealogy metal Foliage. I also used a couple of my Tattered Butterflies in there too. Next weekend I'll be in Derby on Saturday for a day at Reams. I have Colourwash dyes to work with as well as the usual Ranger products along with plenty of stamps. Then on Sunday I'll be at The Craft Room in Garner's Garden Centre in Newcastle Under Lyme. That's Newastle under Lyme as opposed to Ashton Under Lyne! (I do keep getting those mixed up!) I'll be using all sorts of goodies here, including Kraft Glassine paper! Hope to see you there, and do bring some ATC's to swap if you feel inclined.
Talking of ATC's, check out my sister Heather 's blog, as she is running another swap. The theme has yet to be announced, but do check back as it's sure to be something interesting. Heather's swaps are very informal and you only need to make three cards to receive three different ones back - great fun and much nicer than getting bills in the post! (well, you'll still get the bills, but the ATC's will help to soften the blow!)
Please be sure to check back here on Wednesday evening, as I will be posting details about new workshops that I'll be running. There are just some last minute things to sort out and then I'll be able to let you know all the details of where, when and what etc!

An extravagant weekend!

2011-06-06T18:12:00.017+01:00

Hello folks, and sorry it's taken me a few days to upload my pictures and tell you about The Craft Barn Extravaganza last weekend. I travelled down to Lingfield, a pretty village in Surrey, on Friday, where I met my friend and colleague, Andy Skinner at the shop. We had a catch up and looked around the shop before having a stroll around the duck pond (complete with duck house!) and enjoying looking at the ancient trees. I was staying at a local Inn just nearby, so I then strolled back there in the glorious sunshine and had a wander around the nearby churchyard and adjacent lanes with their characterful cottages. It was a lovely way to relax before the busy couple of days ahead. Above you can see the Star Inn...much prettier than a Premier Inn or Travelodge!
Next day it was time to set up my table at the Community Centre - the Extravaganza weekend is held in three venues plus the shop itself. This year there were visitors coming from all over the country, but also as far away as France, Canada, New Zealand and Australia! Many of these ladies were members of a Forum who got together to enjoy the event together - what a looong way to come! That's what I call dedicated! Here are a couple of pictures of my table (you should be able to enlarge the pics for a closer look) complete with my favourite fruit tea of course! As you can see, I am still not quite over my purple, blue and pink phase, though I am trying honestly! There are some hints of orange, yellow and browns in there too. There was a lovely name sign on each of our tables as well as a beautifully wrapped bag of sweeties to keep hunger pangs and sore throats at bay. Altogether there were 24 different designers and demonstrators across the four venues. Look who was on the table adjacent to mine..... ....yes, the lovely Paula Pascual, who was demonstrating her favourite die cutting. Our styles are so different but we are a mutual admiration society! So it was good to catch up and have a smiling face nearby.
Here is a card that I made on Sunday, using a slightly different technique with Alcohol inks to create the background. As you may know, Blending Solution must never be put into a Mini Mister because, although it's a really safe product, if you were to spritz it, it becomes airborne as particles and could be ingested. I have wanted to create a similar effect that can be had when spritzing water into Distress ink backgrounds ie the faux bleach speckly effect and it came to me, in one of those "Doh" moments, that maybe Stazon spray cleaner would do the job. Well, the great news is that it does work, as you can see from this card. I'll show some more examples of it next week. I love finding something that I can do differently with a product and this technique went down very well at the weekend. This card and instructions will be going onto the Personal Impressions website very soon. The Butterfly and Keep On Smiling cards from my previous post are on there now if you'd like to have a go at making them.
I met lots of very friendly, excited and lovely people at the event, and special thanks must go to Stella, who presented me with the lovely bracelet that you can see here. Stella said that she had seen it and thought of me....it's really lovely as the charms are things like scissors, crayon, paint tube, stapler etc...just perfect! Stella also gave me the box of chocs to give to David - how lovely, especially as we have never met before. Thank you again Stella! On the left of them, is a gift that I was given by Glennis, who had come all the way from New Zealand. As you can see it is a handmade gift box that contained a bar of NZ chocolate...though it looks like a gold bar and seemed almost as heavy! Thank you Glennis, welcome to my blog and I hope you are enjoying all the lovely things you bought.
Next are some ATC's which were swapped with me..... .....clockwise from the top left, they are "Aargh! Who's drinking all our water?" by Connie, "The Witch's cat" by Barbara, "Time Flies" by Michelle and "Optique" by Maggie. I think you'll be amazed when I tell you that Michelle had never made an ATC but was so inspired on Saturday that she went home and made her first one ever and I was the lucky recipient. Well done Michelle, it's really, really good.
Andy had a really busy time at the opposite end of the room to me....we hardly saw each other until about 3.30pm each day due to having crowds in there all day! Here's just one part of Andy's tables of samples, complete with Steampunk Time Machine, tea caddy, altered calendar and much more..... ......and here's the man himself, surrounded by more fabulous creations. I know that Andy had a great time meeting everyone and his fan club continues to grow! You can see lots of his inspirational techniques on his blog or on the PI website. I used some of Andy's stamps for the projects which I created for this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine. I created a false lid in the box and filled it with tickets, shells etc. The paper that I used to cover the surround was stamped with various Andy stamps. I made this matching card using the same stamps and Distress ink colours along with the Martha Stewart PAOTP classic butterfly punch and some Idealogy items. Hope you like them! Well, that was last weekend, and I have another busy weekend coming up. I shall be demonstrating on Sunday at the Suffolk Papercraft show on The Stamp Hut stand. This is in the Leisure Centre in Bury-St-Edmunds. Hope to see some of you there - don't forget to say hello!
Welcome to new followers and readers of my blog and I hope that you will enjoy my ramblings.
I am going to sign off now as Thomas will be waiting to come in for his "7pm on the dot" dinner! It's a few minutes after 7pm now, so I know I will get grumbled at!

Over a week......

2011-06-02T16:12:00.009+01:00

Since I posted on here.....how naughty of me! Hope you'll let me off though...I was working, honestly! Well, I did take Sunday off. So, since I was last here I have been to Crafty By Nature in Kearsley last Thursday where I demonstrated and hosted two make n take sessions. Hello to all the ladies who came along - hope you all got the ink off your fingers okay!
Then, the next day I headed up to Darlington, well, I was meant to be going to Chester-Le-Street, but, due to a certain pop group doing concerts in adjacent Sunderland, there was nowhere to stay within thirty miles! I didn't know this until I was up there and was wondering why there was no room at the inn, or hotel, or guest house...anywhere! So, I stayed over in Darlington and then got the local train on Saturday to be at Dainty Supplies. Hello to all the ladies up there, and apologies for making you spend so much money...well, not really! Hope you enjoying your new stamps, Stains and punches.
On Sunday we went to the car boot as we haven't been for aaages and it's always good fun. It began to drizzle with rain as soon as we set off, but we were undeterred. Unfortunately there wasn't much of interest, though I did spot my favourite lipstick at a bargain price, so stocked up. Poor David got absolutely nothing!
After that we drove over to Redesmere to feed the birds. The lake was crowded with ducks, coots, geese etc and more swans than we've ever seen there before. We had two loaves of bread with us and they scoffed the lot! Not that they ever go unfed of course, as visitors appear on a regular basis to top them up. There's a catering van there with a great sign..."I don't do fast food, I do good food as fast as I can"...and he does too. I bought a homemade soup, Steak sandwich with onion and mushroom and two hot chocolates for the grand sum of £5! Can't be bad, and it wasn't, it was delicious! So it was a lovely day out and a real change.
Back to work on Monday and I worked on a project for Crafts Beautiful magazine. In the current issue I have a project featuring Andy Skinner's stamps which I've used to make a memory box and matching card. Hope you like them - the memory box idea is a great way of using those sturdy boxes that gifts often come in and are too good to throw away!
Myself, Andy and Paula Pascual will be at The Craft Barn "Best of British" extravaganza (along with around twenty other designers and demonstrators) down in Lingfield this weekend, so I've been busily getting samples made. More details about the event can be found on the Personal Impressions website as well as their facebook page. I'll be using my latest stamp designs and here's a card using my Keep on Smiling and Hoist the Flags stamp sets. The background is made with Distress inks blended softly over PIP300CWH card...I used Broken China and Worn Lipstick in the sky and Peeled paint for the grass. There should be instructions for this card, as well as the butterfly one further down, on the PI website before long. Here are a few small pieces that I've made using dominoes and a Facet. The left piece is now attached to a chain. I stamped my ATC Jolly Jester onto the domino using Stazon ink, coloured him and then varnished with Glossy Accents. Not having a mini drill, I made twisted wire loops and attached them to the back of the domino with good old Glossy Accents. I added some accents of a bauble and Fleur de Lys (both Time Holtz) and the word "Fly" from another of my sets which was stamped onto Grungeboard and covered with Crackle Accents.
The top left domino was simply swooshed into alcohol inks and details added with fine black and white pens. The lower image is the stamped Jester again, covered with a TH Facet and some of the Baubles added which I tinted with alcohol ink filled pens. These last two pieces have brooch pins attached. Whilst I was making some cards yesterday I had a little "help" from Thomas. He was checking out a work in progress as you can see....... ........but he wasn't happy with how I'd adhered the squares to my card and decided that he needed to make sure they were properly stuck by sitting on them! I'm not sure why he found this experience so drool worthy, but, thankfully, he didn't dribble on the card! His bottom did the trick anyway, and here is the finished card, which features images and words from my Tattered Butterflies set along with paper from Tim's Shabby Vintage paper stash. I had a bit of fun with the next little piece...I do enjoy filling these little boxes taken out of the Configurations. This one has the quirky girl from the Keep on Smiling stamp set and the wings are from my Fly, Soar, Soul, Dream set, which features a heart made from two folded wings. I stamped it onto Grungeboard, coloured and cut it out as two seperate wings, leaving little tabs at the top of each one. I used a combination of craft knife and pricking tool to scrape out two slots in the side of the box (I didn't want to go all the way through to the inside) into which I pushed the wing slots, held in with....ooh, what could I have used? Glossy Accents by any chance?! I added all sorts of bits and bobs to complete it. I'll have all these pieces, plus more besides of course, at the Craft Barn weekend, so please do say hello if you are a follower, or reader of my blog - it's always good to put names to faces.
I'm updating my demonstration list on the left, so do check out if I'll be in your area anytime soon...also, look out soon for news about new workshops that I'll be doing!
I'll post again after the weekend and hope to see lots of you there!

Away days

2011-05-23T20:16:00.008+01:00

Good evening folks, I was away from home for three days over the weekend, and was kept very busy but with plenty of smiles thrown in. I travelled down to Thame on Friday, where the lovely Christina met me at the station and unburdened me of all my heavy bags before dropping me in the town itself. I spent a good few hours having a brisk walk round as well as a bit of shopping...of the window variety anyway! I then walked to my hotel and relaxed for the evening before my busy day on Saturday at A Maze of Memories.
It was a fab day as I was demonstrating, as well as doing Make n Takes with all the ladies. Everyone was set to enjoy themselves. Here are Betty, Carol, Sue and Tina around my table and you can see some of the ladies making their cards. Christina, her staff and helpers were kept busy helping the ladies, keeping the kettle on the go and serving homemade cakes. Everyone's cards were great and all were different from each other - here's Marilyn with her version using my I Dreamed of Castles, Laugh Often and Hoist the Flags stamp sets. Everyone who did the make n take got one of the stamp sets in their pack and were able to use more stamps and inks etc that were laid out on the tables. Here I am with Linda and Zoe, seeing how they are getting on...at this point they were trying out stamping and colouring onto gloss card. You can check out more pictures by going to www.amazeofmemories.com - which, for some reason is not coming up as a link on here...ggggrrr! Special mentions must be made of Diane and Susie J who presented me with a bag and told me that it was a gift for Thomas! Inside were some Whiskas treats and a set of two colourful catnip mice. It was so lovely of them and piccies of Thomas and one his new toys are further down. Aren't people kind? People who are fond of animals as well as crafting are probably the kindest. Thank you ladies, from me and Thomas!
It was a really fun day all round and, as soon as we had tidied everything up it was time for me to set off to reading for my demonstration at Hobbycraft in Reading the following day. Normally I would have been making my way through London and the underground....a particular nightmare at weekends. However, with great generosity, Christina drove me there, so we were able to have a good chat about the day. We also saw some Red Kites soaring above us....first time I have seen one in "real life" so that was the icing on Saturday's cake! I had been looking forward to a quiet evening watching some tv, maybe a film, after a meal at the hotel, but, as it happened, I couldn't keep my eyes open, and was asleep before I knew it! Next day I was at Hobbycraft and met some new crafters as well as more experienced ones. Hello to Diane (yes, another one!) who hadn't known I would be there and gave me a big hug! Hope you had fun with the new ideas when you got home!
Then it was a three and a half hour journey home. It was a packed train, but no yobbish behaviour I'm pleased to report. I was nodding off almost the whole way! When David picked me up from the station he said that Thomas had been out all night, no sign of him anywhere, but, as we drove in, there he was, telling us off quite vociferously! He had some of his new treats and then I gave him one of the catnip mice....... .....although he looks asleep, he just had his eyes closed in dreamy ecstacy and was tossing the little toy around and rubbing his face all over it. Thankyou Diane and Susie J....think this was a hit! Not sure if this counts for the Crafting Buddies blog as it is really meant to be about pets "helping" us to craft, but think Joanne will like these pics anyway! So, it's been a resting day today, except for catching up with emails etc. I'll be at Crafty By Nature in Kearsley on Saturday, and then at Dainty Supplies on Saturday, so hope to see you there if you live nearby. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Oooh I do like this feeling!

2011-05-19T16:26:00.004+01:00

That sounds much more interesting than it is! But the feeling that I have just now is of jobs being done. My stamp designs are on their way to Personal Impressions today, which always feels great. I have made samples for this weekend and my bags are packed apart from a couple of clothing and my specs! It does feel nice.
Tomorrow I'll be trolling down to Haddenham & Thame via Leamington Spa which should give me some lovely scenery to look at on the way. I'm planning on a tootle around Thame, well more of a long walk really, with window shopping thrown in! Then I'll be at A Maze of Memories all day on Saturday where I'll be demonstrating and hosting Make n Take sessions. I'm looking forward to it as Christina, her staff and customers are really lovely, friendly and enthusiastic.
On Saturday evening I'll be carrying on down to Reading for my Sunday at the local Hobbycraft, where I'll be doing a Ranger demonstration as part of their discounted papercraft weekend. So, a busy few days ahead but I know it will be a lot of fun.
Talking of fun, as promised, her is a closer look at one of the cards that I made for the workshop last Sunday. This card used a fair few techniques! The main card was covered with a Distress Stained sheet from the Kraft Resist paper stash....I used Broken China in this case.
I then used PI's fabby dabby cardstock (gloriously named PIP300CWH) as the base for the panel - if you haven't tried this card, do ask your craft shop to order some for you...it's incredible stuff. I stamped some areas with Snow Cap acrylic paint using a Tim Holtz foliage design. I mixed up several Mini Misters with Distress Re-Inker and a scoop of Perfect Pearls powder, added water, shook (lid on first of course.....I know you were trying to catch me out there!) and spritzed these, one colour at a time, over the card. I lightly dabbed each layer to remover the ink from the painted areas. Next I smudged Distress inks over the card and used a damp tissue to remove the ink from the acrylic again.Next came stamping, and I used a scroll stamp and the words stamp from Tim Holtz, before matting onto book paper and attaching to the card front.
The Tim Holtz bird and Darkroom Door butterflies were stamped onto white and Distress inked before cutting out. I "Glossy Accented" a Charm Fragment over book paper and attached a pearl bauble before sticking to the card with 3D foam and sticking the bird and butterflies into place. A simple cord tied round the spine was the finishing touch.
This next card is just a bit of fun (?) really!! Doing the "bingo splats" with Distress Stains gave me the idea for Vampirish red ones, so I combined my Castle stamp with images from Andy Skinner's Gothic stamp set. I used Stains again for the background but also to colour the images. Some enthusiastic splatting added the blood stains! I used Tissue tape around the card as well as letters cut from one of Tim's stashes. It's not a great card, but as I said, just a bit of fun that might appeal to the Vampire fans! I'm sure I'll come up with a better design on the same theme when I have some more time to think about it!
Well, just a quick post really to say that I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. Looking forward to seeing some of you of course. I'm off to relax a bit now!

What a busy weekend!

2011-05-16T16:06:00.010+01:00

That really was a busy old weekend, though there wasn't too much travelling for a change! On Saturday I jumped on the train to Port Sunlight - I've never been there before and what a pretty place it really is....must go back there for a leisurely look round sometime. I had a busy day there, though not at the stamp fair itself (sorry to those of you who have emailed to ask where I was......but I had the wrong information!) I was in the social club down the road! Here are just a few of the cards that I made for the day......a simple new home card using the row of houses from my "Hoist the Flags" stamp set. I made the cloudy background using Distress Stains with a spritz of Perfect Pearl Mist to give a shimmer. It's matted with a MS punched panel that I've inked with Mustard Seed Distress ink. I'm in a bit of a flouncy ribbon phase I think, with bows hanging off the edges of my cards! The next card is using a combination of "Magic Happens" and "Silhouetted Fairies" stamp sets which I have used over a Distress Stains background. I punched a circle out at the top and then layered the panel over white card to reveal the moon, which I added Stickles to for a more twinkly effect. I smudged my Archival black ink pad along the bottom of the stamped panel to give a fairly smudgy base and then sketched some simple grasses in with a fine black Le Plume pen. If you look closely, you'll see that I used a white pen to add a few highlights along the edges of the images nearest to the moon...it just helps to bring them to life. The stars were added with white pen too. Next is another card using my "I dreamed of castles" stamp set. This one has been stamped over book paper and lightly tinted with Le Plume pens. The Distress Stain background came out really well, and gave just the ethereal look that I wanted. I used the Stains to colour the ribbon too. A little blue shading below the castle just grounds it (even though it is meant to be floating!). Sunday was a fun day! Myself and Amy Shaw were teaching workshops in Darwen and there was much laughter throughout the day - and a good amount of crafting of course! Amy taught in the morning, making cards with a flower theme and showing the ladies how to create tissue Carnations which everyone impressed themselves with! Sheila is showing her enjoyment in her usual way as you can see! Before we got started, as everyone was arriving, we had time to congratulate Joanne's husband "Peg Leg" on his 70th birthday (I know....he looks far too young!) and their wedding anniversary which were on the same day the week before. Terry has been having a very extended celebration and here he's posing with the giant cigar that David thought he might enjoy! Two of our favourite people, Joanne and Terry are a delight to be with and Joanne is such a talented crafter. After a break for lunch and a chance to tidy up and reset the tables, it was time for my workshops. I'll post photos of what we did as soon as I can, as I somehow managed to not take any! The first card was mainly about making a background using Acrylic paint, stamps, Distress inks, Distress re-inkers and Perfect Pearl powders which became the focal point to which were added stamped butterflies and a bird. The card panel was covered with Distress stained Kraft resist paper. Here are some of the part finished cards..... and some more here..... The ladies made two more cards, one using alcohol inks and Andy Skinner's "Back to nature" stamp set, and then a card featuring a MS punch all over the page butterfly which caused some jumping in fright when the magnets clanged together! Everyone made fantastic versions of all the cards and, as you can see from the pictures, they all looked quite different.

It was a lovely day and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I'm not sure when I'll next be teaching workshops, but do keep an eye on my dates and in my posts of course, as I'll be sure to let you know what, when and where!
So, today, unfortunately, was still not a day off as I am in the last few days of getting designs finished, as well as prepping for the coming weekend's events. However, it's been nice to be at home all day, and David has kept me going with coffee and toast!
For those who have been asking, our new little friend is really settling in now. He did blot his copybook last week, as he is definitely nothing like our dear little Cherry, and is quite the hunter. He has been pouncing at our regular bird visitors and one pigeon did leave a few feathers behind in a flurry of claws and wings! There has been a grisly moment with a mouse too, but I won't dwell on that one. So, we seem to have Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde living here, as he swings from being purry and cuddly to a miniature lion! Hopefully he'll learn that the birds are off limits - fingers crossed! He is still wolfing food down, ate half of david's sandwich when he put his plate down for a moment and, last night, I even found him chomping on the skins that I had removed from my broad beans and set at the side of my plate! I guess he has been a hobo for so long that he thinks he had better fill up while he can.

He has been to the vet who pronounced him fit and well and missing his "boy bits" - no microchip and, despite posting his details on animal lost & found sites etc, nobody has claimed him. His name has been "pusscat", "oy", "ccchhh, ccchh" etc and I was wavering towards the very original "Tommy". A lady who was at the vet's with her two beautiful Shelties, thought he looked like a Thomas, as did the nurse, so, Thomas it is. It suits him. So, that's the state of play at the moment. We have been battered into submission by him really! Will keep you posted!

I'm going to get back to some work again now.....Christmas verses are calling!

Look who's crafting already!

2011-05-09T11:35:00.010+01:00

Hello all, just a quick post to link with the lovely Joanne's Crafting Buddies blog, where you can post piccies of your pet helping you to craft....or not as the case may be!

I have had a new helper this week, as well as someone who really wanted to come inside to join in the fun!Here's Mr Squirrly, offering to come and act as a model in case I wanted to do any squirrel stamp designs.

When he realised that I was working on Christmas designs and that I didn't really need any paper being nibbled round the edges he hopped off in a sulk! Cute little fellah isn't he, and as you can see, quite bold.

However, for some really dedicated help, how about this..... ....he's only been with us for a few days, but he thought he'd check out what I was up to..... ......and it didn't take him long to join in and help. He even had a go at some cutting out for me!

Well, I must get back to work now, but do take a look at http://craftingpets.blogspot.com/ to see what other help is being given to creative people.

feline fine after my trip!

2011-05-08T17:09:00.013+01:00

Hello folks, I really hope this post works, as everything is going bonkers with blogger (for me anyway!) since David had to change the feed...I think that's what he did anyway! Last week I couldn't publish what I'd written and now, after I uploaded all my pictures, everything that I typed came up bright blue and underlined! So...I have deleted the pictures (hoping they are still on my computer somewhere!) and am now doing the text and will try to insert the pictures afterwards. The only clue I can find about the underlining is that it's somehow connected to photos, so we'll see. What a palaver!

Anyway, I had a great trip to In 2 Crafting in Wickford, near Basildon. This is Basildon's version of the Hollywood sign, though it's somewhat smaller....quite a bit smaller! See Heather - I told you there was a Hollywood style sign there! I had a trot round the town and then went to my hotel which is on an entertainment park with restaurants and a big cinema. It was a much quieter night than usual there as they have closed down the nightclub through noise complaints! I had a stroll around the lake and fed a few birds, then it was a bite to eat and a relaxing night in. The hotel has recently upgraded their rooms and this included HD tv's. I've never watched anything on HD before and have to say that I was very impressed - I watched an animated film called The Legend of the Guardians (all the characters are owls) and hardly followed the plot as I was just transfixed by the amazing picture! Lol!

Anyway, after a comfy night's sleep (this one made up for the horrors of the Eastbourne hotel!) it was down to work on Saturday. Réne and John have new premises now and the shop is really bright, airy and spacious. I was busy all day and the ladies and I had so much fun, with lots of giggles all day, just how I like it! I was showcasing stamps as well as Distress Stains, Tissue Tape, My Mind's Eye papers and more. The Stains are becoming more interesting each time I work with them. Here I dragged them over my craft sheet, spritzed on a little water and a few sprays from the Perfect Pearl Mist (ie the "white" one) and then dragged white card through it. This gives a hazy background with a lovely shimmer. I used this with my "I dreamed of castles" and "Hoist the Flags" stamp sets, before matting onto card that I'd punched with the MS PATP Vintage Lace. Once punched I coloured it with the Spun Sugar Stain. The message is from my "Happy Anniversary" stamp set which has four assorted verses on it. I coloured the castle and the four extra towers using pale pink and blue Memento pens before assembling them and finishing with Crystal stickles on the roofs. The bunting was stamped directly onto the card and then, again, onto white gloss card. I coloured each bunting flag with Memento pens, cut them out and layered over the ones on the card. The Castle stamps can used to create cards for anyone - pink and glittery for little girls, masculine colours for men, Gothic style for teens etc. This, however, was everyone's favourite card on Saturday! It's made using my "Rose Galore" stamp set, which has the rose background, single rose and row of borders. The sentiment is from my "Sending words of love" set. The background roses were stamped with black Memento ink and then coloured with a solvent based pen. I stamped the row of flowers onto seperate white card and then joined the two pieces together, hiding the join with ribbon that I'd dyed with Distress Stains. I stamped and embossed the verse with detail silver. Tissue tape down the side of the card and the single rose stamped, distressed and cut out, was the finishing touch. Here's a large 8" x 8" card which I covered with MME Lost & Found glittered paper before embellishing with stamps from Andy Skinner's Stitch in Time set. I added a pleated Tissue Tape band down the side, an acrylic fragment, needle threader and some thread which I formed into a mini skein and held in place with more Tissue Tape. The "pretty" panel is from another Lost & Found sheet and I edge it with dyed ribbon. The Lost & Found papers are really pretty but have that distress touch as well.
Several of the ladies at In 2 Crafting asked me what was happening with the pusscat who seemed to be in the process of adopting us! Well, at the moment, he is luxuriating on David's lap! We will be taking him to the vet to check if he has a microchip or to see if they know of anyone who has lost him. He has, meanwhile, well and truly made himself at home! Here he is on the first day that he came inside....along with all the bits of grass and earth that he stomped in with him! He now stays in overnight and goes out in the morning, whereupon, after about half an hour, he yowls as if he has been treated most cruelly and continues until he is let back in. He's no trouble though......very happy to just sit on a vacant (or otherwise!) lap, or cuddle beside me on the sofa. He has become a bit of a kitchen doorstop though, parking himself there at the merest hint of food being prepared! Not surprising really when he had obviously been fending for himself for some time. He does dribble a lot though - I think it's because he has a slightly wonky mouth. One very contented pusscat! Shame you can't hear the purring which I think could possibly be heard from three miles away at it's loudest!
Do you think he's decided that he's landed on his feet? He hasn't got a mucky nose by the way, that's just his markings! He's a big cat, but he has a very loving personality and is a real softie, though he has nipped me a couple of times....his way of telling me which parts of his legs are "off limits"! I have also rediscovered the joys of cat hairs on black skirts and pinprick holes in skin due to kneading from feline feet!

So, that's where things are at the moment. He doesn't have a name yet - though Joanne named him Naan straight away! I like a two syllable cat name and am waiting till we know for sure that he hasn't got someone pining for him and to see what suits him. Will keep you posted of course!

So, it's a busy week ahead just for a change! I'm still working on those new designs with an ever looming deadline and have to make samples for Saturday when I'll be demonstrating on Crafty's stand at the Port Sunlight show. Then, on Sunday I'll be teaching with Amy Shaw at our joint workshops day. We have just a couple of places left if you'd like to come along and join the fun - just contact either of us for more details.

Hope to see some of you at the weekend. I'll be posting some pictures tomorrow to join in the fun on Joanne's Crafting Buddies blog, so please do pop by to take a look. Lastly, welcome to new followers and hope you enjoy my ramblings!

Quiz results and winner!

2011-05-04T16:53:00.010+01:00

Hello folks, thankfully I can put the quiz results on at last after some Windows upgrades messed up my ability to post blogs, transfer pictures from my camera and decided to get rid of Wordpad completely! Good thing David knows about these things! All I need to do now is to get rid of the spellchecker which is peppering my post as I type, with wiggly red lines to underline all my mistakes......excuse me....I am spelling them correctly (it's an American spell checker which wants me to type "color" as opposed to "colour" for instance...gggrrr!).

Well, back to the quiz. I have added the answers to the original quiz post, so look back at that to check those that gave you a headache! I must say that the majority of you got them all right, so I think I'll have to make the next one a tricksier one again!
Because there were a lot of 100% right entries, I wrote the names onto papers, folded them, and popped them into one of my famous Personal Impressions workshop slippers! For those of you who haven't seen them, the whole PI team wore pink leopard print fur slippers at the trade show last year and I now wear them at workshops where I have to stand all day - they became a bit of a talking point! So...here's David picking one from the slipper (not exactly as romantic as Cinderella's glass slipper, but they are clean - honest!).......... ..........and here's the winning name......... .........Elaine - it's you! Well done! Just send me your details and your prize will be on its way - I'll post the prize details in my next post. Not sure when the next quiz will be, but I do have a long trip this weekend, so I may have chance to whip my braincells into coming up with some more clues.
I'll be on my way to Basildon, which means going through London, where I have to troll round from Tower Hill to Fenchurch Street. I usually take a little break to eat a sandwich in the garden nearby, overlooking the Tower of London - I'd love to visit it, rather than just look, but this is where dragging bags around is a pain in the neck. Haven't been round any London sites since family holidays with mum, dad and Heather. Anyway, I digress! I'll be heading to Basildon on Friday for my demonstration at In 2 Crafting in Wickford. They have changed premises now, so I'm looking forward to my first visit to the new shop. I'll be highlighting new stamps from myself and Andy Skinner, along with some of my favourite inks, sprays and papers. Hope to see some new and familiar faces there.
Talking of new faces, this one has been looking up at me lately! Whilst feeding the birds and squirrels I have seen this pusscat under the tree, or hanging about near the fence. She wouldn't let me approach her and just ran off if she saw me. After seeing her for a few weeks now we decided that, despite having a collar, she appears to be homeless. On Sunday we had a takeaway Indian meal after a long day of teaching workshops. The portion sizes defeated us both, so I threw some Nan bread and rice out for the birds. When I next looked out there was a strange sight of a squirrel, magpie and the pusscat all tucking into the tidbits very close to each other! However, the sight of a cat munching a Nan bread convinced me of her homelessness. I threw out some of my remaining chicken and she wolfed it down.
Needless to say that in the last couple of days I have been putting food out for her, and yesterday evening I decided to have a shot at looking at her collar. I took some food down and she came nervously out of hiding, quickly scoffing the lot! Rather ungratefully, she snarled at me when I tried to touch her, but I persevered, only to be rewarded by seeing an identity free, worn and very old collar. I sat down to have a better look at her - she looked quite mature and pretty mucky too - and she suddenly began to purr, before coming over to me and butting her head against me. She went from grizzly to friendly in a matter of moments!
Needless to say she came inside, visibly shaking with nerves still, and settled herself in for the night! She had obviously been missing human company and affection and was determined to make up for it. So, she stayed all night - snoring very loudly amidst the purring! This morning I took her out again after a good breakfast, but she howled so loudly that, after an hour or so, I couldn't take any more and she has been inside all day.
In typical cat fashion, she has been insisting upon lap sitting, whether the said lap is empty or not, and is purring loudly beside me as I type this! So, she is definitely deciding to adopt us. I will put out some feelers as to whether she has an owner who is missing her. Having to be away from home quite a bit is not really compatible with having a pet, so I am hoping that she does have a pining owner, but, somehow, I think not. Oh, and by the way, she is a he! Lol! I will keep you posted!!!
So, congratulations to Elaine once more, and look out for the next quiz!

Absent without leave

2011-04-29T19:13:00.002+01:00

Hello folks, sorry to have been AWOL this week but have been trying to get through lots of work....magazine projects, Christmas designs (my snowmen are melting as I draw them!) prepping workshops and demonstration samples etc.

Just a reminder that I'll be at Crafts 4 U 2 Do in St Helens tomorrow where it's always a fun day. I'll be demonstrating my some of my new stamp designs as well as some by Darkroom Door, along with Distress Stains, Perfect Pearl Mists and other goodies! Then, on Sunday, I'm at Dawn's Studio to teach two workshops - Fresh Spring cards in the morning and Steampunk style in the afternoon. There are a few places left I think, so do call Topaz Crafts if you'd like to make a last minute booking.

Last weekend I was down at ESK in Eastbourne...you may recall that I was going to have a paddle. Nobody told me that the beach there consists of pebbles and shells (as opposed to sand!) so I took a few ouchy paces into the water, stood there getting a good soak and then a few ouchy paces back to where I had left my sandals! Flip Flops are a must for that beach and I didn't have any - oh well! The weather was fantastic of course and I did a lot of walking on Friday afternoon before a lovely meal and early night (awful hotel, but I won't bore you!) ready for a busy day on Saturday. I must thank Gaynor and Anne for all their hospitality at the store and for the lovely meal we had that evening. I stayed over a second night before trolling home as it's a looong journey, so I didn't have to race to catch a late night train. That Sunday lie in (9am - how decadent!) was really welcome!

Since then I have been head down working, hence my absence on here. Thank you for all the quiz entries...I definitely made this one far too easy, so David will be having to draw a name from the proverbial hat! Shall have to go back to trickier questions next time! I'll announce the winner, and answers, next week, so check back to see if you have won.

There are still a few places available for the workshop day that Amy and I are hosting on the 15th May, so if you fancy joining the fun, just email me for details.

Well, my bags are all packed with inks, stains, stamps and punches, so I'm calling it a day now and going to spend some time relaxing before another busy weekend. Bank Holidays? No idea what they are?!?! Lol

Whoopps!

2011-04-21T12:18:00.003+01:00

Just a quick post to thank Carole for letting me know that I made a couple of errors in my quiz - anagram number 3 was a typo....I added one "S" too many! Anagram number 10 had one too many "E"'s, so I have put an amended one in now.

Sorry for any confusion......I didn't mean to make the quiz even harder! Well done to Carole though for getting right answers even with the wrong anagrams! No wonder she won the last quiz!

Don't forget to read the post below my quiz which has details about new workshops etc.

Okay, back to work for me now. Hope everyone has a lovely Easter break.

Quiz number two!

2011-04-20T19:23:00.007+01:00

Okay, after the success of the last quiz, it's time for the second one. Once again there will be a prize for the person who gets the most answers right and if there is a tie, David will draw the winner.

Thanks to Carole, winner of the first quiz, for emailing to let me know I had a couple of mistakes in my anagrams! Whooops! I can only apologise and say that I was trying to get the quiz up as quickly as I could in a short time scale! So, please see questions 3 and 10 for amended anagrams! I know, as if it wasn't hard enough already!

This quiz is a little different from the last one in fairness to those who hate full on cryptic clues! So, I have created anagrams of the answers as well as a clue (some trickier than others) which I hope will make things a little easier without spoiling the fun. The anagrams are in uppercase and the may be one word or more. All the answers are products from Ranger or Tim Holtz's own ranges, and all of them can be found on Personal Impressions website ( http://www.personalimpressions.com/ ) if you need some nudging!

Please email me your answers by Tuesday 3rd May - I will announce the winner and answers on Wednesday 4th. Good luck!

1. KIND SISTERS - 36 scrummy colours DISTRESS INK

2. COWARDLY HOUSES - you may want to wear gloves when spraying these! COLOURWASH DYES

3. CONTAIN SOUR FIG - boxes of delights CONFIGURATIONS

4. A SCHOOL LINK - tipsy colours! ALCOHOL INKS

5. PETER CLAPS REF - iridescent shimmer PERFECT PEARLS

6. FARM GENTS - 48 pieces FRAGMENTS

7. PALLID SQUIRE - these could be piped round one's neck! LIQUID PEARLS

8. ASSIST SID'S RENT - a new way to ink! DISTRESS STAINS

9. DAMMIT MULE - MUTE IT! - not a shiny adhesive MULTI MATTE MEDIUM

10. DARN - NO STEM! - lovely embellishments ADORNMENTS

11. RUGGED BARON - grey, but not boring! GRUNGEBOARD

12. PETAL QUEST - numbered signs PLAQUETTES

13. FREE ARMY MOMS - attractive aide memoires MEMORY FRAMES

14. SCARCE NECK TALC - easy wrinkles! CRACKLE ACCENTS

15. DIG TEA CASKET - perforated word labels ADAGE TICKETS

16. DOT CARD TWICE - a full room at the top CROWDED ATTIC

17. VISCERAL GASKETS - reclaimed cardstock embellishments SALVAGE STICKERS

18. LACKED VISOR - fill them with potions! CORKED VIALS

19. LIPPY SOOTHS HAG - these are engraved with words PHILOSOPHY TAGS

20. SCALD OLDER TURF - these little ladies are 'armless FRACTURED DOLLS

21. EMPTIES ICE - look, no hands! TIMEPIECES

22. ROGER'S PACKETS - metal Steampunk lovelies SPROCKET GEARS

Just discovered I somehow did 22 questions - oh well! My top tip is to write the anagram letters in a circle - helps to see the letters in no particular order!
Good luck all!

Catching up

2011-04-20T19:06:00.003+01:00

Hello all, it was a busy weekend. On Saturday I was at Reams in Derby, where it was a lovely busy day with a lot of fun thrown in. When I was leaving I was given this lovely bunch of flowers as a thank you...how nice was that? Excuse the state of the board that the vase was standing on whilst I took the picture...it's one of my workboards and very inky and painty! On Sunday I was at The Craft Room in Garners Garden Centre for another busy, and very hot day. Hello to all the lovely ladies and gents who came along and welcome to my new blog followers too!

I haven't forgotten about the quiz by the way, and will be posting it straight after this. I had planned to do add it on Monday, but got asked to do some last minuted work which tied up my time. So, get your thinking caps at the ready!

I have updated my demonstration and workshop dates at the left, so do check those out. As far as workshops go, I'll be at Topaz on Sunday 1st May where we'll be making cards with a "Spring into Summer" theme in the morning, and "Steampunk cards and tags" (round two!) in the afternoon...there have been lots of requests for more of the Stempunk theme, so I aim to please! To book either of these, just call Topaz crafts directly.

On Sunday 15th May, Amy Shaw and myself will be hosting a full day of cardmaking in Lower Darwen, Blackburn. Amy will be teaching the morning workshop and I'll be teaching the afternoon one...as mine is likely to be the messy one! The cost for the full day is £30, and if you're interested, please email me on ljm.design@ntlworld.com for more details. Hope to see you there, it will be a lot of fun!

On Friday I'll be trolling down to Eastbourne to demonstrate at ESK on Saturday. I'm sure I'll be fitting a paddle in there somewhere, as I'm staying over on Saturday before coming back on Sunday. Hope to see lots of my southern friends there!

Meanwhile, you just have time to join in my sister's ATC swap....great fun and you have the chance to win Heather's gorgeous Cabinet Card. Yummy!

Okay, I think I had better get that quiz posted!

All sorts....

2011-04-15T16:20:00.019+01:00

Hello folks, lots of pictures to share this evening I'm happy to say. Just taken me ages to upload them all - my least favourite part of blogging! It's been a really busy week for me, so I have plenty to post about tonight. Have some great news for those of you who have been asking about future workshops too....so do read on!

First of all, I got an exciting parcel delivery this week! The first thing that I took out of the box were these beauties by my friend Andy Skinner. These are A5 sized stamp sets designed by Andy for Personal Impressions. I'll be using some of these on my demonstrations this weekend - they are really great designs with an artsy feel but very user friendly too.Next out of the box were my new stamp designs.....it's always exciting to get the new stamps, especially when they have brand new packaging! The stamps are available in shops now, so, should you wish to get your hands on them, you will be able to get them from Personal Impressions stockists. The stamps in the packs at the back are all A6 clear sets whilst the ones at the front are ATC sized unmounted rubber (these will normally have packaging as well of course!). I'll be using a selection of these at my demonstrations tomorrow at Reams, in Derby, and on Sunday, at The Craft Room in Garners Garden Centre in Newcatle Under Lyne.Talking of my new designs, here is a picture of the prize which is winging its way to Carole for her brilliant cryptic quiz skills! Hope you enjoy using them Carole. I'll be posting a new quiz after the weekend. So back to this last week, and starting with the workshops at Dawn's studio last Sunday. It was a hoot as usual! David decided to revert to being my assistant and official photographer this time, as opposed to joining in. Lots of concentration going on here as you can see from Sheila, Jolene, Elaine and Kath.In the morning we were making cards using Andy Skinner's new stamps, Distress Stains and the new Tim Holtz Kraft Resist stash. As soon as I brought a few stashes through to show everyone they were immediately grabbed and popped into baskets! Here are two of the cards that I made as samples for the class. Both the same design but showing how it could be varied...everyone loved the sentiment on the blue card! The one hour break between classes reduced to half an hour for a quick sandwich as we overran somewhat as usual! In the afternoon we were making mini Grungeboard albums which involved staining, cutting pages and stitching. This led to lots of hilarity, especially from Sheila who is showing what she thinks of me making her sew pages into her book in the picture below.....she enjoyed it really!!! As you can see, everyone's books looked quite different and I hope that they'll be inspired to make more of them. Here's a picture of the one that I had made....I kept my cover fairly simple but may possibly add some more embellishments to it at some point. After the classes had finished we had a real treat as David, Sheila and I went to Kath's house, along with her daughter Elaine of course. You may recall my post a few months ago when I showed you pictures of the amazing fairy egg which Kath surprised me with as a much appreciated gift. Kath makes the most incredible creations and had invited us to go along to see her collection of no less than 72 eggs of various sizes and a huge range of styles. As you can see they are just fantastic......carriages, fairies, swans, flowers, so much variety of style, colour and theme. Here's Kath (well, you can just see her!) with one of the largest...check out the beaded detail on the velvet upholstery of the carriage interior! We were quite lost for words at the work and patience involved. What a treat, and it makes us even more honoured to have received one of them as a gift that will be treasured. Well, onto Tuesday then, when I set off down to Norwich. I had good train journeys there and back you will be pleased to know, after the unwanted dramas of my last journey there. The beautiful weather helped and I was able to enjoy the changing landscapes at their Springtime best. I saw so many rabbits, I think they must have been enjoying the sunshine too! Lots of oh so cute lambs gambolling about or resting next to their mums, great fields full of pigsties with huge sows snuffling in the dirt with little piglets dashing around them and lots of birds of assorted varieties! It was better than any telly programme!

I had a lovely afternoon in Norwich, which is fast becoming my favourite place to visit. Did some window shopping and bought David a few little treats of course. Then a lovely night's sleep in my favourite guest house (called No 17 Colegate) before a busy day at Jarrolds on Wednesday. I was demonstrating mainly Configurations boxes with some inky techniques as well. I love using the single boxes that I've removed from the larger Configurations. Here's one that I had made before I went down, complete with Grungeboard wings, Corked Vial, Timepiece, Key etc etc. Really good fun to make and reasonably quick to do too. This is a feminine version of a full box that I prepared in advance too. Notice that I turned one of the inner boxes around where the heart and wings are - this would be nice to attach a photo to if you were making a wedding memento for instance. This box has the acetate front in place though you can't really see it here - thankfully! Here's a second single box which I decorated on the day....can't tell you what fun these are to do!So, after getting back late on Wednesday, I have spent the last two days preparing things for demonstrations tomorrow and Sunday. Here's a card that I've made using Andy's Back to Nature set stamped onto alcohol inked card. Don't tell anyone, but I stamped the birds the wrong way, so they are flying sideways on!!! Do you think anyone will notice if I don't tell them?! The fab ribbon is from the new Tim Holtz pack - I used Distress stains and water on it and scrunched it up before drying it lightly with the heat tool which lightens the colours somewhat. So, hope to see some of you this weekend for inspiration, tips and new stamps! So, on to the news for those who are wanting to know about future workshops. The good news is that myself and Amy Shaw are going to be running workshop days together and the first of these will be on Sunday 15th May. So, if you are interested, please do contact Amy or myself as soon as possible as places will be limited. I can't tell you what the actual workshops are going to be at this stage as we have only just sorted out this first date, but do watch this space. I can guarantee it will be a fun filled day though! We'll post more details as soon as we have them.

Lastly, if you go onto the Personal Impressions website ( http://www.personalimpressions.com/ ) you will see that they now have a Facebook page, as well as a Twitter site. There are links to some detailed instructions on there for some of my projects and others, so do check it out.

Well, it's now 8.50pm and we've still not eaten because I have been busy on here as well as loads of phone calls, so I shall sign off now as it's an early start tomorrow to go over to Derby. Have a great weekend everyone!

The big quiz!

2011-04-10T21:23:00.003+01:00

Hello all, just a quickie, as it was a long weekend and still had no dinner yet at nearly 9.30pm! I'll say more about the lovely weekend workshops etc in my next post.

However, I know you all want the quiz results and winning name. So....please scroll down to the original post with the quiz to see the answers.....and I can hear the groans from here as you read number 14 which was the most flummoxing one of all from the comments I've received! Hope you feel that the clues make sense and were fair. I will be posting a new quiz shortly - I have a couple of long train journeys this week, so will finish thinking up the remaining posers on those trips and post the quiz when I return.

So, drum roll please.....ddddddddrrrrrrrrrr.....the winner of this first quiz is......Carole Dixon, who got 19 correct out of twenty, and was also the first person to send in her answers. Please email me your address details Carole and I will send out your prize next week. I'll post details of what Carole's prize is next week too.

Hope everyone will enter the next one and that you'll enjoy it....please don't hate me for making you a/ tear your hair out, b/swear, c/ age by a month, d/ shout at your spouse (delete where appropriate!). It's only meant to be a bit of fun!

Will do a longer post with piccies soon, but must get some dinner now before we pass out!