A weekend to lift the spirits

Good Sunday afternoon everyone, from a "rapidly getting colder by the minute" Lancashire! It's been a lovely crisp and sunny day but now, at approaching 4pm, the temperature is dropping like a stone and I've had to cave in and put the heating on - that's always a bad moment. Thomas is tightly curled up on "his" shelf in my work room and I've just found Tara cosily ensconced on the pillow on my bed so there's only me up and about!

After the dark and depressing news that we heard on Friday night I know that I wasn't the only one to be feeling very low and, as expected, I hardly slept. I was up very early - woken before the alarm by Thomas jumping up onto my head - nice! The day didn't start well as my train was cancelled and the alternative journey I was advised to take involved three changes and arriving at Port Sunlight an hour later than planned - gggrrrr. As an experienced train traveller though, as soon as I got to Preston I searched the screens and found another way though it did involve lots of rushing up and down stairs and dashing to catch connections with seconds to spare! I got to Port Sunlight in plenty of time after all though, so it was worth all the puffing and panting.

As usual, the Happy Stampers show was busy, busy, busy and being in the presence of so many enthusiastic people really gave me a lift. I was cheered up further by some lovely gifts that I was given....

....the gorgeous tag was from Ruth and the skirt of the dress is made from pleated tissue tape - lovely! The card at the top was made by Millie, who won the blog candy last week, and she drew the whole scene....isn't it amazing?! Thomas and Tara are both there as well as so many other tiny details. The Cats plaque was actually given to me by Chris at the Burnley demo last week but I've only just had chance to photograph it. Chris thought it would be something that I could artistically alter...I think you may be right Chris! The luscious poppy brooch was from Karen and it's fab - I shall wear it with pride and it will definitely be with me when I'm at the NEC in November. Wonderful gifts that all brought smiles to my face and thank you so much ladies.

Here's a picture that my friend Esther took when she saw the card that Millie had made...

 .....me, the card and the artist - Millie! Is that the only top I possess I wonder? I seem to be wearing it in every photo recently!

I had my sister Heather's company for the day as she travelled over and was soon acting as cameraman, coffee and sandwich gopher, personal shopper and table sitter during loo breaks (whose bright idea was it to paint the ladies toilets at Hulme Hall on a day when the place was invaded by hundreds of women?!?!! Hence some long queues!). After Heather posted some piccies on her Facebook page where she referred to me as "sister Lindsay", I thought I'd share this one her looking rather Angelic - ha ha...she'll really tell me off now!

What a lovely day it was and thank you for all the positive comments about my stamps and my mixed media work too...they really did cheer me up. Thanks too to Karen, Liz and George from Happy Stampers who, as always, made me very welcome and made sure everything ran like clockwork.

Here are the latest two mixed media pieces that I made last week and are now on the shelf in my Etsy shop!

This one's a large tag shaped wall hanger "Change Gear"....

 .....and this one is a canvas entitled "Wings"....

As people kept telling me yesterday, the photos don't really do justice to the colours as they really are. Very hard to photograph the metallicy sheen.

It was really great to have Heather with me yesterday, and it certainly made the train journey home more enjoyable having her company. Then it was a naughty Chinese takeaway for me and watching Strictly on catch up!

This morning I was up and off to Church early as I was on duty as well as being one of the puppeteers during our Harvest Festival service. The Church has been filled with stunning arrangements....

 ....this is the Font, filled with flowers, fruit and vegetables and surrounded by individual flower baskets which will be distributed amongst the housebound tomorrow. The flower guild ladies have excelled themselves! This is a view towards the Altar with more arrangements around the pulpit and Altar itself. There were boxes, bags and baskets filled with harvest offerings to be distributed tomorrow as well.

I'll be off back to Church in an hour as we have a special Harvest Evensong accompanied by Rossall School Choir...this is a renowned choir who recently sang in Westminster Cathedral so I'm expecting it to be a lovely evening.

I'll be walking back home in, doubtless, very nippy weather, so I'll be having a warming curry when I get back - that will be a very nice end to a lovely couple of days. Hope everyone else enjoyed the weekend  - keep warm!

Port Sunlight

Good evening folks. Hope everyone is looking forward to a great weekend whether staying at home or out and about - there are certainly a few good shows on tomorrow.

Speaking of which, I'll be at The Happy Stamper's show at Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight on the Wirral tomorrow. It's always a really lovely day there with so many great exhibitors and the hugely enthusiastic crowds! Hope to see lots of you there.

Well, this is just a very short post as I need to have a shower now and sort out something for dinner (not sure what yet....I'm at the "nothing much left in the cupboard till I do another shop" stage, so I'll be cobbling something strange together no doubt! 

Then it's a reasonably early night for me ready for being up at daft o'clock again!

Port Sunlight

What a dolly mixture kind of a weekend it's been! It's been glorious sunshine here one minute, then really chilly, then raining and there were even hailstones on the way home yesterday. I set off at 6.45am for my trip to Port Sunlight and the Happy Stampers show and my first train change was at Wigan, where there were hundreds of footie fans (good natured ones!) waiting for the train down to London where their team were playing in the cup final. Standing room only so I was glad that I was only on board until Warrington!

After a couple more trains I reached Port Sunlight and walked down to Hulme Hall where I was shown to my lovely big demonstration table and then brought a coffee and a bacon butty - talk about being looked after! I'd not long got set up when I heard my name being called and looked up to see Sheila, Kath and Elaine......

 ......all of whom I haven't seen for about eighteen months or more. That's my table to the right of the picture - sorry it's a view from the back, not the front! Hello's too to the lovely Jacqui, Christine and Chris, who I didn't manage to get snaps of, and the "two sisters" (they're actually mum and daughter, but David always called them the two sisters!) Melanie and Joanne who I did......

....posing with one of my "journal pages". I was given a gorgeous tag and ATC by Sheila and Chris respectively...thank you both.
It was a really busy day at the show...one of the best organised in my opinion. There were lots of great stands, although, as usual, I didn't get the chance for more than a barely cursory glance. Great to spend time amongst real stamping fans who crowded Hulme Hall all day and I was really gratified to hear all the lovely feedback for my Doo Lally Pips! (oh, that sounded a bit rude didn't it?!) I was also very touched by all the good wishes and positive comments on my decision to take up the invitation to become deputy Verger at St Chads.
There was only one negative thing about the day and that was that, on returning from my quick sandwich break, I found that someone, or someones, had taken all the tags that I had placed at the front of my table, plus one or two off the display stand, a small canvas and two of my Distress ink pads. Karen, from the Happy Stampers (who organise the show) had asked if I wanted someone to sit at my table when I went for lunch, but, not suspecting there may be such rotten people in the room, I said it would be okay. Karen kept apologising to me, but it was no reflection on the organisers....just down to bad human nature I'm afraid.
It made me really furious though (as well as the customers who were there when I realised what had happened) especially as I'm really up against it for the next three weeks getting enough samples made for demos and workshops etc. I really don't know why anyone thinks it is okay to just take things that someone has spent time creating, but then, there's a lot I don't understand about human nature. Thankfully, 99% of the people I meet wouldn't dream of doing such a thing and I'm not going to let it spoil an otherwise lovely day. So there!
After the show finished I did my usual speed packing and was off to the station to catch the first of my four trains home. Unfortunately I took some bad advice from a couple of the rail staff and decided to take a slightly different route than the one I had planned and went to Liverpool Lime Street having been assured that there was bound to be a direct train that would get me home earlier. I should have known better really and it turned out that I couldn't get a direct train and my ETA would be almost an hour later than if I'd stuck to my plan! Add to that, the signals went pop not long after leaving Liverpool which resulted in a stop start journey as the driver had to get permission to continue safely at a snail's pace....oh well....the best laid plans and all that!
I decided that, being back so much later than I'd planned, I would be a bit naughty and I picked up a beef curry from the Chinese takeaway on the walk home from the station.I got back, fed my two sulky feline friends, put my jim jams on and opened the bottle of lager that I'd discovered in the back of a cupboard a few days before. Well, I very rarely have anything stronger than soda water, so I didn't feel too naughty. It nearly knocked me sideways though and I slept pretty well!
Good thing I set my alarm this morning as neither Thomas nor Tara woke me up - they must have thought I needed my bed! I walked up to church and, after the service, there was a "pasta & pizza" lunch in the church hall to which all the parishioners were invited. Very nice too, with lasagne, various salads, etc all made by the Curate's husband! There was wine too, but after the way the lager knocked me out last night I thought I'd better decline!
So, I was quite late home from the village and I got back feeling pretty cold and wet as the heavens opened again just as I was walking through the park. I was dismayed to see that lots of the colourful tulips had been snapped off and discarded along the paths - even in this quiet place there are idiots who just can't help being destructive I'm afraid. It's even more annoying when they don't take the flowers but just cast them aside. Gggrrrr!!!
Well, I'd better make a move I guess. I've a busy time ahead and even more to do now that someone thought it was okay to take my samples. This coming Saturday I'll be at Samuel Taylors in Brighouse again. I'll be taking a Steampunk themed workshop in the morning and then demonstrating in the afternoon. I do know that there are still some spaces left on the workshop, so if you fancy joining in the fun, just contact the shop and they will give you all the details. Looking forward to seeing some of the Port Sunlight ladies on Saturday afternoon though - and I'll remember to bring my "Hope Blooms" stamp set as promised!
Right, bed time now, so I'll say goodnight.

On the verge of new things

I'm just taking a quick lunch break from the Doo Lally room, so I thought I'd take the chance to post before I get back to my work table.

I'm all set for Saturday at The Happy Stamper's show in Port Sunlight. Really looking forward to it as it really is a "happy" show and I know I'll be seeing lots of familiar faces including a few that I haven't seen for a while - you know who you are! 

Meanwhile, just like the buses, everything comes along at once and I have a list of things to get done by increasingly looming deadlines...magazine articles, workshops to prep and samples for demonstrations to be made. It's usually made more stressful due to having to wait for new products to be sent to me in time! So, my little lunch break is most welcome...a hot turkey and stuffing sandwich...yummy!

I'm adding more things to my Etsy shop slowly but surely....I'm aiming for a varied range of items, styles and prices and it's given me a nice "kick up the bum"! Almost all of my creativity is channelled into work of course, so I like the idea of sitting down to make something for my own "shop". Here's a peep at a couple of the latest things I've added....

 ......there's a grumpy Goldfinch and below is a cheeky Red Squirrel.......

 .......just click on the link to see them in their entirety. Oh and this is another piece that I added a couple of days ago....

 .....some of you may have seen this one on the Darkroom Door blog as it's one of the projects that I made when I was their guest designer a few months ago.

In non work related goings on, I was very honoured (and humbled) a few weeks ago to be asked if I would consider becoming the deputy Verger at church. As I'm one of the newer members of the congregation I did wonder if the Verger was having a joke with me, but he wasn't. So, after some careful consideration and talking it over with my sister, I decided that this could be an interesting new venture. I'm lucky in that my work is not a structured nine to five routine, so I'm able to shuffle things round as needed. As Heather said, it's the things we don't do in life that we regret, rather than the things we do. I will only have to stand in occasionally and it will mostly be preparing the church and welcoming people at weddings and funerals. Something completely different from my job that's for sure! Heather has made several references to the Vicar of Dibley already!

I'll sign off with a picture I took at the weekend of a couple of the (many!) Sweet Peas and Sunflowers that I've been busy transplanting into the garden. They were some of the ones that I planted into loo roll tubes - the idea being that you can plant the whole thing without disturbing the roots as the cardboard just rots down in the soil. When I looked at them though, I was rather astonished to see.......

 ......well, you can hopefully see the "flowers" that have printed themselves on the loo rolls! I'm not absolutely sure how this happened, but there were a few small fungi that sprouted in the potting compost that I used and I think it may be to do with those. I was almost tempted to keep the rolls, flatten them out and use them on a canvas! 

Right, sandwich chomped, coffee slurped and half a dozen grapes consumed, so I'd better get back to the Doo Lally room again. Oh yes, if you happen to be a Radio Times reader you will find a letter from me in the Feedback section of this week's issue!

Keeping my mind occupied with a new venture

Hello folks, I know it's been another week gone (flown) by, so it's definitely time for a catch up.

Last Saturday I was at Card-io in Pemberton where a great deal of fun was had by all I think! I was wearing my new Doo Lally sweatshirt of course...

 ...which seemed to go down well with everyone! It's always good to be at Card-io as I get to see lots of friendly faces and this timwas no exception, catching up with some old friends that I haven't seen in a while. Jacqui kindly brought me a beautiful scarf and a handmade notebook from her trip to India - how spoiled am I? I do love a blank book, so am still deciding what to fill those inviting pages with. 

I'll be seeing quite a few of Saturday's ladies again next weekend as I'll be at the Happy Stampers show in Port Sunlight on 11th May. I do know that tickets have sold out for this show, so hope all of you that wanted to go have managed to get your hands on them. It's going to be a busy day there!

Yesterday my friend Paul came over to visit me which was a treat. We spent the day wandering, nattering and catching up. Sadly, the beautiful weather of the previous day didn't materialise, so my plans for us to sit out in the garden to eat our sandwiches had to be shelved - I was looking forward to some company to share my bench with too!

Today has been a rare Saturday at home but I've been busying myself with a few things. Apart from getting on with putting together my workshop samples (which I can't share yet of course!) I've finally got my act together and opened an Etsy shop. I will happily admit that Paul helped me over the last hurdles yesterday as he is a bit of a whizz with all this technical stuff (!), though it turned out not to be anywhere near as tricky as I'd thought. Anyway, you can take a look at my efforts if you click on the Etsy shop link in my left hand sidebar. 

I've only put a few things up so far, but I will be adding more things on a regular basis, so do let me know what you think! I'm aiming for an "eclectic mix" and you never know, I may even put some Doo Lally Tee shirts on there!

Some of you may know that I was a wildlife artist in a "previous life" so there are a few of my paintings in my shop too....which has the very original name of "Lindsay Mason Designs"! 

It's a pretty tough time at the moment, with the anniversary of so many sad and frightening moments to go through. Today's been particularly hard and I've had a knot in my stomach since I woke up - hence me keeping myself occupied with the Etsy shop. David was really keen for me to get it started so it felt right to make the effort and finally do it.

Well, after all this time in front of the lap top I think I had better get myself some sustenance. I haven't eaten a thing all day, so I really need to make the effort and raid the fridge. The kettle and coffee jar will be the first ports of call though!

A super Saturday

Welcome to new followers and readers of my blog and hello to everyone that I met on Saturday at the Happy Stampers show in Port Sunlight. It was a really lovely day with so many friendly people who were all enjoying a common passion amongst like minded folk.

It's such a well organised event and I was chuffed to see two purpose built display stands already in place on my table which left me with much more room to make my usual  mess - though I somehow managed to avoid spritzing the cream tablecloth with inks! I'll share some more photos of the samples I made with my new stamps later in the week, but, for now, here's one using the "Winter Scene" set, plus the owl from my "Build a snowy scene" set. The sentiment is from my "Religious Greetings" set, though they aren't all strictly religious, but definitely have a leaning toward more traditional and spiritual sentiments.

I know that I make a lot of samples using my faux bleached distress ink skies, but it's just because I get asked to show this technique over and over again! I promised the ladies on Saturday that my next You Tube video will be based on the faux bleaching so will let you know when it's done and uploaded. I have a busy week but should have some time after next weekend to get it done. Watch this space!

Hopefully I'll get it done without too many bloopers! It reminds me too of my favourite line that someone said at the show. It was a husband who was standing watching with his wife. On seeing me using my waterbrush to bleach out trees on another snowy inked background he remarked "so you spend a fortune on these inks and then take them all off with a bit of water!?" (or words to that effect). It caused quite a lot of laughter around my table!

I caught up with quite a few old friends on Saturday, as well as meeting new people. A special thank you to Ruth for bringing me a very thoughtful gift which I was very grateful for. It's not only a beautifully scented body oil, but is one that repels those nasty mosquitoes! Thank you Ruth. It was especially good to meet up with friends who knew David too and to share some memories. I'm sure that he was sat with me all day and I could visualise the big smile on his face at all the kind comments that people made.

I had a big tidy up of my work table on Sunday so I could work on my new stamp designs this week without any clutter to distract me...doesn't take much! Yesterday I had an eye test where my pupils had to be dilated which meant that I could hardly focus for several hours afterwards which was really frustrating as I wanted to crack on. They went back to normal eventually of course, so I did some late night drawing to make up for lost time!

The washing machine decided to be naughty again today. My clothes have had a really good clean....three complete wash cycles and about half a dozen rinses, drains and spins before that darned door would open. There's no rhyme or reason to why it suddenly decides to be awkward but I'm just not letting it get the better of me!

I just watched the second episode of The Paradise. Don't know if any of you have seen it, but I was rather disappointed in the first episode and thought I'd see if it improved tonight. I'm still not very keen. There's too much in the way of silly and unbelievable story lines for me and I realised that what I'd been hoping to see was just people going up to laden counters and asking "May I have two reels of your finest white silk yarn, half a dozen pearl buttons and a packet of size 14 sewing needles" then assistants measuring off yards of beautiful fabrics, folding them up and wrapping them in string tied brown paper packages etc etc. In the food department there would be cheeses being cut with wire and wrapped in waxed paper, quarters of old fashioned sweets poured out from glass jars and loose teas being tipped into little packets. Yes, an hour of that would be rather lovely! However, Downton Abbey has me hooked once more and I watched much of Sunday's episode through tear stained eyes!

Well, my two little perishers are ready to come back inside after their late evening stroll now and it's time for bed. Clean sheets tonight which always makes me look forward to bed time more than usual. So, complete with my new fragrant oil, I am hoping for a good sleep to prepare me for another busy day tomorrow. Take care everyone.

PS I've no idea where these photos will appear on this post as they keep moving about. I am giving up and will just let them stay wherever they decide to go!