Show time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A fun Saturday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some painting diversions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Various "stuff"!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And this morning the foggy dew brought the ethereal delights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Catch up time and American Candy

After my long absence, this could take a while! Firstly, thank you for the good wishes sent to both Heather, Graham and myself which have been much appreciated. As a family we've been, and still are, going through the mill but are trying to carry on as normally as possible through difficult times. I don't want to dwell on bad times here though....just wanted to say thank you for positive wishes and prayers that have been sent.

So, onto other things and I have lots of pictures to share, but I think I'll post some of them another time or I'll be here all night! Most of you will know that it was the big Personal Impressions/Ranger event this last week, and, one of the great things about designing for and working with PI is that I get to attend all of these "do's"! I travelled down to Coventry on Tuesday with my friend and colleague, Jan, where we met up with Jayne and Kathy from PI and, of course, Tim, Mario and Alain from Ranger as well as Dyan, Caz and Ben. Here's Dyan, Mario, Leslie (our latest PI demonstrator), Tim and Jan.

Everything was just about ready for the next day which was going to be an all day techniques workshop for retailers. There were also tables groaning under the weight of Ranger goodies in the "pop up" shop. The room looked great - the Ranger team do such a grand job of organising kits that it makes setting up so much easier.....

It was a very airy room too, lots of good, natural light and french windows opening onto a balcony with stunning views of the landscaping around the hotel.....

 We're usually here during Stitches trade show in February, when it's normally frosty, foggy or pitch dark, so it was nice to see the surroundings in glorious sunshine for once! In the evening we went for a fabulous meal at our favourite local restaurant where they have a Chinese and Indian buffet as well as an area where you can pick any meats, fish and veg etc that you fancy and have it cooked right in front of you. On leaving, it's traditional to rub the Buddha's tummy....

 .....hate this pic of me, but, of course, Tim is his usual photogenic self! Then, after a quick drink back at the hotel it was time for a reasonably early night ahead of the busy day to come.
Lots of people arriving early on Wednesday morning, eager to find a good spot!

 And here is the kit that was in front of my spot.....

 ....we all had the same kit, but with different colours so that we could swap and share throughout the day. We were all kept really busy making tags with different techniques that we can refer to at any time - we all had numbered labels with instructions of the techniques used to stick to the reverse of each tag.
Tim is a natural teacher - keeping the pace steady and quite fast (no time to spend dithering about choosing options!) and injecting humour into the proceedings of course.

 

Having the big screen was a big help for everyone. We ended the afternoon with an hour of Dyan teaching techniques with her fabulous ink sprays....

Sorry about the rather blurry image here!

My sister Heather arrived in the afternoon - we had arranged for her to share my room that night and then do the morning workshop next day. 

Another busy day dawned and this time it was two sessions working on a tag book project with Tim. I was lucky enough to be doing the afternoon session but, in the morning, I was kept busy acting as price finder, personal shopper, photographer, drinks fetcher etc etc! We had a great system whereby anyone could raise their hand and one of us would write down what they wanted and then go and add it to their shopping bag.

Here's the morning session underway...you can see Heather right near the front as I got her a good spot!!!

 ....and Heather, alongside our friend Chris, both concentrating very hard on their projects....

 ....."personal shopping anyone?"......I really enjoyed myself running around and taking orders for ink pads, stamps, stains and Idea-ology treasures!

 After the morning workshop there was time for everyone to do even more shopping! Monica and I were kept very busy checking prices and finding things for everyone. Heather's in the background waiting to say goodbye before catching the train home. Another blurry picture I'm afraid!

 Here's me with Chris, Heather and Tim - I think everyone was having a good time....Lol!

After the busy morning there was time for a quick bite, then it was back to getting everything tidied and set up again for the afternoon session and more excited ladies (and some men!). I was really glad to sit down and get stuck into making the fabulous tag book Here are some pages in progress....... 

 Each session had a raffle prize and here's the lucky winner in the afternoon collecting her bag of goodies.

Everyone also received a signed copy of Tim's second book, an apron and a "can't buy these anywhere" bag - all this plus the contents of the kits that each person had used in the workshop. Brilliant!
A really wonderful few days in great company, learning more about new products and having a whale of a time altogether! It was a real boost for Heather and myself.

Well, now onto the "American Candy" part of my post title! As I was on two workshops, I received two bags and two aprons.....so.....I am giving away a Tim Holtz Idea-ology apron, a photo card of Tim and a signed messenger style bag! 

Woo hoo! To have a chance to win this great candy, just leave a comment on this particular post between now and September 17th (it's a Tuesday). I will use a number generator to choose a winner on Wednesday 18th September, so be sure to come back and check if you've won - you have no idea how many times people forget to check! If you can add a link from your blog to here that would be even more appreciated. Good luck all!
I shall be back to post about other things, including where I'm going to be demonstrating and teaching, very soon, but, meanwhile, don't forget...you have to be in it to win it!

Just a quick sign in...

Thanks for the messages that I've had this last week asking if all is well after my absence from my blog. This is just a quick few words to say "I'm still here!", and I'll try to do a more interesting, longer post before too long.

I won't go into all the details, but mum has been really poorly, my brother in law is very ill and my sister, Heather, is struggling with a sciatic type of pain that's kept her immobile over the last few weeks. It's all meant extra time being spent using the buses to get about, make visits etc, as well as trying to catch up with all my work so blogging has just taken a back seat for the time being.

I do have lots of photos to share from the last week or two though, so I will try to spend a decent amount of time on here very soon. I will be replying to emails soon too - I promise!

A mixed bag of a week

It's been a week of opposites really....hot one moment, pouring down the next, garden beds looking weed free and back to being covered with unwanted green invaders the next day, ideas that turned out well and others that were not so great etc etc. Keeps things interesting I suppose!

Thursday evening was spent at the local C of E school, which is the meeting place for the "Poulton Pearls" WI group. I know that the WI still seem to carry this connotation of older ladies who make jam and bake cakes all day, but it really isn't like that! There are a real mixed group of people at the monthly meetings and interesting talks on all sorts of subjects. Well, on Thursday it was my turn to "entertain and inform" for the evening! 

I trolleyed a bag full of my card, canvas and tag samples as well as some of my paintings and jewellery and set up a display before everyone came into the hall. I hadn't really prepared my talk (some of the ladies may well have thought that was obvious!) so I just related a bit about how I came to be doing what I now do in my work as well as passing around some examples for closer perusal.

Then we set about making a card each - I chose the frame fold that I used on my Fluffy Owl card that I made for the demonstration at Coleman's Craft Warehouse a few weeks ago. Anything too messy or inky wasn't really an option! The ladies had great fun choosing brads, papers, ribbons and elements to pop on to the front of their cards.

  Busy planning and sticking....

 ....the evening was rounded off with an arty crafty quiz with a prize of one of my little folksy angel paintings.

A really fun evening!

I've been busy over the last couple of days getting my samples made up for my trip to Durham on Thursday where I'm teaching an evening workshop. I also had a bit of a tidy up (!) though everywhere still looks like a tornado has swept through the house!

I did, however, make an effort to sort and clean one of the kitchen cupboards that has been niggling away at me for a while now. You know what it's like when the pepper spills out a bit, the soy sauce bottle leaves little rings under it and the half used stock cubes spill out and go syrupy....no? Okay, just me then! Anyway, I made use of waiting time in the kitchen (more of that in a moment!) to give the cupboard a thorough blitz - threw out most of the contents that were well past their sell by dates and then cleaned everything else and cut up some cat food boxes to make trays to keep jars and bottles neatly organised. It's lovely - no more dreading opening that particular cupboard!

On Friday I decided to use the courgette that I'd somehow missed and had grown into a marrow!

 Yes, that is a full sized dinner plate that it's sitting on! It was one of those evenings where the fridge was almost bare, so I checked out a few recipes for vegetarian stuffed marrow and set about it. Split in half and scooped out this monster would only just fit into the roasting pan! After forty minutes it was just barely soft and I'd made a risotto type filling with onions, my last few green beans, some cherry tomatoes and rice - all flavoured with a hearty vegetable stock. Back into the oven (hence all the time to clean the cupboard!) and I grated the last of my cheese with some stale bread to make a gratin to top it with for the final baking period.

Here's how it looked after about two hours in total!

 I was quite chuffed and looking forward to getting a good few meals from it. I sat down with my first portion and......it was vile!!! Really unpleasant, dry and tasteless - the whole lot went into the bin I'm afraid, as it was so awful that it made me feel slightly queasy! I ended up having a bowl of muesli for dinner instead! Oh well, you can't win them all!

Once I post this I am heading to the kitchen to cook a veggie curry. Courgettes will be featuring again as I have quite a few ready for cutting. My neighbour popped over this afternoon though and gave me some butternut squash and sweet potatoes, so the squash will add a nice sweetness to tonight's concoction. Hopefully this meal will restore my faith in my cooking abilities!

All this veggie food has been helping with my healthy diet though, and I've lost about half a stone over the last five weeks, so am really pleased about that. I'm not "dieting", just eating healthily, and it is definitely paying benefits.

Well, I'd better go and get that curry sorted now as I am going to watch the Dr Who live special to see who the new incarnation will be. I haven't really watched much since Mr Tennant left, but it's always interesting to see the transformation to the new Doctor. If it's a woman I shan't bother watching again! I'm all for equality, but some things are meant to be male roles as far as I'm concerned!

I'll share some more Christmassy samples next time, but for now, cheerio and hope everyone had a great weekend. 
PS Just popped back to say the veggie curry was delicious!