...don't forget that my Blog Candy ends this weekend, so if you haven't already left a comment there are just a couple of days to do so to be in with a chance to win. You can see details of the candy on the sidebar to the left. David will draw the winner's name on Monday, so, if you don't win, you know who to shout at!
Well, I've been drawing all day and tired my eyes a bit now, so am going to relax for the rest of the evening now ahead of the busy weekend at Topaz. Looking forward to sharing some techniques with everyone and bring ATC's if you'd like to swap...I don't have oodles of them at the moment, but I know there will be other keen swappers there too. Hope to see you there, but have a great weekend whatever you are up to. Lindsay
Here are just a few of the cards that I had on a display board - bit of a mix as you can see! The tag features a snowman that is made using a Martha Stewart punch - really cute, as you get the arms, hat, scarf etc, as well as the snowman himself, in the one punch.
This next card actually looked much better than it does in this picture! I made the tree using Best Creations Christmas paper, combined with one from the Nit Wit range. The torn strips are overlaid onto a triangle of card and I then decorated it with Suze Weinberg Beadazzles (Tango...I think!) applied over Glossy Accents. The card was distressed with Shabby Shutters and Brushed Corduroy Distress ink pads as they really toned in with the papers. I then cut out one corner of the BC 12" x 12" paper and applied it to the card. The greeting is one from my Christmas sets.
The last picture uses my favourite Distress inks to create the landscape - the trees, snowman etc created by painting with water to bleach the ink out. I matted it onto BC paper, and added Vanilla dressed as Santa and another of my greetings. This is what I mean about combining distressy with whimsical! Hope you like them as much as the ladies (and gents!!) at Pontefract did. 
On Sunday, David and I went to the car boot sale - my first time this year as I get so few free weekend days. We spent three hours looking around as there are hundreds of stalls to look at. So, did we get any exciting things....poor David didn't find the elusive tool he was after for a job that he needs to do, but we did pick up a few bits and pieces. A few tubes of assorted glues and sealants (how exciting!), some clips for sealing bags with, a full box of incense sticks that were a real bargain until I lit one and discovered that they just don't work! They were the boring things but I also got some Mac eyeliner, two metal boxes to decorate, a cat sticker book, a lovely teal glass, silver lined bead for my new bracelet and two watches to make Grungeboard straps with. Well, that was the plan, but when David got them both working for me we decided that one was too good to take the bracelt off, so I am keeping that one as it is. The other one has a lovely face but the casing is very tatty, so I'll tickle it up with some alcohol inks! So, I think I definitely did better than David! It was great fun and I got to stretch my legs too, which I always enjoy after spending so much time seated.
Oh, and David snapped this next one of "Pot Arm", "Peg Leg", Terry, doing his usual sneaking off with my goodies....this time, my new Tim Holtz paper pads! What a nerve!!! (For new readers of my blog, Terry is Joanne's hubbie and it is a standing joke that he pretends to sneak off with things...he isn't a shoplifter!)
I've been busy preparing samples for a busy weekend that starts a day early for me, as I'll be at C. J. Crafts in Edgeley, Stockport tomorrow. Here are just a few of the cards I've been making. This one features a Personal Impressions stamp set called "Elf's Christmas" and I've combined it with one of my own papers and one from Nit Wit as well as snowflakes that were the confetti from my MS Aspen punch. You can't tell here, but I alcohol inked the peel off...don't often use peel offs, but I've been using them at demonstrations recently to show various ways to alter them. It was quite nice doing something clean for a change....mind you, there are one or two strategically placed snowflakes on there!
This next card was made using a Tim Holtz mask on white card and then blending Distress inks over the top, moving the mask around as I went. I brayered the background mat using a Big n Juicy ink pad and cut up the masked card, changing the quarters around for a more abstract look. The large flower is made up of three Petaloo Colour Me Crazy layers which I dyed with alcohol inks.
If you've been following Tim's blog then you will have seen this next technique for creating the centrepiece of this next card. Very simply, it is a grungeboard heart, stuck to card, covered with a dictionary page and then smoothed over to reveal the details. I then grunged it up with Distress inks and highlighted the Romance definitions with a lilac pen. The background was achieved with one of Tim's very useful stamps which I applied several times using Victorian Velvet Distress ink before embossing with clear powder. Then I went over the whole card with Frayed Burlap and a little Walnut Stain around the edges. The ribbon was dyed with alcohol inks and tied twice around. An Adage ticket was pinned to the ribbon after being inked and water spattered. Oh, I also distressed the edges of the card and centrepiece using the TH paper distressing tool!
There are two of my clear stamp sets: Zoo Animals and Count My Blessings, two of my unmounted rubber stamp sets: Christmas Season and Christmas Days and one of my wooden stamps: Special Delivery. Also some Magic Mesh in pink, a fabulous Just Glitter pen in gold, a Versafine ink cube in Deep Lagoon, a Ranger Antiquities Frosted Crystal embossing powder, a pack of Wacky Tac repositionable adhesive dots, twenty assorted 12" x 12" papers and (no idea where this came from!) a decoupage kit of a Pansy Basket.
I was featuring my new Christmas clear stamp sets along with Distress ink pads...showing that you can combine whimsical with more distressy techniques. This is my table before we got started...looks pretty messy already! I had eight or nine people (not all ladies!) at my table per sessions and each lasted around half an hour with more people standing behind chairs waiting to come on the next sessions, so the the pressure was on both for me and those who were trying to finish their cards! Great fun though, but very tiring as you may imagine.
And here are just one, very cheerful group of ladies at my table. And there's my coffee and a biscuit which was one of three cups that I only took one sip of during the day! All the QVC customers who had come along were able to go around the tables and to the Kanban workshop, so there were things to make with the various companies and guests that are featured on the channel. My lovely friend Paula Pascual came along to see us all too - she had a great time as she was having a day off and a busman's holiday! There are some good pictures from the event on Paula's blog. 
After the first day finished we left everything just as it was and I went with Kathy and Jayne, from Personal Impressions, back to Jayne's house for the night. We had a lovely Indian takeaway that was super delicious and a good night's sleep was had by all! Next day was a repeat of the previous one except that Anthony was there instead of Craig. He made one lady's day by giving her a huge hug and she turned to jelly! I did have more photos of the event, but my camera has managed to spit them out somehow! Hello to all the ladies and gents who attended the event and hope you all had as much fun as I did. On Friday evening I had to hot tail it to the station to get the train to Horley as I was demonstrating at Crafts U Love there the following day. I just caught the train and it then sat there not moving an inch until way past the departure time....a voice then announced that they were very sorry for the delay, but there was no driver! That's a new one on me! Scurrying to a new, packed, train then ensued and I got to Horley quite a bit later than I should have.
