What a great weekend

There was much fun and laughter this weekend at the three demonstrations that I gave. On Friday I was at C J Cardcrafts in Stockport, and saw some familiar faces there, including Paul (Artsiders)...we keep bumping into each other lately, sometimes by accident and sometimes more deliberately! It was a very humid day and I was right in the front window, so pretty uncomfortable but very rewarding. I'll be back there on Saturday 13th November.

On Saturday I was at Handmade Heaven in Chorley and it was a busy old day. It was also one of the most fun days I've had for some time...Linda will know why!!! We all, mainly due to Linda (!) got the giggles and David, who was outside the shop, waiting in the car, could hear all the laughing from there. All good fun and this little chap below was one of the causes for the laughter. This is one of Sue Dix's designs from a PI stamp set called "Thank You Owl" and here I made a Distress inky background for him and mounted the piece onto a paper from Tim Holtz's new paper pad (Retro Grunge). I then had an idea, which I'll work on and then post a picture of, to make the owl more dimensional bacause of the spread of his wings. I made a quick mock up of my idea as I thought of it during my demonstration, and it was this that set off some of the giggles! Anyway, just to say that I had a lot of fun and so did all the ladies in the shop - hello to you all. I also used Tim's pad for this card along with a large butterfly MS punch and the leaves which were stamped from another PI set.On Sunday I was at Garners Garden Centre in Newcastle Under Lyme, near Stoke. It was another roasting hot day but there was a fan blowing away to keep me a little cooler which was much appreciated. Unfortunately I was bitten within an inch of my life by who knows what little perishers, so have rather a lot of red, itchy bumps now...it's a really attractive look! Funny that they never seem to bite David, or, more likely, he doesn't have a reaction to them. It was another very busy day, which is just what I like, and everyone was so enthusiastic that the day went by very quickly. We came home with two new additions to the family as well - Fred and George (almost everything gets called "Fred" here!). Not new pets, but two very cute cacti who have joined Bertie and Donald (don't ask!) in their clay trough in the bathroom!

It's been a really jolly few days which gave me a real boost. Not that I was feeling down, but we all like a boost now and then! Coupled with some of the very positive, kind comments that have been left on here, it makes all of the hard work seem worthwhile.

Now, one or two people have emailed me to say they had a few problems with recreating the alcohol ink technique that they saw me doing - making rainbow lines and checked patterns. If you go back to my 1st May 2009 post there is a step by step guide that, hopefully, will help. Key things to remember are to use the right cardstock (coated gloss), the felt applicator tool (not foam) and to apply sufficient ink and blending solution. Also be sure to work on a non stick craft sheet. Hope that helps!

I'll be at Topaz Crafts all this weekend, with my workshop on Saturday and a demonstration on Sunday. The workshop is all about Ranger techniques, so, if you are booked on this one, you may wish to bring an apron and wear your old clothes as we're bound to get a bit messy! We'll be inking, waxing, embossing, stamping, spritzing and everything in between and making ATC sized samples of each technique. The workshop is full, but I'll be sure to post some pictures next week.

Well, that's about it for now. Don't forget to leave a comment (however brief) if you want a chance to win my Blog Candy which is running until the end of July. Lindsay