New stamps and a list to tick off

I'm ticking things off my to do list one by one this week! I've done the latest Crafts Beautiful project.....tick, paid some bills.....tick (& yuck!), made some samples for a forthcoming demonstration.....tick and now, finally, getting round to posting here. I'll tackle the next round of tasks tomorrow!

Talking of tomorrow (notice the smooth way that I dropped that in there!) my new stamps will be on QVC in Dawn's hour at 2pm, "crafting with colour". I hope that you like them, I have lots of ideas how to use them and have made a few samples for Dawn to show tomorrow. After the stamps have aired I'll be able to post pictures of some of the samples on here. Even though I've been designing for many years I still get a thrill when I see my artwork made up and packaged! I guess the day that one doesn't feel that excitement is the day one should call it a day.

Well, it was a really busy old few days one way or another. Hello to everyone that I met at Sugar & Spice in Billericay and at Sew Simple in Norwich. I travelled down to Basildon on Friday and was looking forward to a relaxing night before my two days of demonstrations. However, I had a bout of sickness (don't think it was anything I ate, but who knows) and hardly slept at all! Thankfully, the cramps and nausea abated throughout the next day, but it wasn't a good start to my weekend! However, I must tell you a hilarious story from my friday, pre sickness, evening. I was on the second floor in the hotel and access was via two lifts, apart from the emergency staircase. I was going out for a bite to eat so I called the lift, which took an age to come down to me. I got in and when the doors opened I stepped out, only to see that I was in the first floor as an elderly couple had also called the lift. I stepped aside so they could get in and then got in myself. I pressed for the ground floor and down we went, the doors opened three inches and then shut again. The gentleman immediately decided that we should press the alarm bell, so I assured him that all was okay and pressed the first floor button. Up we went and the doors did their three inch trick again before the lift shot down to the ground floor, then straight back up to the second floor, whereupon the doors opened. I stepped out and said that I'd call the other lift. The gentleman then said to me "When you go down, can you tell them that my wife and I are stuck in the lift on the second floor." Er.....it took a few moments for the full hilariousness of the situation to hit me! And, yes, they did stay in the lift that I had just departed! You couldn't make it up really.

Saturday was, as I said, a bit wobbly to start with, but Marion and her staff did make me very welcome in her lovely shop. It was nice to see a few men at the demonstration too...and I always think that I've cracked it if the husbands are impressed!!! Also met some familiar faces, which is always nice. Straight after I'd finished Marion took me to Billericay station and I set off to Norwich and then on to my hotel at nearby Taverham. I slept like the proverbial log and had a much needed extra half an hour lie in instead of breakfast, before the fifteen minute walk to Sew Simple which blew the cobwebs away. I had a lovely day there, enjoyed using some wooden stamps (I still love them!) and was so annoyed that I hadn't taken my camera, so will have to re make some of the cards to photograph. Duh! Then it was back to the station, a quick bite to eat and finally I was on my way home.

Not much to report in the wildlife stakes this trip....I saw a heron and some Egrets which were the highlight of the nature watch. There were some extremely pretty white cattle too, though the bulls were massive! Thankfully though, the trains were very quiet, as I notched up nine seperate legs over the three days. I was so glad to be home though.

So, yesterday, David and I went to our usual car boot haunt and, whilst rummaging in a box of old watches, got into conversation with a fellow rummager who, it turned out, was also rooting about for things to include in her artsy pieces! So, hello Chris, I hope that you found plenty more treasures. I also met someone I know through crafting, so it is a small world for sure. So, what did my rummaging bring me this time? Well, apart from the watches, I got a box of old dominoes (great as I had run out), which I am looking forward to altering. Also quite a few little treasures for the matchbox shrine workshop....mini figurines, a tin horse, some poker dice, a bottle of tiny coloured shells (they were a bit of a rip off at 10p mind you! Lol!) and a brand new ATC folder for 50p...a brand new one that has nine wallets per page, a great find! David was pretty disappointed...all he got was a belt, some miniature men's fragrances and sore feet! The weather was amazing after the previous two days and we were walking around for over four hours (it's a biiiiig field!) so we called in at a coffee shop on the way home and had coffee and a Scicilian Lemon Frappucino (guess which one I had?!), lovely.

So, that's me up to date I guess. I've been straight back to work today and feel good having ticked some things off that seemingly never ending list. I've also been catching up with everyone's blogs, so, even though I may not have commented I have been lurking! So, if you watch tomorrow's craft show, at one, let me know what you think and I'll post tomorrow with some pictures of my samples. Hope everyone had a great weekend! Lindsay