Going underground

Well, I will be tomorrow. My favourite form of travel...the London tube....not! I did have a look at getting down to the Craft Barn without going through London but the journey time went up to over seven hours - gulp! So, Euston and Victoria it is and I shall just have to try and stay upright with my case as the regular commuters shove past me on the escalators, tutting loudly as they do so - or worse!

I'm just having a quick coffee beak before I carry on with last minute putting together of a few more samples - I won't tell you what time I started this morning but David would have called it "daft o'clock"! So, I thought I'd take the chance to sign in and show a few piccies from the last week.

On Saturday I was at Sir Stampalot in Peterborough...no photos as I didn't take my camera. Had a great day though and a big hello to everyone who came along to the demo. A special thank you to Linda for the lovely plant that you brought me...I got it home safely and it's now happily planted in one of my tubs. A big hello to Stephanie too, and thank you for your lovely email. And I have to mention Margaret who attended my workshop at Cutting Edge Crafts in Skegness and who came to Sir Stampalot to see me again. She told me off as I'd cut her head off in a photo I posted here, so, I promised to make amends in my next post! So, Margaret, especially for you....

....complete with your finished wall plaque....and face!
I've been working in the conservatory this week, which is becoming increasingly tricky due to the amount of space being taken up by the jungle which is growing inches by the day!

The large leaves at the front are on the courgette plants which I have three of...should be enough for me, Heather and a few friends too!At the back are a couple of the sweetcorn which I think will have to go outside before too long. 

Of course, if I'm in the conservatory I'm never alone as one or both of my furry friends will be keeping me company. If I put any kind of box or bag on the floor it's only a matter of time before Tara has to try it out for size and she was quite impressed by the laundry basket but even more by one of my pens! Not really helping there Tara!

Thomas was happier just to lie around napping...poor Tom had worms last week - ugh! However, some drops from the vet sorted him out in double quick time and he's absolutely fine again now.

Mind you, he is sulking a bit....he always knows when I've got a trip coming up no matter how hard I try not to give any clues!
Here are some pictures of what I've been up to with my stamps and inks! This first one was made using two layers of corrugated card that I scruffed up a bit, painted and buffed with Viva Inca Gold wax. I used some burlap (from a brilliant DCWV burlap stack) which I frayed and generally duffed up! The figure, heart and words are from my "Frayed Around the Edges" Doo Lally Pip stamp set.The heart was stamped onto some linen which I cut out and frayed a little. I've coloured some nylon ribbon with Dylusions inks and heated it so it went curly wurly!

 Next is another Doo Lally Pip character who's proved to be my most popular from the latest releases. He, his dog and the words are from the "Sartorial Elegance" set. I used a Kraft card blank which I used a Crafter's Workshop template to stencil through with Vintage Photo Distress ink before cutting chunks out and sanding the edges for a really scruffy look.

 I still had one of the little frames that Heather gave me last year, so I decided to use my "Dreams have Wings" set to create a picture. The background is just white card lightly sprayed with Dylusions inks...Squeezed Orange, Cherry Pie and Slate Grey - the grey is a fabulous colour. I simply stamped the birds in Archival black and then overstamped with just the twigs and leaves without re-inking to give some depth. I used a white gel pen to add highlights and the moon. The frame looked too plain so I stamped the extra bird and the words, again using Archival.

Well, I'll have these, and much more, with me this weekend at The Craft Barn, so hope to see lots of you there. Looking forward to the all day workshop on Friday too....if you're on the class then make sure you get a good night's sleep as we'll be hitting the ground running with lots of techniques and processes to get through!
Christina from A Maze of Memories sent me this link to the AMOM blog, featuring some of my Zendoodle designs...thanks Christina! When you stop and think, how amazing is all the technology that allows us all to keep in contact, share ideas and photos....quite mind blowing really.....well, to a non techy person like me anyway!
A big thank you to everyone who showed concern over my post root canal problems. The latest update is that I saw the dentist again yesterday and they are now referring me to a neurologist as half of my face is still numb - it feels very strange and putting lipstick on when you can't feel half of you lip is pretty tricky! I may have to wait up to two months for an appointment and the problem may, hopefully, right itself before then. Fingers crossed.
I was glad to see the end of May with all it's sad memories. Again, thank you for the lovely messages that were sent to me last week, they were really appreciated.
Well, I had better get back to that pile of card, stamps, inks and general mess in the conservatory! The coffee has been drained so I'm sure the caffeine will be kicking in shortly and will keep me going! Looking forward to a really busy and fun weekend and hope everyone enjoys whatever it is that you're up to over the next few days.