Lovely Lingfield

I got back quite late last night after a very busy and enjoyable time in Lingfield. It really is a lovely village with just a few shops, a couple of restaurants and cafes, a pretty duck pond (with duck house!) and some really beautiful old cottages. Needless to say that, as soon as I had left my bag at the shop and checked in at my hotel, I bought some bread and went to feed the Ducks and Coots (or were they Moorhens? I always confuse the two). The adult Coots were kept very busy as they had two broods to feed - "adolescent" chicks and the newest arrivals which looked like little black fuzzy pom poms! Very sweet! My hotel was one of the local pubs and was just a stride away from the cottages and church that you can see in the first photograph. From my window I could see the local countryside and the hotel garden had a horse, goat and rabbits, so I was in my element! I went out for a meal at a lovely Thai restaurant, a delicious red curry with Kafir lime leaves and coconut - beautifully presented with carved vegetables that were too pretty to eat!

The Craft Barn weekend demonstrations were in the local community centre and we had hardly set up our displays when customers began to arrive. I only had chance to take a few photographs of my fellow demonstrators as the crowds kept coming and the day just flew by.

On the left is Sue Roddis with a wonderful display of her altered art. You will know Sue from her many magazine articles - her pieces are really inspirational. On the right is Sandra Dry who designs stamps for Kadoodle - some very cheeky ladies can be seen at the front of her display! Below is Jenny Mayes from Hobby Art who was beside me - not that we got much chance to chat! Thank you Jenny for the lift to the station! There were many other designers there too - Paula Pascaul (who will be at Topaz with me this coming weekend), Julie Hickey and Kay Carley to name but three.

Once we had finished I went and fed the ducks again to unwind. I ate in my room that night as my hands were almost completely blue from using Distress inks all day! After a relaxing night it was time for day two which was just about as busy as Saturday had been. Thank you to all the ladies who swapped ATC's with me - they were all gorgeous - and for the lovely comments which I am always very appreciative of. I met familiar friends and made new ones too, so hello to all of you.

I was using lots of Ranger goodies and the card on the right was made using distress inks to create the background before stamping the sunflowers (from my "Count My Blessings" clear stamp set) with Walnut Stain distress ink. I then brushed gold Perfect Pearls over them and spritzed with water before heat setting. I finished with two fern images, from the same set, stamped with Pine Needles ink. The words are from Messages set 1 (clear stamps). This technique is featured on one of Tim Holtz's videos on his website, so do check it out - it's fun!

Two owls to finish with! On the left is a fun 21st birthday card that would suit a Harry Potter fan. The background is Que Sera Sera paper and the edge of the card is tinted with Dusty Concord Distress ink. The tree branches are just cut from black card and highlighted with a Just Glitter pen. The Fluffy Owl is stamped and cut out and I added the hat from my "Wizard Shelf"stamp. I cut a slit at the side of his wing and threaded a jump ring through this before attaching a small key charm. I then created a mini "envelope", cut around the beak and then popped the greeting underneath it. The final touch was to write the greeting across the bottom of the card.

The last image is not a finished card, but this proved to be the most popular demonstration that I did all weekend! The background is created with Broken China, Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord and Walnut Stain distress ink pads. I then stamped the owl using black Stazon. I spritzed a few drops of water over the card and dabbed these off to create a starry effect. I used a very wet brush to "draw" the moon in the sky and to paint the owl. Once dabbed away this has a bleaching effect with no noxious bleach needed! Just water! I added a touch of colour to his eyes, beak and feet and drew a branch with a black pen. Lastly I used my Inkssentials white pen to add highlights and a couple of extra stars. Hope you like it as much as the ladies (and men!) in Lingfield did! Thank you for all of the kind comments

Finally, I must say thank you so much to Jilly who sent David and I a beautiful card - David described it to me over the phone, but couldn't do justice to just how lovely it was. Totally unexpected and much appreciated! Hope to see you again soon Jilly. And hope to see some of you this weekend at Topaz - I'll be a bit busy this week now, getting ready for my demonstrations and workshops, as well as starting work on some new (non stamp!) designs. Hope you all henjoyed your weekends as much as I did! Lindsay

Up and coming events

Hello everyone - hope you have as much lovely sunshine as we do here today. I remembered to put my clocks forward and was quite happy that I wasn't working away from home today, so have been able to absorb the lost hour quite smoothly. It will be nice to have all that extra light later in the day again now, that's for sure.

I was at Create With Card in Ashton Under Lyne on friday...a very chilly day but they kept me warm with hot chocolate! Then, yesterday, was spent at Top Barn Crafts (above) which is in Plassey craft and retail village near Wrexham. It's a lovely setting as you can see in the picture on the left...the tree in the gardens has been carved into a work of art featuring different animals and birds as well as a naked lady! It's well worth a visit, with various Boutiques, shops and a cafe and restaurant as well as the craft shop of course. Hello to everyone that I met at both shops, and I hope that you had fun with all the techniques using your new pens. Below is a picture of a pendant made from one the kits that I was using yesterday...the metal butterfly has been coloured with Glaze pens to give an enamelled effect. I wanted to add something to the circles at the edegs of the wings and finally decided to use eyelets! They fit perfectly and I just pushed them tightly in with some Glossy Accents to keep them securely in place. It would be nice to add beads or gems, but I had to do something quite quick. It's not the best picture as the glaze is very reflective!I'm adding some new dates once I've done this post, so do check to see if I'll be in your area and come along if you can - we always have fun at my demonstrations!

Next weekend (4th/5th April) is the big demonstration event at both Osaldtwistle Mills and Dawn Bibby's Design Studio and will be well worth a visit. Dawn will be there of course, as will Leonie, Paula Pascual, Sheena Douglass and myself, as well as all of Dawn's creative team. There will be make n takes and demonstrations, lots of new products and more than a bit of fun I'm sure!

In response to your comments - yes, I really will be adding instructions for the owl cards (promise) it is just a case of getting the time to create the design in stages to photograph. I was all set to do it last week and then something else turned up that needed doing "yesterday"...just for a change! Thank you for all the comments that you leave generally - I do appreciate them all.

I was wondering where all "our" little birds had vanished to, as we seem to have had hardly any at our feeders lately. The pigeons have been as cheeky as ever of course! Our squirrels seemed to have deserted us too...was it something I said?! Thankfully, they must have read my mind as I can report that they are back with a vengeance and we have gained a Robin now too which is great...we found our last Robin dead over a year ago and think that he may have crashed into the window. One of our squirrels was back this morning which cheered me up, as I do love the way that they stand up on their back legs and look up at the window as if to say "come on, get the monkey nuts out!" - cute! He was burying them all this morning, so I hope that he remembers where they are before one of the ever observant Magpies starts digging them all up!

Well, that's my demonstration and wildlife report done for today! Don't forget to bring ATC's to swap if you are coming along next weekend and I will endeavour to post the owl instructions this week if humanly possible! Happy Sunday, Lindsay

Final pics from Stitches & a great day in Barrow

Hello everyone on a rather dull Monday...well, it is here anyway! It was a very busy day at my demonstration at Heath's in Barrow-in-Furness and I must say a special "hello!" to all the ladies who came along. It was great to see you all, both new and familiar faces, and I hope you are all having fun with your new purchases! I really enjoy going to Barrow as the train journey is wonderful, passing through diverse landscapes at Arnside, Grange over Sands and Dalton. There are typical Cumbrian scenes which are astonishingly beautiful and then the strange, almost lunar landscapes of Grange over Sands take over. The sands there are home to so many birds that I didn't kow where to look first! I saw lots of Heron, geese, various waders and flocks of "unidentified" birds swarming across the skies...all very exciting! There were also Shetland ponies and a pair of little donkeys that we passed all too quickly.
Now to add the last of my pictures from Stitches as promised! I met lots of my crafting colleagues of course, but there wasn't time to have much of a chat or take many photographs. However, here is a (really bad!) picture of me with Jayne Nestorenko who was on the adjacent stand to ours. I am only posting this very unflattering picture as I promised Jayne that I would! Jayne won an award at the show, but, as ever, she was being very modest about it! Paula Pascual was also on a nearby stand but we were like ships which pass in the night! However, she did show me what she had been teaching at her workshops there - a gorgeous book which was very impressive considering that the workshops only last for 45 minutes! This is Marga van Engelen from

Avec who is wearing one of the gorgeous necklaces that she makes. She was also on the Personal Impressions stand showing
visitors how to create her lovely jewellery.

Dawn Bibby and JJ were at the show of course, though I didn't get much time to chat! I had a little longer with Leonie (Pujol) who was collecting her award for her ATC book - well done Leonie! On the left is my friend Jan who is in charge of Personal Impressions in the whole of Scotland and the North of England. She is a really talented crafter who, like me, is a big animal lover, so we have lots in common! Jan brought back some of the goodies for my Blog Candy from the big trade show in the USA, so "thanks Jan!". Laurence Llewelyn Bowen was at the show on the Monday too, though I only got a glimpse of him as he walked in. The last picture is of the whole PI team - we look like a mottley crew here! We had stripped the stand and were all pretty tired and ready to say our farewells and go our seperate ways which is always an anticlimax after the show.

Well, I hope that you have enjoyed getting at least a flavour of what Stitches is like. I shall post photographs of more of my cards in the next few days. Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of the week and do remember that there is a full craft day on QVC this coming Thursday, so make a note of the date! I finished my samples for the show last night, so look out for them!

I will be at Wickford Hobbies and Crafts this Saturday, so, if you are in the area do pop along and say hello. Take care everyone, Lindsay

Just signing in...

Well, there are only a few days to go now before the big show, so I've had my head down, making cards and ATC's since I last posted. I've still got to prepare the materials for my workshops there too, so it's a busy old time! It's frustrating not to be able to put any pictures on here yet, but I'll do so after next wednesday!

Thank you to Hazel for the award that she has included me in - I can't show you it on here though, as I don't know how to get it from Hazel's blog and onto mine...I'm hopeless I know! I heard from my lovely pal Sarah today too. Sarah is a very talented lady and has just sent me her blog address, so do check it out (it's on my blog list if you scroll down).

We have had some snow here but not very much, so the grown up side of me has been quite relieved, whilst the kid in me has been envious of all the heavy drifts that many have been having. "My" wildlife has been getting extra rations to keep them going of course. I heard yesterday that little birds, such as Blue Tits, can lose one third of their body weight overnight in very cold weather just from trying to keep warm and that's the main reason that it's vital to keep feeding them once you have started.

They can be so underweight when they wake up that if there is no food where they expect it to be, just having to search elsewhere can be enough to finish them off. My little birds are too shy to get photographs of, but these are some of my regular pigeons making the most of some extra rations!

Well, that's all for now folks! Don't forget to check back next week to see what Blog Candy I have up for grabs!!! Lindsay

I got photo tagged!

Hello everyone on a rather dullsville day...well, it is here anyway. Mind you, birds are as jolly as ever, with lots of canoodling going on up in the tree branches, in between pecking on my window to hint that more food would be appreciated! The squirrels have been feasting on the corn cobs which I left out for them, looking really cute with 3" of cob sticking out either side of their faces! They are strong little creatures - still able to leap around the trees even whilst carrying their oversized treasure. Unfortunately I just can't get a close enough photo to do the cuteness justice!

Talking of photos, Hazel has tagged me (check out Didos Designs) and I am supposed to go to my pictures file, go to the 6th folder and then go to the 6th photo within that file (hope you're following this!) before uploading it here with a description of what's going on. Well, I say "supposed" only because my first folders are all of new designs which I can't put on here as yet for obvious reasons, so I am going to count from there and see what comes up.......and the result is............footprints in the sand! This picture was taken at the beach at Pier Village, New Jersey and the footprints are mine (with a few seagull ones too!). This was during my trip to Ranger last year and, because we spent most of the time inside, doing lots of wonderful inky things, I didn't get to see much of the surrounding area. On the last day I took a taxi to the beach all on my lonesome and took pictures of my feet in the sea and my footprints in the sand. It was a very calm end to what had been a really exciting few days.

Well, now I have to choose six people to photo tag and they are.... in no particular order.........

Debs @ debscards.blogspot.com

Lynnda @ oakhousestudio.blogspot.com

She@ craftyshe.blogspot.com

Jan @ janbloomfield.blogspot.com

Leonie @ leoniepujol.blogspot.com

Lesley @ themessycrafter.blogspot.com

Well, that's all for now folks! Have a good week everyone, Lindsay

Feeling human again at last!

It's a beautiful day here, with a bright sunny sky and just a little, crisp nip in the air. The birds are looking happy to be alive and there are signs of spring as the magpies gather twigs and start building their nests. I feel I can join in with the general positivity now as I've finally shaken off the aches, pains and general unwellness that's plagued me for some weeks now! I think that I've had my whole year's worth of feeling ill in one go...well I hope so anyway!
So, apart from finishing my new stamps designs (which I'll be able to tell you more about after they are launched in February) I have just been having a quiet time recharging my batteries and coming up with new ideas. I think that we all need to have a bit of time out sometimes and it really does help to clear the mind and allow fresh things to come in.
I've added a couple of new dates to the demonstration list - one is in Essex in February and the second is in Liverpool in April. I have more dates to add shortly once details have been confirmed, so do keep checking back to see if I'll be anywhere near to where you live.
That's all for now folks! I just wanted to touch base and say hello. Lindsay

Check out Making Cards website

Crikey it's cold! I have been giving the wildlife extra rations today as I can't imagine how frozen they must feel out there. The squirrels have been taking the monkey nuts and burying them all around the place - even in the wheel arches of the car! My friendly pigeons have been tapping on the window pane to drop heavy hints about suet and peanuts...I know that some people dislike them, but they are comical little characters. We also have Nuthatches, various Tits, Magpies, Chaffinches and Crows plus many more. It's very satisfying, because a few years ago there were only the pigeons and an odd Blackbird. Oh yes, there is a very sweet Thrush at the moment who keeps perching on the wings of parked cars and watching himself in the wing mirrors! At first I thought that he was attacking his image, but he seems to be talking to himself and spends ages staring at his reflection, so I am now wondering if he has lost his mate and is lonely...bless him. Well, that's the end of the wildlife report!

Do check out the Making Cards magazine website ( http://www.magmaker.co.uk/ ) as they are organising residential weekends of card making for next year! I shall be teaching at some of these and will post details of where and when in the next day or two. The weekends promise to give the chance to try new techniques, meet like minded people and generally have a lot of fun as well!

I am also going to be teaching workshops at Topaz Crafts again next year and will be posting details as soon as I know the relevent dates and themes. You can also check out http://www.topazcrafts.co.uk/ to see their workshop programme or subscribe to their newsletter for updates on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, if you are anywhere near Holmfirth this saturday, pop along to the Edinburgh Woollen Mill where I'll be giving some last minute Christmas inspiration. That's all for now folks! Stay snug and cosy, Lindsay