Blog Candy Winner

I popped over to my neighbour's today so she could draw a winning name from my woolly hat. 

She gave all the tickets a good mix around before picking one.....

 .......and the winning name was.....

 .....Diane! Well done Diane, please email me so I can sort out your prize.

Meanwhile, I had quite a few errands to do in the village today and bundled myself up in warm clothes only to find myself stifled in the warm sunshine an hour later! I hurried back to try and make the most of the break in the cold and rain.....

....I had this waiting for me! With newly purchased sandpaper in hand I set about smoothing down the filler that I'd repaired the door with yesterday. Horrible job! I know that David had a sanding disc for the drill, but it has completely vanished and I had to give up and go back to the old fashioned method. I've now given the door a coat of white primer, though, annoyingly, the rain came battering down again half an hour ago and some of the primer has bubbled now - darn! Guess I'll be adding another coat tomorrow and, if the weather is good, I may even be able to get the gloss paint on too.

It won't be a great job I'm afraid - the sanding is just too intense for me to get a perfect finish. As long as it's tidy and protected against the elements I'll be happy enough. I was quite pleased with the repair that I've made along the bottom though....little madam has chewed through the beading so I had to make a false piece from epoxy clay!

Well, there is a hot bath with my name on it now, so I shall say cheerio. Well done to Diane again and I'll try to sort out another Candy before too long.

And the winner is......

......drum rolls please, then eyes down to the little video clip below.....

 .......or not! For some reason, the clip won't work here, so I've frozen a frame and added it as a picture......and the winner is...Chell. If you'd like to see the whole video clip, just check out my You Tube channel - the link is on the left.

Chell - well done and please email me your details so that I can post your prize out to you. Hope you enjoy using the stamps and I'd love to see anything that you make with them.

I'll catch up with everyone...emails, calls etc very soon but I had a total time out yesterday and met my sister in town then had a sleepover, before coming back here today, visiting our mum and then doing a few errands in the village. It's nice to have a complete switch off occasionally.

Both Heather and I needed new phones (landlines) - ours had both packed up and I've been trying to pursuade Heather that she needed a cordless one for years now so I helped her choose one...no curly telephone cords in sight! I've been struggling with the old "emergency" corded phone for a few weeks now, but have got so sick of hardly being able to hear anyone and pulling the cradle onto the floor when I picked it up (forgetting the cord) and no answer machine that I thought I'd get one at the same time. So, my new one is on its first charge and I'll be good to go when I get back home tomorrow - hoorah! I'm not really a technophile, but I do hate being rooted to the spot when I'm on the phone!

We called in at The Works bookshop and I picked up a very inexpensive copy of a lovely book called "Pretty Little Felts" which has all sorts of mixed media ideas in it. As we were looking down at the craft section we spotted some familiar covers...yes, it was Stamping by Lindsay Mason and Beading by Heather Fenn-Edwards.....our books! There were two guys smiling at our reaction so I had to explain that we'd written them. They were smiling even more when I then said, with great indignation, "99p - what a cheek!". Still, I guess you haven't really experienced having written a book until you find yourself on the shelves of The Works for less than a pound! It gave us a real giggle - though I was tempted to buy the copies myself! Heather was keen to point out that there was only one copy of her book mind you!

Anyway, I hope I'll see some familiar (and new) faces tomorrow when I'm at High Legh garden centre. I have an early start as the dreaded bus replacement service is in place which adds a great deal of time to the journey. If you are coming along, please ignore the state of my hands as I've not only got the usual scratch marks from some rough and tumble playing with Thomas, but I managed to burn myself getting something out of the oven a couple of days ago, so I look as if I've been dragged through a thorn bush. I've got lots of great techniques to distract your eyes from my raggedy hands though!

Oh yes, in answer to some more queries, I will be at the Port Sunlight show in May (the 11th) so I know I'll be seeing lots of you there.

Right, time to finish sorting my things out for tomorrow now. Chell, don't forget to email me your details and your goodies will be winging their way to you very soon.

Events & a Candy reminder

Just a pictureless post tonight as there is still much gnashing of teeth here and I just don't want to spend half my evening messing about with photos that have a mind of their own.

Heather came round today and took a few pictures that she may post if she manages to do it! So check out her blog over the next few days to see what we were up to!

So, on Saturday I'll be at Samuel Taylor's in Leeds where I'll be demonstrating lots of new stamps, My Mind's Eye papers and inks.

On Sunday I'll be at Strikes Weavervale Garden Centre in Winnington, Northwich. As well as new stamps I will be using stencils, Perfect Pearl Mists, Distress ink pads and re-inkers. I'll be there from 10.30am - 4pm.

Next Friday I'll be trekking up to Aberdeen for my weekend at The Papeterie in Stoneywood Mill. On the Saturday I'll be demonstrating all day, using stamps, alcohol and Distress inks, Graphic 45 papers and more. On the Sunday I'll be teaching two workshops, which can be booked singly or at a discounted price for both sessions - they are different of course! We'll be stamping, masking, watercolouring, alcohol inking, making shaker cards and more. For more information please visit www.thepapeterie.com where you can check out dates, times and costs.

Now for the Candy reminder......Jenny R please contact me with your delivery details so I can send you your prize! If Jenny hasn't contacted me by Monday 30th April then I will draw another name, so please do check back in case you are a surprise winner. Fingers crossed that Jenny does contact me though.

Well, it's been pouring down relentlessly for the second day in a row, so let's hope it's a somewhat drier day tomorrow. One minute there are hosepipe bans and the next there are flood warnings! I saw lots of flooded fields from the train last weekend - it's all there, just in the wrong places!

Hope to see some of you over the weekend.

PS great.....now the text size has gone stupid - either too small (like this) or huuge! So, apologies for the rather small words....get your specs on!

Candy Winner....

Knowing that I had this rare Sunday at home, I chose today to draw the Blog Candy Winner. I thought it would be fun to try a different way to pick the winning name and, seeing the plastic pull ring from this morning's orange juice carton gave me the idea. So, I wrote out all the entrant's names on sqaures of paper and screwed them all up. I put the plastic ring onto the floor (it isn't a black carpet...thats my jacket - velvet makes a good background for photos!) and then David dropped all the paper balls. The winner would be the one that landed in the circle. Simple! (?) Here they are, cascading down...

.....and I have to confess that we had to repeat this process twice more before any of them actually landed in the circle! However, third time lucky and here I am plucking the paper ball from the plastic ring. And, the winner is..............dddddddrrrrrrr...... Clare H . Congratulations Clare H! Please email me with your details by this Tuesday and I will post the Candy out to you. Sorry to those who didn't win this time, but I will gather some more things together for another giveaway before too long. Lindsay