Last weekend's demo & workshop snaps...

Yaaay, David managed to find the lost photos that I thought had gone up in a puff of smoke! There were lots of them, but here are just a few to give you a taste of what the workshops are like and a couple of cards that I did for the demonstration.

This is a simple card enhanced by the lovely MS punch around the page set "Snow Flurry", one of the new "Holiday" punch sets for this season. I used American Crafts red textured card and my "Christmas Collage" unmounted rubber stamp PIRS027. This one's great for fans of colouring in! As I do a lot of inky, distressy cards, I am enjoying doing some clean, more straightforward ones as a change. Here's a card using my Angelic trees stamp set PICSA6259, where I used a photocopied Bible page of the birth of Christ as the background with some Ranger acrylic dabbers smudged over it. The Peace on Earth sentiment is from Andy Skinner's "Let the Festivities Begin" stamp set. The Minarets are from my Nativity set PICSA6258. We were using this set for one of the cards on last Sunday's workshop....here is one card being layered up after alcohol inking the background and stamping the trees, Minarets and stable scene. Hard at work cutting out trees for our snowy scene card..... ......even a bandaged up hand didn't get in the way of this beautifully stamped and coloured card! Here am I just overseeing things and reminding some of the ladies what effect they were going for....though, as you can see, they were pretty much concentrating on what they were doing! A great time was had by all and if you do fancy joining in the fun of my workshops, I now have more details of what we'll be doing at each one. Please email me for more details, or to book, or call in to Crafts 4 U 2 Do, St Helens, where they'll be happy to help you. We have also added an extra weekday date into the schedule on Thursday 22nd September and this will be held at the shop itself - this workshop will be for fewer numbers, so do book early if you'd like to attend.

Thursday September 22nd - workshop sessions at Crafts 4 U 2 Do instore

10am-12.30pm: Collaged Christmas tags: an array of festive tags to hang from the tree, adorn a card, or add to extra special gifts. £15.00

1.30pm-4pm: Darkroom Door Christmas Cards: make seasonal cards using gorgeous stamps from the Darkroom Door range. £15.00

Wednesday October 5th

10am-12.30pm: Pop up Cards: create dimensional cards that are sure to delight. £15.00

1.30pm-4pm: Punches & Stamps: combine Martha Stewart punches with stamping to create delightful Christmas cards. £15.00

Sunday November 6th

10am-12.30pm: Clever Christmas cards: make cards which surprise and delight. £15.00

1.30pm-4pm: repeat of the above class. £15.00

Saturday November 12th - full day of workshops

10am-12.30pm: Artsy cards and tag: Christmas themed with inky techniques.

1.30pm-4pm: Christmas Shadow box: create a wonderful festive gift or keepsake.

Cost for the above is £30 for the full day of workshops.

Saturday 19th November:

10am-12.30pm: Acetate cards: Using acetate in various ways to create cards with a Christmas theme £15

1.30pm-4pm: Christmas decorations: We'll be making a selection of tree decorations using various materials and techniques.

Hope something tickles your fancy from the list there!
Finally, another stamp set has been added to my new Christmas designs. It is called Christmas Post PICSA6266 and features the Postbox, lamp post, wreath, yule log and two teeny robins. It works really well with the Build a Snowy Scene set. Hope you like it! Well, a cup of coffee has my name on it now and then I'll be back to do another post about the last week at QVC and in Yorkshire!

Quick reminder...

....that I'll be at Crafts 4 U 2 Do in St Helens tomorrow as part of their Christmas Card Extravaganza. I've been busy all week making lots of cards for this weekend and next, so I will have lots of samples with me and will share some of them on here next week. Hope to see some of you there tomorrow and on Sunday at the workshops which are also in St Helens.
It's been great using lots of new Christmas stamps, and I have, of course, been working with my Stickles glues. I've just been clearing away and tidying up and I discovered a stray bottle....unfortunately I only spotted it as it whipped up the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner! There's a little job for David!
Next week I'll be off down to London for the QVC Customer event where I'll be teaching twelve workshops over two days - eek! It will be fun though, and a great chance to meet up with lots of very keen crafting ladies and gentlemen. I'll be back late on Friday night and then straight up to Yorkshire on Saturday morning for my demonstration at Samuel Taylor's in Brighouse. So, a busy old week or so ahead!
Thank goodness the rioting (looting) seems to be abating now. The whole of Manchester city centre was a no go area on Tuesday night, with no buses running into, or out of the city itself. Tough for anyone who was stuck there! Even our local supermarket was closed and shuttered and that's in the suburbs. I think politicians need to do a lot of thinking about what measures they are going to take, but I also think that this is something that we, ourselves need to take responsibility for. You know that I often relate tales on here of incidents when I am travelling around the country....more often than not I am complaining about the apathy that bad behaviour is met with from my fellow travellers. I feel very strongly that adults need to take back control so that youngsters (sometimes very young) know their boundaries. We are all individuals and, as such, we often feel that we can't do anything, or are scared to confront antisocial activity, but, if we join together we can confront anything. Think of ants that are so tiny and yet, because they work as an integrated society, they can achieve amazing things. It's time to stop looking away and, instead, support each other in stopping the bad behaviour, that, left unchecked, leads to worse things.
Of course, I'm aware that there are countless very positive young people who would no more think of getting involved with the sort of things we've seen this week than would you or I. If we don't change things soon though, we are going to see more and more scenes of rioting and violence. I'd be interested to know what you all think.
Right, the stamps, papers, inks and samples are all packed up for the weekend now, so it's time to have a few hours to relax this evening. Hope everyone has a lovely, and safe weekend and I'll be back next week with piccies to share.

Workshops news!

Evening everyone, well, more like night night really. We were out rather longer than anticipated due to some very long hold ups on the motorway.

Anyway, I can now give you details on the new workshops that I'll be teaching from July, in conjunction with Crafts 4 U 2 Do. They will be held in Dentons Green, St Helens, Merseyside, just up the road from the shop. The workshop area is a lovely, bright and airy room, just perfect for getting creative in, as well as having lots of fun of course!
The first three workshop dates and themes are:

Saturday 16th July: 10am-4pm
"Inky Techniques". In the morning we'll be making cards with a fantasy feel - fairies, trees and castles etc along with interesting backgrounds using various inking techniques.
The afternoon session will focus on more "artsy" cards, using up to the minute products and more techniques.
Cost for this day is £30.00

Saturday 13th August: 10am-4pm will be a demonstration day at Crafts 4 U 2 Do for the launch of their Christmas event. Followed by....
Sunday 14th August:
10am - 12.30pm "Ease into Christmas" - Christmas cardmaking with some of the latest products.
1.30pm - 4pm - repeat of the morning workshop
Cost per session is £15.00

Sunday 11th September: 10am-4pm
"Full on Christmas". In the morning we will be working with snowmen designs to create cards that everyone will appreciate receiving.
In the afternoon we'll be making an ornate Triptych card using mountboard, stamps, papers and other Seasonal ephemera.
Cost for this day is £30.00

All the workshops will include light refreshments and on the full days there will be an hour's break where you can pop down to Crafts 4 U 2 Do to have lunch at their instore cafe (and to shop of course!).
These are the first three dates but I will be posting details of more workshops very soon. If you'd like more details, or to book a place, please email me on ljm.design@ntlworld.com . Alternatively, you can call in to Crafts 4 U 2 Do, 117-119 Greenfield Road, Dentons Green, St Helens. Places will fill up quickly, so do contact me asap!