On the verge of new things

I'm just taking a quick lunch break from the Doo Lally room, so I thought I'd take the chance to post before I get back to my work table.

I'm all set for Saturday at The Happy Stamper's show in Port Sunlight. Really looking forward to it as it really is a "happy" show and I know I'll be seeing lots of familiar faces including a few that I haven't seen for a while - you know who you are! 

Meanwhile, just like the buses, everything comes along at once and I have a list of things to get done by increasingly looming deadlines...magazine articles, workshops to prep and samples for demonstrations to be made. It's usually made more stressful due to having to wait for new products to be sent to me in time! So, my little lunch break is most welcome...a hot turkey and stuffing sandwich...yummy!

I'm adding more things to my Etsy shop slowly but surely....I'm aiming for a varied range of items, styles and prices and it's given me a nice "kick up the bum"! Almost all of my creativity is channelled into work of course, so I like the idea of sitting down to make something for my own "shop". Here's a peep at a couple of the latest things I've added....

 ......there's a grumpy Goldfinch and below is a cheeky Red Squirrel.......

 .......just click on the link to see them in their entirety. Oh and this is another piece that I added a couple of days ago....

 .....some of you may have seen this one on the Darkroom Door blog as it's one of the projects that I made when I was their guest designer a few months ago.

In non work related goings on, I was very honoured (and humbled) a few weeks ago to be asked if I would consider becoming the deputy Verger at church. As I'm one of the newer members of the congregation I did wonder if the Verger was having a joke with me, but he wasn't. So, after some careful consideration and talking it over with my sister, I decided that this could be an interesting new venture. I'm lucky in that my work is not a structured nine to five routine, so I'm able to shuffle things round as needed. As Heather said, it's the things we don't do in life that we regret, rather than the things we do. I will only have to stand in occasionally and it will mostly be preparing the church and welcoming people at weddings and funerals. Something completely different from my job that's for sure! Heather has made several references to the Vicar of Dibley already!

I'll sign off with a picture I took at the weekend of a couple of the (many!) Sweet Peas and Sunflowers that I've been busy transplanting into the garden. They were some of the ones that I planted into loo roll tubes - the idea being that you can plant the whole thing without disturbing the roots as the cardboard just rots down in the soil. When I looked at them though, I was rather astonished to see.......

 ......well, you can hopefully see the "flowers" that have printed themselves on the loo rolls! I'm not absolutely sure how this happened, but there were a few small fungi that sprouted in the potting compost that I used and I think it may be to do with those. I was almost tempted to keep the rolls, flatten them out and use them on a canvas! 

Right, sandwich chomped, coffee slurped and half a dozen grapes consumed, so I'd better get back to the Doo Lally room again. Oh yes, if you happen to be a Radio Times reader you will find a letter from me in the Feedback section of this week's issue!

Feel like a giggle? Read on....

I had one of my rather sleepless nights last night, dropping off quite easily then suddenly waking up at 3am and tossing and turning for hours before finally drifting off again. I never set my alarm if I don't have to be anywhere as I almost always wake very early anyway, and, if not, my Tara and Thomas soon let me know it's time to get up!

However, today they must have decided that their mum needed a lie in, so I was suddenly woken by the sound of the doorbell ringing several times at 7.40am. I hopped out of bed and realised my PJ bottoms were on the floor...I must have been too hot and kicked them off in the night! So, more hopping ensued as I tried to coordinate my legs with the legs of the PJ's! I stumbled to the front door, hair everywhere and eyes still bleary, and could see the postman through the small glass panel.

I opened the door a little and peered round, saying "Sorry, I'd overslept, so thanks for that". He smiled and proffered a package. I opened the door fully and he thrust the little computery gadget for me to sign. I was mumbling apologies and thanks again and he just sputtered something before dashing off down the drive. He didn't close the gate which is pretty unusual for the posties around here.

I shut the door and wandered back through the house. As I put the package on the sofa I glanced down and......my left boob had escaped from my pyjama top!!!!!! I was mortified. I shrieked "Oh my god!" and then started laughing! I mean, I haven't exactly been short changed in that department and the poor man must have a right eyeful....or should I say a left eyeful! 

Doubtless the story will have gone round the sorting office now, so I'll either get no post for weeks, or a queue of posties ringing the bell depending on his description! I'm just glad it was one of the postmen I don't really know, if it had been my "nice little man" who always has a chat with me, then I really would have been embarrassed!

Anyway, I thought you might like a laugh at my expense! I know that David would have absolutely laughed his socks off at that one and I even have a sneaky suspicion that he caused it to happen to make me giggle as I had one of my down days yesterday and this certainly set the day off with a hilarious tone. Was the package worth the embarrassment I hear you ask. Well, here are the main items that were inside....

Some tapes, labels, notes and a date stamper to use with my Smash book...I already had the book, but I've included it in the picture anyway. The notepad has pages with lists that you can fill in.....top ten this or that. I think many of us who were brought up on Enid Blyton books have a "thing" about lists.....picnic descriptions were a long list of sandwiches, cakes, bicuits and, of course, lashings of ginger beer! (If that means nothing to you then just be grateful you're still very young!)

The other new products were these sparkly lovelies.....

 They are the Stickles dry glitters from Ranger. The big jar on the left is the larger grained clear rock candy glitter which has a rather more vintage effect. I'm just missing the Eucalyptus green to make up the full set but I'm sure there are enough shades there to keep me happy. They are incredibly fine so I can see I'm going to be leaving sparkly trails wherever I go. 

Thought you might like to see what happens when I put the laptop down.......

.....a certain mister Thomas lets me know that he thinks I've been paying far too much attention to it rather than him! He is a comic.

The third and final part of my stint as guest designer for Darkroom Door is on their blog now if you want to take a look at the last of the projects I made. They were great fun to make and hope you like them.

Well, lunch break is over now so I must get back to the drawing board. It's been so cold here today that I've had to keep stopping to warm up my frozen fingers! And, by the way, you can stop laughing now thank you!

PS I nearly forgot to say that I'll be at Samuel Taylor's at Kershaws Garden centre, Brighouse, West Yorkshire all day tomorrow. So do do pop by if it's in your vicinity...I promise to do a full wardrobe check so as not to scare anyone away!  

Darkroom Door

Hello folks, it's been over a week since I posted and I just do not know where the time went. It must have slipped silently past me while I was concentrating on something else. So, time for a catch up now.

I had an email from the lovely Rachel Grieg late last night to say that she has now posted the first of several projects that I've done for Darkroom Door as their guest designer this month. I was very honoured and delighted to be asked, especially as I'm a huge fan of DD stamps. 

If you're lucky enough to have met Rachel you'll know why she's one of my favourite people. We only meet up once a year at the Stitches trade show, but we always have a lot of fun and she's a hugely talented photographer and designer. If you'd like to take a look at my creations, just check out the Darkroom Door blog. There will be more added later this week.

Meanwhile, nearer to home, I had a lovely couple of days meeting everyone at C J Crafts in Edgeley and at Card Crafts in Lancaster. Lots of familiar faces and, talking of faces, my friend Paul came along to see me and later in the afternoon he decided to do a bit of altered art on one of my photo cards! 

I love it and it's going into my new Smash album as a special memory of the day and my bonkers mate! Coincidentally, Rachel took the photo that PI used for my cards though she might not recognise it now!

Well, I don't have so many pictures of the weekend to share with you as I'd hoped because a/ I didn't have much time to take any, b/someone half hinched some samples (gggrrrrr) and, at Lancaster, just before I packed away I managed to spill water over a pile of my cards and tags completely ruining some of them......my lovingly blended skies ended up with giant bleached out clouds floating over them! Oh well, these things happen. 

Here's a card that seemed to appeal to a lot of folk though

 I used my new Winter Country Scene stamp to create the landscape with some masking and inking to make the evening sky. I used one of the little shrub images in the set to frame the scene - just stamping with Archival Coffee, adding red dots to accentuate the berries and finally dotting Diamond Stickles over to add a touch of sparkle. I placed the hills low down on the card so I'd have room for the main element which was created using the Tim Holtz Bigz Die "Hanging Sign"with one of my new Christmas messages stamped into the centre. I used black bazzil card spritzed with gold Perfect Pearl mist for the hanger and a khaki shade edged with Vintage Photo distress ink for the sign. 

As I was discussing with everyone over the weekend, I (yet again!) forgot about the distress ink coming through the white acrylic paint I added to the sign to represent snow! Even when I'd gone back over it with Enamel Accents in white and then more paint, the Vintage Photo crept through....it's darned good stuff! However, I have come up with a cunning plan to avoid this in future (it's not like I don't know it does this but I always get so involved in what I'm doing that it slips my mind every time) involving....Glue n Seal...what else?! Anyone who's seen my demos recently will know that I can't stop harping on about what a great and very versatile product this is. So, next time I will cut the sign out and then paint Glue n Seal where I want the snowy effect to be. Once dry I can then do my distressing around the edges as normal but I'll now be able to wipe the excess away from the Glue n Sealed areas so there will be no ink to bleed through the white paint - brilliant! (The Glue n Seal that is!).

Oh yes, I used four Idealogy jump rings and some brass coloured chain from my bits and pieces box to connect the hanger and sign. The hanger was attached with 3D foam and this allows the sign to "swing" below it - you could add another message behind the sign of course. I really like this die set...could make a nice pub sign for mens cards!

Monday was spent with Heather, visiting our mum and then having soup for lunch at one of the local garden centres which had their Christmas displays up....

 ....this was in the entrance.....the deer were animated, the lights were twinkling, the snow was glistening and, never mind the kiddiwinks, I was entranced! We both love looking at all the decorations and Heather likes to add a new bauble or two to her tree every year so we did quite a bit of oohing and aahing. I couldn't resist picking up a cuddly polar bear and trying out the Venetian mask though I evidently don't even know where my own eyes are!

Sadly, the polar bear didn't come home with me and, in fact, we both resisted buying anything....for now! 

I hadn't really ever done much decorating at Christmas (as an adult) till last year as there really wasn't room in our little flat for trees and such like. So I absolutely loved putting the festive touches to the house in 2011 and we got a second tree to add to the one that mum and dad used every year. I bought a few fresh decorations for the new tree and they will bring back some very special memories when I hang them this year. I think this is what makes these baubles, little figures and ornaments so treasured by us all - they each have a story to tell when we bring them out every year. I know there are some really old, battered and faded ones in the boxes in the attic, but they will take their place on the tree along with the sparkling new ones, each reminding me of Christmases through the years, from childhood to now.

Well, that was Monday and yesterday was a drawing day. Though at times it felt more like a blank paper day and the eraser was in use more than my pens. Still, I made some progress and the artistic equivalent of writer's block comes and goes. The trick is to press on regardless and work through it.

This morning I was up early to go for a blood test (nothing but water all evening and this morning - miserable!) and arrived five minutes after the start of the walk in session only to find the waiting room absolutely chock full of people. So I had about an hour and a half of hanging around before my two minutes with the nurse! Then back home to get on with doodling again before having this break to post here. 

So, having chatted about my week so far, it's time to feed my two tearaways before getting back to the drawing board for a while longer.

PS I seem to have more or less got to grips with daft new bloggery whatsit, but am still baffled by the text size. Even more so that one paragraph in this post refuses to stay the dark blue I use but keeps reverting to light blue even after several attempts to correct it, and is also, very bizarrely, the text size that I want - even though the whole post is done using the same setting! I give up.

PPS Of course, as soon as I added the PS, the rogue paragraph righted itself colour wise and went back to the miniscule text of the rest of the post just to make me seem like a mad woman.

PPPS!  More of my projects on the Darkroom Door blog now.

A Darkroom Door Candy

I have a lovely Darkroom Door Candy on offer today, courtesy of the lovely Rachel Greig. Rachel left us some great kits when she came to Stitches and I have a set of two available here. All you need to do is to leave a comment on my blog between now and the end of February (this Wednesday) to be in with a chance of winning. I'll draw one name on Thursday 1st March. If you add a link to your own blog that would be appreciated! One pack is a complete kit, with instructions, to make a "Love Letters Accordian Book". It includes Wordstrip, Photostrip and Photochips from the Love Letters collection, as well as cardstock,lacy ribbon and Idealogy findings. The other pack has cardstock, Photostrips, tags, mesh and string for you to create anything you'd like from. Really lovely packs that I'm sure you'd enjoy using. Thanks Rachel!
I've been enjoying the lovely Springlike weather and yesterday was a really bright, sunny day if a little chilly. Great natural light for all the colouring I'm doing at the moment. Here's one of the cards that I made yesterday using one of the Gorjuss stamp sets that I'll be demonstrating at the Leigh crafts show this coming weekend. I'll be on The Stamp Hut stand, so hope to see some of you there - do say hello if you are coming along. I love this image of the wistful girl and the soulful owls. The word is from the same wordstrip that's included in the DD candy. They're really handy to have, for odd words or to make up random phrases. The backing paper is a new MME one - I do like the MME range which are such good quality.
Yesterday morning I went into the village to do some errands and the local Church grounds were carpeted in crocusses - wished I'd had the camera with me. I had a wander along the paths and then went inside the Church, lit a candle and sat quietly for half an hour. The sun was streaming through the stained glass and it was so still in there. It really gave me an injection of peacefulness and positivity. It reminded me that we all need to take some quiet time out sometimes.
When I got back I spotted Thomas sitting in the field behind the house. As soon as he saw me he came bounding back and leapt over the fence (no going under for him!) before going for a little walk up the lane with me. I'm sure he thinks he's died and gone to Heaven after living rough on the suburban streets of Manchester! I got a large box through the post from Personal Impressions (all the canvasses and other stuff that I couldn't carry back with me from the show) and a certain someone, called Tara, decided that it had been meant for her.... ......as you can see! She loves every box or bag that lands on the floor and immediately has to claim it, but this one really tickled her fancy!
Well, that's the end of my coffee break so I had better carry on with those cards for next weekend now! Don't forget to leave a comment to have a chance to win the DD kits!

Hello folks, especially those who have blamed me for hair loss, bags under eyes and furrowed brows after I posted my quiz! Don't forget to email me your answers by next Saturday night (9th)...I've had some already but I'm not saying anything about how many questions anyone has got right yet! I'll definitely be repeating the quiz idea though as quite a few people have requested more of the same. Coming up with new fiendish clues will give me something to do on my train journeys!

Meanwhile, here are some cards that I've been making for this Saturday's demonstration at A for Art in Chesterfield....this one uses stamps from Darkroom Door's Art de Fleur vol 2 as well as the MS punch all over the page butterfly. The ribbon is from the Tim Holtz Lavish Trimmings pack - it's a lovely soft, silky ribbon which has a real vintage feel. I dyed it using Colourwash Dyes and lots of water to tone the colour down. The soft background is Bundled Sage and Aged Mahogany gently blended over 300gsm card with the flower stamped in Bundled Sage. The next card has the gorgeous roses from the same trimmings pack, again spritzed with Colourwash dyes and water. Confession here: I had just enough of a length of the roses to fit down the card if I slightly stretched the backing mesh as I stuck them down. I got a bit carried away though, and somehow managed to rip them! So, I stuck the short length at the top and the longer piece at the bottom and added the sentiment over the gap! I preferred how it looked, so it was definitely one of those "happy accidents"! The butterflies are Darkroom Door stamped directly onto the card (covered with paper from a Lost and Found stash) and then identical images stamped and cut out from acetate were overlaid. I used some of the new Stickles colours on the bodies. I also used more papers and the MS Vintage Lace PATP edger and corner to add to the Victorian feel. If you'd like to see these cards more closely (and more besides of course!)do pop along to A for Art on Saturday. There are some pictures from Sunday's workshops on my computer, however, because I couldn't find my camera, David took them using a different one and I can't find where they are! Still, here are a few cards from the day.....this is one of the Steampunk cards that we were making. I have been trying to use different colour combinations than my usual favourites and really liked the orange and aqua tones of this one. The stamps are a combination of Tim Holtz and Andy Skinner. You can't see it here, but the background does have some Perfect Pearls Mists on it to give a subtle shimmer. The other Steampunk card was the one that made the class overrun by ooohhh, only about forty minutes! There was lots of cutting out of Grungeboard by hand...I loved the Ranger canvas that was one of the projects at Stitches this year, so decided to make a small version of a mannequin. The clock face should be hanging down, not bashing that poor chap on the head! Didn't realise till after I'd uploaded the picture that it was stuck behind his hat!

The next two cards were made by David who joined in the workshop this time! I think he's made a good job of them...note the artistic flicky pen border on this one!This one took him all day (and about a pint of Glossy Accents! In joke for the workshop ladies there!) as he was making it for Rena's birthday/retirement. Sorry about the chopped off piccie but this was kindly emailed over to me by Sheila as I didn't have a picture, and, for some reason, it decided to snip the picture. The funny thing about this card, which caused much hilarity, was that I had pre-stamped the words "Spread Your Wings" to save time for everyone. David chopped them into the three little panels to attach them to the card, but he mislaid the "wings" one. We searched everywhere but there was no sign and I had no spares. So, the card bears the message "Spread your"! Oh well, good thing Rena has a sense of humour! We had a lovely day and the workshops had a very calm (mostly!) yet fun feeling which ma de for a very creative time. After we'd finished David and I went to Rena and Stephen's house where they were holding a party to celbrate Rena's retirement and her forthcoming birthday on Tuesday. The house was full of family, friends and what seemed to be about 83 children (but was probably only eight!) having great fun both inside and in the garden. It was a lovely evening (check out Amy's blog for pictures of the amazing cake that Rena's sister Julie made) but I know that everyone will really miss seeing Rena at the shop.

I'll finish with a page from my journal that I did after my trip to Whitley Bay. I used Gesso and NeoColour pastels for the background. My lady doesn't look quite how I wanted her to, but the page does remind me of my paddling in that cold sea water, so I don't really mind! Well, that's all for the moment, but I'll be back soon with more pictures. Oh, by the way, you may possibly find one or two of the answers to the quiz in this latest post! Oh, what a tease I am!

Another week begins

Hello all, it's a dreary day here at the moment, but I had a really good trip to Darlington over the weekend and, apart from a little rain, it was the perfect weather for wandering around the town on Friday afternoon. I am usually sat down designing, demonstrating, travelling.....so when the chance arises I like to really stretch my legs and I'll walk for hours. My legs could do with stretching that's for sure!

So I travelled up to Darlington on Friday and, having had a discount voucher from the rail company, I had been able to get a first class return ticket for less than the normal "cattle class" price. So, nice and quiet, a couple of complementary coffees and more leg room....I could get used to it! It was really sunny when I arrived there and I dragged my bags to the hotel - uphill most of the way, but not that far. I was staying at the Bannatyne (owned by the dragonmeister, Duncan, himself) which is a lovely hotel with exceptionally friendly and helpful staff.

My room wasn't quite ready so I left my bags and set off for an afternoon of walking and shopping....and searching for teeny things for the Shadow Box workshop this coming Saturday. I called in lots of charity shops without much success on the nick nacks front, though I did find a very inexpensive Blue Ray Disc for David to add to his collection. I managed to get a few things though - some coloured pebbles with words etched onto them, a stone heart and some nice marbles that put me in mind of fortune teller's crystal balls. I called into the market and discovered a cake decorating stall where I managed to get some really dinky crowns as well as a bag full of hearts, horseshoes, ballet dancers etc. So, not too bad really.

A visit to Past Times forced me into another purchase, which, if you know about Cherry, our greatly missed white pussycat, you will understand. It was the dinkiest necklace with a teeny crystal cat and, the fact that it was in the sale was the deciding factor! I've taken it off the chain and am going to have it attached to my charm bracelet....been looking for a little Cherry charm so I'm really delighted with it.

I spent about five hours wandering about so, once the feet started to complain, I went back to the hotel. I've stayed there before (not expensive if you book online) and last time I left some good comments for them on a travel review site...the manager contacted me and asked me to book through him next time I was planning on staying, which I did. Imagine my delight when I went to my room and found that he had upgraded me to a huuuge suite! It made for a really comfortable evening, though it was just a shame that David wasn't with me to enjoy it too! There was a large fruit bowl, magazines, chocolates and drinks to welcome me, a lovely snuggly bathrobe (no, I didn't pinch it!) and the comfiest sofas I've ever sat on. Just shows that it pays to say something nice when you get good service. As promised to the ladies at Darlington on Saturday - here's a piccie of just one part of the room!I had a great night's sleep and then, after breakfast, walked round to The Art Shop on Bondgate. If you don't know this store, it is excellent - really helpful staff (must be a Darlington thing!) and Ian and his team always look after me. The first arrival to my table was Beverley, who had emailed me previously to ask about my Fairy Doors which I brought for her to have closer look at. Beverley generously brought me some Maltesers, and, even more generously, a gorgeous canvas that she had made....you can see it resting against the choccies. Isn't it lovely? Thank you so much Beverley, I shall treasure it. I've also included a card and tag in the photo which Sheila kindly sent me a couple of weeks ago and the card on the right which was from Joanne just before Stitches. All of these were complete surprises which made them even more special...thank you ladies. Btw, I brought the Maltesers home, unopened, to share with David, as they are one of his favourites......needless to say, the box you can see there is empty! So David says thank you as well Beverley! There was a lovely surprise of a different kind too, when I looked up and saw Joanne and Terry (PegLeg) standing there.....a big surprise as they had been down in Newport Pagnall where Joanne had been attending the Tim Holtz workshops and, instead of going straight home they had come up to Darlington to see me. I was only sorry that I couldn't spend more time with them, but it was lovely to see them both.

I had made two more Shadow boxes for my demonstration - here's a picture of the smaller one which I used the TH Vintage Shabby papers and Symphony Tissue Tape to cover. I didn't put quite so many things into this one and I included the acetate sheet at the front, but I quite liked the slightly less crammed look for this smaller sized box. This size would also make a great gift - a new baby box could include a little bootee, dummy, wrist band etc, or an anniversary box could have the hearts, anything made from the relevent year's material (silver, pearl, gold etc), numbers etc. They are a very gratifying project to make. I left this box at The Art Shop, so, if you missed my demonstration, do have a look if you pop into the shop. I have another box, but will save that picture till after this Saturday's workshop. Here's a picture of what turned out to be the most popular card that I made on Saturday. I used Adirondack Colourwash Dyes sprayed over PI 300 gsm card and spritzed with water. I then applied a second piece of card over the wet dye and heat set them both to get two different backgrounds for the price of one as it were! I chose this one for the card, as the depth of colour and the way they had spread was just what I wanted. I stamped the trees from Darkroom Door set DDRS018 Trees, using Archival black ink. I used a Le Plume black pen to add a simple base to "root" the trees to, fading it out a bit at the base so it looks a little as if the trees are on a river bank (use your imagination a bit!). I painted water in a circle to create the moon, dabbing off the excess water which lightens the colours. I trimmed the card and matted it onto black. I liked the way that some white areas of the card just add to the watercoloury effect. I stamped the bird from set DDRS057 Love Birds partly over the moon. The sentiment is from the Trees set and was stamped onto gloss card, torn round and edged with a touch of Tumbled Glass Distress ink. I took a large card blank (8"x8") and lightly spritzed with Colourwash dyes and water. The card looks a smidge warped because I would normally either iron it after dyeing, or flatten it under something heavy. As I made this on the day, I didn't get chance to do either, so please forgive the bending! As you can see, I have somehow managed to let some purple and blue creep back in! Must make one of these using some orangey tones for a sunrise/sunset look! I left this card in Darlington too, so do check it out if you are there.

I'll finish with a few more images of some of my new stamp sets. The first two are Easter themed, one cute and one traditional. This first set is one of only a few outright cute sets that I've designed for the Spring release. I'll post pictures of cards made using the Easter designs after the weekend. I made a new baby card at the show for my friend Elaine using the Cute Easter set. Elaine had just become a great auntie, so, with no baby stamps to hand, I used the large chick and the cracked egg (cut into two pieces) and added the words "newly hatched"!So, details of these are....Easter Cute PICSA6209 and Easter Tradititional PICSA6210. Both of these should be available next week from any PI stockist as the Easter and Mother's Day designs are being released first. The next set is called "Sending Words of Love" PICSA6200 and is one of several verse sets that I have designed. This one should be available in about three weeks or so, as will the remainder of my new clear stamp sets. The verses are ideal for card inserts, but equally suitable for making a focal point on a card front.

Well, another long post! I'm working at home for the rest of this week, making some workshop samples and also starting work on a new collection of stamp designs. If you would like to come along to any of the workshops at Dawn's this weekend there may be one place left on the Easter cards class on Saturday morning and there are a few places left on the Shadow Box afternoon class on Saturday, as well as the Guardian Angel mixed media picture and Mermaid Art Doll classes on Sunday. Contact Topaz directly if you'd like to join in the fun! Okay folks, that's all for now! Lindsay

A few cards...

As promised, here are a few pictures of some cards that I made on Saturday using the Darkroom Door stamps.

This first one uses paper from Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby paper stash which I tinted with Distress inks and a light spritz of the new Ranger Perfect Pearls Mists in Heirloom Gold. I stamped one of the Art de Fleur vol 2 images onto PI's 300gsm card which I'd blended Distress inks onto. I spritzed with water and brushed water over certain areas of the stamped image. I then added the sentiment from the same DD set and the small Tour Eiffel from the set of the same name. I alcohol inked some Petaloo flowers to tone and added those as well as a hint of colour to the stamped flowers. The next card uses the 300 gsm card too. I stamped the beach huts from the DD set Seaside Vol 2 using Vintage Photo Distress ink. I heated the ink to dry it before using my waterbrush to draw the ink in from the stamped image to colour tint it. I tore the image and that of a piece of paper from Tim's Lost & Found stash...I am back into tearing I think! I layered these up and added the stamped shells from the same set, coloured as before. The lovely sentiment is also from the same set...love that teensy script!I simply tied some twine around to finish the card. The final card has a Bazzill Basics base to it. I tore (see what I mean!) a piece from the Vintage Shabby paper stash and added it to the front. I stamped the starfish panel, shells and words (DD Seaside Vol 1) onto PI gloss coated card using Black Stazon and coloured them using Le Plume pens. For the sentiment I literally streaked the pen across very quickly to give texture to the panel. The shells were cut out with a tiny border just to show them up better. I made a small hole in the card spine, threaded twine through and tied it round, parcel style, knotting at the front. I threaded single strands of the twine through three buttons and added them over the twine on the card using 3d foam on either side.

So, hope you like my nod to Summer! And not a hint of purple anywhere...amazing! Lindsay

Cardstock made simples!

Sorry that I didn't manage to get any pictures of my card samples up here before the weekend. What with bad light and lack of time, it just didn't happen. I'll definitely have some to show you soon I promise!

Talking of promises, I told several ladies at Saturday's demonstration in Washington that I would add a quick recap of what were the virtues of the various Personal Impressions cardstocks which I was using. I was writing down the info on little bits of paper for everyone, so hop this helps! These are my three favourite card types and what I do with them......

This first one is Personal Impressions Premier Quality Smooth White Card, which is available in packs of 10 or 100 A4 sheets. This is my favourite, all purpose cardstock which weighs in at 200gsm and is ultra smooth and brilliant white. I use it for drawing my stamp designs on, as well as for creating pop up inserts and stamping onto. It's thin enough to be able to cut around stamped images easily but sturdy enough that it holds up well for decoupaging them. You'll get crisp images when you stamp onto it and the brightness means that colours look clean.Next is the newest card in the personal Impressions own range. There isn't a picture of this cardstock as it doesn't come in a labelled pack as the others do. However, this one is a real gem of a cardstock and is called PIP300CWH....catchy eh?! It stands for 300gsm card white. Your local shop can get this if they don't stock it and it's usually sold in single A4 sheets or packs of between 10 and 25 sheets. It feels less smooth than the previous card but it has almost magical qualities to enhance your stamping and distressing work. You'll find that Distress inks blend beautifully and, what's more interesting is that, spritzing with water, or brushing water on, will give you the most dramatic faux bleaching effects. If you blend dark colours over the surface and then stamp a figure over them it may look great except for a deep blue face! Simply paint the face with water, dab with a paper towel and the face will really "pop" white again for you to colour as you wish. This card actually keeps water based inks wetter for longer, so is ideal if you want to stamp onto it with a Big n Juicy Rainbow ink pad and then brush water across for a blended effect. In fact, you may even want to heat set the ink slightly first - much better than having to quickly grab the brush in a race against time in case the ink dries! Really fabulous card that I am so glad to have to hand all the time.

Next in my "must have" selection is the Premier Quality High Gloss White Coated Card - see below. The word "coated" is the key here, as it behaves differently from standard gloss card or photographic gloss card. This is the ideal surface for using with alcohol inks...I especially like to use them to make mono prints by drizzling the inks onto my craft sheet, adding a little Blending Solution and then pressing the card onto the surface, moving it around a little and then lifting it away. However, I also recommend it for stamping onto. I use either Stazon or Archival inkpads (if using Archival, remember to quickly heat set it before colouring) to obtain really detailed prints from my stamps. If you find silhouette stamps can sometimes be tricky when stamping onto standard card ie if you get little patches of paler, or no ink, then do try this card as you will almost certainly get better results. As for colouring stamped images - water based pens, such as Le Plume or Memento, work beautifully on this coated card. Water based brush pens glide over the surface and blend really well to give seamless coverage. I used this card in the Crafts Beautiful project that I featured in my last post.So, I hope that helps all the slightly confused ladies that were buying the three cardstocks on Saturday and hoping that they would remember what they were each for when they got home!

I had a very nice first trip of 2011 I'm pleased to say! I had a good troll around Chester-Le-Street and got some much needed fresh air and a leg stretch...could do with some real leg stretching, but never mind! Then a relaxing evening and a good night's sleep before going to Dainty Supplies. Everyone fell for Rachel's Darkroom Door stamps as I thought they would! Apologies to those who were blaming me for making them leave the shop much poorer than when they went in!

I'll say cheerio for now and be back soon with some photos. I'll be making new samples for next Saturday's event at Card-Io in Wigan, so will give you some sneak peeks of those! Lindsay

Why I like postmen...

Well, I do when they bring me packages filled with lovely things! This afternoon brought me some Le Plume pens to replace the old ones that I have been trolling around for several years now...I'm really bad at throwing pens away - always thinking that next time they will work! There were also these lovely templates by Crafter's Workshop, which I'm going to be using with ink pads and Perfect Pearls Mists.And, these three tins of fabulous Darkroom Door stamps by Rachel Greig. They are (L to R) Tour Eiffel DDRS049, Seaside Vol 2 DDRS054 and Seaside Vol 1DDRS053. Gorgeous aren't they? And I love the fact that they come in these slimline storage tins - my tip is to write the number of stamps in each set on the inside of the tin using a marker pen. That way, you don't risk losing any of the smaller images as you can count them up before putting them away. I'll be using these on glossy white card and colouring them with the Le Plume pens. New pens...what a treat!So, just thought I'd use my coffee break to show you some of the things I'll be demonstrating this Saturday at Dainty Supplies in Washington...Tyne & Wear, not DC! Come along early if you want to grab any of the stamps as I think they will be gone quite quickly. I'll also be using Art de Fleur sets 1 & 2 and Friendship Flowers from the same range.

Well, now to mount the stamp sheets onto Kling-On, finish my coffee and then back to preparing more samples for Saturday. I'll try to post pictures of some of my samples before the weekend. The templates are available from Anyone stocking Personal Impressions products, as are the stamps, by the way. Lindsay

The wanderer returns

Not that I've been wandering! Quite the opposite really - I feel a little bit like a hedgehog that's reluctant to come out of hibernation! Christmas was quite a stress filled week and I've been taking some time out to catch up with some much needed sleep and a little R & R too. I've still been working away at home, with new designs and magazine projects. The picture below is of part of a set of matching pieces that I made which are in the February (current) issue of Crafts Beautiful. We'll be doing something in a similar vein on my first workshop of this year in a couple of weeks. These particular examples are made using the lovely Rachel Grieg's Darkroom Door stamps - gorgeous images. I'm looking forward to seeing Rachel again in February when she visits the UK for Stitches and workshops at Dawn's studio. Looks like the sun was shining when I took the photograph.....mmmmm, not much sign of it today. It's a very dull, dour day today.Well, it seems a little tardy now, but I hope that most of you had a lovely Christmas - I say 'most of you' because I know that a few people had a fairly depressing time. Let's all hope that this year can be a fresh beginning and that we have more positive things happening.

Apologies to those who never did receive their Christmas cards from me....that's apologies from the post office I think really! Thank you to everyone who sent cards to David and me, they were much appreciated, beautiful and it was difficult to take them down after the twelve days were up!

Well, I shall be back into the travelling about mode next weekend! I have enjoyed the novelty of being at home at the weekends, it feels quite decadent! So, I'll be up at Dainty Supplies in Washington, Tyne & Wear next Saturday. I'm going to be demonstrating stamping and stencilling with the new Ranger Perfect Pearls Mists and Crafter's Workshop stencils. I'll be using Darkroom Door stamps too, so, if you are around the area, do pop in and bag a set - they are top quality and come in snazzy tins to keep them safe and for easy storage.

The weekend after that I'll be at Card-Io in Wigan - I'll have more details next week about exactly what I'll be demonstrating. Then I'll be busy with workshops at Dawn's Studio at the beginning of February. These will be stamping (cards), making jewellery with Ranger products and an all day Art Journalling class. I've had a few email queries as to whether the workshops are still going ahead, as you will have no doubt read/heard that Dawn and her family have taken the decision to sell the shop. I can reassure you that, yes, all the advertised workshops are going to be running. Dawn will keep everyone posted as to any more classes that may be added after these. I know that many of you will be very sad, including myself, at the news, and I know that it was a difficult decision for everyone involved and that we all wish them well.

I'll try to catch up with any emails that I'm still late in replying to and the next thing I know it will be Stitches time again, so lots and lots of samples to be made. That's my favourite few days in my working year, when I get to catch up with everyone - including Tim of course...think I shall have to warn him about some of you who are going to his workshops in February!!!

So, I'll sign off for now...I feel as if I have almost forgotten how to blog after all this time! Will be back with more photos soon. Lindsay

PS Please do check out my rant blog, or go to http://www.fishfight.net/ to find out about a very important campaign, if you haven't been watching the Channel 4 programmes on the state of the fishing industry. This is one of those times when the general public can really help to get things done!