Out and about

What a super day it was at High Legh garden centre yesterday. It took a sight longer than it normally would to get to Knutsford due to the engineering works on the line, so three hours there and the same back! From the back of the house I can see the massive crane and the various trucks and so on that are helping to lower the bridges to allow for full electrification of the lines - don't ask me what's powering the trains at the moment! They are working pretty much through the night so it makes for quite a dramatic floodlight scene at night - as well as being a little noisy!

Everyone was very keen yesterday and my attempts at making a nice display of my samples were soon given up in favour of everything being passed around the table instead! Hello to everyone that came along and I hope you're all going to have great fun using the stamps and the ink sprays. It's always good to see familiar faces and Chris took some photos for me...being watched by her very crafty granddaughter Em....

...this was me inking up the edges of a tag that I'd covered with Tim Holtz tissue wrap and spritzed with Dylusions ink sprays. The tissue has a slight coating so I always dab at the inks with kitchen towel to blend them into the surface. This is the tag that I was working on....

 ......I used kitchen towel at the base, scrunching up a piece that I'd used to clean up the spare ink from my craft sheet, and glueing it to the tag with Glue n Seal. I just kept brushing more of the medium to the paper until it was saturated and then sprinkled it with a touch of Rock Candy Distress glitter. I've stamped, coloured, cut out and stuck down the character from my "My Fragile Heart" set. The flower is just two circles of Kraft Resist paper that I screwed up, spritzed with ink and then heat set. I added a small metal flower to the centre with a brad and then inked a ribbon to co ordinate.

Here's a piccie showing more of the table....

 ....and after I'd had a tidy up by the look of things! It's always tricky to balance displaying samples and obscuring everyone's view of what I'm doing, hence the rather flat appearance of everything.

Here's a last photo of a card that I put together on the day....

 .....the background of the panel was made using Distress Stains in various shades including the Tarnished Brass metallic stain - this creates some lovely marbled effects. I used the scrunched up inky kitchen towel technique again to form something for the character to sit on. She's from my Piffy on a Rockcake stamp set. The flower was made like the one on the tag, except that I used two scalloped circles instead of plain ones. I made the stalk from twisted kitchen towel and the leaves were simply torn from the same sheet. The text is from my "Don't be afraid" stamp set and the butterflies are from my "Hope Blooms" set - I just added a couple of shades of ink and misted with water lightly before stamping down. I often don't get to finish cards on a demo day as it's more about techniques, but this one just came together nicely.

I was so tired last night after such a long day, that I fell asleep on the sofa after dinner and woke up there after midnight! Of course, just the act of getting myself ready for bed then woke me up again! Today began with going to church and some hearty singing which always lifts my spirits. Then I had coffee with some of my friends from church before the "Lent Lunch" in the church hall - this is a symbolic simple bowl of soup and a piece of bread. It was very good soup though - all homemade and with a choice of five flavours. I had to buy a few groceries before coming home and I've spent this afternoon peeling and chopping vegetables for a curry that is bubbling on the hob as I type. 

David's curries were always one of my favourite treats and, though I've made some simple veggie ones, I decided to be more adventurous and make a beef one, following as many steps from David's "recipes" that I could. So I've been sealing and simmering the beef, frying off the spices, cooking lentils to thicken the curry and adding an array of veg, ground almonds and coconut. Goodness knows what it will be like but it smells pretty good at the moment! I have to confess that it has had quite a bit of butter added to the mix as well but, as I said, David's curries were a treat so I don't feel too naughty having it once in a blue moon. I'll let you know if it's any good!

I've had the final episode of the amazing penguin "spy in the huddle" series on in the background - I'd seen it last week but it certainly deserved a second viewing. Have any of you been watching it? Can you think of anything more appealing than those penguin babies? And wasn't it a nice change to watch a wildlife programme that didn't keep showing things being killed or eaten? 

Well, I'd better check that my curry isn't burning, so I'll sign off for now. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Away days

Good evening folks, I was away from home for three days over the weekend, and was kept very busy but with plenty of smiles thrown in. I travelled down to Thame on Friday, where the lovely Christina met me at the station and unburdened me of all my heavy bags before dropping me in the town itself. I spent a good few hours having a brisk walk round as well as a bit of shopping...of the window variety anyway! I then walked to my hotel and relaxed for the evening before my busy day on Saturday at A Maze of Memories.
It was a fab day as I was demonstrating, as well as doing Make n Takes with all the ladies. Everyone was set to enjoy themselves. Here are Betty, Carol, Sue and Tina around my table and you can see some of the ladies making their cards. Christina, her staff and helpers were kept busy helping the ladies, keeping the kettle on the go and serving homemade cakes. Everyone's cards were great and all were different from each other - here's Marilyn with her version using my I Dreamed of Castles, Laugh Often and Hoist the Flags stamp sets. Everyone who did the make n take got one of the stamp sets in their pack and were able to use more stamps and inks etc that were laid out on the tables. Here I am with Linda and Zoe, seeing how they are getting on...at this point they were trying out stamping and colouring onto gloss card. You can check out more pictures by going to www.amazeofmemories.com - which, for some reason is not coming up as a link on here...ggggrrr! Special mentions must be made of Diane and Susie J who presented me with a bag and told me that it was a gift for Thomas! Inside were some Whiskas treats and a set of two colourful catnip mice. It was so lovely of them and piccies of Thomas and one his new toys are further down. Aren't people kind? People who are fond of animals as well as crafting are probably the kindest. Thank you ladies, from me and Thomas!
It was a really fun day all round and, as soon as we had tidied everything up it was time for me to set off to reading for my demonstration at Hobbycraft in Reading the following day. Normally I would have been making my way through London and the underground....a particular nightmare at weekends. However, with great generosity, Christina drove me there, so we were able to have a good chat about the day. We also saw some Red Kites soaring above us....first time I have seen one in "real life" so that was the icing on Saturday's cake! I had been looking forward to a quiet evening watching some tv, maybe a film, after a meal at the hotel, but, as it happened, I couldn't keep my eyes open, and was asleep before I knew it! Next day I was at Hobbycraft and met some new crafters as well as more experienced ones. Hello to Diane (yes, another one!) who hadn't known I would be there and gave me a big hug! Hope you had fun with the new ideas when you got home!
Then it was a three and a half hour journey home. It was a packed train, but no yobbish behaviour I'm pleased to report. I was nodding off almost the whole way! When David picked me up from the station he said that Thomas had been out all night, no sign of him anywhere, but, as we drove in, there he was, telling us off quite vociferously! He had some of his new treats and then I gave him one of the catnip mice....... .....although he looks asleep, he just had his eyes closed in dreamy ecstacy and was tossing the little toy around and rubbing his face all over it. Thankyou Diane and Susie J....think this was a hit! Not sure if this counts for the Crafting Buddies blog as it is really meant to be about pets "helping" us to craft, but think Joanne will like these pics anyway! So, it's been a resting day today, except for catching up with emails etc. I'll be at Crafty By Nature in Kearsley on Saturday, and then at Dainty Supplies on Saturday, so hope to see you there if you live nearby. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

At last!

Hello all, and apologies for being sooo long in posting! Our Scottish trip was almost a fortnight ago now, but when we got back I had to hit the ground running with my tightest deadlines to date. I got the vital work done and then got on with the merely important things! Lol!

Anyway, what a wonderful time we had in Scotland. We drove up to Dundee, stopping off at Gretna where we called at the nearest place to get a coffee which turned out to be an outlet centre. It was a lovely sunny day so we spent an hour strolling around and I bought a much needed pair of shoes (half price!) before we set off again. It's about a five hour'ish journey but the Sat Nav added an extra forty five minutes by refusing to acknowledge the road our hotel was on and sending us miles out of our way! As David said, we knew we had gone too far when we asked for directions and were answered in Norwegian!!! Lol! We eventually arrived and, after a quick change and a coffee we went out to find the sea - we knew it was nearby, but it was very hard to get to. Along the way we stopped to take a few pictures of this amazing phenomenon in the sky. I had only been looking at similar pictures on the tv a few days before...it isn't a rainbow but something similar caused by ice crystals in the sky being hit by sunlight at a particular angle. I think that is right anyway! It was incredibly beautiful and the camera just couldn't capture the full effect.We finally reached the sea, and strolled along the shoreline looking into rock pools (nothing seemed to be living in them!) and me paddling in the freezing water. As you can see, the light here was incredible with a beautiful clarity and dramatic depth. I was so pleased with this photograph - one of the best I've ever taken I think, even though I more or less pointed and clicked. As you can tell, I was enjoying myself and it was especially good to have David with me to share all the wonderful scenery. I've been up to Kitty Krafts in Broughty Ferry several times but always by train so have never had the chance to have a good look around the area before.

Although you can't really tell, this is us! I was taking a shot of the sea when I saw our shadows, so I switched my attention to those instead - wish I really did have long legs like that (well, maybe not quite that long!) . Next day I was at Kitty Krafts run by Louise and Ross. It was a busy old day meeting familiar people and new customers alike. Hazel had texted me to say that she couldn't come along after all as she had hurt her foot, so that was the only downside of the day. However, a big hello to everyone who did come along - Punum, I haven't forgotten your request and Personal Impressions are sorting out postcards as I write, so I shall send you one as soon as I have them.

As soon as the demonstration had finished we set off again, this time driving down to Jedburgh on the Scottish Borders. We stayed at the Spread Eagle, a 500 year old family run hotel. Next morning we drove about twelve miles to Kelso where I was demonstrating at Mayfield Garden centre. What a busy day this turned out to be! I met some wonderful, enthusiastic ladies as well as some very patient men! I'd hardly time to take pictures on either day, but here is a very simple card using my Men's Silhouette stamp set (PICS061). I stamped the image onto white card using a Versamark Watermark pad and also swiped a bit of the ink below the man to ground him. I had mixed a scoop of gold Perfect Pearls with some black embossing powder and used this on the image. Once embossed and cooled, I simply swooshed some Distress ink from the image outwards to create the misty look behind him - a mix of Weathered Wood and Old Paper. This card features a background made using Ink Potion no 9 and Impress re-inkers over Personal Impressions coated gloss card which I then overstamped with the fairy and the dandelions from my Flower Silhouette set (PICS057) using a black Archival ink pad. I restamped the fairy using a Watermark pad and applied Pearl Shimmer embossing powder. The scroll on the left was made using an EK Success punch: Scroll and Dots.Not sure what I was doing in this picture but it looks a bit scary! As you can see, I had an enormous area to work on, but I still managed to make a mess!

We left Kelso feeling very uplifted and made the long journey home. We saw lots of wildlife on all the various legs of our trip....unfortunately, apart from the birds, it was all dead! We had never seen so many creatures killed on the roads, including, very sadly, two deer on the central reservation just a few yards apart. Must have been a nasty shock for the drivers too.
All in all a great trip with mostly wonderful weather and always beautiful surroundings. Now I must get on to my second post with pictures of last weekend! By the way, I still can't get the yellow off my last post....I was using the spellchecker which I had not used before, and no matter what I do it will not convert the background back to white. I shan't be using it again! Lindsay

Designing and demonstrating

This post is in response to everyone who has asked me about how to go about designing stamps and/or demonstrating. I do get a lot of emails about this subject so it seemed a good idea to post some information and advice here!

There are a few ways to go about getting your designs made into stamps, depending on whether you just want them to use yourself, sell them yourself, or try to get a stamp company to use your designs. If you want them for your own use you will need to draw your designs in black onto good quality A4 white paper or card filling as much of the page as you can for the best value for money. Many stamp manufacturers, including Personal Impressions, can then make the designs into an unmounted rubber sheet for you, so that you can add Kling-On mounting foam to the back and use them with acrylic blocks. You can have them made up as clear stamps, or even into wood mounted - just ask the relevent company for a quote which may sway you as to which type of stamps you would like!

Again, if you are considering selling your designs as stamps to friends, or on a larger scale, you will need to get a quote for a price per A4 sheet and then see how much it will cost for ten, twenty etc of the same sheet as a batch.

If, on the other hand, you are thinking about approaching a stamp company with a view to them using your designs then the golden rule is to write to them first to ascertain whether they are looking for any new designers, rather than sending samples of your work out of the blue. Many companies only use their in house designers for example. Think about which companies might be interested in your artwork ie if you do cute designs then there is little point in targeting a company that specialise in altered art images! If a company shows interest, send copies of some of your work, possibly with coloured copies too, to indicate how you can see a design working. Find out how they pay their designers - this could be a one off, flat fee per design, or it might be a royalty system where you will receive a percentage of the wholesale price of any stamps sold.

Importantly, get good, unbiased feedback from other people about your drawings. Family and friends will often say that everything one does is marvellous, but some outside opinions are invaluable. Most of all, be your own biggest critic...if something doesn't look quite right, alter it or restart the whole thing! If you let something through that you are not entirely happy with then it will hit you in the eye ever after! If you do end up designing for a stamp company, you will also need to be able to work under pressure, hitting deadlines that are sometimes seemingly impossible, or working on specific themes.

If you are thinking about getting involved in demonstrating products at shows, in stores etc then you will need to think about which companies you would be happy to promote products for as well as which ones may be actively seeking new people in your area. Again, contact the company to introduce yourself and they may either ask you to come and see them or send in a portfolio of your work. Some companies only use one or two people whereas others have a full demonstration team and may well host courses to train you to demonstrate in a particular way.

Remember that where you really love being creative at home, in your own time, it is a very different thing when you are demonstrating. You will have to make samples using particular products, again, often in a short time scale, you will have lots of things to lug around and you will probably have to do a lot of travelling. You need to be able to put aside any personal worries or moods once you have your professional hat on too, so, even if you feel really low, for whatever reason, you have to smile and be chatty and cheerful with customers...people skills are as important as creative skills!

Well, I hope that has been a help to everyone who has asked me....and an interesting read to those who have not!

I shall take some photos tomorrow at Carlisle and post them after the weekend. Next weekend I'll be at Burnside garden centre in Thornton, Blackpool on Saturday when I'll be doing some inking, stamping and punching. Then on the Sunday I'll be stamping and "Rangering" at Crafty by Nature in Kearsley, Bolton. I'm off now to get my bags packed for tomorrow! Lindsay