Kindness and patience

Many thanks for all the lovely messages after so many of my samples got pinched at the weekend. I've had stores, where I've previously demonstrated, offering to return samples that I left for them as well as people asking if they can help me to make new ones. All very much appreciated and it does emphasise the fact that the good people really are still very much the majority, even though it doesn't always seem like it. 

I'm back on track now, more or less (!), working through my check list of things to get done. I'm waiting for a parcel to arrive which is stopping me from getting on with one project...it's floating around somewhere in the UK but, at the moment, nobody can tell me where! Trying to actually speak to a real person at Royal Mail is, apparently, asking too much and the local sorting office just refuse to answer their phone. Oh well, just have to play the waiting game and hope it arrives soon before my deadline runs out.

I did, however, receive two rather nice parcels this week as you can see....

 ........one package contained bottles of Deco Art So Soft fabric paints as well as the strip of little pots of the paints. Below those are Metallic Distress Paints and the new colours of Dylusions ink sprays that came in parcel number two. The eagle eyed of you may spot that one of the Metallic paints is actually "plain" ol Vintage Photo - I put the wrong bottle there when I lined them up to snap them!). 

The new Dylusions colours are very lovely indeed and I've been (im)patiently waiting for them for a while now! I spritzed them onto white card just to quickly show the colours. As one is white, I sprayed that over a couple of the colours to show the effect - it kept morphing into different patterns and shades as I watched.

Of course, my photo won't do justice to the true colours but they are, clockwise from the top....Funky Fuchsia, After Midnight, Cherry Pie, Dirty Martini and Calypso Teal. You can see the effect of the White Linen over areas of the Midnight & Cherry colours.

These are definitely going to be used today on some tag backgrounds! I'll be using them at both Brigg garden centre, near Scunthorpe, on the 25th May and at my demos at the Craft Barn Extravaganza over 31st May-2nd June. Meanwhile, I'd highly recommend getting your mitts on them!
Oh, I forgot to say that the So Soft paints are for painting two more sweatshirts with my Doo Lally Pip designs. I've washed the pink sweatshirt that you've seen on here (or at my demos) and am very pleased to report that the designs looks exactly the same. I was going to hand wash it but decided to give it a real road test and it went into the washing machine with some other items (including furry slippers, so they would have given it a bit of a pounding!) on a quick wash. I did wash it inside out as a slight precaution, but I'm really impressed with the paints - no cracking, no flaking, no fading! Brilliant stuff! 
I did start my orange sweatshirt today but after I'd painted the "Doo Lally Pip" words I realised that I hadn't pre washed the garment - what a twit! So, I'm letting it dry for 48 hours then I'll wash it and repaint the words if the design has come off. I suspect it may well still wash okay, but I'm not going to risk painting the entire design. I'll let you see the results in a few days of course!

Colour full

I'm busy with my last push to get everything ready for Stitches in a few days. I'll be travelling down to Birmingham on Saturday and can't wait to see everyone from Personal Impressions - they are like my second family really, but I only get to see most of them once a year. The whole event is punctuated by lots of "hello"'s between people who only meet up occasionally of course!

I'm just about there with samples and workshop prepping now, so I'm at the "getting myself organised" stage which is my least favourite part! How to fit everything into my case, including several changes of clothes, making sure that I don't leave anything out...not forgetting the mundane things like ironing of course! I'm pleased to say that the new washing machine is behaving very well and is so fast and efficient that I'm thinking of starting a small laundry business as a sideline - not!

As promised here are a couple of photos, though I took them in a hurry so they aren't the best. This one is a canvas that I finished this morning. 

I used Tim Holtz tissue wrap to cover the canvas and a mix of Dylusions ink sprays and Distress inks to colour the surface. I stamped, coloured and cut out "Hopeful Harriet" and glued her down on top of the wings from my "Steamed Up" stamp set. I added her top hat at a jaunty angle. The phrase is from my "Happiness" set - it's one complete quote, but I decided to tear it across to form two parts as it looked more balanced. The pen nibs are TH Idealogy of course and I used Ranger's Emboss it Dabber to add some gold accents around some of the edges. You can't see it here, but I also used Perfect Pearl spray in white (actually called Perfect Pearl but I find that confusing!!) over the butterfly and I added crackle accents over the butterfly body and veins on the wings. Actually, I think it's a moth really! 

I've been keen to use lots of colour for my samples this year and this is another colourful piece. It's a journal page but not in my journal if you see what I mean. For the show it's better to have loose pages so that people can see them more easily. This one has my "Piffy on a Rockcake" images.....it's pretty much a northern saying and has always made me smile! It means that you're hanging around, with the implication that someone, or something, is wasting your time. Much easier to say "sat here like piffy on a rockcake" though!

I used Dylusions spray inks again,  stamped my "leafy borders" foliage and bleached the colour out with water. The toadstools and "Piffy" were stamped, coloured and cut out to be added afterwards. I used some spritzed dictionary paper for grass. I loved making this page with the rich colours and I can relate to the sentiment too as I very often find myself hanging about waiting for things.

Lastly is a card that I kept quite simple really. This one uses my new "He is Risen" Easter set of stamps. 

 I chose a background from the pile that I have ready inked on my table. I liked the un-inked areas on this one and I simply stamped the cross in black with the message below. I added some white gel pen dots to the cross as well as a clear gem that I tinted with a soft yellow Promarker. I made a border strip stamped with the fish from the same stamp set. Simple but striking was the effect I wanted.

Sunday turned out to be a very sad day as I had the news that one of my friends from church had passed away. He was one of the first people there to talk to me and it was Peter who "dragged" me to the church hall after one of the services for a coffee and to introduce me to other people. He always gave me a big hug and we had some really good conversations. We only knew that he was ill last week so it was a big shock to everyone and very, very sad. He'll be very much missed.

Well, time to relax a bit now this evening. It's been a pretty chilly day, so I have some soup ready to heat up for a quick and simple dinner, just what's needed after a busy day.