And breathe.....

It has been a crazy few days to say the least. On friday I travelled down to Bury St Edmunds and had a bit of time to wander around the lovely town before spending the evening in my hotel room making some cards for my template kit - I'd made some on the train too...got a few odd looks but hey ho!

I woke up on Saturday morning feeling well below par and think I have picked up a tummy bug from somewhere, so I wasn't looking forward to the long day ahead. However, some fizzy water and lovely customers at the Stamp Hut helped and I did get through the day okay! Hello to all the lovely ladies and gents that I saw there, as well as Paula and Dot, from the Stamp Hut, who made the day go smoothly. I had a long journey back so I didn't get home till well past eleven at night - just time for a quick shower and then bedtime!

On Sunday I was teaching a Christmas card workshop at Topaz with David as my glamorous assistant! As usual, we had lots of fun...poor Serena was having "one of those days" but she, like all the ladies, made three lovely cards. One ladies card did go missing, but after much searching, it turned up in my bag with the samples which I had been showing...oops! It was a lovely afternoon, with lots of laughter.

David left me there as I was staying over to help with samples for craft day on QVC. Dawn, Amy, Rena, Jill, Lindsey and myself were working away on a seemingly endless stream of kits. The amount of work that goes on behind the scenes in preparing one of these days has to be seen to be believed, from choosing products, planning the hours, preparing all the samples, checking all the boxes and getting everything together to get down to London. We had a quick bite to keep us going and worked through until nearly midnight. After a good, if short (!), night's sleep, we were back making more samples the next morning along with Jo. At 2.30pm everything was packed up into two vehicles and Dawn, Jj and Amy set off for London. Whew!

Today I had intended to have a day off and planned to watch craft day whilst curled up on the sofa, but another emergency meant that I have spent the day making more card samples! I have finally finished though, so we are planning to relax for the rest of the night. David and I are both still feeling very ropey - definitely a bug I fear.

Thank you to everyone who has texted, phoned and emailed me today after my templates were on the show at 4pm. Your lovely comments were all very much appreciated. I started work on the kit several months ago, so to see everything come together at last was very rewarding. Hope you have all enjoyed craft day. I think there were some very different, and lovely, new things on there today....something for everyone really.

We are off to see my mum and dad tomorrow and then I'm having a couple of days off. My good friend Jan Bloomfield will be at Topaz on Saturday to demonstrate Nestabilities and stamping - she is an absolute whizz with the Nesties, so do pop along if you need any tips, advice or inpiration. I'll be demonstrating there on Sunday, with lots of techniques to show and hopefully inspire you! So, I'll report back with more photos soon! Lindsay

Back from London

Hello everyone and thank you for all the lovely calls, emails, texts and comments which you left for me before and after my debut on QVC - they have all been really appreciated. Your good wishes certainly helped to quell any nerves!

Wednesday started with me travelling down to Euston where Jj met me and drove me to the hotel in Chelsea Harbour where Dawn and Leonie were busy making some extra cards for that night's show. I went to my room first to freshen up a bit...lovely room with fabulous views over the harbour and city as you can see. I then went down to join Dawn and Leonie amidst the all the stamps, papers and inks. We had a quick snack in the room and very soon it was time to get ready to go along to QVC. A double quick shower and change and we were off! Poor Jj has two slipped discs, so he felt a bit helpless as we loaded boxes and bags into the car. Arriving at QVC Leonie had to say cheerio as she had to be elsewhere, so we loaded a large trolley and wheeled all the kits and samples up to the studio which looked quite dark and gloomy at this stage as you can see. All the kits had to be unloaded and put into order on the "pods" as they are called. The clock was now counting down but with two hours to go it seemed as if there would be lots of time to get organised....or maybe not! The time was flying by and there were so many things to put out, that it was 7.30pm before I knew it! The producer chatted to me about general things that I needed to know and very soon I was being miked up. All my nerves had left me by now, as there was just so much going on and everyone was so friendly. The bright studio lights came on, Dale Franklin arrived and very quickly it was the ten second countdown.

The whole two hour show just flew by and was so much fun. I really didn't get chance to show half the techniques that I had prepared because everything was selling out so quickly. The funniest moment for me was when I answered Dawn's question about how much Perfect Pearls powder to add to black embossing powder and I said "the tip of a Starbuck's coffee stirrer is about right".....Dale had to jump in and say "or any other coffee house of course" and...ooops....I realised what I had said!!! Everyone laughed though, so I didn't get thrown off the set! Dale Franklin was absolutely lovely, very calm and relaxed and Dawn and I just chatted together as we normally would.

Very soon the show had ended and it was time to clear away. My table looked like an absolute tip as I had been going from one thing to another with no time to clear up as I went. The photo below is of my previously well packed case after I threw everything in as my tables were needed in another studio. Dawn, Dale and the QVC crew all said that they were delighted with how the show had gone, and how natural I had been - phew! So, once we had packed away it was back to the htel where Dawn Jj and I had a strawberry champagne cocktail each (and I forgot to take a picture!) in celebration of my debut! Delicious! We chatted for a couple of hours and, of course, there were a few phone calls to make and take. David had told me to remember to smile and, apparently I looked very serious! I think it was because the studio is so full of cameras, monitors and people that it is quite hard to know where to look or whether you are on screen or not. I'm sure that it all comes with experience.

I was happy to see when I got back that Joanne and Jilly had both spotted their cards behind me on screen! I didn't get chance to show them, so I'd hoped they would be noticed.

So, it was a great experience and Dawn and Jj really looked after me - the only downer was that Jj ran me back to Euston and despite setting off an hour before my train was due out we got there with just a few minutes to spare, only to be told that my train had gone....apparently they won't let passengers on if there are only minutes before departure....first time I have heard this one! I wasn't allowed to travel with my ticket on another train, so had to pay out almost £45 on a new one - I was livid and I will be complaining!

To finish my post, here are just a few of the card samples that I made for the show.....this one was using Perfect Pearl powders over black card and then inking the silhouette stamps with Perfect Pearls medium and stamping them onto the card which removes the powder. The swirls were drawn with a Versamark pen and then powdered over.Next is a background made using Distress inks and water. The bird and swirls were stamped over the top and I stamped a second bird, coloured it, cut it out and stuck it over the first bird.

Below is a card that was made using Personal Impressions canvas which I coloured with Heritage ink pads and then made the frame from. The rest of the card was just layers decorated with birds and swirls.

Lastly, this is the card whch I made to show the masking technique using some of the cats from my clear stamp set. I thought it would be fun to colour them in pastel shades to match the cardstock.

Well, I must sign off now, but thanks to everyone who wished me luck, watched, or bought my stamps! Lindsay

All set

Just thought I'd sign in before having a few hours of relaxation now that I have packed my case - hardly any clothes, just stamps, inks, papers etc! I have to go via the London underground tomorrow, which is never much fun - I always feel as though everyone but me knows exactly where they are going - but, other than that, it should be a straightforward journey.

I will try and get some good photos of what some of the other designers are up to and some of the various samples, though I'm expecting it to be a very busy weekend, so time may be limited. I will, of course, have ATC's to swap, so, if you are coming along, do bring some with you. I must also thank Larraine from the craft department at Strikes garden centre, Thornton, for the RAK which she gave to me as well as the ATC that she swapped with me. Ive been doing some with Distress ink pads which I have then stamped onto with permanent ink before "bleaching" areas, such as faces, with water, which makes the area pop out from the dark background. I'll post piccies of these soon. If you haven't tried it, it's a great technique and yet another feature that I love about Distress inks.

Well, time to think about preparing a quick meal (salad - so I can manage to "cook" that!!!) and then an hour of Springwatch. What is the concensus on this new series? Better or worse without Bill Oddie? I'm hoping that I will see quite a bit of wildlife from the train tomorrow, so shall report back if I see anything unusual. Bye for now, Lindsay

See you in Wickford!

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I'm all set for my trip down to Essex now. I'll be travelling down by train on friday, which, apart from the usual mad dash across London by Tube (which I never enjoy!) should be an enjoyable journey, watching the changing scenery and looking to see what wildlife I can spot in the hedgerows and trees. If you live near Wickford please do pop along and see me. It's going to be a busy day with lots of great new products and some interesting techniques.As you can see from the advert above, there is an anniversary sale on at the shop, so there will be some great bargains to be had I'm sure. I'll hopefully get chance to take some pictures of the day, so will add those next week. Don't forget Craft Day on QVC tomorrow - I know that some of my stamps will be on in the 12pm slot. Meanwhile, here are a few more card samples featuring some more of my new bird designs. The one on the right is another from a clear set (PICS013) featuring four birds, including the owl which I posted earlier. The one on the left is a large wooden stamp image (FR63)which I've combined with some K&Co "Cut n Paste" papers and some doodles done with our new Deco Colour pens. For the lovers of more cute images, the last card features my "Fluffy Owl" (FH116) stamped several times and added to a sponged background with a branch cut from black card.

The eyes have been glazed with Glossy Accents and a hand written greeting added...another terrible pun!!! (In case you can't read it, it says "Have a hoot on your special day!"....I know, it's dreadful!) I have a very eclectic taste, but I do like making cards which raise a smile! Hope you like the avian collection of designs, whatever your taste is.

Have a great weekend everyone and I'll be back on Sunday with pics of my day at Wickfords and, of course, to reveal who will be getting the goodies! Lindsay