Doodling in the sunshine

It's been such a beautiful day here. I started the morning with a trip to the Doctor's to have a blood sample taken. It was mainly to check that I don't have an under active thyroid after I told the doctor that I keep feeling cold. It  didn't hurt, though the nurse did take five phials of blood....I felt like Tony Hancock with his "very nearly an armful" line! I felt a coffee and a toasted scone in the nearby cafe was in order to get my corpuscles back up to speed after that!

Anyway, a little food shopping next and I got a charity shop bargain top which I am hoping to slightly alter...ooh er...get me! Well, all I'm planning is to cut off the row of elastic around the bottom ( I really don't like elasticated hems) and turn up a small hem. Not exactly GBSB standard, but I will be very pleased if I can manage it neatly!

Once I got home I settled myself into the conservatory with all my pens and pencils and set about some doodling. I'd already stamped everything in readiness so I could just sit quietly and draw - very relaxing. Tara and Thomas had a great time pottering in and out to the garden and back, though a certain someone did insist on plonking himself on top of all my work from time to time!

This first card is an example of using black, white and one other colour....well, aside from a little grey that is. I stamped my Zendoodle Flower and then added all the patterns with my black fine line pen. I also drew three weeny Ladybirds as you can see. 

 

I used a grey Promarker around the whole design, fading it to dots on the outer edges, before colouring the Ladybirds with a red pen. Just a couple of plain mats of red and black kept it simple and clean.

Here's the same image but with a different effect. This time I stamped and doodled one complete flower and then stamped and doodled the petals and leaves a second time. I used yellows and greens to colour the flowers before cutting out the flower head (minus the tendrils) and leaves from the second image.

I positioned the flower head over the original one, but turned it through 45 degrees to give a layered effect. The leaves were stuck down just where they meet the stem. I then stamped a third flower and doodled the border around the central circle before colouring it and stamping the greeting into the centre.The message is one from my friend Paula Pascual and comes in the set Sentiments Everyday Messages CICSA6141. I cut round the circle and added it to the flower with 3d foam. Again, a couple of straightforward mats and a ribbon bow just finished off this card.

The image below shows a slightly different way of filling in the plain Zendoodle stamps.This one is the Mushrooms set CICSA6195. Rather than doodling in black and then adding colour, I used coloured fine point pens to create the infill patterns. Once I'd completed all the doodling I used Promarkers to add pale colours over the designs in toning shades.

Finally, for tonight, here's a tag that I had fun making. It's a swooshy Distress Inks and water spattered background and I decided that one of my Zendoodle Fish might look at home swimming around on there. Once I'd dried the tag I began drawing swirling lines of "seaweed" with my black pen which I then infilled with stripes of black and white.

I doodled and coloured the fish and popped him into place before adding three pearls and an inked ribbon.

I've kept everything simple here as the samples for my demonstration this weekend are to showcase the doodling aspect of working with the Zendoodle range of stamps. I'll be at Samuel Taylor's in Leeds on Saturday, so hope to see some of you there.

It's amazing how much better everything photographs on a sunny day like today...the colours really pop.

Before I retire to bed, you might be amused to know that Tara almost fell into the pond yesterday! Considering that she probably wouldn't even fit into it, it would have been quite some feat! I was having ten minutes in the sunshine, sitting on my garden bench, when Tara came tip toeing across the lawn and then decided to take a detour.....she promptly walked over the pebbles around the pond, whereupon they began to shift, some fell in to the water and Tara did one of those amazing acrobatic moves that only cats (even fat cats) can do! I don't think she'll be trying that again in a hurry, though she has been chomping on the new pond grass...gggrrrrr!

Yesterday I bit the bullet and mowed the lawn! Yayyyyy! It looks awful as it was so overgrown and it's very bumpy and lumpy, but I'm sure it will bounce back now it's had a haircut. The wet weather and, to be honest, my slight trepidation at using the new electric mower, had meant it had really gone awry.Once I got cracking though, I actually enjoyed it so I'll be giving it a closer cut in a few days and then I need to sort out the edging. The lawn has stone edges that have arched tops - not very practical when mowing! So, I've taken them all out and my next big job is to dig down further so I can turn the edges over with the straight (bottom) edges facing upwards, level with the turf. Think it may take a while!

I've also been moving more rocks around to create another rockery area adjacent to the pond which I hope to get sorted tomorrow. I spent over two hours yesterday just forking over one small patch of soil and removing a mesh of grass roots. What a horrible job and I was aching in places I didn't know could ache! So, I'd better get to bed and a good night's sleep in preparation for some more slogging in the morning.

I'm all of a Doo Lally

Hello folks, I was going to write this post yesterday but Tara and Thomas had other ideas - in fact Tara jumped up and turned the laptop off with her paw to show her disgust that I was even thinking about not giving them my full attention! I had left them alone for four days with just my neighbour popping in to feed them, so they were rightfully feeling a little neglected and Tara has been like a fixture on my lap since I got back.

I decided to have a day off anyway after Stitches, which is always a brilliant few days but exhausting. Before I forget, if you click the link in my sidebar you can go to my You Tube site where I've posted a video of the demo areas on the Personal Impressions stand at the show. Look out for the quick Can Can moment at the end...not by me I hasten to add!

Here's a picture of some of my Doo Lally Pip samples up on display at the end of the demonstration counter....

 ....I do like a black background to show off the strong colours. I was really pleased with all the positive reaction to my new Doo Lally designs which seemed to make everyone smile.
Here's me with one of my best mates, the lovely and super talented Rachel Greig of Darkroom Door fame.....

..... Rachel and I were sharing one demonstration booth and here's Rachel with Dyan Reaveley who was demonstrating on counter on the other side of our stand. Dyan's new colours in her Dylusions ink sprays are gorgeous and a must have......

At the opposite end of the PI stand we had Ken Oliver from Spellbinders who was demonstrating the new Media Mixage range and the Artisan Explorer machine. Here he is with Jan from Personal Impressions....

Here's a nice shot of Rachel demonstrating and you can see some more of our samples as well as getting an idea of the size of the PI stand which is one of the best at the show (I know, I'm biased, but it is!).....

 

Another piccie of me here, this time with my lovely friend, Paula Pascual who was demonstrating on the Sizzix stand.......

 .....can you tell we love each other?! I wish I could smile without squishing my eyes up though!!!

We also had a lot of fun and our traditional Monday night at the Wing Wah Chinese restaurant was as bonkers as ever, with "happy birthday" sparkler topped, ice cream filled fruit bowls being brought to two unsuspecting recipients at our tables. This year it was the turn of Ken and also Patrick from DecoArt to wonder why they were being sung to when it wasn't even their birthdays! 

 .......daft, but fun! 

The show was three days of non stop talking, standing, perching on a high stool, teaching and demonstrating and meeting up with people, some of whom I only see once a year. I'm always really sad when the show closes and the stand, that took hours and hours to set up and dress, is ripped down in no time at all and everyone says their farewells. It was especially poignant this year as David always used to help to pack things away and he always took a "Team PI" photograph of us all. 

Thank you for all the texts and emails that I got from so many of you while I was away - I will get back to everyone I promise!

Well, I will post some pictures of more samples from the show in a few days as they are being photographed for Personal Impressions before being sent back to me. Don't forget to check out the You Tube clip and also to read the post below this one to enter my blog candy giveaway! Remember you need to leave a comment after that post to be in with a chance.

Lingfield weekend

Hello again everyone, and especially to new followers and the lovely people that I met at the Extravaganza at the Craft Barn last weekend. Going on the long trip to Lingfield for my first demonstration event since David died was very daunting but I was okay once the first people came in and I got started.
My journey down was disrupted because of the extraordinary weather the previous day, so trains were delayed and overcrowded. Once I got to Lingfield it was much calmer though. It's a very quiet and pretty area. This is the library..... ......isn't it lovely? I took a couple of nice walks round the surrounding lanes each evening, so that was very calming.
Saturday and Sunday were incredibly busy with people coming from all over the World to the event. Hello to Glennis, from New Zealand, who I met last year as well...hope you do manage to be with us again next time. I also caught up with my lovely friend Paula Pascual, though we didn't manage a photo. I haven't seen her for a while, so it was lovely to spend some time with her. Here's someone you'll recognise..... .....my good friend Andy Skinner who was on the table next to mine. I know I have said it before, but he is such a talented artist, as well as being a really lovely man.If you haven't had a look at his blog already, do check it out.
I had been "messing about" with a book that I cut a recess out of, covered in papers, gesso, inks and some Idealogy items. It didn't really turn out how I wanted it to, but it was fun to do and gave me some ideas for next time I make one. This one housed the robot from my stamp set "Overhaul Needed". Here's a shot of me working at my messy table. Some of the other designers have lovely displays with neat working areas, but I can never seem to manage that. The weekend just went by in a blur really. I was staying at the local Inn again, which has a very good chef. It was good to eat some well prepared food again as I seem to have been living on ready meals and sandwiches these last few months. The worst part of the weekend was coming home to an empty house (bar Thomas and Tara of course, but you know what I mean). Still, I've done the first trip away now, so that was a really positive step.
The garden is growing really well - unfortunately, the thing that's growing is Mare's Tail along with other weeds. So, what with the onslaught of what seems like millions of slugs, I have been getting a bit behind with it all, especially in the wet weather. This morning's been really sunny though, so I have filled the green recycling bin with weeds and at least part of the garden looks tidier. I have to be careful with weedkillers around the pusscats, so I decided my best offensive was to pull things up and then just try and keep on top of them when they grow back.
This beautiful Poppy was growing out of the kerb at the side of the house so I have been hoping that nobody runs over it until it has set seeds that I can collect. It's a stunner, so I'd like to grow some if I can. Looks like it's going to rain again soon, so I think my gardening is done for the day. Apologies to those of you who I still haven't got back to yet. I am trying to catch up with everyone and everything, but it's taking me a while I'm afraid. Again, please accept my thanks for all your good wishes.

An extravagant weekend!

Hello folks, and sorry it's taken me a few days to upload my pictures and tell you about The Craft Barn Extravaganza last weekend. I travelled down to Lingfield, a pretty village in Surrey, on Friday, where I met my friend and colleague, Andy Skinner at the shop. We had a catch up and looked around the shop before having a stroll around the duck pond (complete with duck house!) and enjoying looking at the ancient trees. I was staying at a local Inn just nearby, so I then strolled back there in the glorious sunshine and had a wander around the nearby churchyard and adjacent lanes with their characterful cottages. It was a lovely way to relax before the busy couple of days ahead. Above you can see the Star Inn...much prettier than a Premier Inn or Travelodge!
Next day it was time to set up my table at the Community Centre - the Extravaganza weekend is held in three venues plus the shop itself. This year there were visitors coming from all over the country, but also as far away as France, Canada, New Zealand and Australia! Many of these ladies were members of a Forum who got together to enjoy the event together - what a looong way to come! That's what I call dedicated! Here are a couple of pictures of my table (you should be able to enlarge the pics for a closer look) complete with my favourite fruit tea of course! As you can see, I am still not quite over my purple, blue and pink phase, though I am trying honestly! There are some hints of orange, yellow and browns in there too. There was a lovely name sign on each of our tables as well as a beautifully wrapped bag of sweeties to keep hunger pangs and sore throats at bay. Altogether there were 24 different designers and demonstrators across the four venues. Look who was on the table adjacent to mine..... ....yes, the lovely Paula Pascual, who was demonstrating her favourite die cutting. Our styles are so different but we are a mutual admiration society! So it was good to catch up and have a smiling face nearby.
Here is a card that I made on Sunday, using a slightly different technique with Alcohol inks to create the background. As you may know, Blending Solution must never be put into a Mini Mister because, although it's a really safe product, if you were to spritz it, it becomes airborne as particles and could be ingested. I have wanted to create a similar effect that can be had when spritzing water into Distress ink backgrounds ie the faux bleach speckly effect and it came to me, in one of those "Doh" moments, that maybe Stazon spray cleaner would do the job. Well, the great news is that it does work, as you can see from this card. I'll show some more examples of it next week. I love finding something that I can do differently with a product and this technique went down very well at the weekend. This card and instructions will be going onto the Personal Impressions website very soon. The Butterfly and Keep On Smiling cards from my previous post are on there now if you'd like to have a go at making them.
I met lots of very friendly, excited and lovely people at the event, and special thanks must go to Stella, who presented me with the lovely bracelet that you can see here. Stella said that she had seen it and thought of me....it's really lovely as the charms are things like scissors, crayon, paint tube, stapler etc...just perfect! Stella also gave me the box of chocs to give to David - how lovely, especially as we have never met before. Thank you again Stella! On the left of them, is a gift that I was given by Glennis, who had come all the way from New Zealand. As you can see it is a handmade gift box that contained a bar of NZ chocolate...though it looks like a gold bar and seemed almost as heavy! Thank you Glennis, welcome to my blog and I hope you are enjoying all the lovely things you bought.
Next are some ATC's which were swapped with me..... .....clockwise from the top left, they are "Aargh! Who's drinking all our water?" by Connie, "The Witch's cat" by Barbara, "Time Flies" by Michelle and "Optique" by Maggie. I think you'll be amazed when I tell you that Michelle had never made an ATC but was so inspired on Saturday that she went home and made her first one ever and I was the lucky recipient. Well done Michelle, it's really, really good.
Andy had a really busy time at the opposite end of the room to me....we hardly saw each other until about 3.30pm each day due to having crowds in there all day! Here's just one part of Andy's tables of samples, complete with Steampunk Time Machine, tea caddy, altered calendar and much more..... ......and here's the man himself, surrounded by more fabulous creations. I know that Andy had a great time meeting everyone and his fan club continues to grow! You can see lots of his inspirational techniques on his blog or on the PI website. I used some of Andy's stamps for the projects which I created for this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine. I created a false lid in the box and filled it with tickets, shells etc. The paper that I used to cover the surround was stamped with various Andy stamps. I made this matching card using the same stamps and Distress ink colours along with the Martha Stewart PAOTP classic butterfly punch and some Idealogy items. Hope you like them! Well, that was last weekend, and I have another busy weekend coming up. I shall be demonstrating on Sunday at the Suffolk Papercraft show on The Stamp Hut stand. This is in the Leisure Centre in Bury-St-Edmunds. Hope to see some of you there - don't forget to say hello!
Welcome to new followers and readers of my blog and I hope that you will enjoy my ramblings.
I am going to sign off now as Thomas will be waiting to come in for his "7pm on the dot" dinner! It's a few minutes after 7pm now, so I know I will get grumbled at!

Liverpool and Blackpool

But first, I wanted to let you know that Personal Impressions are now supplying the white card which I use with Distress inks in my demonstrations....hoorah! This 300 gsm cardstock is a superior quality which can take plenty of water being brushed onto it, making it perfect for the faux bleaching technique that I use to creat skies, trees, snow and general bleached out effects. I get lots of emails about the card I use, so I can now give a definitive answer! If you are interested in purchasing the card, ask your local craft shop if they can get it for you...the product number is PIP300CWH and any store that sells Personal Impressions products will be able to get it for you. Not only is it the perfect surface for Distress inks, it's also ideal for stamping onto as it is very smooth. It also works perfectly with Big n Juicy rainbow ink pads - I like to stamp a collage style image using Hydrangea, Vibrant Primary or whichever colourway you prefer, heat set the ink for a few seconds and then waterbrush over the surface to create a softly blended image. Imagine getting so excited over plain white card! Lol! (You know how it is though!)

Anyway, tomorrow I shall be at Crafty's in Liverpool, and have been busy with samples for this demonstration as well as for the Sunday at Burnside Garden Centre, Thornton, near Blackpool. I got a few new Martha Stewart punches and have a couple of quite simple cards to show you how pretty the punched designs are. This first one has a double border of the Four Petal Flower punch (punched through Best Creations adhesive glitter paper....how good are these punches?!). The new punch, though, is the Large Flower, M42-30004. I cut a strip of white card to fit down the right hand of the card (after placing a strip of my Red Gingham card and two thin strips of the red glitter paper) and punched a flower at either end before punching the centre one. This is a pop up style punch, so it only cuts part way through. I edged the petals using Barn Door Distress ink (I put paper beneath them to keep the rest of the card clean) and then stamped the sweet, delicate floral circles into the centres using Paula Pascual's stamp set "All Year Round" PPCSA6007...I couldn't believe how perectly they fitted! Paula's stamps are "just so". As I said, this is a very simple card as I wanted to show off the punched flowers - the effect is so pretty once the petals are lifted up. This punch is not a Christmas one, but I immediately thought that it would work as a Poinsettia type of embellishment. I punched six of them (Large Chrysanthemum Flower M42-30008) from white card and then gently swooshed with Fired Brick Distress ink. I made double flowers by adhering the centre with Glossy Accents (I recommend this when Distress ink has been applied to a surface as the ink tends to repel 3d Foam, DST etc) and I moved each top flower around a few mm to ensure that the petals didn't line up. A few spots of gold Stickles in each centre and a few upward flicks of the petals really gave them the festive feel. The card has my Holly cardstock, Vanilla Teddy topper and message from my "Ggggreat Christmas Words" stamp set. I smudged some more Fired Brick around too...well you have to really! I have more new punches, so I'll try to get some snaps of them this weekend. Lastly, here are a couple of Christmas tags that I made yesterday. The left one has Pine Needles and Fired Brick Distress inks blended over the tag (made from that brilliant card!) which I lightly spritzed with water for the snowy effect. I used two more of my new MS punches (nearly forgot about them!) the Postage Stamp M283006, and Medium Holly and Berries M232316. I love the dinky stamp punch. I cut two little festive images to fit within the stamps which I had lightly darkened with ink. I applied Crackle Accents once they were on the tag. I used a little piece of Tim's Symphony Tissue Tape to wrap around the tag near the base. An Adage Ticket, which I inked and spritzed and the numbers were some 3d card stickers which I applied red Stickles to. The holly was punched from Glitter adhesive paper from BC again. The words are stamped using an image from a lovely stamp set by Marion Emberson, which I will be using on Sunday - amongst other things! The main image from the set is the lovely swirling tree on the blue tag, as well as the message which I curved to fit the edge of the tag. The stamp set is called "Christmas Wishes" PICSA6160. I added punched holly again. Both tags have ribbons which I dyed using alcohol inks. Hope you like them! Well, time to relax for a while now. My bags are packed, I'm ready to go.....oh oh, I'll be bursting into song in a minute! So, I'll be back after the weekend with more photos - if I remember to take any! Have a great weekend whatever you are up to. Lindsay

Back in the North

Hello all, after a week of being in and near London, I'm home again and looking forward to a few weeks being in the North of England and not so much travelling. Having said that, I had a really fabulous time last week! On Wednesday I travelled down to the Capital and had an hour or so people watching in the sunshine outside Euston station while I was waiting to meet Amy, whose train was delayed for an hour. It was quite good fun imagining where people were going, who they were waiting to meet and so on, and the time went by quickly until lovely Amy arrived and we set off for our hotel. I was bunking on the sofa in Dawn's room that night! We had a trip to Harrods but, with prices like £7.95 for a pomegranate, £5.50 for a cabbage and £3.50 for half a pound of butter, you may guess that I didn't buy anything! I haven't been there since I was a little girl so it all looked very different and quite magnificent of course, but definitely only for window shopping! We went for a delicious Italian meal and then headed back for a good night's sleep as we had some very busy days ahead.

Next morning we drove to the Queen Elizabeth conference centre in Westminster where the QVC customer event was being held. I was hosting one of the make n take tables whilst, this time, Kanban were hosting the workshops. Below are Dawn and the very popular QVC presenter, Craig, who welcomed everyone and outlined the day's events. Then it was all systems go and it didn't stop until almost 6pm! I was featuring my new Christmas clear stamp sets along with Distress ink pads...showing that you can combine whimsical with more distressy techniques. This is my table before we got started...looks pretty messy already! I had eight or nine people (not all ladies!) at my table per sessions and each lasted around half an hour with more people standing behind chairs waiting to come on the next sessions, so the the pressure was on both for me and those who were trying to finish their cards! Great fun though, but very tiring as you may imagine.

Here is the wall at the side of my table, showing some general card samples using my new stamps. And here are just one, very cheerful group of ladies at my table. And there's my coffee and a biscuit which was one of three cups that I only took one sip of during the day! All the QVC customers who had come along were able to go around the tables and to the Kanban workshop, so there were things to make with the various companies and guests that are featured on the channel. My lovely friend Paula Pascual came along to see us all too - she had a great time as she was having a day off and a busman's holiday! There are some good pictures from the event on Paula's blog. After the first day finished we left everything just as it was and I went with Kathy and Jayne, from Personal Impressions, back to Jayne's house for the night. We had a lovely Indian takeaway that was super delicious and a good night's sleep was had by all! Next day was a repeat of the previous one except that Anthony was there instead of Craig. He made one lady's day by giving her a huge hug and she turned to jelly! I did have more photos of the event, but my camera has managed to spit them out somehow! Hello to all the ladies and gents who attended the event and hope you all had as much fun as I did. On Friday evening I had to hot tail it to the station to get the train to Horley as I was demonstrating at Crafts U Love there the following day. I just caught the train and it then sat there not moving an inch until way past the departure time....a voice then announced that they were very sorry for the delay, but there was no driver! That's a new one on me! Scurrying to a new, packed, train then ensued and I got to Horley quite a bit later than I should have.
However, my mood lifted when I arrived at the hotel as this was one where I had previously stayed, and had problems...after three emails to them were ignored I was finally contacted by the manageress who urged me to stay there again, assuring me that I'd be looked after. Well, as you can see from the picture below, I was upgraded to a "presidential suite" - just me in this huuuge room with a triple sized bed! I went down for dinner and, after I had eaten and had gone to pay, I was told that there was no charge and that I could also have a complimentary breakfast. Just shows it pays to be persistent if you have had a problem! Only thing was, I didn't sleep particularly well as I felt very odd being in such an enormous room on my own and the heavy wood panelling and the drapes over the bed kept making me think of haunted houses!My day at Crafts U Love was less frenetic than the two previous days and it was nice to be able to take time with everyone to show the techniques I was using. I've lost all the photos from that day but I'll be making samples this week, so will add some pictures before the weekend.
I decided to avoid the underground for my journey home, knowing there were engineering works going on, and I've experienced them before....having to walk down out of order escalators with heavy baggage is not something I enjoy! However, it turned out to be a bad decision as my alternative route took me over seven hours! It was almost a disaster, as I was very nearly robbed of my suitcase containing all my stamps, inks, card, pens etc. Two middle aged men with bikes were on one of my trains and their body language made me a little suspicious of them - thank goodness. My case was in the train doorway, there being no luggage areas on this local train, but I could keep an eye on it if I stood up. So, at each stop, I made sure that I could still see my bag. The two bicycle guys were being quite twitchy, moving their bikes about a lot and engaging with people "sorry dear, sorry about the bike", "can you get past okay" etc, but their body language was giving out bad signals to me. When they came to get off I looked up and my bag was not in sight! I jumped up and rushed to the doorway, only to see them, with bikes and my case on the platform!!! One of them said "Oh sorry hen, is this your bag?" (unbelievable). "Yes, it is my bag, and even if it wasn't, it certainly isn't yours is it?" One of them handed me my case back, the train doors closed and we set off agin. Very frustrating as I couldn't do anything else about it and, typically, there was no guard on the train to report them to. I felt extremely fortunate as I was a split second from losing all my stuff...mind you, I could have almost enjoyed imagining their faces when they unzipped my very heavy bag and found it contained....card, inkpads, stamps etc!!!
Yesterday was just for relaxing and watching the men's Wimbledon final. It was a pretty disappointing match, over in just three sets, but there was some great tennis nonetheless and I know that Paula and I were both very happy to see Rafa Nadal reclaim the championship title. He's a great role model with his very humble attitude and the respect he shows to everyone. A worthy winner.
Today I have been remaking a magazine project because the original one which I sent, by Special Delivery, never arrived. Needless to say, I shall be filling in a complaint form for that one! I read so many comments on blogs about the poor Post Office service...think we all have problems with it sometimes.
Well, the 20,000 visitor mark has almost been reached, so, as promised, I shall be giving away some blog candy very soon. I shall gather everything together, take a photo and post details very soon, so watch this space! So, I hope everyone had a good weekend, and got chance to enjoy the sunshine. I'll be back with candy soon! Lindsay

Dawn's Residential Weekend

Two posts in one night! I'll need to lie down in a darkened room after this one! Well, it was another busy weekend as I was one of the tutors at Dawn Bibby's residential weekend. It was a mixture of hard work and lots of fun, so all of us felt pretty shattered afterwards, including the seventy odd ladies who attended - I mean seventy odd as in number not as in "odd" ladies!!! On the Friday I was at the studio helping to prepare kits and let's just say that I don't want to see any more gilding flakes in a hurry! We went to the hotel to prepare and then meet and greet all the ladies and one or two husbands. It was a great start to the weekend as everyone got chance to chat and make friends and I got to meet up with a few people who I only see once or twice a year.

On Saturday it was a full day of workshops - here are the ladies on "my" table looking all fresh and ready to take on anything! It was a very intense day with so many projects for everyone to get through. I was joined by Heather in the afternoon, and she also helped the ladies at my table. She was joining us to demonstrate and host a table on Sunday - something new for Heather, so she did really well...knew she could do it! In the evening we had a lovely dinner and a fun evening, including dancing - here is my lovely friend Paula looking gorgeous and elegant as usual! And here are Dawn, with her lovely sister Rena, Rena's husband Stephen and Amy of course.

On Sunday, after a bad start for some of us....I overslept for the first time I can recall in years (!) myself, my sister Heather, Jo and Paula were demonstrating in the Design studio and in the afternoon we all hosted tables for everyone to come and have a go at various projects and techniques. Here are some of the ladies making Beeswax plaques at my, as usual, very messy table!

And here are some samples that I made using the Beeswax techniques...the blue plaque doesn't show up too well as the Perfect Pearls I smudged on there are reflecting the light back. The orange hanger has a set of chipboard wings that I cut in half and popped under the lady image. These and the ribbon hanger on the blue plaque are all held in place purely with the wax - no other adhesives required!

I had great fun creating the pieces and I'll be demonstrating the techniques at Dawn's studio this Sunday (all day) so if you fancy seeing the samples more closely then do come along. Everyone seemed to really enjoy using the wax as it is just so different and so easy to create great effects with. On this Ikea mirror frame I used scraps from a Victorian calendar along with some Maya Road chipboard flourishes. 'Scuse the fingerprints!

Well, I shall be demonstrating at C J Crafts in Edgely, Stockport on Friday, then teaching a fairy workshop at Dawn's on Saturday - we'll be making cards and a fairy in a jar! Then I'll be in store all day on Sunday too, so another busy weekend ahead.

If you would like to see more pictures from the weekend, then have a look at Heather's blog to see her fabulous beaded dragonflies and at Paula's blog to see the brilliant slide show that she has put together. Amy has also added photos on the Topaz Crafts website. I'll end with a big "hello!" to all the ladies that I met at the weekend and hope that you really enjoyed the whole experience. Lindsay

Trade show, telly and time flies!

This could be a loooong post! Lots of pictures to share, well, a few of them anyway, and tales from the trade show and the telly studios. The time just flew by and it all seemed to be over as fast as it began. As this is the one time of the year that I get to meet colleagues and friends I always hope the time will go by slowly, but it always races faster than ever. So, the first picture is of some of the samples that I made for the shows, all piled up and ready to pack. There are cards, boxes, candles, chocolates and more! This was the first time that I had to prep QVC samples at the same time as those for Stitches, so it was a slog to get everything made.

David drove me down to Birmingham and checked me into the hotel where we met my good friend and colleague, Jan, who is Personal Impressions area manager for Scotland and North England. We then went to the NEC where the PI team were already very busy setting up the stand which is one of the biggest in the show. David and I said goodbye and then Jan and I began helping to get things ready....or so we thought! Ranger and PI had collaberated in two half day workshops for our customers and there were just two places available as the ladies who had booked had not been able to get there. So Jan and I were able to go along and enjoy the three hour afternoon session. Did we feel guilty about leaving everyone else to set up?.....er....no!! The first hour was with Suze Weinberg using the Melt Pot and we made a selection of UTEE pieces. Next was Claudine Hellmuth and we used her new range of acrylic paints, mediums and sticky backed canvas. Lastly was Tim Holtz with alcohol inks and the new yummy Distress ink pad colours. We inked, painted, melted, glued and distressed and ended up with a stack of samples which we then attached to framed mirrors which we had colour washed. As you can see, the results were fabulous and this little beauty will be accompanying me to my Ranger demonstrations. The great thing is that, even though I am a "certified Ranger educator" (no clever remarks please!) and demonstrate the products regularly, I still picked up new ideas and had my enthusiasm tweaked up a few more notches! On a more serious note, I had been concerned about a magazine project which I saw somewhere, some time ago, and have noticed people on various forums saying that they were going to try the technique themselves .....this was using alcohol inks to tint UTEE in the Melt Pot. I asked Suze about this and she confirmed that this is a complete no no. So, please, if anyone is thinking of using the Melt Pot, you must only use To Dye For inks to tint the UTEE as they have been specially formulated for the purpose. Even if other inks appear to "work" in the Melt Pot, fumes are invisible and could cause problems. Okay - back to the fun now!
Here is one of the cards I made using some of my new stamp designs - this is a quirky bird from the "Knotty & Friends" clear set, and there is another set of them called, wait for it....."Trotty Lotty Botty"! I should explain - when I design I give working titles to each drawing and sometimes the names are used but often they are given new ones. When I did the birdies I started using rhyming names and was running out by the last couple, so we ended up with the above! I like it that PI have a sense of humour though, and it was a talking point at the show! The background for this card was made with Ink Potion no 9, gloss card and dye re inkers. Lovely bright shades. I was teaching versions of this card in my workshops on Sunday and Monday and demonstrating for the rest of the time. It's when I get to see all the retailers from all over the country, and overseas, in the one place, so a lot of catching up goes on as you may imagine! yOn Sunday night was our traditional, annual night out at the Wing Wah Chinese restaurant. It's always a real hoot with around twenty five or so of us having a great buffet meal, chatting, laughing and hopefully not talking shop too much! One of the traditions is the "initiation" of any new guests at our tables...a nice, if slightly embarrassing initiation! There is a sudden burst of the Happy Birthday tune and then the waiters approach the newbie with a large ice swan filled with ice cream, surrounded by fruit and topped with a giant sparkler. Everyone joins in with singing and clapping as the recipient sits there, rather surprised as it isn't their birthday of course. Daft, but fun! This year it was Claudine (Helmuth) who was our newbie....that's me behind the sparkler! Claudine loved the surprise - I think! At our table we chatted about our pets, present and past, and Claudine and I found that we both have nightmares about our long tresses being cut off! Next day it was back to work with workshops, demonstrations and business meetings. Most of us went without lunch after the big meal and then a good breakfast, but ny 4pm we were all beginning to feel ravenous and the show goes on till 6pm. So, it was time for me to break open the emergency cupcakes! (I had made one of my boxes featuring cup cake images and there was a cake inside it, so I brought extras with me in case that one got pinched. Here are Elaine from PI and Joella who had come over from Pergamano to be with us on the stand.both tucking into a tiny cupcake each. Elaine is one of the most wonderful people I have been lucky enough to know, an absolute treasure.
Here are two ladies that you will instantly recognise! Suze, Claudine and Tim were all demonstrating on our stand throughout the weekend, but I really didn't get much time to watch them. Managed to snap this though just as Suze was packing her things away. What dazzling smiles they both have and they are two really individual ladies.In the afternoon, as I was demonstrating, there was a hand on my shoulder and there was Tim with a gift for me....a full set of the new Distress ink pads! Can't wait until they are in all the stores so I can use them on my demonstrations

Here is a not very good picture of the Ranger gang getting ready to head down to QVC on Monday afternoon. Tim was launching his TSV at midnight, so we all promised we would saty up to watch that night and wished them all well. By the way, Mario (Tim's wonderful assistant) was actually wearing long jeans as opposed to his trademark knee length shorts....mind you, we did have 4" of snow in Birmingham!Monday evening was spent having a quiet (ish!) meal at the hotel and then lots of telling of stories and laughter to keep us going until we could watch Tim on QVC at midnight. We all huddled round a laptop as they couldn't change the channel on the big tv in the hotel bar. Hope we didn't make too much noise as we were cheering for Tim of course! Not that he needed our good wishes as, of course, his products had been so long awaited! Below is a picture from Tuesday morning which shows Malcolm, and a huuuge cake that was given to him as it was his 40th anniversary with PI! Dawn mentioned him on air and it was announced at the show too! I made a card which we all signed of course. Next to Malcolm is Kathy and behind her is one of my best friends, Jan. We are like the terrible twins when we get together! Here are snaps of a couple of the cards I made with some of my new stamps. I'll post more new images of these as and when! Thoughts of an exotic summer amidst all the snow here! On Tuesday afternoon myself, Rachel Grieg, Shari Carole and her husband Tom all set off on the train for London and QVC. Rachel and Shari were snapping away as we drove through London in the cab! Look who was in the Green room when we arrived - Tim was relaxing before going back on air. We had to sort out all our samples and get organised ready for the "All Star Stamping " show at 7pm. Here is Amy - with frog slippers! - taking my picture taking hers. I liked the way that she matched the collage on the wall! Amy is another of my favourite people - supportive, funny, kind and also a really great mum.Next you can see Shari and Rachel setting up their demonstrations very quietly! If you can imagine, there were about seven of us all, including Paula and me, setting up in silence as we were in the live studio - well, trying to anyway! As you can see, there wasn't much room!All too soon we were trying to get ready to go on air, slapping make up on....not even time to do my nails after all the inkiness of the weekend....getting changed an miked up. I was up first and, though I felt fine all day I have to admit that I did feel rather disorientated once I was on! It was a combination of the small demonstration area, everyone else being in the studio watching me, having Dawn on one side and Debbie Flint on my other side....oh well, I know I'll be able to take whatever is thrown at me next time! Thankfully all my stamps and the inks and glitters that I was using just about sold out, so that made me feel better! Dawn is absolutely fantastic as she can find the word that has mysteriously escaped one's brain, fill in the silences that you may experience and generally guide you through. I don't think that everyone appreciates how very hard Dawn works and what a lot of pressure is on her to make everything flow smoothly. This craft day was her first without Jj to help her for seven years, so it was even more stressful than usual. I know that we all were amazed at how she keeps going for a whole craft day and Tim and Mario were very complimentary about what a star she had been.

The gorgeous Paula was on after me and she had no time even to demonstrate as her stamps sold so fast. I was thrilled as these were Paula's first stamps on air, and I know how it feels when people love them. Paula primped my hair for me too just before I went on - thanks Paula! Next came Shari from Hero Arts, who was on TV for the first time...who would have guessed? And finally Rachel, from Darkroom Door who was also a TV first timer and sailed through as if she had been doing it for years! It was over very, very quickly and then we went back to the Green room to watch Tim's final show. After that we helped to clear the studio and got chance to snap a few more photos. So, here are Mario, Dawn and Tim - doing his pirate face - very sultry! And now me with Dawn and Tim.When we had all cleared up we left Dawn, Amy and Paula to carry on the hard work and the Ranger boys took Shari, Tom, Rachel and me out for a truly delicious Italian meal. We were there for so long that we had to ring the hotel to make sure that they held our rooms for us and we disn't check in until 12.40am! Well, you have to make the most of the good times and it was a great ending to a very busy few days. I'll post more sample pics as soon as I can, but I have another busy weekend coming up in Chorley and Cockermouth so have to make some more cards tomorrow. Hope to see you at one of the venues! Lindsay