Going underground

Well, I will be tomorrow. My favourite form of travel...the London tube....not! I did have a look at getting down to the Craft Barn without going through London but the journey time went up to over seven hours - gulp! So, Euston and Victoria it is and I shall just have to try and stay upright with my case as the regular commuters shove past me on the escalators, tutting loudly as they do so - or worse!

I'm just having a quick coffee beak before I carry on with last minute putting together of a few more samples - I won't tell you what time I started this morning but David would have called it "daft o'clock"! So, I thought I'd take the chance to sign in and show a few piccies from the last week.

On Saturday I was at Sir Stampalot in Peterborough...no photos as I didn't take my camera. Had a great day though and a big hello to everyone who came along to the demo. A special thank you to Linda for the lovely plant that you brought me...I got it home safely and it's now happily planted in one of my tubs. A big hello to Stephanie too, and thank you for your lovely email. And I have to mention Margaret who attended my workshop at Cutting Edge Crafts in Skegness and who came to Sir Stampalot to see me again. She told me off as I'd cut her head off in a photo I posted here, so, I promised to make amends in my next post! So, Margaret, especially for you....

....complete with your finished wall plaque....and face!
I've been working in the conservatory this week, which is becoming increasingly tricky due to the amount of space being taken up by the jungle which is growing inches by the day!

The large leaves at the front are on the courgette plants which I have three of...should be enough for me, Heather and a few friends too!At the back are a couple of the sweetcorn which I think will have to go outside before too long. 

Of course, if I'm in the conservatory I'm never alone as one or both of my furry friends will be keeping me company. If I put any kind of box or bag on the floor it's only a matter of time before Tara has to try it out for size and she was quite impressed by the laundry basket but even more by one of my pens! Not really helping there Tara!

Thomas was happier just to lie around napping...poor Tom had worms last week - ugh! However, some drops from the vet sorted him out in double quick time and he's absolutely fine again now.

Mind you, he is sulking a bit....he always knows when I've got a trip coming up no matter how hard I try not to give any clues!
Here are some pictures of what I've been up to with my stamps and inks! This first one was made using two layers of corrugated card that I scruffed up a bit, painted and buffed with Viva Inca Gold wax. I used some burlap (from a brilliant DCWV burlap stack) which I frayed and generally duffed up! The figure, heart and words are from my "Frayed Around the Edges" Doo Lally Pip stamp set.The heart was stamped onto some linen which I cut out and frayed a little. I've coloured some nylon ribbon with Dylusions inks and heated it so it went curly wurly!

 Next is another Doo Lally Pip character who's proved to be my most popular from the latest releases. He, his dog and the words are from the "Sartorial Elegance" set. I used a Kraft card blank which I used a Crafter's Workshop template to stencil through with Vintage Photo Distress ink before cutting chunks out and sanding the edges for a really scruffy look.

 I still had one of the little frames that Heather gave me last year, so I decided to use my "Dreams have Wings" set to create a picture. The background is just white card lightly sprayed with Dylusions inks...Squeezed Orange, Cherry Pie and Slate Grey - the grey is a fabulous colour. I simply stamped the birds in Archival black and then overstamped with just the twigs and leaves without re-inking to give some depth. I used a white gel pen to add highlights and the moon. The frame looked too plain so I stamped the extra bird and the words, again using Archival.

Well, I'll have these, and much more, with me this weekend at The Craft Barn, so hope to see lots of you there. Looking forward to the all day workshop on Friday too....if you're on the class then make sure you get a good night's sleep as we'll be hitting the ground running with lots of techniques and processes to get through!
Christina from A Maze of Memories sent me this link to the AMOM blog, featuring some of my Zendoodle designs...thanks Christina! When you stop and think, how amazing is all the technology that allows us all to keep in contact, share ideas and photos....quite mind blowing really.....well, to a non techy person like me anyway!
A big thank you to everyone who showed concern over my post root canal problems. The latest update is that I saw the dentist again yesterday and they are now referring me to a neurologist as half of my face is still numb - it feels very strange and putting lipstick on when you can't feel half of you lip is pretty tricky! I may have to wait up to two months for an appointment and the problem may, hopefully, right itself before then. Fingers crossed.
I was glad to see the end of May with all it's sad memories. Again, thank you for the lovely messages that were sent to me last week, they were really appreciated.
Well, I had better get back to that pile of card, stamps, inks and general mess in the conservatory! The coffee has been drained so I'm sure the caffeine will be kicking in shortly and will keep me going! Looking forward to a really busy and fun weekend and hope everyone enjoys whatever it is that you're up to over the next few days.

A swell time!

Morning readers! And a special welcome to new followers. It was so dank and cold when I got up at quarter to six this morning that I put the heat on to take the chill off. Now it's blazing sunshine so the doors are all wide open and Thomas and Tara are doing their rounds of inspecting the garden. No time for me to get on top of the weeds that are fast turning into triffids again though, as I need to crack on with getting samples made as well as working on new stamp designs.

I had a lovely day at Inspirations in Preston meeting lots of very keen crafters. As well as sharing our enthusiasm for all things creative we managed to fit in some chat about our cats, gardens, families and quite a few other things! It was great to see new faces as well as familiar friends...thank you again Jacqui and Christine for the cosy socks which are hilarious and will make me smile every time I wear them! Thanks too to Pam for the banana which kept me going when I didn't take a lunch break - your cat, Tiny, is gorgeous and I love the name!!! 

It was very nice to be only a fifteen minute train journey from home at the end of the day and I was back in the house by 5.30pm along with a tasty dinner from the new Chinese takeaway that's just been opened nearby - it was delicious and I didn't feel too guilty as I'd hardly eaten anything over the previous few days.

Thankfully, although one side of my face had swelled out so much that my mouth was distorted (!) the throbbing pains had lessened and Karen and her team kept me topped up with hot drinks which really helped too. I really appreciate the kind comments and suggestions that have been sent to me regarding the post root canal problems I've had. I still have a swollen, numb jaw and yesterday I woke up to find I couldn't speak! Unfortunately, this meant I couldn't announce the hymns in Church in the morning and I also had to pull out of doing the readings at a service that evening too. My voice has come back, though it's pretty croaky and intermittent...roll on Tuesday so I can get in touch with my dentist and, hopefully, get this darned problem finally sorted!

On Friday I'll be travelling down to Peterborough for my demo day at Sir Stampalot on Saturday.

Looking forward to this as it's been a while since I was at Janice and Andy's lovely store. Hope to see lots of you there!

I'll be working with my latest stamp sets including the Zendoodle range as well as using Dylusions ink sprays to create some great backgrounds and starting points for doodling. It will be a colourful (and doubtless quite messy....!) day.

Well, the morning coffee has been drunk, the antibiotic pill has been taken and it's time to get on with work, so I had better sign off for now. Enjoy the holiday monday everyone.

Sir Stampalot

Just a short post today before I get down to some drawing. I'm off to Peterborough tomorrow for my weekend at Sir Stampalot - bags all packed and samples made! On Saturday I'll be demonstrating at the shop...have lots of stamps by myself and Andy Skinner as well as new Graphic 45 and My Mind's Eye papers. Then, on Sunday it's a full day's workshop where we'll be making cards and tags and using all sorts of things from alcohol inks to stamps, papers to mediums and Distress inks. Should be a busy, but fun day!
I'll take some photos to post here next week and don't forget to leave a comment after my Candy post (further down) before 7pm on Monday to make sure that you're in the draw.
Meanwhile, we've had some torrential rain here over the last few days which, thankfully, has not disturbed the freshly planted seedlings outside...however, somebody has been scraping away at the Sweet Peas despite my sticking a defensive barrage of canes in the soil! Don't know who the culprit is but have my suspicions Thomas, so, once I've reinstated the poor plants it will be time for chicken wire. Let battle commence!
Well, I had better crack on with those drawings now, as the hours just seem to be flying by lately. Hope to see some of you this weekend and, if you want to check if there are any places available for Sunday's workshop, just contact Sir Stampalot directly. A bit previous I know, but have a great weekend everyone.

Passport to Peterborough

Just a quick post tonight as I've packed my case and am all set for a relaxing evening before my trip down to Peterborough tomorrow. I haven't been there before, apart from changing trains at the station sometimes, nor have I been to Sir Stampalot, where I'll be on Sunday, so I am doubly looking forward to this weekend. I have heard nothing but good things about this store and the lovely people who run it, so I'm sure it will be a terrific day.
I've been making a few tags using Andy Skinner's stamps..... ......as well as cards using my new stamps. This one is lucky to survive as I had placed it on the box by the window whilst the Stickles dried and, I can only assume in an effort to impersonate a Magpie, Fred, our favourite pigeon, decided it looked rather attractive and decided to walk on it! Luckily it escaped reasonably unharmed! He must have taken a fancy to the sparkly glitter as he was gazing at it for some time before he took the plunge! Here's another card using my snowy scene stamps. The idea with these is that you can create many different scenes from the one set. I used the bare tree stamp in the set to create the twiggy shrubbery on the right and just added some red dots to the branches to create the winter berry look. This stamp set, along with the one that includes the snowmen from the previous card, were featured on the last hour of QVC craft day yesterday, though if you blinked you may well have missed them! If you'd like to see the sets, just type my name into the search bar on the QVC website and they will come up as two options.
However, for those of you who are coming along to Sir Stampalot on Sunday, I'll be showing you some different ideas for using them. If you're a follower or reader of my ramblings, please do say "hello" and introduce yourself! Hope everyone has a great weekend, whatever the weather may bring.

Welcome new followers and readers...

I just wanted to say a warm welcome to new followers and readers of my blog (including Lesley, who you can see a piccie of in my previous post, with the wonderful card that she made) and hope that you'll enjoy my ramblings, both arty and otherwise!

Here's a picture of my latest projects which feature in this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine (October issue which is out now - no, I don't understand the magazine dates either!). In the mag they have showed the snowflake decoration from the other side, which has a very pretty pearl in the centre, so I thought I'd show you it from the front. Obviously, it's meant to be seen from either side, so it can be hung up. I used a Martha Stewart edger punch to make the snowflake loops. The penguin stamps are two of my wooden backed rubber designs. For the ladies who were asking me about penguin stamps last week, I do also have some in clear sets too - they are available through QVC as kit number 590197....very small picture below! There are also polar bears in there, some verses and trees - if you look very hard! lol! I don't know if they will be featuring on craft day (from midnight tonight through to midnight on Thursday) but I will definitely have some of my new Christmas designs on in the 23rd hour of the event! Looks like there is going to be an interesting mix of products on over the day, so I'll be sneaking a look between working on some new drawings.
For pusscat lovers, here is a picture of our cheeky Thomas with a new blanket that he was given by two lovely friends of ours..........as you can see, he was pretty impressed and gave it a looong test drive! He sends his thanks!

Well, that's all for now folks, just a quick hello and to say that I hope to see some of you at Sir Stampalot this coming Sunday. It will be my first visit there and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll finish with a Happy Birthday wish to my sister, Heather, who is 27 again today!!!
PS I am working on new questions for my next big quiz for which, as usual, there will be a prize. So, start getting your brain cells in training!