Arm ache

If anyone has any good tips to stop aching arms they would be gratefully received. To be more accurate, one aching arm caused by holding up a puppet at full stretch for nearly ten minutes...doesn't sound very long, but believe you me, it felt it!

I was up at church this evening for a "dress rehearsal" for Sunday's puppet story - dress rehearsal as in, with puppets, behind screen and four page script pinned up at eye level. We are using new puppets this time which have sticks attached to their hands, so there's much more to think about. However, that's nothing compared to the old arm ache! We felt we had no muscles left in our biceps when we'd finished! Fingers crossed that we get through the performance on Sunday okay - I'll show you my new character after the weekend.

Good thing that I made the decision to use my left arm though as I have been busy drawing, colouring and cutting out all day using mostly my right hand! I got quite a lot done and yesterday, after we'd been to see our mum, Heather stayed for a few hours and we did some colouring together.....it was like being kids again! We sat at either side of the table with all my pens laid out between us - great fun!

Well, I'm off for an early night now in readiness for another busy day tomorrow and to give my arm a rest!

Madness!

I can hardly believe that "the government" are prepared to destroy vast areas of beautiful countryside and villages, let alone spend 33 billion pounds (and we know that final costs are always far more than estimates in these things) on a crazy project that will disrupt travel whilst it's being built.....all for the sake of cutting a bit of time off rail journeys.

33 billion pounds works out at around £500 per head of the population. Having just travelled through some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain, some of which would be affected, the idea of swathes being cut through it is extremely distressing and I can only imagine how horrified anyone living along the proposed routes must be. 

Have we really become so obsessed with doing everything immediately that an obscene amount of money, and devastation that can't be counted in money, is seen as worth paying, just to cut journeys by half an hour or so? It's utter madness.

As I heard someone on a radio comedy show remark this week - just get an earlier train.

It was more than all white!

Oh dear, my puns are getting worse! But I did see a heck of a lot of snow over Friday and Saturday, as well as being in Yorkshire, the white rose county of course.

Friday (at least here) was bone chillingly cold and I stopped off at the shops before I got to the railway station to get myself a warm hat....I looked ridiculous, but my head and my ears were warm. I thought I'd pose in it when I got home from church today.......

 .....so you could have a titter at my expense!

Anyway, armed with woolly hat, scarf, gloves and fleecy jacket I made the journey over to Hessle - it was a rather more complicated trip than it should have been due to the derailed train that had burst into flames in Manchester last week causing lots of disruption to the routes. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in that incident, but there's been quite a lot of track damage I think.

I didn't take my camera this weekend as I was quite loaded up, but I was really wishing that I had as the views from the train were fantastic. All the train journeys through Yorkshire are spectacular anyway, but with the deep snow it was all the more enchanting. I would have liked a picture of the two huge snowmen in a field, each wearing a traffic cone hat!

Once I reached Hessle I checked into my B&B which was a lovely country house. I wandered into the village to get a bite to eat - I must admit that I wasn't too keen on having to cross the footbridge over the motorway - makes me shudder to think of it...I almost had to close my eyes when the lorries were whizzing by below me! I was a little early for any of the restaurants but I found a pub that was serving food. I'm not a pub fan at the best of times, but being female and alone in a pub is not my favourite thing at all. I was all set to just eat my meal quietly and go, but I was chatted up (!) by one of the locals! No matter what I said he didn't take the hint, so I had to endure his company whilst I ate and then make my excuses and a sharp exit! Guaranteed to give one indigestion! And no, I wasn't wearing the hat!

Next morning I made my way to Studio Craftique which is a new shop, opened by Amanda and her husband just three weeks ago. I was made really welcome...including by Bobby, their gorgeous five month old black labrador (who took off with my hat at the end of the day!!). Hello to all the ladies, as well as a few men and some youngsters who came along to the demonstration. Everyone was really friendly, so it made for a very enjoyable first demo of the year. I even had a surprise visit from my friend Lynnda who I have known for years but haven't seen for almost a year, so that was the icing on the cake!

I'm sure that Studio Craftique is going to be a very popular destination for crafters in the area, as Amanda is running regular workshops and demonstrations and she's really keen to get everyone stamping and inking and journalling! I hope to have some photos of the day if Amanda's able to email them to me.

Well, the day flew by and soon I was making my way home again, thankfully in less arctic conditions than the previous day! A quick microwaved meal (slap wrists!) was in order so that I wasn't eating too late and then I had a good night's sleep - you can't beat your own bed can you!

This morning the usual church service was held, instead, in the primary school hall as it was "education Sunday". It was a lovely service with lots of cheerful music and the children singing and doing the readings. I did have a wobbly moment though, when they sang (very beautifully I have to say) the Bette Midler song, The Rose, which has such meaningful words. However, it was, all in all, a very uplifting morning and I was able to spend some time chatting over coffee with new found friends.

So, it's now the final push to get everything ready for Stitches in a few weeks. Lots to do, but it's always fun to be working with new products. I must go now as Tara is hinting, very heavily, that she wants to play, so I'll go and throw her toys around for her to chase!

Oh, and don't forget what they say....if you want to get ahead...get a hat!

Off on my travels again

I'm all packed for my trip to Yorkshire tomorrow. I'm not setting off too early but it's nice to have all the gear organised and ready to go. I'm travelling to Hessle, which is about ten miles from Beverley, for the demonstration at Studio Craftique on Saturday. I've just taken delivery of some Dylusions stamp sets and will be using these, as well as some of my Off the Wall designs, all brought together with ink sprays and other Ranger goodies. It was touch and go, as the bad weather held up the parcel so I was very relieved when the postie walked up the path!

Here are a couple of "journal pages" that I made with a selection of the Dylusions images (they are loose pages so that I can leave them at the store after my demo). I really love the birds...especially once I'd put their hats on....

......please excuse the vile backdrop! I was rushing to take pictures at the last minute before packing them away and I just grabbed the nearest thing...a manky old cushion from my workroom...yeck! Anyway, I used Dylusions ink sprays directly onto the card, lightly spritzed with water and dried with kitchen towel. I spritzed water onto the surface of the template (CW Mini Gears), pressing onto the surface, lifting and drying to give a negative "bleached" pattern.

The leaves and the coloured fronds are from the Doodle Parts stamp set. I stamped some birds in black directly onto the surface and others onto white card that I sprayed with more inks. I stamped, coloured and cut out the hats and stuck these onto the birds - don't they look jolly! The birds and hats are from the Birds on a Wire set. The phrase is from a Dylusions set called The Right Words.

The next page features stamps from the DooLally Doris set, also from the Dylusions range.

 Done in a similar way to the birds page, but no stencilling this time. Instead, I stamped the leaves with black Archival ink and then bleached them with water before adding a light green to colour them. I took a small strip of stiff card and concertina folded it before using it behind the head to give a wobbly effect!

Finally, I just have another tag to show you, featuring my Hopeful Harriet stamp set along with wings from my Steamed Up set. I used TH tissue wrap around the tag before spritzing with inks...the surface isn't very absorbent so I dab the inks with tissue and layer them for a subtly effect. 

 I've given Harriet the top hat from the same stamp set and the words are from my I Can Fly set. I was really happy with the way the colours came together on this tag...nice when you're pleased with something you've made isn't it?!

Well, that's all the pictures for tonight and I will report back after the weekend. Oh yes, I forgot to say how the British Gas visit went. The two guys came, drilled holes in the walls and pumped the insulation in....all of which made one heck of a noise for over an hour and meant that every door in the house was open to accomodate all the leads and pipes. As it was snowing pretty heavily at the time it was somewhat chilly! Poor Tara and Thomas were beside themselves - Tara buried herself in her bolt hole of the airing cupboard and Thomas, after hiding under a chair for five minutes decided he was better off out of it and scooted out of the house. He was obviously keep an eye on matters though, as he came back about two minutes after they'd left! Tara soon came round as well, but they got some extra treats last night to make up for their traumatic day!

So, I can report that my room thermometers are showing higher temperatures since yesterday...I think it's still as cold outside so I'm hoping that the insulation is already helping to keep the house a little toastier. Here's hoping anyway!

Posting break

I'm just taking a much needed coffee break (Irish Cream flavour!) so I thought I'd post some pictures that I just took while the light's good. It's still really cold, but the snow has gone and it's sunny and dry.

First, here are a few more of my new stamp sets, as promised. This one is "Floral Wishes" (CICSA6033)....

 ....not a quirky set this time, but I don't think you can have too many floral stamps!

This set is called "How much love?" (CICSA6061) and is another from the Doo-Lally-Pip collection....

....no hats this time, but she has some birds to keep her company...I love bird stamps as much as flowers!

This next one is a baby set....babies are a bit of an unknown quantity to me I have to admit! So, whilst I'm sure they are little crying monsters that keep parents awake at night I just went for cute ones! This set is called "Little Baby" (CICSA6030).....

 .....the little chap(pess) holding the message can be made to grab anything by cutting out the head, feet and hands and popping them in situ around whatever you want.

Well, just time to show you three tags I made this morning brfore I drain my coffee mug and get back to work! I've taken these in close up this time.........

 

....the first one uses my "Princess Tippy Toes stamp set. I also used a Dylusions setncil to add the stars in the background. I used my Glue n Seal technique to protect the stamped and coloured character before blending Distress inks over the tag. This also allows the stencil to be used right at the end as the ink that's on the image can be simply wiped away. 

This next tag looks a lot more blood red than it really is! It's using my "Behind the Mask" stamp set.

 

I used the same techniques as before but I cut the mask image out and threaded some strands cut from dyed ribbon through the sides before adding it to the tag. As you'll no doubt be aware, 3d foam isn't too fond of sticking to distress inked backgrounds, so I always add a blob of Glossy Accents to the foam before sticking it down.

Finally, here's another tag using my "Moochin'" stamps....I think I'm going to enjoy working with this character a lot as he's suitable for lots of things and, if you're a bit pushed for time, he really can be coloured and cut out quite quickly.

 

This time I gave him the crown from the set - but I made sure it went on at a wonky angle! The background of this tag is Liquid Pearls pounced over the surface with a scrunched up piece of shrink wrap - once dried with the heat tool I rubbed Distress inks over the surface to create the effect. You can't tell here, but it gives a lovely pearly shimmer to the surface. 

I punched two holes through the tag using a pencil, scruffed the card up a bit and then added more ink as well as around the scuffed edges of the tag itself. A scrap of dictionary paper that has been spritzed with Dylusions inks gave him something to stand on. The message is from my "I've had enough" set and I added some of Tim's paper cord through the tag.

I can't put off getting back to work any longer now! So, I will drain my, now cold, coffee and carry on! Tomorrow will be a rather disrupted day as British Gas are coming to drill holes in the walls and pump the cavity insulation in. I've been told to take anything down that might fall off due to the strong vibrations, so I think I will have two very stressed cats by the end of the day. Still, it might be a bit warmer! 

Tomorrow night I'm off up to church just to look at the new puppets that have been purchased and to get some new scripts for Lynne and I to work on in time for the next production. I'll let you know how I get on!

Right, back to work now!

In the white garden

Bit of a play on words in my post title this evening.....I admit that I do know who Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy and Macca Pacca are even though I don't have any children! Derek Jacobi's voice is enough reason to watch "In The Night Garden"!

Anyway, I don't have any pictures of tags etc to show today as it's been too dull to take decent photos of them in any detail, so will try again tomorrow. 

I woke up this morning to a snow covered garden so I thought I'd show you a few pictures that I took through the window of the birds gathering at my cafeteria....today's delights were brown bread, broken biscuits, cheese, pear and apple cores and sunflower hearts.

This was quite an unusual sight, though you may have to enlarge the picture to see them.....

 ......yes, two robins there! They are normally very territorial and I usually only see the one on the left. The slightly smaller one on the wall was really pushing his luck, but they more or less tolerated each other.The bird table looks a fright! It's an old one that dad made that I can see from my work room, but I now have (courtesy of Joanne for my birthday) a new one that is at the side of the house where I can see it when I'm in the conservatory.

Inter species tolerance here......

 .......you should be able to spot "my" robin, a great tit and, just peeking through the twigs, a blue tit! They look as if they are saying "less of the photography, just get more food out!".

And this was the sight that met me this morning when I let Tara and Thomas out - yes, they did go out in the snow! There's my lovely bird table...as you can see from the lack of footprints, I hadn't ventured out to put the food on it at this point!

I'll post some crafty pics tomorrow if the light allows. Thank you for everyone's comments about my new stamps, and stay warm and safe...it feels like it might freeze tonight so I reckon it's going to be a slippery day tomorrow. 
You might like this shot of Tara doing that thing that cats find fun....walking upside down under a chair! 

Very ladylike view of her bum! Really!!!

...and more stamps

Thank you for the lovely comments about the new stamp sets. They are much appreciated. Drawing the designs is a very solitary thing, so it's always good to get positive feedback when I finally get to share them! I was drawing again today, but have had to call it a day as the temperature here has plummeted again and my fingers are complaining.....they're prone to the cold when I'm doing fiddly pen work. I may well get some tags or cards made later instead - much more movement in that to keep the circulation flowing!

So, as promised, here are a few more of my new stamp sets, all of which will be available very soon from Personal Impressions stockists.

This one is "Daahling" (CICSA6059)...you know the type! Lol! Again, from my Doo-Lally-Pip range.

Next is this set called "Pooch" (CICSA6065) with a rather dopey character and his grumpy bulldog. This set is also from the Doo-Lally-Pip range.

 This next one is a set that's in my Lindsay Mason designs collection.....

...it's called "Too Hoots" (CICSA6035) and I really enjoyed working on this set which took ages to draw with all the dot details! I'm a big owl fan and I thought it would be fun to have some patterned ones for a change.

Also from my Lindsay Mason range, this set is called "Funtastic Robots" (CICSA6034)......

......I think this set will be great for boys (and men's!) cards as well as journalling, hence the relative titles. Incidentally, I usually do both handwritten and typed word options for the stamps and then PI decide which to use, so I normally don't know which version will be in the sets until they are on the website!

I'll finish today's previews with another phrases set, also in my general Lindsay Mason designs range. This set is called "I've had enough" (CICSA6037)....I know the feeling!

 It has a mix of fonts and the "this is me" words are individual stamps so that you can space them out however you wish. I used a couple of the stamps from this set on the tags I showed yesterday.

Well, that's it for today! I'll try and post again tomorrow if I get the chance.

I'm hoping it's not too slippery tomorrow morning as I have to walk into the village to get to church...I may take dad's old walking stick if it is icy! Then it will be getting home and warmed up again with some lunch before cracking on with work. I know I keep harping on about the temperature, but I can't recall ever feeling as generally cold as I do these days! Bbbbrrrrr! I think there may be a nice hot bubble bath on the menu tonight - lovely!