Catching up

Hello all, it was a busy weekend. On Saturday I was at Reams in Derby, where it was a lovely busy day with a lot of fun thrown in. When I was leaving I was given this lovely bunch of flowers as a thank you...how nice was that? Excuse the state of the board that the vase was standing on whilst I took the picture...it's one of my workboards and very inky and painty! On Sunday I was at The Craft Room in Garners Garden Centre for another busy, and very hot day. Hello to all the lovely ladies and gents who came along and welcome to my new blog followers too!

I haven't forgotten about the quiz by the way, and will be posting it straight after this. I had planned to do add it on Monday, but got asked to do some last minuted work which tied up my time. So, get your thinking caps at the ready!

I have updated my demonstration and workshop dates at the left, so do check those out. As far as workshops go, I'll be at Topaz on Sunday 1st May where we'll be making cards with a "Spring into Summer" theme in the morning, and "Steampunk cards and tags" (round two!) in the afternoon...there have been lots of requests for more of the Stempunk theme, so I aim to please! To book either of these, just call Topaz crafts directly.

On Sunday 15th May, Amy Shaw and myself will be hosting a full day of cardmaking in Lower Darwen, Blackburn. Amy will be teaching the morning workshop and I'll be teaching the afternoon one...as mine is likely to be the messy one! The cost for the full day is £30, and if you're interested, please email me on ljm.design@ntlworld.com for more details. Hope to see you there, it will be a lot of fun!

On Friday I'll be trolling down to Eastbourne to demonstrate at ESK on Saturday. I'm sure I'll be fitting a paddle in there somewhere, as I'm staying over on Saturday before coming back on Sunday. Hope to see lots of my southern friends there!

Meanwhile, you just have time to join in my sister's ATC swap....great fun and you have the chance to win Heather's gorgeous Cabinet Card. Yummy!

Okay, I think I had better get that quiz posted!

All sorts....

Hello folks, lots of pictures to share this evening I'm happy to say. Just taken me ages to upload them all - my least favourite part of blogging! It's been a really busy week for me, so I have plenty to post about tonight. Have some great news for those of you who have been asking about future workshops too....so do read on!

First of all, I got an exciting parcel delivery this week! The first thing that I took out of the box were these beauties by my friend Andy Skinner. These are A5 sized stamp sets designed by Andy for Personal Impressions. I'll be using some of these on my demonstrations this weekend - they are really great designs with an artsy feel but very user friendly too.Next out of the box were my new stamp designs.....it's always exciting to get the new stamps, especially when they have brand new packaging! The stamps are available in shops now, so, should you wish to get your hands on them, you will be able to get them from Personal Impressions stockists. The stamps in the packs at the back are all A6 clear sets whilst the ones at the front are ATC sized unmounted rubber (these will normally have packaging as well of course!). I'll be using a selection of these at my demonstrations tomorrow at Reams, in Derby, and on Sunday, at The Craft Room in Garners Garden Centre in Newcatle Under Lyne.Talking of my new designs, here is a picture of the prize which is winging its way to Carole for her brilliant cryptic quiz skills! Hope you enjoy using them Carole. I'll be posting a new quiz after the weekend. So back to this last week, and starting with the workshops at Dawn's studio last Sunday. It was a hoot as usual! David decided to revert to being my assistant and official photographer this time, as opposed to joining in. Lots of concentration going on here as you can see from Sheila, Jolene, Elaine and Kath.In the morning we were making cards using Andy Skinner's new stamps, Distress Stains and the new Tim Holtz Kraft Resist stash. As soon as I brought a few stashes through to show everyone they were immediately grabbed and popped into baskets! Here are two of the cards that I made as samples for the class. Both the same design but showing how it could be varied...everyone loved the sentiment on the blue card! The one hour break between classes reduced to half an hour for a quick sandwich as we overran somewhat as usual! In the afternoon we were making mini Grungeboard albums which involved staining, cutting pages and stitching. This led to lots of hilarity, especially from Sheila who is showing what she thinks of me making her sew pages into her book in the picture below.....she enjoyed it really!!! As you can see, everyone's books looked quite different and I hope that they'll be inspired to make more of them. Here's a picture of the one that I had made....I kept my cover fairly simple but may possibly add some more embellishments to it at some point. After the classes had finished we had a real treat as David, Sheila and I went to Kath's house, along with her daughter Elaine of course. You may recall my post a few months ago when I showed you pictures of the amazing fairy egg which Kath surprised me with as a much appreciated gift. Kath makes the most incredible creations and had invited us to go along to see her collection of no less than 72 eggs of various sizes and a huge range of styles. As you can see they are just fantastic......carriages, fairies, swans, flowers, so much variety of style, colour and theme. Here's Kath (well, you can just see her!) with one of the largest...check out the beaded detail on the velvet upholstery of the carriage interior! We were quite lost for words at the work and patience involved. What a treat, and it makes us even more honoured to have received one of them as a gift that will be treasured. Well, onto Tuesday then, when I set off down to Norwich. I had good train journeys there and back you will be pleased to know, after the unwanted dramas of my last journey there. The beautiful weather helped and I was able to enjoy the changing landscapes at their Springtime best. I saw so many rabbits, I think they must have been enjoying the sunshine too! Lots of oh so cute lambs gambolling about or resting next to their mums, great fields full of pigsties with huge sows snuffling in the dirt with little piglets dashing around them and lots of birds of assorted varieties! It was better than any telly programme!

I had a lovely afternoon in Norwich, which is fast becoming my favourite place to visit. Did some window shopping and bought David a few little treats of course. Then a lovely night's sleep in my favourite guest house (called No 17 Colegate) before a busy day at Jarrolds on Wednesday. I was demonstrating mainly Configurations boxes with some inky techniques as well. I love using the single boxes that I've removed from the larger Configurations. Here's one that I had made before I went down, complete with Grungeboard wings, Corked Vial, Timepiece, Key etc etc. Really good fun to make and reasonably quick to do too. This is a feminine version of a full box that I prepared in advance too. Notice that I turned one of the inner boxes around where the heart and wings are - this would be nice to attach a photo to if you were making a wedding memento for instance. This box has the acetate front in place though you can't really see it here - thankfully! Here's a second single box which I decorated on the day....can't tell you what fun these are to do!So, after getting back late on Wednesday, I have spent the last two days preparing things for demonstrations tomorrow and Sunday. Here's a card that I've made using Andy's Back to Nature set stamped onto alcohol inked card. Don't tell anyone, but I stamped the birds the wrong way, so they are flying sideways on!!! Do you think anyone will notice if I don't tell them?! The fab ribbon is from the new Tim Holtz pack - I used Distress stains and water on it and scrunched it up before drying it lightly with the heat tool which lightens the colours somewhat. So, hope to see some of you this weekend for inspiration, tips and new stamps! So, on to the news for those who are wanting to know about future workshops. The good news is that myself and Amy Shaw are going to be running workshop days together and the first of these will be on Sunday 15th May. So, if you are interested, please do contact Amy or myself as soon as possible as places will be limited. I can't tell you what the actual workshops are going to be at this stage as we have only just sorted out this first date, but do watch this space. I can guarantee it will be a fun filled day though! We'll post more details as soon as we have them.

Lastly, if you go onto the Personal Impressions website ( http://www.personalimpressions.com/ ) you will see that they now have a Facebook page, as well as a Twitter site. There are links to some detailed instructions on there for some of my projects and others, so do check it out.

Well, it's now 8.50pm and we've still not eaten because I have been busy on here as well as loads of phone calls, so I shall sign off now as it's an early start tomorrow to go over to Derby. Have a great weekend everyone!

The big quiz!

Hello all, just a quickie, as it was a long weekend and still had no dinner yet at nearly 9.30pm! I'll say more about the lovely weekend workshops etc in my next post.

However, I know you all want the quiz results and winning name. So....please scroll down to the original post with the quiz to see the answers.....and I can hear the groans from here as you read number 14 which was the most flummoxing one of all from the comments I've received! Hope you feel that the clues make sense and were fair. I will be posting a new quiz shortly - I have a couple of long train journeys this week, so will finish thinking up the remaining posers on those trips and post the quiz when I return.

So, drum roll please.....ddddddddrrrrrrrrrr.....the winner of this first quiz is......Carole Dixon, who got 19 correct out of twenty, and was also the first person to send in her answers. Please email me your address details Carole and I will send out your prize next week. I'll post details of what Carole's prize is next week too.

Hope everyone will enter the next one and that you'll enjoy it....please don't hate me for making you a/ tear your hair out, b/swear, c/ age by a month, d/ shout at your spouse (delete where appropriate!). It's only meant to be a bit of fun!

Will do a longer post with piccies soon, but must get some dinner now before we pass out!

Lancaster calling

Evening folks, apologies for the lack of posts this week which is due in part to Virgin Media problems so that the broadband kept dissappearing up the spout, and in part that I suddenly got asked to do some unexpected work that threw my schedule out - not much new there then! So, apologies if I have been remiss in getting back to any emails etc. I'm hoping to catch up with them tonight.

My new stamps will be hitting the stores any day now if they are not in already - I am just waiting to receive all my new sets and will then post some piccies here. My ATC designs will be out next week.

Anyway, today I have spent most of my time working on this Configurations Printer's Tray. It's larger than the boxes, though shallower. I've used all sorts in this one, including new Idealogy items that arrived this week. Also the new Grungeblocks that you can see with "2011" on them. Hard to see the effect here, but they give a more "blocky" look with the thicker Grungeboard. I've also used some images from the new Crowded Attic stash. I will be adding some more items but it's pretty full already! I'll have this tray, along with more Shadow boxes, at my day at Jarrold's department store on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tomorrow will see me back at Card Craft in Lancaster where I'll be demonstrating inky fingers....I mean inky techniques (!) as well as stamping and spritzing etc. General messiness and loveliness really! Hope to see you there.

All that's left to say is that you have until tomorrow midnight to email your quiz answers over to me, so don't miss out on the chance to win a prize and, I think, judging from your messages, more importantly, the honour of being the brainiest entrant! Lol! I promise the next one will be a little easier and I'll post those much awaited answers to this one (especially number 14 apparently!) on Sunday evening.

Talking of Sunday, David and I will be at Topaz where I'll be teaching workshops of cardmaking in the morning and a mini grungeboard album in the afternoon.

Oh yes, do also check my sister's blog to join in her swap and Andy's blog to enter his great competition. All these lovely prizes and swaps....great stuff!

So, have a great weekend everyone and I will put you out of your misery, re quiz questions, on Sunday night!!!

Great competition!

Just a quick post to say that my good friend Andy Skinner has a great competition up and running with a mega huge prize up for grabs! Please do pop over to have a look and enter for a chance to win. Good luck everyone! Lindsay

PS two blog links in one night! It worked!

Post weekend post!

Hello folks, and welcome to any new followers or readers. Wasn't it a lovely weekend? My idea of perfect weather...sunny and warm with a cooling breeze. Hope those of you who are mums, or who have mums, had a lovely day yesterday. I was over at mum and dad's and we had a lovely trip to a little village called Scorton where we had lunch and a bit of a wander with window shopping and an ice cream cone each thrown in.

On Saturday I was at A for Art in Chesterfield where I had another lovely day. I was really well looked after and everyone who came along was so friendly that the day just flew by. I still have purple fingers after using Colourwash dyes which is my own fault for preferring not to wear any gloves and liking to handle ribbons that I've just sprayed with inks! Here's me with the lovely A for Art ladies - I wasn't wiping my inky hands onto their shoulders...honestly!

And this image proved to be one of the most popular of the day. It is a really evocative stamp from the Darkroom Door set called Wilderness 2. The scene puts me in mind of one of my favourite artists called Atkinson Grimshaw. I did several examples of how this stamp could be used to show how versatile it could be - will post some pictures of those next time. I used Colourwash dyes for this one, onto PI's infamous 300gsm card. I sprayed a mix of purple, blue and stream before spritzing with water and pressing a second piece of card on top to get two for the price of one! A little water brushed onto strategic areas gives the look of moon, stars and some light on the pathway. I used one of the new MS deep edge PATP sets (just the edger this time). This one is the double loop. The phrase is from the same stamp set. I'll be up in Lancaster at Card Craft (Millenium Heights) on Saturday, so if you'd like to see some of the techniques using Rangers spritzes and sprays I'll hope to see you there. On Sunday I'll be at Topaz to teach workshops - card making in the morning and a mini grungeboard album in the afternoon. Bound to be fun!

Meanwhile, why not join in my sister's Heather's ATC swap? Hope the link works, as I didn't know how to do this until Heather told me! Fingers crossed! The theme for the swap is "in the pink" and is a fun combination of vintage men and the colour pink! All is explained on Heather's blog and, not only is there the fun of the swap, but the fascinating Cabinet card that she has made is up for grabs...it's gorgeous - well worth joining in for a chance to win it.

Don't forget to email your quiz answers to me by this coming Saturday, as I'll be revealing the answers (hoorah, I hear some of you cry!) and the name of the brainbox winner on Sunday! You may or may not be pleased to know that I am already half way through setting the next one, though it will be a little different from the current one to give those of you who are being made ill by my cryptic clues a chance!

Finally, my new stamps will be hitting the shops any day now, but I will keep you updated on that and let you know when they are officially "out there"!

Hello folks, especially those who have blamed me for hair loss, bags under eyes and furrowed brows after I posted my quiz! Don't forget to email me your answers by next Saturday night (9th)...I've had some already but I'm not saying anything about how many questions anyone has got right yet! I'll definitely be repeating the quiz idea though as quite a few people have requested more of the same. Coming up with new fiendish clues will give me something to do on my train journeys!

Meanwhile, here are some cards that I've been making for this Saturday's demonstration at A for Art in Chesterfield....this one uses stamps from Darkroom Door's Art de Fleur vol 2 as well as the MS punch all over the page butterfly. The ribbon is from the Tim Holtz Lavish Trimmings pack - it's a lovely soft, silky ribbon which has a real vintage feel. I dyed it using Colourwash Dyes and lots of water to tone the colour down. The soft background is Bundled Sage and Aged Mahogany gently blended over 300gsm card with the flower stamped in Bundled Sage. The next card has the gorgeous roses from the same trimmings pack, again spritzed with Colourwash dyes and water. Confession here: I had just enough of a length of the roses to fit down the card if I slightly stretched the backing mesh as I stuck them down. I got a bit carried away though, and somehow managed to rip them! So, I stuck the short length at the top and the longer piece at the bottom and added the sentiment over the gap! I preferred how it looked, so it was definitely one of those "happy accidents"! The butterflies are Darkroom Door stamped directly onto the card (covered with paper from a Lost and Found stash) and then identical images stamped and cut out from acetate were overlaid. I used some of the new Stickles colours on the bodies. I also used more papers and the MS Vintage Lace PATP edger and corner to add to the Victorian feel. If you'd like to see these cards more closely (and more besides of course!)do pop along to A for Art on Saturday. There are some pictures from Sunday's workshops on my computer, however, because I couldn't find my camera, David took them using a different one and I can't find where they are! Still, here are a few cards from the day.....this is one of the Steampunk cards that we were making. I have been trying to use different colour combinations than my usual favourites and really liked the orange and aqua tones of this one. The stamps are a combination of Tim Holtz and Andy Skinner. You can't see it here, but the background does have some Perfect Pearls Mists on it to give a subtle shimmer. The other Steampunk card was the one that made the class overrun by ooohhh, only about forty minutes! There was lots of cutting out of Grungeboard by hand...I loved the Ranger canvas that was one of the projects at Stitches this year, so decided to make a small version of a mannequin. The clock face should be hanging down, not bashing that poor chap on the head! Didn't realise till after I'd uploaded the picture that it was stuck behind his hat!

The next two cards were made by David who joined in the workshop this time! I think he's made a good job of them...note the artistic flicky pen border on this one!This one took him all day (and about a pint of Glossy Accents! In joke for the workshop ladies there!) as he was making it for Rena's birthday/retirement. Sorry about the chopped off piccie but this was kindly emailed over to me by Sheila as I didn't have a picture, and, for some reason, it decided to snip the picture. The funny thing about this card, which caused much hilarity, was that I had pre-stamped the words "Spread Your Wings" to save time for everyone. David chopped them into the three little panels to attach them to the card, but he mislaid the "wings" one. We searched everywhere but there was no sign and I had no spares. So, the card bears the message "Spread your"! Oh well, good thing Rena has a sense of humour! We had a lovely day and the workshops had a very calm (mostly!) yet fun feeling which ma de for a very creative time. After we'd finished David and I went to Rena and Stephen's house where they were holding a party to celbrate Rena's retirement and her forthcoming birthday on Tuesday. The house was full of family, friends and what seemed to be about 83 children (but was probably only eight!) having great fun both inside and in the garden. It was a lovely evening (check out Amy's blog for pictures of the amazing cake that Rena's sister Julie made) but I know that everyone will really miss seeing Rena at the shop.

I'll finish with a page from my journal that I did after my trip to Whitley Bay. I used Gesso and NeoColour pastels for the background. My lady doesn't look quite how I wanted her to, but the page does remind me of my paddling in that cold sea water, so I don't really mind! Well, that's all for the moment, but I'll be back soon with more pictures. Oh, by the way, you may possibly find one or two of the answers to the quiz in this latest post! Oh, what a tease I am!